these bleffings, they defire no more, they are compenfated for all their difficulties and hardships; and however unnoticed and despised by the world, they can fay, This is none other than the houfe of God, this is the gate of heaven *. For they approach by faith to the city of the living God, the Jerufalem which is above, to the worship which is carried on day without night, by the innumerable company of angels, and the spirits of juft men made perfect t

But every member of this myftical temple, being by nature afar off from God, experiences a previous change, which may be not unfitly defcribed by the terms of my text. Before the Lord takes poffeffion of his people, and in order to it, He bakes the hea vens and the earth. Their former views of God and of themselves are altered by a light which penetrates the foul. All that they have been building in religion, till then, is fhaken and overturned. Their vain hopes are fhaken to the foundation. This concuffion makes way for the perception of his glory as a Saviour. In this day of his power they are made willing to throw open the gates of their hearts, that the King of glory may enter.

But as I do not ftand here to amufe you with a declamation on a subject in which you are not im. mediately interested, and as my office as a preacher both warrants and requires me to address myself not only to your understandings but likewife to your confciences, I must be allowed, before I conclude, to propofe this question to your confideration, Is MESSIAH, the defire of all nations, the object of your chief defire? How much depends upon the anfwer? Do you wish to know your prefent ftate in the fight of God? If you are faithful to your felves you may be fatisfied, provided you will abide by the decifion of the Scripture. God is well pleafed in his Son; if you are well-pleafed with him, if he

* Gen. xxviii. 17,

↑ Heb. xii. 22.

he is precious to you, and the defire of your foul is fupremely directed to him, then you affuredly poffefs the beginning, the fore-tafte, and the earnest of eternal life. If you fo enter into the defcriptions given in the Bible, of his perfon, love, office, and glory, as to place your whole dependence upon him, to devote yourselves fimply to him, and to place your happiness in his favour, then you are happy indeed! happy even at prefent, though not exempted from a fhare in the afflictions incident to this mortal ftate. For your fins are pardoned, your perfons are accepted in the Beloved; to you belong the promises of guidance, protection, and fupply through life, victory over death, and then a crown of glory which fadeth not away. To fay alt in a few words, God is your Father, and heaven is your home.

But on the other hand, If you truft in yourself that you are righteous and good, at least comparatively fo; if your attachment to the business or the pleasure of the world engroffes your thoughts and application, fo that you have no leifure to attend to the record which God has given of his Son, or no relish for the subject, you have been hitherto guilty of treating the moft glorious difplay of the wisdom and goodness of God with contempt. Many perfons thus employed and thus difpofed, bear refpectable characters in civil life, from which I do not wish to detract. But however amiable you may be in the judgment of your fellow-creatures, you are a finner in the fight of God, and will be treated by him as an enemy to his government and glory, if you finally perfift in a rejection of his gofpel. The great point which will determine your ftate for eternity, will be this, What think you of Chrift? For it is written, If any man love not the Lord Jefus Christ, let him he Anathema Maranatha. *. He must and will

• 1 Cor. xvi, 22.

will fall under the curfe and condemnation of the law, and be punished with everlasting deftruction from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power. To-day, therefore, while it is called to-day, (for to-morrow is not ours), may you hear his voice, and flee for refuge to the hope fet before you!

SER

39

SERMON

IV.

The Lord coming to his Temple.

MALACHI iii. 1.-3.

The Lord whom ye feek, fhall fuddenly come to his temple; even the Messenger of the covenant in whom ye delight: behold, he shall come, faith the Lord of hofts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who fhall ftand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers fope. And he fball purify the fons of Levi--that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.

WH

HEREUNTO fball we liken the people of this generation, and to what are they like? I reprefent to myself a number of perfons of various characters, involved in one common charge of high treafon. They are already in a state of confinement, but not yet brought to their trial. The facts, however, are so plain, and the evidence against them so strong and pointed, that there is not the leaft doubt of their guilt being fully proved, and that nothing but a pardon can preserve them from punishment. In this fituation, it should feem their wifdom, to avail themfelves of every expedient in their power for obtaining mercy. But they are entirely regardless of their danger, and wholly taken up with contriving methods of amufing themfelves, that they may pafs away the term of their imprisonment with as much chearfulness as poffible. Among other resources, they call in the affiftance of mufic. And amidst a great variety of fubjects in this way, they are particularly pleafed with one. They chufe to make the folemnities of their impending trial, the character of their

• Luke vii. 381.

their Judge, the methods of his procedure, and the awful fentence to which they are expofed, the ground-work of a musical entertainment. And, as if they were quite unconcerned in the event, their attention is chiefly fixed upon the skill of the compofer, in adapting the ftyle of his mufic to the very folemn language and subject with which they are trifling. The King, however, out of his great clemency and compaffion towards thofe who have no pity for themselves, prevents them with his goodnefs. Undefired by them, he fends them a gracious meffage. He affures them that he is unwilling they fhould fuffer: he requires, yea, he entreats them ta fubmit. He points out a way in which their confeffion and fubmiffion fhall be certainly accepted; and in this way, which he condefcends to prescribe, he offers them a free and a full pardon. But instead of taking a fingle ftep towards a compliance with his goodness, they fet his meffage likewife to mufic; and this, together with a defcription of their prefent state, and of the fearful doom awaiting them if they continue obftinate, is fung for their diverfion, ac companied with the found of cornet, flute, harp, fackbut, pfaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of inftruments. Surely, if fuch a cafe as I have fuppofed could be found in real life, though I might admire the mufical taste of these people, I fhould commiferate their infenfibility!

But is not this cafe more than a fuppofition? Is it not in the moft ferious fenfe actually realized amongst ourselves? I fhould infult your underftandings, if I judged a long application neceffary. I know my fuppofition must already have led your thoughts to the fubject of the Messiah, and to the spirit and temper of at least the greater part of the performers, and of the audiences. The holy Scripure concludes all mankind under fint. It charges them