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imprudent guests, who made light of it, went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandize; but remember the words of your blessed Redeemer: "Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.

These expressions, however, do not imply that we should abstain from every intercourse with the world, much less that we should neglect our respective professions; this extreme would be criminal. Religion and the world, properly used, are not incompatible; far from it, religion can be eminently displayed in social life by the virtues of sincerity, justice, and benevolence. Religion is the nurse of all these graces, and promotes them, as the root nourishes the tree, through all its fibres and branches. But, to conclude this subject, I flatter myself, will be deemed of sufficient importance to engage your most serious attention: and God of his infinite mercy grant that you may grow in grace; that you may be perfect; that, under the influence of religion, you may bloom like flowers dressed by the hand of the heavenly Artist in the garden of the church, till the day shall come, when you will be transplanted to adorn the courts of the living God. Amen.

Luke x: 41, 42.

SERMON XVI.

SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT.

On the Happiness of the Saints in their glorified State.

And after six days Jesus taketh unto him Peter and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart; and he was transfigured before them; and his face did shine as the sun; and his garments became white as snow. Matt. xvii. 1, 2

THE transfiguration of our Saviour has been considered by some as one of the most brilliant miracles he ever performed; but, if we reflect with attention, we shall find this opinion erroneous. The more our divine Saviour, while clothed with flesh, manifested himself in splendour and glory, the nearer he drew to his divine state! He did not then suspend the laws of nature, but, on the contrary, gave free course to them. It was for him in some measure a greater effort of power to conceal his majesty, than to manifest it. If, in the course of this mortal life, Jesus Christ deprived his body of the glory

which was natural to it, the sufferings and death he was about to endure for our salvation constrained him, through an excess of love, to make this sacrifice, which none of the princes of this world knew; for if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.”*

If, departing for once from his voluntary state of humiliation, he appeared for a few moments to his beloved disciples surrounded with glory, it was still for our sake that he suspended his decrees. He wished, by strengthening the faith of his disciples, the more firmly to establish ours. He wished that, after having risen from the dead, the recollection of the dazzling state in which they beheld him on Mount Thabor, should render them more disposed, than they otherwise would have been, to believe this mystery. He wished that, after having received the Holy Ghost, these rays of divine splendour should kindle their zeal, animate their instructions, and support them amidst their labours and sufferings. He wished to give them a foretaste of that happiness, which they were one day to enjoy in the heavenly Jerusalem. He wished that they might be enabled to give to the nations, whom they enlightened by the gospel truths, an idea of the joys of heaven, which he has prepared for his faithful followers. Then shall they hear, and see, and know, all that their hearts desired to be informed of, in this land of darkness and uncertainty.

Although it is but little that the most enlightened mind can know, or the most enlarged heart conceive, of the glories of the celestial state, in comparison to that knowledge which the saints in light shall attain, yet there are still

1 Cor. ii. 8.

such manifestations given thereof, as to make us long after a more perfect knowledge, and desire to comprehend more fully, what we now see indistinctly through a dark medium, and only in part. It is not granted to men, while in their earthly tabernacles, to comprehend the mysteries of the spiritual kingdom; that happiness is reserved for a more perfect and enlightened state, when the film shall be taken from our eyes; when clouds and darkness shall not intervene betwixt the eye and the object; when the ways of Providence, now veiled in obscurity, shall be fully displayed; and when the wisdom of Omnipotence shall shine forth with amazing lustre. Ah, my brethren, how small a portion of his ways is understood by finite and created beings! How faint and imperfect our ideas of celestial bliss! When we attempt to lisp out a few broken sentiments, and express a few vague thoughts on the happiness which Christ has purchased for his elect in the world to come, we are under the necessity of borrowing images from every thing that can delight and please us: we call to our aid the soul with her endowments and perfections; the body with its symmetry and beauty; nature with her richest treasures; society with its pleasures; the Church with her triumphs. Then from all these we attempt to form some idea of the heavenly happiness; but, after all, the most perfect image we can possibly form of it, must still be rude, and vastly defective.

Notwithstanding, as the gospel of this day invites to a contemplation of the happiness of the saints in their glorified state, I shall endeavour to give some faint representation of it, as God shall please to enable me. And may his divine Majesty grant us such a pleasing view of the ce

lestial Canaan, as to raise in our souls a longing and ardent desire to reach that happy country, and to partake of its ineffable pleasures!

of God.

Before I attempt to speak of the glory and felicity of the heavenly state, it may not be improper briefly to observe, that this unspeakable happiness is not prepared for all men without distinction; it is for such only as are the friends Free as the grace of the gospel is, it is not to be lavished on all descriptions of men. No; the celestial kingdom is prepared for those only who love God, and obey the gospel of Christ. No haters of God, no despisers of the gospel of Christ, no scoffers at religion, no contemners of things sacred, none, whilst they continue in a course of sin and iniquity, in unbelief and impiety, have the smallest right or claim to these blessings. The poor in spirit, the meek and humble of heart, those who suffer persecution for justice sake, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, the merciful, the pure of heart, the peace-makers, those alone "shall follow the Lamb, wheresoever he goeth."* Those, my brethren, are the chosen race, "who shall dwell in the tabernacle of the Lord, and who shall rest in his holy hill."+

But, to give you some faint idea of their blessedness, we must call to our aid the soul of man with all its endowments and perfections, and the body with all its symmetry and beauty, The soul of man, endowed with every perfection, furnishes us with one idea of the heavenly happiness. Though it is immortal, yet, while here below, it is dark and beclouded. It has vast desires, which the world cannot satisfy, and such thirsting as cannot be quenched, until it finds

a

* Apoc, xiv. 4.

+ Psalm xiv.

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