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rejoices when he obtains leave to quit his post of duty, and lay aside the cross for the crown. To die,—What is it, Oh! my soul?—It is to cease from all sorrows, and enter into eternal joy.-It is to be absent from the body, it is true; but it is to be eternally present with the Lord.-It is to be crowned with masteries. It is to escape, like a bird from the fowler, into eternal peace.-It is to join the great assembly of the holy, just, and good;-to be set free from every evil, and enjoy every good.

"No sorrow be vented that day,

When Jesus has called me home;

But with singing and shouting, let each brother say,
He has gone from the evils to come!"

It is thus, my brethren, that death forms a part of the Christian's inheritance.

V. In his enraptured style, the apostle next observes, things present are ours. He seems here to give an almost indefinite enumeration—things present, whatever they may be. Is it thy lot, at present, to submit to a series of grievous afflictions?--Know this, "that all things work together for good to them that love God." But by things present, the apostle might intend the common incidents of life, whether prosperous or afflictive in their appearance; and

VI. By things to come, he might mean the things which relate to the future dispensations of God's providence in this life; as well as that ineffable glory which he will finally confer on all his faithful

saints:-so that, eternity being to come, eternity is And how shall we spend it? Certainly,

also ours. in praise to our God, and in the most unspeakable enjoyments. Whatever the Lord hath done, which hath been revealed to mortals, has been closely connected with the scheme of man's redemption. And, Oh! what fulness of delight shall we enjoy, in the ultimate triumph of that stupendous scheme, to accomplish which the Lord Jesus Christ hath died! Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come: all are yours.

But as that which is counted gain to the righteous, is loss to the unrighteous; we may well say of the ungodly, "Nothing is theirs.-All the blessings of the mediatorial scheme, are perverted, and turned to a curse. The ministers of Christ-the channels which convey the healing unction of celestial grace to the upright, are to them messengers of wrath; inasmuch as they bring with them that light, the rejection of which adds to sin a character of the highest aggravation.-The world, for which they are so eager, is given to them in wrath, as God gave a king to wicked Israel of old; and as those who lusted for flesh in the wilderness, received it in wrath, so that the anger of the Lord came upon them while it was yet in their teeth; so does the curse of God attend those who abuse their riches to purposes of pride and neglect of God. Life is to them a curse: and it would have been good for that man, who lives and dies without religion, if he had never been born.

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314 HARRIS S SERMONS ON IMPORTANT SUBJECTS.

Present things, whether prosperous or afflictive, are perverted in their design; and things to come, the blessings or chastisements of future life, shall, being abused, render them greater objects of divine displeasure; and eternity shall entail upon them eternal wretchedness.

Newbern, November 16, 1817.

SERMON XXX.

And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. 1 Cor. ii. 3.

IF, in a course of desultory reading, a man should by accident light on such a passage as this, he would, at first view, suppose that he beheld the features of perturbation resulting from the appalling fears of a guilty ruffian, in the very act of attempting to guide the dagger to the bosom of innocence: or he would at least suppose, that he beheld the plainest marks of casuistical indecision. If, however, on reading the context, he should discover that St. Paul was giving, in the text, a short sketch of the exercise of his own mind, he would probably think that the apostle referred to the feelings of compunction, which, as one would think, he must have felt, when he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women, committed them to prison."-Or he might possibly think, that

the apostle was giving a view of the peculiar circumstances that attended his conversion, when Jesus Christ, from the throne of his glory, sent forth his voice, which relaxed the sinews of this malevolent persecutor, and forced him to acknowledge the supremacy of his power.

Indeed, my brethren, if we were to read a letter, written by St. Paul, and directed to Judas from Damascus, where he spent the three days that he was under conviction; we should not be surprised, if, in the language of the text, he should observe, I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.

But, my brethren, these words are a true copy of St. Paul's exercises, while he was preaching at Corinth Christ crucified, the power and wisdom of God. But, wherefore this weakness in the midst of power? Wherefore this fear, in the midst of the glorious hopes of the Gospel?-Why this trembling, whilst the strong hand of faith was fastened on the throne of God? I should rather expect to hear him thank Christ Jesus the Lord, for enabling him, and counting him faithful, and putting him into the ministry. What then! did he doubt his call to the ministry? Hear him on this point-"I certify you, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached by me, is not after man; for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."-Did he feel within himself a degree of shame in preaching a crucified Christ, as the only hope of salvation? Hear him on this point also"I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is

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