on the demerit of the receiver! Had we, like the angels, preserved our innocence, the good news of this farther accession to our happiness in another state, would doubtless have been joyfully received and ingenuously acknowledged. But what shall we say? how shall we express our astonishment? when we see human guilt, impotence and wretchedness, become objects of divine pity, friendship and love. Surely that grace must be admirable, which does not only relieve the miserable; but makes them perfectly and eternally happy!—which does not only bear with offenders, and punish them less than their deserts; but buries all their guilt in oblivion, and accepts them as innocent! -which does not only hold back rebels from the hands of provoked justice; but exalts them to heaven, and crowns them with unfading glory! Admirable grace indeed! which, of its own pure good-will, pours a profusion of bounty on some, whilst others suffer the just consequence of their sins.-But is this all? No.

to us.

There is another consideration, which yet farther magnifies the goodness of God, and gives it a lustre almost too bright and dazzling to be beheld by our weak eyes; and that is, the prodigious expence at which this free gift of divine love is dispensed God spared not his own Son, but delivered him up to death for our sakes, that through him we might thus freely inherit all things a. Go, Christian, to mount Calvary, there see your Saviour extended on a cross, pouring out his vital blood as the price of your redemption; and then say, whether the eternal inheritance, received as the fruit of his death, is not the noblest expression of love which Omnipotence itself could give? Nor can I help observing here, that as, on the one hand, these measures which God hath taken to provide for our everlasting happiness, reflect the highest honour on his goodness; so, on the other, they serve to heighten and magnify our conceptions of the heavenly blessedness itself beyond any thing that hath been, or can possibly be, said concerning it. For how great must that bliss and glory be, which is obtained for us at so immense an expence? The Son of God becomes a man, and dies, that men may become the sons of God, and live for ever!-Be your hearts then, Christians, dissolved in gratitude and praise! and

a Rom. viii. 32.

begin here on earth the song, which you will ere long sing in concert with angels above, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing a.

2. If we have such glorious prospects as these before us, how should our affections be moderated to the world, and all its concerns and enjoyments!

No sober man, methinks, even though we put religion out of the question, can help being afflicted and surprised, when he looks around him, and observes what a prodigious effect the little things of this life have upon the generality of mankind. On the generality, did I say? I may add, on every individual in a greater or less degree. Ah! how eagerly do we catch at shadows! and how miserably are we affrighted at what cannot hurt us! How do we spend the fire of our passions in the uncertain pursuit of that which disappoints, if not torments; while the feeblest efforts to acquire the greatest good, quickly try our strength and exhaust our spirits! Strange! Will not reason and reflection convince us of our folly? Will not observation and experience bring us to our senses? Shall two of the plainest truths that were ever reported in the ear of man, and which we dare not deny or even dispute, that the world cannot satisfy, and that, if it could, a few years will deprive us of it; shall these plain truths, I say, be disregarded and despised? Yes. So it is, so it will be, while we walk by sight not by faith; while we look to the things which are temporal, and turn away our eyes from those which are eternal. Faith, and faith only, will break the charm, rouse us from the delusion, and restore us to our reason. O the infinite utility and importance of a divine faith!

It is your happiness, Christian, to possess that faith. Take up the glass then, apply it to the great objects I have been describing, and tell us the effect.-You see the joys of heaven. They are real. They are near. They are yours.—And now, satisfied through grace of your interest in the favour of God, and struck with the prospect of these great enjoyments before you, what think you of the world? Is it that important thing the generality of mankind take it to be? Ah! no. It appears

a Rev. v. 12.

little, vain and trifling. You wonder it should have so long engrossed your heart. Your passion for it abates, your indifference to it increases. Its power is broken. It is now too feeble a thing to subdue your conscience, or even controul your joys. Your happiness no longer lies at the mercy of its deceitful and precarious promises. While you relish the comforts of life, and have a just sense of their value; you stretch not every nerve to possess a feather, nor hazard your most essential interests to acquire momentary bliss. And while you feel the disappointments and troubles of life, you fall not an ignominious sacrifice to their rage, but preserve a composure and steadiness of mind, truly heroic and exemplary. Happy temper this! an acquisition far more noble and important than that of the whole world! Well! such is the effect of a lively faith, and cheerful hope of eternal life. O let us then, who are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, be persuaded to give diligence to make our calling and election sure; and more frequently to realize these great and glorious objects. So shall we be superior to the frowns and flatteries of this vain world. So shall we be quickened to the unwearied discharge of our several duties. And so shall we adorn our Christian profession with the amiable fruits of patience, contentment and cheerfulness, of purity, love and obedience. Once more,

3. And lastly, What infinite importance does the consideration of heaven reflect upon religion in general!

Eternal life, it is true, is the gift of God. But it is not to be enjoyed, unless we humbly and thankfully accept it in the way he has thought fit to bestow it, and are prepared for the final participation of it by the gracious influence of his Spirit. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved a. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God b. They are the words of him, through whose hands, and at the expence of whose precious blood, the blessings of grace and glory are distributed to guilty men. And can you be content, Sirs, to forego the joys of heaven, for the momentary gratifications of sin and sense? Or if you can, is there nothing alarming in the tremendous consequences of your exclusion from that world, I mean your suffering the torments of hell? For, if we will be

a Mark xvi. 16.

b John iii. 3.

lieve the Scriptures, there is no medium between these two states. Awful consideration! Let me therefore entreat you, by the mercies of God, by the bowels of Christ, by the terrors of the law, by the grace of the gospel, by the debt you owe to your immortal souls, in short, by every thing that is dear to you both here and hereafter, seriously to consider these things. Behold, now is the accepted time: behold, now is the day of salvation a. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, if his wrath be kindled but a little b. Cast down the weapons of your hostility at his feet, and be assured, that, as his heart is made of gentleness and love, he will in no wise reject the humble returning penitent.

Here I might, yet farther to conciliate your regards, with the blessing of God, to these interesting matters, lead you into à pleasing view of the nature of religion, lay before you the evidence of its truth, and delineate its various excellent properties, and important uses. I might tell you whence it comes, through what channel it is communicated to us, the means by which it is improved and preserved, the comfort it affords in the hour of death, and its happy consummation in heaven. Animating considerations these! But as I have dwelt at large upon them in the preceding discourses, it shall suffice here to call up the leading ideas of the several discourses to your view.

The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power c. Religion consists not in appearance and profession only, but in the cheerful and prevailing subjection of the heart to the dominion of God, exerted over the soul, through the mild and gentle administration of the Lord Jesus Christ.-Its reality is capable of the clearest proof, from the nature of the thing itself, the testimony of Scripture concerning it, and the consent of the generality of mankind in all ages: so that their madness and folly is inexcusable, who deny the power of godliness d.—And, however, as to external circumstances, it may assume different appearances, yet it is one and the same thing, in all who are so happy as to possess it; for, in regard of that humility, cheerfulness, purity and love, which the gospel teaches and inspires, good men have all of them, in their degree, been made to drink

a 2 Cor. vi. 3.

c Dis. I,

b Psal. ii. 12.

d DIS. II.

into one spirit a.-Nor is it a matter of trifling consequence. It is the one thing needful b: far more important than any other concern whatever; that without which a man stands exposed to every kind of danger here, and, to the just wrath of God hereafter.-Difficulties do indeed attend the experience and profession of it in the present life: for he who will be a man of religion must deny himself, take up his cross and follow Christ c. But these difficulties, of whatever kind or degree, should not unduly discourage, much less alarm and terrify us; for they may be surmounted. My yoke, says Christ, is easy, my burden is light d. He requires nothing of us but it is our duty and interest to comply with. We are under infinite obligations to his grace. He has promised to assist and support us amidst all our trials. Experience has confirmed the truth of his promises. And after all, hard as his service may seem under some particular circumstances, it is much easier than the yoke of sin. -But it is not the only commendation of religion, that it will do a man no real harm; for it will most certainly do him, even in this life, the greatest good. The ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace e. It furnishes the best antidote against the principal causes of uneasiness and distress. It pours the richest comforts and joys into the heart. And there is solid peace and satisfaction in the practice of its several duties. And, as the cheerful practice of the duties of religion, affords the most substantial, and indeed the only sufficient evidence of inward piety, so he who thus hath his fruit unto holiness f, who lives righteously, soberly and godly, in this present world, will not fail to become truly venerable, and extensively useful.

It is also a further proof of the excellence of religion, that it is from above g, the effect of a divine influence or energy exerted on the heart. So it should seem, from a review of the manner in which it usually rises into existence. A consideration, however, of the depraved state of human nature, the infinite difficulty attending the great work of renewing the heart, and the clear and express testimony of Scripture upon the mat

a DIS. III. d Dis. VI. g DIS. IX.

b Dis. IV.

e Dis. VII.

C DIS. V. f DIS. VIII,