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WHICH SHOULD BE KEPT IN VIEW.

125 how much of eternity is spent? Nothing; for infinitely more

remains."

O, keep your eye fixed on that eternity! 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. Life is a vapour, a point, a nothing;eternity is all. Yet a little while, and the golden hours of life will be gone; the last sands in the glass of time will have run out; the sun will have passed over the dial the arrow will be flown; the vapour will be vanished, and time will be no longer: but vast, boundless, joyful or dreadful eternity, knows no limits, and fears or hopes no end. How can you much rejoice in pleasures, that are dying while you enjoy them! or sorrow much at distresses, that are vanishing while you feel them! Loosen, then, your heart from the earth it is but a world of dreams and shadows, through which you journey to a world of solemn and eternal realities. Let the world talk of their pleasures, and be as cheerful as their condition should render them wretched; but, do you think of ending time and unending eternity.-Eternity! blessed or dreadful word! whose meaning no numbers can unfold, no ages declare; into whose depths no eye but that of God has pierced; a span, of whose length no heart has ever comprehended. O, look at that eternity more! So near the world where all is solemn, should you trifle? So near the state where all is endless, can you prize what is perishing? At the gate of eternity, on the threshold of an endless world, or at most with but a few steps before you must step into it, are the concerns of a fleeting pilgrimage of much importance? Are you so near doing, what you must do for ever; so near rejoicing, where you must rejoice for ever, or mourning, where you must mourn for ever; and should not this make a transitory life and a perishing world little things indeed? Live, then, O, live, as a traveller to eternity; a pilgrim here, pressing to a happy, endless home!

$7. While this is your condition, if a Christian indeed, even here you belong to a better world.-You are a stranger; but, you have a settled dwelling-place. You are a pilgrim; but, you have a rest.-There is a family to which you belong; a family in that country "where pilgrims roam no more." That family is the family of God, and that home is heaven. Strange,

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THE CHRISTIAN A MEMBER

yet delightful, thought! but, not more strange than true! Come, let us survey this privilege. Let us take a view of the Christian, as already a member of the family of heaven. "Ye

God, in the Scriptures, assures us, that this is the case. are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the HOUSEHOLD of God." "Our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named."f "Our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ."s

These passages solemnly assert, that the Christian, in this world, really belongs to a better; and is a member of heaven, sojourning below. Those spirits that are perfected in bliss, those ministering angels that watch over the heirs of salvation, are his brethren. The connexion is real, though, while the pilgrim is surrounded with the veil of mortality, and the shades of earthly night, he can scarcely realize its worth. Few passages are more pleasing, or more expressive, than the words, "our conversation is in heaven." The word conversation, according to present use, does not suggest the idea intended. No word in the English language is so exact a translation of the original word, as citizenship. It asserts, that the Christian belongs to heaven, as really as the inhabitants of England belong to their favoured country. It declares, that the rights and privileges of heaven belong to the Christian, as really as the rights and privileges of Englishmen belong to the inhabitants of England. Heaven is the country to which we belong. Heaven is the land whose protection we claim; whose rights and privileges we enjoy; whose inhabitants are our fellow-citizens; whose laws are our rule; whose Sovereign is our King. Here we are strangers, absent from our country, yet pilgrims, pressing to our home. And beneath eternity's unclouded day, in the tranquil mansions of that peaceful land, we soon shall rest with all the family of God.

§ 8. Think not that the idea here illustrated is a pleasing delusion. You cannot cherish this belief without rejecting the authority of God, rather rejoice in that condescending love, which makes the Christian pilgrim, even here, a countryman of heaven. It is true, the splendours of eternal day do not yet blaze upon your dazzled eye; nor do the first-born sons of light, arrayed in immortal youth and glory, yet visi

(e) Eph. ii. 19.

(f) Eph. iii. 15.

(g) Phil. iii. 20.

OF THE FAMILY OF HEAVEN.

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bly walk or commune with you: it is true the gladness, that is mingled with no alloy, does not yet overflow your soul; nor have your eyes yet seen the King, the Lord of hosts.All this and much more, respecting your state, is true; but, all this cannot prove, that the Christian is no citizen of heaven. An Englishman, wandering in China or New Zealand, is still an Englishman. He claims England's protection, and has an undisputed title to all the rights and privileges that England's children enjoy. Though his absence be long, though his distance be far, England, that " pearl of the ocean, that gem of the earth," is still his country; England is his home. Let him roam where he will, if it be where England's power extends, that power still spreads over him a protecting shield. Let him return to England, he finds it still HIS country: no alien act drives him as a stranger from its shores. He lands with confidence; he settles with no apprehension of orders to depart; for England is his home. Thus, when tossed upon the sea of life, or wandering in the wilderness of time, the Christian may exult, that heaven is his country, that heaven is his home. Wherever he roam, he is a citizen of heaven. The broad shield of the King of heaven and the heaven of heavens is extended over his otherwise un protected head. And when he has ended all his journeys, all his voyages, all his days, and weeks, and years, of distance and absence; and when the last billow of life has driven his vessel into its final harbour; then will he land upon the heavenly shore, and not be deemed an alien or an intruder there. A citizen of heaven long before; as such he will land, and find heaven indeed his

home.

§ 9. The Scriptures rise in their description of the Christian's privileges, when they add the "whole family in heaven and earth;" and represent the followers of Jesus on earth and in glory, as forming but one family. How pleasing, how ennobling, is this view! The disciples of Jesus, who have passed the stream of death, rest from every labour. They shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Jesus, their Shepherd, who was "their boast through time, is their bliss through eternity."-Happy conquerors! Yet, they have brethren below. The disciples of Jesus below belong to the same family. One part is not dearer to God than the other. The whole family in heaven and earth has the same parent, and is loved

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PROTECTED BY HEAVEN'S GREAT KING.

with the same love. The whole family has but one Shepherd, and the same interest in his overflowing kindness and tender care. The same hand protects them all. The same blood redeemed them all. The same love has crowned, or is about to crown, them all. The whole family has but one Father, one Saviour, one Sanctifier, and one heaven. The same privileges belong to all; the same eternal love is fixed on all. The same Spirit inhabits all, and the same heaven is the home of all. Part are landed on the heavenly shore; the gales of death are driving others into the harbour; and to it all the rest, urged on by wind and tide, hasten apace. The whole family in heaven and earth will soon be the family in heaven; a family for ever unbroken there.

The father of a numerous family has some of his beloved offspring resident under his roof; but, one son is gone to America, and another to India, and a third to Turkey, and a fourth to Russia. The father loves them all with equal love; cares for them all with equal kindness; prays for them all with equal fervour, and expects them all at home ere long, to form one family again; and even now, though scattered, they are but one. Death must tear asunder the ties that join this family; but, there is a family, whose union death cannot dissolve, whose union death itself cements. It is the whole family of God, in heaven and earth. Happy family! that boasts one Father's love, and feels one Father's care; that loves one Saviour; inherits one heaven; and soon, all separations over, will meet in one eternal home. Will you be

there?

§ 10. Such is the Christian's state-My dear brother or sister, is it yours? It is, if you belong to Jesus Christ; in spirit and in truth. O, think of it again; how ennobling a connexion! And, O! remember how you were brought into it when only death eternal was your desert. Then Jesus pitied you. Then "God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved you, even when you were dead in sins, quickened you together with Christ; (by grace are you saved;) and raised you up together, and made you sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards you through Christ Jesus." h

(h) Eph. ii. 4-7.

CONNEXION WITH HEAVEN, &c.

This view of the Christian state should,

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§ 11. Lighten trouble, and make the heaviest earthly trials appear to you as they did to St. Paul-light afflictions, which are but for a moment. If this world were your all, well indeed might you make much account of its trials and griefs; but, should a citizen of heaven, a member of God's immortal family, deeply feel the trials of a rough but short voyage? or of an unpleasant but hasty journey? Could one of the family, who has reached his rest, return to this world to spend a few more days below, how light would he esteem those trials which are the trials of a moment! how little would he regard those afflictions, that, as in the twinkling of an eye, will vanish for ever! In the day of trial think, This is not my country: there is no trouble in that happy land. This is not my home; but I shall reach it soon, and then shall bid a last farewell to sorrow and to care.

§ 12. Let this subject urge upon you, how momentous is the pursuit of holiness, how infinitely inconsistent with your character is the indulgence of sin! Could an angel of light, or one of the spirits of the just, visit this world, and spend a few years here, how inexpressibly shocking would it be thought for such a being to indulge in iniquity! Would it not be said to him, How dreadfully inconsistent is this with your character and your connexions! Do you not belong to heaven? are you not a member of the family of God? and will you plunge from that height of privilege, and disgrace that sacred character? If you are a Christian, you belong to the same family, and should pant after the lovely likeness of Jesus, which glorified spirits bear. Like theirs should be your love and hatred, your aversion and delight. The dispositions that dwell in their breasts, are those you should cherish in yours. The spirit that glows in their souls, is the spirit that should animate yours. If viewed aright, wilful sin would appear almost as shocking in you, as it would in them; for the whole family in heaven and earth is one in Christ Jesus. One in privileges, one in blessings, one in friends, one in obligations; and, therefore, bound by every holy tie, to be one in principle, one in disposition, one in practice. Revere yourself. Respect your high and holy calling, and pray to live and act as a member of Jesus's family, as a traveller to the skies. Love

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