heaven, and the devil brings another up from hell. O, say you, I would climb up God's ladder, I think it is right, but I shall be laughed at; do you expect to go to heaven without being laughed at? The Lord Jesus Christ help you to climb to heaven; come, climb till you get out of hearing of their laughter. O trust not to your own righteousness, your vows, and good resolutions.

Some of you, blessed be God, have climbed up this ladder, at least are climbing; well, I wish you joy, God be praised for setting your feet on this ladder, God be praised for letting down this ladder. I have only one word to say to you, for Jesus Christ's sake, and your own too, climb a little faster; take care the world does not get hold of your heels. It is a shame the children of God do not climb faster; you may talk what you please, but the lukewarmness of God's people is more provoking to him than all the sins of the nation. We cry out against the sins of the land, would to God we did cry out more of the sins of the saints; "I will spew you out of my mouth, because you are lukewarm," says Christ; and if any of you say you cannot climb because you are lame-footed, look to Jesus Christ, my dear friends, and your afflictions shall make you climb; and if any of you are coming down the ladder again, the Lord Jesus Christ bless the foolishness of preaching to help you up again. O, say you, I am giddy, I shall fall; here, I will give you a rope, so God lets down a promise: climb, climb, then, till you have got higher into a better climate, and God shall put his hand out by and by when you get to the top of the ladder to receive you to himself. Blessed be the living God, I hope and believe I shall meet many of you by and by.

And now, my brethren, it is time for me to preach my own funeral sermon; and I would humbly hope that, as a poor sinner, I may put in my claim for what God promised Jacob; and I do put in, with full assurance of faith, that God will be with me. I am now going, for the thirteenth time, to cross the Atlantic. When I came from America last, I took my leave of all the continent, from the one end of the provinces to the other, except some places which we had not then taken; I took my leave for life, without the least design of returning there again, my health was so bad; and the prospect of getting the Orphan-house into other hands, made me say when I first came over, I have no other river to go over than the river Jordan. I thought then of retiring, for I did not choose to appear when my nerves were so relaxed that I could not serve God as I wish to do; but as it hath pleased God to restore my health much, and has so ordered it by his

1

providence, that I intend to give up the Orphan-house, and all the land adjoining, for a public college. I wished to have had a public sanction, but his grace the late archbishop of Canterbury put a stop to it; they would give me a charter, which was all 1 desired, but they insisted upon, at least his grace and another did, that I should confine it totally to the church of England, and that no extempore prayer should be used in a public way in that house, though dissenters, and. all sorts of people, had contributed to it: I would sooner cut my head off than betray my trust, by confining it to a narrow bottom; I always meant it should be kept upon a broad bottom, for people of all denominations, that their children might be brought up in the fear of God; by this means the Orphan-house reverted into my hands; I have once more, as my health was restored, determined to pursue the plan I had fixed on; and through the tender mercies of God, Georgia, (which about thirty-two years ago was a total desolate place; and when the land, as it was given me by the House of Commons, would have been totally deserted, and the colony have quite ceased, had it not been for the money I have laid out for the Orphan-house, to keep the poor people together) that colony is arising to an amazing hight, by the schemes now going on, public buildings are erecting.

1

I had news last week of the great prosperity of the negroes; and I hope by the twenty-fifth of March, which is the day, the anniversary day, I laid the first brick, in the year 1739; I say I hope by that time all things will be finished, and a blessed provision will be made for orphans and poor students that will be brought up there; it will be a blessed source of provision for the children of God in another part of the world. This is the grand design I am going upon; this is my visible cause; but I never yet went to them, but God has been pleased to bless my ministration among them; and therefore after I have finished the Orphan-house affair, I intend to go along the continent by land, (which will keep me all the winter and spring) and when I come to the end of it, which will be Canada and New-England, then I hope to return again to this place; for let people say what they will, I have not so much as a single thought of settling abroad on this side eternity; I shall set out like a poor pilgrim, at my own expense, trusting upon God to take care of me, and to bear my charges; and I call God to witness, and I must be a cursed devil and hypocrite, to stand here in the pulpit and provoke God to strike me dead for lying, I never had the love of the world, nor never felt it one quarter of an hour in my heart, since I was twenty years old. I might

have been rich; but though the Chapel is built, and I have a comfortable room to lie in, I assure you I built it at my own expense, it cost nobody but myself any thing. I have a watchcoat made me, and in that I shall lie every night on the ground, and may Jacob's God bless me. I will not say much of myself, but when I have been preaching, I have read and thought much of those words with pleasure," Surely this is the house of God." "And I will bring thee again to this land." Whether that will be my experience or not, blessed be God, I have a better land in view: and, my dear brethren, I do not look upon myself at home till I land in my Father's kingdom; and if I am to die in the way, if I am to die in the ship, it comforts me that I know I am as clear as the sun, that 1 go by the will of God; and though people may say, will you leave the world? Will you leave the Chapel? O, I am astonished that we cannot leave every thing for Christ; my greatest trial is to part with those who are as dear to me as my own soul; and however others may forget me, yet 1 cannot forget them; and now may Jacob's God be with you; O keep close to God, my dear London friends; 1 do not bid you keep close to Chapel, you have done so always: I shall endeavor to keep up the word of God among you in my absence; 1 shall have the same persons that managed for me when I was out last, and they sent me word again and again by letter, that it was remarkable, that the Tottenham-court people were always present when ordinances were there.

You see that I went upon a fair bottom; I might have had a thousand a year out of this place if I had chose it; when I am gone to heaven you will see what I have got on earth*; I do not like to speak now, because it may be thought boasting; but I am sure there are numbers of people here, if they knew what I have, would love me as much as they now hate me. When we come before the great Judge of quick and dead, while I stand before him, God grant you may not part with me then, it will be worse than to go into the fire, to be among the devil and his angels; God forbid it! God forbid it! God forbid it! O remember that my last words were, come, come to Christ; the Lord help you to come to Christ; come to Christ, come to Jacob's God; God give you faith like Jacob's faith.

You that have been kind to me, that have helped me when I was sick, some of whom are here that have been very kind to me; may God reward you, my friends, and God forgive

* The greatest part of the substance this man of God left behind him, which was not much, was bequeathed to him by deceased friends.

my enemies; God of his infinite mercy bless you all; you will be amply provided for, I believe, here; may God spread the gospel every where: and may God never leave you, nor forsake you. Even so, Lord Jesus. Amen and Amen.

SERMON XXI.

GOD, A BELIEVER'S GLORY.

ISAIAH lx. 19.

And thy God thy Glory.

I LATELY had occasion to speak on the verse immediately following that of our text; but when I am reading God's word, I often find it is like being in a tempted garden, when we pluck a little fruit, and find it good, we are apt to look after and pluck a little more, only with this difference, the fruit we gather below often hurts the body at the same time. that it pleases the appetite, but when we walk in God's garden-when we gather fruit of the Redeemer's plants, the more we eat the more we are delighted, and the freer we are, the more welcome; if any chapter in the bible deserves this character and description of an evangelical Eden, this does.

It is very remarkable, and I have often told you of it, that all the apostles preach first the law, and then the gospel, which finds man in a state of death, points out to him how he is to get life, and then sweetly conducts him to it. Great and glorious things are spoken of the church of God in this chapter; and it struck me very much this evening, ever since I came into the pulpit, that the great God speaks of the church in a singular number. How can that be, when the church is composed of so many millions, gathered out of all nations, languages, and tongues? How is it, that God says thy maker, and not your maker, that he speaks of the church as though it consisted of only one individual person? The reason of it is this, and is very obvious, that though the church is composed of many members, they have but one head, and they are united by the bond of one spirit, by whom they have the same vital union of the soul with God;

and therefore it teaches Christians not to say of one another, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, or Cephas, but to behave and live so, that the world may know that we all belong to one common Christ. God revive, continue, and increase this true christian love among us! Of this church, thus collectively considered, united under one head, the blessed evangelical prophet thus speaks: "Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders, but thou shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates, (where the magistrates assemble, and the people go in and out,) praise." From this text a great many good and great men have gathered what they call the millenium, that Jesus Christ is to come and reign a thousand years on earth; but I must acknowledge that I have always rejected a great many good men's positive opinion about the season when this state commences, and I would warn you all against fixing any time; for what signifies whether Christ comes to reign a thousand years, or when he comes, since you and I are to die very soon; and therefore instead of puzzling our heads about it, God grant we may so live that we may reign with him forever; and it seems to me, that whatsoever is said of this state on earth, that the millenium is to be understood in a spiritual sense, as an emblem of a glorious, eternal, beatific state in the kingdom of heaven. The sun shall no more be thy light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee, but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light;" and in order to prepare us for that light, and show us the nature of it, while we speak of it may it come with light and power to our souls. He adds in our text, "and thy God shall be thy glory." This is spoken to all believers in general, but it is spoken to all fearful believers in particular; and I do not know that I can possibly close my poor, feeble ministrations among you here, better than with these words; though, God willing, 1 intend, if he shall strengthen me this week, to give you a parting word next Wednesday morning; and Ŏ that what has been my comfort this day in the meditation on this passage, may be yours and mine to all eternity. He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the evangelic prophet saith, "Thy God thy glory."

66

The Holy Ghost seems, as it were, particularly fond of this expression: when God published the ten commandments upon mount Sinai, he prefaced it thus, I am the Lord, and not content with that, he adds, thy God: and the frequency of it, I suppose made Luther say, that the gospel deals much in pronouns, in which consists a believer's comfort;