AND thefe fhall go away into everlasting Punishment; but the Righteous into Life eternal, Matt. xxv. 46.

No Appeal, no Remedy, to all Eternity no End to the Punishment of thofe, whose final Impenitence manifefts in them, as it were, an eternal Will and Defire to Sin. By dying in a fettled Oppofition to God they caft them. felves into a Neceffity of continuing in an eternal Averfion to Him. The Eternity of the Torment of the Damned proceeds from the infinite Dignity of the GOD who is offended; the Eternity of the Happiness of the Blessed from the infinite Goodness of Him who confers it upon them. Life! which art nothing but pure Life and Joy; not the Joy of the World, but that fubftantial Joy, of which GOD alone is the Source, the Object, and the End. O may I have nothing at Heart but Thee! may I feek nothing elfe during this mortal Life!

Moftgracious, moft tremendous Lord, The Sentence which proceeds from thee For Punishment, or for Reward, Muft ftand thro' all Eternity:

O eternal

Our States affign'd by wrath, or love, Shall neither Change,nor Period know, But long as Saints rejoice above, Unhappy Souls fhall howl below.

AND from that Time he fought Opportunity to betray him,

Matt. xxvi. 16.

Men seldom leave a Crime imperfect. Unhappy he, who engages himself therein, for want of refifting the smallest Beginnings!--- We are but too faithful to the World, and generally keep our Word with it, at the Expence of all. What has God done to us, that He is the only Perfon with whom we break it! Opportunities of finishing Sin are feldom wanting when a Man feeks them: The Devil is too vigilant not to present them. Would to God, that Men were as diligent and faithful in seeking and embracing Opportunities to difengage themselves from Šin, to break off all Familiarity with the Wicked, and to renounce every dangerous Conversation.

Thy piercing Eye, O God, furveys
The various Windings of our Ways;
Teach us their Tendency to know,
And judge the Paths in which we go.

How wild, how crooked have they been!
A Maze of Foolishness and Sin!
With all the Light we vainly boast,
Leaving our Guide, our Souls are loft.

AN

ND as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you fhall betray me, Matt. xxvi. 21.

Prudence and Love require that we should use the greatest Sinners tenderly to the laft; admonishing without discovering them. God does this continually, leaving the most impious Perfons unknown. --- Lord, thou feeft in my wretched Will the Principle of all Sorts of Infidelity and Treachery; but Thou canst reftrain it by thy own Holy and Almighty Will; Do it, O Jefus, out of thy Mercy and Goodness.

I too have done the fame,
Profeffing to be thine,
Expofing to Contempt the Name,
And Work, and Caufe divine:

Thou view'ft us with a pitying Eye,
While struggling with our Load;
In Pains and Dangers thou art nigh,
Our Father and our God.

Yet for my treacherous Kifs

Thou wilt no more reprove;
But pardon'ft all I did amifs,

With a kind Kifs of Love.

Gently fupported by thy Love,
We tend to Realms of Peace;
Where every Pain shall far remove,
And every Frailty cease.

A

ND they were exceeding forrowful, and began every one of them to fay unto him, Lord, Is it I? Matt. xxvi. 22.

It is natural to upright Perfons to fear, left fome Sin should lie hid in their Hearts, without their knowing it. --- A Man ought always to think himself more fubject to fall than others; because every one best knows his own Weakness, and has Reafon to apprehend every Thing from his own Infidelity.. There is a Sorrow of Forefight, as well as of Repentance. Can a Man who reflects on his own corrupt Heart, and fees Temptation approaching, forbear fighing and being grieved at the Danger of lofing his God, to which he is continually expofed. Lord, grant I may hold faft my Confidence firm unto the End.

Saviour, thou feeft the Fear, Which haunts me Night and Day, My Heart fo weak, my Sin fo near, Shall I not Thee betray?

Ah! do not let me live,
To caufe the dire Offence,
Rather this Inftant now forgive,

And fnatch me fpotlefs hence.

ND he answered and faid, He that dippeth his Hand with A me me in the Dish, the fame shall betray me, Matt. xxvi. 23. Judas, admonished the fecond Time, and that more plainly than before, is not at all affected thereby. When a Heart is once hardened, it has no longer any Ears to hearken to Admonitions. The Multiplying of Benefits does but give it a new Occafion of refifting more obftinately the Goodness of God. --- It is the Property of Hardness of Heart to make us, like Judas, deaf, obdurate, and insensible, without perceiving that we are so.

So frail is Man! fo frail are we
When unfupported, Lord, by Thee;

Thus fhrinks our Faith, thus droops our Love,
And thus our Vows abortive prove.

Bleft JESUS thine own Pow'r impart,
And bind in Cords of Love my Heart;
The Fugitive no more fhall fee,

But keep thro' Death his hold of Thee.