his ears that word of the Lord to the children of Israel, by his servant the Prophet Ezekiel, and tell him that it is a word of affectionate and serious warning to him, and that as he will never hear another word from me, I hope he will remember and keep it. "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions, so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart, and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel. For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God." (Ezek. xviii.) Only by thus declaring unto you all the counsel of God, can I hope to be pure from your blood, and to deliver my own soul.

III. But it is time we should enquire, in the third place, what have been the effects to yourselves, of my coming amongst you.

As my condition would be miserable beyond description, if it should be found, in the day of the Lord's coming, that I had neglected to speak to you of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, all this time that I have been

among you; so will your condition be miserable, if it shall appear, that although I preached the kingdom of God to you, (and you might have been acquainted with it, whether I preached it or not, from the Scriptures of truth,) you were totally unconcerned about it, and did not seek to enter into it, but preferred the friendship of the world, and the pleasures of sin, to it. I, therefore, ask you, my dearly beloved Parishioners, whether you have received my preaching and teaching, as the Bereans received the preaching and teaching of Paul, with all readiness of mind, searching the Scriptures daily whether these things are so as I have represented them? And finding that the kingdom of God is revealed there; and that it is indeed and in truth God's own promise, and gracious provision for the salvation and deliverance of his believing peeple out of the miseries of this sinful world; have you from your hearts believed and embraced it, as a most merciful dispensation of Almighty God, and an event much to be desired by every child of man?

Do you also endeavour to manifest that you are the children of God, and heirs of the kingdom and glory of his Son, by remembering and keeping the solemn vow and covenant made by C 4

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you with your God at your baptism? by shewing an unfeigned regard for God's word and sacraments, and for all the ordinances of our reformed church? by leading righteous, sober, and godly lives? by watching and waiting daily for the glorious appearing of our Lord in the heavens, observing the signs of the times, and comparing passing events with the announcements of prophecy, and with the events, which Jesus himself said should precede and prepare his people for his coming; namely, wars and commotions, nation rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and on the earth distress of nations with perplexity, men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming on the earth? and by praying daily that his kingdom may come, and that his will may be done on earth, as it is in heaven? If any of you, my beloved brethren, have been brought by my preaching and teaching to believe and expect the kingdom of God; and to walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory, I exceedingly rejoice; and I desire to render thanksgiving and praise to God for it.

The kingdom of God! how vast and grand a subject it is; the tongues of men and of angels cannot worthily express its glory and

excellency. You have heard something of the glory and happiness of that kingdom, which the Son of Man will establish on the earth during the thousand years that Satan shall be shut up, that he may not go about to deceive men to their ruin. Carry yourselves now in imagination beyond that period of a thousand years; and conceive that glory and happiness continued and perpetuated through the countless ages of eternity. Picture to yourselves an eternal country and city, where God will dwell with men; into which all the servants of God will be gathered, and form a holy and happy community, from which all manner of evil will be entirely and for ever shut out; where want, and disease, and pain, and death will no more be known; from whose blessed inhabitants no enjoyment will be withheld of which their new nature is capable; and if one has a greater degree of happiness than another, he that has the least, will have so much, that he will desire no more; where consequently there will be no room for envy, hatred, and malice, or any uncharitableness, or strife, or violence, or blood

shed.

Picture to yourselves this world before sin entered into it; before our first parents by transgression fell; and before the earth brought

forth to them thorns and thistles, and every hurtful and noxious thing.

Picture to yourselves a new world; a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness; where the devil may not come; nor devilish spirits, nor devilish people; but only they that do God's commandments may enter in through the gate into the city. "For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." This is the kingdom of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen nor can see; to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.

As your salvation and complete redemption approaches nearer, let your desires and hopes, my beloved brethren, rise proportionably higher, and let your conduct each day be continually better; so shall you not be ashamed or confounded at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

It is now, my brethren, my duty to address you in a different manner, and to call upon such of you as are not seeking to enter into