parts of the globe. The traveller can be present in a moment in any country he hath ever visited, and recollect the buildings, the inhabitants, their dress, their manners, &c. ; yea more, by virtue of this power of the mind, the good man can ascend to heaven in thought and affection, and unite with saints and angels in the delightful service of praise and adoration. Such foretastes of the happiness of heaven, some eminent Christians are favoured with at times, that they feel a strong desire to depart and to be with Christ. "Why," say they, "are his chariot-wheels so long in coming?"

6. It follows from the preceding observations, that the soul cannot be confined by walls or bars. You may imprison the body, but the soul will enjoy its liberty: it bids defiance to its enemies, and will roam at large. Paul and Silas were confined in prison, with their feet fast in the stocks, but their holy souls ascended to the throne of God in praise and prayer. Place makes no difference with the heaven-born mind.

The mind is its own place;

Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven:
No matter where, if I be still the same."

MILTON.

7. To sum up this part of the subject concerning the nature of the soul, I have only to add, that it is immortal. It shall survive the body, outlive time; yea, live forever. What dignity, what unspeakable value does immortality stamp on the soul of man! and how perfectly agreeable is it to the wishes of all mankind!

I cannot, on this occasion, enter largely on the consideration of this blessed truth; yet beg leave

to suggest, that the unequal distribution of things in this life, renders it necessary that there should be a future state of rewards and punishments. We often observe, that wicked men prosper in the world, have all that heart can wish; their eyes stand out with fatness, they have no bands in their death, they are not in trouble as other men. On the other hand, we repeatedly see men of great piety oppressed with complicated sorrows. This circumstance perplexed the psalmist extremely hence he said, "I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction.”

If the present were our final state, it would be impossible for us to justify the ways of God to man. But the difficulty is removed by the doctrine of a future life, when he will render to every man according to his works: "to them who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, honour, immortality, eternal life; but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; for there is no respect of persons with God.”

But, my brethren, it is to the sacred volume that we are indebted for the clear discovery of this most important truth. Jesus Christ hath brought life and immortality to light by the gospel. He hath taught us in places too numerous

to be quoted, that we are made for immortality, "I give," said he, "to my sheep eternal life," "He that believeth in me hath everlasting life, and shall never come into condemnation." And in Matt. xxv. in which is represented the last judgment, he closes the solemn scene with these striking words: "These (meaning the ungodly) shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal."

"So unmoveable is that truth, delivered by the Spirit of truth, that though the light of nature gave some obscure glimmering, some uncertain hopes of a future state; yet human reason could attain to no clearness, no certainty about it, but that it was Jesus Christ alone who had brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."*"I gratefully receive and rejoice in the light of revelation," says the same writer, "which sets me at rest in many things; the manner whereof my poor reason can by no means make out to me. Omnipotency, I know, can do any thing that contains in it no contradiction; so that I readily believe whatever God has declared, though my reason find difficulties in it which it cannot master."

All that hath been already said concerning the surprising powers of the human soul, tends not only to display its excellence, but to prove that it is a very important object. Our blessed Lord assures us that it is worth more than the whole world. "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or, what shall he give ir exchange for his soul?"

*Locke's Second Reply to the Bishop of Worcester.

In this light it was viewed by the first preachers of the gospel; who counted not their lives dear unto them, so they might finish their course with joy, and the ministry they had received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Paul declared that he could wish himself accursed from Christ, for his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh. Why all this zeal, but because they considered the souls of men of great importance?

One consideration more I mention, as full proof of the value of the souls of men, and that is, the price that was paid for their redemption. "For ye are not redeemed," said Peter, "with silver and gold; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.' Without the shedding of this blood there could be no remission. Its value is infinite, therefore can never be fully described. Angels desire to look into it. Let us, my fellow Christians, dwell in contemplation on this glorious subject, till the happy period shall arrive, when we shall be received, through grace alone, into the presence of God and of the Lamb; and have nothing to do, through vast eternity, but explore and admire the wonders of redeeming love, and unite with ransomed millions, in ascribing blessing and honour to him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his blood.

From the preceding article a very interesting question ariseth, What is the condition of the soul that renders this redemption necessary? I answer, It is a condition of total depravity, guilt, and condemnation.

By total depravity, to which objections are often made, we do not mean, that man has lost any

of the powers of the soul. These remain amidst the ruins of the apostasy. For my own part, I believe, that mankind possess the same natural powers of mind that Adam did before he fell; but that the disposition of the heart is now wholly sinful. "God saw that every imagination of the thoughts of the heart was evil, only evil, and that continually."

This verse is explicit. The depravity is in the heart, and is total: every imagination of the thoughts of the heart is evil, only evil, and that continually.

Isaiah declares that "the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint." Jesus Christ, who could not mistake the human heart, describes it as the fountain of moral evil. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.' And Paul assures us that "the carnal mind is enmity against God:" to which he adds, "for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing;" that is, in him as a natural man, or in his corrupt part.

Sinners are also in a state of guilt and condemnation, as transgressors of the law of God. For it is written, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them." This is the melancholy condition of all men naturally, because "all have sinned, and have come short of the glory of God."

These things being true, we are called to weep over dignity in ruins. "Man being in honour did not abide." He possesses the most surprising powers of mind, yet has a heart disaffected to that God who gave him all!