preach in one pulpit, and Christians that could not agree with one another, blessed be God, shall by and by go to one heaven; whether they go to one place or no in this world, does not signify: says one, I go to the Dissenters; another, I go to church; and a great many Christians judge of one another as infidels, because they are not of one sentiment. A good woman came to me some years ago, just as I had done preaching, (some people love to be impertinent,) What do you think, says she, of Cotton Mather and another minister; one said, I ought to receive the sacrament before my experience was given in, the other said not, and I believe the angels were glad to carry them both to heaven. I said, Good woman, I believe they have not talked about it since, for they will no more talk about these things. We have but one Father, one Holy Ghost, we have lived in one communion of faith; blessed be the living God, ere long the angels shall come and call the elect from the east, the west, the north, and the south, to be at home with the Lord.

If this be the case, my brethren, it may support us under all the changes and partings of this mortal state. As I have beca in a public character, I suppose I may venture to say that no one has been called to such frequent partings from God's people as I have; I am going now the thirteentth time over the water; yes, I find what is said of St. Paul is true, he could bear a whipping, not a weeping; What mean you, says he, to weep, and break my heart; he never said, whip me and break my back, no, no. All get to one place: what a blessed state! to see one's spiritual father, to see one's spiritual children, and hear them say, Such and such a time God begat me to himself by your ministry! what a blessing will it be to hear them say, Blessed be God, next to the Spirit, I owe my coming here to that servant of thine! and with what ravishment will the minister say, Behold me, and the children thou hast given me! with what holy triumph will they all then cast their crowns at the foot of the Lamb! with what joy will they cry, grace, grace, when the top-stone is brought forth, and how will they then try who shall praise redeeming love and rich free-grace in the highest strain! The difference here is, you know, that we sing in parts, some sing treble, some tenor, and some bass; what then? each part helps the other; were all to sing alike, the harmony would not be complete; however shocking it is in this world, all the differences that have been among the people of God, will only make us sing, and unite us the better in a future state.

Well, my dear hearers, by this time, then, I hope you have begun to ask, To what place am I going? Suppose now you reason thus; I have heard to-night that all unregenerate persons go to hell, and dwell among the damned; I have heard that all that are born again of God, and all that believe in Jesus Christ, whether Jew or Gentile, whether bond or free, all go to dwell with God, with angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect; I have heard the minister say, though he seems sometimes to ramble in his discourse, that we all go to one place, that is, the

grave: I am hastening there, autumn is coming on, the fall of the leaf is approaching, a blast, occasioned by the sudden change of weather, or a surfeit, by feasting too luxuriantly on the fruits of God's bounty; another illness may take me to my long home. I hear of such a one's dying, and of such a one, perhaps in an apoplectic, perhaps in a paralytic fit: I am lusty and strong, I am glorying in my strength, but who knows but that may be only making me food for a fever? one would stand it better that was more emaciated than I am. If I should be taken this night, am I going the way to hell, or the way to heaven? Adrian, the emperor, cried out upon a time, My trembling, dear, departing soul, whither art thou going?" These were his words. Won't you hear an emperor preach, preach on his dying bed, when the silver cords of life are loosed? Conscience, conscience, conscience, thou candle of the Lord, may he help thee to light a poor sinner into a knowledge of himself. I charge thee in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the name of that Saviour, in whose name and by whose power, I trust, I now preach; O conscience! thou faithful monitor, let every one hear their own. Come, if conscience were to speak, what would it say? Why, that if you be not acquainted with yourself and Christ, you are lost for ever. The Americans are the most hospitable people under heaven, they love to entertain strangers, who may be hereby kindly provided for without going to an inn: I always endeavoured to drop a word for Christ when I came to their houses. I remember Mr. Seeward, and some other good friends, were with me; when I first got into the house, I began to talk of Christ; the master of it said, Sir, I believe you are right; I cannot open a leaf in my Bible, but I find I am no Christian: would to God all here minded the same leaf! May be, many here say, Sir, I scorn your words; Well, do not I, does not God, tell you that won't do? You are a moral man, but do not love God; you do not get drunk, because it will make your head ache; you do not commit fornication and adultery, which is common among the great, and therefore they think God will not punish them for it; perhaps you are not a fornicator, lest you should stand in a sheet, though we have no discipline among us now; you do not do these things, for fear of maintaining the bastard, or being taken up; but does your obedience proceed from love to God, to Christ? if not, may God convince you of your miserable state before you go hence!

But, blessed be God, there are numbers of dear souls here, that I hope ere long to live in one place and to eternal ages with. All hail, my fellow Christians; all hail, my dear brethren and friends; all hail, ye that are children of one parent, born of one Spirit, and bring forth the fruits of the Holy Ghost in your conversation; yet a little while, and we must part; whether I die, or you die, blessed be God, one place, shall ere long hold us; in yonder blessed world we shall ere long meet and praise free grace; my brethren, we shall be then for ever with the Lord, for ever one with Christ: and if this be the case, let us comfort

one another with these things; and if we be all going to one place, God, of his infinite mercy, keep us from falling out by the way. Do not say, I am of the Foundery; do not say, I am of the Tabernacle; do not spend your time in talking against John Wesley and George Whitefield; do not say, you go to the Tabernacle, I will go to the chapel; no, do not speak of Paul and Cephas: God unite us more and more to Jesus Christ; and if you be going to heaven, God help you to travel a little faster than we do. My brethren, let us press forward toward the mark of the prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus. 0 that the God of love may fill us with such peace and such joy, that every storm, every trial, every temptation we meet with, may be over-ruled to good for us; all our afflictions, all our temptations, are to make heaven more desirable, and earth more loathsome.

If this be not the case with some of you, God convert you to-night. Help me, my dear Tabernacle and London hearers, help me, help me, help me for Jesus Christ's sake. You were once going to hell yourselves, for God's sake endeavour to stop those that are going there: pray for your unconverted friends. Young people, young people, that are going to hell giddily, may God stop you this night: were I to talk to you seriously, you would say as a young gentleman did, when I desired he would not swear; he turned to me and said, Doctor, (I was no more a doctor then than now, and but young too,) it is very hard you will not let a man go to hell his own way: if any of you be of this stamp, God grant he may not let you go to hell your own way, but go to heaven in God's way, in Christ's way. I am sure you are not happy; the devil never had a happy child in the world: O that God may turn your feet into the way of peace to-night: O that it may be with you as with a young man one night formerly: I remember I had about two hundred notes then; I came into Moorfields this morning at six o'clock, says he, to to meet my sweetheart, blessed be God, I met with Jesus Christ, my sweet-heart: would to God you may do so, young men, to-night! when you have gone on to that place, O that it may be with you as it was with good Mr. Crane, who is appointed steward of the Orphan-house; he went once to see a play at Drury-lane, but that being full, he went to Covent-Garden, and that was so full he could not put his head in; well, says he, (he told it me himself, and he is an Israelite indeed, one of the most honest men, perhaps, in the world,) I will go and hear Dr. Whitefield; there God reached his heart, and now he shines. I had letters yesterday or the day before from Georgia, that made my heart leap for joy; honest Mr. Wright, that ingenious, indefatigable man, and Mr. Crane, have gone on so well, and have managed the Orphan-house so well, that all letters from all parts give me a pleasure: would to God, one says, you could send ten thousand such people as Mr. Wright and Mr. Crane; would to God you could send a thousand such over, and an hundred preachers to preach Christ among us. O that curiosity

may be over-ruled for good to some of you to-night: but I forgot myself, and can you blame me if I should detain you a little? though I am really afraid of unfitting myself for my voyage, if I tire myself before I go: to-morrow I am to go to sea, where I am to sleep. I intend, God willing, to have a sacrament here to-morrow, and another next Sabbath-day morning. I intend, God willing, to give you a parting word on Sunday evening, and give you notice of taking my last farewell in the week, for I must get a day or two to despatch my private business, and be ready to go where my God calleth me.

I shall, I think, be called to do something which I would, if possible, have avoided, and that is, as this place has been repaired, you see it is fresh done, which is expensive, and I am willing to leave every thing clear before I go, a collection must be made for defraying the charge. The world thinks I am very rich; a man the other day was so persuaded of my riches, that he sent me word, if I did not lay thirty pounds in such a place, I should be killed as sure as I was alive! but, blessed be God, I am alive yet; I do not fear dying suddenly, or being despatched by a poniard or pistol, to make a passage for my soul to flee to God. You may think, perhaps, I get a deal by preaching here; and now I am going away, what do you think my stated allowance is for preaching at the Tabernacle? I have no more from this place than one hundred pounds a year; and I asked but last night how it stood, and, instead of having a single sixpence, I was told there were fifty pounds arrears; well, said I, ungrateful as it is to me, I will make a collection to-night, that all may be left free; and if others are left to make an advantage of it, may God make it a blessing. There are not six people in this place that I have had the value of a guinea of from January to August; nor have I had a guinea from all these ordinances, towards bearing the expenses of my voyage. When I come, my brethren, to heaven, you shall then know with what a spirit. I have served you; you shall then know that all I have done is to build places for others, where I hope God will meet you and your children when I am dead and gone. O that we may meet in one place, when God calls me hence: the Lord quicken you, the Lord strengthen you, the Lord Jesus Christ be with you, and grant that ere long we may be where there shall be no more sorrow, but we shall dwell with God and one another for ever: even so, Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

SERMON LXXIII.

GOD A BELIEVER'S GLORY.

And thy God thy Glory.-Isaiah Ix. 19.

I LATELY had occasion to speak on the verse immediately following that of our text: but when I am reading God's word, I often find it is like being in a tempting garden, when we pluck a little fruit and find it good, we are apt to look after and pluck a little more, only with this difference, the fruit we gather below often hurts the body at the same time that it pleases the appe

tite, but when we walk in God's garden, when we gather fruit of the Redeemer's plants, the more we eat, the more we are delighted, and the freer we are, the more welcome; if any chapter in the Bible deserves this character and description of an evangelical Eden, this does.

It is very remarkable, and I have often told you of it, that all the apostles preach first the law, and then the gospel, which finds man in a state of death, points out to him how he is to get life, and then sweetly conducts him to it. Great and glorious things are spoken of the church of God in this chapter; and it struck me very much this evening ever since I came into the pulpit, that the great God speaks of the church in the singular number; how can that be, when the church is composed of so many millions gathered out of all nations, languages, and tongues? How is it, that God says, thy Maker, and not your Maker, that he speaks of the church as though it consisted only of one individual person? The reason of it is this, and is very obvious, that though the church is composed of many members, they have but one Head, and they are united by the bond of one Spirit, by whom they have the same vital union of the soul, with God? and therefore it teaches Christians not to say to one another, "I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, or Cephas," but to behave and live so, that the world may know that we all belong to one common Christ: God revive, continue, and increase this true christian love among us! Of this church, thus collectively considered, united under one Head, the blessed evangelical prophet thus speaks," Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders, but thou shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates, (where the magistrates assemble, and the people go in and out,) praise." From this text, a great many good and great men have gathered what they call the Millennium, that Jesus Christ is to come and reign a thousand years on earth; but I must acknowledge that I have always rejected a great many good men's positive opinion about the season when this state commences, and I would warn you all against fixing any time; for what signifies whether Christ comes to reign a thousand years, or when he comes, since you and I are to die very soon? and therefore instead of puzzling our heads about it, God grant we may live so that we may reign with him for ever; and it seems to me, that whatsoever is said of this state on earth, that the millennium is to be understood in a spiritual sense, as an emblem of a glorious, eternal, beatific state in the kingdom of heaven. "The sun shall no more be thy light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee, but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light:" and in order to prepare us for that light, and shew us the nature of it, while we speak of it, may it come with light and power to our souls! He adds in our text, " And thy God shall be thy glory;" this is spoken to all believers in general, but it is spoken to all fearful believers in particular; and I do not know that I can possibly close my poor, feeble ministration among you here, better than