A,SOUL PREPARED. FOR.R AVE4. {DISC. VIII. should be no more concerned about a preparation for their departure hence: That they should be so stupidly thoughtless of a world to come, while they are on the very borders of it, and eternal joy or eternal sorrow de- pends on this one question,. " Am I prepared for heaven or not ?" O those two awful regions of the unseen world; where the love of God shines with its brightest glories, or where the vengeance of God is discovered in all its anguish and horror ! One of these will be the certain and eternal-dwelling place of the souls that are prepared for them, and there must they pass their long immorta- lity, either in joy, or in sorrow, without a change ; and yet the foolish and besotted tribes of mankind seem to have abandoned all thought and concern about them. A dangerous lethargy, or distraction. What shall we do to cure sinners of this mad- ness ? Shall I try to rouse these indolent unthinking wretches out of their dangerous and mortal slumbers with the loudest voiceof thunder and divine terror ? But the lethargy of sin is proofagainst all these terrors and thun- ders. Shall I call for a fountain of tears into my eyes, and weep over them with the tenderest sympathy and compassion ? But they feel not any meltings of pity for themselves, nor are their hearts to be softened by all our tears and wailings. Shall I beseech them in the name of Christ, by the bowels of his dying love, and the blood and anguish of his sufferings for our salvation ? But even these divine and astonishing instances of tender- ness and mercy make no impression on their souls. While Satan holds them in his chains, they are sleeping the sleep of death. O for a word of sovereign and almighty grace to reach the centre of their spirits ! To shake all the powers of their nature ! To awaken them to behold their eternal interest! and to prepare for heavenly feli- city !'" Awake, O sleepers, ere the angel of death seize you, and the grave shut its mouth upon you; then all your seasons and hopes of mercy are cut off for ever, and you will awake hopeless immortals. I shall conclude this discourse with one word of ex- hortation to those-who are in any measure wrought up to a. preparation for the heavenly blessedness., " O happy creatures! whatsoever pains you have taken, whatever conflicts you have endured in the matter of your own sal-
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