It may be said of them, as the apostle Peter affirmed of Simon Magus, the sorcerer, "Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter; for thy heart is not right in the sight of God." And the apostle Paul, in writing to the Ephesians, declares that "No whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolator, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." He then adds, to guard us

against those men who teach the contrary doctrine,

vain words: for bewrath of God upon These texts plainly

"Let no man deceive you with cause of these things cometh the the children of disobedience." show that all men are not the subjects of eternal glory, but that there is a clear distinction between the human family and their future destinies. So that, from the word of God, we are perfectly justified in affirming that the soul of the wicked is lost from the state of purity and the holy services of the kingdom of glory. Indeed, it is reasonable to infer that, if men die in their sins, as Christ declares, and which has been clearly proved, and that if they eternally remain in that state, as has also been proved, they can have no moral qualification nor any disposition to engage in the holy employments to which the saints in glory will be devoted. Hence the lost soul will be deprived of what will make up the blessedness of the kingdom of heaven.

5. And, finally, the lost soul will lose the eternal joys of heaven, and suffer the everlasting miseries of hell. Matt. 25: 30:-" And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Ver. 41.)-Then shall he (Christ the judge) say unto them on the left hand,

depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. (Ver. 46.)-These shall go away into everlasting punishment." No stronger language could have been used by the sacred penman than the above to express our position; and yet, strange as it may be, many persons reject this doctrine in the very face of those passages from the lips of Christ the Savior and Judge of men! It is unnecessary to multiply Scripture proof on this point, for if men will not credit the above texts, or will not allow them to speak out their true meaning, neither will they believe if a thousand of such portions of Scripture are presented. And why? Because they CONDEMN the sinner. But the eternal joys of heaven are lost to the impenitent sinner. What an awful consideration! Are angels and saints perfectly happy in themselves?-and have they everything about them to perpetuate that happiness without interruption? Do they derive their comfort from the blessed influences of Christ their Savior, in whose favorable presence they continually live? Are they so associated together, and do their minds so comprehend each other and their God, as to promote unceasing harmony in everything, whether connected with one another or their doings in the works of God? Do they always enjoy the approbation of God in heaven? O, what a loss to the despairing soul which is past recovery!. Dear impenitent reader, think of your own unhappy condition in this life, and conceive if you can the wretchedness of a lost soul in the world of spirits. The restless nights, the stings of a guilty conscience, the fearful expectations of future punishment, which so often and so alarmingly trouble

you in this world, may be removed-may die away, by resisting the Holy Spirit and the truth, or by cherishing infidelity and crime, or by repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; but remember, that the guilty soul, in the world to come, can find no refuge in him, no sensual pleasure, no repentance by which to allay its miserable apprehensions or escape the fire of Divine indignation which will forever burn within the unholy soul. Therefore, what you do for your soul do it soon, as your present opportunity will speedily be gone, and you be left without a Savior-a friend in the day of God's wrath.

LECTURE IV.

THE MEANS BY WHICH MEN LOSE THEIR SOULS.

Matt. 22: 5. "But they made light of it," &c.

While man, by sin, has rendered himself morally unqualified to save his own soul, independently of the Holy Spirit's agency, he is fully competent, without foreign influence, to consummate the eternal ruin of his soul. This is done by men whose inclinations lead them into different channels of iniquity. Each one follows the strongest passion of his depraved nature. And notwithstanding all have certain checks and warnings against the course they take, yet they heedlessly pass on, until stopped in their career of impiety, by some unexpected calamity or sickness, death or the eternal wrath of God. In calmly considering this solemn fact, we remark, that one of the most successful means which men employ to ruin their souls is, eager pursuit after the riches of this world. We have a very striking illustration of this truth, in the case of the young man in the gospel, who applied to our Lord to know what he should do to be saved. But, however sincerely and anxiously he enquired after the salvation of his soul, when he was required to give up his earthly possessions, and the pursuit of wealth, his riches overbalanced the worth of his soul, in his own estimation, so that he chose rather to cleave to his riches than to become a self-denying follower of Christ. This young man is not, by any

means, a solitary example. Thousands have made the same unhappy choice. And very many are daily sacrificing the eternal interests of their souls to the god of this world. Well indeed would it be for such, were they to heed the admonition of the inspired penmen, when they thus speak in such language as the following: "If riches increase, set not your hearts upon them." "They that will be rich, fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition."

Men who are striving to be rich, feel so much the pressure of business, that they not only often spend all their energies so as to be unable to attend to the duties of the soul, such as the reading of the Scriptures, serious meditation and conversation, attending the religious assemblies on the Sabbath, and during the week, but they often violate their conscience by employing their Sabbaths to transact their worldly concerns, in buying, selling, making arrangements for the week, casting up and settling accounts, conveying or receiving goods, &c., &c. When there is an apparent chance of gain, (but which in the end is real loss, even temporally as well as spiritually,) the mere worlding will labor hard to satisfy his conscience that it is duty to violate the Sabbath, to avail himself of the opportunity so favorably offered. And if he cannot ease his conscience in any other way, he will appropriate a part of the proceeds of his ill-gotten gains to the cause of Christ, and thus suppose he atones for his crime. But, after all, he is constantly preparing the way to lose his own soul. If he chance to hear the Gospel preached at any time, the world