2. In what hght we should regard this present life —
[This is a state of childhood ; and, as children are educated for the purpose of acting their part as men upon earth, so should we be preparing daily to act our part in heaven. We should now be searching into all those truths which will there be more fully revealed to us, and be obtaining those dispositions which
will qualify us for the enjoyment of them And here
let me say, that the great and learned will do well to remember what they are ; and the poor and unlearned will do well to look forward to what they will he. Our felicity above will be proportioned, not to our intellectual, but moral, attainments : and as, even in this world, " God often reveals to babes and
^ John xvii. 24. J 1 Cor. iii. 22. ^ phj], i_ 21, 23.
z 2
sucklings what he has hid from the wise and prudent," so much more, in the eternal world, will he most largely impart both knowledge and happiness to those who, in the present state, evince most fully the teachableness and humility of little children'.
To all then I say. If ye will be men indeed, " put away childish things." Put away your foolish communications, your corrupt affections, and your vain reasonings. Form your judg- ment, and exercise your inclinations, in accordance with the word of God. Begin to view things, here, as you will view them hereafter. Be no longer children, but men. If you look at the world around you, what are they but children of a larger growth ? The dispositions and habits of those most advanced in life are, for the most part, not at all different from what they were in the earlier stages of their existence : earthly vanities still retain their ascendant over their minds ; and the realities of the eternal world have as little influence over them as ever. Let it not be so, my brethren ; but now begin to obtain those views, to cherish those desires, and to follow those pursuits, which a more enlightened judgment will dictate, and which will approve themselves as wise in the eternal world.]
• Matt, xviii, 1, 4.