SEEM. VIII.] FALLING SHORT OF HEAVEN. 139 the circle of outward duties, as ye are led by custom and form, with a neglect of inward christianity, and hearty godliness. Did your parents love God above all earthly things, and will ye prefer the love of this world above all things heavenly and divine ? Have ye had such shining exam- ples of holiness brought so near you to no purpose? Do they pray for you daily? Do they daily mourn over you, and hope, and wish, and exhort you to take care of your souls ? And are you resolved that their counsels, their prayers, and their tears, shall be laid out upon you in vain? Is this the return you make for all their careand compassion ? They tell you daily that they can have no greater joy than to see their childrenwalking in the truth, and will you cruelly disappoint their plea- sures, and bring down- their grey hairs with sorrow to the grave? Perhaps there are some of you, who al- ready have parted with your parents, and their spirits are at rest; and has neither their life, nor their death, made serious and lasting impressions upon you ; have they en- treated you in their last dying moments, by all that is dear and sacred, to make sure of heaven ? And will you abandon these entreaties, and sell your souls to the world, and to death, for a few perishing temptations ? Have they laid a solemn charge upon you, at their last farewel, to travel in the paths of piety, and meet there on mount Sion in the great day? and have you wander- ed already from this high road of holiness, and forgot the solemnity and the charge ? Shall your parents dwell for ever with their God, and shall their chil- dren for ever dwell in fire prepared for the devil and bis angels ? You cannot sin .at so easy and so cheap a rate as others. You must break through stronger bonds, and do bolder violence to your consciences, before you can indulge iniquity, and pursue wickedness. Your temp- tations to sin have been less than others, and your ad- vantages for salvation have been much greater. Our hearts bleed within us, to think of your double guilt, and your aggravated damnation; to think that you should not only be separated from your parents, and their God, for ever, but that your place of torment shall 5
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