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A
HOPEFUL YOUTH
[SEEM.
VIII.
be
the
hottest
also,
amongst
all
your
companions
in
misery.
What
anguish and inward vexation
will seize you,
when
ye shall
reflect
how
high ye were
raised
in
outward
privileges, and
how
near
ye
were
brought
to
heaven
?
and
how
you
quitted
your interest, and
your
hopes there,
for
the
trifles
of
this
life,
for
a
base lust,
or
a foolish
vanity
?
What
will
ye
say,
when
ye
shall see many
coming
from
the east, and
from
the
west, from families
of
wickedness, from
the ends
of
the earth, and
from
the
borders
of
hell,
and
sit down with your
fathers
in
the
kingdom
of heaven;
while you, the
children of the
king-
dom,
are cast out
into
outer darkness:
there
shall
be
weeping
and
gnashing
of teeth,
Mat.
viii.
11, 12.
I
presume
thus far
with freedom to
address
you,
if
by
any
methods
I might
provoke to
emulation
them
which
are
of
the
flesh
of
Israel,
of
the
kindred of the
saints, and
might
save some
of
them, Rom.
xi.
14.
4.
To
those who
have taken
some
pains
in
seeking
after eternal
life,
and
are
still
enquiring
the
way
thither.
Have a
care
of
resting
in
the mere
practice of
moral
du-
ties,
or in
the outward profession
of
christianity
:
never
content
yourselves
with
the righteousness
of
the
phari-
see.
Were your
virtues more glorious
than
they
are,
and your righteousnesses more
perfect, they could never
answer
for
your former
guilt,
before the
throne of
a
just
and holy God.
It
is
only
the
atonement of
Christ,
and
his all- sufficient sacrifice, which can
stand
you in stead
there;
and
it
is
pity
that
a
youth,
of
so
much virtue,
should
fall
short of
heaven, and be
but
almost
a
Chris-
tian.
It
is
pity
that
you
should
have gained
so
large a
share
of
knowledge,
and
so
honourable
a
character of
sobriety, and,
after
all,
want the
one
thing
needful, an
universal
change, and
renovation
of
your
hearts,
by
re-
ceiving the gospel.
Have
you
proceeded thus
far, and
will you
not
go
on
to
perfection
?
Take
heed
that
ye
lose
not
the things
that
ye
have wrought,
but that
ye receive
a
full
reward,
2
John
8.
It
is
pity you should
enquire
the
way
to heaven, and
not
walk
in it,
when
it
is
marked
out
before your
feet
with
so
much
plainness:
It
is
pity
you
should indulge
the
love
of
this world
so
far, as
to
suffer
it
to
forbid
you
the
q