Page:Race for eternal life.pdf/22

 their abundance. Is the blessing of them that a ready to perish like to come upon them? Will not thou judge them, O Lord! Certainly these bitter and lamentable complaints cry loud in the ears of the Almighty, against such inhuman and unchristian miseries. Beware of the cry of the poor against you: If thou wilt not hear their cries unto thee, God will hear their cries against thee.

Thy mercifulness to the poor will provoke God to reject thy most religious exercises, Prov. xx 13. ' Whose stoppath his cars at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard. In which words Solomon hinteth to u two things

1. That unmerciful men, such as turn away their ears from the cry of the poor, shall fall in to such miseries as will bring them to their knees and make them cry sooner or later. Here in this world, worldly men make many prayers, and their religion they hope will make amends, for their inhumanity at least. But in the world to come, they shall follow their fellow Dives in his infernal devotion.

2. Though they cry, they shall not be heard; whether they cry here upon their death-beds for mercy, or hereafter in hell for ease, they shall not be heard. A notable instance hereof we have in Dives, who though he cried not here, yet he cried in hell, saying, Father, Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame, Luke xvi. 24. But was he heard, was his request granted? it was a small request, but yet it is denied. Because he denied crumbs of bread here in this life