defenceless Heads, or pointed directly at their naked Breafts! How muft the Wretches fcream with wild Amazement, and rend the very Heavens with their Cries, when the right aiming "Thunderbolts go abroad:" Go abroad, with a dreadful Commiffion, to drive them from the Kingdoms of Glory; and plunge them, not into the Sorrows of a Moment, or the Tortures of an Hour, but into all the reftless Agonies of unquenchable Fire, and everlasting Despair *.

MISERY of Miferies! too fhocking for Reflection to dwell upon. But if so dismal to forefee; and that at a Distance; together with some comfortable Expectation of escaping it—O! how bitter, how inconceivably bitter, to bear, without any Intermission, or any Mitigation, through hopeless and eternal Ages!

WHO has any Bowels of Pity?-Who has any Sentiments of Compaffion?Who has any tender Concern for his Fellow-Creatures? Who? In GOD's Name, and for CHRIST's Sake, let Him fhew it, by warning every Man, and befeeching every Man to feck the LORD while He may be found: "To kifs the Son, before his Anger is "kindled:"

* Regions of Sorrow, doleful Shades, where Peace
And Reft can never dwell; Hope never comes,
That comes to All: but Torture without End
Still urges, and a fiery Deluge, fed

With ever-burning Sulphur unconfum'd.

"kindled:" Submiffively to adore the Lamb, while he holds out the golden Sceptre.-Here, let us act the friendly Part to Mankind: Here, let the whole Force of our Benevolence exert itfelf; in exhorting whomfoever we are likely to influence, to take the Wings of Faith unfeigned, and Repentance undelayed, and " flee away from "this Wrath to come."

UPON the Whole; What ftupendous Difcoveries are these ! Lay them up in a faithful Remembrance, O my Soul. Recollect them with the most serious Attention, when thou lieft down, and when thou rifeft up. When thou walkeft, receive them for thy Companions; when thou talkeft, liften to them as thy Prompters; and whatever thou doft, confult them as thy Directors. Influenced by these Confiderations, thy Views will greaten, thy Affections be exalted, and thou thyself raised above the tantalizing Power of perishing Things. Duly mindful of these, it will be the Sum of thy Defires, and Scope of thy Endeavours, to gain the Approbation of that Sovereign Being, who will then fill the Throne, and pronounce the decifive Sentence. Thou wilt fee nothing worth a Wish *, in Comparison * Great Day of Dread, Decifion, and Despair! At Thought of Thee, Lets go its eager Grafp,

H 3

each fublunary With
and quits the World.
Night Thoughts.

parison of having His Will for thy Rule, His Glory for thy Aim, and His Holy Spirit for thy ever-actuating Principle.

WONDER, O Man, be loft in Admiration, at thofe prodigious Events, which are coming upon the Universe: Events, the Greatnefs of which, nothing finite can measure. Such as will caufe whatever is confiderable or momentous, in the Annals of all Generations, to fink into Littleness and Nothing Events (JESUS, prepare us for their Approach; defend us when they take place!) big with the everlasting Fates of all the Living, and all the Dead. I muft fee the Graves cleaving; the Sea teeming; and Swarms unfufpected, Crouds unnumbered, yea, Multitudes of thronging Nations, rifing from both.-I muft fee the World in Flames; must stand at the Diffolution of all terreftrial Things; and be an Attendant on the Burial of Nature.-I muft fee the vaft Expanfe of the Sky, wrapt up like a Scroll; and the incarnate God iffuing forth from Light inacceffible, with Ten thoufand times ten thousand Angels, to judge both Men and Devils.-I must fee the Curtain of Time drop; fee all Eternity disclosed to View; and enter upon a State of Being, that will never, never, have an End.

AND ought I not (let the vaineft Imagination judge; ought I not) to try the Sincerity of my

Faith, and take Heed to my Ways? Is there an Inquiry, is there a Care, of greater, of equal, of comparable Importance?Is not this an infinitely preffing Call, to fee that my Loins are girded about, my Lamp trimmed, and myself dreffed for the Bridegroom's Appearance ?" That, washed in the Fountain opened in my Saviour's Side, and clad with the Marriage-Garment wove by his Obedience; I may "be found in Peace, "unblaneable, and unreproveable."--Otherwife, how fhall I ftand with Boldness, when the Stars of Heaven fall from their Orbs? How fhall I come forth erect and courageous, when the Earth itself reels to-and-fro like a Drunkard * ? How fhall I look up with Joy, and fee my Salvation drawing nigh, when the Hearts of Millions fail for Fear?

Now, Madam, left my Meditations set in a Cloud, and leave any unpleafing Gloom upon your Mind; let me once more turn to the brightening Profpects of the Righteous. A View of Them, and their delightful Expectations, may ferve to exbilerate the Thoughts, that have been mufing upon melancholy Subjects, and hovering about the Edges of infernal Darkness: Juft as a spacious Field, arrayed in chearful Green, relieves and reinvigorates the Eye, that has fatigued itself by H 4 poring

* Ifai. xxiv. 20,

poring upon fome minute, or gazing upon some glaring Object.

THE Righteous feem to lie by, in the Bosom of the Earth, as a wary Pilot in fome well-fheltered Creek; till all the Storms which infeft this lower World, are blown over. Here they enjoy fafe Anchorage; are in no Danger of foundering amidst the Seas of prevailing Iniquity, or of being fhipwreck'd on the Rocks of any powerful Temptation. But, ere-long, we shall behold them hoisting their Flag of Hope; riding before a Sweet Gale of atoning Merit, and redeeming Love; till they make, with all the Sails of an affured Faith, the bleffed Port of eternal Life.

THEN may the honoured Friend, to whom I am writing, rich in good Works, rich in Heavenly Tempers, but inexpreffibly richer in her Saviour's Righteousness-O! may She enter the Harbour, like a gallant stately Vessel, returned fuccessful and victorious from fome grand Expedition, with Acclamations, Honour, and Joy! While my little Bark, attendant on the Solem-. nity, and a Partaker of the Triumph, glides humbly after and both reft together in the Haven, the wifh'd for, blifsful Haven, of perfect Security, and everlasting Repose.

The EN D.