――Aliæ tenduntur inanes Suspensæ ad ventos; aliis sub gurgite vasto Infectum eluitur scelus, aut exuritur igni―― Donec longa dies, exacto temporis orbe, Concretam exemit labem, purumque reliquit Æthereum sensum atque aurai simplicis ignem. 19. What a great gulph then is fixed between you and happiness, both in this world and that which is to come? Well may you shudder at the thought! More especially when you are about to enter on that untried state of existence. For what a prospect is this, when you stand on the verge of life, ready to launch out into eternity? What can you then think? You see nothing before you. All is dark and dreary. On the very best supposition, how well may you address your parting soul in the words of dying _Adrian_: “Poor, little, pretty, fluttering thing, Must we no longer live together? And dost thou prune thy trembling wing, To take thy flight thou know’st not whither? Thy pleasing vein, thy hum’rous folly Is all neglected, all forgot; And pensive, wavering, melancholy, Thou hop’st, and fear’st thou know’st not what.” “Thou know’st not what!” Here is the sting, suppose there were no other. To be _thou knowest not what_? * Not for a month, or year, but thro’ the countless ages of eternity! What a tormenting uncertainty must this be? What racking unwillingness must it occasion, to exchange even this known vale of tears, for the unknown valley of the shadow of death? “And is there no cure for this?” Indeed there is an effectual cure; even the knowledge and love of God. There is a knowledge of God which _unveils_ eternity, and a love of God which _endears_ it. That knowledge makes the great abyss _visible_; and _uncertainty_ vanishes away. That love makes it _amiable_ to the soul, so that _fear_ has no more place! But the moment God says, by the welcome angel of death, “Come thou up hither!” She “Claps the glad wing and towers away, And mingles with the blaze of day.” 20. See ye not, what advantage every way, a _Christian_ has over _you_? Probably the reason you saw it not before was, because you knew none but _nominal_ Christians; men who professed to _believe_ more (in _their way_ of believing) but had no more of the knowledge or love of God than yourselves. So that with regard to real, _inward religion_, you stood upon even ground. And perhaps in many branches of _outward religion_, the advantage was on _your_ side. May the Lord, the God of the Christians, either reform these wretches, or take them away from the earth! That lay this grand stumbling-block in the way of those who desire to know the will of God! O ye who desire to know his will, regard them not! If it be possible, blot them out of your remembrance.