312 MISCMANiov 1110UpIIr's. they begin to chew themselves to the world, my heart pities then,, as so many borderers upon the grave; yet most of them are utterly thoughtless of dying. ' Little do they imagine in those years of gaiety, mirth, and madness, that they are treasuring up vengeance to themselves, by their thoughtless rebellion against the power that made them. Little do they think that their lives are every moment due to the justice of God as a sacrifice, each for their own iniquity ? Young creatures, but bold sinners ! They are weaned from the nursery, they are got loose from their parents' icing, and like the Roman poet's calf, they vainly exult and riot in their new freedom ; they gad abroad in the wide world,' wanton and lavish in all the delights which the vigour of depra- ved nature inspires. They know not how to bear the checks of piety, and the restraints of wisdom, nor will they endure the tenderest admonitions of a parent or an aged friend. They have no apprehension of the angel of death near them, as though it was beyond the reach of his commission or the flight of his arrows to 'smite any of their station or character. In the morning of nature they feel themselves live, and they fancy it is immortality. Especially if they are adorned with any peculiar charms of wit or beauty, then the flatteries of the glass, and their own warm imaginations, the compliments and caresses of the com- pany that attend them, banish all that is solemn or serious : The iuehanting allurements that surround their senses, render them deaf to all the warnings of God and conscience, and thoughtless of every thing but the gay successions of pleasure. The powers of animal life reign in them without controul, and they forget there is a soul within them, or a God above them, or a tribunal of judgment at which they must be ar- raigned. In the midst of this flowery scene, Amelistus was seized with a sudden fever; in three days time it was heightened into a raging delirium, which gave no room for any penitential reflec- tions; and thus in the bloom of nature, and full of the sins of his youth, he was surprised into eternity : He seemed to be singled out from the rest of his wild associates, and made a vic- tim to death, and to divine displeasure. A loud alarm to secure sinners, and a flaming warning -piece to the companions of his guilt ! Our natural compassion drops some tears sf humanity on the grave of such a fine young gentleman ; but the divine being that made him, is not moved with those prettinesses of flesh and blood, which engage our senses, and melt our hearts to softness. What is a little rose - coloured skin and well -set limbs, in the eyes of that almighty Power that can Create millions of such beautiful engines with his breath, and destroy them without loss ?
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