The third reason I would give is this, because it is what they have so longed for, and endeavoured after in this life. It is for this they have cried, and prayed, and offered strong cries and supplications, with tears, in the days of their flesh. How earnestly doth the apostle pray for sanctifying grace. Philip. iii. 11, 12, 13. See how he presses after holiness; he longed to reach after that perfection of holiness, which he should attain to and enjoy in the resurrection of the dead. It was for this holiness the saints strove while here, and fought with flesh and blood, and a corrupted nature.

You that shall obtain this crown of righteousness, this holiness which the Lord shall give you, you shall then rejoice because possessed of that holiness you strove after here.

The fourth reason is, because it was what they died in the hope of. A Christian waits all his life for greater degrees of perfection, and at the end of his pilgrimage, he lays himself down to sleep in the hopes of it. It must be amazing pleasure such a man shall feel, when he is possessed of what he died in the faith of. The holiness and conformity that shall be put upon our natures, is far beyond our present knowledge or conception. Behold," saith John, now we are the children of God, but we know not what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." And the joy we shall receive from this, is far above our conceptions.

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A fifth reason why a conformity to God in holiness shall so satisfy the saints is, because their eyes then shall be opened to see more of the beauty of holiness than ever they saw here. The vision we have of God in this world, is but imperfect, as was said before; but CONG. MAG. No. 64.

when we shall see holiness in its own glorious colours, then we shall see it worth having and enjoying.

Sixth. Because holiness is a likeness to God and Christ. And this is reason enough why the saints should rejoice in it, for they love to be like their God and their Saviour. Our first parents would be like God in knowledge, but they lost the holiness they had, by aspiring too high; but here you may endeavour to be like God, for God gives us many great and precious promises that we shall avoid all evil, and be made like God and our Saviour. Holiness is one of the robes which God himself wears.

The seventh reason is, because holiness prepares for the enjoyment of God, and holiness fits you for conversing with the saints above. Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Heaven is a place whereinto nothing that defiles shall enter. Unholy souls would find no pleasure there, nor could God take pleasure in them. It is an inheritance in light. There is perfect light; and if there were the least spot of unholiness on any of our natures, it would be easily discerned there. Unholiness would make us altogether unfit for the enjoyment of God. It is the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ, and what he hath done and suffered for us, that gives us a right to all the privileges above; but it is holiness qualifies us for the presence of God.

Our first inference is, that if holiness be a likeness to God, then a saint is no name of reproach, for it is a name like God. Sin is a reproach to any nation, but righteousness is the honour of any people. I hope there is no person here that reproaches his neighbour for being a saint, for it is the name of God's people, His character they bear.

Secondly, If holiness will be 2 A

so great a satisfaction to saints in the world to come, then holiness is worth seeking after in this life. It is worth your fighting for, since it will be your happiness in heaven. Strive to come as near perfection as it is possible in this life, since you have such encouragement that you shall awake with the divine likeness. Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Thirdly, What a blessed satisfaction do sinners lose, when they shall awake in the other world. They cannot, and shall not, be satisfied with holiness. It is what you did not regard in this world, and you shall not have it in the life to come. There shall be no holiness for you hereafter, that did not seek after it here. Remember and tremble, you that love not holiness; you shall be satisfied with something else; you shall be filled with your own ways, and this is terror enough. See how the Prophet Isaiah describes Babylon's destruction, and under this allusion, how God will deal with the wicked at the day of judgment. The sword of the justice of God shall be filled and satisfied with the blood of your souls. Think, then, you that have no holiness here, what a dreadful surprize shall seize you. If saints be raised like God, you shall be raised like your father the devil. Sin and holiness are both unmixed in the world to come; the image of Satan shall be in a perfect measure on their souls. Then those that thought themselves but little sinners in this world, shall have the complete image of the tempter. Satan hath been waiting for thousands of years under the judgment of the great day, and you shall be wakened in hell under eternal damnation.

The next use is of comfort. 1. This doctrine speaks comfort to souls that labour under the

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weakness of their graces, and strength of their sins. Hearken, you that have been long fighting against strong corruption,-here is news of comfort for you. souls shall awake with the likeness of God. Bear up then for a little hands be strong, season, let your let your hearts be valiant for God and holiness. Ye mourning complaining souls, you that feel guilt lying on your consciences,-you' that feel what a terrible thing it is to have sin abiding in your natures,-this doctrine speaks abundant consolation to you;-you shall see God's face in righteousness, you shall be satisfied with his likeness. David had this assurance, and this encouraged him in all his conflicts against sin, though now and then he was foiled. And this is the case of God's saints sometimes, they think of God and are troubled when their consciences are defiled with sin; but when they come to see God's face in righteousness, and to be satisfied with his likeness, then they shall no more be troubled. You shall be all transformed into the image of God; sin shall not have dominion over you any more.

2. Here is comfort against overwhelming sorrows for the death of pious relations. Were they holy in this world, then they are completely holy now; had they the faith of David here on earth, they have the happiness of David now in heaven. See what comfort Paul. gives to mourners, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not as others which have no hope. Here is comfort that might satisfy you; you hope to see the faces of one another again, when you shall see the face of God in righteousness. Why should not we be well pleased when they are satisfied? They have no sin to vex them now, no guilt to break the peace of their consciences, nothing that defiles shall enter,

they have all joy, and are possessed of perfection.

The 3d use is of encouragement, 1st. Against the fears of temporal calamities. Do the clouds gather blackness, and look dark over your heads, are they ready to drop down upon you? Be comforted, the time is coming when you shall be happy with God in the holy place. Jesus is preparing for you every thing there that is delightful. Isaiah liv. 11-14. We shall all be brought into the presence of God our Father, and if you profess to love holiness more than any earthly joy, you should rejoice that this your joy shall be fulfilled. Holiness shall be yours, you may therefore part with all these things without a tear, because you shall see God in his own likeness. This makes you like your God, like the King of heaven, like your great Lord Jesus. 2. Another encouragement may be against the fears of our own death. It is encouraging to think, when we are going to die, that we are going to leave all sin behind us, and to be cloathed with God's image. We are naked in this respect, that we may be cloathed with holiness; and are not we willing to fetch this nap in order to this awaking? We may chide our own souls, that we are so backward to enjoy this holiness; that we should be so well

satisfied to live dishonouring God here, as we shall do while we carry about with us such a body of sin and death. Why are we afraid of lying down in that bed, whence we shall awake in the Divine likeness? It was a tedious delay, the fathers, the patriarchs of old, made in this world, when they lived so many hundred years in this wilderness; and I must say it is a blessing now, under the Gospel, when we have such clear discoveries of the future glory, that our years are shortened to seventy years. We have a shorter lease of our tabernacles now, or rather of our prisons. Had you and I a due sense how much we affront God, surely we should long to depart hence, and be like our Lord Jesus, which is best of all. Look to Christ then, and trust to his righteousness alone, that you may appear before the Father with assurance in the great day of accounts. Never let your Captain go out of your sight. Let us often be casting up our account, and calling over our evidences for heaven, and see whether we are made in some measure conformable to God in holiness here. If we be assured of this, then we should lie down easily on our death-beds, and yield our bodies to rest in the grave, being assured that when we awake, we shall be satisfied with the Divine likeness.

investigations and reflections included in a philosophical inquiry into the various modifications of this subtle principle, is very far from my present intention. Though it might be both a profitable and interesting subject, it would demand from me an effort of recollection, and an extent of specific reference, for which my present leisure is not sufficient. It may not, however, be an useless or an unacceptable occupation, to devote a few "spare minutes" to the consideration of some of the more active and impressive manifestations of this magnificent and appalling element.

That was a glorious moment, when the mandate of the Almighty-Let there be light-instantaneously changed the darkness of space, into an ocean of brightness-when the floods of new-born radiance rushed into the gloomy recesses of the formless earth, and as the voice of God successively called into existence the wonders of creation, gave them the rich hues of day.

Light and fire are the special harbingers and attendants of Jehovah. He led his people nightly by a pillar of fire-He revealed himself to Moses in the bright, but unconsuming flame--and when he vouchsafed to dwell between the cherubim, his visible symbol, the glory of the God of Israel, shone from the mercy-seat.

Terror and despairing agony ruled in that dread hour, when the judgments of the God of purity overwhelmed the cities of the plain beneath a fiery delugewhen the temples of gorgeous idolatry, the palaces of pride, the halls of luxurious festival, the recesses of pollution, the hoards of wealth, the promise of the fertile earth, became a reeking furnace, a sulphureous Gehenna. No effort of ambitious composition can paint this fearful scene with half the force and relief that is given

to it by the simple but most expressive contrast suggested by the inspired historian. The sun was risen upon the earth, when Lot entered into Zoar-Then the LORD rained upon Sodom, and upon Gomorrah, brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. No pomp of elaborate and protracted description could equal this-the tranquil entrance of righteous Lot into his quiet refuge, with all the landscape smiling round beneath the dewy brightness of the early day; while, yonder, on the near horizon, the vengeance of Jehovah rains on the wicked, snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest. There is a skill, superior to art, in thus placing in contact, scenes and images of so opposite a character. Nothing can more powerfully illustrate the prophetic message-Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him-Woe unto the wicked, it shall be ill with him.

Whenever the Scriptures record the terrible judgments of the Lord, we invariably find them described in this severe and sublime simplicity of language. When the sacred historian details the plagues of Egypt, he enumerates among them the fire, that ran along upon the ground, the fire mingled with the hail, very grievous. When he narrates the destruction of Nadab and Abihu, he employs the same unlaboured phraseology, then went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them. And when the complaints of the people displeased God, it is told, that the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. To my feelings there is something unspeakably awful in the majestic calmness with which all this is said there is an indescribable grandeur in the tran

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quillity with which the man of God identifies himself with his Master's cause and work, and, standing aloof from the vanities and passions of mankind, contemplates the scene of guilt and misery, without an emotion, excepting that of implicit submission to the will of Jehovah. Give these materials to a mere man of genius, and let him dress them up in the artifices of language and climax. He will produce a splendid picture; he will take the Nile, the pyramids of Memphis, the colossal temples and sculptures, the crypts and colonnades of the Thebais, for his scenery; court, the priests, the "Memphian chivalry," will supply him with figures; the darkness that might be felt would form his shades, and the fires of heaven would bring out his effects. Or he would pourtray the tents of Israel, the sanctuary of the Lord, with the flames rushing forth to devour the offerers of strange fire; Moses standing near in stern composure, Aaron mourning for his sons, but resigned to the will of God, and the race of Abraham in the distance, fear-struck at the terrors of the LORD. A writer of talent, I repeat, might take all these striking circumstances, and heighten them into a most impressive representation, by dint of language and arrangement, just as an artist might work them into a magni. ficent picture, with his palette and his pencils; but, after all, these would be the mere sports and tricks of human imagination; they might excite and even elevate the mind; but in energy and effect they would utterly fail before the unadorned expressions which flow from the mind of inspiration.

What a terrible manifesta tion of the Divine Presence was that when the Mountain of the Law was altogether in a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire, and the mountain burned

with fire unto the midst of heaven, and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace.-Not less awful, though yet more glorious, was that revelation of the Godhead, when the incarnate Word stood on the Mount of Transfiguration, and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light, while a bright cloud tempered the splendour of DeityAnd that will be a scene of transcendent glory, when God shall put forth all his majesty amid his saints. Behold! a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and. there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne, were four and twenty seats; and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings, and thunderings, and voices; and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there was a sea of glass, like unto crystal.

Time would fail me were I to attempt the distinct enumeration of the various forms and circumstances with which the element of fire is connected in the Holy Scriptures. Its sacrificial uses were numberless-It was employed by Joshua to purge away the iniquity of Achan-Fire from heaven consumed the offering of Elijah, to the utter confusion of the priests of Baal; and when that eminent servant of the living God had completed his task on earth, a chariot of fire bore him triumphant to his rest above-It laid aside its destructive power, when the Son of Man walked with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the midst of the burning fiery furnace-And when this orb, with its surrounding system of pla