of thy ways." God left her to herself. She became unsteady, and fell into sin. She was taken ill, andina few days, sickness ended in death. Her groans and cries now were awful, many prayers were offered up for her in her dying chamber, but God would not hear. She wished that her state may be spoken of to others after her death, to warn them, especially to the Sunday School. She sent for the young friend, who furnished this account, and begged her to write to a teacher here, that the Sunday Scholars in this place should be informed of her state, that they may take warning by her sad end. Her last words were, "THE DEVIL HAS LED ME ASTRAY, AND THE FLAMES OF HELL ARE BURNING ME. MOTHER, DO YOU NOT SMELL THE BRIMSTONE ? I DO." She then kissed each one present, and gave an awful, indescribable scream, and was gone. To appear before God. Gone where ? God, whose word she had slighted, with whose mercy she had trifled, whose wrath she had roused, and whose unmitigated indignation, she must now bear. Oh, how dreadful for such a soul, under such circumstances, to appear naked before God! How fearful, to be summoned thus suddenly, and unprepared into the presence of God, to give an account of the use she had made of the Bible, the Lord's day, the instructions she had received, the convictions she had experienced, the impressions she had felt, and the many offers of mercy and pardon that had been made unto her. She resisted the Holy Spirit, and he left her. She refused the Saviour, and he gave her up. She would not listen to the Father, speaking to her in love, and he would not listen to her when she cried, in her trouble. Truly, "it is a fearful thing, to fall into the hands of the living God; for our God is a consuming fire". Reader, I have placed the case of this young woman before you in love, to warn you, to admonish you, and if possible to prevent you coming into similar circumstances. Allow me now to ask you, what is the state of your heart before God? Are you reconciled to God, or at enmity with him? Have you embraced the Saviour, or always rejected him? Have you received the Holy Ghost, or resisted him? Are you in love with sin, and do you prefer it to holiness? Or, are you convinced of its evil nature and conse quences, and desire to be delivered from it ? Let me beseech you not to rest short of salvation. Let nothing divert your attention from the one thing needful. Let nothing prevent you seeking and obtaining the pardon of your sins. Make your calling and election sure. You may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus now. You may obtain the Holy Spirit to sanctify you reveal Christ to you, and make you meet for heaven now. You may be delivered from the wrath to come, and have the Spirit of adoption given you now. God, who is love, is ready and willing to bless you. He has blessed millions, and is ready to bless millions more. But he will not be trifled with, and therefore every now and then, he makes an example of a trifler, as in the case of the young woman I have referred to, to warn and caution others. She was but EIGHTEEN YEARS of age, when in hopeless agony, she screamed and died. How old are you? Perhaps as old, or it may be older, and yet God has not given you up yet. The Saviour may have interceded for you, as for the barren fig-tree, saying, "Lord, let it alone this year also." This may be your last year. It was not much more than a year, if any, from the time that the young woman spoken of was roused by the Teacher's address, and her fearful death. In 1856, she was not far from the kingdom of God, and in 1857, she died without hope. Ah, it may have been the case, that one year was given her, in which to seek the Lord, in which to obtain mercy, in which to flee from the wrath to come. The Spirit strove with her, like Lot's wife she came a little way out of Sodom, but she looked back, and perished on the plains. The Saviour called, but she refused-he would have gathered her, but she would not-and So he gave her up. Let me then, once more solemnly warn you, lest you provoke the Lord, and he swear in his wrath, that you shall not enter into his rest. Let me earnestly exhort you, to be reconciled to God at once, for our God is a jealous God, and his wrath is dreadful. Let me lovingly invite you to the Lord Jesus, for he is a precious Saviour, who casts out none that come unto him, but saves them freely, fully, and for ever. O seek, then, the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near; lest if you trifle, delay, and neglect his great salvation, he should say as of old, “IT IS A PEOPLE OF NO UNDERSTANDING, THEREFORE HE THAT MADE THEM WILL NOT HAVE MERCY ON THEM, AND HE THAT FORMED THEM, WILL SHOW THEM NO FAVOUR. Hasten, O sinner, to be wise, O hasten, mercy to implore, O hasten, sinner, to return, "HE GIVETH GRACE TO THE HUMBLE." JAMES iv. 6. There We have no humility by nature. may be a softness of disposition, and a readiness to yield to others, but there is no humility. That is a fruit of the Spirit, a new covenant blessing. One of the marks of God's children, and a proof of God's special love. God makes us humble, and then, approving of our humility, makes many great and precious promises to us in that character. The humble christian, is an honoured character. He is a blessing to all about him, and an honour to Christ. He has much to do with God, receives much from God, and so becomes growingly like God. He avoids many snares, and escapes many dangers into which others fall. He obtains many blessings, and enjoys many comforts, to which others are strangers. O precious grace! O distinguishing mark of the Lord's people! May I be humble, and while I grow upward before men, may I grow downward in humility before God. O to be like Jesus, rooted in humility. But how is true humility to be known? By what is a really humble man distinguish |