mans, whofe "falvation," at every after period, was proportionally "nearer than when" they first "believed," Rom. xiii. 1.-And the certainty of it manifeftly declared in the words of grace under confideration ;-where a term expreffive of progrefs, is emphatically made ufe of;-they fhall come*, i. e. from one flage to another, until they arrive at the kingdom.

They shall come, not only by perfeverance and progrefs in the paths of righteoufaefs, but by the tranflation of their pardoned, ranfomed fouls, at the hour of death, into the palaces of falvation. They will be escorted by angels, into Abraham's "bofom;" Luke xvi. 22. -"an entrance fhall be "miniftred unto" them "abundantly into the e"veriafting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Je"fus Chrift: 2 Pet. i. 11.—And the very "day" that the taper of life is extinguished, their fouls fhall be with him in paradife," Luke xxiii. 43.

In a word, they shall come, by the tranflation of their bodies, alfo, at the refurrection of the juft. -All, all, without exception, who, in this life, have come to themselves, to Chrift, and to a vital communion with his ranfomed church; all who have perfevered and advanced in thefe fteps until death; and, all whofe fouls reached the kingdom, upon the diffolution of their clay-tabernacles ;-all fuch,-foul and body both, fhall come to the kingdom of heaven, as foon as the business of the refurrection, and grand affair of judgment are intirely over. In the fpirited language of prophecy, "The ranfomed of the Lord fhall return, and "come to Zion, with fongs, and everlasting joy

upon their heads: they fhall obtain joy and "gladness, and forrow and fighing fhall fly away," If. XXXV. 10. And in the words of our apostle,

* Efcufi.

"They

"They who fleep in Jefus, will God bring with "him; the dead in Chrift fhall rife first; and fo "fhall they ever be with the Lord," 1 Theff. iv. 14, 16, 17.

Befides the defigns of grace which God has upon the Gentiles, and the leading bleffings wherewith they are pregnant to the heirs of promife,-from the first dawn of converfion, to the full meridian of glory, there is still another part of the argu. ment to be illuftrated, which is equally calculated "to roufe your ambition, and invigorate your "endeavours toward the propagation of Chrifti"an knowlege," namely," the qualites of that "happiness to which the fubjects of this grace fhall "be raised," emphatically expreffed by fitting down with Abraham, and Ifaac, and Jacob, and, according to the parallel paffage, all the prophets, in the kingdom of heaven, or of God, as the other evangelift expreffeth it, Luke. xiii. 28.

What! A kingdom?-The kingdom?-The kingdom of heaven?-The kingdom of God?Are not thefe-terms emphatical beyond the powers of language to exprefs,-of the more eloquent pencil to defcribe,-or the fill more fertile imagination to conceive?

if the glory referved for Gentile finners be a kingdom,they will not only be intrufted with the fervices, and interested in the privileges of it; but,-how amazing the thought!-how transporting the view they, as heirs, fhall be put in poff ffion of the kingdom itself, and prefented with ail the enfigns of royalty, as-not only priefs, but kings unto God.

Their right to the kingdom is recorded by infpired writers with the utmoff precifion."ap"point unto you a kingdom, (faid the Heir of all

things,) as my Father hath appointed unto me,”

Luke

Luke xxii. 29. and "if children, (faid the apostle

to Gentile converts) then heirs, and joint heirs "with Chrift," Rom. viii. 17. With respect to the regalia, which fhall be prefented to them on the threshold of glory, the facred writings are no lefs explicit. They tell us of a crown prepared, 2 Tim. iv. 8. a throne erected, Matth. xix. 28. a robe of state finifhed, Rev. vi. 11. of royal apartments fitted up, John xiv. 2. of minifters in waiting; Heb. i. 14. and what can we fay more?

In our Lord's defcription of future blifs, it is not only called a kingdom, but, to point out the pecuJiar excellency of it,-the kingdom. Kingdoms, upon earth, deferve not the name; and the regal office is meannefs itfelf, compared with this.-It is the kingdom,in which all that can be enjoyed is comprehended, to which no acquifition can be made,from which nothing can be taken by fraud or force,-upon which no revolution can pafs And the kingdom, becaufe the enjoyment and administration of it will be attended with no fatigue or anxiety, no diftrefs or danger, for ever.

The bleffe doefs in referve for Gentile finners, is farther diftinguished by our Lord's calling it "the kingdom of heaven;" the third heavens," to which Paul was "caught up," 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4. the "paradife" of God, Luke xxiii. 43 to which the penitent thief' was tranflated; "the fan&uary " and true tabernacle," Heb. viii. 1, 2. into which Chrift hath entered,- "where neither moth nor * rust doth corrupt, nor thieves break through and fteal," Matth. vi. 20.--fhall be the feat of their happiness, the theatre of their triumph.

The glory under view will be altogether pure and fpiritual, that it may fait the tafte and capacities of fuch holy ones, This feems to be chiefly intended by giving their kingdom the epithet of heavenly;

heavenly; a heavenly country, Heb xi, 16. and heavenly places, Eph. i. 20. divefted of all that is grofs and perifhing, inriched with all that is divine and incorruptible. According to this view, God himself, as an expreffion of his effential holiness, is frequently called, heavenly Father, Matth. xv. 13. Luke xi. 13. The angels of light, to diftinguifh them' from the powers of darkness, are called the heavenly host, Luke ii. 13. The Lord Jefus, to point out his pre-eminence, compared with the firft Adam, is called the heavenly man ; I Cor. xv. 49. and the gracious change, which makes the difference between faints and finners, is denominated their heavenly calling, Heb. iii. 1.

Agrecable, however, to the parallel paffage, the glory promised to Gentile converts, is the kingdom of God, Luke xiii. 28. It bears that denomination with undoubted propriety, as the heirs "were "chofen," Eph. i. 4. and the "kingdom prepar"ed," by him before the foundation of the "world" Matth. xxv. 34.-as they are kept by his almighty power, through faith unto this falva tion; 1 Pet. i. 5.-as he, having the whole adminiftration delivered up to him by the Mediator, 1 Cor. xv. 24. will be the everlasting guarantee of *their happiness; and as, in the inimitable language of fcripture, "Every good gift, and every perfect," the crowning gift of heaven by no means excepted, 66 come th from the Father of lights," Jam. i. 17.

But the view of future glory, which this epithet exhibits to us, will rife, and greatly fwell, in our eye, if it is added, that God himself will be the fum and fubftance, the "all in all" of their inheritance. The apoftle of the Gentiles, who learned his divinity immediately at the feet of Chrift, is very bold, when he faith, that the children of grace are heirs-of what !-of pardon?-holinefs? -happiness?

happiness -not only fo, but, aftonishing ! "heirs of God;" Rom. viii. 17. of all that he bath; nay, of all that he is.

How vaft, then,-how immenfely vaft and unmcafurable the territories of this kingdom! How infinite the extent of this promifed, this purchased, inheritance!What Paul, quoting from the prophet, faid of New Teftament privileges in general, will eminently hold of this confummate bleffing, "Eye hath not feen, 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.

*

That the "argument for endeavouring to propagate Chriftian knowlege among the Gentiles," may be the more interefting, this paffage not only informs us, that there is fuch a state as "the king"dom of heaven," but affures us, that Gentile finners, from the eaft and weft," fball fit down there. As the word ufed by our Lord properly fignifies, a lying down on fophas or couches, which was, and, according to modern accounts, conti- * nues to be the ufual pofture at banquets, and even ordinary meals, among the eastern nations ;-we apprehend, that this is expreffive of the holy cafe and reft which true converts fhall enjoy in Emmanuel's land.

They fhall, accordingly, "reft from their labours," Rev. xiv. 3. from all that pained and toiled their bo dies, tried and diftracted their minds; from all fin in heart and life, and from all fufferings of an outward or inward, a personal or relational nature. Nor is this reft merely expreffive of negative, but chiefly of positive happiness. "It is a righte ous thing with God (faid the apoftle to the believing Theffalonians) to recompence tribulation

* Anaclithefontai.