with a Christian fortitude; be kept in wisdom's pleasing path of duty, and when the hour of dying comes, feel resigned to part with all we hold dear on earth? Most cer

tainly not!

It is a truth which is susceptible of the clearest demonstration, that the violators of the commandments of God, are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. They are in a constant state of agitation; they flee when no man pursueth, and all is commotion and terror within. "Destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace have they not known."

In whatever situation a man may be placed, if his heart be not right toward God; if his soul be not exercised with holy emotions, he must, unavoidably, be unhappy. Sin and misery are inseparably connected. Notice the character and condition of those who have not been subject to the government or the laws of the Creator, and it will be found, that instead of being the recipients of peace and joy, the opposite has been the case, and their dying moments have been embittered with the most unholy reflections. In the first place, if we turn to the volume of inspira

tion, we find many illustrations of the truth here assumed, that, without giving heed to the mandates of heaven, there is no real enjoyment. Look at the first murderer. Here is a man who has imbrued his hands in the warm blood of his own brother. Without any real cause, Cain deprived Abel of his life. What was the consequence? Did it impart to him that peace that ever flows from the fountain of love? No, no! far from this. The Almighty placed a dark mark upon his. brow. And when the voice of his brother's blood, came up from the ground, in thunder tones, and, he was driven as a vagabond from the face of the earth, with deep anguish of soul, he exclaimed: "My punishment is greater than I can bear!”

The children of Israel were destroyed for their heaven-daring crimes; the inhabitants of the old world, went on from one degree of wickedness to another, until they were swept from the earth, by the "besom of destruction," and overwhelmed in a watery grave.

Look, also, to infidel France. When she adopted the principles of infidelity; when she embraced the contaminating and unholy views as propagated by those who disdain to

acknowledge the government of God, as revealed in the scriptures, then she declared death to be an eternal sleep. Public worship was utterly abolished; the churches converted into "temples of reason," in which atheistical and licentious homilies were substituted for the prescribed service: and an absurd and ludicrous imitation of the pagan mythology, was exhibited under the title of the "religion of reason." In the principal church of every town, a tutelary goddess was installed with a ceremony equally pedantic, frivolous, and profane; and the females, selected to personify this new divinity, "were persons of the most licentious conduct, who received the adorations of the municipal officers, and of the multitudes, whom fear or force, or motive of gain, had collected together on the occasion. Contempt for religion or decency, became the test of attachment to the government. All distinctions of right and wrong, were confounded. grossest debauchery triumphed. The reign of atheism and of reason, was the reign of terror. Almost the whole nation was converted into a horde of assassins. In one part of France, the course of a river (the Loire) was impeded by the drowned bodies of the

The

ministers of religion, several hundreds of whom were destroyed in its waters; children were sentenced to death, for the faith and loyalty of their parents; and those, whose infancy had sheltered them from the fire of the soldiery, were bayoneted as they clung about the knees of their destroyers.

The

moral and social ties were torn assunder. For a man to accuse his own father, was declared to be an act of civism, worthy of a true republican; and to neglect it, was pronounced a crime that should be punished with death. Women denounced their husbands, and mothers their sons, as traitors. The kingdom appeared to be changed into one great prison; and the inhabitants converted into felons. To contemplative men, it seemed for a season, as if the knell of the whole nation was tolled, and the world summoned to its execution and its funeral. Within the short period of ten years, not less than three millions of human beings are supposed to have perished in that single country, by the influence of atheism."*

In consequence of departing from the laws of God, the nation suffered severe judge

*Horne's Introduction.

ments, and many of the advocates of this gloomy sentiment, lived the most unholy lives, and left the world in wretchedness and despair.

The Almighty will not hold guiltless, nations or individuals, who are not subject to his moral government. But, the great reason given by the apostle, in the context, why mankind should be in subjection "unto the Father of spirits," is, that he corrects us for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. His chastisements are salutary, designed for the welfare and happiness of all his subjects. Our heavenly Father does not punish the transgressor for the sake of punishing alone; He visits him in judgement, not to gratify a feeling of revenge. He has a high and merciful motive in view; it is for the good of the sinner that the "Holy One" visits him in judgement. This is susceptible of the clearest proof, from the testimony afforded in the volume of divine truth. Hence, it is declared, "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his evil way, and live." Ezek. xxxiii. 1. "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always