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"That he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment;"--a reason for the desired mission, justly proceeding on the assumption, that the continued rejection, by his relatives, of the truth already given for their guidance, would plunge them into the abodes of punishment, and make them partakers of his own remediless woes. It is a solemn and an invariable fact-and O, that the unbelieving may be overcome when they hear it! -that when men live and die, without rendering the full credit and devotion of the heart to the truth which God has revealed, refusing to make it the guide of their conduct, and the foundation of their hopes, they must receive at last, from the Being they have insulted, that sentence of wrath which will overwhelm in misery and despair. This is the sanction which the Most High has decreed from the beginning; and to the guilty, of whatever age and dispensation of the world, exemption is impossible. Sinners of modern times must however remember, that the act of rejecting divine truth in the gospel, is regarded as one of special aggravation, and therefore as one requiring a special severity; nor can they refer to the statements of inspiration, without perceiving that they, transgressors against the clearest light, and the highest privilege, are the persons on whom the uttermost vengeance of offended Heaven will fall. "If the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward,

how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" "He that despised Moses's law, died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."*-What argument for instant awakening is here!

The narrative before us furnishes some facts, as to the infliction beneath which the sinner suffers when he has entered into futurity, which should be distinctly commended to your observation.-It is suffered by the soul immediately after death. The notion of a long period of unconsciousness succeeding the hour of dissolution, is, by the testimony of this parable, decisively contradicted. The rich man is mentioned as having passed to his final abode, as Lazarus is said to have passed to his, without any intervening lapse of time: "He died, and was buried, and in hell he lift up his eyes,"--and he petitioned for his brethren, yet dwelling in his father's house. There is not the delay of a moment; as soon as the last transition is accomplished, the spirit is ushered to the scenes of judgment, and * Hebrews ii. 2, 3; x. 28–31.

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clothed with the attributes of doom.-It is characterized by awful anguish. He is described as being in torments," and it was his mournful prayer-the prayer of bitter and inconceivable agony-" Have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame." How excruciating the suffering! What a development of the sorrows of the world, where hope and mercy are unknown, and where the wrath of Omnipotence rages in all the overwhelming wildness of its storm !—It is beyond the possibility of change or relief. "Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us that would come from thence." So did the last gleam settle into the shadows of eternal night! The suffering of Tophet is interminable; "the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched;" "the smoke of torment ascendeth for ever and ever."

On these exhibitions of future punishment, we do not now attempt to enlarge. The hardened unbeliever may utter his bold denial of their truth, and scoff when there are displayed to sinners, these haunts of woe where peace and rest can never dwell; yet these are reserved for all the

obstinately impenitent, and these will be your dwellings, if you "obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ."

-We have now, brethren, presented to your view, the truths which the discussion of this subject appears properly to involve. After thus contemplating the Revelation of the living God, in the high supremacy of its claims the sole guide to the enjoyments of celestial happiness, you are surely prepared to perceive the exceeding folly of the infidelity which repudiates and denies it. The system which avowedly spurns at the principles and promises of religion, which remains unmoved amidst its mighty discoveries, and which ventures to encounter all the tremendous consequences of eternal judgment and condemnation, is one to which, by the enlightened mind, no character will ever be attached but that of glaring and surpassing folly. Great and splendid names may indeed be numbered among its votaries, names which have acquired high renown in the annals of philosophy and genius; but, that they despised the truth of God, and mocked at redemption in Christ Jesus,-this has put upon them an indelible dishonour, an outrage as it is, to the true dignity of intellect, an infatuated sacrifice of all the interests of the being. Infidelity derives no lustre from the rank or fame of its disciples, the disciples are but sunk by the vileness of the dogmas they have embraced; and O, it is mournful beyond expression, to think.

of men whose talents might have advanced the noblest of objects, and whose memories might have been perpetuated in pure and imperishable fame, but who, by becoming the dupes of such a monstrous scheme as this, have darkened their own glory, and poisoned their own happiness, and committed themselves to everlasting shame and everlasting sorrow! The system—a wretched compound of weakness and guilt-is, in all its parts, and under all possible aspects, to be held up to unmingled and unmitigated execration. I know not whether I now speak to any, who have been seduced to this apostasy from the faith of their fathers: if it be so, let them ponder well the sad position in which truth affirms them to stand, both for this world and another; let them hear an earnest entreaty, no longer to resist the majesty of Heaven, and defy its vengeance, but to abandon, at once and for ever, associations destitute alike of moral purity and intellectual grandeur-the sources of present privation and of future ruin, and to render their heartfelt homage to a religion which secures the refinement of the nature, and the salvation of the soul. O that thus they would be wise, and obey the warning "to flee from the wrath to come!"

But while such a solemn exposure arises from the subject discussed, of the system and followers of avowed infidelity, thoughts of intense anxiety must be directed to the multitudes, who, although Christians by title, are yet practical rebels against

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