Beloved brethren, be persuaded, — whatever be your age, be persuaded, I say, — that the time past is abundantly suf- ficient for the course which you have followed. And now, without any further delay, begin to " work the works of God." Do you ask, " What is the work of God ? " I answer, as our blessed Lord did, " This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom he hath sentm." This is indeed the one great concern to which we should all attend. We are sinners, obnoxious to God's wrath and eternal condemnation. But Jesus Christ is a Saviour : he is sent into the world on pur- pose to seek and to save that which was lost. Do ye then go to him; believe in him; implore mercy through him; cast
"» John vi. 28, 29.
yourselves upon him ; and " cleave to him with full purpose of heart." Let the time which you have spent in the neglect of him be redeemed ; and your efforts be the more urgent, in proportion to the time which you have lost. As for the baptized heathens with whom you have associated, " come out from among them"," and " no longer conform yourselves to their evil ways0." They will, as the Apostle tells you, " think it strange that you continue not to run with them to the same excess of riot as you formerly did ; and will speak evil of you on account of itp:" but be it so : if this be an occasion of grief to you, it should not be on your own account, but on theirs ; for " they shall surely give an account to Him that is ready to judge both the quick and dead0-;" and " their hard ungodly speeches, which they have spoken against you" for his sake, will be visited upon them to their everlasting confusion1. Mind you yourselves : seek the salvation of your own souls, whether others will attend to their souls or not. Do not ye perish in Sodom, because your relatives mock at your fear of God's judgments3: neither linger in the plain, lest the storms of God's vengeance overtake you : but be in earnest : and " whatsoever your hand findeth to do, do it with all your might4."]
n 1 Cor. vi. 17. ° Kom. xii. 2. p ver. 4.
i ver. 5. r Jude, ver. 14, 15. s Gen. xix. 14.
4 Eccl. ix. 10.