into joy unspeakable, and full of glory-the presence of God and the Lamb! Here we truly come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Ferufalem, and to an innumerable company-To the general affembly of angels, and to the church of the first-born, who are written in beaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. And to Jefus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of Sprinkling, which speaketh better things than that of Abel*. May the animating subject have its defired effect upon each prefent. But to come to the point in hand it may be neceffary to confider, : First, The Righteous. Secondly, This Life Eternal. FIRST, then, I am to confider the Righteous. 1. HERE I would obferve, by Nature, there is none righteous, no, not one. For we are shapen in iniquity, and in fin conceived and born; and even the children of God are, by Nature, children of wrath, even as others. Hence arifes the univerfal need of repentance, faith, and the new birth: For if any one was born innocent, and preferved that innocency, there would be no need of any of them. And if one was born innocent, why not all? And if all were born innocent, how is it that no one has preferved that innocency ?-And that no one hath preferved that innocency, is plain, fince the Lord looked from heaven to find fuch a one, but he was not to be found +. Hence he fays, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, or feeketh after God. Heb. xii. 22-25. † Pf. xiv. 2. They They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one*. Therefore a change must be wrought, even in little children, or they cannot enter the kingdom of God. 2. No one can make himself righteous: For it is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy be faveth us-by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghoft. By grace are we faved thro' faith, and that not of ourselves-it is the gift of God, not of works, left any man should braft. No, fays the Prophet, Though thou shouldeft wash thee with nitre, and take thee much foap, yet thine iniquity will cleave unto thee t. So that the Æthiopian can as foon change his fkin, or the leopard his fpots, as those who are accuftomed to do evil learn to do well t. 3. It is not any set of tenets which will make us righteous, feeing we may have all knowledge, yea, and miracles working faith, and yet be nothing . We may run through the whole body of divinity, may call every fentiment by its proper name, and zealously contend for it; yea, confute and filence all gainfayers, and yet be no more righteous than Satan is; fo that, however useful fpeculative knowledge may be in other refpects, it does not justify the ungodly. 4. NOR will joining the purest church justify a finner in the fight of God; for it neither juftified Judas nor Simon Magas. It is a privilege to be in fellowship with the people of God; but that privilege, like others, may be abufed, and may render the condemnation of the abuser Ff more * Rom. iii. 10, 11, 12, † fer. ↑ Jer. xiii. 23. || 1 Cor. xiii. 2. more awful, and thereby prepare him a hotter hell. Hence it increased the condemnation of fuch as heard 'Christ, and saw his mighty works, because they repented not · 5. A FEELING sense of our own unrighteousness must take place, before we can be faid to be righteous. A finner muit feel himself a finner, and, as a finner, he must come to his Saviour-poor and needy, vile and helpless, seeing he has no other, or better, plea than the thief on the Crofs, or the trembling jailor. Nevertheless, the penitent gives up his fin: for, if he cover it, or retain it, he cannot profper; but if he confefs and forfake it, he will find mercy. Such a one will be found in the means of grace. He feels his disease, and hence he will be in the way of feeking a cure; and he must seek it in God's own appointed ways, or he cannot expect to find it. And frequently his bofom fin is most forcibly struck at, and lies with the greatest weight upon his confcience. Such was the covetoufnefs and extortion of Zaccheus, the lewdness of Mary Magdalene, and the rage and perfecution of St. Paul. 6. But should a penitent weep rivers of tears, and even give his body for the fin of his foul, it would not atone for the smallest offence. No-it is the Lamb of God alone which taketh away the fins of the world. Him hath God fet forth a propitiation through faith in bis blood, to declare bis righteoufnefs for the remiffion of fins that are paft, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I fay, at this time, his righteoufnefs; that he might be just, and the juftifier of him that believeth * Matt. xi. 20-25• lieveth in Jefus *. God was in Chrift reconciling the world unto himself-not imputing their fins unto them, and commits to every believer the word of reconciliation. Wonderful cure, indeed! "See, all your fins on Jefus laid "The Lamb of God hath bled; "An offering once was made." Here is thy refuge, thou poor man-flayer, to which thou mayeft flee and be fafe. See, the incarnate God, extended on the Crofs for human crimes! Believe, and fet to thy feal, that God is true. Here is the true Quickener of dead fouls, by whofe ftripes alone we can be healed. 7. IN confequence of thus believing, you are paffed from death unto life. The law of condemnation, which was against you, is taken away, and nailed to the Crofs; fo that there is no condemnation to them that are in Chrift Jefus-feeing they believe, they are paffed from Sinai to Calvary, from mount Ebal to mount Gerizzim. A condemned man, in the eye of the law, is a dead man ; fo is the dead finner; but, when the man is acquitted, he has the privilege to act as the living. Juft fo the foul I am fpeaking of: he is a fellow-citizen of the household of faith, and a partaker of the inheritance of the faints in light. He is made alive, also, in a moral fenfe; for he is quickened, who was dead in trefpaffes and fins; and, as fuch, he tastes the good word of God, and is made a partaker of the powers of the world to come. Having the Son of God, he has life; he is born from above; born of the Ff3 * Rom. iii. 25, 26. Spirit ; Spirit; born of incorruptible feed, which liveth and abideth for ever. He eats the flesh of Jefus, and drinks his blood, and hath eternal life abiding in him, and Chrift will raise him up at the last day. For he finds the flesh of Chrift to be meat indeed, and his blood to be drink indeed *. Having life, he has feeling; he feels godly forrow, and he feels divine joy; he feels the bitterness of fin, and he feels the fweetnefs of divine love; for the heart of ftone is turned into an heart of flesh t. In short, his hopes and fears; his forrows and joys are all turned into a new channel; fo that if any man be in Chrift, there is a new creation ; all things are paffed away, and all things are become new ‡. 8. THE righteous muft fhew this in their life and converfation. This is the only proof which they can give to God or man. Being trees of righteoufnefs, the trees must be known by their fruit. Being the light of the world, their light must so shine before men, that others may fee their good works, and glorify their Father which is in heaven. As they are the falt of the earth, they must take care not to lose the divine favour. They must put on, as the eleɛt of God, bowels of mercies, kindness, humileness of mind, meekness, long-juffering: forbearing one another, and forgiving one another. Thus may our Lord fay to them,I was hungry, and ye gave me meat; thirsty, and ye gave me drink.—Inafmuch as ye did it unto one of the leaft of these my brethren, ye did it unto me. But, as I treated a little upon this fubject in the laft Sermon, and as it is a fubject which is, and ought to be, spoken of almost in every difcourfe, I shall not enlarge upon it at prefent. * II. Secondly, John vi. 54, 55. Ezek. xxxv. 26. 2 Cor. v. 17. |