Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1857-10-21

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may bring thee only pain and n%navail-
ing remorse.
1t is sometimes, even In this life, too
late to repent for the Spirit does not al
ways strive with man up to the moment of
his death. It is awful to think that the
sad time of such spiritual desertion may
be coming on for thee, thou perverse neg
lecter of the 'great salvation 1t wU be
too late, when long continuance in sin shall
have hardened thy heart and scared thy
conscience, and made thee insensible to the
powers of the world to come. It will be
too late, when the exhortations and warn
ings of the Gospel, often heard and as often
resisted, affect thee no longer, and falls
upon thine ear as the idle words of an un-
meaning tale. It will be too late, when
the calm peacefulness Of Sunday, with the
outpourings of its prayers, and the notes
of its praise, and the appeals of its sermons,
only lulls thee to stupidity, and rocks thee
to a deeper sleep. 1t will be too late, when,
after being conscience smitten again and
again, and having as often relapsed into
sin, the Spirit of God shall go away and
leave thee to blindness of mind aad hard
ness Of heart. 1t will be too late, when
Death, suddenly raising his giant hand,
shall fell thee to the ground. It will be
too laee, when sickness shall creep upon
thee by slow but sure advance, waste thy
strength in a lingering illness, put out the
light of reason, confuse thy thought, and
deprive thee of all opportunity for making
thy peace with God. Oh, it will be for
ever too late when the day of judgment
shall be revealed, and when the angel of
Jehovah shall peal these words of horror
into thine %astounded ears, He that is un-
just, let him be unjust still, and he which
Is filthy, let him be filthy STILL
Then will it be too late indeed. The
time of prayer, the time of penitence and
faith, will each be over. The time of wrath
and indignation will have come. Thou
wilt then cry out N despair but no
voice from Mercy or from Hope will return
to thee an answer. All will be utter con-
fusion and dire dismay. Oh, then, the
time of thine acceptance will have passed
away, and the day of thy salvation will have
set. Then, amid the crashing and groan-
ipgs of a dissolving world, thou wilt flee in
terror from thy doom. Thou wilt hasten
to the rocks and to the mountains, and will
call aloud upon them to hide thee from the
face of Him that stitch upon the throne,
and from the wrath of the Lamb. But all
< thy imploring will be vain for the great
l day of his wrath will have come, land who
shall be able to stand? p
All, however, is not yet lost, repenting
1 sinner. The day of mercy still shines with
9 beams of love divine. Darkness has not
3 yet EMBODIED thee in her arms of mist and
o gloom. Happy soul, the waters of redemp.
y ton still gush forth foryhee from the Rock
e { Of Ages. Flee to Him and say +; Hide me
Rock of Ages, in thy sweet shadow of 81
d lence, peace, and joy hide me now, ant
hide me always.
- While I draw this Aeeting breath,
When mine eye-lids close in death:
When ! rise to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy Judgment throne,-
y, Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee
# w. G. d.
q New Orleans, Aug. 20, 1857.