The kingdom of Jesus Christ is not of this world. You pretend to be christians; and although your most profound application, your most eager wishes, and your utmost anxieties, are all employed in establishing your fortune, and in uniting your heart to the world, yet you would not have us blame your conduct. The kingdom of Jesus Christ is not of this world. You pretend to be christians, and yet you are offended, when we endeavour to convince you by our preaching, that whatever abates your ardour for spiritual blessings, how lawful soever it may be in itself either the most natural inclination, or the most innocent amusement, or the best intended action, that all become criminal when they produce this effect. The kingdom of Christ is not of this world. You affect to be christians; and yet, you think, we talk very absurdly, when we affirm that whatever contributes to loosen the heart from the world, whether it be the most profound humiliation, poverty the most extreme, or maladies the most violent, any thing, that produceth this detachment, ought to be accounted a blessing. You murmur, when we say, that the state of a man living on a dunghill, abandoned by all mankind, living only to suffer; but, amidst all these mortifying circumstances, praying, and praising God, and winding his heart about eternal objects; is incomparably happier than that of a worldling, living in splendour and pomp, surrounded by servile flatterers, and riding in long processional state. But open your eyes to your real interests, and learn the extravagance of your pretensions. One, of two things, must be done to satify us, Either Jesus Christ must put us in possession of the felicities of the present world, while he enables us to hope for those of the world to come; and then our fondness for the first would cool our affection for the last, and an immoderate love of this life would produce a disrelish for the next: or, Jesus Christ must confine his gifts, and our hopes, to the present world, and promise us nothing in the world to come, and then our destiny would be deplorable indeed. Had we hope only in this life, whither should we flee in those moments, in which our minds, glutted and palled with worldly objects, most clearly discover all the vanity, the emptiness, and the nothingness of them? Had we hope only in this life, whither could we flee when the world shall disapper; when the heavens shall pass pass away with a great noise, when the elements shall melt with fervent heat, when the earth, and all its works shall be burnt up? 2 Pet. iii. 10. Had we hope only in this life, whither could we flee when the springs of death, which we carry in our bosoms, shall issue forth and overwhelm the powers of life? What would become of us a few days hence, when, compelled to acknowledge the nullity of the present world, we shall exclaim, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity? Ah! I am hastening to the immortal world, I stretch my hands toward the immortal world, I feel, I grasp, the immortal world; I have no need of a Redeemer, who reigns in this present world; I want a Redeemer, who reigns in the immortal world! My finest imaginations, my highest prerogatives, my most exalted wishes, are the beholding of a reigning Redeemer, in the world to which I go; the sight of him sitting on the throne of his Father; the seeing of the four living creatures, and the four aud twenty elders, falling down before him, and casting their crowns at his feet, Rev. iv. 9, 10. the hearing of the melodious voices of the triumphant hosts, saying, Glory be unto him, that siteth upon the throne, chap. v. 13. The most ravishing object, that can present itself to my eyes in a sick-bed, especially in the agonies of death, when I shall be involved in darkness that may be felt, is my Saviour, looking at me, calling to me, animating me, and saying, To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne. But what would all this be? Jesus Christ will do more. He will give me power to conquer, and he will crown me when the battle is won. May God grant us these blessings ! Amen. SERMON VIII, THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST, PSALM CXviii. 15, 16. The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the Lord doth valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted: the right hand of the Lord doth valiantly. WOM OMAN! why weepest thou? John xx. 13, 15. was the language of two angels and of Jesus Christ to Mary. The Lord had been crucified. The infant church was in mourning. The enemies of christianity were triumphing. The faith of the disciples was tottering. Mary had set out before dawn of day, to give vent to her grief, to bathe the tomb of her Master with tears, and to render funeral honours to him. In these sad circumstances, the heavens opened, two angels clothed in white garments descended, and placed themselves on the tomb, that inclosed the dear depositum of the love of God to the church. At the fixed moment, they rolled away the stone, and Jesus Christ arose from the grave loaden with the spoils of death. Hither Mary comes to see the dead body, the poor remain of him, who should have redeemed Israel, Luke xxiv. 21. and finding the tomb empty, abandons her whole soul to grief, and bursts into floods of tears. The heavenly messengers directly address these comfortable words to her, Woman! Why weepest thou? Scarcely had she told them the cause of her grief, before Jesus puts the same question to her, Woman! Why weepest thou? And to this language, which insinuateth into her heart, and exciteth, if I may venture to speak so, from the bottom of her soul every emotion of tenderness and love, of which she is capable, he adds, Mary! This Your This is the magnificent, this is the affecting object, on which the eyes of all the church are this day fixed. This is the comfortable language which heaven to-day proclaims. For several weeks past you have been in tears. churches have been in mourning. Your eyes have beheld only sad and melancholy objects. On the one hand, you have been examining your consciences, and your minds have been overwhelmed with the sorrowful remembrance of broken resolutions, violated vows, and fruitless communions. On the other, you have seen Jesus, hetrayed by one disciple, denied by another, forsaken by all; Jesus, delivered by priests to secular powers, and condemned by his judges to die; Jesus, sweating, as it were, great drops of blood, Luke xxii. 44. praying in Gethsemane: O my Father! if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, Matt. xxvi. 39. and crying on Mount Calvary, My God! My God! Why hast thou forsaken me? chap. xxvii. 46. Jesus, lying in the grave: these have been the mournful objects of your late contemplation. At the hearing of this tragical history, conscience trembles; and the whole church, on seeing the Saviour intombed, weeps as if salvation were buried with him. But take courage, thou tremulous conscience! Dry up thy tears, thou church of Jesus Christ! Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Sion! Isa. lii. 2. Come, my brethren, approach the tomb of your Redeemer, no more to lament his death, no more to embalm his sacred hody, which hath not been suffered to see corruption, Acts. ii. 27. but to shout for joy at his resurrection. To this the prophet inviteth us in the text: The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the Lord is exalted: the right hand of the Lord doth valiantly. I have not questioned, whether the psalm in general, and the text in particular, regard the Messiah. The ancient Jews understood the psalm of him; and therefore made use of it formerly among their prayers for his advent. We for his advent. We agree with the Jews, and on this article, we think they are safer guides than many christians. The whole psalm agrees with Jesus Christ, and is applicable to him as well as to David, particularly the famous words that follow the text: The stone which the builders refused, is become the head-stone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing, it is marvellous in our eyes. These words are so unanimously applied to the exaltation, and particularly to the resurrection, of Jesus Christ, |