ry or faint in your minds; and study to know him in the power of his resurrection, and in the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death. Exercise yourselves daily in mortifying the deeds of the body; in crucifying the flesh, with its affections and Justs; and in opposing your inclinations as often as they oppose your duty. Thus labouring to be examples of patience, meekness, contentment, and to come behind in no good thing to which you are called; go on in the strength of the Lord, making mention of his righteousness, even of his only: "And may the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work, to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."

Having thus exhorted you to continue your progress in the good ways of God, let me now exhort

you, in the

II. place, To rejoice as you go on. After all the comfortable topics that have been suggested to your meditation in the solemn service in which we have been engaged, it should be almost unnecessary to recall to your minds any of those copious sources of joy which belong to the redeemed of the Lord. Yet lest there should be some mind so dark, some apprehension so slow, as to be at a loss in discovering its own comforts; I will mention in their order, a few of those that are most obvious and solid, and best fitted to fill the mind with peace and joy in believing. In the

1st place, then, If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious, (and to those only who have had this experience do I speak) then rejoice that ye have passed from death to life, and that there is now no condemnation for

them who are in Christ Jesus. Rejoice in that distinguishing grace which hath plucked you as brands from the burning, which hath brought up your soul from the grave, which hath kept you alive, that ye should not go down into the pit. Look around among your fellowcreatures, and behold the multitudes who walk in the broad way that leadeth to destruction, who go on headstrong and blindfold in the paths of folly, until their eyes are opened in the everlasting burnings. Then consider your own better choice and safer condition, and rejoice in that mercy which found you, when you were wandering from peace and happiness, which arrested you in your mad career, and brought you back to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. In the

2d place, Rejoice that you have not only passed from death to life, but are also advanced to the dearest and most intimate relation to all the Persons of the ever blessed Godhead. By your new birth, ye are become the sons of God, members of Christ, and temples for the Holy Ghost. And what an overflowing source of consolation is this? Can there be any cause of fear or disquietude to those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High, and abide under the shadow of the Almighty? Can they want any good thing, of whom God hath taken the charge as his peculiar property, and for whom ́he provides as for his own? Is not his wisdom sufficient to guide you through all the perplexing paths of life? Is not his power sufficient to support you under every danger and difficulty? Is not his goodness sufficient to bestow on you all things richly to enjoy? In what shape, then, can any real evil assail you; or what imperfection can there be in your prospects of felicity? In the

3d place, Rejoice that God hath made with you an everlasting covenant, well ordered in all things and

sure. He hath not only assured you, in general, of his good will and gracious purposes on your behalf; but hath also given you a variety of exceeding great and precious promises, so that there can be no possible exigence in your situation, in which you may not find a suitable and abundant relief, in these gracious assurances of a faithful God.

Were I to descend to particulars, it would be necessary for me to repeat the greater part of this sacred book, every page of which contains some reviving declaration of what God hath already done, or promised to do for his people. And the words of God are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. He is the rock, his work is perfect, and all his ways are judgment; a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he." Have not those, then, good cause to rejoice, who have such an ample charter put into their hands by the King of kings, a charter investing them with a full and unalterable right to every necessary blessing, even to all the unsearchable riches of Christ. In the

4th place, Rejoice that the life which is begun in you is an immortal principle that can never be extinguished. Ye are born again by the Spirit of God; and ye are kept by his mighty power, through faith unto salvation. United as you are to Christ, by a living faith, ye can never perish. His charge to preserve you, is as strict and binding as his charge to redeem and renew you at first. Ye were given unto him from eternity by his heavenly Father, and will he not keep those whom the Father hath committed to him? Hear his own words: "All that the Father hath given me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in nowise cast out." Christ formed in the heart of a true believer, resembles, in

some measure, Christ incarnate in the world. The divine nature may be obscured for a season; it may, and probably will, have its season of humiliation: but though it may seem to die, yet it shall have its resurrection likewise, and afterwards its ascension into glory. This it was that enabled Paul to say, "I therefore run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air." Perseverance is not only the duty, but the privilege also of all who set themselves in good earnest to travel for heaven. And though the law of God obliges them, and their new nature inclines them, to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, yet they have a far better security for their success than any efforts of their own. Omnipotence is their guardian; "the eternal God is their refuge, and underneath them his everlasting arms."

My brethren, time and strength would fail me, were I to attempt enumerating all the sources of joy which belong to the redeemed of the Lord. I trust, that in your own frequent meditation you revolve them, and that in your frequent addresses to the throne of grace, you commemorate them with thankful hearts before the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you not then express the joy and gratitude of your souls, for the benefit of your Redeemer's example, for the promised aids of his Spirit, for the assurance of his intercession, for the gracious appointment of him as the Judge of the world, for the access you now have by him to the throne of grace, for the means of communion with the Father of your spirits, and the pleasing fellowship of those who are travelling with you in the same road to the Zion above. Leaving these, then, to be revolved in your own minds, I will now only exhort you, in the

5th and last place, To rejoice in the hope of the glory

of God. "Fear not, little flock," said the blessed Jesus, "for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Ere long your trials and sufferings shall come to an end, and your light afflictions, which are but for a moment, shall be followed by an exceeding great and eternal weight of glory. At present we come from scenes of anxiety and vexation to keep our solemn feasts; and our wedding garments are stained with the pollution, or torn with the briars through which we travel. Even amidst our most sublime delights, we are conscious of a certain blank in our feelings, which reminds us that this is not our rest; but in the presence of God there is fulness of joy, and at his right hand are pleasures for evermore. The poor afflicted broken spirit, which now breathes in trouble as in its daily air, and scarcely knows any other rule for computing the periods of time, than by the revolutions of sorrows and disappoint ments, shall then be tuned to the high praises of God; and its love to him, who is the Lord of love, shall feel no bounds, and fear no end. O how the unveiled glory of God will then brighten many a face which is now darkened with grief, and stained with tears, and daily wears the hue of melancholy!-There is not a sorrow. ful countenance in all the courts of Zion's King; their doubts and fears have dropt off with the veil of mortality, and sorrow and sighing have fled far away. Lift up your heads, then, ye that travel towards the heavenly Zion, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. It is not more certain that the sun doth shine in the firmament, than that ye shall live for ever in the heavenly Jerusalem, and join in the innumerable company about the throne, in the everlasting praise of your God and Redeemer. Then shall you understand the happiness of believers, and know better than I can tell you, what