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will descend with a shout, and the very arches of heaven shall re-echo it. The sounds you will first hear will be those of cheering consolation: "Gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice." Oh! how bright a constellation will you make with every head crowned with glory, an innumerable company that no man can number! And what a day of consternation will it be to you, who in all the years of a long life have been joined to idols, when you find that having passed as jewels in the world, as men of science, or high in station, or increased in goods, that you are utterly rejected at the bar of judgment! How amazed will you be when the poor man, who is now slighted and despised because he is poor, shall be lifted up into the ranks of the blessed, and yourselves be left to perish! Oh, brethren! will you continue triflers in the sober contemplation of such a scene as this? Is it a trifling matter to die in ignorance, in bonds, in darkness; to be uncertain what you are, or whither you are going? Is it a trifling matter to lose the only thing of value that you have-your soul? Why will be entangled in a net that is laid for your everlasting captivity? As long as you continue to lay your foundation on the earth, you will have none in heaven; as long as you go on to prefer

you

things visible to things not seen, temporal comforts to spiritual blessings, however affectionately we may desire your welfare, we cannot consider you as jewels of the Lord!

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SERMON XV.

CHRIST CONQUERING BY LOVE.

SONG OF SOLOMON, ii. 4.

He brought me into the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.

WHAT a pure, rich, and inexhaustible mine of wealth is the Bible! it has within itself enough to fill the most capacious vessels, milk for babes, and strong meat for them that are able to bear it. Its separation from all that is unhallowed, gives it a purity that nothing else on this side the grave possesses. Its ample promises are its riches, and the abundance of peace and joy which these have supplied to the saints of every generation, without any loss or diminution, show us, that though every heart should be filled with them to the very brim, they are not to be exhausted.

But whilst I speak of the superlative excellence of the word of God as a whole, I may

observe, that certain portions of it differ from others, just so far as we note a difference in the several parts of the same river; here it is fordable, there the current runs strong, and in a third place it is too deep for any but those who have made previous preparation to pass it. This allusion you may readily understand. Bring the truths of Scripture before you, and take a view of the writers that record them; they are the same truths, whether delivered by Moses under the law, or Paul under the gospel. But if they are literally described by the pen of one, and proposed spiritually by the other, they will not be taken with the same ease into the mind. This evangelist we comprehend, but that prophet perplexes us with his depth of thought not that the authority of either is shaken by the peculiar way in which he expresses the will of God; the doctrines of each are given by inspiration; these, the Holy Ghost takes under his immediate charge; they are essentials, but he leaves it to the man himself to put them in whatever dress he will. In this way he directed the spirit of Solomon in the composition of this divine song, fixing him close to the subject, the wonderful union of our Immanuel and his church, but leaving him to adorn it with that sort of imagery and language which would be most acceptable to his own mind.

This I conceive to be one of the deepest parts of the river of Scripture: we may pass it, but it must be with caution; it would be hazardous to attempt it without a guide, But if any other than a spiritual understanding should approach it as an object of curious speculation, it would be at once driven back by its own carnal imaginations; at the same time there are detached passages in this book, with such a strength of expression in them, and such an intensity of feeling, that they are entitled to the special regard and consideration of all who believe them to be the sayings of a man of God. Such a passage is the text; it tells us of sweet mercies, and of consolations, no where to be found but in covenant securities: it speaks the language of rapturous joy, and of a settled experience. The images that are introduced are indeed no more than shadows; but they are shadows which the believer knows how to prize, for in all of them he sees a strong outline which his faith fills up for him-the fulness of the love of Christ that passeth knowledge: "He brought me into the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love."

These words set forth the privileges that are most precious to the saints. I shall attempt to convince you that they deserve attention, by showing, in the first place, how the banquet

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