that thou canst count the darts of the word as stubble, and laugh at the shaking of the spear: but that rock will rend at the sight of the Judge; that hard heart will then break, and thou wilt weep and wail, when weeping and wailing will be to no purpose. Death's bands will fall off, the grave will cast thee out; and the mountains shall skip from thee, and the rocks refuse to grind thee to powder. How will these cursed eyes abide the sight of the Judge?-Behold, he cometh! Where is the profane swearer, who tore his wounds? The wretched worldling, now abandoned of his God? The formal hypocrite, who kissed him and betrayed him? The despiser of the gospel, who sent him away in his messengers groaning, profaned his ordinances, and trampled under foot his precious blood? O murderer, the slain man is thy Judge: there is he whom thou didst so maltreat. Behold the neglected Lamb of God appearing as a lion against thee. How will thine heart endure the darts of his fiery looks?—That rocky heart, which now holds out against him, shall then be blown up; that face, which refuses to blush now, shall then gather blackness; arrows of wrath shall pierce, where arrows of conviction cannot enter, now. What wilt thou answer him, when he rises up, and charges thee with thy unbelief and impenitence? Wilt thou say, thou wast not warned? Conscience within thee will give thee the lie; the secret groans and weariness of those who warned thee, will witness the contrary. If a child or a fool did tell you that your house were on fire, you would immediately run to quench it but, in matters of eternal concern, men will first fill their hearts with prejudices against the messengers, and then cast their message behind their backs. But these silly excuses and pretences will not avail, in the day of the Lord. How will these cursed ears, now deaf to the call of the gospel, inviting sinners to come to Christ, hear the fearful sentence, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels !" -No sleepy hearer shall be there; no man's heart will then wander; their hearts and eyes will then be fixed on their misery, which they will not now believe. O that we knew, in this our day, the things that belong to our peace!

Lastly, Be exhorted to believe this great truth; and believe it so that you may prepare for the judgment betimes. Set up a secret tribunal in your own breasts, and often call yourselves to an account there. Make the Judge your friend in time, by closing with him, in the offer of the gospel; and give all diligence, that you may be found in Christ, at that day. Cast off the works of darkness; and live, as believing you are, at all times, and in all places, under the eye of your Judge, who will "bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing!" Be fruitful in good works, knowing that as you sow, you shall reap. Study piety towards God, righteousness and charity towards men. Lay up in store plenty of works of charity and mercy towards those who are in distress, especially such as are of the household of faith; that they may be produced, that day, as evidences that you belong to Christ. Shut not up your bowels of mercy, now, towards the needy; lest you then find no mercy. Take heed, that in all your works you be single and sincere; aiming, in them all, at the glory of your Lord, a testimony of your love to him, and in obedience to his command. Leave it to hypocrites, who have their reward, to proclaim every man his own goodness; and to sound a trumpet, when they do their alms. It is a base and unchristian spirit, which cannot have satisfaction in a good work, unless it be exposed to the view of others: it is utterly unworthy of one who be. lieves that the last trumpet shall call together the whole world, before whom the Judge himself shall publish works truly good, how secretly soever they were done. Live in a believing expectation of the coming of the Lord. Let your loins be always girt, and your lamps burning; so when he comes, whether in the last day of your life, or in the last day of the world, ye shall be able to say with joy, 66 "Lo, this is our God, and we have waited for him."

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.-MATT. XXV. 34.

HAVING from this portion of scripture, which the text is a part of, discoursed of the general judgment; and being to speak of the everlasting happiness of the saints, and the everlasting misery of the wicked, from the respective sentences to be pronounced upon them, in the great day; I shall take them in the order wherein they lie before us; and the rather that, as sentence is first passed upon the righteous, so the execution thereof is first begun, though probably the other may be fully executed before it is completed.

The words of the text contain the joyful sentence itself, together with an historical introduction thereto, which gives us an account of the Judge pronouncing the sentence, "the King," Jesus Christ; the parties on whom it is given, "them on his right hand ;" and the time when, "then,' as soon as the trial is over. Of these I have spoken already. It is the sentence itself we are now to consider, "Come, ye blessed of my Father," &c.-Stand back, O ye profane goats! away all unregenerate souls, not united to Jesus Christ! this is not for you.-Come, O ye saints, brought out of your natural state into the state of grace! behold here the state of glory awaiting you. Here is glory let down to us in words and syllables; a looking-glass, in which you may see your everlasting happiness; a scheme or draught, of Christ's Father's house, wherein there are many mansions.

This glorious sentence bears two things. 1. The complete happiness to which the saints are adjudged, “the kingdom. 2. Their solemn admission to it, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit," &c. 1. Their complete happiness is a kingdom. A kingdom is the top of worldly felicity; there is nothing on earth greater than a kingdom; therefore the hidden weight of glory in heaven is held forth to us under that notion. But it is not an ordinary kingdom, it is "the kingdom;" the kingdom of heaven, sur

passing all the kingdoms of the earth in glory, honour, profit, and pleasure, infinitely more than they do, in these, excel the low and inglorious condition of a beggar in rags, and on a dunghill. 2. There is a solemn admission of the saints into this their kingdom, "Come ye, inherit the kingdom." In view of angels, men and devils, they are in. vested with royalty, and solemnly inaugurated, before the whole world, by Jesus Christ, the heir of all things, who hath "all power in heaven and in earth." Their right to the kingdom is solemnly recognized and owned. They are admitted to it, as undoubted heirs of the kingdom, to pos sess it by inheritance, or lot, as the word properly signifies, because, of old, inheritances were designed by lot, as Canaan to Israel, God's "first-born," as they are called, Exod. iv. 22. And because this kingdom is the Father's kingdom, therefore they are openly acknowledged, in their admission to it, to be the blessed of Christ's Father; which blessing was given them, long before this sentence, but it is now solemnly recognized, and confirmed to them, by the Mediator, in his Father's name. It is observable, he says not, Ye blessed of the Father, but, Ye blessed of my Father; to shew us, that all blessings are derived by us, from the Father, the fountain of blessing, as he is "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," through whom we are blessed, Eph. i. 3. And finally, they are admitted to this kingdom, as that which was "prepared for them from the foundation of the world," in God's eternal purpose, before they, or any of them, were; that all the world may see, eternal life to be the free gift of God.

DOCTRINE. The saints shall be made completely happy, in the possession of the kingdom of heaven.

Two things I shall here inquire into: I. The nature of this kingdom. II. The admission of the saints thereto. And then I shall make some practical improvement of the whole.

I. As to the nature of the kingdom of heaven, our knowledge of it is very imperfect; for "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him,” 1 Cor. ii. 9. As, by familiar resemblances, parents instruct

their little children, concerning things of which otherwise they can have no tolerable notion; so our gracious God, in consideration of our weakness, is pleased to represent to us heaven's happiness, under similitudes taken from earthly things, glorious in the eyes of men; since discoveries of the heavenly glory, divested of earthly resemblances, would be too bright for our weak eyes, and we should but lose ourselves in them. Wherefore now we can but speak as children of these things, which the day will fully discover.

The state of glory is represented under the idea of a kingdom; a kingdom, among men, being that in which the greatest number of earthly good things centre. Now every saint shall, as a king, inherit a kingdom. All Christ's subjects shall be kings, each one with his crown upon his head: not that the great King shall divest himself of his royalty, but he will make all his children partakers of his kingdom.

1. The saints shall have kingly power and authority given them. Our Lord gives not empty titles to his favourites; he makes them kings indeed. The dominion of the saints will be a dominion far exceeding that of the greatest monarch who ever was on earth. They will be absolute masters over sin, which had the dominion over them. They will have a complete rule over their own spirits; an entire management of all their affections and inclinations, which now create them so much molestation: the turbulent root of corrupt affections shall be for ever expelled out of that kingdom, and never be able any more to give them the least disturbance. They shall have power over the nations, the ungodly of all nations, "and shall rule them with a rod of iron," Rev. ii. 26, 27. The whole world of the wicked shall be broken before them: "Satan shall be bruised under their feet," Rom. xvi. 20. He shall never be able to fasten a temptation on them any more: but he will be judged by them; and, in their sight, cast with the reprobate crew, into the lake of fire and brimstone. So shall they rule over their oppressors. Having fought the good fight, and got the victory, Christ will entertain them as Joshua did his captains, causing them to "come near, and put their feet on the necks of kings," Josh. x. 24.

2. They shall have the ensigns of royalty. For a throne,