love him.

"We," says the apostle, "look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

Finally, my brethren, do we desire a better country? Then, we will regret the less that every year which is spent, shortens the time of our remaining here, and brings us nearer to eternity. We will see the wisdom of those trials which, by loosing the ties that bind us to this world, prepare our minds for the next; and in every instance of mortality we will hear the admonition, "Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest, because it is polluted."*

*Micah, ii. 10.

SERMON XXI.*

THE FAN IN CHRIST'S HAND.

MATTHEW iii. 12.

"WHOSE FAN IS IN HIS HAND, AND HE WILL THOROUGHLY PURGE HIS FLOOR, AND GATHER HIS WHEAT INTO THE GARNER; BUT HE WILL BURN UP THE CHAFF WITH UNQUENCHABLE FIRE."

WE are accustomed to hear children speak of the Bible and the Testament; and we sometimes find this mode of speaking retained by persons who ought to have put away childish things. The Old and New Testaments form one Bible. They proceed from the same author, testify the same things, possess the same properties, and lead to the same end. In the writings of the Old Testament we have eternal life, and they testify of Christ. And the writings of the New Testament abound with quotations from those of Moses and the prophets. Upwards of four hundred years elapsed between the composing of the last book of the Old Testament, and the first of the New; and yet the current of revelation flows on in an unbroken stream. You would suppose that Matthew had taken the pen from the hand of Malachi, and proceeded immediately to relate the accomplishment of what his predecessor had predicted. "Behold," says Malachi, "I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me." This Matthew relates as accomplished in John the Baptist. is he that was spoken of by the prophet saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." "The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple," says Malachi. This Matthew shows to have been fulfilled in the coming of Christ. And even in their accounts of the manner of his appearance, they

"This

*This was the last discourse delivered by the author, having been preached August 2d, 1835, the Sabbath immediately preceding his decease.

harmonize.

"But who may abide the day of his coming?" exclaims the prophet; " and who shall stand when he appeareth ? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap.' ""* "He shall baptize," responds the evangelist," with the Holy Ghost and with fire." "Behold the day cometh," continues the former," that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." This corresponds exactly with the words before us : "Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

A secure people need a severe minister; and it is a good sign that a people have been aroused from their security when they are reconciled to the severity of the preacher. Such a preacher was John the Baptist, who warned a hypocritical nation to flee from the wrath to come, preaching the baptism of repentance. His ministry occupied a middle place, as it were, between the law and the gospel. He stood between the prophets and Christ. He was honoured above the former, because he was permitted to point out the Messiah with the finger, and to say, "Behold the Lamb of God." It was his work to testify of Christ as just about to appear, and to conduct and deliver over his disciples to his and their common master. In speaking of him, though he cheerfully admits his own inferiority, he at the same time asserts the harmony of their design, and warns his hearers against expecting to find under the administration of Him that was to come any covert for their hypocrisy and other vices. "Now also," says he in a preceding verse, "the axe is laid unto the root of the tree: therefore every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down, and cast into the fire." What more calculated to awaken unprofitable members of the church than this description? The unfruitful tree is marked out by the gardener, who has long dressed and pruned it in vain; the ground is cleared around it, the axe is laid at its root, and nothing remains but for the lord of the garden, when he comes in to survey it, to give the

command, "Cut it down: why cumbereth it the ground?" Similar is the description in the succeeding verse. Water will remove the external filth which cleaves to any object, but the operation of fire is severer and more effectual-it melts the hardest metals and burns up the dross. John baptized with water; but Christ shall " baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire."

The description is varied in our text, while the subject is still the same. The work of purifying the church, and clearing it of all that is foreign, incongruous or offensive, is likened to the operation of winnowing grain. This process, in ancient times, consisted of different operations. The corn, after being thrashed, was laid out on a floor and exposed to a gentle wind which scattered the straw and chaff. It was then beaten by the hoofs of oxen, next passed through a sieve, and lastly subjected to the hand-fan, a species of shovel, by which it was thoroughly cleansed. Similar to this is the purification of the church; and Christ, who superintends the whole process, and reserves for himself the last and crowning part of it, is here compared to the husbandman, who stood with the fan in his hand, with which he, for the last time, turned up the grain, that the wind might separate and bear away every remaining particle of chaff and refuse, and that nothing might rest behind but what was pure and substantial. It is one part of the work of Christ to purify his church; and he will not do this work superficially, or leave it unfinished: he will " thoroughly purge his floor;" he will make a complete separation, at last, between the chaff and the wheat; the latter he will deposit in his heavenly garner, and the former he will burn up with unquenchable fire. The devil has a fan of his own, which he uses for the purposes of temptation. "Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat." But Christ will not give up his fan to Satan: he still holds it in his hand, and brings individual believers, as well as his church, under its operation, that he may thoroughly cleanse his floor.

My intention, at present, is to name some of those means which the Lord Jesus Christ employs to fan or purify his church.

It may be premised that the work is twofold. First, it includes a separation of persons. The church in this world is like a barn-floor, which contains a mixture of good grain and refuse. There are hypocrites and nominal or godless professors, as well as genuine saints; and sometimes the number of the former may become so great, that it is difficult to perceive any other. Hence the need of times of reformation, in which Christ comes into his church as a purifier, with his fan in his hand. Secondly, it implies a separation of persons from their corruptions. The husks of sin, the clay of corruption, the chaff of vanity, cleave to the best so long as they are in the body, and hence they need to be sifted and beaten and fanned, in order to cleanse them. In accomplishing these separate objects, our Lord proceeds in a manner somewhat different; but still, in general, the same means serve, in his adorable wisdom, to effect both purposes.

1. Christ accomplishes this work by means of his Word. It is compared to fire, on account of its searching and purifying tendency to a candle or light, which discovers the hidden things of darkness;—to a sharp two-edged sword, which cuts both ways, discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart, and divides between the soul and spirit—making a discrimination between states and characters, not only by laying down infallible marks of these, but also by applying them convincingly to individuals.

The Scriptures evince their discriminating power, by touching both the consciences and the corruptions of men; and by either softening and subduing them, or by irritating and hardening them. To some the gospel proves the savour of life; to others, the savour of death; to them that are saved, it is the power of God; to them that perish, a stumbling-block and foolishness. 66 Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."* So it was foretold by Simeon to the mother of our Lord; and

* Luke, ii. 34,

2 B