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tion for futurity. Faithfulness to our duty should be our whole concern: and what we may suffer here by doing it, or gain here by transgressing it, should be accounted very insignificant; as we certainly shall account it, if once we obtain from God the skill of numbering our days aright.

3. The last use, which I shall mention, of considering how soon this life will terminate in another, is, that we should support ourselves with the prospect of being happy shortly under all that may afflict us in the meanwhile.

Indeed, were there to be no future state, the misfortunes of the present would be much the more tolerable for ending so soon. But still, losing the comforts of it would be the losing our all; and going through it in misery would embitter our whole existence. Now were the space of it more or less, yet being the whole, we could have nothing to make us amends for our disappointments and sufferings, or to exalt us above them. Death indeed would free us, earlier or later; and so far be a remedy: but a very gloomy one, were all to end there: such a one as most people would think worse than the disease, and be through fear of it all their life-time subject to bondage*. But now, as the interests of this world are only a small part of our concern, they deserve only a small part of our consideration: and as the conclusion of the present scene is immediately followed by a second, which shall never conclude, it furnishes out to us a triumph over its own terrors. O death, where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory †? Bad persons indeed can derive no comfort from hence for the end of their worldly sorrows is the beginning of infinitely more dreadful ones. But if

Heb. ii. 15.

+1 Cor. xv. 55.

we are sincerely pious and virtuous, the crosses and troubles under which we may labour here, the parting with our friends, the provocations of our enemies, poverty and contempt, sickness and pain, the wearisomeness of old age, the feebleness of decaying nature, whatever can be grievous to us, will not only soon be succeeded by happiness, but will increase that happiness unspeakably, provided we only bear it with a dutiful patience for this little interval. Now therefore, why disquietest thou thyself, seeing thou art but a corruptible man? and why art thou moved, whereas thou art but mortal? and why hast thou not considered the thing that is to come, rather than that which is present * ?

We cannot indeed, through the original weakness of our depraved faculties, be so much cheered by these considerations as we have cause; and we should not despair upon it: but we may be cheered by them much more, than we are; and we should endeavour it to the utmost; assuring ourselves, that in our future state, we shall smile at recollecting the heaviest calamities of this, with much more contempt than we always do, in our maturer years, at remembering the petty afflictions of our childhood.

Let us resolve then, that we will try to take even joyfully not only the losses of this world, knowing that we have in heaven a better and an enduring substance; but also the dissolution of this tabernacle, since when we are unclothed we shall be clothed upon with an house eternal, and mortality be swallowed up of life. Let us under all pressures, of whatever kind, look up, and lift up our heads: for our redemp+ Cor. v. 1-4.

* 2 Esdr. vii. 15, 16.

+ Heb. x. 34.

tion draweth nigh*: and contentedly wait all the days of our appointed time, till our change come † ; never casting away that confidence, which hath great recompense of reward; for yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry ‡. These reflections let us familiarize to ourselves; and learn from them to fix our hearts, not on such unworthy objects, as we are subject to be disappointed about every moment, whilst we have them; and must at farthest in a few years undergo the final disappointment of parting with them for ever; but extend our ambition to nobler views; and since we are made for eternity, become superior both to the pleasures and the griefs of time, that being neither seduced by the one, nor dejected by the other, we may go on with a steady and cheerful attention to our present duty, and our approaching bliss; till the few and evil days of our pilgrimage § being ended, we may have our consummation in peace; and be admitted everlasting inhabitants of that city, which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God .

* Luke xxi. 28.
§ Gen. xlvii. 9.

Heb. x. 35. 37.

+ Job xiv. 14.

|| Heb. xi. 10.

SERMON VIII.

JOHN XV. 26.

But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.

THE blessings, which we have received from the sovereign Lord of all, are either the original ones of creation and providence, or the superadded one of redemption from sin and misery. The former sort are in some measure discoverable by reason, but much more fully made known by revelation: of the latter our whole knowledge is from revelation alone. But being through its means once acquainted with those new relations, in which God's mercy to fallen man hath placed us, and with the new obligations, to which they subject us: it is no less criminal to disregard this part of religion, than the other: since not only the foundation of it in the truth of things is equally real, but its importance to our happiness, if possible, greater. And the several Persons of the sacred Trinity having manifested their love to us by concurring in our recovery, and conducting and executing, according to the disposition of Infinite Wisdom, their several shares of that gracious work; we are consequently bound to distinct acts of faith and duty towards each: the performance of which, agreeably to the direction of God's word, constitutes the

peculiar duty of a Christian. Amongst these, the present season leads us to consider, what offices the Holy Ghost hath condescended to execute for our salvation. And as they consist, partly in testifying to us outwardly the certainty of our religion, partly in moving us inwardly to be affected by it as we ought, I shall discourse now on the former of these points by laying before you,

I. More generally, the testimony given by the blessed Spirit, in successive ages, to divine truths; above all to the grant of a Saviour to mankind.

II. In a more particular manner, that ever-memorable confirmation, vouchsafed us on this day, to the doctrine of the Gospel, by his descending on the Apostles, and enduing them with miraculous gifts: of which I shall prove the reality, and draw from it proper inferences. For it will be useful to put you in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth *.

I. First then, I shall lay before you, more generally and briefly, the testimony given by the Spirit, in successive ages, to divine truths.

Prophecy, as St. Peter observes, came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost †. Accordingly we find in multitudes of places, from the earliest book of Scripture to the latest, supernatural impulses and illuminations ascribed to the Spirit of God : nor can we doubt therefore, but they proceeded from him always, though sometimes it is not expressly affirmed. So that we are to honour the third Person as the im

2 Pet. i. 12.

+ 2 Pet. i. 21.

Gen. vi. 3. xli. 38. Numb. xi. 25, 26. xxiv. 2. 1 Sam. x. 10. 2 Kings ii. 9. &c. 1 Chr. xii. 18. 2 Chr. xv. 1. Neh. ix. 30. Ezek. ii. 2. Zech. vii. 12. Rev. i. 10. ii. 7. iv. 2, &c.

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