glories of the celestial body that shall be revealed hereafter, that, in proportion as we fix the representation of these glories upon our minds, and in the more numerous particulars we do it, the stronger the necessity as well as persuasion to deny ourselves all ungodliness and worldy lusts, to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, as the only way to entitle us to that blessedness spoken of in the Revelations,-of those who do his commandments, and have a right to the tree of life, and shall enter into the gates of the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels;-to the general assembly and church of the first-born that are written in Heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,-who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb!

May God give us grace to live under the perpetual influence of this expectation!—that by the habitual impression of these glories upon our imaginations, and the frequent sending forth our thoughts and employing them on the other world,—we may disentangle them from this;-and by so having our conversation in Heaven whilst we are here, we may be thought fit inhabitants for it hereafter;that when God, at the last day, shall come with thousands and ten thousands of his saints to judge the world, we may enter with them into happiness; and with angels and archangels, and all the company of Heaven, we may praise and magnify his glorious name, and enjoy his presence for ever! Amen.

SERMON XXX.

DESCRIPTION OF THE WORLD.

2 PETER III. 11.

Seeing, then, that all things shall be dissolved,-what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? looking and hastening unto the coming of God,

THE subject upon which St. Peter is discoursing in this chapter is the certainty of Christ's coming to judge the world; and the words of the text are the moral application he draws from the representation he gives of it;-in which, in answer to the cavils of the scoffers in the latter days, concerning the delay of his coming, he tells them that God is not slack concerning his promises, as some men count slackness, but is long suffering to us ward;"that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burnt up."-Seeing then, says he, all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?—The inference is unavoidable,—at least in theory, however it fails in practice:-how widely these two differ, I intend to make the subject of this discourse; and though it is a melancholy comparison, to consider what manner of persons we really are,' with 'what manner of persons we ought to be,' yet, as the knowledge of the one is at least one step towards the improvement in the other, the parallel will not be thought to want its use.

Give me leave, therefore, in the first place, to recall to your observations, what kind of world it is we live in, and what manner of persons we really are,

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Secondly, and in opposition to this, I shall make use of the Apostle's argument, and, from a brief representation of the Christian religion and the obligations it lays upon us, show what manner of persons we ought to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God.

Whoever takes a view of the world will, I fear, be able to discern but very faint marks of this character, either upon the looks or actions of its inhabitants. Of all the ends and pursuits we are looking for and hastening unto,-this would be the least suspected ;-for, without running into that old declamatory cant upon the wickedness of the age,-we may say within the bounds of truth,-that there is as little influence from this principle, which the Apostle lays stress on, and as little sense of religion,-as small a share of virtue (at least as little of the appearance of it) as can be supposed to exist at all in a country where it is countenanced by the state.— The degeneracy of the times has been the common complaint of many ages;-how much we exceed our forefathers in this is known alone to that God who trieth the hearts.-But this we may be allowed to urge in their favour, they studied at least to preserve appearance of virtue;-public vice was branded with public infamy, and obliged to hide its head in privacy and retirement. The service of God was regularly attended, and religion not exposed to the reproaches of the scorner.

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How the case stands with us at present in each of these particulars, it is grievous to report, and, perhaps, unacceptable to Religion herself; yet, as this is a season wherein it is fit we should be told of our faults, let us, for a moment, impartially consider the articles of this charge.

And, first, concerning the great article of religion, and the influence it has at present upon the lives

and behaviour of the present times; concerning which I have said, that, if we are to trust appear ances, there is as little as can well be supposed to exist at all in a Christian country. Here I shall spare exclamations, and, avoiding all commonplace railing upon the subject, confine myself to facts, such as every one who looks into the world, and makes any observations at all, will vouch for me.

Now, whatever are the degrees of religion amongst us,-whatever they are, the appearances are strong against the charitable side of the question.

If religion is anywhere to be found, one would think it would be amongst those of the higher rank in life, whose education, and opportunities of knowing its great importance, should have brought them over to its interest, and rendered them as firm in the defence of it as eminent in its example. But, if you examine the fact, you will almost find it a test of politer education, and a mark of more shining parts, to know nothing, and, indeed, care nothing at all about it:-or, if the subject happens to engage the attention of a few of the more sprightly wits,-that it serves no other purpose but that of being made merry at, and of being reserved as a standing jest to enliven discourse, when conversation sickens upon their hands..

This is too sore an evil not to be observed amongst persons of all ages, in what is called Higher Life; and so early does the contempt of this great concern begin to show itself,-that it is no uncommon thing to hear persons disputing against religion, and raising cavils against the Bible, at an age when some of them would be hard set to read a chapter in it!-and, I may add, of those whose stock in knowledge is somewhat larger, that, for the most part, it has scarce any other foundation to rest on but the sinking credit of traditional and second-hand objections against revelation; which, had they leisure

to read, they would find answered and confuted a thousand times over.-But this by the way.

If we take a view of the public worship of Almighty God, and observe in what manner it is reverenced by persons in this rank of life, whose duty it is to set an example to the poor and ignorant, we shall find concurring evidence upon this melancholy argument, of a general want of all outward demonstration of a sense of our duty towards God, as if religion was a business fit only to employ tradesmen and mechanics,-and the salvation of our souls a concern utterly below the consideration of a person of figure and consequence.

I shall say nothing at present of the lower ranks' of mankind, though they have not yet got into the fashion of laughing at religion, and treating it with scorn and contempt, and, I believe, are too serious a set of creatures ever to come into it; yet we are not to imagine but that the contempt it is held in by those whose examples they are apt to imitate, will, in time, utterly shake their principles, and render them, if not as profane, at least as corrupt, as their betters.- When this event happens,-and we begin to feel the effects of it in our dealings with them, those who have done the mischief will find the necessity at last of turning religious in their own defence, and for want of a better principle, to set an example of piety and good morals for their own interest and convenience.

Thus much for the languishing state of religion in the present age-in virtue and good morals, perhaps, the account may stand higher.

Let us inquire.

And here, I acknowledge, that an inexperienced man, who heard how loudly we all talked in behalf of virtue and moral honesty, and how unanimous we were all in our cry against vicious characters of all denominations, would be apt hastily to conclude