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eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zea"lous therefore, and repent."

Think then frequently and intensely on eternity and its infinite importance: meditate seriously on the death of Christ; the design, manner, causes, and effects of it; the instructions conveyed, and the obligations conferred, by that great event. Pray earnestly for the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit, which alone can prevent or cure lukewarmness, and maintain the life and power of godliness in the soul. Examine particularly every part of your disposition and conduct: be willing to know the whole of your case as it really is. Withdraw from the company of the lukewarm, and associate with zealous Christians and never admit a doubt, but that the more fervent, diligent, and fruitful you become, the greater will be your peace and comfort in life and death, and the more abundant your gracious recompence in the realms

of blessedness.

We have all of us, my brethren, considerable cause for humiliation in this matter; and have need to redouble our diligence in using all these means, that we may make progress, and "grow in "grace." But while the Lord says to all; "Be"hold I stand at the door and knock; if any man "hear my voice, and open the door, I will come "in to him, and will sup with him, and he with "me:" he adds, for the encouragement of those who are "fighting the good fight of faith," perhaps with conscious feebleness and many fears, "To him that overcometh will I give to sit down

"with me upon my throne; even as I also "overcame, and am set down with my Father. 66 on his throne." "He" then "that hath an ear "let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the "churches."

SERMON XII.

Let

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MATTHEW V. 16.

your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

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OUR blessed Lord just before his ascension into heaven, thus addressed his apostles: "All power " is given unto me in heaven and in earth: go ye "therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and " of the holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.' Hence we learn, that there is a measure of instruction which precedes an intelligent profession of the gospel, comprising the first principles of the doctrine of Christ; and that there is also a more particular and exact instruction, by which ministers should endeavour to form the judgment, and direct the conduct of believers, in all the several parts of Christianity. This distinction ought to be carefully remembered; that we may not suppose the practical exhortations given to believers supersede the necessity of regeneration, repentance, and faith in the Son of God, as numbers seem to think; nor yet deem it inconsistent with the purest evangelical views, to explain particu

! Matt. xxviii. 18-20.

larly, and inculcate most earnestly, the several parts of our duty to God and to our neighbour.

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In the sermon on the mount, our Lord first shews, in the several beatitudes, that happiness principally depends on the state of the heart; and then, addressing the disciples in the presence of the multitude, he said, "Ye are the salt of the "earth: but, if the salt have lost its savour, where"with shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good "for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under "foot of men." Christians, as scattered over the earth, ought to communicate a purifying savour of piety and righteousness, and thus to prevent the increasing depravity of the human race: but graceless preachers and professors of the gospel are the vilest and most hopeless of men.-"Ye are," says Christ, "the light of the world; a city "set upon a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but " on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that "are in the house." True Christians, placed in different families, villages, streets, cities, and nations, diffuse the light of divine truth, received from the Sun of righteousness, in their several circles. This also renders them conspicuous: their tempers, words, and actions will surely be observed and exactly scrutinized. Nor were they enlightened from above in order to be immured in cloisters, or to retire into deserts, like lamps put under a bushel: but it is the Lord's will, that they should resemble candles placed on candlesticks in the midst of a room, to give light to every part of it. Therefore "let your light so shine before men, "that they may see your good works, and glorify

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your Father which is in heaven."-It may proper for us,

be

I. To consider the persons to whom this exhortation is especially addressed:

II. To examine more fully its import and

III. To state the object which we should aim at in complying with it.

I. The persons to whom the words are especially addressed.

Some expositors seem to confine the exhortation to the apostles, or to the ministers of the gospel, exclusively. But, though the words are peculiarly proper and energetic in this application, yet it is evident that all Christians are, in their own circle and measure, "lights in the world ;" and all who profess Christianity may be exhorted to act consistently with their avowed character. In other parts of scripture similar exhortations are addressed to believers in general. The evangelical prophet, viewing the church as a disconsolate female sitting in darkness upon the ground, thus encourages her, "Arise, shine; for thy light is

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come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon "thee. For behold the darkness shall cover the "earth, and gross darkness the people; but the "Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall "be seen upon thee: and the gentiles shall come "to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy "rising." When the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ illuminates the church, then she arises from the dust, reflects the bright beams of the Sun of righteousness, and shines as a light to

'Isa. lx. 1-3.

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