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But we are pressed by the remainder of our subject, and have only time to apply practically our remarks on the adaptation which subsists between the nature of man and the world in which he dwells, just as we have done those of the child in the season of education. We have not feared to introduce your children's books into the solemn proceedings of the judgment, and neither shall we fear to introduce your corporeal senses, and to assert you condemned by your taste, and your eye-sight, and your hearing. We dwelt on the correspondence which subsists between our organs and the objects which answer to them in the surrounding creation. If light were not exactly what it is, the eye would be useless; and if the air were not exactly what it is, the ear would be useless and from this correspondence we deduce a great moral lesson, even that there will be needed in our future state of being the same adaptation of the nature to the scene, which is so essential in our present to enjoyment, or rather to existence; and that consequently, forasmuch as we all expect a great change in scene, we are bound earnestly to seek a great change in nature, if we would not throw ourselves into eternity unprepared for all except its fires, which are quenched not. And what then shall bear a stronger testimony against us than the eye or the ear, if we strive not to be disciplined ere ushered into the new state of being? We can imagine to ourselves the man questioned at the judgment, as to his means of ascertaining whether God had placed him, while on earth, in a state of moral discipline. He may have had slight opportunities of what is termed instruction; but we can believe him compelled by the apparatus of his senses, to hold that he might have ascertained the character and design of his earthly condition. These senses assured him that he was constructed with a distinct view to his residence on earth, and that, if differently constructed, such residence would have been impossible: they told him, therefore, in language which, if misunderstood at all, must have been wilfully misunderstood, that if he were to find happiness in a different sphere of being, he must enter upon it with a different state of powers; and thus they urged him to enquire after the mode of a moral renovation, that thorough change of nature, apart from which they seem to tell him, he must look for no enjoyment in a thorough change of dwelling. It is enough then, in order to his being brought in as guilty of wilfully throwing away opportunities of discipline if unprepared for eternity. that the ear shall tell how it received the modulations of the air, and gave him notice of varieties of sound, and the eye testify how it gathered the rich showers of the sunlight, and enabled him to take the sweep of the panorama of creation. And thus when he stands in his resurrection body before his Judge, the organs of that body, however altered by the process which has made them imperishable, and however abused whilst he lived neglectful, shall witness so strongly to the fact of warning having been given as to our present state being a state of moral discipline, that, with the approval of all orders of intelligence, he will be condemned as having neglected to seek meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light.

We turn now to the second division of our subject. Up to this point we have been engaged with the shewing the fairness, or rather the necessity, of the supposition, that in this life we are in a state of moral discipline for the next. We are now to assume, that such is the character and design of our present condition, and briefly to examine into the justness of St. Paul's statemout. with respect to himself and the Colossians, that God had made them" meet for the inheritance of the saints in light."

We generally speak of preparation for heaven as a gradual thing; and, without question, there is a sense in which in the proportion that they grow holier, and more full of God's love, true believers become more fit for the enjoyment of the kingdom. But since St. Paul speaks of the meetness as already acquired— “Who hath made us meet," we cannot well understand our text as referring to that gradual preparation which is effected by the sanctifying influences of the Spirit. We are confirmed in this idea by observing, that it is not to the Third, but to the First Person in the Trinity that the Apostle here ascribes the preparation: "Giving thanks to the Father who hath made us meet." Undoubtedly the same thing is often in Scripture referred promiscuously to the three persons in the Trinity. Thus, though it is especially the office of the Spirit to sanctify, we find St. Jude addressing his epistle to those that are "sanctified by God the Father." And, indeed, whilst holding the doctrine of a Trinity of persons in the Godhead, we think it nothing more than a natural consequence on the unity of these persons, that, in some places, the Bible shall speak of a thing as done by one of these persons, and yet in another place ascribe that same thing to another. We do not, then, conclude on the mention of "the Father" in our text, that the Apostle had allusion to the gradual preparation which is the work of the Spirit. But when we combine this mention of the Father, and not of the Spirit, with the use of the past tense, with the assertion, in other words, that the work is already done, and not still in progress, we seem warranted by the two circumstances, if not by either one singly, in considering the meetness here spoken of by St. Paul, as not that which is the result of continued sanctification. And the truth of this matter will appear to be, that as soon as a man is effectually called of God, he is made meet for the inheritance; but that, by remaining on earth after conversion, and advancing in the graces which belong to Christianity, he becomes-we do not say more meet for the inheritance, but fitted for a higher station, and a more distinguished blessedness aniong the children of the first resurrection. If the man die so soon as justified, he would possess the inheritance; and, therefore, it must follow, that in being justified a man is also made meet. But this statement in no degree militates against the worth or necessity of sanctification; inasmuch as if there be, as we believe, varieties in future happiness, the several portions of the heirs of the kingdom shall be adapted to the scale of their present attainments. We suppose, then, that the meetness for the inheritance is acquired at the same time with the title to that inheritance: the Apostle, in fact, makes the two things contemporaneous, for while he speaks of "the Father who hath made us meet," he adds, "who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." Now, unquestionably, the "deliverance from the power of darkness," and "the translation into the kingdom of Christ," are immediate results, or rather constituent parts, of that change which we define as "conversion," or "renewal;" and whereas St. Paul places the meetness for the inheritance, even before the deliverance and the translation, we shall clearly not be warranted in considering that meetness as acquired long after, but must at least regard the fitness for heaven as wrought out at the same time with the renovation of nature. In simple truth, it is by having our nature renewed as it is at conversion, that we are "made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light." "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away, behold all things are become new." The change effected is precisely similar to that which would be effected on the body,

if the organs and senses which are adapted to this earth were so remodelled and modified as to become adapted to another section of the universe. The unconverted soul can understand, and feel, and taste, and enjoy, the things only of this world; the converted soul can see, and feel, and taste, and enjoy the things of another world. Sin was a delight to him, but now it is loathed; God was forsaken, but now he is sought; holiness was disliked, but now it is desired; there was no form nor comeliness in Jesus, but now he is "the chief among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely." Thus the result is the same as if you supposed a complete change in the whole apparatus of powers, and senses, and affections; and the communicated organs are manifestly those which will be required in order to enjoyment, if not to existence, in the inheritance of light. They are the organs which enable men to discern the beauty of that heaven wherein dwelleth righteousness, and to hold communion with beings who delight in performing God's will. They qualify their possessors to find pleasure in those exercises of praise which constitute so much of the future employment of the saints, and to feel love towards all who bear the same image, or who possess the same kingdom. We do not indeed say, that at the instant of conversion these organs will come into full play and exercise; we only say that these organs are then imparted, or that the old organs are then so renewed as to become adapted to the scenes and occupations of heaven. And this is all that is required in order to the making good the assertion, that the Father has made us meet. The infant, as soon as born, is meet for residence on earth, seeing that it brings with it an equipment of senses and powers, which, though weak and undeveloped, are those that are needed by the dwellers in this terrestrial creation. And in like manner, the justified man, so soon as justified, is meet for the inheritance in heaven, seeing that the renewal of nature of which he has been the subject, implies or includes the communication of spiritual affections and faculties, which require, however, to be drawn out and strengthened, and are precisely those which were always to be found at home in the scenery, and amongst the inhabitants of the invisible world. We still keep fast to the illustration of which we have availed ourselves through the whole of our discourse. If one of us were about to be translated to a distant planet, where the light, and the air, and the rain, and the gravitation, and the tenantry, were all broadly different from what they are in our own, the senses and the powers of such an individual must undergo a great change ere he could be fitted for the new and far-off dwelling-place. And if there be given him, through some supernatural operation, in exchange for his present apparatus of organs, just that state of powers which would enable him to appreciate the grandeur and loveliness of the distant domain, and to enter rejoicing into the pursuits and pleasures of its unknown relations, we should not hesitate to say of the individual, that he was made meet for the planet, and that he was ready for the translation: and it is precisely the same with reference to the fitness for heaven. We look on the unconverted man, engrossed and delighted with what is earthly and perishable, and we feel that the transferring this man to heaven without a renewal of nature, would be transferring him to a new world with organs and senses adapted only to the old. If he could exist he would find no enjoyment in heaven, any more than the man whose eye-sight, and hearing, and touch, and scent, and taste, had nothing correspondent to them in the creation which he was sent to inhabit. But let the man be converted, and old things are passed away; he has new hopes, new fears, new desires, new feelings. He sees a beauty in holiness, and therefore he has the eye-sight of heaven; he

hears a melody in the Gospel, and therefore he has the hearing of heaven; nis hand handles the word of life, and therefore he has the touch of heaven; there is fragrance to him in the sacrifice of Christ, and therefore he has the scent of heaven; he hungers and thirsts after righteousness, and therefore he has the taste of heaven. Thus all his senses-if it be lawful to define the spiritual by the corporeal-all his senses are adapted to the inheritance of the saints. And if now translated to that inheritance, he is not a man removed from one world to another, with a set of powers belonging to the old, but not fitted for the new: he is indeed a man whose dwelling-place is shifted, so that all around him differs from his original home; but he carries with him organs which are demanded by the residence, and therefore will feel himself in his element so soon as ushered on the inheritance. And since it is the very meaning of conversion, that a man is so born again, that the powers with which the soul is equipped, passed from adaptation to this life, to adaptation to the next life—from all that fitness to the earthly, which lies in the holiest attachments, for a fitness to the heavenly and since, we say, there is necessary to conversion all these changes in our spiritual organs, may we not contend, that, as soon as a man is called and justified by the Father, he is prepared for the invisible world, just as the man who has fresh apparatus and senses for another and a wholly different planet; and might not then St. Paul, speaking of himself and other renewed men, say with perfect accuracy, Giving thanks to the Father who hath made us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light?"

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And now there remains nothing, but that we associate the two parts of our discourse; and that having shewn you in the first place, that you are to regard the present as a state of discipline for the future, and, in the second, that the required fitness for the change is found in the renewal of our nature by conver sion, we exhort you to improve the day of probation, by seeking to be made new creatures in Christ. We began with assuming the thorough reasonableness of the expectation, that we are placed on earth in order to gain fitness for a higher stage of being; and we have now shown you, that this fitness is imparted to all who submit themselves to the conditions of the Gospel.

The inference from these shewings is clear and unavoidable, that, perceiving ourselves in a state of moral discipline, we close thankfully with those offers of mercy; and ensure, what we cannot elsewhere find, such improvement of the estate, that we shall be schooled for immortality. The Christian's life will, indeed, as we have already observed, be throughout a course of preparation for heaven; but he is made meet at the outset, though in all after stages the moral discipline will be so powerfully applied, that he shall work out "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." It is then only requisite that the man be converted; and, whilst immediately prepared if the change were immediate, he will pass his days in that training which is the design of his present condition; and thus living as an immortal creature, fulfil that great end of his being which he is able to ascertain as a rational.

Let those, therefore, who would give great weight to the suggestions of reason, hearken to those suggestions as they admonish them to submit to Revelation. Reason confesses our state to be one of moral discipline; but she cannot master the problem-how may we so pass through it, as to be fitted for a state of happiness and joy. Baffled by the disorders and intricacies of the existing dispensation, she can discover no mode by which the corrupt can be schooled

into purity, and the depraved prepared for the enjoyment of righteousness, And when, therefore, Revelation comes forward, sustained by the evidence whic reason approves, and presenting the intelligence which reason solicits, let it not be thought that you act as disciples of reason unless you thankfully submit yourselves to the discipline enjoined by Revelation. Believing in Christ so that you receive him into the heart by faith, thus, and thus alone, can fallen creatures hope for meetness to partake the inheritance of the saints in light.

May we all seek this meetness; knowing, that if not sought, and if not found, we must be landed in eternity meet only for inheritance of the reprobate in darkness. As born of the flesh we are meet for the heritage of cloud and tribulation; but it is only as born of the Spirit that we can be meet for the heritage of sunshine and gladness. Beautiful are the words (would that their beauty might be recognized and felt by all!) "Partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.""Partakers." Nothing of solitude, nothing of loneliness: it shall heighten our bliss that we share it with a multitude; that we walk not the magnificent outspread, a scattered few, an inconsiderable remnant of the mighty tribes; but that, surrounded by a company which no man can number, in our every joy myriads have companionship, and our every note of praise is echoed back by ten thousand times ten thousand voices. "Partakers of the inheritance." "If children," says the Apostle, "then heirs, heirs of the Father; yea, joint-heirs with Christ." Admitted into the fellowship of God by adoption, we become possessed of all the privileges of sons. And now, though undoubtedly undeserving, having no merit in ourselves which we can present for a title; we have so inalienable a right as members of Christ to the glories of immortality, that we have only to wait till death awaken us to joy, and we shall enter, like the undoubted heir who has completed his minority, on the vast and splendid possession. "The inheritance of the saints in light." "Light." The shadows of the temporal dispensation shall have passed away, and the whole plan of the Creator's dealings be spread before the admiring saints, one blaze of beauty. "Light." The discrepancies of Providence, the seeming contradictions in God's government, the obscurities which are caused by our knowing only in part-all these shall have been removed, and, while appearing on the lustres of eternity, have left no dark spot in the map of time. "Light." It shall not be the brilliancy of the material sun which makes the future landscape indescribably radiant: the future hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 'Light." The saints themselves, purged from all that is corruptible-the purified soul in an imperishable body, shall be wondrously luminous: even now, as St. Paul expresses it, they shine as lights in the world; but hereafter perfectly conformed to the image of Christ-of whom we are told, that at his transfiguration (which exhibited what humanity shall be when glorified) his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light-they shall be conspicuous amongst all orders of intelligence, transformed into glowing and beaming likenesses of Him whose radiations occupy the universe. 66 Light," says the Psalmist, "is sown for the righteous:" and the seeds of the sparkling harvest are deposited in their souls while working out salvation. Holiness is the moral light, and the germ of heavenly purity is the element of heavenly splendour. Let it now then be our endeavour to waik as children of light, having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. but rather reproving them. There must be (and we press this again and again

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