whereby ye are fealed unto the day of redemption (u). St. Paul felt the sufficiency of the grace of Christ unto falvation, when he exclaimed, on the profpect of approaching martyrdom: I know whom I have believed, and am perfuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him. I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness; which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day (w). He that endureth unto the end fhall be faved: and the grace of Christ whereby you may be enabled to endure unto the end, is effectually placed within the reach of every man. Of the numbers of those who shall ftretch forth their arms and embrace it, and hold it stedfaftly unto falvation, we know little. That is a fecret placed beyond the veil, which separates time from eternity. Yet have the skirts of that veil been so far lifted up by the hand of prophecy, as to cheer our present darkness with glimpfes of the more than mortal light which glows behind. The earth fhall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the fea. The kingdoms of this world fhall become the kingdoms of our

(u) 1 Pet. v. 12. Tit. . 11. Eph. iv .30. (w) 2 Tim.

i. 12. iv. 7, 8.

Lord and of his Chrift: and he fhall reign for ever and ever. Many fhall come from the Eaf, and from the Weft, and from the North, and from the South; and shall fit down with Abraham, and Ifaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven (x). That you may form some eftimation of the countless myriads of the redeemed faints, the inheritors of everlasting life; contemplate the armies of heaven, reprefented as attendants on the triumphs of the Son of God in the emblematical vifions of the Apocalypfe: a great multitude which no man could number of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, ftanding before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and with palms in their hands; and crying with a voice as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, Salvation to our God and to the Lamb! Allehijab! For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth (y). Here behold the fufficiency of the grace of Chrift unto falvation! How were all these countless myriads faved? Not an individual of the number was faved but by the grace of Christ. Do you rejoice in the contemplation of the innumerable hofts of the bleffed? Rejoice with trembling. Innumerable as

(x) Ifaiah, xi. 9. Habbak. ii. 14. Rev. xi. 15. Matth. viii. 11. Luke, xiii. 28, 29. (9) Rev. vii. 9. xix. 6. 14.

they

they are, the earth, from the generations which he has hitherto nourished in her bofom; from that which the now nourishes from thofe which in due fucceffion fhe fhall nourish, before the dawning of the great day of the Lord; can fupply these and yet larger multitudes to be inhabitants of heaven, without including you. She can fupply thefe and yet larger multitudes to the regions of blifs eternal; and still may behold from among her children multitudes equally exceeding the power of computation configned to misery everlasting. In which of these multitudes. fhall you be found? One fact is incontrovertible. No unclean perfon, nor covetous man, nor any man who is a murderer, or a thief, or a liar, or a drunkard, or a reviler, or an extortioner, or a reveller, or feditious, or guilty of berefy, or of variance, or of hatred, or of Strife, or of emulations, or of envyings, or of any fuch crimes, of any other habitual fin, fhall inherit the kingdom of God (x). If you live as one of the unrighteous; if you fulfil the works of the flesh; if you fubject yourself to the dominion of any unchristian temper or practice; you will have no inheritance in the kingdom of Chrift and of God. But the

(x) Eph. v. 5. 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. Gal. v. 19-21. Rev. xxi. 8. xxii. 15.

I 3

grace

grace of Christ, which has already proved itfelf fufficient to the falvation of millions of

your fellow-finners, is fufficient, if you will feek for it and profit by it, for yours. Then will it qualify you to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit; and to prove that you are Chrift's, by crucifying the flesh with its affections and lufts. Then shall it fanctify you unto the day of redemption; unto that day when you shall join in the triumphant fong of the ten thousand times ten thousands and thoufands of thousands of the spirits of juft men made perfect: Bleffing, and honour, and glory, and power be unto him that fitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever! For thou waft flain; and haft redeemed us to God by thy blood (a).

Let me now endeavour to apply to two claffes of perfons of oppofite defcriptions, fome portion of the inftruction, which the general fubject of the prefent and of the two preceding difcourfes may fuggeft.

I. I would in the first place address myself to thofe perfons, who have hitherto neglected or defpifed the grace of God.

Are your eyes open to your fituation? What is the object which you neglect or

defpife? Is it an object of no importance? Is it an object of little moment? Is it an object of temporary concern? It is the grace of God indifpenfably neceffary, by your own confeffion indifpenfably neceffary, to everlasting falvation. It is an object fo pre-eminent in magnitude and in duration, that every other object which can intereft the heart of man is in comparifon but the weight of a grain of duft, the occupation of a moment. grace of God you neglect or defpife.

This

That you should difregard the acquifition of a bleffing thus inconceivably great without reafons of the ftrongeft nature, would be madness almost beyond credibility. Perhaps

then

(

en you regard the attainment of it as hopeless. Perhaps you have difcovered in the charter of grace fome claufe of exception, which fingles you out from the rest of your fpecies; fevers and fixes you apart from the objects of mercy; and debars you from the poffibility of receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, by which you may be fanctified unto life eternal! You do not plead this apology. You confefs that your heavenly Father has ever treated you, and still treats you, as one of his children: that the offer of divine grace is univerfal that to you is the word of this falvation fent: that to you it has been given