concealed them from the rage of men, from the sword of the mighty; but now the scence is gloriously changed, the martyrs and holy confessors awaking from their graves, exult and triumph in the smiles of their Judge, and receive public honors before the whole creation of God. They behold the infinite consternation of haughty tyrants and persecuting princes, of proud generals and bloody captains in that day: they hear them call to the rocks and mountains to hide them from the face of him that sits upon the throne and the Lamb. The authority and regal honor of the emperors of the earth have long slept in the dust, but it is lost there for ever; their glory shall not awake nor arise with them: behold the mighty sinners, who have been the enemies of Christ, or negligent of his salvation, how they creep affrighted out of their shattered marbles, and leave all that pomp and pride of death in ruins, to appear before God with shame and everlasting contempt. The men of arms, the captains and sons of valor, whose swords lay under their heads, with their trophies and titles spread around them, shall raise their heads up from the dust, with utmost affright and = anguish of spirit. Their courage fails them before the face of Jesus, the Lord and Judge of the whole creation. They would fly to the common refuge of slaves, they shrink in the hole of the rocks, and call to the mountains to screen and protect them; and every bond man, and every free man, who have not known nor loved God and Christ, are plunged into the most extreme distress; but the bumble christian is serene and joyful, and lifts up his head with courage and delight, in the midst of these scenes of astonishment and dismay.

"He is come, he is come," saith the saint, "even that Lord Jesus, whom I have seen, whom I have known and loved in the days of my mortal life, whom I have long waited for in the dust of death; he is come to reward all my labors, to wipe away

all my sorrows, to nish my faith, and turn it into sight, to fulfil all my hopes and his own promises; he is come to deliver me for ever from all my enemies, and to bear me to the place which he bas prepared for those that love him, and long for his appearance.

"O blessed be the God of grace, who hath convinced me of the sins of my nature, and the sins of my life in the days of my flesh; who hath discovered to me the danger of a guilty and sinful state, hath shown me the commission of mercy in the hands of his Son, hath pointed me to the Lamb of God, who was offered as a sacrifice to take away the sins of men, and hath inclined me to receive him in all his divine characters and offices, and to follow the Captain of my salvation through all the labors and dangers of life. I have trusted him, I have loved him, I have endeavoured, though under many frailties, to honor and obey him, and I can now behold his face without terror: while the mighty men of the earth tremble with amazement, and call to the rocks and mountains to hide them from his face, I rejoice to see him in his robes of judgment, for he is come to pronounce me righteous in the face of men and angels, to declare me a good and faithful servant before the whole creation, to set the crown of victory on my head, to take me to heaven with him, that where he is, I may be also, to behold his glory, and to partake for ever of the blessings of his love." Amen.

DISCOURSE VII.

NO NIGHT IN HEAVEN.

REV. xxii. 25.

And there shall be no Night there.

LENGTH of night and over-spreading darkness in the winter season, carries so many inconveniences with it, that it is generally esteemed a most uncom❤ fortable part of our time. Though night and day necessarily succeed each other all the year, by the wise appointment of God in the course of nature, by means of the revolution of the heavenly bodies, or rather of this earthly globe, yet the night-season is neither so delightful nor so useful a part of life, as the duration of daylight. It is the voice of all nature, as well as the word of Solomon, "light is sweet, and a pleasant thing to enjoy the sunbeams." Light gives a glory and beauty to every thing that is visible, and shows the face of nature in its most agreeable colors: but night, as it covers all the visible world with one dark and undistinguishing veil, is less pleasing to all the animal parts of the creation. Therefore, as hell and the place of punishment is called utter darkness in scripture, so heaven is represented as the mansion of glory, as the inheritance of the saints in light. And this light is constant, without inter ruption, and everlasting, or without end: so my text expresses it, "there shall be no night there."

Let it be observed, that, in the language of the holy writers, light is often ascribed to intellectual be ings, and is used as a metaphor to imply knowledge, and holiness, and joy. Knowledge, as the beauty

And

and excellency of the mind; holiness, as the best regulation of the will; and joy, as the harmony of our best affections in the possession of what we love; And in opposition to these, ignorance, iniquity, and sorrow, are represented by the metaphor of darkness. Then we are in darkness in a spiritual sense, when the understanding is beclouded or led into mistake, or when the will is perverted, or turned away from God and holiness, or when the most uncomfortable affections prevail in the soul. I might cite particular texts of scripture to exemplify all this. when it is said, "there shall be no night in heaven," it may be very well applied in the spiritual sense; there shall be no errors or mistakes among the bléssed, no such ignorance as to lead them astray, or to make them uneasy; the will shall never be turned aside from its pursuit of holiness and obedience to God; nor shall the affections ever be ruffled with any thing that may administer grief and pain. Clear and unerring knowledge, unspotted holiness, and everlasting joy, shall be the portion of all the inbabitants of the upper world. These are more common subjects of discourse.

But I choose rather at present to consider this word Night in its literal sense, and shall endeavour to represent part of the blessedness of the heavenly state under this special description of it, "There is no night there."

Now, in order to pursue this design, let us take a brief survey of the several evils or inconveniences which attend the night, or the seasons of darkness here on earth, and show how far the heavenly world is removed, and free from all manner of inconveniences of this kind.

1. Though night be the season of sleep for the relief of nature, and for our refreshment after the labors of the day, yet it is a certain sign of the weakness and weariness of nature, when it wants such refreshments, and such dark seasons of relief.

But there is no night in heaven. Say, O ye inhabitants of that vital world, are ye ever weary? Do your natures know any such weakness? Or are your holy labors of such a kind, as to expose you to fatigue, or to tire your spirits? The blessed above mount up before God as on eagle's wings, they run at the command of God and are not weary, they walk on the hills of paradise and never faint, as the prophet Isaiah expresses a vigorous and pleasureable state. Chap. xl. last verse.

There are no such animal bodies in heaven, whose natural springs of action can be exhausted or weakened by the business of the day: there is no flesh and blood there to complain of weariness, and to want rest. O blessed state, where our faculties shall be so happily suited to our work, that we shall never feel ourselves weary of it, nor fatigued by it.

And as there is no weariness, so there is no sleeping there. Sleep was not made for the heavenly state. Can the spirits of the just ever sleep under the full blaze of divine glory, under the incessant communications of divine love, under the perpetual influences of the grace of God the Father, and of esus the Saviour, and amidst the inviting confluence of every spring of blessedness?

2. Another inconvenience of night, near akin to the former, is, that business is interrupted by it, partly for want of light to perform it, as well as for want of strength and spirits to pursue it. This is constantly visible in the successions of labor and repose here on earth; and the darkness of the night is appointed to interrupt the course of labor, and the business of the day, that nature may be recruited. But the business of heaven is never interrupted; there is everlasting light and everlasting strength. Say, ye blessed spirits on high, who join in the services which are performed for God and the Lamb there, ye who unite all your powers in the worship and homage that is paid to the Father and to the