Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that we should live together with him, Thes. v. 9, 10. And St. John tells us, that God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, to the end that all that believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life. John iii. 16.

If then we believe that God is infinitely just and true, we can never doubt that at the great day of retribution, he will render to every man according to his deeds. To them who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory and honour and immortality; he (who is truth itself, and cannot deceive) hath promised eternal life: but to them who are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness; he hath declared that be will pour forth his indignation and wrath, tribulation aad anguish, upon every soul of man that doth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile. Rom. ii. 6, 7, 8, 9.

Our Saviour, in his exposition of the parable of the tares, tells us that at the end of the world, the Son of Min

shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Matt. xiii. 40, 41, 42. So likewise in his exposition of the parable of the Net, in the same chapter, he says, that at the end of the world, the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Ver. 49, 50. Thus again, we are told by our Saviour, that when the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall seperate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right-hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall he say unto them on his right-hand; come, ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world: Matt. xxv.

31, 32, 33, 34. but to them on the lefthand; depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Ver. 41. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. Ver. 46.

This, as it is a plain and lively description of the awful solemnity of that great and tremendous day, when the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels, to judge the quick and the dead; Matt. xvi. 27. so it is sufficient to convince us, that, though without holiness no man shall see the Lord, Heb. xii. 14. yet that every one who believes the Gospel, and sincerely obeys the precepts of it, shall assuredly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Matt. vii. 21. This was the very purchase of Christ's blood, and the end for which he was contented to be given up into the hands of cruel men, to be buffeted, spit upon, and evil-entreated, and at last to suffer a cruel and ignominious death upon the cross. He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity,

Tit. ii. 14. and become the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him. Heb. v 9. Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich. 2 Cor. viii. 9. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah liii. 4.

The redemption of mankind was thought a design worthy the Son of God. The souls of men were of so great a value in his sight, that he esteemed nothing too much, or too great, to suffer for their sakes. He saw and pitied our misery, and knew that without a Saviour we must be lost for ever: he therefore condescended so far as to humble himself even to the death upon the cross, for us miserable sinners who lay in darkness and the shadow of death; that he might make us the children of God, and exalt us to everlasting life. So that though we were sometimes afar off, yet being now made nigh by the blood of Christ, we are no more strangers and foreigners,

but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the houshold of God. Ephes. ii. 13, 19. And if we are careful to perform our parts, we may assuredly say with St. Paul that henceforth there is laid up for us a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give us at that day, 2 Tim. iv. 8. For we have the promise of him who is truth itself and cannot deceive us, that, if we are faithful unto death, he will give us a crown of life. Revel. ii. 10.

And what a glorious incitement is this to all men, to live soberly, righteously, and godlily in this presentworld! What can be more effectual to make us steadfast and unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, than to know that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord; 1 Cor. xv. 58. that no good action which we do, shall be lost and fruitless; on the contrary, that, in a little time, all our services will be infinitely rewarded; that every grace and virtue which we exercise in this life, and every degree of them, shall receive their just recompence at the resurrection of the just;