degree of attention, their magnitude, their lustre, their motion, and their influence, can forbear crying out, Oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, who hast set thy glory above the heavens *! And when, with even these in our view, we further reflect, that there is another apartment, as yet invisible, of which the spangled firmament is but as it were, the shining vail; an apartment, where the great Creator and Governor of all has fixed his stated residence, and erected the throne of his glory; even that throne, which is for ever surrounded by all the most holy and excellent of his creatures; we must be convinced, it is something more beautiful, and more magnificent than this harmonious system itself. And methinks when we have said more beautiful and more magnificent than this, imagination is ready to fail us, and to leave the mind dazzled and overwhelmed with an effulgence of lustre, which it cannot delineate, and can scarce sustain. Yet will our venerable apprehensions of it be farther assisted, if we consider,

3. That the kingdom of heaven is "the great purchase of the blood of God's only begotten Son;" and therefore to be sure it must be inconceivably valuable.

If you are at all acquainted with your bibles, you must know, that we are by sin in a stat of Alienation from God+; that we had forfeited all our title to his love, and stood justly exposed to his severe displeasure; and that it is Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to comet. Now if we owe it to his merit and atonement That we live §, much more are we to ascribe it to him, if we are raised to any superior degree of happiness. If God could not, with honour to his justice, have suffered us, without such a propitiation, to have passed off with impunity; much less could he, without it, have received us to his embraces, and have advanced us To sit with him on his throne. Accordingly it is said of the blessed martyrs, in the. heavenly world, even of those, who had so gloriously distinguished their fidelity and zeal, and Loved not their lives unto the death; that they had Washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb**: And they gratefully acknowledge it in their hymns of praise, that Christ had redeemed them to God by his blood, and had made them kings and priests unte Godtt.

Now let us of the Lamb is.

*Psal. viii. 1.

seriously reflect, and consider, what this Blood The apostle Peter tells us, that silver and gold,

§ 1 John iv. 9.

and all the peculiar treasures of kings and princes, are but corruptible things*, or perishing and worthless trifles, when compared with it. And no wonder, it is represented in such exalted language, when we consider it was the blood of the only begot ten Son of God, who is The brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his persont, and indeed, one with him, being possessed of a nature truly and properly divine, so that it is called The blood of Gods. We may well argue, even from these transient surveys, that it was some important happiness, which he came to procure at so expensive a rate. Had an angel been sent down from heaven, we should naturally have concluded, it must have been upon some momentous errand: Surely then, when the Lord of angels comes down, not only to live on earth, but to expire in bitter agonies on the cross, to purchase a benefit for us, we may be well assured, that this benefit must be very considerable. Our Lord Jesus Christ must certainly set a very great value upon it, or he would not have purchased it at such a price: And we are sure, the value that he apprehended in it, must be its true value. He could not be imposed upon by any false appearance of glory and splendor: He despised with a just and generous contempt All the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them ||: And he was also well acquainted with the celestial kingdom, having so long dwelt in it, and so long presided over it Yet so highly does he esteem it, that he speaks of it upon all occasions, as the highest possible gift of divine bounty, the richest preparation, and noblest contrivance of divine love: Yea, he regards it as a felicity so great, that, when he conducts his people into it, with the last solemn pomp of the judgment-day, it is said, He shall see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied¶, allowing it to be a just equivalent for all he has done, and all he has suffered in so glorious a cause. 4. The excellency of the heavenly kingdom will farther appear, if we consider, that "it is the main work of the Spirit of God upon men's hearts, to prepare them for an admittance into it."

You well know, that the blessed Spirit of God is spoken of as that divine agent, by whom all the hosts of heaven were created, and all God's various works produced **; and it is he, that Knows the things of God, even as the human spirit knows the

* 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. Mat. iv. 8, 10.

+ Heb. i. 3.

John x. 30.

§ Acts xx. 28. ¶ Isa. liii. 11. **Job xxxii. 4. Psal. xxxiii. 6.

things of a man*. Now it is his peculiar office in the economy of our redemption, to form the soul to a meetness for glory. Accordingly when the apostle Paul had been reminding the Corinthians that, while they continued in their sinful state, they were unfit for the Kingdom of God; he adds, But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God+.

That the Spirit should condescend to engage at all in such a work, must give us a very sublime idea of the end at which it aims. But much more will that idea be raised, when we consider with what a variety, and what a constancy of operations he begins, continues, and perfects it. He attempts it, as we shall hereafter more particularly shew you, sometimes by convictions of terror, and sometimes by insinuations of love; and by one method or another, in the hearts of all the heirs of this glory, he works so great a change, that it is represented by turning a Heart of stone into a heart of flesh‡, by raising the dead from their graves§, yea, by producing a New creation. For this does he watch over the soul with the tenderest care, and continues his friendly offices, to recover it from relapses, and gradually to form it to advancing degrees of sanctity, till at length it be enabled to Perfect holiness in the fear of God ¶. Nay, so intent is this sacred agent on the important work, that when sinners most insolently and ungratefully reject him, and by resisting him oppose their own happiness, he does not immediately leave them; he strikes them again and again; and waits upon them for succeeding days, and months, and years: And when perhaps the sincere convert makes the most ungrateful return for the experience of his goodness, even after he has acknowledged, and at length obeyed it; when, under the fatal transport of some ungoverned passion, and the influence of some strong temptation, he acts as if he were intent upon tearing down the work of the Spirit of God upon his soul, and driving him for ever away; yet in how many instances does he return again after all these injuries, pleading the cause of God with a sweetly prevailing eloquence, and thus healing the wound, and repairing the breach, and making it perhaps stronger than before? And all this, for what? That the happy subject of all these kind operations may be formed to a fitness for the kingdom of heaven.And are we to regard this blessed Spirit as an unmeaning agent, or as incapable of judging of the importance of

Ezek. xxxvi. 26.

this end for which he acts? Is that almighty energy of his employed in an insignificant manner? Surely Nicodemus, slow of understanding as he was, must apprehend the importance of entering into the kingdom of heaven, when he heard, that in order to be admitted to it, a man must be born of the Spirit. And let me add once more,

5. That the excellency of the heavenly kingdom may further be argued "from the eagerness with which the enemy of souls is endeavouring to prevent our entrance into it.

You know, the devil is always represented as the inveterate enemy of our happiness. His rage is expressed by that of A roaring lion, that walks about, seeking whom he may devour*; and with unwearied diligence he is continually employed in forming and pursuing his temptations: And this is the grand design of all, that he may exclude us from the promised felicity. While sinners are in their unregenerate state, he endeavours to engage all their regards to the objects of time and sense; and for that purpose he continually presents them with a variety of entertainments and amusements suited to their respective tempers and circumstances. If they are awakened to any serious concern about their eternal salvation, he uses his utmost address to divert their minds from an attendance to it. And for this purpose he displays before them all the allurements of sin in its most engaging forms; and if they are not captivated with these, he often puts on a face of terror, and endeavours to affright them from religion by the most gloomy representations of it, or by horrible and distracting suggestions, " that it is now for ever too late to attain it." Or if divine grace surmount all this opposition, and the sinner resolutely chuses his portion in heaven, and puts his soul into the hands of Christ to be conducted to it; the malice of Satan pursues him even to that sacred retreat, which he has sought in the arms of his Saviour: And if he cannot prevent the soul from entering into heaven, he will at least labour to bring it into such a state of negligence, and to seduce it into those delays and relapses, which may divert its regards to that blessed world, which may cloud its evidences of it, and may, at least as much as possible, diminish the degree of its glory there.

Now permit me, in this instance, to turn the artillery of this cunning enemy against himself, and to argue the excellency of this kingdom, from the zeal and attachment with which he

* 1 Pet. v. 8.

the delightful banquet, and the door is shut*; the everlasting gates are shut for ever, and barred against me. And here I must lie at this miserable distance, envying and raging at their happiness, of which, whatever sight or knowledge I may have of it, I must never, never, never partake."

Such reflections as these, Sirs, will cut deep into your souls; and accordingly our Lord declares to impenitent sinners in his own days, There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see others sitting down in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out+. And if you would reflect, you might easily apprehend this. How would you be enraged at yourselves, if by your folly you had neglected securing a plentiful estate, when it was offered to you on the most easy terms; and you actually saw others, once your equals, and perhaps your inferiors, in the possession of it, in consequence of having taken those methods which you stupidly neglected? The reflection I doubt not, would very much impair the pleasure you might find in other comfortable and agreeable circumstances. How much more insupportable then will the loss of heaven appear to you, when you come to see, and know, what it is you have lost, and have nothing to relieve, or support you, under the painful recollection ?

It is to no purpose to object, that upon the principles of my last discourse, there will be no room to lament your exclusion from those entertainments, which you would be incapable of relishing, if you were admitted to them: For you will then see and lament that incapacity, as a very great misery. As if a man who was naturally fond of feasting and mirth, should see a great many regaling themselves, and revelling about him, while he was languishing under some painful distemper, which made him incapable of joining in the entertainment; he would yet grieve, that he had no part in it; And it would be the increase, rather than the alleviation of his uneasiness, that it was his sickness which unfitted him for it; especially if, as in your case, it was a sickness, which he had brought upon himself by his own folly, and for which he had been offered an easy, pleasant, and infallible remedy, which he had refused to use, till the malady was grown utterly incurable. One would imagine, this thought would be enough to impress you; but if you do not, let me intreat, and even charge you to consider,