PREFACE Tö "THE WORLD TO COME." 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 solem- nity, as the scenes of death, and the dreadful or delightful consequents, which attend it. Who can think of entering into that unknown region, where spirits dwell, without thestrongest impressions upon the mind arising from so strange a manner of existence t Who can take a survey of the resurrection of millions of the dead, and of the tribunal of Christ, whence men and an- gels must receive their doom, without the most painful solicitude, " What will my sentence be ?" Who can meditate on the intense and unmingled plea- sure or pain in the world to come, without the most pathetic emotions ofsoul, since each of us must be determined to one of these states, and they are both of everlasting duration ?. These are thethings, that touch the springs of every passion, in the most sensible manner, and raise our hopes and our fears to their supreme exercise. These are the subjects, with which, our blessed Saviour and his apostles fre. quently 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 thesharpest 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 sin- ners, to flee from the wrath to come; and to allure and hasten them to eater into that glorious refuge, that is set before them in the gospel. It is for the same reason,- that I have selected a few discourses, on these arguments, out of my public ministry, to set them before the eyes of the world in a more public manner, that if possible, some thoughtless creatures might be rouzed 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, per- haps, may be found in " Two Discourses of Death and Heaven," which 1 , published long ago : But, in the present discourses, I have very much neg- lected such curious enquiries. Nor will the ear, that has an itch for contro- versy, be much entertained here, for I have avoided matters of doubtful de- bate. 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 evi dent dictates of scripture for his direction into all truth. My only design has been, to set the great ant'e most momentous things of a future world, in the most convincing and affecting light, and to enforce them upon the conscience with all the fervour, that such subjects demand and require. And may our blessed Redeemer, who reigns Lord of the invisible A2
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