Christians, ye who are always ftrangers and pilgrims upon earth, look forward to a heavenly country, Ah! when you have reached home; when you have escaped all the dangers to which you are now expo sed; when you possess all the goodness promised you in the word of truth; then no forgetfulness, and no need of memorials. All your mercies will arise in view; you will perceive innumerable instances of the divine goodness, which you are now unable to discover, and all will be seen with their enhancing qualities and circumstances. You will bless Him for all the dispensations of his providence, for the dark which now perplex, for the painful which now distress, for the alarming which now terrify; "God of all 66 grace, and Father of mercy, thou hast answered me in "every day of distress; thou hast been with me in eve❝ry way I have travelled; thou hast suffered me to want "no good thing; and here I raise an altar, such as I ❝could not rear in yonder world, where I was encompassed with infirmities. Now I shall serve thee day and night in thy temple, without imperfection, and "without end. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, they will be still praising Thee." Amen,

SERMON IV.

THE NATURE OF GENUINE RELIGION,

EZEK, Xi. 19, 20.

AND I WILL GIVE THEM ONE HEART, AND I WILL PUT A NEW SPIRIT WITHIN YOU: AND I WILL TAKE THe stont heaRT OUT OF THEIR FLESH, AND WILL GIVE THEM AN HEART OF FLESH; THAT THEY MAY WALK IN, MY STATUTES, AND KEEP MINE ORDINANCES, AND DO THEM: AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE, AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD.

THE works of the Lord are great, "sought out of all them that have pleausure therein." It is pleasing to observe Him as the God of nature, "renewing the face of the earth," "crowning the 66 year with his goodness," "opening his hand, and "satisfying the desire of every living thing." It is edifying to "trace Him as the God of providence, fix"ing the bounds of our habitation," assigning every man his station, qualifying him for the sphere in which he moves, and sometimes "raising up the poor out "of the dust, and lifting the needy out of the dung“hill, that he may set him with princes, even with the "princes of his people." But it is much more pleasing and edifying to contemplate Him as THE GOD OF ALL GRACE. Here He "excelleth in glory." Here "He spares not his own Son, but delivers him up for us all."

Here" He saves us by the washing of regeneration, "and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he sheds ❝ on us abundantly through Jesus Chrift our Saviour." Here we behold Him, from the ruins of the fall, making the sinner "an eternal excellency, the joy of "many generations." All this " purpose and grace" He has given us in a way of promise; and of all the promises with which the scripture abounds, no one is more momentous than the words which we have read. “And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new "spirit within you and I will take the stony heart "out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of "flesh; that they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them; and they shall be "my people, and I will be their God."

Behold a full representation of a subject which deserves all your regard. See genuine religion developed in four essential articles. I. Its Author. II. The disposition it produces. III. The obedience it demands. IV. The blessedness it ensures.

I. Observe, my brethren, how expressly God appropriates this work to HIMSELF; 66 I WILL GIVE "them one heart, and I WILL PUT a new spirit within "you ;" and so of the rest. For real religion is of a DIVINE Original. It never would have had an existence in the world without the revelation of God; and it never will have an existence in the soul without the operation of God. There is indeed some difficulty attending the discussion of this subject. For the more spiritual any work of God is, the more remote will it necessarily be found from human comprehension. Our

Saviour compares this influence to the operation of the wind, which of all the phenomena of nature, is the least apprehensible in its essence, and the most sensible in its effects. The wind bloweth where it listeth, "and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell " whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every "one that is born of the spirit." The doctrine has also been much abused. It has often been so managed, as to make the sinner, while in his natural state, to appear unfortunate rather than criminal, and to render the use of means and exertions needless. The sacred writers do not inform us where, precisely, diligence and dependence unite, or how they blend through the whole course of the christian life; but they assure us of the reality and the constancy of their union ; they inform us that there is no inconsistency between the command and the promise; that it is our duty as well as privilege, to "be filled with the spirit;'

and that we are to "work out our own salvation with "fear and trembling; FOR it is God that worketh "in us to will and to do of his own good pleasure."

This being premised, we proceed to establish the doctrine we have advanced. And the proof is by no means difficult; it is as simple and obvious, as it is convincing. For if "all things are of God," is religion to be excluded, and to form the only exception ? Springs up the river of the water of life" from a source on this side "the throne of God and of the "Lamb ?" If in HIM we live, and move," and have "our" natural "being," do we derive from an inferior principle our spiritual life?-a life sublimely called "the life of God," to remind us of its origin, as well

as of its resemblance? If the discoveries which furnish us with the accommodations and conveniences of human life; if the skill of the husbandman, and the wisdom of the mechanic, be in scripture ascribed to his influence; who gives us the genius to live divinely, and to have "our conversation in heaven?" The expressions "to be born again;" to be "made a new "creature;" to be "raised from the dead," applied to the subjects of divine grace, are allowed to be metaphorical; but they are designed to convey a truth, and to teach us, not only the greatness of the change, but also the Author. If religion were a human production, it would wear the resemblance of man; it would not be the reverse of all he now is. After what the scripture hath said respecting the total depravity of human nature, and which by experience and observation we find every day to be true in fact; nothing can be more wonderful than to find any of the children of men possessing true holiness; and the question is, how it came there? It could not spring from themselves, for "who can bring a clean thing "out of an unclean ?" No effect can exceed its cause; and an inadequate cause is no cause.. Whence then does it proceed? "To the law, and to the testimony." The scripture assures us it is the work of God, and leads us to trace back the grand whole, and the sepa rate parts; the perfection, the progress, the com. mencement of religion in the soul, to a divine agency. "Who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the "flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." "He "that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God, "who hath also given unto us the earnest of the