by his terrors, that he would win us to SERM. his service. The purpose of his coming VIII. was to declare the grace of God, which bringeth salvation to all men. And though it was expedient for him to denounce indignation and wrath upon the rebellious and impenitent, yet he takes most complacence in unfolding the treasures of divine grace to such as repent of their sins and continue patient in welldoing. Thus the subject of discourse through the whole of this chapter is that eternal life, of which he brought an assurance to the world. This is stated as the recompence ordained for the faithful observance of those two great and comprehensive duties, the love of God and the love of our Neighbour.

It is not indeed very clearly shewn, wherein this promised blessedness consists for eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things, which God hath prepared for them that love him°. Yet some intimation he hath been pleased to give us of the future happiness of the righteous, when he states by his Apostle that they shall come unto

• 1 Cor. ü. 9.

Mount

SERM. Mount Sion, and unto the City of the VIII. living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of Angels, to the general assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant P. Thus the happiness of the heavenly life, as far as we can comprehend in this imperfect state of knowledge, will principally consist in the blessed society of those, who best deserve and best can recompense their love. And herein we see an admirable correspondence between the duty and the reward. If we love the Lord our God with all our faculties, and our Neighbour as ourselves, our obedience upon earth will be infinitely recompensed in heaven by the love of God and all the blessed Saints to us. And what can we conceive to be a greater possible happiness, than to be received of those Angels, who have watched round our dwellings, and have ministered to us in the ways of salvation; to be called to an eternal fellowship with the spirits of just men made perfect; to converse with that Saviour,

P Heb. xii. 22, &c.

1 Heb. i. 14. who

who has loved us so much as to lay SERM. down his life for our sakes; to stand VIII. before that great King, in whose presence is fulness of joy, and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore'.

When once we cast our eyes on that eternal life, which is proposed for the recompence of our obedience in loving God and loving our Neighbour, our present life must wane in our esteem, and we cannot regard ourselves in any other light than as Strangers and Pilgrims upon earth; who are, or ought to be, in quest of a better country, that is a heavenly. This image is frequently brought forward in the holy scriptures, to wean ús from too strong an attachment to earthly things, and to fix our attention on the concerns of another life. Nor can it better forward the great business of our calling, than to bring into comparison the short and uncertain tenure of all worldly possessions with that permanent and eternal reward, which is promised to all those who keep the commandments.

But notwithstanding that we know all this, that we profess to be directing our

Psalm xvi. 11.

Heb. xi. 13, 16.

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journey

SERM. journey to a better country, that we VIII. desire to secure to ourselves a final home in Heaven, we seem in general too much taken up with the amusements and avocations of the road, to pay a due attention to the progress and end of our pilgrimage. And therefore God, who is merciful even in his corrections, has been pleased in diverse manners and at sundry times to give us aweful mementos of the frailty and instability of all sublunary fortune.

An example is every day before us in the fate of those foreign Exiles, who, driven from their country by political convulsions, are Strangers and Pilgrims in our land. But a little time is past since they had riches, houses, friends, a country, and a home. On a sudden all are vanished like a vision of the night; they are cast out into the wilderness of the world, and depend upon the benevolence of another people for their daily bread.

Whether this visitation is come upon them for the correction of their sins, or the trial of their patience, it would be arrogance in us to judge. Suffice it for us to know, that we may render their adversity beneficial to ourselves, if we accept

accept it as a warning to religious me- sERM. ditation and repentance. Let their vIII. vicissitude of fortune be a caution to us, that we do not place our confidence on the precarious and perishable things of this life, but that we put our trust in God alone, in whose hands are the destinies of mankind, and who dispenses his mercies and his judgements according as he sees most conducive to the purposes of his good providence.

It is not for our merits, but of his mercies, that he continues to us, what so many of our Neighbours now deplore as lost, the benefits of established government and the blessings of a Country. If God were extreme to mark what is done amiss, and to pay us as we deserve, we could alledge no plea for an exemption from the same calamity. But supposing that he will continue gracious to us, and that we shall enjoy these first of blessings without interruption or impair; yet let us remember still, that we have one certain and unremitting token of the frailty and instability of all worldly things. The hand of Death never takes any rest: multitudes full every day before us; and sooner or later we must fall ourselves:

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