"I do not think," adds one, who maintains an illicit commerce, "there can be any harm in indulging those passions which arise from the fine feelings of our own hearts." And why do you not think so? Does God forbid impurity only when it is unconstitutional? In the general rule, which excludes the unclean from the kingdom of heaven, has the legislator made an exception in favour of those who follow the emotions of an irregular heart?

2. We shall be judged as having lived under an economy of proportion; I mean to say, the virtues which God requires of us under the gospel, are proportioned to the faculties that he has given us to perform them. Let us not enfeeble this maxim by theological opinions, which do not belong to it. Let us not allege, that all duty is out of our power, that of ourselves we can do nothing. For when we say, the laws of God are proportioned to our weakness, we speak of persons born in the church, instructed in the truths of revelation, and who are either assisted by spiritual succcurs, or may be, if they seek for these blessings as they ought to be sought. In regard to these persons, we affirm, that the gospel is an economy of proportion, and this is the great consolation of a good man. I grant the perfection, to which God calls us, is infinitely beyond our natural power, and even beyond the supernatural assistance, that he imparts to us. But we shall be judged by the efforts we have made to arrive at this end. Endeavours to be perfect will be accounted perfection.

This very law of proportion, which will regulate the judgment of us, will overwhelm the wicked with misery. It is always an aggravation of a misery to reflect, that we might have avoided it, and that we brought it upon ourselves. The least reproach of this kind is a deadly poison, that envenoms our sufferings; and this will constitute one of the most cruel torments of the damned. Ye devouring fires, which the justice of God has kindled in hell, I have no need of the light of your flames to discover to me the miseries of a reprobate soul! Ye chains of darkness, which weigh him down, I have no need to examine the weight of you! The criminal's own reproaches of himself are sufficient to give me an idea of his state. He will remember, when he finds himself irretrievably lost, he will remember the time, when he might have prevented his loss. He will recollect how practicable those laws were, for violating which he suffers. He will recollect the mighty assisting power which he once despised. Thou! thou wilt recollect the sage advice, that was given thee. Thou! this sermon, which I have been addressing to thee. Thou! thine education. Thou! the voice of the Holy Spirit, that urged thee to change thy

3. Finally, We shall be judged as having lived under an economy of mercy. What can be more capable at once, of comforting a good man against an excessive fear of judgment, and of arousing a bad man from his fatal security?

All the sentiments of benevolence that you can expect in an equitable judge; we say more, all the sentiments of tenderness, which you can expect in a sincere friend; we say more still, all the sentiments of pity, compassion, and love, that can be expected in a tender parent, you will find in the person of the Judge, who will pronounce your eternal doom.

Let us not elevate our passions into virtues. Fear of the judgments of God, which, carried to a certain degree is a virtue, becomes a condemnable passion, at least a frailty that ought to be opposed, when it exceeds due bounds. Do you render an acceptable homage to Almighty God, think you, by distrusting his mercy, the most lovely ray of his glory? Do you render a proper homage to God, think you, by considering him as a tyrant? Do you, think you, render homage to the Deity by doubting his most express and sacred promises? Do you believe you pay an acceptable tribute to God by professing to think, that he will take pleasure in eternally tormenting the poor creature, who used all his efforts to please him; who mourned so often over his own defects; who shed the bitterest tears over the disorders of his life; and who, for the whole world (had the whole world been at his disposal,) would not have again offended a God, whose laws he always revered, even while he was so weak as to break them?

But this thought that Christians shall be judged by an economy of mercy; this very thought, so full of consolation to good men, will drive the wicked to the deepest despair. The mercy of God in the gospel has certain bounds, and we ought to consider it, as it really is, connected with the other perfections of his nature. Whenever we place it in a view incongruous with the other perfections of the Supreme Being, we make it inconsistent in itself. Now this is done when it is applied to one class of sinners. I repeat it again, it is this that fills up the bad man's measure of despair.

Miserable wretch! how canst thou be saved, if the "fountain opened to the House of David" be shut against thee, if that love, which created the world, if that love which inclined the Son of God, ("the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person,") to clothe himself with mortal flesh, and to expire on a cross; if this love be not sufficient to save thee, if this love be slighted by thee, by what means must thou be wrought on, or in what way must thou be saved? And

Let us apply these general reflections to our subject. There may be perhaps no proportion between our bodies in their present earthly state and what the Scripture calls "glorious bodies." Our faculty of seeing perhaps may not extend to glorious bodies. Were the gross terrestrial bodies to which our souls are united, all on a sudden translated to that mansion of glory, in which the bodies of Enoch and Elias wait for the consummation of all things, probably we might not be able to see them clearly, and perhaps we might be quite blinded with the glory of them. The reasons just now mentioned may account for what we suppose; as any who have habituated themselves to reflection may easily comprehend. But when our bodies shall be "changed, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality," 1 Cor. xv. 51. 54; in a word, when our bodies shall have the same faculties as the glorious body of Jesus Christ, "we shall see him as he is, for we shall be like him." This is the first sense given to the words of the text, a sense that may serve to preclude a part of the difficulties which may arise; a sense entirely conformable to the analogy of faith, and to a great many other passages of holy Scripture, such as these, "Our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body," Phil. iii. 20, 21. "Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God; when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory," Col. iii. 3, 4. "The first man is of the earth, earthly; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthly, such are they also that are earthly: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly," 1 Cor. xv. 47, &c.

But, although this may be one meaning of our apostle, yet it is neither the only sense of his words, nor does it seem to be the principal one. Should any one doubt what I now affirm; should any affirm, that when the apostle says, we shall see him as he is," he only means to speak of the body of Jesus Christ; I would beg leave to observe, that St. John evidently intends by the vision of which he speaks, that which consummates our happiness. Now our happiness will not be consummated by only seeing the body of the Son of God, nor by the glorification of our bodies only. Another idea, therefore, must be included in the words of the text.

Besides, the original does not say, "When Jesus Christ shall appear, but when he shall appear we shall see him as he is;" which may be referred to God, of whom the apostle had been speaking in the preceding verses. We shall "see God," and this sight will render us "like him."

I even suppose the words of my text are a kind of quotation of an opinion advanced by some ancient Jewish Rabbies. We have found, as it were by chance, and when we were not studying this text, an opinion taken from the writings of the Jews, which seems either to allude to the words of the text, or, being more ancient than the text, to be alluded to by the apostle. A Consul of Rome required a Rabbi to explain the names of God to him. This is the answer of the Rabbi: "You ask me the meaning of the name of four letters, and the name of twelve letters, and the name of forty letters. (In this manner, my brethren, the Jews speak of the terms expressive of the attributes of God.) But, I must inform you, these are mysteries altogether divine, and which ought to be concealed from the generality of mankind. However, as I have been credibly assured, that you have rendered many good services to learned men, and as nothing ought to be concealed from such persons, it is requisite I should endeavour to answer your question to your satisfaction. I declare then, that, strictly speaking, there is no name given to God, by which we can be made fully to comprehend what he is. His name is his essence, of which we can form no distinct idea; for could we fully comprehend the essence of God, we should be like God.”* These words are full of meaning; and, were it necessary to explain them, they would open a wide field to our meditation. They lay down a principle of momentary use to us; that is, that we must be infinite, in order fully to comprehend an in

Rabbi Nehemias in Epistola sanctor ad filium suum

finite being. We will, however, take a slight cursory view of the subject. We will examine how we shall "see God," and at the same time, how we shall be rendered like him by seeing him; for in the sense now given, we understand the text.

God is an immaterial being. This principle is unanimously established both by the light of nature, and by revealed religion. An immaterial being cannot be seen by material eyes. This is another incontestable principle. It must be, then, with the mind that "we shall see God as he is," that is to say, we shall "know" him. It must be the mind, therefore, that must be rendered "like him."This consequence immediately follows from both our principles; and this consequence is one ground of our reflections.

God is an infinite being. This also is a principle established by both natural and revealed religion. The soul of man is finite, and, to whatever perfection it may be advanced, it will always continue to be so. This is another indisputable principle. It would imply a contradiction to affirm that an infinite Spirit can be seen, or fully known, in a strict literal sense, as it is," by a finite spirit.The human soul, therefore, being a finite spirit, can never perfectly see, that is, fully comprehend, "as he is," God, who is an infinite spirit. The proposition in our text then necessarily requires some restriction. This inference arises immediately from the two principles now laid down, and this second consequence furnishes another ground of our reflections.

But, although it would be absurd to suppose that God, an infinite spirit, can be fully known by a finite human spirit, yet there is no absurdity in affirming, God can communicate himself to man in a very close and intimate manner, proper to transform him. This may be done four ways. There are, we conceive, four sorts of communications; a communication of ideas, a communication of love, a communication of virtue, and a communication of felicity. In these four ways we shall see God," and by thus seeing him "as he is, we shall be like him" in these four respects. We will endeavour, by discussing each of these articles, to explain them clearly; and here all your attention will be necessary, for without this our whole discourse will be nothing to you but a sound destitute of reason and sense.

in their nature; they are clear in their images; they are perfect in their degree; they are complex in their relations; and they are complete in their number. In all these respects the ideas of God are infinitely superior to the ideas of men.

1. Men are full of false notions. Their ideas are often the very reverse of the objects, of which they should be clear representations. We have false ideas in physics; false ideas in polity; false ideas in religion. We have false ideas of honour and of disgrace, of felicity and of misery. Hence we often mistake fancy for reason, and shadow for substance. But God has only true ideas. His idea of order is an exact representation of order. His idea of irregularity exactly answers to irregularity; and so of all other objects. He will make us know his ideas, and by making us know them he will rectify ours.

2. Men have often obscure ideas. They see only glimmerings. They perceive appearances rather than demonstrations. They are placed in a world of probabilities, and, in consideration of this state, in which it has pleased the Creator to place them, they have more need of a course of reasoning on a new plan, to teach them how a rational creature ought to conduct himself, when he is surrounded with probabilities, than of a course of reasoning and determining, which supposes him surrounded with demonstration. But God has only clear ideas. No veil covers objects; no darkness obscures his ideas of them. When he shall appear, he will communicate his ideas to us, and they will rectify ours; he will cause the scales that hide objects from us, to fall from our eyes; and he will dissipate the clouds which prevent our clear conception of them.

3. Men have very few ideas perfect in degree. They see only the surface of objects.— Who, in all the world, has a perfect idea of matter? Who ever had perfect ideas of spirit? Who could ever exactly define either? Who was ever able to inform us how the idea of motion results from that of body; how the idea of sensation results from that of spirit? Who ever knew to which class space belongs? It would be very easy, my brethren, to increase this list, would time permit; and were I not prevented by knowing, that they, who are incapable of understanding these articles, have already in their own minds pronounced them destitute of all sense and reason. But God has perfect ideas. His ideas comprehend the whole of all objects. He will communicate to us this disposition of mind, and will give us such a penetration as shall enable us to attain the knowledge of the essence of beings, and to contemplate them in their whole.

confounded by combining a greater number. We have distinct ideas of units, and we are capable of combining a few: but as soon as we add hundred to hundred, million to million, the little capacity of our souls is overwhelmed with the multitude of these objects, and our weakness obliges us to sink under the weight. We have a few ideas of motion. We know