I. Let us consider the native importance and dignity of the human soul. It is the mind chiefly that is the man. Our souls properly are ourselves. The bodily organs are the ministers of the mind; by these it sees and hears, and holds a correspondence with external things. It is by our souls that we hold our station in the scale of being, that we rank above the animal world, and claim alliance with superior and immortal natures. As the soul is superior to the body, so intellectual pleasures exceed the sensual; as heaven is higher than the earth, so the joys of a heavenly origin are superior to earthly enjoyments. I mean not, in the common way, to depreciate temporal possessions, as being insignificant in themselves, and unworthy the cares or labours of a wise man. Such discourse is mere declamation: it is against nature, contrary to truth, and makes no impression at all. Let all the value be set upon wealth and temporal possessions which they deserve, as affording a defence from many evils to which poverty is liable; as ministering to the convenience, the consolation, and the enjoyment of life; as supporting a station with decency and dignity in the world; and as accompanied with an importance, by which a good man may find much pleasure arising to himself, and have the power of doing much good to his fellow-creatures: let all the value, which reason allows, be set upon temporal acquisitions and enjoyments;—still they are inferior to those of an intellectual and moral kind; still the maxim remains true, that he would be an infinite loser, who should gain the whole world and lose his own soul. "Thou hast put more gladness into my heart," saith the Psalmist," than worldly men know, when their corn, and their wine, and their oil abound." And do not your own feeling and experience bear witness to this truth? Who will not acknowledge that there is more excellence in wisdom, than in mere animal strength? Who will not own that there is more happiness in the improving conversation of the wise, than in the tumultuous uproar of the debauched and licentious? Are the rays of light as pleasant to the eye, as the radiations of truth to the mind? Have sensual gratifications a charm for the soul, equal to intellectual and moral joys? While the former soon pall upon the appetite, are not the latter a perpetual feast? While the remmembrance of the one is attended with no pleasure, is not the remembrance of the other a repetition of the enjoyment?

Q

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But great as the dignity of the human soul is, it may be still greater: For,

II. It possesses a capacity of improvement. This constitutes one essential difference between the intellectual and the material world. All material things soon reach the end of their progress, and arrive at a point beyond which they cannot go. Instinct grows apace, and the animal is soon complete in all its faculties and powers. Man ripens more slowly, because he ripens for immortality. Those enjoyments and pursuits of man also, which do not belong to him as an immortal being, come soon to their period. Amusement, when continued long, becomes a fatigue. In pleasure there is a point, beyond which, if it be carried, it is pleasure no more, it turns into pain. The pursuits of greatness, too, are very limited, and the race of honour is soon run. After many a weary step, the votary of ambition finds that he has been running in a circle, and that he is come to the self-same point from which he set

Mind, mind alone, contains in itself the principle of progression and improvsment without end. There is no ultimate power in the progress of man: there is no termination to the career of an immortal spirit. The dominions of earthly greatness are circumscribed within narrow limits, and the hero has often wished for new countries to conquer: but the empire of the mind has no limit nor boundary; and we can never arrive at that period, when we may say, hitherto can we go, but no further, Never have we learned so much, but we may learn more. Suppose life never so long, if the powers remain, new paths to science may be struck out, fresh accessions of knowledge may be made. And we know from experience, that the largest measure of knowledge proves no burden to the mind, nor weakens its powers; but that, on the contrary, the capacity enlarges with the acquisition, and that men, the more they have learned, the more apt they are to learn, the less is their labour, and the easier their progress.

Improvements in goodness keep pace with improvements in wisdom. Repeated acts of obedience grow into habit; the penitent is confirmed in righteousness, and he, that is holy, becomes holier still. From the fulness which is in God he adds grace to grace. The day of small things shineth more and more, and that day is succeeded by no night. The pilgrims, who at first set out feeble and faint, grow vigorous as they advance, going forward from strength

to strength. Ascending from one degree of goodness to another, they approach the everlasting hills, and, coming within the sphere of heaven, they inhale the spirit of their native region; they feel the attractions of the uncreated beauty; they receive a foretaste of the fruits of life; and, with hearts already full of heaven, and with tongues already tuned to the songs above, they put on the brightness of angels, and enter into the mansions of paradise.

III. The value of the soul will farther appear, if we consider that it is immortal. All human things soon come to an end. Temporal possessions, and earthly greatness, have a short date. The world itself is for ever changing; the fashion thereof passes away; and he, who knows it in one age, in the next would not know it again. How shortlived are the enjoyments of this mortal state! Although the flowers of transient joy, more hardy than the gourd of Jonah, may outlive the heat of the morning, and glow amid the blaze of noon, yet when the blast of the evening comes, they are nipt and wither away. Ambition, too, has its day, and often a short one. Its votaries seem to

be raised, but the more sensibly to feel their fall. The same whirlwind, that snatches them up from the crowd, brings them down at even with tenfold fury. Not to mention these more violent revolutions, its natural period soon comes. He who runs the race of human glory, is lost in the very dust that is raised around him. And such is the sudden end of all terrestrial enjoyments, when, after the study and the labour of years, we have, with much pains and care, gathered together the requisites and materials. of a happy life, and say to ourselves, "Soul, take thine ease, thou hast goods laid up for many years,"-the warning voice is heard, "Thou fool, this night thy soul. shall be required of thee." So transient is the date, so short the day of power, and pleasure, and greatness! But wisdom never dies; but virtue is immortal. We have a higher life than that which beats in the pulse, and, when the dust returns to the dust as it was, the spirit returns to God who gave it. It is indeed an awful, though a pleasing thought, that we have an eternity before us. When the sun shall be extinguished in eternal darkness; when the heavens shall be rolled together like a scroll; when the earth, with all its works, shall be dissolved, the soul shall survive the general wreck, and exult in the enjoyment of youth immortal! To think of an infinity of years.

of existence, enduring beyond all the numbers which we can add together, beyond all the millions of ages which figures can comprehend, and that, when all this vast sum of duration is expended, our existence is but just begining, is, indeed, beyond imagination to grasp. Never to come to an end, never to be nearer an end, is indeed amazing, overwhelming, and incomprehensible to the mind. But such is thine inheritance, O man! "Because I live," saith the Lord, "ye shall live also." Our duration shall be coeval with His years, who sits upon the throne for ever; the Ancient of days, who is, and was, and is to come.

IV. To show you the value of the soul still more, after death its state is unalterable. This is our state of probation, and now is the time to fix the character for eternity. This is the spring-time of everlasting life; according as we now sow, hereafter we shall reap; on our present conduct depends our happiness or misery for ever. There is neither repentance nor apostacy beyond the grave. The righteous can never fall away, and to the wicked there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. From the judgment-seat of the Immutable, the voice is heard, "He that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is unjust let him be unjust still."

But even here, too, appears that goodness of God, which is over all his works. For while we know not of any addition to the torments of the wicked, the happiness of the righteous shall be for ever on the increase. That capacity of improvement which we formerly ascribed to the soul, is a capacity of improvement without end. The progress which begins here, is carried on hereafter. Heaven is indeed the residence of the spirits of just men made perfect; but it is not to be imagined, that they are all at once advanced to a perfection which they shall not to eternity exceed. They will indeed find their state happy, when they are taken from this world; they will all be presented without spot or blemish in the presence of God with exceeding joy; but still there is room left for their improvement in perfection and happiness. It cannot, indeed, be otherwise. For the more we know of the Divine perfections and works, our veneration and love of God will increase the more. Now, it is impossible that we can ever know so much of God, and his works, but that we may know more. As our knowledge of God, therefore, and our views of the Divine

glory, will be enlarged without end, our love and admiration of him will also increase for ever. And, in proportion to our love, our assimilation to the Divine nature, and our joy in the Lord, will be. What a prospect, O Christian, does this open up to thy mind! Here thou art at liberty to expatiate at large! Here is a noble field for thy contemplation! There is a time appointed when thou shalt occupy that station which is now occupied by the highest angel in heaven. Not that we shall overtake the angels in their course, or, in the career of immortality, press upon natures of a superior order; but that we shall make advances in moral perfections, and improve in the beauties of immortality. God shall behold his great family for ever brightening in holiness; for ever drawing nearer and nearer in likeness to himself. The river of their pleasures increases as it rolls. The fulness of their joy grows more and more full. Throughout all the ages of eternity, there is still a heaven which is to come; still a glory which is to be revealed.

If the soul then be of such infinite value, how inexpressibly great must the loss of it be! Over the mansions of utter darkness, the Scriptures draw a veil which does not authorize our conjectures. What is comprehended under these awful emblems, the worm that never dies, the fire that is not quenched, everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power, we do not know. May the Almighty forbid, that any of us should ever know! But of this the Scriptures assure us, that from these mansions there is no return; that the gates of the eternal world shut to open no more, and that when the soul is once lost, it is lost for ever and for ever!

SERMON XV.

PSALM xliii. 4.

I will go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy.

CHRISTIANS, as we are next Lord's day to go to the altar, and approach unto God, it may be proper