wretched worldling, now abandoned of his god? the formal hypocrite, who kissed him and betrayed him? the despiser of the gospel, who sent him away in his messengers groaning, profaned his ordinances, and trampled under foot his precious blood? O murderer, the slain man is thy Judge: there is he whom thou didst so maltreat: behold the neglected Lamb of God appearing as a lion against thee! How will thine heart endure the darts of his fiery looks? Arrows of wrath shall pierce, where arrows of conviction cannot enter now. What wilt thou answer him, when he riseth up, and chargeth thee with thy unbelief and impenitency? Wilt thou say, thou wast not warned? Conscience within thee will give thee the lie: the secret groans and weariness of those who warned thee, will witness the contrary. If a child or a fool did tell you, that your house were on fire, you would immediately run to quench it; but, in matters of eternal concern, men will first fill their hearts with prejudices against the messengers, and then cast their message behind their backs. But these silly shifts and pretences will not avail in the day of the Lord. How will these cursed ears, now deaf to the call of the gospel, inviting sinners to come to Christ, hear the fearful sentence," Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels ?" No sleepy hearer shall be there: no man's heart will then wander: their hearts

and eyes will then be fixed they will not now believe.

this our day the things that

on their misery, which

"O that we knew in belong to our peace."

Lastly, Be exhorted to believe this great truth: and believe it so as you may prepare for the judg

ment betimes. Set up a secret tribunal in your own breasts, and often call yourselves to an account there. Make the Judge your friend in time, by closing with him in the offer of the gospel; and give all diligence, that ye may be found in Christ at that day. Cast off the works of darkness; and live, as believing you are, at all times, and in all places, under the eye of your Judge, who will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing. Be fruitful in good works, knowing that as ye sow ye shall reap. Study piety towards God, righteousness and charity towards men. Lay up in store plenty of works of charity and mercy towards them who are in distress, especially such as are of the household of faith, that they may be produced that day as evidences that ye belong to Christ. Shut not up your bowels of mercy now towards the needy, lest ye then find no mercy. Take heed, that in all your works ye be single and sincere; aiming in them all at the glory of your Lord, a testimony of your love to him, and obedience to his command. Leave it to hypocrites, who have their reward, to proclaim every man his own goodness, and to sound a trumpet when they do their alms. It is a base and unchristian spirit, which cannot have satisfaction in a good work unless it be exposed to the view of others: it is utterly unworthy of one who believes that the last trumpet shall call together the whole world; before whom the Judge himself shall publish works truly good, how secretly soever they were done. Live in a believing expectation of the coming of the Lord. Let your loins be always girt, and your lamps burning: so when he comes, whether in the last day of your

life, or in the last day of the world, you shall be able to say with joy, "Lo, this is our God, and we have waited for him."

HEAD V.

THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

MATTHEW XXV. 34.

"Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

HAVING from this portion of Scripture, of which the text is a part, discoursed of the general judg ment; and being to speak of the everlasting happiness of the saints, and the everlasting misery of the wicked, from the respective sentences to be pronounced upon them in the great day; I shall take them in the order wherein they lie before us; the rather that, as sentence is first passed upon the righteous, so the execution thereof is first begun, though possibly the other may be fully executed before it be completed.

The words of the text contain the joyful sentence itself, together with an historical introduction thereto, which gives us an account of the Judge pronouncing the sentence; the King, Jesus Christ; the parties on whom it is given, them on his right hand; and the time when, as soon as the trial is over. Of these I have spoken already. It is the sentence itself we

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are now to consider: Come, ye blessed of my Stand a-back, O ye profane goats;

Father," &c.

have away, all unregenerate Christ: this is not for you.

souls, not united to Come, O ye saints,

brought out of your natural state, into the state of grace: behold here the state of glory awaiting you.

This glorious sentence bears two things: First, The complete happiness to which the saints are adjudged, the kingdom. Secondly, Their solemn admission to it: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit," &c. First, Their complete happiness is a kingdom. A kingdom is the top of worldly felicity; there is nothing on earth greater than a kingdom: therefore, the hidden weight of glory in heaven is held forth to us under that notion. But it is not an ordinary kingdom, it is the kingdom of heaven, surpassing all the kingdoms of the earth in glory, honour, profit, and pleasure. Secondly, There is a solemn admission of the saints into this their kingdom: "Come ye, inherit the kingdom." In the view of angels, men, and devils, they are invested with royalty, and solemnly inaugurated before the whole world, by Jesus Christ the heir of all things, who hath all power in heaven and in earth. Their right to the kingdom is solemnly recognized and owned! They are admitted to it, as undoubted heirs of the kingdom, to possess it by inheritance. And because this kingdom is the Father's kingdom, therefore they are openly acknowledged in their admission to it, to be the blessed of Christ's Father; the which blessing was given them long before this sentence, but is now solemnly recognized and confirmed to them by the Mediator, in his Father's name. It is observable,

he says not, ye blessed of the Father, but ye blessed of my Father; to show us, that all blessings are derived upon us from the Father, the fountain of blessing, as he is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we are blessed. And, finally, they are admitted to this kingdom as that which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, in God's eternal purpose, before they, or any of them were, that all the world may see eternal life to be the free gift of God.

DOCTRINE-The saints shall be made completely happy in the possession of the kingdom of heaven.

Two things I shall here inquire into: FIRST, The nature of this kingdom. SECONDLY, The admission. of the saints thereto. And then, LASTLY, I shall make some practical improvement upon the whole.

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FIRST, As to the nature of the kingdom of heaven, our knowledge of it is very imperfect; for Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." As, by familiar resemblances, parents instruct their little children concerning things of which otherwise they can have no tolerable notion; so our gracious God, in contemplation of our weakness, is pleased to represent to us heaven's happiness, under similitudes taken from earthly things, glorious in the eyes of men; since naked discoveries of the heavenly glory, divested of earthly resemblances, would be too bright for our weak eyes, and in them we would but lose ourselves. Wherefore now, one cannot but