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THE CHRISTIAN'S DEPARTURE.

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But O! welcome, ye blessed spirits, that come to convey me to my God! Welcome, my Saviour's gracious call to his abode! Welcome, ye blissful scenes of peace, and love, and joy, and praise! Welcome, heaven! Welcome, everlasting life! § 6. At length your last conflict ends- your pulse stops-to beat no more for everyour last hour comes- -and goes—and you have done with the world for ever. Your tongue is silent-your eyes are closed. -the silver cord is loosed, and the golden bowl is broken-surrounding friends look not on you, but on your lifeless clay — the soul is gone-gone to other scenes -to an unchanging, eternal world. O my young friend! dark and dismal as this hour appears to the eye of sense, if you are found in Jesus it will not be so to you; but when your last painful struggle is over, in a happier world will your departed spirit find that the blessed Jesus did not forget the kindness of your youth. Then will your triumphs begin. Others may hear your parting groan, your expiring sigh, while you triumphantly pass into your Redeemer's presence. O blessed change, when mortals weep because a friend is dead, but angels exult because a friend has entered real life! Those who loved you may complain, "Alas! our beloved friend is dead today!" But could we hear the words of angels, we might hear" Another heir of glory has now begun to live-another child of sorrow has left all sorrows for eternal joys-the sad chamber of sickness for these blessed mansions of heaven-weeping mortal friends, for Jesus and for God; and now is this happy spirit with the Lord of Glory, who, a few hours ago, was a prisoner in a feeble, diseased, and dying body!"

REFLECTION URGED.

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§ 7. O my youthful reader, if all the other advantages of early piety were to vanish in a moment, surely these should be sufficient to lead you to make humble religion your lasting, only choice. A few hasty years, at longest, must lay you in the dust; but O! think of such an entrance into glory, and of an eternal dwelling there! Think of the joy with which, after a life of humble religion, your spirit would ascend into the presence of your Saviour, even before your forsaken body was committed to the grave, even before your lifeless limbs were stiffened with the cold of death! Think of the congratulations of the holy saints and martyrs that fled to heaven before you, and of their warm welcome on your arrival there! Think of the approving smile of Redeemer and your your God! that smile which would repay in one hour, the labours of ten thousand years. Think of the delightful words, "Come, thou blessed!" Think of the joy with which you would behold the God you loved, and the Saviour you trusted! And O! think of that great day when the divine Redeemer, before an assembled world, would give you the crown of glory, that fadeth not away! Then you, a shining inhabitant of heaven, would see, without concern, the sun turned into darkness, and the moon cease to shine; the stars fall from heaven, and the heavens vanish away; and when the last trumpet shall have proclaimed, that time shall be no more, you might rejoice, that though time had ended, eternity will never end; that though earthly pleasures. proved a dream, heavenly de-. light will endure for ever and ever; and O! you might add, "This eternity, this heaven is mine!" And now, thou God of grace, let not those

230' FUTURE GOOD A MOTIVE FOR EARLY PIETY.

who read these pages be unmoved by motives so powerful, that they should soften even hearts of stone, but by thy spirit make them successful; for without him even these will be urged in vain. Pity the young, that may be careless of these solemn truths; lead them to the Saviour. Then shall they find him their friend in life, in death, and at judgment, and for ever; and Thee their God through endless days. For Jesus's sake, thus bless them, O thou compassionate Lord of all.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE FUTURE HAPPINESS OF THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN, A MOTIVE FOR EARLY PIETY.

§ 1. HAVING, my young friend, endeavoured to persuade you to embrace early religion, by a view of the scenes through which you must pass on this side the grave, let me now beseech you to contemplate the infinitely important scenes beyond that solemn bound of earthly things.

The word of God reveals an awful judgment; but long before its solemn scenes take place; long before the resurrection day, your soul will pass into an endless world. The scripture doctrine is, that immediately after death the spirit passes to a state of glory or wretchedness. Thus Jesus said to the penitent malefactor, "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise;" the apostle spoke of being "absent from the body, and present with the Lord," and Lazarus is represented by the Lord as conducted to heaven; and Dives as

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ENTRANCE ON HEAVEN.

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waking in hell, even while his brethren were living upon earth. But the scriptures also teach us, that neither the happiness of the blest, nor the misery of the lost, will be complete till the day of general judgment. Then the body will rise in a new and immortal form, to partake of the happiness or wretchedness of the soul. Then will the doom of each individual be solemnly and publicly pronounced, and the happiness of the saints perfected, and the misery of the ungodly awfully increased.

§ 2. In the state of intermediate happiness many now rest from their labours. Some of these once wandered in sheep skins and goat skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. Others were sawn asunder, or torn in pieces by wild beasts, or lingered for days in slow fires, or passed through fiercer flames to heaven. Could you ask these, whether what they now enjoy is worth the pains they underwent; "Ah!" they might reply, "ten thousand times more. What we possess, would amply recompense the labours of ten thousand lives, the sufferings of ten thousand ages." If you find an interest in the Lamb of God, you will soon be summoned to join these spirits of the just made perfect; and, when the last conflict is over, with inexpressible delight may you spring upward to eternal rest! How great the change! What new scenes and prospects will that hour present! what new joys inspire! what new treasures unfold! what raptures overwhelm the soul, just landed on that peaceful shore! Is this heaven!" may the newly arrived pilgrim exclaim: "how grovelling were my highest thoughts to this! Are Luke, xvi. 22. John, v, 29. Tim. iv. 14. Rev. xx. 12 2 Thes. i. 6.

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ETERNAL JUDGMENT.

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these the spirits of the just! these the holy angels of light! these my companions for ever! O how despicable was all I ever imagined compared with this! Are these they whose robes were washed in Jesus's blood! Is this their abode for ever, and is this mine! O had I conceived this below, how should I have sighed to leave that dark dungeon, earth! Is this my viour, and is this my God! O insufferable, yet transporting glory! How mean, how worthless is the world I left! yet there are millions grovelling in its dust; and, but for heavenly grace, I might have done so too!" O blessed, inconceivably blessed change for the holy soul, that thus passes from the dismal chamber of sickness to the bright and healthful regions of heaven; from dying pains to boundless bliss; from the converse of sinful mortals to the presence of the infinitely gracious and glorious God; from a contentious, tumultuous world, to endless peace, and rest, and love!

§ 3. Now, for a few moments, turn your thoughts to the day of general judgment; "that day for which all other days were made." That day, while it covers the wicked with confusion, will realize the young Christian's fondest hopes. You must behold all its solemnities. Then God "shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in the body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." "I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.

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