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THE ETERNAL DL'EAT!ÓN
OP
[Dt9C.Y1l1s,
are
yet standing upon
the
slippery edge
of
this
burning
precipice, and
playing
with
painted
bubbles there, or
in
warm
pursuit
of
a
flying
shining
feather
along the
brink
of
this
burning torrent,
what
fools
and madmen should
we
appear
to
be even in
our
own eyes
!
And yet
we
go
on to
practise this
folly,
this madness,
day after
day,
in
spite
of
all
the
warnings
of
God and
man, till
at
last
our
foot
slips in some
dreadful
moment, and
we
vanish
oiit of
the
sight
of
our
companions,
and are
lost for
ever
!
III.
If
the
miseries
of
hell
are eternal,
"
how
unrea-
sonable a
thing
is
it
ever to
suffer
the
loss
of
any posses-
sions
or joys
which
are temporal
and
perishing,
to come
into
competition
with them r''
Surely
there
is
,nothing
that
belongs to time
that
should
tempt
us
to
run
the risk
of
the
sorrows
of
eternity,
nor allure
us
to commit one
sin
against God,
which
is
the
fatal
spring
of
such sor-
rows
!
Stand
still, O sinner,
and hearken
to
the
voice
of
wisdom.
Do
the pleasures
of
sense,
or
the
gaieties
of
sight,
or the
wealth
or grandeurs of
this
life
allure
thee to
make
thy
way
boldly
through
any means towards
the
possession
of
them,
think
with thyself,
is
it
by
of-
fending this
great
and dreadful
God?
And
wilt
thou dare
to
take
one step
towards these dangerous
and deceitful
vanities,
and risque
thy
immortal
welfare
in
the pursuit
?
what a
foolish
bargain
wilt thou make to
gain
the whole
world
of
short
-lived
perishing
trifles,
and to
lose thy soul
in
endless
perdition
?
117ark
viii.
36.
Dare
any
of
us
venture
an
eternal state of torment
to gain the
flattering
and
delusive
joy of
a short hour, or a winter's
day
?
What
are
all
the gratifications
of
flesh
and
sense
?
What
are
all the swelling
titles
of
honour
amongst
men
?
What
are
all the
treasures of
this perishing world?
How
short
is
their duration,
and
how
short
is
thy possession
of
them
?
All
earthly
felicities perish in the
using,
and
are
no sooner
enjoyed,
but
are
quickly lost again,
or
expire
in
the enjoyment
:
But
if
the ruin
of
a
soul,
and
a
lost
heaven
be
the
price
of
them,
how
mad
is
the
pur-
chase, and
how
wretched
is
the
purchaser
?
IV.
" How
patiently
should
we
bear
all
the labours
and
fatigues, the pains and miseries
of
this mortal
life,
when
we
have any hope
of our
deliverance
from
the
pains and
sorrows
of immortality
?"
As
for
our
Maladies--