2. The better thing provided for Chriftians, cannot be the refurrection from the dead, and the being, after that, received into the heavenly Jerufalem; fince herein we fhall have nothing better than the good people who lived under the law: therefore, better things can only mean our enjoyment of God immediately upon our leaving this world.

It is ftrange then that Bishop Fell, and Whitby fay, the better thing meals the Mejfias, or the heavenly country to be fully poffeffed at the end of the world.

He fays,

Of the fame opinion is Pyle. our pious ancestors under the law, though in a state of reft and happiness, after death, yet received not the full and complete enjoyment of celestial glory, that being deferred till the laft and great difpenfation of the Meffiah be paft, that fo they and fincere Christians, may be all rewarded and crowned together, with the happiness both of body and foul, at the final day of judgment: But if fo, tell me Mr. Pyle, where is the better thing provided for us Chriftians ?

3. Besides, if the Apoftle may be his own interpreter, the word perfect means the intermediate ftate of good fouls in paradise, and not the complete state after the refurE 3

rection.

rection. In the next chapter, he speaks of the fpirits of the juft made perfect, by which he means undoubtedly the feparate fouls now in glory.

In a word, the defign of the Apoftle was to prove that, fince God has provided fome better thing for us, we appear to be more in his favour; and therefore the argument from their being juftified to our being juftified by faith, is ftronger, that is, fuch a faith as has an operative influence, by rendering our lives a comment upon the bleffed nature of God.

And that this was the meaning of the Apostle in the fomething better provided for us Chriftians, appears yet plainer from the confequence drawn by the infpired writer, to wit, that we ought with the greater patience and courage to endure perfecution, fince God has provided fomething better for us than for them. If th. ancient believers held out, who expected but a state of fleep, till the time of the general refurrection: much more fhould we patiently fuffer affliction and even death tfelf, for the fake of truth, and of the gospel, when we know, that God has promifed us fomething better; to wit, that we shall be conducted to paradife immediately after death,

and

and be there fpirits of juft men made perfect, and be with Chrift, which is far better than either to fleep after death, or to live longer in this world.

Let us lay afide (then) every weight, and the fin which doth fo eafily befet us, and let us run with patience the race that is fet before us. Let us put away every thing from us, that would hinder us from improving in virtue and goodness; looking to and imitating Jefus, the leader and captain of the faithful, and an example of fpotlefs virtue and perfect obedience. The love of the world is enmity with God, and to place our affections here, is to vilify that better provifion which he has made for us. are but strangers and pilgrims here. The human ftate is but a paffage, not a place of abode. It is a itation of exercise and difcipline, and was not defigned for the place of enjoyment. That happy country is before us.

We

AVOIDINGS.

Avoid all indirect arts in the pursuit of a fortune.--All unlawful methods in felf-prefervation. And every gratification that militates with reafon and benevolence.

The Offices of a Chriftian.

Thefe are heavenly-mindednefs, and contempt of the world, and chufing rather to die than commit a moral evil. Such things, however, are not much efteemed by the generality of Christians: Most people laugh at them, and look upon them as indifcretions; therefore there is but little true chriftianity in the world. It has never been my luck to meet with many people that had these three neceffary qualifications.—And as for the people, exclufive of their going to church to make a character- or to ogle one another-or out of fuperftition to perform fo much opus operatum, a job of lipfervice, which they idly fancy to be religion, they, I mean the great and the small, might as well be Heathens as Chriftians, for any real chriftian purpose they answer, in a ftrict adherence to the three offices aforementioned. The name of Chriftian founds over Europe, and large parts of Afia, Africa, and America: But if a Chriftian is what St. Paul defines it, to wit, a man that is heavenly-minded, that contemns the world, and would die rather than commit a moral evil, then is the number of Chriftans very small indeed.

The

The meaning of John vi. 44. No man can come to me, except the Father draw him.

That is, -No one can be a Christian, unlefs his regard for the Deity and natural religion inclines him to receive a more improved scheme of religion.

But Dr. Young, in one of his fermons, explains this text in the following words.No man can live up to the religion of Jefus, and reach Chriftian perfection, unless the Father enlightens and enables him, by the operative influence of his Holy Spirit. We can do nothing, in refpect of what ought to be done, to be more than nominal Chrif tians, without the inward principle of fanctification.This I think is mere me

thodism.

N. B. The excellent Dr. Lardner expounds the text in the following words: — No man will come to me, and receive my pure, fublime, and spiritual doctrine, unless he have firft gained fome juft apprehensions concerning the general principles of religion. And if a man have fome good notions of God, and his perfections, and his will, as already revealed, he will come unto me. If any man is well difpofed if he E 5

has