in every stage of our salvation, we must remember it, in order to heighten our love to Christ.

The perfection of bliss that will succeed to this presentation, is beyond all our present conceptions. Suffice it to say, that Christ will be the sum and substance of it. We have already noticed the glory of the church, as being freed from her spots and blemishes ; but this, though a great blessing, is chiefly negative. Besides this, there is a positive source of enjoyment in an uninterrupted and endless communion with her Lord and Saviour. To be able to comprehend the breadth and length and depth and height of the love of Christ, and so to be filled with all the fulness of God, is the mark on which saints on earth are directed to keep their eye; but to attain it, is reserved for saints in heaven. Nor shall they so comprehend it, as to leave no room for continued researches : for how shall they perfectly know that which passeth knowledge.

Finally It is observable, that, under the figure of being admitted to a marriage-feast, or excluded from it, we see what will shortly be the test of us all: At midnight there was a cry made, Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him.—And they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was

ments.

If there be any thing of importance in this world, it is, to be ready when the Lord cometh; not by such preparations as those to which sinners are apt to flee when their fears are alarmed, but by believing in the Son of God, and keeping his commandChrist Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Look off from every other dependence, and put your trust in him. He that believeth on the son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.-Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord. Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching!

1

THE GOSPEL THE ONLY EFFECTUAL MEAN OF PRODUCING UNIVERSAL PEACE AMONG MANKIND.

SERMON XV.

MAL. iv. 5, 6.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

MALACHI, the last of the Old-Testament prophets, lived in an age of great degeneracy; and much of his prophecy is taken up in bearing testimony against it. The last two chapters, however, inform us of a remnant who feared the Lord, and thought upon his name. Partly for their encouragement, and partly for the awakening of the careless, he introduces the coming of the Messiah, and intimates, that the very next prophet who should be sent would be his harbinger.

That we may understand the passage first read, I shall offer a few observations upon it.

1. John the Baptist is here called Elijah the prophet, because he would be, as it were, another Elijah; resembling him not only in his austerity and general appearance, but in the spirit and power with which he preached: And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to

the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

2. The coming of Christ is called that great and terrible day of the Lord. This may seem to disagree with the general current of prophecy. It is common for the prophets to represent this great event as a source of unusual joy, and to call not men only, but the very inanimate creation, to join in it. The truth is, the same event which afforded joy to those who received him, brought desolation and destruction to those who received him not. It is in this light that the prophet represents it in chap. iii. 2. Who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? And the fact was, that for its rejection of him such tribulations came upon the Jewish nation, as were not since the beginning of the world to that time, and would never be again. This was

the day referred to in verse 1, which should burn as an oven ; when all the proud, and all that should do wickedly would be stubble; the day should burn them up, and leave them neither root nor branch.

3. It is intimated, that, previously to the ministry of John, there would be great dissensions and bitter animosities among the Jewish people; parents at variance with their children, and children with their parents: altogether producing such a state of society, that, if there had been no change for the better, the land might have been smitten with a curse, sooner than it was. Subjugated by the Romans, one part of the nation, for the sake of private interest, sided with them, and accepted places under them; by which they became odious in the eyes of the other. Some became soldiers under the Roman standard, and treated their brethren with violence; others became publicans, or farmers of the public taxes, entering deeply into a system of oppression. A spirit of selfishness pervaded all ranks and orders of men, prompting those on one side to deeds of oppression, and those on the other to discontent and bitter antipathies. Besides this, they were divided into a number of religious sects, which bore the most inveterate hatred to each other, and were all far off from truth and godliness. 4. It is predicted, that John's ministry should have a conciliating influence, turning men's hearts one to another, and so tending

to avert the curse which hung over them. Such were actually the effects of it. Nor were they accomplished by a mere interference between the parties, or by labouring to produce a mere outward reformation; but by first turning them to God, through Jesus Christ. Hence Luke, in quoting the words of Malachi, connects the turning of the hearts of the fathers to the children with the turning of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, and the making ready a people prepared for the Lord. John's errand was, to call sinners to repentance; adding, withal, that they should believe in him that should come after him. And, wherever this effect was produced, a new bond of union existed, and former antipathies were forgotten. The exhortations also which he gave to those who repented, and applied for baptism, were such as struck at every species of selfishness, and tended to promote peace and unanimity among men. He called for fruits meet for repentance. The PEOPLE asked kim, saying, What shall we do then? He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. Then came also PUBLICANS to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. And the SOLDIERS likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no`man, neither accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages. Such repentance, and such fruits, so far as they prevailed, must produce the most happy effect upon the country, and tend to avert the curse. Those who believed through the ministry of John, of Christ, or of the apostles, were as the salt of the land; and it might be for their sakes, that its punishment was deferred till forty years after they had crucified the Lord of glory. When God had gathered a people from among them, the remnant grew worse and worse, till, in the end, the curse overtook them. Previously to that great and terrible day of the Lord, it was predicted, that to all their other crimes they would add that of the most bitter persecution of Christ's servants. The brother, said our Lord, shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child; and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. Such was the