being, than those before mentioned; an object which too many, it is to be feared, have in every age regarded as the very highest which they could propose to themselves, as characteristic of a state beyond which they could aspire to none more exalted: and in which, if they could but escape from all intrusions of passion and accident, they would be completely happy, they would desire no higher order of existence.

That the favourite pleasures of such men,-the pleasures of knowledge and intellect, are noble in their nature, exquisite in their degree, and permanent in their continuance, will not be denied by those who have sufficiently experienced, and who are competent to estimate them. But, in the first place, to how few are these pleasures confined! What a mere scantling of the race is qualified to enjoy them in any considerable degree! Not one person in a thousand has either the abilities or the opportunities requisite to their high enjoyment; while to the rest, to the great bulk of mankind, they are the hidden treasures of a sealed book. And can that be supposed the final object of our being which can be enjoyed but by a small proportion of those who inherit that being? Is it to be conceived that, while the million are "made in vain," only here and there a chosen individual is permitted to attain a destiny worthy of his nature? The truth is, of the few who make knowledge the aim of their engagements, none can secure himself from the intrusion of disturbing passions or distressing accidents. It is only in the smooth expanse of the lake, when there is no wind to agitate its bosom, that the forms of surrounding nature are reflected clear and unbroken: and thus it is only where the mind is in a state of undisturbed tranquillity that the pleasures of science and literature can be pursued with success. But the lights of philosophy are liable to be broken by the waves of adversity, and darkened by the clouds of grief; the man of study is obnoxious to the same external privations, of health, friends, or fortune,—with other men; the invasions of calamity, to which all are exposed, will find him out in the most sequestered retreat; and, after all, he will be feelingly convinced that, if knowledge be the end of our being, and that being terminates on earth, he, like all other men, has been "made in vain."

Besides which, we have it on the testimony of one of the greatest proficients in knowledge that ever appeared among men, that "increase of knowledge," far from being increase of happiness, "is increase of sorrow." And though this proposition may require to be received with some limitations, certain it is that the mere knowledge of things, the mere perception of truth, is something extremely different, something entirely separable from the enjoyment of things, the possession of real happiness. There is not between the two the slightest necessary connexion: there may exist in the same character the scantiest portion of the one in union with the largest measure of the other. We by no means find that, the more things we know, the more we enjoy our existence; and the simple reason is, that knowledge has its abode in the understanding, while happiness is seated, not in the understanding, but in the heart; so that the condition of the rudest peasant may be an object of envy to the most enlightened philosopher. In a

word, happiness is a state which we are all equally concerned to attain; but wealth and knowledge are conditions accessible only to a few. Happiness has its seat in the heart; but wealth and knowledge are not adapted to satisfy our affections: therefore wealth or knowledge cannot be supposed to constitute that proper happiness of man, without which he is "made in vain."

7. Once more. There yet remains another and a yet more elevated order of men, who place the grand object of their being in religion; who think of God, trust in God, and on all occasions devote themselves to do the will of God: men who, receiving the Scriptures as His own divine revelation, conceive that they are pardoned and ac cepted by their heavenly Father, through the mediation of the Son of his love; conceive that they are renewed and influenced by the power of His Spirit; and, regarding the " things which are seen and temporal" as preparatory to those which are "unseen and eternal,"—" set their affections on things above, not on things of the earth;" consider themselves as "dead to the world, and their life as hid with Christ in God; and trust that when He who is their life shall appear, they also shall appear with Him in glory." What shall we say of such persons? We say that, if this were the only state of being ordained for man, they, like others, would be "made in vain :" we say, with the desponding Psalmist, "Verily, they have cleansed their hearts in vain, and in vain washed their hands in innocence: we affirm, with the apostle Paul himself, "If in this life only they have hope, they are of all men most miserable," most worthy to be commiserated. For, according to this supposition, they are the only persons who are utterly disappointed of their object; the only persons who (by a fatal and irreparable mistake), expecting an imaginary happiness in an imaginary world, lose their only opportunity of enjoying those present pleasures of which others avail themselves; dooming themselves to grasp at shadows, while they neglect the substance; harassed with a perpetual struggle against their natural propensities and passions; incurring, perhaps, the enmity or ridicule of their fellow-mortals; and-if the supposition be true that there is no such future state as that which they anticipate-all this is in vain!

But that supposition is not, for a moment, to be believed: these men are not thus deluded; they are not to be thus disappointed; it is impossible to conceive that they are. The perplexity, the inconsistency, the palpable absurdity into which those are driven who argue upon the non-existence of immortality, the falsehood of revelation, proves, as far as proof can be expected, that theirs is a false hypothesis ! Upon their hypothesis, man is the greatest enigma in the universe; that universe is itself a problem not to be solved: all is mystery, confusion, and despair! Bring in the light of revelation and immortality, the clouds and thick darkness in which the scene was enveloped disperse, and all is clear and harmonious. Man, with his astonishing endowments, is no longer "made in vain ;" the universe, with its amazing phenomena, is no longer "made in vain!" We learn at once the cause and the cure of that vanity, in subjection to which "the VOL. III.-Bb

whole creation groans," together with man. The origin of our misery and death, the recovery of life and immortality, are alike brought to light. Man has fallen by sin from the favour of his Maker; hence all the disorders and evils that surround him: but a salvation has been provided; "God hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath committed to us the ministry of reconciliation; God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing to them their trespasses! This, my dear brethren, is the testimony of God in his own Word; and, though men may dispute its authority, "let God," we say, "be true, but every man a liar.”

To attain a share in this salvation, to recover the true end and perfection of our existence, in the resemblance and the favour of “the only happy God,"-this is the great object of desire and pursuit to those whose eyes are opened to their real situation, whose hearts are awakened to a sense of their real want. And, "remembering how short their time is," they are the more in earnest that, by a glorious reverse of their naturally ruined state, they may prove at last to have not been "made in vain." They "pass the time of their sojourning in fear;" they are "sober, and watch unto prayer."- "As obedient children, they fashion not themselves after the lusts of their ignorance, but, as he who hath called them is holy, so they seek to be holy in all their conversation." In a word, they count all things as loss, for the excellence of the knowledge of their Lord and Saviour: for they "know whom they have believed;" they have the fullest assurance in their faith. On other objects, which are so eagerly pursued by the men of this world, they have closed their eyes for ever: forgetting the things behind, reaching forward to those before, they press forward to the mark and prize of their high calling; and, though racks, ropes, swords, or fires were to obstruct their way, they would rush through them all to reach their eternal goal! Jesus Christ is to them the very food of the soul, the very bread of life; and they make it the substance of their continual supplication, "Whatever beside is denied, Lord, evermore give us this bread!" Such are the views and affections which inspire true believers; such the object which, stretching into eternity, puts out, casts a darkness over, the brighest sublunary splendours; an object, apart from which it may be justly said, that "men," that "all men, are made in vain !”

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The necessity and certainty of that salvation, that immortality, which the gospel reveals, is one and the first inference from what has been said another, and the last inference I shall mention, is the extreme folly and misery of those who persist in the neglect of this salvation, this immortality. It is to throw away the end of existence, to sever ourselves from the possibility and the infinitude of happiness, and, in the awful language of Scripture, to "judge ourselves unworthy of eternal life!" If a vast sum of money were committed to us, and we suddenly discovered that by our own neglect the whole was lost, we should be affected, probably, with serious alarm and regret; but what must be our emotion,-what our consternation, remorse, and despair,— should we discover, at the last judgment, that we have lived in vain ; that,

so far as our own interest is concerned, we have been made in vain; that we have received the grace of God in vain; that, having neglected the one salvation, we are lost, lost in the scale of being; immortal creatures, lost to the great purpose for which our Maker gave us existence; lost to happiness; irrecoverably and for ever lost! What must it be to discover that the mistake we have committed is at once infinite and irreparable; that we have been guilty of an infatuation which it will require eternity to deplore, and eternity to comprehend! Now is the accepted time. Let us earnestly avoid such an unutterable calamity; let us choose the favour of God as the only adequate end of our being; and embrace the salvation of Jesus Christ as the only way to attain that end in a word, let us act as those who are swayed by the conviction that the Christian is the only man of whom it can be said, in relation to eternal felicity, that he is not "made in vain."

IX.

DEATH, THE LAST ENEMY, SHALL BE DESTROYED.*

1 Cor. xv. 26.—The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

[PREACHED AT BEDFORD, MAY, 1817.]

In this chapter the apostle directs the views of Christians to the final consummation of all things; when the mediatorial kingdom of Christ, in our nature, having answered the ends for which it was established, shall be surrendered, "and God shall be all in all."

This kingdom is, in the mean time, progressive, and will be so till all enemies shall be subdued and placed under his feet. The apostle brings in the words of the text as an instance of this general proposi tion; but it may be proper here to remark somewhat of inaccuracy in our common version. That rendering does not seem to sustain the conclusion to which the apostle had arrived. It was his purpose to establish the perfection of our Saviour's conquest, the advancement of his triumphs, and the prostration of all enemies whatever beneath his power. Now, to say that "the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death," by no means affords proof of this position. Though death might be destroyed, and be the last enemy that should be destroyed, it would not thence appear but that other enemies might remain not destroyed. But the proper rendering is, "Death, the last enemy, shall be destroyed."

Having made this observation, I would now direct your attention to the import of the proposition; and I will consider

I. The nature of that enemy that shall be destroyed; and why he is called "the last enemy."

* From the notes of the Rev. S. Hillyard.

II. The manner and the successive stages in which our Lord Jesus has already conquered in part, and will completely conquer, this last

enemy.

I. The nature of that enemy that shall be destroyed, and why he is called "the last enemy."

It is not necessary to say much to show that death is, in many respects, an enemy to the sons of Adam. It is so, first, if we consider it in its most obvious effects-the dissolution of the human frame. Every part of the body is part of a marvellous fabric, of a wonderful machine; which bears upon it the mark of Divine wisdom and skill in its contrivance and execution. It is a work which man is not only unable to form or contrive, but the contrivance of which he is not able to comprehend. Every man possesses and carries in himself certain excellences of composition, and enjoys the benefit of innumerable operations, while he is wholly unacquainted with the internal machinery by which they are produced. If we look upon the Goths and Vandals as the enemies of the nations, and of all civilized society, because they destroyed palaces and temples, and the ancient monuments of art, what must we think of death, which demolishes, not only in one victim, but in innumerable victims, the noblest fabric that was ever raised on earth, and spoils the most skilful works that were ever constructed? All human beauty, and vigour, and strength are at once laid prostrate by the power of death; are broken and shivered to pieces under the stroke of this great tyrant. Were we to see at once all the victims which, in different lands and climes, and in all ages, have fallen before him, we should behold a pile of ruins raised to the heavens: but these ruins are mostly crumbled to dust, and concealed in the darkness of the grave; or what an amazing view would be afforded of the power and conquests of this universal enemy!

Again, Death is an enemy as he puts an end to all that is terrestrial with regard to man. All the schemes, and projects, and thoughts that relate only to the concerns of time, are destroyed. "In that day," says the Word of God, "his thoughts perish:" all the thoughts of the sublimest genius of the most acute philosophers, of the subtlest statesmen, of the most ambitious projectors, perish! All find, at once, a termination to their intellectual labours, their sublunary joys and sorrows, hopes and fears: they go only as far as death leaves space for them; and stop where he opposes his power. As much, therefore, as the world is worth, as much as it possesses of value in the eyes of man,— so much is death to be considered as a formidable foe, standing forth against him, and in opposition to his career.

Say, ye ambitious, ye lovers of wealth, ye pursuers of earthly pleasure, what will all the objects you desire avail you when you are summoned to meet this last enemy, and are by him confined to the narrow limits of the grave? What will you do in that period when your "souls shall be required of you," and you are questioned, "Whose shall these things be?" As much as you value these, so much will death be your enemy.

Death is also an enemy because of the separation of the tenderest