re-ge-ne-ra-ti-on re-pre-sen-ta-ti-on” Sanc-ti-fi-ca-ti-on fig-ni-fi-ca-ti-on fpi-ri-tu-a-li-ty Tranf-fi-gu-ra-ti-on Un-cir-cum-ci-fi-on u-ni-ver-fa-li-ty Being an Addrefs to Children from the Confideration of a good Education. HAVING gone through what I thought neceffary relating to your Duty to God, your Neighbour, and Yourself, I fhall now conclude all I F 3 have i have to offer with a proper Inference from the Whole. If, then, my good Child, the Divine Goodnefs vouchfafes you the Means of Inftruction, the Benefit of a religious Education, confider what Return you should make for such an inestimable Advantage. How fhould it raise your Devotion, and fill your Heart as well as Mouth, with daily Praife and Thanksgiving unto God! If to receive an early Tincture of Piety and Religion be of fo great Advantage, fo conducive to the Glory of God, and your own prefent and future Felicity; how cautious, how watchful, how diligent and circumfpect fhould you be! how careful to preferve your Innocence; how induftrious to avoid the Snares of a wicked World! The greater Advantages you receive, the greater will be your Obligation; the more Opportunity you have of learning and knowing your Duty, the more ftrictly will the Practice of it be required at your Hands: For, to whomfoever much is given, of him fhall much be required. The Servant that knew his Mafter's Will, but did it not, was beaten with many Stripes; and if, after the Advantages you have of knowing your Duty, you wilfully forget to practife it, or obftinately perfift in a vicious Courfe, how horrible will be your Guilt! how fevere your Doom! how intolerable your Punishment! Happy, infinitely happy, in Comparifon, had it been for you never to have been born, never to have known the Way of Righteousnefs, than, after you have known it, to turn from the holy Commandments, and wilfully tranfgrefs your Duty. Better, far better, will it fare with thofe, who never had the Benefit of Inftruction, who never had the Means of a virtuous Education, than with fuch who, under thofe happy Circumftances, impigufly abuse and pervert it. How wretched, how difmal, how deplorable, will their Condition be! Horrible will be heir Crime, and terrible their Punishment. Curfing, inftead inftead of Bleffing, will be their Doom; Mifery, inftead of Happiness, will be their Portion; Wrath will be treasured up against the Day of Wrath; Judgment will be pronounced without Mercy; and they will be for ever configned over to that difmal Pit, that burning Lake, prepared for the Devil and his Angels; where there will be nothing but Weeping, Wailing, and Gnathing of Teeth; where wicked Men and damned Souls will be their Companions; where Devils and all the Furies of Darkness will be their Tormentors. This, this will be the Condition of thofe who forget God, who lead a wicked and impenitent Courfe of Life. And is not this enough to perfuade you, is not this enough to deter you from the Commiffion of Sin, to engage you in a Courfe of Piety and Religion, and to make you tremble at the Thoughts of a wicked Action? Sure I am, if this be not, I know not what is: For, if the Terrors of the Lord will not reftrain you, if theThreatening of extreme Vengeance will not dissuade you, no Argument nor Confideration will move or affect you. But, that I may be wanting in nothing, and that I may discharge my Duty by encouraging the Virtuous, as well as by difcouraging the Vicious, let me add that Recompence, that glorious Recompence, which God, who cannot lye, hath promifed, and will, agreeably to his holy Purpofe, beftow on all thofe who, by a patient Continuance in Well-doing, feek for Glory and everlafting Felicity, that Reward of Inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, referved in Heaven for those who, by a Perfeverance in their Duty, wait for Glory, Honour, and Immortality. This, my good Child, will be fufficient Recompence for all your Endeavours, for all the Pains and Difficulties you run through, or may probably ftruggle or contend with; when for the Sufferings of a few, very few Years, you fhall be rewarded with immortal Glory Glory in Heaven, and there for ever dwell with that bleffed Society, who, from their Praifes and Ado-" rations upon Earth, are tranflated to the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God, and are now, and will be for ever, glorifying his Name, finging Hallelujah to the King of Heaven, and unto the Lamb that fitteth upon the Throne for ever and ever.. IF GOD's Judgment upon the Wicked. From Scripture. F thou wilt not hearken unto the Voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and do all his Commandments, curfed fhalt thou be when thou goeft out. The Lord fhall fend upon thee Curfing, Vexation, and Rebuke, in all that thou settest thy Hand unto for to do, because of the Wickedness of thy Doings, whereby thou haft forfaken him. Thou shalt not profper in thy Ways; neither shall thy Subftance. continue; neither fhalt thou prolong the Perfection of it upon the Earth. The Wicked are reserved for the Day of Deftruction : They fhall be turned into Hell, where the Worm dieth not, and the Fire is not quenched. Then the Unbelieving, the Abominable, and Murderers, and Whoremongers, and. Idolaters, and Liars, and whosoever is not found written in the Book of Life, fhall be cast into the Lake of Fire, where they shall be tormented with Fire and Brimftone; and they thall have no Reft Day nor Night, and the Smoke of their Torment afcendeth up for ever. Confider this, ye that forget God, left Judgment and Juftice take hold of you, and there be none to deliver: For it is a fearful Thing to fall into the Hands of the living God. The The Glorious Rewards of the Righteous. TH From Scripture. HE Righteous fhall hold on in his Way, and be ftronger and ftronger, and they that love the Lord fhall be as the Sun, when he goeth forth in his Light. The juft Man walketh in his Integrity; his Children. are bleed after him. The Generation of the Upright fhall be bleffed. Thou shalt make thy Prayer unto Him, and he shall hear thee: Thou fhalt alfo decree a Thing, and it shall be established unto thee; and the Light shall shine upon thy Ways. Bleffed fhalt thou be when thou comeft in, and bleffed fhalt thou be when thou goeft out; for the Righteous fhall fhine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father, and they that be wife fhall fhine as the Brightness of the Firmament, and they that turn many unto Righteousnefs, as the Stars for ever and ever. WORDS of the fame Sound, but differently spelled. |