caverns;

pebbles into one of the earth's high voluptuous, and all that can charm
there is a moment's amuse- the sensual, thronged the eternity
ment in listening to the rough musick which he promised to his followers.
wrung from the rocky surfaces, but It was no marvel that the Saracens
the chasm still gapes insatiable as the flocked gladly round a prophet, who
grave; you must cast in immortality taught them, that by the bold enter-
the love of the eternal and infinite prizes of war in his cause, they should
Creator, and then, and not till then, insure to themselves admission into
will the void be satisfied, and the rest- the perpetual enjoyment of all in which
less craving after some mighty object, the most carnal imagination can de-
over which to pour the spirit, own it- light to revel; and certainly it were
self in any sense appeased. But the but a mockery of your understandings
love of God is a principle which never if I should stay to prove to you, that a
found place in human ethics; it is Mahomedan's notion of heaven strik-
above them, it is beyond them, it is ingly evinces that he can see nothing
too refined, too sublime, too stupen- "of the kingdom of God."
dous. The natural heart has no power
of discovering how completely happi-
ness is resolvable into this love of GOD
as its prime constituent element; it
cannot see it, and it will not believe it;
and since heaven is depicted as the
possession of a full and unallayed love
of the Almighty, will it not follow that
the incapacity of the unregenerate man
to see happiness in the love of God
amounts to an incapacity of seeing
heaven in the scriptural representation
of heaven, and what is this but a vi-
vid illustration of the truth, that "Ex-
cept a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God."

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But whilst the men of Christendom are not in danger of being deceived with the expectation of a sensual Paradise, we meet constantly with ideas of what may be termed an intellectual Paradise. I think that very commonly literary men, if they be also in any sense religious men, associate heaven with larger developements of science and general knowledge-they look to enjoy in futurity the society of beings of an illustrious genius, they dwell with complacency on the wide and burning fields of intelligence which may then be thrown open to the expatiations of their spirits, on the vivid light which will then be cast over the most mysterious and perplexing phenomena, and thus they hang with much of rapture on the thought, that the future shall unravel all intricacies of the present-that secrets, on the exploring of which the labour and the talent of successive generations have been verily squandered, shall be laid open to their gaze; and that permitted, it may be, to range from one bright station in the universe to another, they shall gather continually an exuberant

But I will subjoin some further exhibitions of the point under review, for it is one deserving your particular attention; I will refer you for a few moments to the popular notions of heaven, and, showing you their glaring inconsistency with the statements of the Bible, will leave you again to conclude, that carnal men cannot see "the kingdom of God." We all know what is meant by a Mahomedan Paradise-we all know, that when the Arabian impostor, the shooting star of the Revelations, promulgated his sys-harvest of wondrous discoveries, and tem of blasphemous deceit, he painted heaven under the aspect most calculated to allure the natives of an eastern climate, and all that can fascinate the

be admitted by the Creator into all the arcana of his most splendid operations.

Brethren, I do believe that we shall move hereafter in so noble and en

larged a sphere of being, that the knowledge which the acutest among us can now attain of the works of Omnipotence, will appear nothing better than the veriest ignorance, when compared with that which shall then be imparted. But although there may be nothing unlawful in allowing the thought of this extension of knowledge to enter into our musings on heaven, yet it is decidedly carnal to allow such a thought a strong and prominent place; and I look upon it as one of the delusions of Satan, to lead men to fall in love with a paradise of their own creating, and then to fancy it the Paradise of their Maker's creating. It is just the cheat and jugglery of the evil one to make that heaven whose prime rapture results from a knowledge of GOD in Christ, seem identical with an ideal heaven glowing with a knowledge of GoD in nature, and thus to persuade an unregenerate man that he is anticipating with delight the portion of the regenerate man, whereas the unscriptural imagery on which he is gazing proclaims with a voice like a clarion's blast, that, "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."

ness that he should ever utter words which are tinctured with harshness. I turn to all that the Bible delineates of the joys and the occupations of heaven, and I find nothing but one uniform representation of rapture derived from communion with the LORD, and ecstasy experienced in beholding and celebrating the majesties of the Lamb. I find nothing but incidental yet brilliant notices, which exhibit to me the gladness of immortality as resulting from contemplations of the Redeemer as he is, and from the privilege of mingling with a countless assembly chaunting to the harpings of golden harps their lofty praises of salvation. There is much of simile drawn indeed from material scenery; but nothing can be more palpable than that such simile is adapted in condescension to the weakness of our capacities, and that its simple scope is to pourtray the spiritual enjoyment of presence with Christ, and of the immediate manifestations of his glory and his love. And whilst I thus find that GOD in Christ is a believer's heaven, what shall be said of that religious romance which would identify heaven with the memory of dear and buried kindred-pointing to the shore of the celestial Canaan, not as the scene in which Christ shall be met, but as the spot where we shall rush again to the warm embrace of some being, over whose ashes we have

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There is another point on which I would touch briefly and gently-gently, because it is bound up with the kindliest sensibilities of our nature, and it

is not requisite to a minister's faithful-wept the bitter tears of weary months.

(To be continued.)

London: Published for the Proprietors, by T. GRIFFITHS, Wellington Street, Strand ; and Sold by all Booksellers in Town and Country.

Printed by Lowndes and White, Crane Court, Fleet Street.

world. And whilst I own it would be but a churlish speech to affirm that these 'views of heaven as a meetingplace for parted friends, prove that he who entertains them has never yet been born again, yet assuredly, they are the views of the old man and not of the new, and are generated by that which remains of carnal, and not by that which has been inserted of spiritual nature. And if it be thus undeniable that the carnal nature, so far as it is yet unsubdued, introduces into our conceptions of heaven thoughts which detract from the simple and scriptural characteristics of heaven, then it must be allowed that this carnal nature is of itself unable to discern or appreciate the happiness of heaven; if the remnants of this nature still struggling in a Christian's breast, produce, as it were, dark specks in his vision of futurity, then it is fair to argue, that the visions of men in whom this nature is wholly unchanged, can be nothing else but one universal blot. The clearness with which heaven is discerned appears proportioned to the decisiveness with which the old man is resisted, and hence it might be called a logical inference, that " Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of GOD."

Oh, it may be a lovely thought, and | amid the selfishness of this degenerate when chastened and moderated by Gospel prescriptions, I suppose it to be a lawful thought, that in yon fair world which woos us persuasively to its peaceful coast, the bands of friendship, which death hath burst rudely asunder, shall be again united, and that they who have walked in holy communion as fellow-heirs of the same promises, shall there be linked in a still holier amity as partakers of the same possessions. But what better is it than turning heaven into earth, if we transfer to it all the array of creature affections, if we look upon it as increasingly desirable, just in proportion as it is peopled out of our own circle of Christian intimates? and must not that be a degraded conception of Eternity which dwells on the fact there shall be no parting, to the comparative forgetfulness of another fact, there shall be no sinning, and so wraps itself in the hope of meeting a child, or a wife, or a parent, that it seems ready to dispense with all conjunction with the Husband of the Church, and the friend who is described as sticking closer than a brother? I would say nothing that might be deemed stoical, but I must enter a Christian's protest against this dishonouring of Christ, and this absurd division of the celestial family into separate groups, each moving in that petty circle of relative charities which had been chalked out VOL. II.

But our time will be exhausted sooner than our topic, and I hasten to recur to those remarks with which I introduced this discourse. I have

G

A Sermon

DELIVERED BY THE REV. J. F. DENHAM,

AT ST. BRIDE'S CHURCH.

Genesis, xxvi. 13.-" Thou GOD seest me."

THERE are few persons, indeed, who do not suppose themselves to believe in the Being and perfections of GOD. These truths seem to be so plain, and the reception of them so common, that mankind in general would be displeased with any supposition to the contrary, as an insult upon their heart or understanding. But multitudes who think they possess faith in these doctrines are much mistaken. True faith determines the choice and governs the practice according to the nature of the thing believed. True faith is "the evidence," or demonstration" of things not seen." Let the objects be ever so remote, yet true faith brings them near to the mind, and renders them as powerful and as operative upon the affections and the will as if they were present and visible.

is very weak and imperfect. For suppose, my brethren, that we could show you GOD, visibly in this assembly tonight, could we praise him so feebly, or pray to him so coldly, or speak, or hear so unfeelingly as we do; and shall seeing, and not seeing, make such a difference? Did we just this moment behold the object of our worship, would the mere shutting our eyes render his pre sence less venerable, or the influence of it less powerful?

Plainly not, my brethren; our seeing GOD would only assure us that he was present; and if an equal assurance can be obtained by any other means, the influence of his presence ought to be the same. It is not, therefore, the mere circumstance of seeing, or not seeing God, that causes this difference in our conduct towards him, but the believing, or not believing, the reality of his presence. Hence, it clearly follows, that any less degree of reverence on our part, than is actually due to the Majesty of Heaven, and any undutiful step in our conduct towards our Heavenly Parent and Governor, results from the weak

My brethren, suffer me to illustrate this remark by appealing to your conduct since you entered this church. You have most of you solemnly professed your belief in the omnipresence an domniscience of your Maker; when you joined in singing his praises, but especially in offering up your prayers to Him, each of you virtually profess-ness of our faith: a course of sin esed to be under the conviction of the truth uttered in the text, "Thou GOD seest me"-because most plainly you would not have attempted to pray to an absent or inattentive being. Yet if you examine yourselves impartially, and try your faith by the only proper test, I suspect you will find too much reason to believe, either that you do not at all believe that God sees you, or that your belief in this truth at best

pecially, or the habitual indulgence of any corrupt affection demonstrates, that whatever light you may have in your understanding, you do not, my hearers, from your heart believe the sentiment of the text, to be true in reference to yourselves, "Thou GoD seest me."

When these observations are considered, it will be seen, that infidelity in some degree or other is more com