SECTION VI, 61 but briars and thorns, is rfjected ofGod, and is nigh onto cursing, whose end is to be burned ? And can your own reason or your conscience afford you one worst of apology or defence against this righteous curse and this burning sentence ? Let us think withourselves what multitudes there are who have not been trained up in the ways of public worship, who through the wickedness of their parents, or through their great distance from the places of any religious assemblies, have been very much unacquainted, with any of the blessings of a gospel ministry : think what numbers of families, especially in the country, are brought up to the labours and drudgeries Of life at the distance of some miles from a church of any kind, and are not able to attend on any ministrationsofthe gospel without great fatigue and inconveniences : How transcendent haveour advan- tages been above others? Have we made a right use of these blessings ? We who dwell as it were in the house of God, who 1 ive near the gates of Zion, who have the ordinances of Christ brought almost toour doors, have we delighted ourselves in the worship of the sanctuary and in the assemblies of thepeople of God ? Or have we cried out what aweariness is it ? And have we neglected the methods of grace which the providence of Gad - has brought so near us ? Have our lips and our lives and whole behaviour manifested that we have been often with God, and that we have been nourished up in holiness with the provisionsof the house of God ? Do we think these heavenly provisions will never be accounted for ? Or that the great God will never ask what use we have txtade of them all ? III. You who have been favoured with religious friends, companions and acquaintance in the course of life, such as you may converse with freely about the things of God and your own soul, and who will be ready to help you onward in the way to- heaven, what have you done more than others? How desirable a thing is it for young christians to have such a friend as David; Ps. lxvi. 16. Come unto me, and I will tell you what God has donefor my soul? How happy is it to be placed amongst suds acquaintance who will walk with you in"the road to salvation, and with whom you may go to the house of God in company ? 'When young persons first begin to be awakened to a sense of sin, to enquire what rarest they do to be saved, and to set their faces toward heaven, how sweet and unspeakable a blessing is it tohave a religions friend near them, to whom they can unbosom themselves, who can assist them with their advice, encriurage them with their company, support them by their own experience,' and keep religion warm in their hearts by holy conference? Who can give them a gentle admonition of their danger, who can stir them up to duty whensoever they grow negligent, and recal them when they wander from the paths of piety and peace? What ad-
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