3O2 TAE WORLD TO COME. fered, and counted not life, nor any of the blessings of it dear to us, nor any of the. sorrows of it intolerable, that we might escape the everlasting sorrows of a future state, and enjoy the blessings of life eternal. And, O may every one of its be the fol- lowers of those who through this faith and patience have obtained the promised felicity; Iieb. vi. 13. May we also make our way, by the same motives, through the floods and the fires of affliction and distress, to reach this everlasting heaven, and to escape everlasting burnings ? In order to confirm our patience, and to animate our zeal, let us survey the blessed example of St. Paul, who was re- proached, who was buffeted, who was persecuted with stones, and whips, and scourges, and bore a thousand indignities, who was assaulted with endless strokes of injury and violence, and yet rejoiced in the midst of all his sufferings in the view of his eter- nal hope. The spirit of faith in the midst of all his sufferings taught him to sing this divine song. Our light afflictions, which are but for a moment, are working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 2 Cor. iv. 17. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed; Rom. viii. 18. Nor are they worthy to be compared with that exceeding and eternal weight of vengeance, from which we are delivered by faith and patient obedience to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. V. " If the miseries of hell are eternal, we can never have our deliverance from them made too secure." If the danger of any mischief, to which we might be exposed, were but slight, and the duration of it short, there might be possibly some excuse for our delay to escape it : But when it is total and irrevocable ruin to which we are liable every moment while we continue in a state of sin, we should fly with all the wings of our souls, and never he at ease or quiet till we are got without the reach of danger, and settled in a placé of safety, or on the rock of our salvation. O could we but perceive a thousandth part of the horror that is contained in an eternal hell, an eternal banishment from the face and favour of God, and the eternal impressions of his anger, we should never give ourselves rest one moment, till we had returned to God by a sincere repentance, and were recon- ciled to him that made us ; till we fled for refuge to the blood of Jesus, and to his sanctifying grace, which is the only hope that is set before us. We Should never give ourselves leave to lie down, or awake in quiet, while we were destitute of a saving in- terest in the salvation of Christ, and had attained to some clear evidence of it, and a well grounded hope. Have we not Sometimes felt the worm of conscience begin to gnaw within us, and to prey upon our spirits after the comm.ssion
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