on a contrary principle, but cuts him short in this manner: Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid! It was enough for him that God hath said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. This, as if he should say, is the FACT: He HATH mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he HARDENETH. He knew what would be the heart-risings of the Infidel-Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? for who hath resisted his will? But does he attempt to answer this objection? No; he repels it as Job did: He that reproveth God, let him answer itNay but, Oman, who art thou that REPLIEST AGAINST GOD? SHALL THE THING FORMED SAY TO HIM THAT FORMED IT, WHY HAST THOU MADE ME THUS ?

Let the Querist consider whether his objections be not of the same family as those which were made to the Apostle, and whether they do not admit of the same answer. Is it not fact, that though sinners" never had a disposition to love and serve God, and no circumstance in which they can be placed will produce it;" yet they are accountable creatures and are invariably treated as such in the scriptures? God requires them to love and serve him just as much as if they were of opposite dispositions, and "finds fault" with the contrary. Instead of allowing for the want of disposition, he constantly charges it as the very thing that provokes his displeasure. Hundreds of proofs might be produced; but I will only refer you to two or three.* It is upon these FACTS that we rest our persuasion; and not upon a supposed perfect comprehension of the divine government, nor yet upon the ground of its " having the fewest difficulties." We say, God actually treats the want of disposition not as an excuse, but as a sin; and we take it for granted that what God does is right, whether we can comprehend it or not. Howbeit, in this case, it happens that with the testimonies of God accord those of conscience and common sense. Every man's conscience "finds fault" with him for the evils which he commits willingly, or of choice; and, instead of making any allowance for previous aversion, nothing more is necessary to rivet the charge. And with respect to the common sense of mankind in their treatment one of another, what judge, or what

* Jer. vi. 15-19. Matt. xii. 34-37. John viii. 43–47.

jury ever took into consideration the previous aversion of a traitor or a murderer, with a view to the diminishing of his guilt? On the contrary, the tracing of any thing to that origin rivets the charge, and terminates the inquiry. With the united testimony therefore of God, conscience, and common sense on our side, we make light of objections which as to their principle, were repelled by an apostle, and which are retained only in the school of metaphysical infidelity.

A MEDITATION

ON THE

NATURE AND PROGRESSIVENESS OF THE HEAVENLY GLORY.

ONE of the leading characteristics by which the religion of the Bible is distinguished from those systems of philosophy and morality which many would impose upon us in its place, is, that every thing pertaining to it bears a relation to eternity. The object of all other systems is, at best, to form the manners; but this rectifies the heart. They aspire only to fit men for this world; but this while it imparts those dispositions which tend more than any thing to promote peace, order, and happiness in society, fixes the affections supremely on God and things above.

That such should be the exclusive property of revealed religion is not surprising, since it is this only that assures us of the existence of an eternal hereafter. If we relinquish this, all beyond the grave is uncertainty, and our attention will of course be confined to the transitory concerns of a few revolving suns. The conclusion of those who doubt the resurrection, ever has been, and will be, Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. But believing in the scriptures of truth, immortality opens to our view. This is the seed-time, and eternity the harvest. All that is known of God and done for him in this life, is preparatory to the joy that is set before us.

To this affecting theme, fellow-christians, let us bend our attention. Would we be heavenly-minded; we must think of what heaven is. Would we set our affections on things above; we must know them, converse with them, and perceive their superior

value to things on the earth. It is true, when all is done, it is but little we can comprehend. It is a weight of glory which, if let down upon our minds in our present feeble state, would overset them. It did not appear even to an inspired apostle while upon earth, what believers "would be :" but if we can only obtain a few ideas of it, a glimpse of glory through the breakings of interposing clouds, it will more than repay us for the utmost attention. What pains do men take by artificial mediums to descry the heav enly bodies. Every discovery, whether real or imaginary, is to them a source of rapture and delight. Yet they expect no possession in these supposed worlds of wonder. It is not the object which they discover, but the act of discovery, which, by giving birth to a momentary fame, is their reward. And shall we be indifferent towards those blessed realities, in which every thing that we discover is our own, and our own for ever?

Let us first inquire into the NATURE of that blessedness which God hath prepared for them that love him, and then consider its PROGRESSIVE character.

I have no desire to indulge in speculations concerning the place; nor to enter on any curious inquiries how spirits while separate from their bodies can receive or communicate ideas; nor to throw out conjectures upon any thing which God hath not been pleased to reveal. My object is, as far as may be, to collect the scriptural account of things, or to ascertain wherein consists that fulness of joy which is at God's right hand, and which will continue to flow, as in rivers of pleasure, for evermore.

The easiest and most satisfactory medium of conception which we have of these things appears, to me, to be furnished by our own present experience. The scriptures abundantly teach us, that the blessedness of heaven is the same for substance as that which we now partake of by faith. This is clearly intimated in those passages in which grace is represented as the earnest and foretaste of glory. Our Saviour is said to have received power to give eternat life to as many as were given him. And THIS, he adds, IS LIFE ETERNAL, to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom -thou hast sent. To whomsoever therefore Christ gives this knowledge, he gives the earnest of the promised possession, and which, as

The prom

to the nature of it, is the same as the possession itself. ises to them that overcome, in the second and third chapters of the Revelation of John, agree with what is actually experienced in measure in the present world, though expressed in highly figurative language; as the "eating of the tree of life," "partaking of hidden manna," a being “clothed in white raiment,” and “made pillars in the temple of God." Were we to read that sublime passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews, without observing its introduction, we should undoubtedly consider it as a description of the heavenly state, and of that only" Mount Sion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, the innumerable company of angels, the general assembly and church of the first-born who are written in heaven, God the judge of all, the spirits of just men made perfect, Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel!" What can this mean but the very heaven of heavens? Yet the apostle tells the Hebrews that they were already "COME TO" this celestial city, and to all its honours and privileges. On what principle can this be understood but this, that the church below and the church above are one; "the whole family of heaven and earth;" and he that cometh to one branch or part of it, cometh in effect to the whole.

If then we can review the sources of our best and purest joys in this world, or observe those of the saints whose history is recorded in scripture, and only add perfection to them, we have in substance the scriptural idea of heavenly glory. The nature of Canaan's goodly fruits was clearly ascertained by the clusters that were carried into the wilderness.

We have seen already that the grand source of spiritual enjoy ment in the present life is the knowledge of the only true God,. and of Jesus Christ whom he hath sent." And what is this but an

epitome of the gospel, and the faith of it?

To have a just sense of

the glory of the Lawgiver and of the Saviour, and of the harmony. between them in the salvation of lost sinners; to see every divine perfection as it is manifested in the person and work of Christ; in a word, believingly to contemplate God in a Mediator., . . . . . iş eternal life! This was the water which Christ imparted, and

... is.