to perfection ..... that he may always add to the impression of what we know, by throwing a vel of indeinte coscurity over his character. The shades in which he will for ever conceal himself, will have the same tendency to excite our adoring wonder as the effulgence of his glory; the depths in which he will retire from our view, the recesses of his wisdom and power, as the open paths of his manifestation. Were we capable of comprehending the Deity, devotion would not be the sublimest employment to which we can attain. In the contemplation of such a Being, we are in no danger of going beyond our subject; we are conversing with an infinite object ..... in the depths of whose essence and purposes we are for ever lost. This will probably give all the emotions of freshness and astonishment to the raptures of the beatific vision, and add a delightful zest to the devotions of eternity. This will enable the Divine Being to pour in continually fresh accessions of light; to unfold new views of his character, disclose new parts of his perfection, open new mansions in himself, in which the mind will have ample room to expatiate. Thus shall we learn, to eternity, that, so far from exhausting his infinite fulness, there still remain infinite recesses in his nature unexplored-scenes in his counsels, never brought before the view of his creatures; that we know but "parts of his ways;" and that instead of exhausting our theme, we are not even approaching nearer to the comprehension of the Eternal All. It is the

mysteriousness of God, the inscrutability of his essence, the shade in which he is invested, that will excite those peculiar emotions, which nothing but transcendent perfection and unspeakable grandeur can inspire.

Before I conclude this discourse, permit me to remind you, that while there are many things which God conceals, and thereby advances his glory, he has made manifest whatever is essential for man to know. Whatever is intimately connected with our duty is most plainly taught; whatever is important to our welfare and happiness is fully revealed. Do not for a moment imagine that he has concealed any thing that bears a near relation to your interest. "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good." He has distinctly set before you the good and evil of a future life. It is true, you know not the time of your death, but you know that you are mortal; you know not the particulars of what will succeed death, but you know that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and also of the unjust; that they who have done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life, they that have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. Jesus Christ has disclosed in the gospel, as far as they are important for any practical purposes, the realities of eternity; has announced to you his second appearance to raise the dead, and decide the eternal destinies of the human race; to separate between the righteous and the wicked, place every individual of mankind in one of those classes, and divide

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them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. He has told you that he will say to the former, "Depart, ye cursed, into everlast– ing fire;" and to the latter, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." He has assured you, that those who die in a state of impenitence, unbelief, and alienation from God, will sink into eternal misery; that their doom shall be to go away into everlasting punishment, the portion of the devil and his angels. Those, on the contrary, who are righteous, who are penitent believers, shall be raised in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and then caught up to meet the Lord in the air; afterwards be assessors with him in the judgement; and, at the end of that solemn process, shall enter with him through the gates into the city, and be for ever with the Lord. You are assured, that, immediately after the event of your death has taken place, there will remain no possibility of a change in your condition-that you will take possession of all the horrors of hell, or all the glories of heaven, the moment that the vapour of your life is extinguished in the element of death. He has told He has told you, that you must have to do with Christ, either in the exercise of faith and trust here, or of astonishment and surprise, when you shall lift up your eyes and see, in the person of a neglected Saviour, your offended Sovereign and righteous Judge! Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him; they also that pierced him shall wail because of

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him."

"Before him shall be gathered all nations." They who have not received his gospel, submitted to his sceptre, cast themselves into the arms of shall be banished for ever from

his grace his presence. The divine glory is intrusted to him; the destinies of the world are committed to his hands. You have no other resource but to "kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." He has not only disclosed to you the fact, but also many of the circumstances and appendages of that solemn assize, in which the eternal destinies of all mankind will be determined ;—that a great white throne will be spread, and from the face of him that sitteth upon it the heavens and the earth will flee away;that the books shall be opened, and all men judged out of the things written in those books, "according to their works ;"*-that the secrets of all hearts shall be made manifest; and an eternity of happiness or misery dealt out to every one by his mighty hand, according to the deeds done in the body, whether they be good or evil;-that the earth and all the works that are therein shall be burned up; that the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements melt with fervent heat;-that for the abode of the righteous there shall be new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness; that in the bottomless

*Rev. xx. 11-13.

abyss prepared for apostate angels, all the wicked shall be for ever confined.

These are subjects on which the wisdom of man can say nothing, or can utter but the feeble articulations of infancy. . . . . The highest efforts of human sagacity reach not beyond the bounds of time; they cannot pass the threshold of eternity. They are scanty and inadequate, and leave the world in darkness and misery, compared with these discoveries of revelation. Do not conclude, from the partial obscurity which attends some of its truths, that religion is not the great concern of accountable immortal creatures, or that you will be justified in disregarding such affecting prospects as these. No, my brethren, this obscurity is not such as to hide from you your great interest, to make a right choice doubtful, or render it matter of the least hesitation whether you should serve God or not. revealed enough, where the light of the gospel comes, to give men the clearest information concerning their eternal welfare; has set before them life, and has set before them death; has pointed out the broad and the narrow way; shewn them the path of destruction, that they may avoid itand the way of life, that they may walk in it. Jesus Christ has come to render these things so plain and obvious, that even "wayfaring men, though fools, may not err therein." Though, with respect to the constitution of his person, mysterious as his Divine Father, being "the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person;"

God has