vanity; and what but vanity has been your recompencef ?" St. Paul puts the question to us; " What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamedg?" Has not the creature proved, what God forewarned you it would prove, " a broken cistern, that could hold no water ? " You are come, I will suppose, to a season of great trouble, or perhaps of sickness and approaching dissolution. Now what consola- tion have you from all that ever you enjoyed ? Can the remembrance of it comfort you ? Can it assuage your pains, or administer support under them? Can it pacify a guilty conscience, or take away the sting of death ? Can it gild your last scenes, and brighten your prospects in the eternal world ? Alas ! alas ! have you not " spent your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satis- fieth noth?" I will even suppose that you have possessed all that Solomon himself possessed, and revelled like him in every species of indulgence : what do you now find it all to be, but " vanity and vexation of spirit?" Is it not " high time, then, that you awake" from your delusions1 ? After having so long " fed upon ashes, and been turned aside by a deceived heart," is it not high time that you at last see, that " you have had nothing but a lie in your right handk ?"]
2. What benefit do you expect to derive from it hereafter ?
[If you follow your sinful course ever so long, do you expect that it will be productive of any more happiness than it has already been ? Will the creature change ? or the condi- tion of man change ? Or will God so change the whole course of nature, that you shall find in earthly things what is to be found in him alone? But, if such changes are not to be expected, what will be the issue of such a course at the tri- bunal of your God ? Had you been Gentiles, it might be ex- pected, if I may so speak, that you had lived like Gentiles ; or at all events, you would then " be judged by such a law as you yourselves had lived under1." But you were Christians ; and had the law of God in your hands; yea, and the Gospel of Christ too : and therefore you shall be judged by the law, and by the Gospel, which you have so neglected and despised. I would that Christians would place themselves as at the bar of judgment; and bethink themselves, what will be their view of their present courses then? Will a life of carnal ease and indulgence, together with a neglect of God and of our eternal interests, be found so venial then? To have professed our- selves Christians, and have lived like heathens, will this
f Job xv. 31. e Rom. vi. 21. h Isai. lv. 2.
1 Rom. xiii. 11. k Isai. xliv. 20. ' Rom. ii. 14.
~M<; l PETER, IV. 3. [2405.
appear so light a matter, as it is judged now to be? No verily: things will then be seen in their true colours; and the care of the soul will then appear to be, what it really is, " the one thing needful.™]
Application —
[If now you are not convinced that the time past is suf- ficient for such a course, 1 beg leave to ask, what time you will think sufficient? I presume you will not say, that the whole life is to be spent in such a way : I conceive that no one is so blind, but that he will acknowledge that God ought to be served at some time or other ; and that, at some time or other, the concerns of the soul ought to occupy the mind. Even those who die by the hands of the public executioner confess, that some preparation is desirable for them, before they enter into the presence of their God. What time then will you agree to be sufficient to work the will of the Gentiles; and when will you account it reasonable to begin to fulfil the will of God? Will you say, twenty years hence; or, forty years hence? Such a period as that may surely be acknow- ledged latitude enough, even for the youngest amongst us. But, if you will go to those who have served the world and their own lusts for twenty or forty years, you will not find them at all more ready to turn to God, than they were the first moment that they entered on that course. On the contrary, the longer they have lived in sin, the more rooted are their lusts, and the more inveterate their habits : their consciences, too, are the more seared and hardened ; and the more averse are they to be instructed in the way of righteousness. Besides, are we sure that so many years shall be added to our lives ; or that, if they be, we shall be at all more disposed to serve God then, than we are at present? Are we sure that the Spirit of God, to whom we " do despite," will not at last depart from us, and give us up to final impenitence?