cend above the earth, on which they tread.-This, come from whom it may, is truly pharisaical. How comes it, that these lofty and aspiring souls are so reluctant at leaving the earth in its present state? and if it is to be restored to the beauty, the harmony, and happiness it was in, before sin entered, is there any thing grovelling in the idea of desiring an interest in it? Did not Christ come to conquer, to deliver, to restore, to recover? What can these terms mean? Simply this: Satan, by art, has usurped the government of the world; Christ came to conquer and expel him.Satan, by his art, has corrupted the creatures of God; Christ came to purify, and deliver them.-Satan has deformed the fair face of nature; Christ came to restore it.-Satan, by all this, has made man a perishable creature, made him mortal, reduced him to the state of a mere animal, distinguished from the brutes only by reason; Christ came to recover him to light, life, and immortality. Readers, if ye can find a better understanding of these terms, then adopt it.-But if this is the Lord's plan, then it follows, man must continue to exist, in some way, or place, till the day of judgement: to have, in different stages of existence, an acquaintance with good and evil.-That as Moses told them they may "choose which they will."-And as Paul saith, be made to know whose servants they are, “His servants ye are to whom ye yield yourselves willing to obey." Rom. vi. 16. How would man define this? Suppose a bigotted Roman Catholic had one of his people that inclined to protestantism, or a bigotted reformer, as they are called, to catholicism,-they would soon find an explanation.—My understanding is, that if I am led by either the one or the other, I am the servant of human wisdom, and scripture tells me that must

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perish; it farther tells me, I must be humbled as a little child, or never can enter heaven. That if I am emptied of self, and all dependence on the creature, and have faith in Christ, not according to the fashionable acceptance of it, but faith to believe his promise; that I shall then have the Holy Ghost to lead me into a knowledge of all truth; this, by the grace of God, I firmly believe, independent of all men; and from it well know I am a servant of Christ ;-and am confident that whether I live till his coming, or die, it will make no difference. "When Christ who is my life shall

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appear, then shall I also appear with him in glory." Colossians, iii. 4. This does not tell us any thing about dying, and going to him, but his appearing to us.—I would if I could be as pure as the angels in heaven; but every day's experience convinces me that while Satan reigns, I cannot. Nor can all the fine eloquence of preaching, induce me to think I can be introduced to the society of such beings.No, for the sake of my own comfort, I am constrained to believe in the word of God, rather than in the representation of the learned. I find that I am one among the simple, who are not qualified for going; but must wait for Christ. coming; yet one of these learned characters, about thirty years ago, "almost persuaded me to believe" otherwise ;-I mean Burkitt, whose expository notes, and practical observations, on the New Testament, make most persons acquainted with him. He denies Christ's reign on earth, and on Rev. xx, says, "What "will become of the Saints during these thousand

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years of Christ's supposed presence with them? "either they will live all that thousand years (which is "not rational), or they will die in the time. If they "die, and go to heaven, they will go from Christ, and

not to him: and must for a time be absent from him, "instead of being for ever with him; and, doubtless, "heaven will be a melancholy place if Christ be out "of it." It is most assuredly very wise in the learned to lay a plan to keep heaven from being a "melancholy place:"-but tis a great pity these planners had not existed before Christ's manifestation in the flesh. For if Christ's coming to reign in glory will make heaven a melancholy place, what must his coming to suffer as he did, not have produced?

Having nothing mopish, or melancholy, about me, I really must leave you that are bent on going thither to this state for a thousand years, without being able to shed one tear of sympathy; and, thank heaven, I have no others to shed.-But I do not believe any are gone there.-Nor do I believe Christ is gone there; only till the human race is fitted for his coming here.-Him, " the heaven must receive, until "the times of the restitution of all things, which God "hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets, "since the world began." Acts, iii. 21. Now, if this should chance to be the true picture of what will be, it will destroy all apprehension of this reverend divine's gloom, and melancholy, in heaven. Nay, it will turn it into joy and rejoicing: for, we are told, there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth; what then must there be, when there is left upon earth no one but repentant and converted sinners? We are plainly told, that the vast expanse will ring with their loud acclamations of joy :-" The kingdoms of this world, "are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and his "Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever." Revelation, xi. 15, Heaven is for angels, earth for men, and hell for devils. And the time is rapidly coming,

when each will be in their proper place; and all the preaching of the learned cannot alter it.-Some persons have set up an opinion, that the earth was made to be peopled by the souls of the fallen angels; and that the troubles and trials in this life are to punish and to purify them for restoration; and that Lucifer, their leader, alone will suffer, and on that account say, they must go to heaven again. I have no quarrel with individual opinion; nor consider any thing worth a thought that I have not scripture to guide me in.— I only say, if man is to go to be made an angel in heaven, let him do what God placed him on the earth to do first:-namely, what Christ taught him to pray to do, the will of God on earth, as it is done in heaven. Then, and never till then, he may be fit for the society of pure angels; and be the authority what it may, that teaches men they shall go there without this qualification, it teaches that which is not warranted by scripture.

The earth and man are the workmanship of God; and, like all his works, were perfection itself when they came out of his hands, and with the materials of which either was made, I trouble not myself; it is sufficient for me to know, that the earth was a scene of beauty, calculated to give complete and perfect happiness, to the creatures that were to inhabit it. But that, by sin, the beauty of one and the happiness of the other, were destroyed. And that, four thousand years after, the Lord Jesus Christ came to destroy sin; and restore both the earth and man to that beauty and happiness they enjoyed before sin entered. And he tells me, that the work of restoration is to be accomplished by the holy spirit of God, which passeth through him as the Mediator.-That, by his perfec

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tion, he was united to God; and by partaking of my nature, he is united to me.-That He, as on the earth, is the pattern by which I am to be modelled, and the holy spirit of God to be the operator without a rival. And that spirit tells me, before I can see him as he is, I must be made like him. The Scripture also informs me this will be the case; for the Evangelist says, when we have attained a full perfection of faith"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be;-but we know "that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, "for we shall see him as he is." 1 John, iii. 3.

This was apparently the most highly favoured of all the Apostles, the most affectionate, most useful: and from the attention his divine master paid to him, jealousy was excited in the rest.-Even with them, that are ever nearest to the fountain head, the devil will be at work. You cannot receive favour from God, without enemies, more or less, even from those in union with you. How ought we to guard against this enemy's assaults? Poor Peter, like us all, a little frail, saith," And what shall this man do? The Lord "saith, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to "thee? follow thou me."-This was only the Lord's gentle reproof for Peter's jealousy.-He had been told he must die;-but even this made them believe John was not to die till the Lord's second advent.

He lived the longest of them all,-had the greatest experience of them all.-Yet he says, "It doth not yet appear what we shall be." How different is this to modern ideas!-We are not only told what we are to be, but what we are, and where we shall go; and how we shall fare.-Yet, there is one thing John speaks with confidence to the faithful,—not an opinion,