And, surely, if you will glance back at the opening part of this little work, and survey the scriptural testimonies, there adduced, you must feel convinced that you cannot be said to follow Scripture on this subject, if you do not give to the second coming of the Son of God a strongly-marked prominence, in your system of divine truth and teaching; as the blessed hope, on which the Holy Spirit has revealed expressly His will that the believer's eye should be continually fixed, in faith and desire. You cannot be said to follow Scripture, if you do not prominently hold up this blessed hope before the believer's view, to stimulate him to the most unwearied exertions in the Saviour's service; that, thus, his blood-bought crown of glory may shine, with resplendent lustre, in the day of Christ's appearing-to keep him in a constant habitude of holy preparation of heart and life, as not knowing the day, or hour, when his Lord may come-and to comfort him, amidst all his trials and tribulations, whether arising from persecution, or any of the manifold sources of sorrow, of which our world is overflowingly full, by the cheering prospect of the everlasting joy and gladness, that shall rest upon him, (both as to his glorified body, and glorified spirit,) when the Lord he loves shall come in His glory, to fill him and all his fellowsaints with the fulness of joy, in the presence of a Saviour-God, in that promised day of the full glory of the Church triumphant, when all its glorified members, the multitude which no man could number, shall be assembled round the Redeemer's throne; and, while casting their crowns, in grateful adoration, at His feet, shall all unite their voices in that everlasting song of joyful praise-" Unto Him that loved us, and hath washed us from our sins in His own blood, and made us kings and priests unto God, even the Father, be glory, and honour, and blessing, and power, for ever and ever! Amen! and Amen!"

CHAPTER XIV.

CONCLUDING ADDRESS.

READER! who hast travelled so far in company with me-I cannot say farewell, without offering you a few parting words of affectionate advice, which I earnestly pray God to accompany with His blessing to your soul!

What may be your rank, condition, or circumstances, I know not; whether your lot is cast among the high-born, or the humble, in society-whether riches or poverty is your portion-whether your path through life is bright with the sunshine of earthly happiness or overshadowed with the gloom of earthly sorrow all this, reader, is unknown to me; but one thing I know, concerning you, in comparison of which these distinctions are the veriest trifles-you are a traveller to eternity-an heir of immortality-an immortality, (oh, most awful thought!) either of inconceivable bliss or woe; and, therefore, as a fellow-immortal, I cannot but feel deeply interested in your eternal welfare!

What, too, may be your religious views or character I know not; but as I think it most improbable that a professing infidel would read this little work, I feel myself warranted in assuming, that I may address you as a professing Christian!

A professing Christian! Oh, what a tremendous weight of responsibility-including consequences of infinite importance, that will extend through everlasting ages-do these two words involve !

Give heed unto me, I solemnly conjure you, and may God the Holy Spirit, dispose you to lay my words seriously to heart.

As a professing Christian, you profess to believe, that He," who in the beginning was with God, and was God," and by whom all things in heaven and earth were made, was Himself, in His love for you and to accomplish your salvation, made flesh; and that He tabernacled on earth as a Man, even a Man of Sorrows, for your sake-submitting to poverty, that you might be made eternally rich-to humiliation, that you might be exalted to eternal glory—to the most agonizing sufferings, that you might rejoice with everlasting joy to an accursed death, that you might inherit everlasting life!

You profess to believe, that by this sublime display of self-sacrificing love, the Son of God has earned an unquestionable right, as your Redeemer, in addition to that which inalienably belonged to Him, as your Creator, to be enthroned in your heart, as the object of its supreme affections, and that His glory should be the paramount aim of your whole life-a rightful claim on whose undivided devotedness to His service He has purchased, at the costly price of His own blood!

You profess also to believe, that He exhibited, in His character, all the perfections of the Godhead, softened down to human apprehension, by being manifested in the person of One, who was "found in fashion as a man," a perfect participator of every essential attribute, every sinless infirmity, of human nature—that thus He left you an example, that you should follow His steps, walking even as He walked; having the

Spirit of Christ; putting on the Lord Jesus; and be ing, in all things, conformed to the image of the Son of God!

You profess, further, to believe, that this same blessed Being, who, above eighteen hundred years ago, died on the cross for your redemption, is now seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, where He ever liveth to make intercession for you: and that He will come again, (perhaps very soon-certainly what, in the light of eternity, may be called, coming quickly,) to be seated on a great white Throne-a Throne of judgment-to call you, as one of His professing servants, before that judgment seat; to require from you an account of the talents He has entrusted to your charge, that they should be employed for His own glory; and according to the result of that solemn investigation, to pass on you a final irrevocable sentence, the consequence of which will be, either your inheriting a kingdom of eternal glory, or being cast into the lake that burneth with fire unquenchable.

You profess yet further to believe, that it is God, the Holy Ghost, who can alone impart to you spiritual life, and, when imparted, sustain, strengthen, and preserve it to life everlasting-can alone enthrone in your heart a Saviour's love, and enable you to walk in a Saviour's footsteps-alone make you more than conqueror over all your spiritual enemies, and carry on triumphantly the work of sanctification in your soul— and thus, by renewing you in the divine image, and bringing every appetite and affection, every principle and passion, into a holy subjection to the divine will, make you meet for the service of a Saviour-God on earth, and His presence in Heaven, to enjoy there an everlasting inheritance among His saints in light!

All this is involved in your being a professing Christian. Whether you really believe all this, is known only, perhaps, to your own heart, and the

heart-searching God; but, by the simple fact that you are not a professing infidel, you stand forth, before man and God, a professing believer in the truth of all I have asserted, and from the consequences, the eternal consequences of this profession, you can never escape.

You may never have given the subject one hour's serious consideration-but this does not, in the smallest degree, alter the state of the case or diminish, to the amount of a single atom, the weight of tremendous responsibility that is lying upon you, and which you cannot shake off; as your forgetfulness of the obligations, in which you are involved by the profession of Christianity, cannot induce a corresponding forgetfulness, on the part of God, or a relinquishment of His righteous claims to the supreme-yea, the entire devotedness of your time, talents, soul, body, heart, and life.

Let me, then, dear reader, ask you, in all Christian faithfulness and affection, a few plain simple questions, growing out of this view of the case.

Honestly speaking, do you really love the Savicur? Glancing back at what you profess to believe of His love for you, you will, I am sure, admit, He has strong claims on your love-your grateful love. Do you feel any towards Him? Any such feelings as you would not be ashamed to call love, if an earthly friend were the object, to whom they were offered? Surely you cannot think of offering Him less! Surely there can be no satisfactory reason assigned, why you should love the Almighty Friend, who died for you, less than any other friend, or why He should be the only friend, you do not love at all. At least the reason cannot be, that He has done less for you, or is less worthy of your love!

Do you, then, in any rational sense of the words, love the Saviour? Do you feel any pleasure in thinking of Him-in meditating on all you profess to be