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be bitterness in the end? When this unjust gain will be followed with the lofs of my foul? When this tenderness of myself, < which will now not fuffer me to mortify my corruptions, will be punished with everlasting burnings?'

These thoughts, good Christians, if kept in your memory, and pondered in your hearts, will help to preserve you from ruin, in the midst of a moft profligate age—an age in which there are people who neither fear God, nor what he can do to them, who can laugh at damnation, who can with it to themselves and others without trembling, and who are in the certain way to the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, without caring what will become of them. Thefe, Chriftians

should have no fellowship with, as they value their own fouls, as ever they expect the favour of God, as ever they hope for the happiness of heaven.

The HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN is another of those motives which our gracious God would not let us want, that we may have all the encouragement imaginable to fit ourselves for that happy state and place. A place, as the Spirit of God reprefents it, where there is neither want, nor forrow, nor fickness, nor pain, nor oppreffion, nor afflictions, nor troubles, of any kind. But the happiness of that state no mortal can comprehend: Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, (faith St. Paul, 1 Cor. ii. 9.) neither have entered into the heart of man, the

things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

You will not fure hear these things with indifference; or return home without confidering, over and over again, the happiness of heaven, and the way to be fecure of it when you die.

I will endeavour to help your meditations upon this fubject, and fhew you how you may and ought to profit by fuch sermons. Every Chriftian fhould reafon thus with himself: 'I have the fure word of God for it, that my ' condition when I die will be infinitely happy, even beyond what I can imagine, if it is not my own fault. At the fame time, God has given me to understand, that before I can be 'fit for heaven, my nature must be changed; that I must love him with all my heart and foul, ' and that, for his fake, I must love all mankind, ' otherwife I cannot be admitted into that 'bleffed fociety. He has alfo fhewed me the way how I may attain these holy difpofitions, which are fo abfolutely neceffary to fit me 'for heaven. That in order to love him with ' all my heart, I must believe in him, and give ' entire credit to every thing which he has made known to us. That I must fear him -fear to do any thing that I believe will displease him. That I must obey him-do 'what he has commanded, and avoid what he ' has forbidden. That I muft fubmit to all his choices for me, and endeavour that my

<

' heart may always go along with my lips in

That

'this petition-THY WILL BE DONE. 'I must give him the honour due unto his name; peak of him with reverence; worship 'him with great devotion; pray to him for 'what I want; and give him praise and thanks 'for all his mercies. And lastly, that I must 'close with the means of grace which he has 'ordained for my edification, and by which 'he will give me the earnest of his Holy Spirit. By obferving these rules, I shall come to love God with all my heart, and 'be qualified for that happiness for which he ' created me.

In order To LOVE MY NEIGHBOUR, which 'is another qualification for heaven and happiness, I must neither do nor wish any ill to him, I must remember, that whosoever hateth 'his brother, is a murderer; and that no murderer has any inheritance in the kingdom of 'heaven. All bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and ftrife, and evil-fpeaking, and malice, muft (as the Apoftle exhorts') be put away from fuch as hope for the happiness of 'heaven. We must be both just and charitable, ready to give, and glad to diftribute. We 'muft forgive, and give, as becomes brethren ' and the disciples of Jefus Christ. These are the ways by which we are to express, and gain, and increase, that love for our neighbour which must qualify us for heaven. And in the last place, with regard to my own felf, God has made known to me what Ephef. iv. 31. qualifications

91 John iii. 15.

qualifications are neceffary to make me worthy to be partaker of the inheritance with the faints in heaven. That I must be humble, for God 'hateth and refifteth the proud. I must be chafte, for no unclean person can enter into heaven. I muft be temperate and fober, left ' that day overtake me unawares. That as I hope to follow my Saviour to heaven, I must deny myself, and take up the cross; I must mortify my affections and lufts; keep under my body, and bring it into fubjection; part ' with any thing, as dear as a right hand or a right eye, rather than do what will offend God, and fhut me out of heaven. Lastly, he has commanded me to watch, to walk circumfpectly; to keep my heart with all diligence; because I have an adversary, which, like a roaring lion, is continually seeking to

< ruin me.

These things I must endeavour to remember, as I love my foul, and as I hope for heaven; and I must order my life accordingly: for fo has Chrift expressly told us, Not every one that faith unto me, Lord, Lord, Shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in • heaven.'

6

This, my Chriftian brethren, is the way we muft take to profit by fermons upon these important fubjects. It is thus we must endeavour to affect our minds, that we may remember, that we may never forget, these truths, which concern us as much as our fouls are

worth.

worth. This being the only way to be secure of a blessed eternity, to be ever and anon asking ourselves fome fuch fhort queftions as thefe:

(

<

Why am I afraid of death? Why do I

put the thoughts of it far from me? Is it not because I know that I am not prepared 'to die? Have I confidered how miferable I 'fhall be, if death should surprise me either doing evil, or doing nothing, or doing that 'which was not my duty to do? Is it because 'I fancy that I have time fufficient before me 'to prepare for death? But then I forget, that a Chriftian life is the only fure preparation for ' death; and I forget alfo what Jesus Christ ' hath declared, Thou shalt not know what hour 'I will come upon thee. Is not this the time ' in which I am to choose whether I am to be 'miferable or happy for ever? And shall I let 'this time flip out of my hands? Do not I 'know that I fhall come out of the grave juft ' as I go into it, either fit for heaven, or fit 'for no place but hell? Have not I myself feen many furprised by death, when they least thought of it; and were amazed when they 'faw that it was too late to bring forth fruits ' answerable to amendment of life? What if 'this uncomfortable case should be my own!' One would afk further- What will this ‹ life I lead end in? Will my great Judge ap'prove of this way of spending my time, my 'eftate, and the other talents he has intrufted

me with? Can I hope to hear him fay,

Rev. iii. 3.

· Well