pre-eminence. Jesus Christ was, in the highest sense of the term, in a sense which can apply to no created being whatever the "firstborn of creation," to bespeak his dignity and glory as "the only begotten of the Father:" but believers also, by virtue of their spiritual relation to him, partake, in some measure, of the same glory; for even the weakest, the most obscure and despised Christian, is numbered among the first-born sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty.

Again, they are described as having their names enrolled in heaven. In vain, perhaps, might you search the scroll of earthly dignities, or the records of worldly fame, or the annals of human glory. There their names will not be found, but they are inscribed in the Lamb's book of life, and none can blot them thence. May not this figurative representation serve, my brethren, to intimate to us the infinite knowledge of God" the Lord knoweth them that are his;" the certainty of their final and eternal salvation-for how can they perish whose names are thus inscribed, as with the finger of God, in the book of his divine remembrance; and the distinguished honour confered on the saints, upon whom he has fixed his sacred impress, and whom he will recognize as his own before an assembled world?

Finally, they will constitute, when all shall be gathered together in the heavenly city, a vast assembly, a glorious church; for the blessed society of heaven consists not alone of myriads of angels, but also of the general assembly and church of the first-born, who are pure and perfected spirits, worshipping before the throne of the Eternal. These are not (as some will tell us, whose souls are as narrow as their creed,) a small remnant of mankind; for the apostle teaches in the text, that it is a vast concourse and the evangelist John, in the before cited apocalyptic vision, when gazing, by the light of prophecy, on this great congregation, thus describes the celestial scene: I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands," &c.

IV. From the language of the inspired writer of this epistle, we may gather, fourthly, what is the principal source of the enjoyments of the heavenly state-the presence of God and the Lamb-the immediate vision of him who will, in the last great day, be revealed as the "universal Judge," but who is now, under the present economy of grace, proclaimed to us as the "Mediator of the new covenant." It cannot be doubted that all the circumstances which have been briefly alluded to, are among the sources of unutterable delight to

which the inhabitants of the heavenly Jerusalem are admitted, and of which they shall partake for ever; the consciousness of safety; the enjoyment of rest; the consummation of hope and faith in full perfection; the society of saints and angels, who reflect the perfect image of their God and Saviour;—these, all these, are sources of delight. But there is one which crowns all, and without which all the rest would yield but imperfect satisfaction-" they are for ever with the Lord." O! it is this that constitutes heaven; without this the celestial city itself would be but a dreary and desolate abode! Christians, can ye not bear witness to this from present, and ofttimes painful experience? If, at any time, the spiritual presence of God has not been enjoyed in his ordinances, has not darkness overspread your minds, and sorrow filled your hearts? Though you were in the sanctuary of God, or at his table; though surrounded by a goodly company of your fellow Christians; though participating with them in the external privileges of the church, from which you have often derived strong consolations; all failed to dispel the gloom of darkness: and why? Because He who is "the spring of all our sacred joys, the life of our delights," had withdrawn his gracious smiles, and the light of his countenance was no longer seen! In like manner, were it possible that the glorious Being, who is characterized in the text both as "Mediator and Judge," could abandon his celestial courts, and remove from the heavenly city, there might still be myriads of angels there, and a vast concourse of the redeemed, gathered from every nation under heaven-but still it would be a wide waste, in which perfect happiness could not be enjoyed. Still there would be "an aching void, which God alone could fill." With this statement agree the testimonies of Scripture, in which the felicities of the heavenly state are described in plain and literal terms: "As for me," said the Psalmist, "I shall behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness." "Blessed," said the Saviour, are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." "So," adds the holy apostle, when administering consolation to bereaved mourners, so shall we ever be with the Lord;" as though he would intimate, that this includes all that heart can desire-this constitutes the chief, I had almost said, the only blessedness of heaven.

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"Can it be," some may be ready to ask-" can it be an object of desire and hope to appear in the presence of 'God, the Judge of all?' Who has not reason to dread the encounter? Who must not expect to tremble in his august presence, and shrink from the scrutiny of his omniscient eye?" Yes, my brethren, could we only contemplate the King of Zion in the character of the omniscient,

universal Judge, the expectation of meeting him would be enough to fill the mind with terror and dismay, But mark, I beseech you, how, in this representation of the heavenly state, mercy is mingled with judgment. Lo! the terrors of the Almighty are sweetly blended with the grace of the Redeemer. "God, the Judge of all," is exhibited in mysterious union with "Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant." And who can imagine, and much less describe, the unutterable delight it must impart to all the blest inhabitants of heaven, to gaze on the Author of their salvation, in all the effulgence of his divine glories-to contemplate him, not as when, on earth, he condescended to become " a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," his visage "marred more than any man's, and his form more than the sons of men;" when he was "stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted;" but to behold him, seated on the throne of universal dominion-angels, and principalities, and powers being subjected to him-honoured, worshipped, and adored by the whole heavenly host, as King of kings and Lord of lords!" Such is the high privilege of those who have ascended to Mount Zion, and inhabit the heavenly Jerusalem; they have come to "God, the Judge of all, to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant;" and can say, in a sense far higher than that in which they formerly employed the language, "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ."

V. Finally, contemplate for a moment the procuring cause of all this blessedness. To whom, to what are they indebted for these pure and elevated enjoyments? How is it that such pleasures are participated by any of our apostate race? It is to be traced to the atonement made for sin and sinners by the Lamb of God, when he made his soul an offering for human transgressions; or, as stated in the text, "the blood of sprinkling, which speaks better things than that of Abel." Here are evidently two allusions, both of which would be well understood by those to whom the epistle was addressed; the one, to the vengeance for which the blood of Abel cried from the ground against the guilty fratricide by whom it had been shed, and which is finely contrasted with the pardon and reconciliation procured by the death of Christ; the other, to the instituted methods of purification under the law, in which it was frequently enjoined that blood, the blood of spotless victims, should be sprinkled for the purification of the worshippers. Keeping in view both these allusions, the great truth taught by the apostle in this passage is, that if reconciliation be obtained, it is by the blood of Christ, as the appointed victim;-if pardon enjoyed, that blessing has been purchased for us by the sacrifice once offered up on

Calvary's mount; and if our polluted consciences and hearts are purified, it can only be by an application of the "blood of sprinkling."

But the question arises, in what sense can it be truly affirmed that believers, who have entered into their final rest, and received their glorious reward, are come to "the blood of sprinkling?" Is it that an expiatory sacrifice will then be requisite to remove moral defilement contracted after death? or that the pollution of sins committed in the present life will then be washed away, by virtue of the atonement? Assuredly not. This is the provision of mercy now made—the method by which alone the forgiveness of sins can now be obtained; but there is no ground to believe that, after death, one moral stain will be effaced by the application of "the blood of sprinkling." If ever we derive this benefit, (and would to God, that every one who hears me were earnestly desirous of obtaining it,) it must be now, before the dream of life shall be over-before the darkness of death shall overshadow us-now, or never-it must be sought and obtained by a believing application to the "Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!" Papists may tell us of their purgatory, and hold out the delusive expectation to sinners, that they may obtain purification after death; but the Scriptures expressly declare, that to such as die impenitent and unpardoned, there "remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation that shall devour the adversary." When once the commission has gone forth to dissolve the feeble band which has for a time united flesh and spirit, the character, the condition is fixed, unalterably, irrevocably fixed. The decree has gone forth--" He that is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still."

The only scriptural sense, we apprehend, in which departed and glorified saints can be said to have come to the blood of sprinkling, is, that in the heavenly state, they will continue for ever to reap all the benefits of the atonement once made upon the cross,-that then all those blessings will be enjoyed which were purchased by the "blood of the everlasting covenant,"-that then Jesus will appear, as the "Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world,” in the purposes of divine mercy, and actually immolated for human guilt, in the fulness of time, to receive the homage of the vast assembly, convened in the celestial temple-that then the mystery of redemption, being more completely developed than it could possibly be in the present state of imperfection, will constitute the perpetual theme of delightful meditation and of rapturous praise-and, finally, that all heaven will then resound with hosannas and hallelujahs to " Him that loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood." And

why, Christians, why should not we begin this song on earth? Have not we as much reason to celebrate the blood of sprinkling, as any of those who have ascended to Mount Zion, and inhabit the heavenly Jerusalem? If we have any hope that we are pardoned sinners, are we not indebted to the same free and sovereign grace? Is it not to be attributed to the efficacy of the same atoning sacrifice? Is it not by virtue of the same infinitely precious blood, shed for the remission of sins? Come then, and let us, in the church below, commence this new and never-ending song: "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power and riches, and wisdom and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood."

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I cannot conclude without addressing one word of solemn admonition to those who have not sought in sincerity, and have no desire to possess, this glorious inheritance. To your consciences I appeal is it not worthy of your pursuit? Can it be that any of you are indifferent to the momentous question, whether heaven or hell shall be your final portion; or can ye be satisfied that it should be a matter of awful uncertainty, whether the mansions of bliss, or the regions of despair, shall be your everlasting abode? Is it nothing to you, whether at death you become the associates of angels or of devils-the companions of pure, and perfected, and happy spirits, or of those wretched beings, who are reserved in chains of darkness to the judgment of the great day? Is it nothing, whether at your departure from this world, you come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem," or whether ye are cast out for ever into outer darkness," where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched?" O that I could persuade the most thoughtless and secure sinner in this assembly to enter seriously and impartially on the great work of self-examination! Let conscience speak. Do you not know, that you are unfit to die, wholly unprepared for the heavenly state? If it be so, suffer me to beseech you, by the tender mercies of God-by the love and grace of the Redeemer,―for your soul's sake, and as you would escape the wrath to come, to delay no longer; but hasten to the throne of the heavenly grace,-supplicate mercy, while mercy may be obtained. Plead, with all the importunity of faith, the blood of the everlasting covenant, nor desist from your plea till the hope be attained, (a hope, for which the fullest warrant is given, in the word of truth, to every sincere believer,) that sin is pardoned, and that all the felicities of the heavenly state will be your final, your eternal portion.