jewel, of which the price is eternity: a chain of graces, which consummate our sanctification: a series of virtuous actions, which shall remain for ever engraven on the columns of the New Jerusalem admired and extolled by all its bright inhabitants. Yes: there is not a day, an hour, nor a moment, which, turned to advantage, may not merit for us eternal blessings.

By the same meditation on death, as the beginning of a new state of existence, science, superiority of genius, extensive erudition, commanding eloquence, qualities which otherwise puff men up with vain self-complacence, may be rendered truly great and estimable, by being made the instruments of our eternal salvation. When we see men bewildering themselves in foolish researches ; pretending to determine the laws of nature, and reduce it to a certain system without ascending to its Author; disseminating destructive notions of a liberty and independence, which in this world are absolutely un attainable; decorating vice with ornaments of virtue; lending to error all the artifices of style, and subtleness of reasoning: then we know, that death will dissipate their delusive dreams, and that in that day all their thoughts shall perish. (Ps. cxlv.) But, when men consecrate their abi→ lities, their studies and watchings to the glory of their Creator, and exert their talents for the

benefit of their fellow-creatures; when they exhibit the grand spectacle of nature, as a stupendous monument of the power, wisdom and goodness of its Author; when they seek after truth to enlighten virtue, and labour to make men good and happy, rather than to make them false philosophers ;-oh! then their talents are a blessing to human kind; and their endowments death shall not take away, but improve and perfect, by placing them in the full irradiations of eternal wisdom. The truth which they seek after, and which subsists for ever, shall eternally enlighten and eternally bless them. Great God! let the labours of my ministry be directed by these views, and I shall not be before thee, but as the tinkling brass and the sounding cymbal: my discourses will not then have the general lot of the thoughts of men; and my feeble voice, which I dare to raise in thy temple, announcing thy judgments and mercies, will make the starry vaults of the heavenly Jerusalem resound with canticles of jubilation to thy praise.

Forgive me this rapid glance towards myself: I return to what concerns you. Let the poor, the unfortunate, the afflicted, often meditate on death, as the entrance into a different, and, if they please to labour for it, a happier statea state flowing with inexpressible delights.

When languishing in obscurity and gloom, neglected and forgotten by their fellow-men, let the light, which beams forth from beyond the grave, brighten their mean hovel and cheer their souls. When the world is frowning and adverse, and they are trampled down by the proud, the insolent, the extortioner, the cruel oppressor, let them, with the eye of faith, look towards the blessed angels, who will come to welcome their departing spirit, and conduct it to him who will ever smile on it with sweet benignity. When their aching heart and wearied head are sinking under the weight of woes and pains, let religion support them on its consoling bosom; let them hold fast to their hopes in Christ Jesus, and be strengthened by the power of his might.

God, who calls all men to his eternal inheritance, effects the salvation of his elect by various means. Creator of the rich and of the poor, his will is to be honoured by the charity of the one and the patience of the other. He leaves some in indigence, that they may sanctify their souls by calm resignation: he enriches others with a profusion of his temporal blessings, that, in their abundance, the poor may find every necessary supply. Thus the bosom of Abraham shall be opened to Lazarus, who receives evil things in this life, and to the rich man, who pours oil into his sores, and dries up his tears.

Blessed, then, are the dead who die in the Lord, they rest from their labours, and their works follow them. (Rev. xiv. 13.) They die without surprise, because the thought of death has accompanied them through every walk of life. They die without fear, because the Lord is their strength. They die without regret, quitting without pain what they possessed without attachment. Though death arrest them in their mid-career, their peace is not disturbed. They know that the years taken from their life here, are added to their happiness. The sooner they die, the sooner are they removed from illusions, deceptions, errors, temptations, seductions and perils. No matter how short our time, if the work of grace be but completed. Oh! then, may the remembrance of death attach our affections to the good things of eternity, and may the death of all those who now listen to me, be a passage from time to a blessed immortality.

SERMON LIII.

TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER

PENTECOST.

ON THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN.

In all patience and long-suffering with joy, giving thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light.-Coloss. i. 11.

OUR blessed Redeemer, after a life of patience and much suffering, having accomplished the object of his ministry, having atoned for the sins of men, by shedding his blood, and instructed them in that wisdom, which will conduct them along the paths of peace, ascended to heaven in the sight of his disciples; and, amidst the acclamations of the celestial spirits, took possession of a kingdom, to which he was entitled by his birth, and which he had merited by his virtues. But was it for himself only that he obtained that kingdom? No, my beloved friends; let our hearts exult in the Lord, and overflow with gratitude; the inheritance is