them by the fall, that they may be "fashioned like unto his glorious body," who has burst the shackles of the grave and resumed his everlasting Sovereignty over "the glorious company of Heaven," whither he invites us all to come and dwell with him amid the splendours of his kingdom, and the boundless felicities of eternity.

Such are the prodigious returns which will be ultimately made to our very inadequate obedience; shall we then be less dutiful to Him who sitteth upon the throne of Heaven, and will reward "exceeding abundantly above all that they can ask or think" them that are faithful, than to an earthly potentate who has power to grant us only a temporary protection; but who can neither better our moral condition here nor our spiritual condition hereafter? Our peaceful subjection under a temporal jurisdiction is undoubtedly highly approved of God; and if we take pride in being good subjects to an earthly King, shall we do less than aspire to be such to a heavenly, who has a much better title to our submission? The character of our obedience to the King of Sion is not a vassalage of degrading restriction, but a homage of affectionate rejoicing. He appeals much more strongly to our love than to our fear. All the acts in which he is exhibited to us the most perceptibly, and by which he so forcibly appeals to our affections, are acts of heart-moving mercy. He desires that

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we should rejoice and be glad in him," not that we should shrink from and dread him.

After what has been urged, need I press upon your considerations to whom it is that we are called upon to present the affiance of grateful and repentant hearts? That it is to him who has rendered our imperfect obedience available to our salvation, when, without his especial mediation, the most absolute obedience we could have offered to the divine laws would have availed us nothing?-to Him who has levelled the conditions of salvation to the capacity of our imperfect nature, and distinguished us with the highest manifestations of his love, by enabling us to employ successfully very disproportionate means to a glorious end?-to Him who "endured such contradiction of sinners against himself " as brought him to the cross, upon which he expiated, by a terrible death, the sins of every human creature; exalted us to a state of grace from one of utter abandonment, and purchased for us an inheritance in his own everlasting kingdom?-to Him who is still our "advocate with the Father;" through whose intercession only our repentance can become accessible to the throne of mercy; through whose merits, as our sin-offering, our prayers are heard, our thanksgivings welcomed, and the sacrifices of a contrite heart accepted ?—in fine, to Him through whom alone we can obtain remission of our

sins, and be made partakers of his everlasting glory?

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Can we ever be at a loss for a subject of joy when we have been cheered with the consolatory assurance that we have obtained reconciliation with God through "the blood of the everlasting covenant?"-that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed to us the word of reconciliation ?" The blessed Jesus, as a Lamb without spot," has made atonement for our offences. He therefore is the King in whom we are enjoined by the Psalmist to be joyful; and to such a King who can justly refuse homage and obedience? We shall however neither offer him homage nor obedience whilst we neglect his precepts: and what plea shall we have for withholding our allegiance to one who has so remarkably established his claim to it?

Will any casual afflictions-nay, will our severest visitations here, supply a sufficient reason why we should not be "joyful in our King," when the services which he imposes upon us, by whatever temporal evils attended, must infallibly terminate "in joy for evermore?" Should mere temporary sufferings induce us to look upon his government as rigorous, and therefore to rise up in rebellion against it, when we remember how much more severely he en

dured only that those sufferings might not be eternal? Though under the plan of government which the Almighty, in his consummate wisdom, has judged it expedient to adopt, we are frequently exposed to great and trying afflictions; are we therefore not to rejoice in Christ because we may have some cause to mourn for ourselves? Shall we endeavour to obviate the miseries which may happen to approach us nearly, by trying to stifle them in forbidden indulgences, to lull them in the intoxication of vice, or even to remit them by any means which are contrary to the laws of God and the suggestions of the silent monitor within us? The whole plan of divine dispensation has good only for its object; we have surely therefore abundant cause to rejoice; for we are to remember that here" we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come," "whose builder and maker is God." Though perfect happiness be incompatible with the human condition, we have it nevertheless in our power, through divine grace, to realize the beautiful description of the Apostle, "as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing all things."

Is there any thing in what we suffer, be it ever so extreme, when we consider our own unworthiness and the ends for which those sufferings are inflicted, that can reasonably induce us not to rejoice in God our Creator and Redeemer?

"If ye endure

Let St. Paul answer for us. chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of Spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness."

I shall only further observe in conclusion, that the bare circumstance of our creation to everlasting life, and our redemption from everlasting woe, supplies abundant motives for rejoicing in Him to whom we are indebted for both. If this be a state of trial, and therefore exposes us to various changes and chances, pains and penalties, we have nevertheless the transporting assurance that "they who sow in tears shall reap in joy." And let us never fail to remember that it is the "glorious God" of the universe in whom we are bid be joyful; who, though in the sublime language of the Patriarch's reprover, 'we cannot find him out," is nevertheless "excellent in power and in judgment and in plenty of justice."

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