out. Luke xiii. 25, 26, 27, 28.) How should premonitions like these penetrate the heart of every professor, of every minister, of all church officers, as well as common Christians! Since persons so distinguished by gifts and privileges, and of such high stand ing in the church, shall thus be disowned by Christ, and shut out of his kingdom, how should it engage all to work out their salva tion with fear and trembling! How should. they strive, even with an agony, to enter in at the strait gate! How should they watch and pray always, that they may be counted worthy to stand before the Son of man! Suf fer me, dear brethren, to plead this with you by the solemnities of that day, when we shall stand together at the judgment seat of Christ. How dignifying and blissful will it then be, to be found among those whose hearts have been found in God's statutes and steadfast in his covenant! But who can bear to be thrust out of the kingdom of God, and to dwell for ever where there shall be wail. ing and gnashing of teeth?

!. At the same time let me entreat you by, and plead with you the will and commands of God and our Divine Redeemer. It is written, This is the will of God, even your sanctifica❤

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don. (1 Thes. iv. 3.) Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. (Levit. xix. 2.) Let every one that nameth the name of Christ, depart from iniquity. (2 Tim. ii. 19.) This is a faithful saying, and this I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God, might be careful to maintain good works. (Titus iii. 8.) God not only requires his people to be holy, but to be, eminent in holiness, abounding in all the fruits of righteousness, in every good word and work. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matth. v. 16.) Then is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. (John xv. 8.) Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect. (Matth. v. 48.) This, my brethren, is the express language of the divine word, the declared will of God. And do we profess ourselves to be the sons of God, and that Jesus is our Lord, and shall we not obey him? How can we pretend to love him, or to be his disciples, if we regard not his will, and keep not his word? How can we stand before him in judgment, if we despise his commandments?

Further, let me plead with you the faithfulness of God in keeping covenant with his people, the excellency of the covenant which he hath made with them, as an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. These furnish additional and endearing motives to activity and fidelity, in keeping covenant with him. He is the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him, and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations. (Deut. vii. 9.) Hence his people should be faithful in keeping covenant with him. They are under indispensable obligations to be follow ers of him as dear children, and they are bound in point of gratitude for his infinite goodness and faithfulness in keeping covc nant with them. The peerless excellency, wonderful grace, order, and perpetuity of the covenant, render the violation of it most ungrateful, uncreature-like, inexcusable, and abominable.

Further, our blessed Saviour was faithful to us in the great work of our redemption. No poverty, no shame, no agonies of the garden nor of the cross, could divert him a moment from pursuing his Father's honour, and the good of his people. He is still the

same faithful Redeemer. He lives for ever interceding for us, and governing all things for the good of them who love him. Shall we not be faithful to him? Shall we not walk as he also walked? Should not the same spirit be in us, which was in Christ Jesus?

Again, should not the great love of God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, constrain us to a cheerful and universal obedience? The love of God, in devising a way of recovery for lost men, in which he might consistently enter into covenant with them, in giving his only begotten Son from his bosom, to purchase the blessings of the covenant; and in his condescension to become a covenant God and Father to them, is matchless, and hath no parallel. It passeth all understanding.. The love of Christ in laying down his life for the sheep, and in purchasing the immense blessings of the new covenant for his people, exceeds all calculation. It has in it every thing attractive and endearing. It should constrain us to a most strict and conscien tious obedience to the whole will of God. The apostle Paul, therefore, besought the Christians of his day, by the mercies of God, that they would present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God. This

he insisted was but their reasonable sacrifice. (Rom. xii. 1.) From this consideration, that Christians are not their own, but bought with a price, he presseth it upon them, to glorify God in their body, and in their spirit, which are God's. (1 Cor. vi. 19, 20.) This is his language to all the churches, and to us. It is the language of the love of God, and of the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. This love, these mercies of God, constrained the apostles and primitive Christians to a life of wonderful self-denial, patience, fortitude, and holy living. They loved not their lives, even unto death, that they might obey, honour and enjoy Christ. Can we imagine that we indeed love him, and are his disciples, or can we expect to share with them in the inheritance of all things, if the love of Christ have not, in some measure, the same influence upon us? Can we believe that he hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood? That he hath delivered us from the wrath to come, made us the sons of God, and heirs of all things, and not deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world? Have we this hope, and shall we not purify ourselves even as Christ is pure