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great abundance? How are the windows of heaven set open wide to shower down blessings upon thee! How are the great depths of the Godhead broken up to inundate thee with a deluge of love! Bid adieu to thy doubts, thy distresses, and thy alarms: arise and shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

Remember then, my brethren, that our love to God must grow out of these solid grounds What He is in Himself: what He hath done for us: and what He hath promised

to us.

But, alas, notwithstanding the united operation of all these powerful motives, how cold, how partial, how inconstant is our love to God! This divine quality makes but a slow and uncertain progress even in those enviable individuals, who have sincerely chosen the Lord as their portion, and who would not barter their interest in his favour for ten thousand worlds. Even in persons of such a description, this seraphic temper obtains the ascendancy over every other feeling, by very minute degrees, and in an imperceptible manner: and hence, the painful misgivings, the desponding thoughts,

and the perplexing desertions, of which we hear so many sad complaints. The one grand remedy for all prevailing love of God.

these evils, is the

There is no fear in

love; but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment: he that feareth is not made perfect in love. Were we but enabled to exercise this holy disposition in a manner becoming our christian profession, we should then live in the light, and walk in the light; every doubt would vanish, and every uneasy apprehension be swallowed up in a humble

childlike confidence.

Let us, therefore, labour after this divine endowment, in proportion to its unparalleled worth; knowing that it stands at the head of all perfection, and is attended by all the graces of the Spirit. There remain in the church, saith St. Paul, faith, hope, love, these three but the greatest of these is love. Faith and hope, as I have elsewhere had occasion to observe, are only for a season; but love is of endless duration. In the life that now is, it will quicken our obedience, deepen our resignation, increase our enjoyments, and prepare us for the highest services; while it effectually qualifies us for all

the unknown felicities of the upper world. Let us go then, my beloved brethren, and write the words of my the posts text upon of our doors, upon the walls of our houses, and in the secret chambers of our hearts, that wherever we turn our eyes, we may meet with a standing admonition to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind; that it may be well with us at home and abroad, in life and in death, in time and in eternity.

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SERMON XXI.

PREACHED IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE DEATH OF A PROMISING YOUNG NEIGHBOUR.

ISAIAH, XXV. 8.

He will swallow up death in victory.

THIS chapter contains a short prediction of the establishment of Christ's church upon earth, the influence it shall obtain in the world, and the desirable consequences that shall follow. Among these consequences, one of the latest and most glorious is alluded to in the passage, which has just been repeated in your hearing, and to the serious consideration of which I now invite your attention.

As death was introduced into the world by sin, so it is foretold, by several of the inspired writers, that the triumphs of death will be coextensive with the reign of sin: an appointment which appears to be both reasonable and requisite, not only for main

taining the honour of God's holy law, but also for rendering the divine justice apparent to the whole universe. But beyond all the miseries of sin, and all the ravages of death, a most alluring prospect breaks upon the eye of faith, which is one day to be fully realized, when a new heaven and a new earth shall be formed, wherein righteousness shall reign without interruption, and in which a divine life is to be enjoyed that shall never know a period for the Lord God shall swallow up death in victory. It is by connecting this remote prospect with all the evils to which mortality is subject, that the humble believer is carried above the sufferings of the present time, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. And this constitutes one of the grand exercises of that faith, which is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen; whereby its happy possessor, overlooking and passing through every intervening obstacle, enters into immediate rest.

As God is the great Author of life, so He alone may justly be said to live

and it shall be a part of my present employment

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