dance? As a person the other day, to whose having a place it was objected, that he was a Methodist; no, says he, I have not been a Methodist these two years. I do not, for my part, wish people joy when they get money; only take care it does get into, and put your eyes out; if your money increases, let your zeal for good works increase. Perhaps some stranger will say, I thought you was against good works. I tell you the truth, I am against good works. Don't run away before I have finished my sentence; we are against good works being put in the room of Christ, as the ground of our acceptance; but we look upon it, if we have a right faith, our faith will work by love. Ever since I was a boy, I remember to have heard a story of a poor indigent beggar, who asked a clergyman to give him his alms, which being refused, he said, will you please, Sir, to give me your blessing; says he, God bless you: : O, replied the beggar, you would not give me that if it was worth any thing. There are many who will talk friendly to you, but if they suppose you are come for any thing, they will run away as from a pick-pocket; whereas, if our souls prospered, we should count it more blessed to give than to receive. When we rise from our beds, this would be our question to ourselves, what can I do for God to-day? what can I do for the poor? have I two, or five, or ten talents? God help me to do for the poor as much as if I knew I was to live only this day.

In a word, if your souls prosper, my dear hearers, you will grow in love, there are some good souls, but very narrow souls; they are so afraid of loving people that differ from them, that it makes me uneasy to see it.Party spirit creeps in among christians, and whereas, it was formerly said, see how these christians love one anoth er! now it may be said, see how these christians hate one another! I declare from the bottom of my heart, that I am more and more convinced that the principles I have preached are the word of God. Pray, what do you do at Change; is there such a thing as a Presbyterian, or Independent, or Church-walk there? is there any Chambers there for the Presbyterians, and Independents, and Churchmen to deal in; People may boast of their wildfire-zeal for Gody till they can't bear the sight of a person that dif

Y

fers from them. The apostle commends Gaius for his catholic love to strangers. That was a glorious saying of a good woman in Scotland, Come in, says she, ye blessed of the Lord; I have a house that will hold a hundred, and a heart that will hold ten thousand. God give us such a heart; he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God. I could mention twenty marks, and so go on, wire-drawing till nine or ten o'clock; but it is best to deal with our souls as with our bodies, to eat but a little at a time. It is so with preaching; though I don't proceed any farther in my discourse, God bless what has been said.

But is there a child of God here that can go away, without a drooping heart; I don't speak that you may think me humble: I love sincerity, inward and outward, and hate guile. When I think what God has done for me, how often he has pruned me, and dug and dunged about me, and when I think how little I have done for God, it makes me weep, if possible, tears of blood; it makes me cry, O my leanness, my leanness, as I expressed myself with my friend to day. This makes me long, if my strength of body would permit, to begin to be in earnest for my Lord. What say you, my dear friends, have all of you got the same temper? have you made the progress you ought to have done! O London! London! highly favored London! what would some people give for thy privileges? what would the people I was called to preach to but this day se'ennight? A good. a right honorable lady, about three and twenty miles off, has brought the gos pel there. The people that I preached to, longed and thirsted after the same message; they said they thought they never heard the truth before. You have the manna poured out round the camp, and I am afraid you are calling it light bread; at least, I am afraid you have had a bad digestion. Consider of it, and for Jesus Christ's sake tremble for fear God should remove his candlestick from among you. Laborers are sick; those that did once labor are almost worn out, and others they only bring themselves into a narrow sphere, and so confine their usefulness. There are few that like to go out into the fields; broken heads and dead cats are no more the ornaments of a Methodist, but silk scarves. Those honorable badges

are now no more: the languor has got from the ministers to the people, and if you don't take care, we shall all fall dead together. The Lord Jesus rouse us, the Son of God rouse us all. Ye should show the world the way, and ye that have been Methodists of many years standing, show the young ones that have not the cross to bear as we once had, what ancient Methodism was.

As for you who are quite negligent about the prosperity of your souls, who only mind your bodies, who are more afraid of a pimple in your faces, than of the rottenness of your hearts; that will say, O give me a good bottle and a fowl, and keep the prosperity of your souls to yourselves, You had better take care what you say, for fear God should take you at your word. I knew some tradesmen and farmers, and one had got a wife, perhaps with a fortune too, who prayed they might be excused, they never came to the supper, and God sent them to hell for it too; this may be your case. I was told to-day of a young woman, that was very well on Sunday when she left her friends, when she came home was racked with pain, had an inflammation in her bowels, and is now a breathless corpse. Another that I heard of, a Christless preacher, that always minded his body, when he was near death, he said to his wife, I see hell opened for me, I see the damned tormented, I see such a one in hell that I debauched; in the midst of his agony he said, I am coming to thee, I am coming, I must be damned, God will damn my soul, and died. Take care of jesting with God; there is room enough in hell, and if you neglect the prosperity of your souls what will become of you? what will you give for a grain of hope, when God requires your souls? awake thou that sleepest; hark! hark! hark! hear the work of the Lord, the living God. Help me, O ye children of God: I am come with a warrant from Jesus of Nazareth to night. Ye ministers of Christ that are here, help me with your prayers: ye servants of the living God, help with your prayers. O with what success did I preach in Moorfields when I had ten thousand of God's people praying for me; pray to God to strengthen my body: don't be afraid I shall hurt myself to-night: I don't care what hurt I do myself, if God may bless it; I can preach

but little, but may God bless that little. I weep and cry, and humble myself before my God daily for being laid aside; I would not give others the trouble if I could preach myself. You have had the first of me, and you will have the last of me the angels of God waited for your conversion, and are now ready to take care of the soul when it leaves the rotten carcase. The worst creature under heaven, that has not a penny in the world, may be welcome unto God. However it has been with us in times past, may our souls prosper in time to come; which God grant of his infinite mercy. Amen.

SERMON XVI.

GOD A BELIEVER'S GLORY

ISAIAH lx. 19.

And thy God thy Glory.

I LATELY had occasion to speak on the verse immediately following that of our text; but when I am reading God's word, I often find it is like being in a tempted garden, when we pluck a little fruit, and find it good, we are apt to look after and pluck a little more, only with this difference, the fruit we gather below often hurts the body at the same time that it pleases the appetite, but when we walk in God's garden, when we gather fruit of the Redeemer's plants, the more we eat the more we are delighted, and the freer we are, the more welcome; if any chapter in the bible deserves this character and description of an evangelical Eden. this does.

It is very remarkable, and I have often told you of it, that all the apostles preach first the law, and then the gospel, which finds man in a state of death, points out to him

how he is to get life, and then sweetly conducts him to it. Great and glorious things are spoken of the church of God in this chapter; and it struck me very much this evening ever since I came into the pulpit, that the great God speaks of the church in a singular number: how can that be, when the church is composed of so many millions gathered out of all nations, languages, and tongues? how is it, that God says thy maker, and not your maker, that he speaks of the church as though it consisted only of one individual person? the reason of it is this, and is very obvious, that though the church is composed of many members, they have but one Head, and they are united by the bond of one Spirit, by whom they have the same vital union of the soul with God; and therefore it teaches Christians not to say to one another, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, or Cephas, but to behave and live so, that the world may know that we all belong to one common Christ: God revive, continue, and increase this true christian love among us! Of this church, thus collectively considered, united under one head, the blessed evangelical prophet thus speaks-Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders, but thou shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates, (where the magistrates assemble, and the people go in and out,) praise. From this text, a great many good and great men have gathered what they call the Millenium, that Jesus Christ is to come and reign a thousand years on earth, but I must acknowledge that I have always rejected a great many good men's positive opinion about the season when this state commences, and I would warn you. all against fixing any time; for what signifies whether Christ comes to reign a thousand years, or when he comes, since you and I are to die very soon; and therefore instead of puzzling our heads about it, God grant we may live so that we may reign with him forever; and it seems to me, that whatsoever is said of this state on earth, that the millenium is to be understood in a spiritual sense, as an emblem of a glorious, eternal, beatific state in the kingdom of heaven. The sun shall no more be thy light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee, but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light 3.