Chapter XXXII: Part 32

The saints are led into an acquaintance with the word of God by the same Spirit too: They receive the promises and directions of the gospel, through the influences of this Spirit. They derive light, holiness and comfort from every part of the book of God; that is, from the law and the prophets, the histories and the epistles, and from all the ordinances of the sanctuary: He teaches them to borrow some food and delight from Moses and David, as well as from Peter and John. He leads them through the sweet fields of gospel grace, and directs them to gather many a flower there for their refreshment, and to feed on the fruit of the tree of life for their support. He shews them how to profit by the ministry of a Paul, and to learn the deep mysteries of Christ: He impresses on their souls the warm and pathetic words of an Apollos, and fires their hearts thereby with zeal and love: He teaches his younger disciples over again the first lessons of grace, which a Cephas had just taught them. Thus Paul and Apollos, and Cephas are theirs.

He instructs them how to converse with things invisible and future by faith, and to make use of the unseen and distant glories of eternity, for their present comfort and joy. “It is the God of hope, who by his Spirit fills them with all peace and joy in believing:” Rom. xv. 13. And I might add also, that the Holy Spirit is given them, and dwells in them as an earnest of their inheritance of all things, 2 Cor. v. 6. till the redemption of this purchased possession, that is, till it shall be redeemed, and freed from all the present incumbrances of sin and Satan; Eph. i. 13, 14. Then in a happy hour shall this purchased possession be disclosed in the fairest light, and proclaimed to be the property of the saints.

To sum up all in a few words, a christian’s interest in all things is well founded, and well confirmed. They are his by the original purpose of God the Father, when he created all things; it was his design that his chosen people should receive benefit from them. They are his by the appointment of divine providence, that all things shall work together for his good. They are his; for Christ the Son of God has purchased a dominion over all things, that he may manage them for the service of his redeemed ones. They are his, because the Spirit teaches him to derive some advantage from all things by faith and holy meditation. God has given himself to the saints as their portion for ever: He has given his own Son for them as a ransom from death; he has given his Spirit to them, as the principle of their life: And in this view, we may rise in the language of faith, and say in the words of the blessed apostle, “How shall he not herewith freely give us all things;” Rom. viii. 32.

Thus having made it appear in what sense all things are yours, and upon what foundations this glorious privilege is built, I proceed in the

Last place, to consider what use may be made of this discourse.

First Use.—It affords a word of mourning and terror to obstinate and impenitent sinners. Are all things made beneficial to the saints? Think with yourselves then what you lose, because you are not of that number. If you live and die in this sinful state, you have a comfortable interest in nothing: Nothing works for your real benefit. Your abuse of all things that you have any thing to do with, takes away the true pleasure and enjoyment of what you possess, and turns them into a curse to you instead of a blessing. _Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or this world, or life or death, or things present, or things to come_, nothing is yours: _for ye are not Christ’s_. And ye shall reap no final and lasting advantage from any thing, if you persist in a sinful and impenitent state; for ye are without God in the world, without Christ, and without hope.

Do you sit under the ministry of Paul, who spreads the glorious light of the gospel around you? But the God of this world hath blinded your minds, that this divine light should not reach them: Even the preaching of Paul is a savour of death unto you, if you live and die without the faith and love of Christ. Do you hear the zealous and pathetic language of Apollos? But your heart perhaps grows the harder under it: You resist the affectionate entreaties of the gospel, from the lips of that eloquent preacher. And even Apollos, whose soul is wont to melt with compassion for perishing sinners, shall rise up in judgment against you. And as for the plain and condescending ministry of Cephas, you despise the man and his sermons together; therefore you can get no benefit by them. Neither Paul, nor Apollos, nor Cephas is yours.

Well, if spiritual things are not yours, you hope, however, that you have a property in things temporal: If the blessings of the church do not belong to you, yet you claim a good share in this world, and the blessings of it: You feed deliciously, you are dressed in gay colours and gold, and you have wealth laid up in store for many years to come. Poor vain creatures! What is all your treasure? What is your property in it? A sorry property in lands, and a large estate, when not a clod of the earth, nor a penny of the money shall turn to your real and lasting benefit! I grant that you possess some of the good things of this world indeed. But your riches and plenty are not real and proper blessings, while you are afar from Christ, and strangers to him: Your own unbelief and impenitence, and rebellion against God, turn all the comforts of the world into curses: It is only the grace of Christ can take off the curse, and sanctify this world into a blessing.

Life is not yours; it is not for your final advantage, while you waste it in vanity and sinful amusements: A long life spent in this manner, shall but add to your guilt, and aggravate your condemnation. Death is not a benefit, but a dreadful hour to you, for it delivers you over to the full power of Satan that cruel tormentor, and opens the scene of your everlasting sorrows.

Things present are not blessings to you, while you resolve to continue in this sinful state. You abuse the day-light, and waste it in trifles or in crimes; or at best you spend it in an eager pursuit of the things of the world, with the neglect of God. The night is given to recruit nature for new services, but you seize the shadows of the evening to make a screen for your secret iniquities, and hide your sins behind the curtains of midnight.

You feed on the fruits of the earth, and other rich provisions of divine bounty; but perhaps you make them instruments of shameful intemperance: Or at best you lay out the strength of them in empty follies, or in low earthly designs, without a thought of God or heaven. The morning and the evening wait upon you in long successions, but you are heaping up iniquities from morning to evening. You walk daily in the paths of death, and the suns-beams do but light you onward to everlasting darkness. You are nourished by your food for the day of slaughter. Daily and hourly you abuse the goodness of God, and even these abused blessings of his goodness shall call for greater degrees of vengeance at his awful judgment seat. Thus neither the light of the sun, nor the fruits of the earth, neither day nor night, are yours; for you abuse them to sinful purposes, and they yield you no real profit.

And if things present are not yours, if ye have no solid and lasting benefit by them, much less can you pretend to claim any comfortable share in the things that are to come. There is a heaven of happiness provided for the saints, but you are utterly unprepared to fulfil the business of it, or to taste the blessedness. There is no room nor place there for you. There is nothing glorious and delightful among all the promises of God, or all the joyful scenes of the world to come, that you can claim any title to, nor have you any interest in them. When hell shall open its mouth indeed, to receive millions of the damned, according to the final sentence of the Judge, there you will find a place and room provided for you; but it is an uneasy and dreadful one. Hell is yours, the vengeance of God is yours, endless misery is yours; you have been treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath; and you can claim nothing but this painful portion, this dismal and everlasting inheritance.

And can you be content with such a portion as this is, while the saints are inheritors of all that is holy and happy, both in this world and the next? O may your busy thoughts be awakened betimes, and make you ever restless and uneasy in your present wretched estate! Return to the Lord in humble mourning for all your past iniquities: Return to God speedily, from whom you have wickedly departed: Loath yourselves because of your abominations, and abandon every idol: _Say to him, my Father, in the spirit of faith and penitence, and he will put you among the children, and give you a goodly heritage_; Jer. iii. 19.

Seek acquaintance with Jesus the Son of God, the Saviour, the Lord and Heir of all things; commit your souls to his hands, resign yourselves entirely to his grace, that he may change your unholy natures by his Spirit, that he may cleanse away your guilt by the blood of his atonement, that he may give you an interest in his own riches; then the covenant of his love shall sanctify to you all the enjoyments of earth and time, and make you possessors of all the good things in heaven and eternity.

Second Use.—This doctrine discovers to us the glory of the new covenant. A blessed covenant indeed that has given so rich a treasure to creatures so unworthy! We are sinners, and deserve nothing, yet when we believe in the Son of God, the gospel gives us in our measure the inheritance and possession of all things.

Adam was made Lord of this lower world; this earth and the creatures that dwell on it were put into his hands, all things below were given him for his use, his support, and his delight. Thus mankind considered in the first Adam, in his innocent estate, were lords of all. But _by one man sin entered into the world_; Rom. v. 12. and by that sin, Adam has forfeited his sovereignty and dominion, with all his large possession of the creatures, both for himself and for us. When the sentence came forth from the mouth of God, _Cursed be the ground for thy sake_; Gen. iii. 17. the curse fell on all this lower world, and did, as it were, make a seizure of the creatures out of the hands of Adam the great sinner. They are no more his in that sanctified manner for his real and final benefit, as they were before: They now become instruments of temptation and sin, pain, and sorrow and misery. But the covenant of grace restores all back again to us in and by the second Adam, who is the Lord of the new world, and under this character, is possessor of all things: And a sanctified use of all things is given to us again, in and by Christ Jesus. O glorious covenant, that can take away the curse from creatures, and make them become a blessing to the saints!

But there is a further glory in it still; for our possession of all things in the second Adam, is far more secure than it was in the first. This rich and extensive treasure is put into the hands of Christ our Mediator, our Head, and our Surety for us, that we may not abuse our possession by sin to our own ruin; and that we may not forfeit our inheritance the second time, and so lose it for ever.

Third Use.—This doctrine yields sweet consolation to a poor afflicted saint, who is taught to make a right improvement of it. The gospel should teach a christian in these circumstances, such divine language as this: “Am I poor and despised by the great and rich in this world? yet I trust I am made a child of God by his renewing grace, and the promise gives me a right to all things. God my Father has engaged that all things shall work together for my good. He has made me a joint-heir with his best-beloved Son Jesus, and has given me a fair and large inheritance. I shall be possessor of every comfort among the creatures that is necessary to my supreme interest, and my final happiness, and God himself is my eternal portion.

“What if I cannot read my name and my title to lands and houses, to green fields and palaces, in large conveyances and writings under the seal of men? but I can read my name as a christian in the covenant of grace, under the seal of God, and the blood of his Son, and there I find that all things are mine. While I survey the gardens of a rich sinner, every herb and flower there gives me more sweetness than he can find in them all: For I can converse with God my Maker, and my Father, in every herb, and every flower. While I walk amongst the trees of my neighbour’s fields, they yield me their refreshing shade, and compose my thoughts to divine meditation. I can lift up my eyes to the stately building where my neighbour dwells, and raise my thoughts thence to the mansions of glory: Then I rejoice to think how much my inheritance and my mansion there exceeds the most magnificent structure on earth. Thus his fields, and his gardens, and his stately dwelling, afford a divine light to me, which perhaps the earthly possessor of them knows nothing of: And though I have almost nothing that I can call my own on earth, yet, in this sense, _I possess all things_. My God hath given me so much of the good things of this world, as he saw needful and proper for my real interest: and surely if I might have had all things within my immediate reach, and under my sovereignty, I would not lay hold of more of them (if I were truly wise) than would promote my welfare.

“Do I sit at the footstool of the rich in the house of God; or am I but a door-keeper in the sanctuary, yet I can there hear Paul declare the sublime mysteries of the gospel, and while he reveals the wonders of God’s eternal love, my heart within me believes, and adores, and rejoices. Apollos entertains me with most affectionate discourses of the grace of Christ and his glory: my faith rises high, my love is kindled to him whom my eyes have not seen; I believe in him, I love him, and my joy grows almost unspeakable. I remember the former instructions of Cephas, who taught me the first principles of this divine religion; and I take pleasure in those sacred foundations. Blessed be God, they are unshaken, and my faith and hope, which were begun under his ministry, stand for ever firm. Paul, and Apollos, and Cephas are mine.

“It has pleased my heavenly Father indeed, to lay many sorrows upon me in this wilderness; but I have learned to think and speak like a christian, and say, Though I appear _as dying, yet behold I live_; though I am _chastised_, yet I am _not killed_: Every stroke of his rod is given by the hand of his love. His rod, like the rod of Aaron, blossoms with divine blessings, and brings forth holy fruit. These wounds that I feel let out the blood of pride, and cure the distempers of my soul. Thus the very sufferings of nature, and the sorrows of life are mine; I have learned to reckon my afflictions among my blessings; they work for my profit. Whether peace or pain, are all mine. Besides, I solace myself in the midst of my poverty and distress with this sweet meditation, that the less I enjoy of temporal comforts, and the delights of this world, if I improve my sufferings and sorrows well, there is the more joy and glory laid up for me in the world to come. _My light afflictions which are but for a moment, are working for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory_; 2 Cor. iv. 17. Is my life on earth stretched out to a tiresome age? Heaven will be much the sweeter, and after many toils, I shall have the stronger relish of an eternal rest. Or does death make haste toward me in younger years, and bring my body quickly down to the dust? My soul then is but dismissed the sooner to the building on high that is prepared for me; for whether life or death, all are mine.”

“When I cast my eyes around, and survey the present frame of things, the sun in his daily circuit, and the moon and stars in their nightly courses, my faith assures me they are all employed in rolling the months and hours away, that stand between me and immortal happiness: And when the morning of the resurrection dawns upon the earth, the gospel tells me, that I have a share in all the rising glories of that day. Should the heavens and the earth be shortly set on fire, if I have but my faith awake within me, I shall have no fear nor surprize; I myself, and all my best interests are out of the reach of these flames; my treasures are of an unperishing kind. The period of all things here below shall but usher in my brightest hours, and begin the years of my eternal pleasure; for the book of God assures me, that things present and things to come are mine. Make haste then, all ye remaining revolutions of nature; and days, and months, and ages make haste: Time cannot fly too fast for me, who have such an eternity in view. My Lord hath told me in his word, surely I come quickly, and my heart echoes to that voice of my beloved, Amen, even so come Lord Jesus.”

Fourth Use.—This doctrine requires the believer to be found in the constant exercise of faith, that so he may be able always to survey his inheritance, and take solid delight in it. Otherwise, when he sustains loss in temporal things, and sickness and trouble attend him in the flesh, he will be ready to judge by the mere principles of sense, and to think his comforts all gone, and that he has nothing left. It is faith alone can teach a believer to rejoice in this treasure given him by the covenant of grace, when the world has taken almost all sensible comforts from him. The natural man with an eye of sense looks on things just as the eye of a brute-animal beholds them, and sees nothing more than according to the common impressions they make on flesh and blood: But the eye of faith is aided by the divine glass of the covenant, which as a microscope discovers many beauties where the natural eye unassisted, can see nothing but roughness and deformity.

It is nothing but faith fixing its eyes on sanctified losses and crosses, sanctified pains, and sickness, and distresses, that can enable us to reckon these among our treasures. It is nothing but the spirit of faith that can instruct us to think ourselves rich, because we are heirs of the kingdom, while we are poor and destitute in this lower world; James ii. 5. It is the spirit of faith that taught the Apostle Paul to triumph under all his infirmities, in such language as this; _As dying and behold we live; as sorrowful, and yet always rejoicing; as poor, and yet making many rich; as having nothing_, and _yet possessing all things_; 2 Cor. vi. 9, 10. And if we have the same spirit of faith we may believe and speak the same language.

Fifth Use.—This doctrine forbids all murmuring at the hand of God, though his dispensations may have something painful and severe in them. He has given us all things indeed, by the promise of the gospel, but he has not put this treasure into our own hands, lest we should abuse and forfeit it; but he has put it into the hands of Christ for us; and it is Christ our Lord who distributes out such parcels and portions of our estate to us daily, as his perfect wisdom sees most proper to promote our real interest.

The christian under sickness, perhaps will say, Is not life and health writ down in the inventory of my inheritance? Yes, but sickness and death are written down there too, and thy Saviour knows that sickness is better for thee at this season than health. Do not murmur at his hand, for God the Father has intrusted him to manage and govern all his own vast dominions; and canst not thou entrust him to manage thy estate, to dispose of thy concerns, and to allot thy daily portion to thee?

The saint surrounded with distress and poverty, or naked, and hungry will say, Is not food and raiment, and peace specified in the articles of the covenant, and numbered among my treasures? Yes, but poverty, and hunger, and cold, and nakedness are there also: And thy heavenly Father sees it best to withhold peace and plenty from thee at present, or to give thee thy food and raiment but in a scanty measure, to mortify thy flesh, to humble thy pride, to wean thee from the creatures, to teach thee immediate dependence on himself, and to fit thee for a departure to the heavenly world.

When thou art deprived therefore of one earthly comfort after another, and the remaining good things of this life seem to be leaving thee, have a care of murmuring against thy God. Dare not take up the words of Jacob and say, “Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and will ye take Benjamin also? Surely all these things are against me;” Gen. xlii. 36. But Jacob was made to know, by sweet experience, that all these things wrought for his real advantage, and were made the means of preserving himself and his family too in a day of spreading famine and desolation.

Sixth Use.—This doctrine forbids all contention and envy at our fellow-creatures, as well as repining against God.

Is my brother healthy and strong, while I am sick and feeble and languishing? Does my brother possess more of the good things of this life than I do? It is because our common Father sees it proper to keep me shorter, and to withhold so full an allowance from me. I have an interest in the same large inheritance: I am a child of the same family; and therefore all things are mine as well as his: But I have committed it entirely to the wisdom and goodness of our heavenly Father, to put into my hands what part he pleases of my large inheritance. He is wisest, and will distribute the several portions that he sees fittest for his children, and for this reason I cannot envy my brother. It is the same kind and faithful hand that weighs and measures out my grains and scruples, and little handfuls of earthly blessings, that gives my brother his loads and his full barns.

Has the ministry of Paul been blessed to me, and not that of Apollos? Have the labours of Apollos been more blessed to my fellow-christian, or the plain and familiar instructions of Cephas? Well, I will never make any parties in the church upon this account: for all the ministers of the gospel are appointed for our edification; and I will rejoice in them all, and bless God for the service they do the family of Christ. If my portion of spiritual food be distributed to me by the hands of Paul, it is our common Father that conveys the same sacred food to another, by the hands of Cephas or Apollos; and the world shall never hear me say, “I am of Paul, in opposition to Apollos or Peter; though I must confess, God has blessed his ministrations most eminently to my soul.”

Seventh Use.—Has God given all things to the saints by the covenant of grace, surely then they should return all things back again to him, in a way of gratitude, duty and service. Has he promised to make every thing which we have to do with, concur to promote our best interest, and our final happiness? Let us then apply ourselves with zeal and diligence, to make every thing within our reach subserve his divine interests, and the glory of his kingdom.

Has my gracious God withheld nothing from me, but together with his own Son given me all things, why then should I withhold any thing from him? Why should I not devote my heart, my head, my hands, my whole self, and all things that are within my power, to the honour of his name? Does God bestow life or health or riches upon such a worthless creature as I am? Let holiness to the Lord be written upon them all. And if my fellow-creatures are poor, needy, cold, and starving, let me chearfully minister to them of my substance, which the great Lord of heaven and earth has so richly bestowed on me. My God honours me indeed, when he makes me the dispenser of his blessings among his creatures, and especially among his saints. I lose nothing by this benevolence, but am rather enriched by this very distribution. I become rich in good works, and rich in divine promises: “He that gives to the poor lendeth to the Lord, and he will repay him.” Alms are as money laid out to the best interest, and are a growing treasure.

But should I hope for no new beneficial return of all my kindness to men, the very benefits received of God my Father constrain me to this bounty. Has he given all things to a poor worthless creature, and shall I give nothing to the poor, or the unworthy? Shall I not rather imitate the profuse bounty of my God, who commands _his sun to shine, and his rain to descend both on the evil and the good_. It is a divine excellence to love and to distribute as God does.

The name of Jesus my Saviour has yet a further power to oblige me to use all my earthly possessions for his honour. Has Christ Jesus purchased this large and fair inheritance for me with his blood, has he given me much on earth, and the hopes of greater treasures in heaven, then I will be my own no longer, but give my whole self up to him, with all my powers and talents, and possessions! They are thine, blessed Saviour, they are thine for ever. It is the solemn and deliberate wish of my heart, that I may never possess or enjoy any thing from which Christ has no revenue of glory. O that his grace may enable me to employ things present for this holy purpose! And when I arrive at the actual possession of things to come, they shall be improved in an unknown but a nobler manner, for the everlasting glory of my God, my Father, and my Saviour.

The Recollection of the doctrinal part.—“In this discourse, O my soul, thou hast not only been called to survey the riches of thy inheritance, but thou hast learned also, in what manner this inheritance is made over to thee, if thou art a sincere christian, and a believer on the Son of God.

“Look backward, my soul, to eternal ages, before the world began, when God marked out the bounds of this creation, and the limits of these heavens, and this earth, he designed them with all their treasures, for the service of his holy ones, for the benefit of his children, angels and men; and thy name and thy share was written down amongst them. The great God, in those early days of his eternity, has provided a rich sufficiency for thy present and future blessedness. O may my faith take this delightful and distant retrospect, and rejoice in God’s eternal love?

“God has given all things into the hands of his own Son Jesus, whom he hath ordained Lord of all, that he might govern and dispose of all things for the good of his people. Christ is risen from the dead, and hath taken possession of all the blessings of grace and glory, in the name of his saints, that he may make them possessors in their season, and according to their measure: That he may make thee, O my soul, a rich possessor of so fair an inheritance; and that he may keep every part of it secure for thee, till in succession of times and seasons, both in earth and in heaven, thou art fit to receive and enjoy it. If thou art made a joint-heir with Christ, thou art heir of all things.”

But remember, it is a living faith in Christ that must entitle thee to this rich inheritance. It is of infinite importance then, to search often and enquire, Am I a christian indeed? A sincere convert, a believer in Jesus? And does my faith evidence itself in all the fruits of repentance, love, and holiness? O may I feel my soul to live daily this divine life by the faith of the Son of God, that I may maintain a humble claim to these treasures of mercy laid up in the gospel, treasures committed to the hands of Christ to be kept safe for me.

“And may the blessed Spirit instruct me daily to improve all things to my spiritual and eternal benefit, that I may not be like a fool, who has a prize put into his right-hand, and knows not how to make use of it! May I be taught to draw some sacred advantage, some holy delight and refreshment from the continual new scenes and occurrences of life! May I derive knowledge, and love, and heavenly sweetness from the surprizing works of God, as the God of nature, and from the more surprizing wonders of his grace! May I learn something divine and holy from all the transactions of his providence, and the various turns and changes of this present state, till I am prepared and _made meet for_ a more fit and ample possession of the everlasting _inheritance of the saints in light_!” Amen.

HYMN FOR SERMON XXXVIII.
_All things working together for Good._

My soul survey thy happiness,
If thou art found a child of grace,
How richly is the gospel stor’d!
What joy the promises afford!

“All things are ours;” the gift of God,
And purchas’d with our Saviour’s blood,
While the good Spirit shews us how
To use and to enjoy them too.

If peace and plenty crown my days,
They help me, Lord, to speak thy praise;
If bread of sorrows be my food,
These sorrows work my real good.

I would not change my bless’d estate
With all that flesh calls rich or great;
And while my faith can keep her hold,
I envy not the sinner’s gold.

Father I wait thy daily will,
Thou shalt divide my portion still,
Grant me on earth what seems thee best
Till death and heav’n reveal the rest.

SERMON XXXIX.
_The right Improvement of Life._
1 COR. iii. 22.—Whether life or death,—all are yours.

It is a large and fair inheritance that belongs to the children of God. They have no need to divide themselves into little parties, and to quarrel about their particular interest in one minister or another, in one blessing or another; for whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, whether life or death, all things are theirs.

My former discourses have explained in what sense christians possess all things, and that is, that all things present or to come, that can any way affect or concern them, shall certainly turn to their benefit, and subserve their great and final interest. I proceed now more particularly to enlarge on the words, which I had chiefly in my design, _whether life or death, all are yours_. The first doctrine arising from the words is this, “Life itself, and the continuance of it to the saints, is for their advantage.” Now to improve this proposition to practical purposes, I shall do these things:

I. I shall make it appear under a variety of instances, that life is designed for the benefit of christians.—II. I would amplify and confirm the doctrine yet further, by discovering what a variety of graces may be exercised on earth, which can have no place in heaven; and make it appear, that in some respects, a saint below hath advantage above the saints that are on high.—III. I shall answer a considerable objection or two that seems to rise against the doctrine, while I am treating of it: And, at last some inferences will be drawn from the whole discourse.

First let me shew wherein life appears to be a benefit to true believers. _Life is yours_, O christians, for

1. This is the time that was given you for your reconciliation to God, and securing your everlasting interest. All the elect of God are born into this world sinful and miserable, by their relation to the first Adam, therefore St. Paul seems to include himself, as well as the heathen infidels, when he speaks of the iniquity of their nature, and the guilt of their state. Eph. ii. 2. _We all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath even as others._ Now this life is the time given to seek deliverance from the wrath to come, to fly to the hope that is set before us; _now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation_; 1 Cor. vi. 2. Now while we are in our state of trial, before the gates of the grave have closed upon us, and before the gates of hell have been opened to receive us.

We are all, by nature, strangers to God, enemies in our minds by wicked works, and under sentence of condemnation: Remember, O sinners, this is the time to get acquaintance with God, to return to his service, and obtain his special favour. We are defiled and guilty creatures: This is the hour of cleansing while the fountain of the blood of Christ stands open, to wash us from sin and uncleanness. We are, by nature, utterly unfit for heaven, and all the works and the joys of it, because of the vicious inclinations that govern us. This is the day of repentance as well as pardon: This is the day given to us to insure those blessed mansions on high, and to obtain preparing graces. This temporal life is the only season, wherein the sentence of our condemnation can be reversed, and wherein we may obtain eternal forgiveness, and a right to life everlasting. The blood and righteousness of the Son of God, are not proposed nor offered to guilty creatures in the other world. Now is the time to acquire a meetness for the inheritance in light through the sanctifying influences of the blessed Spirit.

After death there is nothing of this kind to be done: There is no work, nor device, no knowledge, nor wisdom, no faith or repentance to be exercised, no such duty to be performed among the dead, no opportunity to rectify, the mistakes of life: There is no grace to be obtained for sinners _in the grave, whither we are all travelling_; Eccl. ix. 10. What is left undone at that awful moment, must be for ever undone. At the voice of the summons we must go, whether pardoned or unpardoned, whether holy or unholy, whether hoping or despairing. And a dreadful spectacle it is, as your eyes ever beheld, to see a sinner expiring in full and raging despair.

But O what infinite advantage has it been to christians, that they have enjoyed, this golden hour of grace, and been taught to improve it well! What, had become of you, O believers, if ye had been arrested some years ago by the messengers of death, and hurried away into eternity? Where had your portion been, if ye had been sent down to the grave in the midst of your sins, before you were awakened or convinced of your folly and danger, before you had felt inward repentance, or had been acquainted with Jesus that bought and bestows forgiveness; before ye had known the virtue of his reconciling blood, or seen the face of a God reconciled? While your hearts and life were all unclean and unholy, your death must have been dreadful, and your soul for ever unhappy. What infinite honours are due to the patience and long-suffering of your God, and to the mercy and mediation of Jesus your Saviour? Glory be to divine patience, and divine grace, for life prolonged, and a sinner saved!

II. Life is yours; it is your opportunity of doing much service for Christ, and manifesting your gratitude for his redeeming love; 2 Cor. v. 15. _They who live, should not henceforth live to themselves, but to him that died for them, and rose again._

Here on earth, you may speak of the wonders of his grace that has saved you, and publish his love that is unspeakable: You may tell sinners of the infinite dimensions of this love, to invite them to partake of the same salvation. Here your lips, and your tongues may be delightfully employed, in declaring what you have tasted of the blessings of the gospel, and the grace of Christ; and call others to _taste and see that the Lord is good, and how blessed the man is that trusteth in him_! Ps. xxxiv. 8. Here you make it known, for the support of poor convinced wretches that are ready to despair, what heights and what lengths, what breadths and what depths there are in the love of Christ; for it reached your soul even at the borders of hell, it spread wide to cover all your great and heinous iniquities; it rises high, for it has lifted your hopes to heaven, and it stretches its sweet and sovereign influence beyond the length of time, and provides for your life and happiness that shall measure out eternity. Here you may proclaim the praises of your Redeemer to an ignorant world, you may promote his interest a hundred ways on earth, and thus glorify your Saviour which is in heaven.

This is not to be done in the same manner, nor for the same blessed purposes amongst the saints above. When the body lies senseless and mouldering in the grave, the tongue cannot praise the Lord: _The living, the living, they praise thee as we do this day_, as Hezekiah did when he was recovered from sickness, and had a sense of pardoned sin. Is. xxxviii. 17, 18. _In love to my soul, thou hast delivered it from the pit of corruption, for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. The grave cannot praise thee, the dead cannot celebrate thee; they that go down to the pit cannot hope for thy truth._ This is the proper work of the living saint, to make known to sinners the grace of salvation.

Life is the only time of such work and service. “Opportunity, (saith a writer on this subject) is like a golden instrument to dig for heavenly treasure: Do not wear it out as many have done in digging for pebbles, and at your latter end become a fool. Plead not your mean capacity: _Kings of the earth, and all people, old men and children may praise the Lord_; Ps. cxlviii. 11, 12. Serve your age according to your talent; Mat. xxv. 15. He that had but one talent, but a single capacity, was called to account for it, and cast into outer darkness. Think how many opportunities you have out-lived, which will never have their resurrection: Redeem lost time, by improving what remains. Project improvements of life, since your light is near extinguished. Make up in affection what may be wanting in action. If you cannot do much, yet love much. If our servants should work no better for us than many have done for God, we should turn them out of doors. Stir up others to work for God, that you may do by their hand what you cannot do by your own.” Thus this pious author.

Let us consider what glorious services have been done for God, by the long continuance of saints in this world. Survey the labours and the sufferings, the ministry, the zeal and the success of the blessed apostles, who planted the first christian churches. What monuments of honour did they raise among Jews and strangers, among Greeks and barbarians, the savage and the polite heathens, to their crucified and exalted Saviour! What multitudes of subjects were brought to bow the knee to Jesus by their preaching! What a large harvest of souls was gathered unto Christ, when the apostle scattered the seed of the gospel all round the countries, from Jerusalem, through the provinces of the lesser Asia, and through the southern parts of Europe, as some have supposed, as far as Spain! And the Redeemer was glorified by his labours where the name of the true God the Creator was hardly known before. What an extensive blessing to the world was the life of Paul? It is to this, that the following ages of christianity, as well as the primitive saints, owe the unspeakable benefit of his writings; and it is to this, that Great Britain owes the blessing of his divine epistles. How honourable was it for St. Paul himself, and how happy for us, that he was made an instrument of such service to Christ, such a glorious service, as spread itself around the nations, and reached to distant ages of mankind. His long life was an illustrious blessing both to himself and to the christian world.

III. Life is yours, O christians, for it allows many a proper season for giving examples of holiness to mankind. And it is a honour to a saint, to be made an example of religion amongst a nation of sinners, or a pattern of holiness, among the churches of believers. Herein you become followers and imitators of the blessed Lord your Master: He is the first pattern, he is the most glorious example; for in all things he must have the pre-eminence.

If you become a public and a shining example of virtue, and piety, and goodness, you may attain these four very valuable ends at once:

1. By this means you pay great and just honours to the blessed gospel whereby you are saved, and confound and silence the impious accusations and slanders of the wicked: And especially if your station and rank in the world make you the object of more public notice, either in a city, in a village, in a neighbourhood, or in any society of men, then like a candle or a torch set on a hill, you diffuse light and honour far around you, and God and the gospel are glorified on your account. And not only in the higher stations of life, but even servants of the lowest character, if they are but saints, _may adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things_; Titus ii. 10. It is greatly for the credit of our holy religion, when the men of this world seeing our good works, are forced to confess that there is something divine in christianity, that God is amongst us of a truth; and by these means they are constrained to glorify our Father, and our Redeemer, and our holy religion. This is the command of Christ; Mat. v. 16.

2. Hereby sinners are not only convinced that there is a power and glory in the doctrine of Christ, but many a soul has been converted to the faith of Jesus, by beholding the pious conversation, the heavenly graces, the holy love, the divine zeal, the constancy, the patience, and the sufferings of christians. The good women in St. Peter’s days were exhorted to invite and draw their unbelieving husbands to the faith and love of the gospel, by beholding their chaste conversation, coupled with religious fear, and the ornament of a meak and a quiet spirit; 1 Pet. iii. 1-4. Look forward, O christians, to the last great day, and think with what a pleasing joy you shall hear those who have been converted by your example, and reformed from a licentious course of life, declare this to your public honour before men and angels: Your holy example though buried long in silence, shall have a glorious resurrection in that day, and the Judge himself shall proclaim it to your praise, that he used your piety here on earth, as an instrument of his grace to enlarge his kingdom.

3. Hereby christians of a lower form, and those that are babes in Christ, are awakened to a holy imitation of your superior virtues and graces. It was the continuance of St. Paul in this life, through the various stages of it, that recommended him as a pattern to the believers of his day, in all the various circumstances of their lives; and the longer he lived, the more glorious example he left behind him, for the benefit of the saints, that they might _be followers of him as he was of Christ_; 1 Cor. xi. 1. And I may add in the

Fourth place, Where a christian of shining virtues and of diffusive goodness is blessed with a long life, the memory of his example, and the sweet savour of his graces, remain the longer on earth, after his own departure to heaven. It is like a rich perfume that has lain some considerable time among garments, it communicates a pleasant fragrancy to the apparel long after the perfume itself is removed. Thus many a saint, by the sweet odour of his name, has done honour to the gospel in the place where he lived, while his bones are mouldering in the dust: The history of his various virtues has dwelt long on the lips of the surviving neighbours, and perhaps, hath awakened others to an imitation of such a pattern many years after his decease.

Whether example be of any use in heaven, or whether the saints of lower rank there may be excited to holy imitation, by the superior graces or glories of more eminent saints, is not so well known to us; but this we may be well assured of, that the example of christians can have no use in that happy world, to guard the doctrine of Christ from profane reproaches, or to convince or convert sinners and infidels. It is the living, and the living alone, that can do this service for Christ, and glorify his gospel in such instances as these:

But I proceed to another advantage of our continuance in this world.

IV. Life is yours; for it gives opportunity for abounding in good works to the great benefit of mankind. The longer a saint lives, if he maintains his character with honour, he becomes so much a greater blessing to the world. But what a deal of good ceases with the life of a good man!

Christians, ye are required to maintain good works for the honour of your Father, and for the glory of your Saviour, who hath purchased you to be a peculiar people, zealous of good works: But there is another reason for them too, and that is, “these things are good and profitable to men;” Titus ii. 14. compared with the third chapter, verse 8. Every day of life opens some new scenes, wherein you may be serviceable to your neighbours, your relatives, your fellow-creatures, and so make the world the better for you.

The days and years of life should be numbered by the multitude of good works, as much as by the revolutions of the sun and moon: For lost and wasted time should not come into the account of life. But if this were our way of counting, what should we say of thousands, who have lived to no other purpose but to eat and drink, and to make up the number of mankind? O it is a mean and pitiful thing only to be old in time, and not in duties to God, or benefits to men. And, as an author speaks on this subject, All the good works of many who are stricken in years will lie in a very little compass: To be an ancient man or woman of two or three years old, sounds like a contradiction, and it is, indeed, a matter of great shame, and ought to awaken deep repentance.

How many are there that live to no purpose at all, and the world will not miss them when they are gone? How many that live to wicked purpose, and the world is glad to be rid of them? Some are mere cumberers of the ground, and some are perfect nuisances, and public mischiefs. Such should never pretend to the name of christians. Let us remember it was the character of our blessed Lord, that _he went about doing good; and he was willing to work those works while it was his day of life; for the night was coming on him wherein he should have no such sort of work to do_; John ix. 4. O may our Saviour be our pattern, and let us be followers of the holy Jesus! Alas! what a noble pattern! what slow and distant followers.

It was this desire of service to the world, that put the great apostle into a strait betwixt two, as in Philip. i. 23. He knew not what to ask for; _Shall I pray for death and glory, my heart hath a wish that way? It is far better for me to depart, and to be with Christ: Or shall I desire to continue in life? This is for the service of your faith, and furtherance of your joy; therefore I am content, saith he, to have my crown and glory deferred, that my longer life may be your advantage. O what an illustrious spirit of zeal and love reigned in the heart of this apostle!_

_Ye are the light of the world_, saith Christ to his disciples; Mat. v. 13, 14. What a dark dungeon would this world be, if it had never a saint in it? _Ye are the salt of the earth_; What corruption of manners would overspread the face of the earth! What vile communications, and odious practices would defile the world in a few years, if every christian were dead! What shameful and abominable works had over-run the heathen nations, before Christ and his gospel appeared, and the idolaters were made christians! A saint in a family, is like _the ark of God in the house_ of Obed-edom; 2 Sam. vi. 12. _For the Lord blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertained to him, because of the ark of God._ A pious soul is a Joseph in the family of Potiphar; Gen. xxxix. 5. _When the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the field._

A number of saints in a city, or a nation, are many times like Noah, Daniel, and Job, in the midst of them. They guard the public by their prayers from mighty ruin and wide desolation. Sodom itself had been saved, if there had been ten righteous souls in it. And I am persuaded, Great-Britain had been a kingdom of idolaters and slavery, or a heap of confusion and slaughter, and a field of blood long ago, because of the provoking wickedness in the midst of it, had it not been for the few righteous that have always stood in the gap: There have been always some powerful pleaders at the mercy seat, when the wrath of God and the destroying angels have been breaking in like a flood upon us, some Moses and Samuel to withhold the desolation, when popery and tyranny have been just at our gates, and ready to overwhelm us.