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his iniquity-the fincere and upright man has need of none of them. In fhort, the good man finds no toil or difficulty in being what he profeffeth; he loves religion, and therefore he lives in the practice of it; all the reward he is feeking, is, that which flows from the divine approbation, and a good life. He is always fafe under the divine protection, and will affuredly be crowned with honor, immortality, and glory, when this life is done, and he enters into the prefence of that God whom he hath loved and ferved.

But I must conclude, with a word or two of inquiry and advice.

My good friends, be not offended if I call upon you, most seriously, to enquire whether or not you have the least taint of guile or hypocrify in the mind. It is a needful inquiry. If this root of bitterness has any place, it will spoil all your virtue, and rob you of every comfort and joy. Why should we covet the praise of men? What is it to us, if we have not the praife of God, and the teftimony of a good confcience? Confider that all deceit and guile are fully known to the Lord, and will be one day all laid open. Let us not, for ten thoufand worlds, indulge a thought, fpeak a word, or do an action, but what we should be willing all the angels in heaven should fee and know. Let us ever deteft the character, the conduct, and the life of a hypocrite. It is altogether deteftable and vile. But, on the other hand, fincerity, uprightness, true religion, are

noble

noble and honorable. Thefe are what we shall never be ashamed of, either in this life or the future -either before devils, men, angels, or even Jehovah himself. The fincere, the righteous man, is bold as a lion-nothing can difmay him-he will stand before God and angels with confidence, joy, and honor, when the hypocrite calls for the mountains and rocks to fall upon him and cover his guilty tortured foul from fhame, contempt, and woe.

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The real chriftian may be despised in this life, but it will only be by thofe whofe praise would be a reproach. He cannot be defpifed by the goodthese must honor him, efteem, and love him. You know, you well know, that the way to true honor, to real applaufe, is to be what we profefs to be, as christians—that is, to love the Lord our God, live in charity with man, and walk in the ways of truth and righteoufnefs-thefe ways are ways of pleasantness, these paths are paths of peace, and they lead us to the fummit of glory, honor, and renown-even to the kingdom of God our Father and Saviour, in whofe prefence there is fulness of joy, honor, and happiness. And may the Lord Jefus Christ preserve us from all hypocrify and deceitthat we may be upright, faithful, and fincere, in all our ways and that, when we ftand at his bar of judgment, we may be Ifraelites indeed, in whom there is no guile! Amen.

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SERMON XI.

THE TRUE CORRESPONDENCE

OF

PETER, JAMES, AND JOHN.

MATT. xvii. 1, 2, 3.

And after fix days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them; and his face did fhine as the fun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold there appeared unto them, Moses and Elias, talking with him.

As S the grand and principal object I have in view, in all my public labors, is to bring my hearers to a true knowledge of the facred fcriptures, and thus to truth and goodness; so it will be my constant endeavor to open the spiritual sense of that word, according to that degree of light I may have concerning it—as I am fully convinced the more the

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understanding is enlightened by divine truth, the more the will muft be affected with goodness.And although the opening the fpiritual sense of the word will involve in it both doctrinal and practical fubjects, and lead to the difcuffion of them, yet I fhall fee it my duty (occafionally) to infift upon thofe fubjects in a more particular manner, for reafons which, I prefume, must be obvious to every judicious mind; as it is neceffary to accommodate the method of inftruction, as well as the matter of it, to the different ftates of men-fome receiving it beft in one mode, and fome in another. For the great end we fhould all have in view in preaching, reading, converfation, &c. fhould be to receive fpiritual inftruction, and to communicate it. And as I have often observed to you, that there is not a fingle fentence in all the word of the Lord, but what has an internal spiritual meaning; and as fpiritual knowledge is true knowledge, calculated to make us both wife and happy;-it is, therefore, highly incumbent upon us to make ourselves acquainted therewith, to the utmost of our capacity. It is a pleafing employment-a moft delightful work-and will well compenfate us for all our diligence and care.

The text before us, when truly and spiritually understood, is replete with heavenly inftruction. It includes fubjects of the utmost importance; but, viewed barely in the letter, it seems to exhibit nothing more than a very fhort account of a circumstance

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stance which took place when our Lord was in the flesh. And yet, even in this view of it, there is one thing which, I believe, christians in general have not attended to; and that is, that Mofes and Elias not only appeared before Jefus and his three difciples-but alfo actually talked with Jefus. What I mean is, that christians might have known that Mofes and Elias, and confequently all other perfons, are proper living men after death, as well as before; that they are not mere ærial existences, but men, capable of talking, feeing, hearing, and the like, out of the body of flesh, as much as in it. Thefe men talked with Jefus, and the difciples faw them therefore they were proper men, in perfect human form, as every one of us fhall be, immediately after death, without this body of duft, which we then lay down, never more to re-affume or want; having spiritual fubftantial bodies, fuited to that spiritual state; and therefore (as wifely obferved) death is only a continuation of life-we being equally men as before, and in a much more perfect ftate without the body of duft than with it; as that is only useful in our prefent imperfect state of existence.

Thus much, I fay, might have been gathered from the words of our text, even in the letter of it. But we will now proceed to the words, and endeavor to open them for our fpiritual edification.

And, first, I may obferve one circumstance, which heretofore I have frequently thought of, but knew not how to account for it; and I fhould fuppofe

most

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