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solemn day? May you not expect to hear the Judge reply terribly to such an excuse, You never sought after this preparation for heaven, and you must be plunged into hell, for which your own rebellion and slothfulness hath prepared you.'

But perhaps you will object again, what can so feeble, so sinful a creature as I am, do towards this divine work?

I answer, Canst thou not separate one quarter of an hour daily to think of thy dreadful circumstances, and thine eternal danger in a sinful and defiled state of soul? Think of the uncertainty of life, and how sudden thy summons may be into the eternal and unchangeable state. Survey thyself in thy sinful condition both of heart and life, and see how unfit thou art for the company of all the holy ones above. Meditate on these thy perilous circumstances, till thy heart be deeply affected therewith; fall down before God in humble acknowledgment of thy former guilt and pollutions: Give up thyself to him with holy solemnity, to have thy heart turned away from every sin, and strongly inclined to holiness and heaven. Commit thy soul, guilty and defiled as it is, into the hands of Jesus the Mediator; entrust thy case with him as an all-sufficient Saviour; entreat that he would cleanse thee from all thy guilt and pollution, by the blood of his sacrifice, and the grace of his Spirit; that blood of atonement which has procured for sinners pardon and peace with God, and those operations of his grace which may sanctify thy sinful nature. Address thyself to the exalted Saviour for

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healing influences from his hand, maladies of thy soul, to form thee

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to cure all the

after his image,

and to make thee a son of God. Pray with holy importunity for this necessary and divine blessing, wait on God in secret and in public; give him no rest night nor day till he has renewed thy soul, and transformed thee into a new creature, and given thee a relish of the heavenly enjoyments: Dwell at the throne of grace till thou feelest thy heart drawn upward and heavenward, and watch against every thing that would defile thy soul anew, or make thee unfit to enter into the company of the blessed.

Permit me here to dwell a little upon those motives that should awaken thee to bethink thyself ere it be too late, before the grave has shut its mouth upon thee, and thou art consigned to the place of eternal misery. Awake, awake, O impenitent sinners, who are as yet unprepared for the business and blessedness of the heavenly state; awake and exert your souls in warmest reflections on matters of infinite importance.

(1.) Think with yourselves how much the great God has done towards the preparation of sinful men for this heaven; think seriously of his long-suffering goodness, and his sparing mercy, which should have led you long ago to a melting sense of your own folly, and brought you back unto him by humble repentance. For what reason were his patience and his long suffering exercised towards you, if not for this very purpose? Rom. ii. 4. Think of the blessings of nature with which he has surrounded you, and

the comforts of this life wherewith he has furnished you, in order to allure your thoughts towards him, who is the spring of all goodness; and to raise your desires towards him: It is he invites you, who will be the everlasting portion and happiness of his people, and in whose favour consists life and felicity; and dare not any longer neglect your preparation for this happiness, which consists in the enjoyment of God, lest you should be cut off before you are prepared.

(2.) Consider again what Jesus the Son of God has done and suffered, and consider what he is yet doing towards the preparation of souls for heaven: He came down to our world to undertake the glorious and dreadful work of the redemption of sinners from the curse of the law and the terrors of hell, and to procure a heaven for every rebellious creature that would return to God his Father. Think of the agonies of his death with which he purchased mansions of glory for those that receive his grace in his own appointed methods, those that are willing to have their hearts and minds formed into a suitable frame to receive this felicity. Remember that he is risen from the dead, he is ascended to prepare a place in glory for those that are willing to follow him through the paths of holiness. Hearken to the many kind in-. vitations and allurements of his gospel, which calls to the worst of sinners to return and live, and entreats and exhorts those who are in the ends of the earth, and upon the borders of hell, "to look unto him that they may be saved," Isa. xlv. 22. Take heed that you suffer not these seasons of his inviting

love to slide away and vanish unimproved; take heed how you rebel against the language of the grace of his gospel, and thereby prepare yourselves for double and everlasting destruction.

(3.) Think again, what blessed assistances he has proposed to those who are desirous to be trained

up

for heaven; how many thousand souls, as carnal, as sensual, and as criminal as yours are, have been recovered by the word of his gospel, and the influences of his Spirit, to a new nature and life of holiness? How many are there who from children of wrath, have become the sons and daughters of the most high God, heirs of this blessedness, and prepared for the enjoyment of it? O take heed that you resist not this grace, nor rebel against the kind and sacred motions of the blessed Spirit within you, when his very office and business is to change your sinful natures, and to prepare you for the regions of eternal holiness and peace.

(4.) Think yet further what advantages you have had from the weekly ministrations of the word of grace, from reading the book of God in your own language, and from the pious education many of you have enjoyed in the families from whence you sprung. Think what awakening hints you have received by the inward conviction of your own consciences, and by the christian friends you may have conversed with: Have you not been told plainly enough by the voice of conscience, that you are now utterly unprepared for heaven? Have not public and private admonitions given you sufficient warning of the danger

of your present state? And after all this will you proceed in your own sinful course till you arrive at the very gates of hell and destruction, till you have prepared yourselves, and made your souls ripe for the vengeance of God, and are plunged into it by death without remedy or relief?

(5.), Consider how dreadful will your state be if death meet you in all your guilt and defilements, unwashed, unpardoned, and unsanctified, without any garment of righteousness, without any robe of salvation. What a terrible sentence is that which death will pronounce upon every such sinner the moment that he strikes their heart? Hear it and tremble, O miserable creature, hear the formidable and eternal sentence, "Let him that is unholy be unholy still:" Let him that is unprepared for heaven go down to the regions of death and hell, for which his iniquities have best prepared him.

(6.) Think with yourselves, if you have any thing of importance to do in this world, or have any mo mentuous scene of life to pass through, how diligent are you in preparation for it. If you are but to visit the court of a prince, or to go to make your addresses to any great man of honour and power, or to be admitted into any numerous society of a superior character, how diligently do you endeavour to furnish yourselves with such knowledge of the common ceremonies of life, and such ornaments about your body as may render you acceptable amongst those whom you are going to converse with: And does not an entrance into the court of heaven,

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