EÜsc. THE END OP TIME. 337 be offered in eternity, nor put within their reach for ever. The gospel hath no calls, no invitations, no en- couragements, no promises for the dead, who have lost, and wasted their time, and are perished without hope. The region of sorrow, whither the judge shall drive impe- nitent sinners, is a dark and desolate place, where light :and hope can never come : but fruitless repentance, with horrors and agonies of soul, and doleful despair reign through that world, without one gleam of light, or hope, or one moment of intermission. Then will des- pairing sinners gnaw their tongues, for anguish of heart, and curse themselves with long execrations, and curse their fellow-sinners, who assisted them to waste their time, and to ruin their souls. IV. The last terror I shall mention, which will attend sinners; at the end of time, is, " an eternal suffering of all the' painful and dismal consequences of lost and .wasted time." Not one smile from the face of God for ever, not one glimpse of love or mercy in his counte- nance, not one wordof grace from Jesus Christ, who was once the chief messenger of the grace of God, not one favourable regard from all the holy saints and angels'; but the fire and brimstone burn without end, and the smoke of this their torment will ascend, for ever and ever, before the throne of God, and the, Lamb; Rev. xiv. 11. Who knows how keen and bitter will be the agonies of an, awakened conscience, and the vengeance of a pro- voked God, in that world of misery ? How will you cry out, " O what a wretch have I been, to renounce all the advices of a compassionate Father, when he would have persuaded me to improve the time of youth and health ! Alas, I turned a deaf ear to his advice, and now time is lost, and my hopes of mercy for ever perished. Hew have I treated with ridicule, among my vain compa- nions, the compassionate and pious councils of my aged parents, who laboured for my salvation ? How have I scorned the tender admonitions ofa mother, and wasted that time in sinning and sensuality, which should have been spent in prayer , and devotion ? And God turns a deaf ear to my cries now, and is regardless of all my groanings." This sort ofanguish of Spirit, with loud and cutting complaints, would destroy life itself, and these VOL. II. Z
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