I shall now conclude, addressing myself in a few words, first to saint, and next to sinners.

I. To you that are saints, I say,

FIRST: Strive to obtain and keep up actual communica and fellowship with Jesus Christ; that is, to be still deriving fresh supplies of grace, from the fountain thereof in him by faith, and making suitable returns of them in the exercise of grace and holy obedience. Beware of estrangement betwixt Christ and your souls. If it have got in already, (which seems to be the case of many in this day,) endeavour to get it removed. There are multitudes in the world, that slight Christ, though ye should not slight him: many have turned their backs on him, that sometimes looked fair for heaven. The warm sun of outward peace and prosperity, has caused some to cast their cloak of religion from them, who held it fast when the wind of trouble was blowing upon them: and "will ye also go away?" John vi. 67. The basest ingratitude is stamped on your slighting of communion with Christ, Jer. ii. 31, "Have I been a wilderness unto Israel; a land of darkness? Wherefore say my people, We are lords, we will come no more unto thee?" Oh! beloved, Is this your kindness to your friend? It is unbecoming any wife to slight converse with her husband, but her especially who was taken from a prison or a dunghill, as ye were, by our Lord! But remember, I pray you, this is a very ill-chosen time to live at a distance from God:-it is a time in which divine providence frowns upon the land we live in: the clouds of wrath are gathering, and are thick above our heads. It is not a time for you to be out of your chambers, Isa. xxvi. 20. They that now are walking most closely with God, may have enough ado to stand when the trial comes; how hard will it be for others, then, who are like to be surprised with troubles, when guilt is lying on their consciences unremoved. To be awakened out of a sound sleep, and cast into a raging sea, as Jonah was, will be a fearful trial. To feel trouble before we see it coming, to be past hope before we have any fear, is a very sad case. Wherefore, break down your idols of jealousy, mortify these lusts, these irregular appetites and desires, that have stolen away your hearts, and left you, like Samson, without his hair, and say, "I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me, than now," Hos. ii. 7.

Secondly, Walk as becomes those that are united to Christ. Evidence your union with him, by "walking as he also walked," 1 John ii. 6. If ye be brought from under the power of darkness, let your light shine before men. "Shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life," as the lanthorn holds

the candle, which being in it, shines through it, Philip. ii. 15, 16. Now that ye profess Christ to be in you, let his image shine forth in your conversation, and remember the business of your lives is to prove by practical arguments what ye profess.

1. Ye know the character of a wife, "She that is married, careth how she may please her husband." Go you and do likewise: "Walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing," Col. i. 10. This is the great business of life; you must please him, though it should displease all the world. What he hates must be hateful to you, because he hates it. Whatever lusts come in suit of your hearts, deny them, seeing "the grace of God has appeared teaching so to do;" and you are joined to the Lord. him be a covering to your eyes: for you have not your choice to make, it is made already; and you must not dishonour your Head. A man takes care of his feet, for that, if he catch cold there, it flies up to his head. "Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid," says the apostle, 1 Cor. vi. 15. Wilt thou take that heart of thine, which is Christ's dwelling-place, and lodge his enemies there? Wilt thou take that body which is his temple, and defile it by using the members thereof as the instruments of sin ?

2. Be careful to bring forth fruit, and much fruit. The branch well laden with fruit, is the glory of the vine, and of the husbandman too, John xv. 8, "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples." A barren tree stands safer in a wood, than in an orchard. And branches in Christ that bring not forth fruit, will be taken away and cast into the fire.

3. Be heavenly minded, and maintain a holy contempt of the world. Ye are united to Christ, he is your Head and Husband, and is in heaven; therefore your hearts should be there also, Col. iii. 1, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God." Let the serpent's seed go on their belly, and eat the dust of this earth: but let the members of Christ be ashamed to bow down and feed with them.

4. Live and act dependently; depending by faith on Jesus Christ. That which grows on its own root, is a tree, not a branch: It is of the nature of a branch, to depend on the stock for all, and to derive all its sap from thence. Depend on him for life, light, strength, and all spiritual benefits, Gal. ii. 20, "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God."

For this cause, in the mystical union, strength is united to weakness, life to death, and heaven to earth: that weakness, death, and earth may mount up on borrowed wings. Depend on him for temporal benefits also, Matth. vi. 2, "Give us this day our daily bread." If we have trusted him with our eternal concerns, let us be ashamed to distrust him in the matter of our provision in the world.

Lastly, Be of a meek disposition, and an uniting temper with the fellow-members of Christ's body, as being united to the meek Jesus, the blessed centre of union. There is a prophecy to the purpose, concerning the kingdom of Christ, Isa. xi. 6, "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb; and the leopard shall lie down with the kid." It is an illusion to the beasts in Noah's ark. The beasts of prey, that were wont to kill and devour others, when once they came into the ark, laid down in peace with them: the lamb was in no hazard by the wolf there, nor the kid by the leopard. There was a beautiful accomplishment of it in the primitive church, Acts iv. 32, "And the multitude of them that believed, were of one heart and of one soul." And this prevails in all the members of Christ, according to the measure of the grace of God in them. Man is born naked; he comes naked into this world, as if God designed him for the picture of peace: and surely when he is born again, he comes not into the new world of grace, with claws to tear, a sword to wound, and a fire in his hand to burn up his fellow-members in Christ, because they cannot see with his light. Oh! it is sad to see Christ's lilies as thorns in one another's sides; Christ's lambs devouring one another like lions; and God's diamonds cutting one another: yet it must be remembered, that sin is no proper cement for the members of Christ, though Herod and Pontius Pilate may be made friends that way. The Apostle's rule is plain, Heb. xii. 14, Follow peace with all men, and holiness.' To follow peace no further than our humour, credit, and such like things, will allow us, is too short: to pursue it further than holiness, that is, conformity to the divine will allows us, is too far. Peace is precious, yet it may be bought too dear: wherefore we must rather want it, than chase it at the expense of truth or holiness. But otherwise it cannot be over-dear bought; and it will always be precious in the eyes of the sons of peace.

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II. And now, sinners, what shall I say to you ? I have given you some view of the privileges of those in the state of grace: ye have seen them afar off. But, alas! they are not yours, because ye are not Christ's. The sinfulness of an unregenerate state is yours; and the misery of it is yours also: but,

ye have neither part nor lot in this matter. The guilt of all your sins lies upon you: ye have no part in the righteousness of Christ. There is no peace to you, no peace with God, no true peace of conscience; for ye have no saving interest in the great Peace-maker. Ye are none of God's family: the adoption we spoke of belongs not to you. Ye have no part in the Spirit of sanctification; and, in one word, ye have no inheritance among them that are sanctified. All I can say to you in this matter, is, that the case is not desperate, they may yet be yours, Rev. iii. 20," Behold I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Heaven is proposing an union with earth still! the potter is making suit to his own clay, and the gates of the city of refuge are not yet closed. O! that we could compel you to come in.

Thus far of the State of Grace.

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STATE IV.

NAMELY,

THE NATURAL STATE: OR, STATE OF CONSUMMATE HAPPINESS OR MISERY.

HEAD I.

OF DEATH.

For I know that thou wilt bring me to Death, and to the House appointed for all living.-Job xxx. 23.

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I COME now to discourse of man's eternal state, into which he enters by death. Of this entrance Job takes a solemn, serious view, in the words of the text, which contain a general truth, and a particular application of it. The general truth is supposed; namely, that all men must, by death, remove out of this world; they must die. But, whither must they go? They must go to the house appointed for all living;' to the grave, that darksome, gloomy, solitary house, in the land of forgetfulness. Wheresoever the body is laid up, till the resurrection; thither, as to a dwelling house, death brings us home. While we are in the body, we are but in a lodging house; in an inn, on our way homeward. When we come to our grave, we come to our home, our long home, Eccles. xii. 5. All living must be inhabitants of this house, good and bad, old and young. Man's life is a stream running into death's devouring deeps. They who now live in palaces, must quit them, and go home to this house; and they who have no where to lay their heads, shall thus have a house at length. It is appointed for all, by him, whose counsel shall stand. This appointment cannot be shifted; it is a law which mortals cannot transgress. Job's application of this general truth to himself, is expressed in these words, 'I know that thou wilt bring me to death,' &c. He knew that he behooved to meet with death; that his soul and body behooved to part; that God, who had set the tryst, would certainly see it kept. Sometimes Job was inviting death to come to him, and carry him home to its house; yea, he was in hazard of running to it before the time, Job vii. 15, My soul