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regardeth his gold, or who his pain? But immortal life shall be enjoyed by the person of religion. Whosoever liveth, and believeth in me, says the divine Saviour of men, shall never die, eternally. To him who overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

How pleasant to the eye is light? But the heavenly Jerusalem is blest with an everlasting and divine refulgence. It hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of the Lord enlighteneth it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

How great are the attractions of wealth; especially of an estate which is deemed permanent in its continuance? But is there not an inheritance incorruptible, and unfading, reserved in heaven for the saints?

The pleasures of victory! How great, how exalted are these! And shall not those who triumph over their spiritual adversaries, be esteemed as conquerors, be invested with the palm of victory? Will they not, attired with robes of whiteness, with joy ineffable, exult in their conquest, and for their salvation give glory unto God and to the Lamb?

The splendour of royalty, or of government! How doth this captivate the hearts, and engage the attention of men? And will not crowns of gold be conferred on the redeemed? To them will it not be granted to sit with Christ in his heavenly throne ?

Happiness! How natural, how fervent are our aspirations after it? And at the right hand of God, will there not flow, for ever flow, rivers of pleasure?

Besides these, and other metaphors of similar import, which serve to convey some general idea of the happiness of the blessed, we are favoured with divers passages of sacred writ, which mention some particulars of their felicity; as in the ensuing instances.

It is said, They rest from their labours. And how great is the labour of love, of the Christian of faithfulness, zeal, and sincerity; satisfactory, it is true, to the spirit, but often unpleasing to the flesh? How unremitted his vigilance against the foes to his redemption? How painful the imperfections of humanity? How sensible, how manifold the miseries of mortality?

But from all these shall he be delivered. No longer will he hear the voice of slander; conversation of impurity, nor be assaulted by spirits of wickedness! No longer conflict with evil! No more feel the pressure of adversity! Each tear shall be wiped from his eye! And there shall be no more death; neither sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain!

Not only will the righteous be delivered from every ill, but participate of every good, of every pleasure capable of being enjoyed by a mind of peace, purity and wisdom. To develope the mysteries of providence, and the secrets of the divine word! The converse of patriarchs, prophets, apostles, saints, angels and archangels!— The knowledge, love, and presence of the Eternal! His holy ser vice! The anthems of his praise! The songs of their salvation! These, how delightful! These, how extatic! Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power, will they say in sacred

song, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing; for he hath redeemed us by his blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and nation, and made us kings and priests unto our God Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou king of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy; for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest The remembrance of our deeds of virtue! how happy, even here? And will not the faithful enjoy a retrospective view of their acts of piety hereafter? Their works shall follow them; not, however, for their justification at the bar of justice, but as testimonies of their fi delity, and for their pleasing contemplation.

To walk with Christ himself in white! Ever to be his associates! How great the dignity!

The city of God! The habitation of the Deity! Most grand in its disposition and construction! composed of the richest materials! formed and embellished by infinite wisdom! How magnificent! How resplendant? And how honoured and happy will be those of mankind, who shall be citizens of this city; be deemed as pillars in its Temple, and ennobled by that new name, which shall be given them by their divine Redeemer?

But however high the honour; however sublime the pleasures of those who, receive salvation, they will never satiate; never cease. This is the perfection of their bliss. Enjoying God, they enjoy consummate immortal happiness.

An eternity of pleasure, and so exquisite that it mocketh all description, surpasseth all conception! Pleasing thought! Rapturous idea!

When arrested by the hand of death, how ardently doth the libertine wish to be restored to health, that he may partake, though for a few years only, of the impure, unsatisfying, insipid enjoyments of sin? Would a compliance with his request give joy to his heart, transport to his soul? How much greater reason hath he to rejoice who shall possess pleasures so transcendant, that they can be conceived only as enjoyed, and whose duration will be coeval with eternity. [Christian's, Scholar's, and Farmer's Magazine.]

ADDRESS FROM A CLERGYMAN,

ON DRUNKENNESS.

INEBRIATION is the use of spiritous liquors to excess, whereby men become deprived of their reason, and, of consequence, their capacity to discharge their duty to God, themselves, and their fellow creatures. There are various degrees of this vice, and, it may be observed, different species of it; for men may be intoxicated also, with the love of riches, honour, guilty pleasures, anger, pride, malice, hatred and revenge; and it is not uncommon to behold the unhappy effects of such intoxication, especially those which proceed from anger.

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Drunkenness is opposite to sobriety and temperance, which are repeatedly enjoined on us by divine authority. St. Peter, for instance, exhorts us to "add to our faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity." "The grace of God," saith St. Paul, "that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men, teaching us to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." And "let us walk honestly," saith this Apostle, "as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness; not in chambering and wantonness!"‡

How explicitly is this sin forbidden? "Woe unto him," saith a prophet, "that giveth his neighbour drink! that putteth thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also!"§ "Take heed to yourselves," says our Saviour, "lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness and the cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares."¶ "And be not drunken with wine," saith an Apostle, "wherein is excess; but be ye filled with the spirit!"*

The causes of inebriation are various. It may be remarked, that it is not natural to men; some abhor it; we have no innate thirst for it, and it is unknown to many nations. Mankind, generally, become attached to it by degrees, and by means of evil company. So true it is, that "evil communication corrupts good manners!"

This vice is attended with numerous unhappy consequences. It is not only disgustful to heaven, but, as hath been noticed, how doth it disqualify men for the worship and service of God, and also the enjoyment of him! How doth it incapacitate them to be of utility either in Church or state, and occasion them to be not only an incumbrance, but as pests to society! How reproachful is this evil to Christianity! How degrading to human nature! How injurious to our bodies; how productive of sickness, pains, and death! Doth it not often dissipate our property, and clothe us with rags? Doth it not consume our time; render us truly contemptible; subject us to worldly shame and punishment? Doth it not lead to many vices; pollute the soul; destroy in us all sense of religion; and, frequentÎy, occasion an entire inattention to all the means of grace? What discord, distress and unhappiness doth it cause in families! And when this vice is indulged by the sex, how odious doth it render them! Doth it not often deprive them of their prudence and delicacy; rob them of their modesty and virtue; occasion husbands to grieve; daughters to blush?-The ill effects, indeed, of inebriation, are innumerable. It shall only be further observed, that finally, it will exclude us the kingdom of heaven. "Be not deceived," saith St. Paul, "neither thieves, nor coveters, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." How incapable indeed, would be a drunkard, a person immersed in sensuality, stupified by liquor, to enjoy the pure, the rational, and sublime delights of heaven! Totally depraved, heated by spirits, he seems to be fit only for the infernal regions!

* 2 Pet. i. 4, 5, 6. Titus ii. 11, 12. Rom. xiii. 13. § Hab. ii. 15. Luke xxi. 34. Ephes. v. 18. † 1 Cor. vi. 10.

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How prevalent is the crime of intoxication! Is it not committed by some of every character; learned and unlearned; rich and poor; bond and free; young and old; male and female, and even (it is mentioned with inexpressible sorrow) by clergy as well as laity ! And this too, openly; without reserve; without shame! Not so was it in the days of the Apostles!" They who were drunken," says an Apostle, "were drunken in the NIGHT! Drunkards were then ashamed to show their faces in OPEN DAY; consequently, they regarded drunkenness to be disgraceful! How much the reverse is it in this age of mental improvement and polished manners ?

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READER! Suffer it to be enquired,-Art thou chargeable with this vice? If thus, what is thy character?

Perhaps thou art a magistrate? No longer disgrace thy country and thine office! No longer corrupt others by thy evil example!

It may be thou art a father of a family! Venerable name! Once thou wast revered for thy industry, economy and virtues? Thy hand of diligence began to make thee rich!" Order, decorum, peace, prosperity, dwelt in thy habitation! How is the scene changed! Forbear the inebriating draught! This is enjoined thee by wisdom, by virtue, by interest, and by the wife of thy bosom! O! let her not weep; let her not plead with thee in vain! Regard her peace, her felicity! Compassionate thy children! Thou art their FATHER! To thee God hath ordained they should look for support, for counsel, for example! To them be not a curse, instead of a blesing! Take pity also on thyself; regard thy reputation; thy happiness in this world, and also in the world to come!

It is possible, thou art a wife-Wit, beauty, virtue, every amiable temper, every desirable accomplishment; the most engaging manners, were thine! Thou wast the pride of thy sex; the delight of thy friends; the joy of thine husband; an happy example for the imitation of thy daughters!-But how art thou fallen; how degraded! How dost thou afflict the husband of thy love! How art thou pitied, avoided by thy friends! How dost thou pain thy amiable daughters! They blush for their mother; they strive, but in vain, to conceal her intemperance and folly from the world? (Unhappy daughters! Who but must weep for you; deplore your state!) What infamy and wretchedness attend thyself! And will thou still persevere in so disgraceful, so destructive a practice?-Art thou totally devoid of sensibility? Hast thou remaining no sense of duty nor honour? No regard for the felicity of thyself nor others?-Be entreated, madam, without delay, to "reverence thyself;" that others may again revere, admire, and love thee! That thou mayest again do honour to thy sex; give joy to thine husband, be the delight of thy children!

But perhaps, thou art a son, an only son, of thy widowed mother! On thy education she has bestowed almost the whole of the portion left for her support! On thee she gazed with rapture!" Providence," she cried, " hath taken from me the husband of my love!" Worthy man! My greatest earthly joy! From thee I parted! Pain

* 1. Thes. y. 7.

ful was the separation! I murmured not! "Heaven's will be done,” I said! And thou, O my much loved daughter! for thee I mourned when thou wast torn from me by the hand of death! Distress is mine! But still, kind heaven reserves for me some consolation! It is thee, my son, the image of thy father! Thou wilt bear his name with honour! Thou wilt solace me through life, and support me in my declining years!"-Fond, but vain expectation! Unhappy mother! But more unhappy son! Return, haste to comfort thy parent! Dry up her tears! Remember the example of thy virtuous father! Remember thy God of goodness-even now "in the days of thy youth!"

It is not impossible but thou art a preacher of righteousness; "a man of GOD," and yet ungodly-a DRUNKARD!Good God! is it thus? Does such a character exist; of all others the most disgraceful? Dear Sir, awake! Open your eyes! Reflect a moment! What hast thou done? What art thou doing? What is thy state? Happy would it have been for thee; happy for religion, if thou" hadst not been born," or not intruded thyself into the priesthood, unless thou shalt repent!-No longer suffer" the name of Christ to be blasphe med through you!" What an EXAMPLE to thy flock! How able to instruct, to reclaim the vicious and intemperate! "Thou that teachest another, teachest not thou thyself?"-How wilt thou give an account of thy stewardship? How wilt thou be terrified when the blood of souls shall cry aloud to heaven for vengeance against thee? How will thou sustain the indignation of the Almighty? Cease, O, cease to be the scoff of the wicked; the grief of the righteous; to be a reproach to Christianity; an enemy to religion and thyself! Consider that thou standest on the precipice of eternal destruction! Attend, with seriousness, to the solemn declaration of the great Judge of quick and dead! "If that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!"*

Happy is it, that persons of inebriation, of every description, may yet retrieve their character; may be restored to their country, their friends, their families, to enjoyment, to honour, to virtue, to the favour of heaven!-But let not their powers of reason be further debilitated by the force of evil habit! Let them deplore their past intemperance! With invincible fortitude, through divine aid, resolve to be temperate, to be righteous! To avoid even the very appearance of the evil that is attended with so many baleful consequences!

• Matt. xxiv. 48, &c.

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