happiness, surely there is nothing in all the creation, but may turn to your advantage. O divine privilege, when the creatures that are under the deserved curse of God, are thus made to subserve your blessedness!

(3.) But not only present invisibles, but even all future unseen things are yours too. The morning of the resurrection is appointed for your glory; and the great trumpet is put into the hands of the archangel, to awaken your sleeping dust into immortality. Jesus the Lord himself shall descend from heaven to call you from the grave; and though ye were dead, ye shall hear the voice of the Son of God and live. The great day of judgment, and all the solemnities of it, are ordained for your honour, to publish your victories over sin and Satan, before the face of the whole creation, to pronounce you openly acquitted' and justified before men and angels, to proclaim you the sons and daughters of the most high God, and/ determine your state to everlasting blessedness.

Are there crowns of infinite value laid up in heaven? Are there rewards of glory there, immense rewards, and of endless duration? It is to crown your labours, your conflicts, your Christian race; it is to reward your sufferings, your patience, and your conquest; and the day of glory is stretched out to all everlasting, that your happiness may know no end. Thus things present, and things to come are all yours; and there is nothing in time or eternity, which can come within the reach or notice, but in some of these senses shall subserve your interest, and turn to your advantage.

This is the genuine sense, and this the true limitation of these words, All things are yours."

The second thing proposed in this discourse, was to prove, that notwithstanding the limited sense of these words, yet the true Christian has a richer

treasure in them, than all the worldly wealth of the sinner.

And without multiplying particulars, the proof of it will sufficiently appear in these four things.

1. The treasure of the meanest saint is vastly more large and extensive, than that of the richest sinner. Let the wicked man point to his heaps of money, and run over the names of his farms and manors, and call himself the lord and master of them all; it is but a narrow and poor survey, that a few pieces of shining earth can give us; or the fields that lie within the prospect of a mile or two, when compared with this vast and universal treasure, All things are yours! It is true, Christians, that you have not the civil property and power over the earth or the heavens; but you receive a divine advantage from all things, and that is more than the sinner can say concerning any one thing that he possesses in the way of civil property.

2 This treasure of the saints is more secure, and more durable, than any thing that a sinner enjoys; therefore the apostle calls the wealth of this world, Uncertain riches that are not to be trusted in, 1 Tim. vi. 17. Riches make to themselves wings, and fly away as an eagle toward heaven, and leave the owner poor and destitute; many a wealthy man who flourished yesterday, in abundance of ease and plenty, may be stript of all to-morrow, and want the common supports of nature. What possessions soever .are built upon the foundations of civil property, may be taken away from the saint or the sinner, by robbing and plunder, by cheating and knavery, by inundations of water, or the rage fire, or by the invasion of a foreign enemy;、 but the beneficial interest that a Christian has in all things, is preserved to him by the covenant of grace. He may be stript of all earthly possessions, but the

of

Joss of his temporal estate shall turn to his real benefit, as well as the possession of it. Losses and crosses, as well as plenty and peace, are numbered among the items of his inventory, and make up his treasure; so that though the outward scenes of things on earth are perpetually changing, his real and everlasting treasure is the same; for all things that appear in nature, that occur in present providence, or shall arise in future ages, shall work for. his advantage; he may lose money or lands as well as a sinner; but that very loss shall turn to his gain.

This sort of treasure he cannot be dispossest of by death itself; for when he quits his visible interest in all things, in this lower world, he enters into a new world of spirits, which he has never seen; and yet all things in that world are his too; all things in those unkown regions, where the departing spirit goes, are made over to the saint, by the same Covenant as the things of this world; they shall all administer some divine profit to him, and be a part of his happiness in the world to come.

3. This treasure of a Christian is ever growing, at least in the possession; for the occurrences of every day make some addition to it; whereas the wealth of sinners is impaired with using. The largest earthly estate may be wasted; money decreases daily by procuring the supports of life; but a Christian's treasure still improves. He lives upon it every day, and yet it grows still.

The providences of God here on earth, present us daily with some new affairs, new occurrences; whether they be pleasant or painful, still the spiritual man finds his interest in them; and when he reviews his account in the evening, if his heart has been in a proper frame, he may write himself gainer. He has possessed the blessings of former

years and improved them; he has possessed and enjoyed the very crosses and sorrows of his former days; he has treasured up a store of divine experiences, in the midst of plenty and wani, health and sickness; new scenes of life arise, new appearances of things; he is still like the bee, ready to suck honey from every flower that blows; he gathers his food and his riches from weeds that are unsavory, as well as from the blossoms of perfume; if he is by this means adding daily to the number and strength of his graces and virtues, he is, as it were, treasuring up a good foundation for time to come, and (shall I be bold to say) adding beauties and ornaments to his robes of glory, and lustre to his heavenly crown.

4. This large inheritance of a Christian is all sanctified, which is more than can be said of any part of a sinner's estate. The riches of this world may be abused to luxury and debauchery, to iniquity and sore vexations. They may be abused to profaneness and impiety, to dishonour God, and corrupt the conversation of men, and to ruin their souls for ever; but this large and extensive treasure of a Christian, is designed for his real happiness, as well as for the honour of his God; whatsoever he has to do with in the world, he uses it to the glory of his God, to the honour of his Saviour, to the benefit of his fellow creatures, and to his own sublimest advantage. And concerning this sacred treasure, it may be said, that it is the property, or in the possession of a Christian, no farther than it is sanctified to him, or than he receives it with a sanctified mind. "To the pure, all things are pure, for every thing is sanctified by the word of God and prayer, 1 Tim. iv. 5. The exercise of piety among saints, puts a sort of consecration upon all creatures, so far as they use or enjoy them.

the

Thus it is made sufficiently evident, that the treasure of a saint vastly excels all the richest pos

sessions of a sinner.

I cannot enter now upon the third branch of my design, which was to shew, how a Christian comes to be made heir and possessor of all things. Let us therefore shut up the present discourse with the one reflection.

REFLECTION. How unreasonable is it for a Christian to forsake his profession, or his practice, for any thing which this world can tempt him with? For bis treasures and enjoyments already are greater than any thing he can hope for in the ways of

sin.

What a powerful motive may be drawn hence, to persevere in faith and holiness? Christians, all things are yours, every thing you converse with shall turn to your benefit; this world, and the other, things present and things to come, life and death are yours.

What valuable pretences can the world make, to tempt you to lose this inheritance, to quit these hopes, and to part with these possessions? Can you, by complying with any temptation, provide yourself with such riches as these; or with any thing that shall answer the loss of them? Sin and the world can promise you but a little, narrow share of good things: the gospel of Christ gives you a most extensive treasure, for it bestows all things upon you. The world can make nothing secure, but the treasures of Christianity are everlasting; they reach beyond the grave, into unknown worlds. and ages. All the wealth, and pleasures, and enjoyments of this life perish with the using, but your inheritance is ever upon the increase: as fast as time and providence bring forth days, and seasons, and new scenes, so fast this treasure grows; and you may receive the daily profit of it. What can