As to those who are arrived at a state of manhood or old age, without having ever seriously considered the purposes for which they were born, the natural relation in which they stand to the God who made them, the providential dispensation of religion under which they live, the trial which they are to undergo, and the unalterable condition consequent thereon; surely it behoves them to be negligent no longer in a matter of such unspeakable importance, but resolutely and speedily to withdraw themselves from the din and tumult of the world, from the business and the pleasure of this short dream of existence, and to meditate again and again on things respecting their everlasting peace.

It is a shame for Men who are born in a Christian country to continue Pagans; to have no clearer conceptions of the Deity, no sublimer Piety, no warmer philanthropy, no purer morality, no better hopes of futurity, than if they had never heard of the name of Christ: Wo unto them! it will be more tolerable for

the

the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for them.

God forbid that in the excess of our zeal we should presume to circumscribe the extent of the divine mercy; we sincerely

pray that it may embrace every human

Being; but as faithful Stewards of God's word, it is our duty to preach the Gospel with sincerity, without studying to render it suitable to men's finite faculties, or palatable to their wayward humours, by concealing any part of it's doctrines; and what the doctrine of the Gospel is with respect to those who reject Christianity when offered to their consideration, you will judge from the words of Christ himself-Go, said he to his disciples after his resurrection, Go ye into all the world, preach the Gospel to every creature : he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And in another place it is said, "He that be"lieveth on the Son hath everlasting life: "but he that believeth not the Son shall

66

not see life; but the wrath of God abideth

on

him." If then the attainment of eternal life, and the avoidance of God's wrath, be matters of consequence, the receiving or the rejecting of the Christian Religion cannot be, what some unhappily think them to be, matter of Indifference.

May God grant that the number of those amongst us, who negligently and fastidiously, and triumphantly as it were, though to their ruin, reject the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, may be diminished every day! and for this end may all serious and well-disposed persons, of every rank

and denomination, exert their best endeavours; and especially may the Ministers of that Gospel double their diligence, in cautioning the inconsiderate, in repressing the forward, in silencing the disputer, in abashing the scorner, in reclaiming the reprobate, in confirming the wavering, in winning men over to Christ, not only by the purity of their doctrines, but by the unshaken probity and true Christian simplicity of their lives.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX.

THE observation which was made in the beginning of this discourse-that our Forefathers held the Christian Religion in an higher degree of estimation than we do-is true, we fear, with respect to the great mass of the people; but we hope and think that it is not true with respect to the most enlightened part of it, the Legislature of the Country: our Ancestors, if they had not the guilt of introducing, certainly had the demerit of encouraging, and by Law establishing, a very nefarious and unchristian traffick, which, a year ago, the Legislature reprobated and put an end to. You perceive that I allude to the Abolition of the Slave Trade. I delivered my sentiments on this great subject, in my place in Parliament; but I cannot think it out of season to touch upon here. The principles of Christianity are never out of season; the oftener they are repeated,

it

repeated, the better will they be remembered, and the better they are remembered, the more will they be practised; and on the practice of them depends, not that which Men so eagerly aspire after, an increase of wealth or honour, but an increase of peace of mind, and of hope in God.

Men of mercy and humanity! bear with me, I beseech you, for a moment, whilst I congratulate this Audience on an Event more deserving your applause than the most splendid Victory in the most just and necessary War. It is in fact a noble victory over the worst Enemies of human kind, over the Passions which afflict and degrade our Species, over mercantile cupidity and individual inhumanity.

Believers in the providence of God! "who hath made of one blood all nations," bear with me, if I cannot descend from this holy place without humbly offering up praises and thanksgivings to the Almighty, for having by his Holy Spirit influenced the King, and the great Council of the Nation, to finish that mighty work of Christian