296 / 674
THE PREFACE.
AMONG
all
the
solemn
and
important things,
which
relate to religion,
there
is
nothing
that
strikes
the
soul
of man, with
so
much
awe
and
solemnity,
as
the
scenes
of
death,.and.the
dreadful or delightful
conse-
quents, which
attend
it.
Who can think of entering into
that
unknown
region, where spirits
dwell, without the strongest
impressions upon
the
mind arising
from
so
strange a manner of existence
?
Who can take
a
survey of the resurrection
of
the
millions
of
the dead,
and of the
tribunal
of Christ,
whence men and angels must receive
their
doom, without
the
most painful solicitude,
"
What
will
my sentence
be
?"
Who can
meditate
on the
intense and unmingled pleasure or pain
in
the
world to
come,
without
the
most
pathetic
emotions
of
soul,
since
each.otus.must
be de-
termined
to one
of these states, and they are both
of
everlasting duration
?
These
are the things,
that
touch the springs of every
passion, in
the
most sensible manner,
and
raise
ourï
pes
and
our
fears
to
their
supreme
exercise.
These are
the
subjects, with which, our blessed Saviour and
his
apostles
frequently entertained
their
hearers, in
order
to
persuade
them
to
hearken,.
and attend
to
the divine
lessons, which
they published
amongst them
'.
These
were
some
of the sharpest
weapons
of their
holy
'warfare,
which entered into the
inmost vitals
of
mankind,
and pierced
their
consciences with the
highest
solicitude.
These
have been
the happy
means
to
awaken thousands of sinners, to
flee from
the
wrath to
come
;
and
to
allure and hasten
their
to
enter intó,that
glorious
refuge,
that
is
set before
them
in
the
gospel.
It
is
for
the
saine
reason,
that
I have selected a
few discourses,
on
these
arguments, out ofmy public ministry,
to set
them
before
the
eyes
of
the
world
in
a more
public manner,
that,
if
possible, some thoùghtless crea-
tures might
be roused out
of their sinful
slumbers,
and might
awake
into a
spiritual and eternal
life,
through
the concurring influences
of
the
blessed
Spirit.
I
am not willing
to
disappoint my readers, and therefore
I
would
let
them
know before
-hand,
that
they
will
find very
little,
in
this
book,
to
gratify
their
curiosity
about the many
questions
relating
to
the
invisible
world,
and the things, which God
has not
plainly
revealed
:
Something
of
this
kind, perhaps, may be
found in
"
two Discourses
of Death and
Heaven,"
which I
published
long ago
:
But, in
the present
discourses,
I
have very
much
neglected
such curious enquiries.
Nor
will
the ear,
that
has
an itch
for
controversy, be much
entertained
here,,
for
I have
avoided matters
of doubtful debate. Nor
need
the most
zealous man
of
orthodoxy, fear
to
be led astray
into new
and dangerous
sentiments,
if
he
will
but take the plainest and
most
evident dictates of scripture
for his
direction into
all
truth.
My
only design
has been., to
set
the great and
most momentous things
of
a
future
world, in
the
most
convincing
and
affecting
light, and
to in-
force them upon
the
conscience with all
the
fervour,
that
such subjects