for his adored Redeemer, to suffer as much, as long, as patiently, as inflexibly for his Saviour, as a savage for the sake of his personal or national honour ?" They do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible."

"Go to the Ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise."-Go to the miser and the savage, thou slothful and faint-hearted christian, consider what they do for the perishing toys of this life, and be ashamed not to do as much for thy God and thy eternal crown.

THE

SWEARER'S PRAYER,

OR HIS

OATH EXPLAINED.

WHAT, a Swearer pray! Yes, Swearer, whether thou thinkest so or not, each of thine oaths is a prayer--an appeal to the Holy and Almighty God, whose name thou darest so impiously to take into thy lips.

And what is it, thinkest thou, Swearer, that thou dost call for, when the awful imprecations, Damn and Damnation, roll so frequently from thy profane tongue? Tremble, Swearer, while I tell thee! Thy prayer containeth two parts; Thou prayest, first, that thou mayest be deprived of eternal happiness! Secondly, That thou mayest be plunged into eternal misery!

When, therefore, thou callest for damnation, dost thou not, in effect, say as follows? "O God! thou hast power to punish me in hell forever: therefore let not one of my sins be forgiven! Let every oath I have sworn-every lie that I have told-every Sabbath that I have broken-and all the sins that I have committed either in thought, word or deed, rise up in judgment against me, and eternally condemn me! Let me never partake of thy salvation! May my soul and body be deprived of all happiness, both in this world and that which is to come! Let me never see thy face with comfort-never enjoy thy favor and friendship -and let me never enter into the kingdom of heaven!" This is the first part of thy prayer.-Let us hear the second:

"O God, let me not only be shut out of heaven, but also shut up in hell! May all the members of my body be tortured with inconceivable agony, and all the powers of my soul tormented with horror and despair, inexpressible and eterna!! Let my dwelling be in the blackness of darkness, and my companions accursed men and accursed devils! Pour down thy hottest anger; execute all thy wrath

and curse upon me; arm and send forth all thy terrors against me; and let thy fierce, thy fiery, thy fearful indignation rest upon me! Be mine eternal enemy, and plague, and punish, and torment me, in hell, forever, and ever, and ever!"

Swearer, this is thy prayer!! O dreadful imprecation! O horrible, horrible, most horrible! Blaspheming man! Dost thou like thy petition? Look at it. Art thou sincere in thy prayer, or art thou mocking thy Maker? Dost thou wish for dainnation? Art thou desirous of eternal torment? If so, swear on-swear hard. The more oaths, the more misery; and, perhaps, the sooner thou mayest be in hell. Art thou shocked at this language; does it harrow up thy soul! Does thy very blood run cold in thy veins? Art thou convinced of the evil of profane swearing? How many times hast thou blasphemed the God of heaven? How many times hast thou asked God to damn thee in the course of a year, a month, a day. Nay, how many times in a single hour hast thou called for damnation? Art thou not yet in hell? Wonder, O heavens, and be astonished, O earth, at the goodness and long-suffering of that God, whose great name swearing persons so often and so awfully profane! Swearer, be thankful, O be exceedingly thankful, that God has not answered thy prayer, thy tremendous prayer; that his mercy and patience have withholden the request of thy polluted lips! Never let him hear another oath from thy unhallowed tongue, lest it should be thy last expression upon earth, and thy swearing prayer should be answered in hell. O let thine oaths be turned into supplications! Repent and turn to Jesus, who died for swearers, as well as for his murderers. And then, O then, (though thou mayest have sworn as many oaths as there are "stars in the heavens, and sands upon the sea-shore, innumerable,") then thou shalt find to thy eternal joy, that there is love enough in his heart, and merit sufficient in his blood, to pardon thy sins, and to save thy soul forever....Swearer! canst thou ever again blaspheme such a God and Saviour as this? Does not thy conscience cry-God forbid! Even so, Amen.

THE

PRAYER ANSWERED,

IN THE FOLLOWING AMONG MULTITUDES OF OTHER INSTANCES.

IN November, 1786, a person much given to swearing, being disappointed by one of his companions not returning to the public house as soon as he expected, swore he would never drink with him again, and that if he did, it should be his last. Accordingly, that day was his last. God took him at his word, and thus called him into eternity.

In November, 1787, one Wrs, a smith, spending the evening at a public house in Leather-lane, quarrelled with one of his companions, and swearing the most horrid oaths, God struck him instantaneously dead with an oath on his lips, upon the bench where he was sitting. The jury who sat upon the body, after hearing all the circumstances of the case, brought in their verdict, that "W-rs was struck dead, as a judgment from God." This narration was given by the foreman of the jury.

Another remarkable judgment overtook a person living in Brewer street, Soho, who cursing and swearing in a most dreadful manner, was struck speechless, and died the same afternoon. Wills' Register.

T. G. who lived in the parish of Sedgely, near Wolverhampton, having lost a considerable sum at cock-fighting, to which practice he was notoriously addicted, swore, in a most horrid manner, that he would never fight another cock, frequently calling upon God to damn his soul to all eternity if he did; and, with dreadful imprecations, wishing the devil might fetch him, if ever he made another bet.

His resolutions, thus impiously formed, were for a while observed; but about two years afterward, Satan, whose willing servant he continued to be, inspired him with a violent desire to attend a cocking at Wolverhampton, and he complied with the temptation. He there stood up and cried,

"I hold four to three on such a cock." "Four what?" said one of his companions in iniquity. "Four shillings," replied he. Upon which the wager was confirmed, and he,

putting his hand into his pocket for the money, instantly fell a ghastly corpse on the ground.

EVAN. MAG.

Who hath hardened himself against God and prospered? (Job ix. 4.)

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. (Exod. xx. 7.)

Because of swearing the land mourneth.
Every one that sweareth shall be cut off.

Dear reader, art thou a swearer? O

(Jer. xxiii. 10.) (Zech. v. 3.)

take this friendly

warning: thy next oath may be thy last. If thy prayer is heard, thy soul is damned forever!!!

HYMN.

Well may I tremble, when I read
That sin did heaven itself invade;
Curs'd pride, with subtilty unknown,
Perverted angels near God's throne;
They sinn'd against his holy name,
And hateful devils they became ;
But wrath divine pursued them soon,
And flaming vengeance hurl'd them down.

Now in the pangs of fierce despair,
Pris'ners at large, they range in air;
Walk through the earth, unheard, unseen,
And lay their snares for thoughtless men;
Tempt us to sin against our God,
And draw us to hell's downward road.