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SERMON XX,

HAPPINESS IN DEATH.

2 PETER i. 11.

For fo an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly, into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jefus Chrift.

My Brethren, among the various mo

tives with which Revelation abounds, there are none more folemn and impreffive than those which are derived from-DEATH. Hence the facred writers often refer to it. They remind us of the fuddenness of its arrival. They forewarn us of the nearness of its approach. They also intimate the importance of its confequences as terminating this state of trial, fealing up our characters, and tranfmitting them to the judgment of the great day, to be opened and published before an affembled world.

The apostle Peter urges the MANNER of our dying. He would have us die WELL, not only in a ftate of fal vation but of peace and triumph; "So an entrance "fhall be miniftered unto you abundantly, into the "everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jefus

"Chrift." To do juftice to this fubject, it will be neceffary to confider three things, I. The state to which the Chriftian looks forward, "the everlasting "kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jefus Christ." II. The mode of his admiffion, "an entrance minif"tered abundantly." III. The condition on which the privilege depends, it is the confequence of fomething clearly implied; "So, So AN

ENTRANCE

ર SHALL BE MINISTERED UNTO YOU ABUNDANTLY, 66 INTO THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM OF OUR LORD "AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST."

I. Christians, we know very little of "the hope "which is laid up for us in heaven;" it is " the glory "which fhall be revealed in us." While we are in this weak ftate of flesh and blood, the full disclosure would be too dazzling for the feeble eye. It would alfo, by making too strong an impreffion, operate injuriously, unhinging us from our prefent connections, and depriving thofe concerns which demand a fubordinate share of attention, of all power to strike and engage our minds. "We walk by faith, not by fight;" but "we know in part." We have fome reprefentations of our future blessedness accommodated to our faculties, and derived from scenes with which we are familiar.

It is a KINGDOM, a state of royal empire, expanding over a better, a heavenly country, where there is no curfe; whofe laws are equity and perfection; whose riches and honours and resources are infinite; whose fubjects are all wife and good; living together as friends, all princes themselves, all happy, escaped

from the troubles of life, the infirmities and diseases of body, the distreffes and accufations of conscience, the remains of ignorance and of fin, and innumerable vexations, which now make us groan, and long to emigrate thither. Two things are spoken of this kingdom, which deferve remark.

The first concerns its permanency and duration. It is "the EVERLASTING kingdom of our Lord and "Saviour." Every thing here is perishable and tranfitory. We tremble to look at our poffeffions and enjoyments, left we should see them in motion, fpreading their wings to flee away. Many already in talking of their comforts are compelled to go back; "I HAD a husband, children, health, affluence, and I “faid, I fhall die in my neft."

As it is with individuals and families, fo it is with communities. "The fashion of this world paffeth "away." Where now is the city whofe top was to reach to heaven and defy a fecond flood? What have become of the kingdoms of the earth, whose fame fills the page of history? The Affyrian, Perfian, Grecian, Roman empires arofe, aftonifhed mankind for a feafon, and disappeared. And not only the most magnificent and durable productions of human power and fkill, but even the established frame of nature shall be demolished; "The heavens fhall pafs away with a 66 great noise, and the elements fhall melt with fervent “heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein "fhall be burnt up. Nevertheless, we according to "his promise look for new heavens and a new earth, "wherein dwelleth righteoufnefs." Then follows a kingdom not marred by fin, not liable to declenfion

or change; a kingdom which cannot be fhaken, secure from internal decay and external violence; a kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world, and which fhall furvive its diffolution, and having feen the fun turned into darkness and the moon into blood, fhall flow on through eternal ages.

The greater any good is which we poffefs, the more does it awaken our concern, and the more anxious are we to inquire after fecurity and tenure. But here is no room for apprehenfion; the happiness is as certain as it is excellent, as durable as it is vaft; and the Scripture never overlooks this important confideration. Is it "meat?" It" endureth to everlasting "life." Is it a "treasure ?" "Moth and ruft can"not corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal." Is it "a ઃઃ a crown of glory?" It" fadeth not away.' Is it a "house ?" It is "a building of God, not made "with hands, eternal in the heavens." Is it a " city?" It is a city which hath foundations, whofe builder "and whofe maker is God." Is it a "kingdom ?" It is "everlafting."

Behold the fecond circumftance with regard to this bleffed ftate. It is "the everlasting kingdom of OUR "LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST." And what means this relation? It is furely defigned to diftinguish him from a mere poffeffor, and to intimate peculiar prerogative, refidence, administration. It is his by claim. As the Son of God he is "Heir of all "things: being made fo much better than the angels, "as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excel"lent name than they. For unto which of the angels “ said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have

"I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a "Father, and he shall be to me a Son? And again, "when he bringeth in the firft-begotten into the "world, he faith, And let all the angels of God wor"fhip him. And of the angels he faith, Who mak"eth his angels fpirits, and his minifters a flame of "fire. But unto the Son he faith, Thy throne, O "God, is for ever and ever; a fceptre of righteouf"ness is the fceptre of thy kingdom :" thou haft loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God

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even thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of "gladness above thy fellows." For under another view he acquired it as the reward of his obedience and fufferings. "For unto the angels hath he not

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put in fubjection the world to come, of which we speak? But we fee Jefus, who was made a littlė "lower than the angels, for the fuffering of death, "crowned with glory and honour.” "Who, being "in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be "equal with God; but made himself of no reputa"tion, and took upon himself the form of a fervant, "and was made in the likeness of men; and being "found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and "became obedient unto death, even the death of the "crofs. Wherefore God alfo hath highly exalted "him, and given him a name which is above every "name; that at the name of Jefus every knee should "bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and "things under the earth; and that every tongue should "confefs that Jefus Chrift is Lord, to the glory of "God the Father." He has now the difpofal of the offices and privileges of the empire among his faithful

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