that we shall do well when married; and to be sure you think you shall do well when you keep a carriage, I have heard of one who began low; he first wanted a house, then, says he, I want two, then four, then six; and when he had them, he said, I think I want nothing else; yes, says his friend, you will soon want another thing, that is, a hearse and six to carry you to your grave; and that made him tremble. O! if you are Chris. tians, if the Lord loves you, he will put a thorn in your flesh. flesh. I have often thought of what a good man says in his diary, the Lord put a thorn in my flesh. Among politicians, when they find a man ambitious, they say, kick him up, that he may fall and break his neck: so it is in every condition; there is not one of you fifty years old, but have had many changes: have not you found thorns even on the rose that smelt so sweet, and thorns perhaps that pricked you so closely, that you have forgot the scent of the rose by it? and what is all this for, but to teach you that happiness is only to be found in the Lord. If a sou! is truly converted, there will be a battle, and an awful chasm that will never be filled up but with the love of God; and therefore when we say, Repent and be converted, it is no more than saying, Repent and be happy. Indeed we shall never be completely happy till we get to heaven. O that every man could see the good of every thing of a sublunary nature drop off like leaves in autumn: God grant this may be known by every one of you.

If it is asked, why you should repent and be converted? I answer, because else you can never be happy hereafter. What do you think heaven is? Why, says the covetous man, I think it is a place full of gold so you think to steal some of

the gold, do you? Others would like heaven very well if there was a good gaming-table in heaven; if there was card playing in heaven. I have heard of a lady that was so fond of gaming, that though she had the pangs of death upon her, yet when in the midst of her fits, or just coming out of one, instead of asking after Jesus, where he was to be found, she asked, what is trumps? So the gamster will ask, where is the back-gammon table? where is the box? he will want to shake his ungodly hand in heaven; he will say, let us have a gaming-table in heaven, where, as he will find, he has lost the game; that God has damned him without an interest in Christ. Can two walk together unless they are agreed? If you die and do not love God here, if you cannot love praying to God here, and cannot watch one hour, suppose you was to be struck by death and be taken to heaven, there is no such language and amusement there, what would you do? Why, say you, these Methodists are presumptuous people, they can tell us whether we are to go to heaven or no. Good Mr. Rogers, a Welsh Boanerges, preaching in the mountains, said, Christ is heaven, if I worship God here, and do all to God, and for God, without any hopes of reward upon the earth. My dear brethren, the devils would never be troubled with such a wretch in hell, he would set all hell in an uproar; if a true Methodist was to go to hell, the devil would say, turn that Methodist out, he is come to torment us: therefore, you must be converted if you will go to heaven. Dr. Scott says, if a natural man was to be put into heaven, it would be such a hell to him, that he would be glad to go to hell for shelter: angels they hate, God they hate; and as Adam was afraid to meet with God when he first

fell from him, so his sons hate God and flee away.

I mention one thing more, which is, that you must be converted, or be damned, and that is plain English, but not plainer than my Master made use of, He that believeth not shall be damned. I did not speak that word strong enough, that says, He that believeth not shall be damned; that is the language of our Lord; and it is said of one of the primitive preachers, that he used to speak the word damned so that it struck all his auditory. We are afraid of speaking the word damned, for fear of offending such and such a one; at the same time they despise the minister for not being honest to his master. Some have said, and stand to it, that hell is only a temporary punishment: Who told them so? A temporary punishment! nothing but a guilty conscience. O go to Bed

lam? Do ask a child of God what he feels when his Lord is absent? Ask the spouse what she felt when she cries, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? Ask a child of God when he is using this plaintive language, Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? and he will tell you, it is hell to my soul to be but one moment without the presence of my beloved. And if his absence for a quarter of an hour can scarce be borne by a child of God, what must that soul undergo that is commanded to depart from him forever? and yet these very words were said to those who thought they bid fair for heaven; to these Jesus says, I know ye not. God grant you may never know the meaning of these words by awful experience! Now, what say you, I could make a hundred heads more, but I chuse to make as few as possible, that you may remember them. I say, conversion makes you happy hereafter, and without it you are damned forever.

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Are these things so? why then, my dear hearers, do you think there can be any objection raised against conversion, do you think there can be any argument raised against turning to God directly? is there any person here that will give himself time to consider a moment that will not say, though you speak in a rough, incoherent manner, yet there is some truth in what you say; I believe men ought to be converted, but the common saying is, I don't care to be converted yet; we think it is time enough to be converted. Is not this acting like the cardinal, when told he was elected pope, and desired to come that night and have the honor of pope conferred on him; because it was pretty late said, it is not a work of darkness, I will put it off till the morning; before which they chose another pope, and he lost his triple crown. You may think to put it off till the morning; though before the morning you may be damned. Pray why will you not be converted now? if you was in prison, and a person would take you out, you would chuse to be let out tonight before morning, that you might sleep the better; why will you not do that for your soul you would for your body? Well I would be converted but I shall be laughed at: suppose you was. to have it promised, you should have a ten thousand pounds lottery ticket, but you must be laughed at all your life-time; there is none but would say, give me ten thousand pounds, and call me Methodist as long as I live: so if you loved God and your souls, you would say, give me God and call me what you will. You are afraid of being laughed at and nick named, and shulk into this and that place, because it does not stink so much of Methodism as this. Put your cockades in your.

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hats, and let the world see that you are not ashamed of God's badge: let the devil and his agents preach to you; they can proclaim their sin like Sodom; they are not ashamed of going to balls and assemblies, to parties of pleasure, and subscribing to horse-races. Is the gospel the glory of the land, and are you ashamed of the gospel? What think you if you had given a hundred pounds to learn such a trade, would you say, I shall never attain it; no, you will persevere, and by giving diligence make an excellent mechanic, an admirable tradesman; and do you thing to go to heaven without some trouble? do you think the leopard can change his spots, the Ethiopian put his skin entirely off? can we have any thing to nourish our bodies without the labour of particular persons? and therefore we are commanded to Awork out our salvation with fear and trembling. Remember our Redeemer will not quench the smoaking flax, nor break the bruised reed; he will gently lead those that are with young. We are like poor swimmers; some people will put one foot in and cry oh! and then another, but a good swimmer plunges in at once, and comes out braced up: would to God we could do so, plunge in to God at once, and God will bear up our souls indeed.

But say you, all in good time, I do not chuse to be converted yet; why, what age are you now? I will come down to a pretty moderate age; suppose you are fourteen: and do not you think it time to be converted? and yet there are a great many here, I dare say, twenty years old, and not converted. Some are of opinion, that most people that are converted, are so before thirty. There was a young man buried last night at Tottenham