tion to Jehovah: he sees you, but it is with indignation; he marks it down, but it is that it may appear against you another day; you shall be consigned over to the devil; instead of being spared, you shall be damned.

O, believer, live up to your character as delineated in the Bible; rejoice in the prospect of eternal life; when called to it, pass the river Jordan with a hope full of immortality, and so shall you be ever with the Lord. "Wherefore, comfort one another with these words." Amen.

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SERMON VIII.

PREACHED JANUARY 15, 1809.

1 PETER I. 8.

WHOM HAVING NOT SEEN YE LOVE, IN WHOM, THOUGH NOW YE SEE HIM NOT, YET BELIEVING, YE REJOICE WITH JOY UNSPEAKABLE, AND FULL OF GLORY."

THE second appearance of the Son of God is an event for which every christian, when in a proper frame of mind, ardently longs, and earnestly prays; it is his employment and delight, to be "looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:" it behoves him always to be hasting unto the coming of the day of God, and to hope to the end for the grace that shall be brought to him at the revelation of Jesus Christ. On that day a display will be given of the grandeur and glory of the God we worship: those dispensations which appear to us at present irreconcilable with his perfections, will then strike our admiring minds as being altogether right, yea, absolutely necessary, to accomplish his own designs, and illustrate the depths of his infinite love. This mortal shall then put on immortality, and this corruptible be clothed with incorruption;

a final termination will then be put to all those fiery trials, which are now sent to try us; the christian shall, both in the glory of his body and in the purity of his soul, resemble his Redeemer; and, in fine, the kingdom of heaven will be opened to all believers, and a loud voice shall proclaim, "Blessed are they that have done his commandments, for they have a right to the tree of life, and may enter in, through the gates, into the city." Since these shall be some of the grand transactions of that illustrious period, the saints cannot forbear exclaiming, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly."

But whilst the high expectations of the redeemed are directed towards the Saviour's second advent, it is worthy of remark, that he is not an uninteresting character to them now. Although they glory in the thought (which is so beautifully expressed in the verse preceding our text,) of "the trial of their faith being found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ," still there are present enjoyments in religion, and the believer has all good things in possession, as well as all glorious things in reversion. They have earnests given them of the happiness of that day: and do not christians feel an anticipation of that rapture which will then begin, when they are enabled to say, in the words of our text, which immediately follow an allusion to the day of judgment," whom having not seen we love, in whom, though now we see him not, yet believing, we rejoice, with joy unspeakable and full of glory?"

From the passage then, thus introduced, we shall endeavour to show you two things:-That Jesus Christ is yet invisible ;-that notwithstanding this, he excites the christian's best sensations.

I. Jesus Christ is yet invisible.

"Whom," says the apostle, "having not seen," and" in whom, though now ye see him not."

No doubt Peter here refers to a sight of Christ in the flesh; since the greater part of those to whom he wrote, had not "beheld his glory, the glory of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth:" it was his design to comfort their minds, and to inform them that, although Christ lived no longer on earth, there is a possibility of enjoying the blessings of his undertaking in our own souls, and that this shall be the case till time shall end.

But the idea of Jesus being unseen, must not only be viewed in reference to those to whom the apostle wrote, but in its bearings upon us; for the words of our text are as applicable to us, upon whom the ends of the world are come, as they were to those who lived a short time after the ascension of the Saviour. And we may contemplate our Lord Jesus Christ as invisible in two respects, namely: in the glories of his person;—and in the mysteries of his providence. We would consider our Lord Jesus Christ as an invisible Saviour, as it respects

1. The glories of his person.

He, my brethren, is "that blessed and only

Potentate, who alone hath immortality. Dwelling n light, to which no man can approach; whom no man hath seen nor can see."

Formerly, indeed, he was beheld, arrayed in human nature; and we might have addressed those who were familiar with him: "Blessed are your eyes, for they see what many prophets and righteous men desired to see, but saw not:" but you remember that, before his resurrection, he said, "A little while and ye shall see me, and again a little while, and ye shall not see me, and because I go to my Father." Now the heavens have received him out of our sight, "till the times of the restitution of all things:" the eye of sense cannot trace his glory now; we cannot soar to the third heavens, and say to the angels of God, "Sirs, we would see Jesus:" it is impossible that his beauties should ever be viewed by mortal eyes; the sight would dazzle, would confound us. He is inclosed in a veil of glory which we cannot penetrate, appearing in the presence of God for us: a miracle must be wrought before we can discover him on earth: this was done in the case of Stephen; for, when standing before the council, he, looking stedfastly into heaven, said, "Behold I see heaven opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God;" and the animating sight caused him to leave the world with a holy calmness, yea, to die like Jesus, imploring forgiveness for his enemies. Instances like these, are, however, very rare; for, as to the state of the church in general, and as