Background Image
Table of Contents Table of Contents
Previous Page  357 / 674 Next Page
Basic version Information
Show Menu
Previous Page 357 / 674 Next Page
Page Background

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 word

of

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

of

a 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

of

anguish

of

Spirit,

with

loud

and

cutting complaints, would

destroy

life itself,

and these

VOL.

II.

Z