geon? Whether it shall be in the centre of the earth, or in some blazing comet, or far beyond the limits of this lightsome world, where chaos and eternal darkness reign-KE only knows, before whom hell and destruction hath no covering. No thoughts can reach, no words can paint the horrors of this dreary region, where the miserable inhabitants drink of the wrath of the Almighty, and know by dreadful experience what is the power of his anger. Waving the metaphorical descriptions of darkness, worms, and fire; there dwells the most restless and unsatisfied desire; the most overwhelming shame; the most horrible fear; the most dismal sorrow; the most tormenting envy; the most unrelenting hardness of heart; and the most racking despair.

They hunger, but there is no food to relieve their appetite; they thirst, but there is no refreshing fountain, nor even a cooling drop. Should sensual appetites remain, they never can be gratified. As heathen poets sung of Tantalus, burning with thirst and hunger; gladly would he snatch at the delicious apples hanging over his head, or steal a cooling draught of water that came up to his chin but no sooner did he make the fruitless attempt, than the apples fled from his grasp, and the waters from his taste.

So shall they snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and they shall eat on the left, and shall not be satisfied; they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm."

How will the impropriety of their past conduct expose them to the bitter taunts of insulting devils, and to the painful upbraidings of their own hearts!Fools that we were, for one morsel of meat to sell our heavenly birthright for such transitory delights; for such little sips of polluted joys, to awaken these everlasting flames?

What fearfulness and trembling shall come upon them, when they behold, the angry face of God clad with an everlasting frown! Who can behold it, and not be sore amazed! Even the Son of God did sweat

great drops of blood when he beheld it. How then shall these feeble creatures endure !

Lo! heaven shuts its everlasting doors upon them, while their minds are haunted with the ghastly apparitions of their departed joys. How keen must be the sorrow how cutting the anguish of such a thought I have eternally lost the incomparable happiness of yonder blessed abodes. Where are ye now my pleasing comforts! How have you fled away as a vision of the night.

Nor will it be a small part of their misery, to en vy the prosperity of the righteous, when they shall seize their heavenly thrones, and tune their harps to strains of highest rapture. When "their horn shall be exalted with honor, the wicked shall see it, and be grieved: he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away."

O shocking to think they will eternally hate the eternal Excellency, because they are hated of him. No more shall the divine Spirit excite the faintest motion in their minds towards God, or holiness The iron sinew of their stubborn will, will grow more hard by these fierce flames. They may indeed repent, but their repentance worketh death.

Here hope supports under the greatest pressures; but there that anchor shall be broken. Here the sons of sorrow will sometimes sink in soft repose; the couch will ease their complaint; and kind offcious friends will fall on various methods to blunt the edge of the sharpest pain. Even the tortured wretch, though dying hard and slow, may comfort himself with this, that his torments will shortly come to an end.But these can hope for no respite, nor period of their

woes.

How would it stamp a bow in their cloud, to think there were an end! but in vain, should they shed an ocean of tears, and stretch out their suppliant hands. Death will flee from them, consigning them to flat despair. Have pity upon them, O ye their friends. Will no affectionate relation shed a compassionate tear?

Alas! the father will not pity his children, and the mother will have no compassion on the son of her womb, for they sing hallelujah, when the smoke of their torment ascendeth for ever and ever.

Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked: and this is the place of him that knoweth not God. O my soul! envy not their momentary happiness, come not into their secret, be not united unto their assembly.How much better is it for thee to strive to enter in at the strait gate, with these happy few that find it, than to go with the multitude in the broad way that leadeth unto destruction? Canst thou fly too fast from hell and damnation ? Canst thou be too careful to avoid those paths, which, though strewed with roses, lead down to the chambers of death? Whether is it better thy flesh should murmur, or thy soul should perish? O that knowing these terrors of the Lord, our whole life might be one constant flight from the wrath that is to come! How miserable are they who will not be persuaded of the reality of everlasting torments, by all the threatenings of the word, when it is declared by the faithful and true witness, "if they will not believe Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one should arise from the dead."

ON THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN.

GLORIOUS things are spoken of thee, O city of God! and of those happy beings who walk thy golden streets, and dwell in thy ivory palaces.-They are all of them kings and priests unto God.

Hail, ye highly favored of the Lord, ye nations of them that are saved! Now have ye received power over the nations of numerous corruptions, and rule them with a rod of iron.-A crown not of flowers, which fade, not of gold, which is also a corruptible thing; but of glory, or righteousness, of life, shall flourish on your heads. The throne of Christ himself

receives you. Eternal shall be your triumph, ye happy victors, who have more than conquered. Therefore are ye arrayed in white robes, with palms in your hands, and songs of salvation in your mouths. The Lord is your inheritance, ye royal priesthood. By Jesus Christ your altar, shall you offer up the sacrifices of praise continually. You shall go no more out from the heavenly temple, as did the legal priests below; for he shall make you as the pillars of Jachin and Boaz in the temple of your God.-In what flowery paths, by what living waters, shall the Lamb in the midst of the throne conduct you, ye flock of his pasture, for whom your good Shepherd did give his very life! Under what verdant shades shall you repose, where the sun shall not light on you, nor any heat! O happy rest from sin and sorrow into which ye have entered, ye people of God! No more shall ye weary yourselves in the greatness of your way.→ Your understanding shall rest in the contemplation of truth; your wills in the fruition of good. Every wish is crowned, every desire is gratified by God himself, your exceeding great reward. Plentiful feast to which ye are invited, where ye feed upon the hidden manna, and taste that the Lord is good. No more shall pale famine approach your blessed abodes, who are called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb. O blissful vision to which you are admitted! No more ye see through a glass darkly. Not the back parts only, but the face and similitude of the Lord shall you behold.All ye beholding, with open face, this glory of the Lord, shall be satisfied and sanctified at once. With joy, and in righteousness, shall you see his face.— But, O thou exceeding great and eternal weight of glory! Eye hath not seen thee, ear hath not heard thee, heart hath not conceived. What tongue, what pen of angels can describe thee? Therefore by such variety of metaphors art thou shadowed out in the book of God.

O heavenly Father! give me the light of the knowledge of thy glory. Irradiate my mind, 0 di

vine Spirit that in thy light I may know what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.

sures.

As delicious meat unto the taste; as fragrant perfume unto the smell; as melodious accents to the ear; as delightful colors to the eye; so is the knowledge of wisdom unto the soul. But, where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? In vain you search for it in these dull regions. Here, with laborious assiduity, we dig for her as for hid treaWhen found, by many a painful effort, how far from satisfactory? Neither do we find that knowledge is productive of holiness in heart and life. How many, like that prodigious image which Daniel beheld in the visions of the night, have added feet of sordid clay to heads of purest gold? But in that happy country, the night of intellectual darkness no more attends her dusky shade. The tree of knowledge is the tree of life in the celestial paradise. Then each mysterious doctrine in religion shines brighter than the light, and full day pours on all the paths of heaven.How are the channels of the deep waters discovered, through which the Almighty held his darksome way?

Sin too is banished from those bright abodes; for the people that dwell there shall be all righteous. No more shall the body of sin, and power of indwelling corruption, fetch the deep groan from the bottom of the heart. That root of bitterness which hereabouts was left, with bands of iron and brass, is quite extirpated. No more shall Jacob and Esau struggle in the womb of the sanctified ones; nor the law in the members war against the law of the mind. It is true the militant graces shall resign, when every enemy lies prostrate on the field. Victorious faith and hope now enter into rest. But charity never faileth. Charity, which is the fulfilling of the law, shall burn in purest flames for ever and ever. Happy, thrice happy they who have attained this holy perfection. Your harps shall be always tuned, and your garments always white. Now are ye eased of your greatest burden, and rescued from the hands of your deadliest foe. No more