2. The bringing you to the final and everlasting possession of his glory —
[Our object is not fully attained, till you are placed beyond the reach of harm, in the complete possession of happiness and glory. Could we but prevail with you, we would leave not so much as one of you in a perishing or doubtful state : we would " take all of you from the dunghill, and set you among the princes," " the saints in light." Those who have been set apart in the Divine counsels, and renewed after the Divine image, are already " begotten to an incorruptible inheritance:" even now are they " heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." But at present they are only minors, who have the title indeed,
but not the full possession of their estates. We long to help you forward to the latest hour of your lives, and, if you die before us, to see you, like a ship sailing into its destined port, enjoying " an abundant entrance into the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Then Christ himself " sees of the travail of his soul, and is satisfied ;" and then we also bless our God, that " we have not laboured in vain, or run in vain."] In improving this subject, we would commend to your attention the following reflections : 1. How injurious to the world is prejudice ! [There is a sad prejudice prevailing in the world against the truth itself, and against all who faithfully dispense it. The Gospel is often represented as calculated only to make persons melancholy, if not to drive them mad : and the worst motives that may be conceived, are imputed to us for preaching it. The consequence of this is, that many are kept away from attending the ministration of the word ; and many, when they do hear it, shut their ears, and fortify their hearts, against the admission of it. But look into the text, and see what our objects are : is there any thing so formidable in these, that the succeeding in them should be called " a turning of the world upside down ? " See the effects of the Gospel elsewhere de- scribed : " The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose ;" " Instead of the brier shall grow up the fir-tree, and instead of the thorn shall grow up the myrtle-tree ;" " Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing ; for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert." Are these such changes as are to be deprecated, or that those who are instrumental to them should be regarded as " the filth of the world and the off-scouring of all things?" Search the Scriptures, brethren, and judge for yourselves: or, if ye will form your judgment from the calumnies of a blind ungodly world, then know that these very calumnies are so many testi- monies to the truth of what we preach ; and that in proportion as our ministry is reviled after the manner of Christ's and his Apostles', the presumption is in our favour, that it does indeed resemble theirs.
2. How highly should the ordinances be prized —
[Conversion, from the first motions of good desire, to the entire formation of the Divine image on the soul, is of the Spirit of God. But the Holy Spirit works by means, and principally by the ministry of his servants in the public ordinances. When therefore we go up to the house of God, we should go thither with a full expectation of meeting our God there, and with an ardent desire to experience his powerful operations on our souls.