PART II. SERMON VIII. 115 compassion ? They tell you daily that they can have no greater joythanto seetheir children walking in the truth, and will you cru- elly disappoint their pleasures, and bring down their grey hairs with sorrow to the grave ? Perhaps there are some of you, who already have parted with your parents, and their spirits are at rest; and has neither their life, nor their death, made serious and lasting impressions upon you ; have they entreated you in their last dying moments, by all that is dear and sacred, to make sure of heaven ? And will you abandon these entreaties, and sell your souls to the world, and to death, for a few perishing temptations? Have they laid a solemn charge upon you at their last farewel, to travel in the paths of piety, and meet them on mount Sion in the great day ? and haveyouwandered already from this high road of holiness, and forgot the solemnity and the charge ? Shall your parents dwell for ever with their God, and shall their children for ever dwell in fire prepared for the devil and his angels? You cannotsin at so easy and so cheap a rate as others. You must break through stronger bonds, and do bolder violence to your consciences, before you can indulge iniquity, and pursue wickedness. Your temptations to sin have been less than others, and your advantages for salvation havebeen muchgreater. Ourhearts bleed withinus, to think of your double guilt, and your aggravated damnation ; to think that you should not only be separated from your parents, and their God, for ever, but that your place of torment shall be the hottest also, amongst all your companions in misery. What anguish and inward vexation will seize you, whenye shall reflect hownigh 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 comingfrom the east, and from the west, fromfamilies of wickedness, from the ends of the earths, and from the borders of hell, and sit downwith our fathers in the kingdomof heaven ; while you the children ofthe kingdom, 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 byany methods 1might provoke to emulation them which are ofthe flesh of Israel, of the kindred of the saints, and might save some of them; Rom. xi. 14. 4. Tothose who have taken somepains in seeking after eter- nal life, and are still enquiring the way thither. Have a case, of resting in the mere practice of moral duties, or in the outward profession of christianity : never contentr"yourselves with the 12
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