in their way, they blefs him. They admire, adore, and praife him. They call upon all the powers of their fouls to bless him. They proclaim his goodness, and that he is worthy to receive the ascription of power, and riches, and wifdom, and strength, and honour, and glory and bleffing. In proportion to their attainments in this delightful exercise of worship, love, and gratitude, they enjoy a heaven upon earth; and to stand before him continually to behold his glory, to live under the unclouded beams of his favour, and to be able to blefs and praise him as they ought, without wearinefs, abatement, interruption, or end, is what they mean, when they speak of the heaven they hope for hereafter. Such is the bleffednefs of those who have already died in the Lord. They fee his face, they drink of the rivers of pleafure, which are at his right hand, they cast down their crowns before him, and fay, Thou art worthy-Let us not be flothful *, but followers af them, who through faith and patience, have finished their course, and are entered into the joy of their Lord.

*Heb. vi. 12.

Of

. Of all this glory and honour, the fcripture declares the Lamb that was flain to be worthy. Wisdom, riches, and strength, are his. His power is infinite, his authority fupreme. He is the author and giver of all good. He has life in himself, and he is the life of all that live. The Lord and head of the church, and of the universe. Can language express, or can heart conceive, a higher afcription and acknowledgment than this? Can all this be due to a creature, to one of a derived and dependant character? Then, furely, the scripture would have a direct tendency to promote idolatry. Far be the thought from us! The scripture teaches us the knowledge of the true God, and the worship due to him. Therefore, MESSIAH, the Lamb that was flain, is the true God, the proper and immediate object of the worship of angels, and of men.

Let us, therefore, take up a lamentation for those, who flight the glorious Redeemer, and refufe him the honour due to his name. Their mistake fhould excite, not our anger or fcorn, but our pity and prayers. there any fuch amongst us? Alas, my fellow-finners, you know not what you do! Ff3 Alas,

Are

Alas, you know him not, nor do you know yourfelves. I am well aware that a thousand arguments of mine will not perfuade you. But I can fimply tell you, what would foon make you, at leaft, defirous, of adopting our fentiments upon this fubject. If he, who has that power over the heart which I have been fpeaking of, was pleased to give you, this moment, a fenfe of the holiness and authority of God, and of your conduct towards him, as his creatures; your strongest objections to the high honours we attribute to the Saviour, would, this moment, fall to the ground. And you would be immediately convinced, that either Jefus Christ is the true God and eternal life, or that you muft perish. You would no longer expect mercy, but in a way perfectly confonant with the righteoufnefs and truth of God, declared in his word, and with the honour and purity of his moral government. This would lead you to perceive the neceffity of an atonement, and the infufficiency of any atonement, but that, which, the Lamb of God has made by the facrifice of himself *, and that the efficacy even of his mediation depends

Heb. ix. 26.

upon

upon his divine character. The fcriptural doctrines, of the depravity of man, the malignity of fin, the eternal power and Godhead of the Saviour, the neceffity and efficacy of his mediation, and the inevitable, extreme, and endless mifery, of those who finally reject him, are fo closely connected, that if the first be rightly understood, it will open the mind to the reception of the reft. But till the first be known and felt, the importance and certainty of the others will be fufpected, if not openly denied.

Though the doctrines I have enumerated, are, in these sceptical days, too generally difputed and contradicted, I am fully confident, that it is impoffible to demonstrate them to be falfe. Upon the lowest fuppofition, therefore, they poffibly may be true; and the confequences, depending upon them, if they fhould be found true at laft, are so vaftly momentous, that even the peradventure, the poffibility of their truth, render them deferving of your moft ferious confideration. Trifle with yourselves no longer. If they be truths, they are the truths of God. Upon the fame authority ftands the truth of that gracious promise, that he will give his holy

Ff4

Spirit

con

Spirit to them that ask him. Let me entreat you to make the experiment. This is the proper point to begin with. Instead of indulging reafonings and fpeculations, humble yourselves before the Lord, and pray for the light and influence, which, he has faid, he will afford to them who are willing to be taught. Read the fcripture with deliberation, and do not labour to fortify yourfelves against conviction. Break off from thofe practices, which your own fciences admonish you, cannot be pleafing, to him, who, is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. Then shall you know, if you will fincerely follow on, to know the Lord *. But if not, if you will, in a spirit of levity, prefume to decide upon points, which you will not allow yourselves feriously to examine, fhould you, at laft, perish in your obstinacy and unbelief, your ruin will be of yourfelves, You have been faithfully warned, and we fhall be clear of your blood,