so unworthy. When they receive from his hand the crown of glory, they will cast it at his feet in thankful admiration of the gift, and humble confession of their unworthiness to retain it.

Thus Jesus will be glorified in the saints.

He will be glorified also, but in a different manner, in them that perish. It will then appear, "that their damnation is just." They will feel themselves guilty before him; and their guilt will be manifest to all. Every mouth will be stopped; every plea will be silenced; every excuse will be refuted; out of their own mouths they will be judged. When the final sentence is passed, and the guilty are detruded to the regions of darkness, "there will be heard the voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power to the Lord our God, for true and righteous are his judgments. He hath judged them who did corrupt the earth. Again they will say, Alleluia! and the smoke of the infernal torment will ascend for ever and ever."

The illustration which we have made of our subject reminds us of our high obligation to glorify Christ. It is the will of God, that he should be glorified. God has glorified him already, and will glorify him again. Let us give him the glory which is due from us. We are to glorify him by a grateful reception and sincere profession of his gospel-by a repentance of all our sins, by which we have dishonored his name-by fleeing from the wrath, from which he came to save us, and laying hold on the hope which he has set before us-by a humble reliance on his blood as the price of our redemption-by an active zeal to promote the interest of his religion, extend the bounds of his church, and increase the number of his subjects-by a steady obedience to his gospel and a visible display of the virtues and graces which it inculcates, and by a faithful attendance on, and improvement of the ordinances which he has instituted for the promotion of holiness in our hearts and lives.

There are seasons when we are specially called to give honor to Christ. Such a season is before us. "The hour is now come that the Son of man should be glorified." We are soon to see him exhibited before our eyes in the holy ordinance of the sup

per. The design of this is, to bring him to our remembrance, enliven our pious affections to him, and confirm our faith in him. When we attend on it in this manner, we glorify him in our hearts. When our lives correspond to such sentiments, we honor him before men.

Let us improve the hour sequestered for this solemnity in holy meditations on our Redeemer, and in humble converse with him ; go away with new resolutions of obedience to his gospel, and of conformity to his example; and in our future walk let us make it manifest, that we have been with Jesus, and that we really belong to him. Then can we say, that he is glorified in us, and we shall be glorified in him.

SERMON VI.

RELIGIOUS HOPE.

PSALM CXIX. 116.

Let me not be ashamed of my hope.

HOPE is the expectation of future good. The great object of religious hope is eternal life. This comprises, all the good which can be desired; yea, more than can be conceived.

Every godly man, whatever doubts he may feel of his present claim, entertains a hope of his final admission to the happiness of the heavenly world. The apostle says, "We hope for eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, has promised." One who has no such hope, either disbelieves a future state, or is indifferent to it, or despairs of obtaining it. And unbelief, indifference and despair are all inconsistent with religion. The good man, through the influence of temptations, bodily infirmities, speculative errors, or remaining corruptions, may fall into great doubts and perplexities, and may seem to himself to have relinquished his hope of salvation. But in his most disconsolate hours, hope still works in him. His fervent prayers; his tenderness of conscience; his abhorrence of evil; his converse with God's word; his application to pious friends for their counsels and intercessions, are manifest proofs, that hope has not entirely forsaken him.

This general hope, however, is not peculiar to saints. Sinners possess it in some degree. They hope, as well as desire, to die the death of the righteous, even when they dare not pretend to have already attained this character. But the operations of this hope, in the good christian, and in the careless sinner, are widely different. In the former it excites to vigilance against sin and temptations; to activity and diligence in duty, and to improvements in knowledge and holiness. In the latter it emboldens to sin; to the neglect of the means of religion, and to delay in the work of salvation. While the sinner rests in an indeterminate expectation that he shall be happy at last, the humble christian searches his heart, proves his works, and gives diligence to make his calling and election sure. That his general hope of salvation, as attainable, may not make him ashamed, he labors for a more full assurance, that his salvation is already secured. The prayer of David is often in the heart and in the mouth of the real christian; "Let me not be ashamed of my hope."

A hope which maketh ashamed is formed rashly and presumptuously, without sincerity and without knowledge. The hope which will not make ashamed, is founded in the promise of God, and supported by a conscious compliance with the terms of the promise.

This subject I shall further illustrate by shewing, first, the necessity of a deep concern, lest we be ashamed of our hope. And, secondly, the way in which we may obtain a hope, that will not make us ashamed.

I. David in this prayer expresses a deep concern, lest he should be ashamed of his hope. Hence we are naturally led to inquire, what reasons there are for this concern.

1. One reason is the vast importance of the object.

If our solicitude to secure an object should be proportionate to its value, we ought to exercise the greatest diligence in relation to our final salvation; for no other object-no other interest, can justly be compared with this. Were the object in view only a temporal advantage, none would blame our caution not to be deceived and disappointed. But the object of christian hope is more important than all the riches of the world. It is a salvation

purchased, not with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus, the Son of God. It is fulness of joy and everlasting pleasure. It is an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, fading not away, reserved in heaven for them, who by the power of God through faith are prepared for it, and kept unto it.

The enjoyments of this world are suited only to the wants of the animal nature. The enjoyments of heaven are adapted to the desires, and adequate to the capacity of the rational and immortal soul, renewed after the image of God. The world, if we possess it, is uncertain and unsatisfying. While it relieves some wants, it creates others; and while it approaches us with flatter.. ing smiles, it is preparing a stroke to wound us. Heaven will answer all the desires of the spiritual mind, and far exceed all the hopes that can previously be formed. The world can be enjoyed only while this short and precarious life remains. The enjoyments of heaven will be everlasting and always increasing.

This happiness stands in opposition, not to the loss of existence, but to extreme and permanent misery-misery described in scripture, in language which strikes the serious mind with horror.

If we contemplate the different states of good and bad men in the future world, can we feel indifferent to our final destination? Salvation, considered as a deliverance from extreme and endless misery on the one hand, and as the possession of complete and eternal happiness on the other, must concern us infinitely more than every other interest that can be desired or imagined. In some proportion, if any thing can be in proportion, to its value, should be our solicitude and diligence to secure it, and our concern and vigilance lest we form and entertain those fallacious. hopes, which will issue in disappointment and shame.

2. The deceitfulness of the heart is another reason for caution and attention in this most important business.

"The heart is deceitful above all things-who can know it?" "Who can understand his errors ?" "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool." There are some, "who feed on ashes, and whom a deceived heart has turned aside." There are some, "who