A New Year's Gift! Next Part

Another year now meets you, and invites you to improve it to prepare for eternity; and if you waste it like the past—you may be undone forever. Therefore take Solomon's warning, "Whatever your hand finds to do—do it with all your might; for in the grave, where you are going—there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom!" Ecclesiastes 9:10

These considerations, methinks, must have some weight, both upon slumbering Christians and impenitent sinners—to persuade them to awake out of sleep. I now proceed to a few considerations peculiar to each class.

Upon slumbering saints I would again try the force of the apostolic consideration in my text: "Awake, for now is your salvationnearer than when you believed!" Heaven may be only at the distance of a year or an hour from you! It is, however, certainly nearer today—than ever it was before. As many days as are past—so much the less time have you to groan away in the present life.

And shall you indeed, in so short a time, be imparadised in the bosom of your God? Shall you so soon be done with all the sinsand sorrows which now oppress you? Are your days of warfare with temptation so near a close? Shall you so soon be advanced to all the glory and blessedness of the heavenly state, and be as happy as your glorified nature can bear? Is this indeed the case? And must not the prospect rouse you, and fire your hearts! Is not salvation the thing you have been longing and laboring for? And now, can you slumber—when it is so near? Can you sleep—when the night of life is so far spent, and the dawn of eternal day is ready to shine around you! Can you sleep on the brink of eternity—on the threshold of heaven!

The apostle here intimates—that the near approach of salvation is great cause of great joy to believers! It is a cause of joy—though death lies between, and salvation cannot reach us until we pass through the gloomy valley. Therefore, believers, I may wish you joy—in prospect that you shall soon die! This wretched world shall not be your residence always! Your worst enemies upon earth or in hell—will not be able to confine you here in this world for long—much less forever. You may rejoice in the prospect of your speedy dissolution, because death is not nearer to you—than your salvation! Before your cooling clay is wrapped in its shroud—your glorified souls will be in heaven! You will be striking examples of the truth of Solomon's remark, that "the day of one's death—is better than the day of his birth." Ecclesiastes 7:1. Your death day—will be your birthday, which will introduce you into the world of eternal bliss!

Mortals in their language—will pronounce you "dead"—but angels will shout, "An immortal born! Born to an everlasting life! Born to an eternal crown of glory! Born to a priceless inheritance in heaven—pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay!" And must not the prospect of this glorious day so near—rouse you out of sleep? Can you not watch one hour, or one year? Shalleternal salvation surprise you asleep?

Some of you perhaps are now thinking, "Oh! if I were certain that my salvation is so near—it would even transport me, and inspireme with flaming zeal and unwearied activity! But alas! I am afraid of being deceived. It is true, I cannot but entertain somehumble hope, which the severest trial cannot overthrow. But oh! what if I should be mistaken? This makes me tremble, and shrink back from the prospect of death and eternity!"

This may be the case of many an honest soul. But can this be pleaded as a reason or excuse for carnal security? Alas! can you sleep in such a dreadful suspense? Alas! can you sleep, while you are uncertain what shall become of you through an endless duration? If you have not the sure prospect of salvation to awaken you—methinks the fear of damnation must effectually do it! For it is certain that one or the other is very near you!

Therefore endeavor by close and severe self-examination, to push the matter to some certain outcome. Resolve that you will not spend another day, much less another year—in a state of such dangerous, alarming uncertainty! If this point is not yet determined—it is certainly high time for you to awake out of sleep!

Consider farther, how far your pious improvements, have come short of your own resolutions and expectations, as well as yourobligations. You happy souls, who now enjoy a good hope through grace, recollect the time when you were in a very different and more melancholy condition: the time when your hearts bled with a thousand wounds; when the terrors of the Lord set themselves in array against you—and the thunders of Sinai rung the most alarming peals in your astonished ears; when the arrows of God stuck fast in you—and their poison drank up your spirits; when guilt lay heavy upon your consciences, and sunk you down into the depth of despondency; when you were haunted with alarming apprehensions of divine vengeance night and day; when you went about crying for a Savior, "Oh for a Savior!"—but your cries seem to be in vain!

Oh! what were then your vows and resolutions—if it should please God to deliver you! Did you then expect—that you would fall asleep so soon after your deliverance! Recollect also the happy hour, when the face of a reconciled God first smiled upon you, when Jesus appeared to your minds in all the attractive glories of a Savior—an all-sufficient Savior in a desperate case! When he "delivered your soul from death, your feet from falling, and your eyes from tears;" when he inspired your desponding hearts withhope, and revived you with the heavenly cordials of his love!

Oh! what then were your thoughts and resolutions? How strongly were you bent to make him returns of gratitude! How firmly did you bind yourselves to be his servants forever! But how soon, alas! did you begin to slumber! How far short have you fallen of your vows and promises!

Recollect also what were your expectations at that memorable time. Oh! would you then have believed it, that in the space of ten or twenty years—that you would have made such small progress in your heavenly course, as you have in fact done? Had you not a better hope? But, alas! how are you disappointed! What sorry servants have you been to so good a Master—in comparison of what you expected yourselves to become! And can you bear the thought of slumbering on still? Oh! shall this year pass by like the former? Surely you cannot bear the thought! Therefore awake out of sleep! Rise and work for your God!

Let me conclude my address to you slumbering saints with this advice: Begin this new year by dedicating yourselves afresh to God, and solemnly renewing your covenant with him. Take some hour of retirement, this evening, or as soon as you can. Call yourselves to account for the year past, and all your life. Recollect your various spiritual infirmities, mourn over them, and resolve, in the strength of divine grace—that you will guard against them in the time to come. Examine yourselves both as to the reality of your religion—and as to your proficiency in it. Conclude the whole—by casting yourselves anew upon Jesus Christ, and devotingyourselves for this new year entirely to him; resolved to live more to him than you have hitherto done, and depending upon him to conduct you safely through whatever this year may bring forth, whether prosperity or adversity, whether life or death. This is the true and only means whereby we can attain that eternal happiness, which we ought all to be in pursuit of—that pleasure which will never end!

Let me now address a few considerations to impenitent sinners, peculiarly adapted to them: Consider what a dreadful risk you run—by neglecting the present time. The longer you indulge yourselves in sin—the harder it will be to break off from it; and do you not then run the risk of cementing an eternal union with that deadly evil—sin? The longer you nourish a wicked disposition, the stronger the habits of sin will grow! And are you not in danger of becoming eternal slaves to it? The longer you continue impenitent—the harder your hearts will grow! The oftener you do violence to your consciences—the more insensible they will become! And are you not taking direct ways to confirm yourselves in impenetrable hardness of heart—and contracting a reprobate mind? The more you sin against God, and grieve his Spirit—the more you provoke him to withhold the influences of his grace, and in righteous judgment—to give you up as a hardened reprobate. And dare you run so dreadful a risk as this?

The more time you waste—the greater is your work, and the less your time to perform it. By how much the longer you waste your time—by so much the shorter you make your opportunity for salvation. Alas! the day of your visitation may be drawing fast towards evening—when the things which belong to your peace will be eternally hid from your eyes. Is it not then high time for you to awake out of sleep! Will you rather run such a dreadful risk—than rouse out of your stupid security? Oh! what will be the end of such a foolish course?

Let me deal plainly and without reserve with you, on a point too dangerous to allow of flattery. If you do not now awake, and turn your attention to the concerns of your souls—then it is but too probable that you will still go on in carnal security—and at last perish forever! Blessed be God, this is not certain—and therefore you have no reason to despair. But it is really most probable—and therefore you have great reason to fear. This alarming probability, methinks, must force its evidence upon your own minds, upon principles you cannot reasonably dispute.

You have lived twenty, thirty, forty years, or more—in God's world. You have done much to provoke the almighty God to cast you off! Your sinful habits have grown so strong! Your hearts have become so much hardened through the deceitfulness of sin! You have continually rejected the gospel, and your consciences have become greatly hardened by repeated violence! And the longer you live in this wretched condition—the more and more discouraging it will grow.

I will by no means limit a sovereign God in the exercise of his free grace. But this is evident, that from the human perspective, and according to appearances, it was much more likely you would have been converted in time past, than that you will be converted in time to come. The most hopeful part of life is over with you; and yet even in that, you were not brought to repentance. How much less likely is it, then, that you will be converted in time to come?

Allow me to tell you plainly (for it is my loving concern which makes the declaration) that I cannot but tremble for some of you! I am really afraid some of you will perish forever; and the ground of my fear is this: The most generous charity cannot but conclude, that some of you are impenitent sinners; your disposition and conduct proclaim it aloud! And it is very likely, all things considered, that you will always be so. Since you have not repented in the most promising season of life—it is much to be feared you will not repent in the less promising part of it. And since no impenitent, unholy sinner can enter into the kingdom of heaven—it is much to be feared that you will perish forever in hell; not because the mercy of God, or the merit of Christ, is insufficient to save you, if you apply to him for it, according to the terms of the gospel; not because your case is in itself hopeless, if you would awake out of sleep, and seek the Lord in earnest; nor because you have not sufficient encouragement for laborious endeavors. But because it is all too likely, that you will continue on careless and secure, as you have always done, and persist in it—until all yourtime is gone—and then your case will be indeed desperate and hopeless!

I honestly warn you of your danger, which is too great to be concealed. And yet I give you sufficient encouragement to fly from it, while I assure you, that if you now lay your dreadful condition to heart, and earnestly use all proper means for your conversion—then you have the utmost reason to hope for success; as much reason as the saints now in heaven once had, when in your condition; and in your condition they once were.

Therefore, now, sinners, awake out of your sleep! Instead of entering upon this new year with carousals and extravagances; consecrate it to the great purpose for which it is given you—by engaging in earnest—in the great work of your salvation. "How can you sleep at a time like this? Get up and pray to God! Maybe he will have mercy on you and spare your life!" Jonah 1:6. "Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light!" Ephesians 5:14.

Consider, that this year may lay you low in the dust of death. How many are now in the grave—who saw the last new-year's day! And though I cannot point out the specific people who will die this coming year—yet, without a spirit of prophecy, I may venture to foretell, that some of US will be in heaven or hell—before this year ends its rapid round! Some gray head or some sprightly youth; perhaps you—or perhaps myself! And since none of us know WHO it shall be—then none of us are exempted from thenecessity of immediate preparation. Oh! that we may all be so wise, as to consider our latter end!

I beg permission of my kind hearers—to employ a few minutes in addressing myself to my pupils, whom my affection would always single out from the rest, even when I am speaking in general terms to a mixed crowd. Therefore, my dear charge, my students, my children, and every tender and endearing name! You young immortals, you embryo-angels or infant-fiends! You blooming, lovely, fading flowers of human nature, the hope of your parents and friends, of church and state, the hope, joy and glory of your teachers! Hear one who loves you! Hear one whose greatest interest in the world—is to promote your best interest! Hear one who would account this the greatest blessing he could enjoy in his pilgrimage, and whose nights and days are sometimes made almost equally restless, by his affectionate concerns for you! Hear him upon a subject in which you are most intimately interested; a subject more important that even an angel could address you upon; and that is—the right improvement of your time—the present time—and preparation for eternity.

It is necessary that you in particular, you above all others, should know the time—that it is now high time for YOU to awake out of sleep! I make no doubt but you all look upon true religion—as an object worthy of your notice. You all as certainly believe that there is a God—as that yourselves exist! You all believe that heaven and hell are not majestic fantasies, or fairy-lands—but the most important realities; and that YOU must in a little time—be the eternal residents of the one or the other! It cannot, therefore, be a question with any of you, whether you shall mind religion at all! On that you are all determined. But the question is—what is the most proper time for it? whether the present—or some uncertain hereafter? And in what order you should attend to it, whether in the first place, and above all, even in your youthful days—or whether you should not rather indulge yourselves in thepleasures of youth for some time—and then make religion the business of the dregs of old age.

If any of you hesitate upon this point, it may be easily solved. NOW is the most convenient, promising season for this purpose that you are likely to see! Never will you live more free from care, or more remote from temptation. When you launch out into the noise, and bustle, and hurry, and company, and business, and vice of the world—then you will soon find the scene changed for the worse! He must be a tempter to himself, who can find a temptation, while immured at this school, and immersed in books. Never will you see the time, when your sins will be so conquerable, and your hearts so tender, and susceptive of holy impressions; though even now, if you really know yourselves, you find that your sins are invincibly strong to you, and that your heartsimpenetrably hard! Therefore now, my dear youth, now is the inviting season: Awake out of your sleep; awake to righteousness and sin not.

I beg you would not now commit sin—with a design to repent of it afterwards. For can you be so foolish as knowingly and deliberately to do that which you explicitly intend to repent of? That is, to do that which you intend to wish undone; and to lament with broken hearts that ever you did it! Can Bedlam itself, parallel the folly of this? Oh take warning from the fate of yourwretched predecessors in this course.

Could you ask the crowds of lost souls who are now suffering the eternal punishment of their sin, whether they intended to persist impenitent in it, and perish—they would all answer, that they either vainly flattered themselves that they had repented already—or intended to repent before they died! But death seized them unawares, and put an end to all their expectant hopes! Youngsinners among them—imagined they would not die until old age! And old age itself thought it might hold out a few days longer—and that they would yet have time enough to repent. But oh! they have now discovered their error, when it is too late to correct it!

Therefore do not harbor one thought of putting off repentance to a sick-bed, or to old age; that is the most inconvenient and desperate season in your whole life. And if you fix all your hopes upon this, we would think that you had viewed your whole life on purpose to find the most unfit and discouraging period of it—for the most necessary, difficult, and important work in the world!

Come, then—NOW devote yourselves to God, and away with all excuses and delays. Remember, that upon the principles I have laid down, principles that must gain your assent by the force of their own evidence; I say, remember, that upon these principles, that it is extremely likely that you will always persist impenitent in sin, and perish forever—if you waste away the present season of youth, destitute of vital religion. Every day, you have less and less hope for yourselves!

And can you bear the thought of perishing forever? Are your hearts so soon arrived to such a pitch of hardness, as to be armored against the terrors of the dreadful prospect? It cannot be! For "who among us can dwell with the devouring fire! Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings!" Isaiah 33:14.

As for such of you as have already begun that great work of salvation—I have only this to say, "Therefore, my dear brothers—be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord's work, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain!" 1 Corinthians 15:58.

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