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brethren! when we ascend the heavenly mount, and take large surveys all around of the immensity of the works of God; when the unveiled perfections of the Deity suddenly shine upon our eyes in all their naked glory, upon our waking from the sleep of death, how shall we be lost in wonders! What scenes of contemplation will then open upon our gazing minds! How shall we be astonished at ourselves, and ready to vent our surprise in some such strains as these! "Is this I, who so lately was grovelling in yonder world? how changed! how ennobled! how glorified! Is this the soul that was once so overrun with the leprosy of sin! once so blind and dark! once so perverse and depraved! so feeble and weak! tormented with vain anxieties and trifling cares, or transported with empty joys and delusive prospects! Is this the soul that had so many hard conflicts with temptations, that felt such shocks of jealousy, and so often languished under desponding fears of seeing this glorious place! Oh how changed! how free from every anxious care! unmolested by so much as a guilty thought! nobly triumphant over sin and sorrow, and all that is feared in its mortal state! And is this my once frail, mortal body? my incumbrance in yonder world? how amazingly transformed! how gloriously fashioned! Oh to what a pitch of excellency and bliss can almighty grace raise the meanest worm! and oh! in what raptures of praise should I celebrate this grace through all eternity!" Thus may we think the glorified saint would express his wonder. But alas! we know just nothing about it. The sensations and language of immortals are beyond our comprehension. But,

Thirdly, We are just on the brink of this surprising state. A few years, perhaps a few moments, may open to our eyes these amazing scenes: the next day, or the next hour they may flash upon us; and oh! where are we then?

in what a strange world! among what new beings! and what shall we then be? Oh! how amazingly transformed! Should you see a clod from beneath your feet, rising and brightening into a star, or shining like the noon-day sun, the transformation would not be half so astonishing. Then we have done with all beneath the sun; all the little things of this trifling world will vanish at once like a vapour; and all before us will be the most important and majestic realities. Therefore,

Fourthly, how astonishing is it that we should think so little of what is before us! that we should still stumble on in the dark, thoughtless of these approaching wonders! Ye sons of God, what are you doing, that you think no more of your relation to God, and your heavenly inheritance? If a large estate, or the government of the kingdom should fall to you to-morrow, and you were told of it beforehand, would it not always dwell upon your thoughts, and keep you awake this night with the eager prospect? What! would things comparatively low fix your attention? and can you be thoughtless of a glory and bliss that infinitely surpass all your present conceptions? And you, unregenerate sinners, though I cannot say you are near to glory, yet I may assure you, you are near to the eternal world, and all its solemn wonders: this night perhaps you may be there; and if you land there in your present condition, you are undone, you are ruined, you are inconceivably miserable for ever. Therefore,

Fifthly, O sinners, why do you not labour to become the sons of God now while you may? Consider what prodigies of misery, what monuments of vengeance you will soon be, if you continue unregenerate! Alas! sirs, it does not yet appear what you shall soon be, otherwise you could no more rest in your present case, than upon the top of a mast, or upon burning coals. And, poor

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194 NATURE AND BLESSEDNESS OF SONSHIP WITH GOD.

creatures, have you a mind to be initiated into those horrid mysteries of woe, and be taught them by experience? Will not you believe the repeated declarations of eternal truth, that they are intolerably dreadful, and that, till you are the sons of God, till you are born again, and have the dispositions of children towards him, you cannot have a moment's security for escaping them? Alas! I must pity you; and I call upon all the children of God to pour out the tears of their compassion over you.

Sixthly: Let me call upon all the sons of God in this assembly to admire his love in conferring this dignity upon them. "Behold! what manner of love is this, that we shall be called the sons of God!" Consider what you were, guilty, rebellious creatures, condemned to everlasting tortures; and you will own, that to be just delivered from hell, though it had been by annihilation, would be an inconceivable favour for you: but for you to be the sons of God, to be made glorious beyond the reach of thought, to be transformed into happy somethings that you can now form no ideas of, and this, too, at the expense of the blood of God; what love is this! Go home, and forget it if you can. I may as well bid you live without breathing if

you can.

Seventhly: Let me conclude with this reflection: how honourable, how happy, how glorious, are the sons of God! how immense their privileges! how rich their inheritance! Why then are they so backward to enter upon it? how unaccountable, how absurd their eager attachment to this world, and their unwillingness to die! Why so much afraid of ascending to their Father's house? Why so shy of glory and bliss? Why so fond of slavery and imprisonment? Oh, my brethren, be always on the wing, ready for flight, and be always looking out and crying, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen.

SERMON XXXIV.

A SERMON ON THE NEW YEAR.

JER. XXVIII. 16.-This year thou shalt die."

WHILE We are entering upon the threshold of a new year, it may be proper for us to stand, and pause, and take a serious view of the occurrences that may happen to us this year, that we may be prepared to meet them. Future contingencies are indeed unknown to us; and this ignorance is as agreeable to our present state, and as conducive to our improvement and happiness, as our knowledge of the things which it concerns us to know. But though we cannot predict to ourselves the particular events that may befall us, yet the events of life in general, in a vague indeterminate view, are not so contingent and unknowable as to leave no room for rational suppositions, and probable expectations. There are certain events which regularly happen to us every year, and therefore we may expect them this year. There are others which sometimes occur in the compass of a year, and sometimes do not;

This sermon was preached at the college at Nassau Hall, and consequently to a number of young persons, Jan. 1, 1761. The author died the 4th of February following.

It was a remarkable circumstance that the Rev. Aaron Burr, a former President of the college of New Jersey, on the first day of the year wherein he died, preached a sermon on this same text.

Upon being seized with his last sickness, about three weeks after this sermon was preached, Davies adverted to this circumstance, and mentioned it as remarkable that he had been undesignedly led to preach, as it were, his own funeral sermon. [EDITOR OF THE BOARD OF PUBLICATION.]

such are many of the blessings and afflictions of life; of these we should be apprehensive, and prepare for them. And there are events which we know are before us, and we are sure they will occur; but at what particular time they will happen, whether this year or next, whether this day or to-morrow, is to us an utter uncertainty. Such is that interesting event, the close of the present life, and our entrance into eternity. That we must die, is as certain as that we now live; but the hour or year when, is kindly and wisely concealed from us, that we may be always ready, and stand in the posture of constant vigilant expectation; that we may not be surprised. But certainly it becomes us to reflect seriously upon the mere possibility of this event happening this year, and realize to ourselves those important consequences that result from this supposition. The mere possibility of this may justly affect us more than the certain expectation of any other futurity. And it is not only possible, but highly probable, death may meet some of us within the compass of this year. Yes, it is highly probable, that if some prophet, like Jeremiah, should open to us the book of the divine decrees, one or other of us would there see our sentence, and the time of its execution fixed. Thus saith the Lord-This year thou shalt die. There some of us would find it written, "This year thou shalt enjoy a series of prosperity, to try if the goodness of God will lead thee to repentance." Others might read this melancholy line, "This year shall be to thee a series of afflictions: this year thou shalt lose thy dearest earthly support and comfort; this year thou shalt pine away with sickness, or agonize with torturing pain, to try if the kind severities of a father's rod will reduce thee to thy duty." Others, I hope, would read the gracious decree, "This year, thy stubborn spirit, after long resistance, shall be sweetly constrained to bow to the des

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