Once banished to that place, and the wicked will be for ever damned; throughout the ages of eternity they will be growing, not better, but worse and still worse, more infernal, more fiendlike, more furious: progressing in sin, progressing in misery, progressing in blasphemy; there, there will be ever an increase of torment, because ever a cause of torment; there, the children of perdition will ever revile and reproach each other; there, all pleasurable anticipations will be for ever banished; the bright star of hope will be for ever eclipsed; then will be fulfilled that scripture which saith, "I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh, when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me."

Who thinks that he shall go to hell? Scarcely a sinner in Christendom. Nevertheless, there are millions already there, and there are millions more travelling the downward road as fast as time and sensual delights can carry them; the characters threatened in the word of God are "the wicked, and all the nations that forget God." Nations are composed of families and individuals. Elsewhere it is said, "I will pour out my fury upon the heathen that know me not, and upon the families that call not on my name,"-not only abandoned and profligate sinners; these dying in a state of impenitency have their destiny branded on their foreheads; but there are other wicked, who are as sure to be damned as the openly profane, who not only deceive others by their apparent righteousness, but frequently deceive themselves; many who attend the house and ordinances of God, and engage in his

worship, but from wrong motives, and with wrong ends in view; many do this, thinking thereby to be saved from suffering, while they have no desire to be saved from sinning.

I would caution the reader to be more afraid of sin than of hell, and I give this caution because sin dishonours God, hell does not; God will be honoured upon sinners, either in their redemption or their condemnation.

It is but a

I would ask, what think you of hell? very faint outline of those torments that I am able to place before you, nothing like a full prospect of the place. It is said of the pleasures at the right hand of God, that eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, the exceeding greatness of that glory; and the same words are applicable to the punishments that are prepared for the wicked; eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the fearfulness thereof. Sinner, didst thou ever tremble at the manifestations of the power of God? Dost thou ever remember being alarmed at the sound of God's thunder, although dwelling in perfect safety? And how canst thou think with apathy and indifference on his eternal vengeance? You remember the account of the terror in which the Israelites were at Mount Sinai, when the Lord descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly; and the sound of the trumpet waxed louder and louder,-you remember that this fear and terror was upon them at the giving of the law-what then shall be the thunder of his power when the righteous lawgiver cometh to punish sinners for breaking his laws, and for rejecting his offers of mercy, of reconciliation,

through the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ? Think of the terrors of a guilty conscience then! Think, what will that dreadful feeling be when a sinner finds himself in hell-feels himself damned? Oh, think of this NOW! If in the day of vengeance the righteous be scarcely saved, oh, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

Now, we are out of hell! Blessed be God, we are not yet damned! Nor need we be; salvation is still within our reach; a crown of glory that fadeth not away is yet offered to us, and who is there that will not take some pains to secure it? who that will not bestir themselves to escape the place of torment? who that is so intent upon making provision for this life, that he has not time to make provision for his soul? Who, after attending to this fearful subject, can leave it a trifler? Who will henceforward live without prayer? Who can wilfully indulge in one sin, or who so mad as to postpone the day of repentance to a time that may never come? Can any one be found who desires, deliberately desires, damnation? that is the individual who will procrastinate repentance, and trifle with the mercies of Jehovah.

There may be many who read these pages that are not far from an eternal state,-many young persons, as well as many aged; behold, the axe is now laid to the root of the tree, and another stroke may fell it! We have all felt pains of body, more or less; the symptoms of disease and death occasionally shew themselves; and if we postpone a preparation, we are liable to be cut down before that preparation is made; and in that event we shall do well to recollect that pain or suffering here will not exempt us from the torments of hell hereafter.

Sinner, flee from the wrath to come, take hold of

eternal life, embrace the offers of mercy made to you in the gospel through Jesus Christ, flee to a throne of grace, be instant and urgent in prayer, take no rest day nor night until the salvation of your soul is ensured, lest in the end you should be doomed to the caverns of the damned, there to be for ever tossing in the burning surges of that sea of trouble, day and night, without rest, for ever. Consider this, ye who forget God, lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

THE HAPPY VALLEY.

A BELIEVER needs no other proof than a review of his life to satisfy himself that this is not his rest. "Man is of few days, and full of trouble;" afflictions seem to burst from the ground on every side and at every footstep. "Sighs would sooner fail than cause to sigh." He may truly exclaim, with Job, "God hath tried me; he hath compassed me with his net; he hath fenced up my way, that I cannot pass; he hath set darkness in my paths; he hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head; he hath destroyed me on every side; mine hope hath he removed like a tree; he hath put mine acquaintance into darkness; but when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." The observer of God's dealings with his children may frequently have witnessed the fulfilment of the concluding condition of the promise-" Ye shall receive an hundred fold now in this life; houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions."

And where is the follower of Jesus who may be living in the enjoyment of domestic happiness and felicity, and does not find an Achan in the camp? or, if blessed with children, has not among them an Absalom? or a wife who does not often prove to be a

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