tion of that blessed state, in which there will be no more temple, no more sacraments, no more gross and sensible worship. The man who is too much attached to these things, is confounded at the hour of death. The land of love, to which he goes, is an unknown country to him; and as the borders of it, on which he stands, and on which alone his eyes are fixed, present only precipices to his view, fear and trembling surround his every step.

But a believer, who loves Jesus Christ with that, kind of love, which made St. Paul exclaim, The love of Christ constraineth us, 2 Cor. v. 14. finds himself on the summit of his wishes at the approach of death. This believer, living in this world, resembles the son of a great king, whom some sad event tore from his royal parent in his cradle; who knows his parent only by the fame of his virtues; who has always a difficult, and often an intercepted correspondence with his parent; whose remittances, and favours from his parent are always diminished by the hands through which they come to him. With what transport would such a son meet the moment appointed by his father for his return to his natural state!

I belong to God, (these are the sentiments of the believer, of whom I am speaking,) I belong to God, not only by his sovereign dominion over me as a creature; not only by that right, which, as a master, who hath redeemed his slave, he hath acquired over me: but I belong to God, because I love him, and because, I know, God alone deserves my highest esteem. The deep impressions that his adorable

perfections have made on my mind, make me impatient with every object which intercepts my sight of him. I could not be content to abide any longer in this world, were he not to ordain my stay; and were I not to consider his will as the only law of my conduct. But the law, that commands me to live, doth not forbid me to desire to die. I consider death as the period fixed for the gratifying of my most ardent wishes, the consummation of my highest joy. Whilst I am at home in the body, I am absent from the Lord, 2 Cor. v. 6. But it would be incomparably more delightful to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord, ver. 8. And what can detain me on earth, when God shall condescend to call me to himself?

Not ye criminal objects! you I never loved; and although I have sometimes suffered myself to be seduced by your deceitful appearances of pleasure, yet I have been so severely punished by the tears that you have caused me to shed, and by the remorse, which you have occasioned my conscience to feel, that there is no reason to fear my putting you into the plan of my felicity.

Nor shall ye detain me, lanful objects! How strong soever the attachments that unite me to you may be, you are only streams of happiness, and I am going to the fountain of felicity. You are only emanations of happiness, and I am going to the happy God.

Neither shall ye, religious objects! detain me. You are only means, and death is going to conduct me to the end, you are only the road; to die is to arrive at home. True, I shall no more read those excel

lent works, in which authors of the brightest genius have raised the truth from depths of darkness and prejudice in which it had been buried, and placed it in the most lively point of view. I shall hear no more of those sermons, in which the preacher, animated by the holy Spirit of God, attempts to elevate me above the present world: but I shall hear and contemplate eternal wisdom, and I shall discover in my commerce with it the views, the designs, the plans of my Creator; and I shall acquire more wisdom in one moment by this mean than I should ever obtain by hearing the best composed sermons, and by reading the best written books. True, I shall no more devote myself to you, closet exercises! holy meditations! aspirings of a soul in search of its God! crying, Lord, I beseech thee shew me thy glory! Exo. xxxiii. 18. Lord dissipate the dark thick cloud that conceals thee from my sight! suffer me to approach that light, which hath hitherto been inaccessible to me! But death is the dissipation of clouds and darkness; it is an approach to perfect light; it takes me from my closet, and presents me like a seraph at the foot of the throne of God and the Lamb.

True, I shall no more partake of you, ye holy ordinances of religion! ye sacred ceremonies! that have conveyed so many consolations into my soul; that have so amply afforded solidity and solace to the ties, which united my heart to my God; that have so often procured me a heaven on earth: but I quit you because I am going to receive immediate effusions of divine love, pleasures at God's right

hand for evermore, fulness of joy in his presence, Psal. xvi. 11. I quit you because

Alas! your hearts perhaps have escaped me, my brethren! perhaps these emotions, superior to your piety, are no longer the subject of your attention. I have, however, no other direction to give you, than that which may stand for an abridgement of this discourse, of all my other preaching, and of my whole ministry; Love God; be the Lord's by inclination, as you are his by condition, and by engagement. Then, the miseries of this life will be tolerable, and the approach of death delightful. God grant his blessing on the word! to him be honour and glory for ever. Amen.

SERMON II.

The Equality of Mankind.

PROVERBS Xxii. 2.

The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all.

AMONG the various dispensations of providence, which regard mankind, one of the most advantageous in the original design of the Creator, and at the same time one of the most fatal through our abuse of it, is the diversity of our conditions. How could men have formed one social body, if all conditions had been equal? Had all possessed the same rank, the same opulence, the same power, how could they have relieved one another from the inconveniences, which would have continually attended each of them; variety of conditions renders men necessary to each other. The governor is necessary to the people, the people are necessary to the governor; wise statesmen are necessary to a powerful soldiery, a powerful soldiery is necessary to wise statesmen. A sense of this necessity is the strongest bond of union, and this it is, which inclines one to assist another in hopes of receiving assistance in his turn.

But if this diversity be connected with the highest utility to mankind in the original design of the Crea