cloke their wickedness, and the more effectually expofe it. They love religion, they fay, and God forbid they fhould fpeak a word againft it; but they hate hypocrify, precifenefs, &c. and wherever a perfon appears remarkably religious, they will be fure to brand him with fome of their odious names. Thus living christianity, and its profeffors, have always met with more contempt and hatred in the world than eafy and pliable, or even the moft profligate and abandoned finners.

Now this is owing to the ignorance of the world as to what the Sons of God fhall ere long be. They do not look upon them as fuch favourites of heaven; otherwife they would not dare to defpife them at fuch a rate. The fons of God are princes in disguise; and therefore they are not known by a blind world, who, as they are ignorant of their Father, cannot difcern his features in them.

O, finners! could you but fee in all his future glory the meaneft faint whom you now contemn and ridicule, how would it aftonish you! it would tempt you rather to the extreme of adoration, than contempt: how willingly would you change conditions with him!

Well, ftay a little, and there will be a full manifeftation of the fons of God. Romans viii. 19. You will then fee those whom you now account ftupid mopish creatures, that have no tafte for the pleasures of life, fhining more glorious than the fun; happy as their natures can admit, and, in their humble fphere, resembling God himself.

It is, however, all things confidered, an instance of divine wisdom, that it does not yet appear to themfelves or to others what the fons of God fhall be. Such a manifeftation would quite ftun and confound the world, and ftrike it into a torpid confternation. It would render the children of God utterly impatient of the prefent life and its employments, and even of the low devotion of the church on earth; it would

put

put an end to the neceffary activity about temporal concerns, break off the defigns of providence, and quite alter the form of adminiftration in this world. Therefore the manifestation is wifely put off to the moft proper season.

I fhall now conclude with a few reflections.

First, What a state of darkness and imperfection is this! We flipped into being we know not how, and remember nothing of our own formation; and we fhall be ere long we know not what. Alas! how fhort are our views! all before us is impenetrable darkness, and we can fee but a very little way behind us. What small cause then have the wifeft of us to be elated with our own knowledge! In comparison of angelic beings, and even of our future felves, we fee no more than the mole groveling in the earth, compared with the keen-eyed aerial eagle mounting aloft.

Secondly, But what furprizing discoveries of things will flash upon us when we enter the other world! O! my brethren, when we afcend the heavenly mount, and take large furveys all around of the immenfity of the works of God, when the unveiled perfections of the Deity suddenly shine upon our eyes in all their naked glory, upon our waking from the fleep of death, how fhall we be loft in wonders! What scenes of contemplation will then open upon our gazing minds! How shall we be astonished at ourselves, and ready to vent our furprise in fome fuch ftrains as thefe; "Is this I, who fo lately was groveling in yonder world! how changed! how ennobled! how glorified! Is this the foul that was once fo overrun with the leprofy of fin! once fo blind and dark! once fo perverse and depraved! fo feeble and weak! tormented with vain anxieties and trifling cares, or transported with empty joys and delufive profpects! is this the foul that had fo many hard conflicts with temptations, that felt fuch fhocks of jealoufy, and fo often languifhed under defponding fears of feeing this glorious

glorious place! O how changed! how free from every anxious care! unmolefted by fo much as a guilty thought! nobly triumphant over fin and forrow, and all that is feared in its mortal ftate! And is this my once frail, mortal body! my incumbrance in yonder world; how amazingly transformed! how gloriously fashioned! O to what a pitch of excellency and blifs can almighty grace raise the meanest worm! and O! in what raptures of praise fhould I celebrate this grace through all eternity!" Thus may we think the glorified faint would exprefs his wonder. But, alas! we know just nothing about it. The fenfations and language of immortals are beyond our comprehenfion. But,

Thirdly, We are juft on the brink of this furprizing ftate. A few years, perhaps a few moments, may open to our eyes these amazing scenes; the next day, or the next hour, they may flash upon us; and O! where are we then! in what a ftrange world! among what new beings! and what fhall we then be! O! how amazingly transformed! Should you fee a clod from beneath your feet rifing and brightening into a ftar, or fhining like the noon-day fun, the tranfformation would not be half fo aftonifhing. Then we have done with all beneath the fun! all the little things of this trifling world will vanish at once like a vapour; and all before us will be the most important and majestic realities. Therefore,

Fourthly, How aftonifhing is it that we should think fo little of what is before us! that we should still stumble on in the dark, thoughtless of these approaching wonders! Ye fons of God, what are you doing, that you think no more of your relation to God, and your heavenly inheritance? If a large eftate, or the government of a kingdom fhould fall to you to-morrow, and you were told of it before-hand, would it not always dwell upon your thoughts, and keep you awake this night with the eager profpect? What! would things comparatively low fix your at

tention!

tention! and can you be thoughtless of a glory and a blifs that infinitely furpafs all your prefent conceptions? And you, unregenerate finners, though I cannot fay you are near to glory, yet I may affure you, you are near to the eternal world, and all its folemn wonders: this night perhaps you may be there; and if you land there in your prefent condition, you are undone, you are ruined, you are inconceivably miserable for ever. Therefore,

Fifthly, O finners, why do you not labour to become the fons of God now while you may? Consider what prodigies of mifery, what monuments of vengeance you will foon be, if you continue unregenerate! Alas! firs, it does not yet appear what you fhall foon be, otherwife you could no more reft in your prefent cafe than upon the top of a mast, or upon burning coals. And, poor creatures! have you a mind to be initiated into these horrid myfteries of woe, and be taught them by experience? Will not you believe the repeated declarations of eternal truth, that they are intolerably dreadful, and that, till you are the fons of God, till you are born again, and have the difpofitions of children towards him, you cannot have a moment's fecurity for escaping them? Alas! I must pity you; and I call upon all the children of God to pour out the tears of their compaflion over

you.

that

Sixthly, Let me call upon all the fons of God in this affembly to admire his love in conferring this dignity upon them: Behold! what manner of love is this, that we fhould be called the fons of God! Confider what you were, guilty, rebellious creatures, condemned to everlasting tortures; and will own, you to be juft delivered from hell, though it has been by annihilation, would be an inconceivable favour for you but for you to be the fons of God, to be made glorious beyond the reach of thought, to be tranfformed into happy fomethings that you can now form no ideas of, and this too at the expence of the VOL. II.

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blood

blood of God; what love is this! Go home, and forget it if you can. I may as well bid you live without breathing if you can.

Seventhly, Let me conclude with this reflection: how honourable, how happy, how glorious are the fons of God! how immenfe their privileges! how rich their inheritance! Why then are they fo backward to enter upon it! how unaccountable, how abfurd their eager attachment to this world, and their unwillingness to die! Why fo much afraid of afcending to their Father's houfe? Why fo fhy of glory and blifs? Why fo fond of flavery and imprisonment? O! my brethren, be always on the wing, ready for flight, and be always looking out, and crying, Come, Lord Jefus, come quickly. Amen.

SERMON XXXIV.

A SERMON ON THE NEW YEAR.

JER. XXViii. 16. This year thou shalt die. *

W

HILE we are entering upon the threshold of

a new year it may be proper for us to ftand, and pause, and take a ferious view of the occurrences that may happen to us this year, that we may be prepared to meet them. Future contingencies are indeed unknown to us; and this ignorance is as agreeable to our prefent ftate, and as conducive to our improvement and happiness, as our knowledge of the things which it concerns us to know. But though we cannot predict to ourselves the particular events that may befal us, yet the events of life in general, in

*This Sermon was preached at the college at Naffau-Hall, and confequently to a number of young perfons, Jan. 1, 1761. The Author died the 4th of February following.