Father Himself the obiect of divine compassion, he loves God in return; and, under the impulse of gratitude for all his mercies, and especially for the unspeakable gift of suck a Saviour, he devotes himsolt without reserve to the service of his Creator. n 4 Such is the genuine character of conversion “from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto Clod" through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And how it may be well for us to remember, to the psise of the glory" a divine grace," that such a change sometimes take place at the eleventh hour of the days Such esses as those of the thief on the osm and of the Earl of Rochester, afford an illustrious evidence, that the sovereign mercy of God contains in Hell the grand preparative for immortal glory. They સમી vip( show that it is the means of inspiring sometimes even at a late and unequoted moment that deep selfahaxoment on the one hand, and, on the other, that pxalted love and gratitude towards God, by which the and may be fitted even for the hiss of angels. But to the most part the Christian's preparation hin hoatvin i wlon and codanas and he ought never to fingot that the fit of the Spirit-especially its most important Bluth # Go produced, but rep for eternity. Through many must not only be A comptationy and maine a donthe wwith the powers of darkness, the work w stification must go unto the forward The behere must never re lax in his efforts; by watchfulness and prayer, by the "armour of righteousness, on the right hand and on the left," by the constant exercise of pure affections, he must work out his "own salvation with fear and trembling." "A man must be purified," said the preacher already cited, "before he can enjoy eternal purity. He must be accustomed to keep company with Christ here, in order to enjoy, or even to bear, his immediate presence hereafter. He must have learned to draw very near to the throne of grace, he must be trained by the Spirit to a devotional habit of soul, before he can endure the unveiled glory of God's perfect holiness.” Well, indeed, is the Christian aware that he can contribute nothing to these purposes, in his own strength; but he lives by "faith in the Son of God," and follows the guidance of the Holy Spirit :—it is "God that "worketh" in him, "to will and to do of his good pleasure." Thus it is that he gradually attains to the experience of the apostolic doctrine, that "if any man be in Christ, it is a new creation;"1 old things are passed away; behold all things are become new”—the "wilderness and the solitary place" are "glad" for him—the "desert" rejoices and blossoms as the rose ! "2 66 We may rest assured, that there is not a saint in 1 καινὴ κτίσις, 2 Cor. v, 17. 2 Isa. xxxv, 1. whom love is for ever fixed as a predominant principle. The Being to whom their affections are supremely directed is infinitely lovely, shewing forth the glorious perfection of every moral beauty; and he now rewards them with the fulness of his favour. While they are brought unspeakably near to him, and enjoy an unclouded view of his righteousness, they know that he is their eternal portion; they can in truth, "This God is our God for ever and Well, therefore, might the sacred writers exclaim, "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that LOVE HIM."1 say ever." Heaven is the abode of perfect purity and peace. Nothing is there left to separate the soul of man from God, the fountain of his happiness; the promise of pardon has already been realised by its inhabitants; their sins are abolished; Satan tempts and buffets them no longer; the pure affections of the regenerate mind are triumphant in the saints; and, under the unrestricted influences of the Holy Ghost, they are made partakers of the most exalted communion with the Father and with the Son. If such are the nature of the joys of heaven, it plainly follows that the wicked are absolutely destitute of a capacity to receive them—the enemies of God cannot breathe that pure and delightful element ! To suppose that a rebel spirit, impregnated with bitterness, and long accustomed to worship self, in preference to the Creator and Redeemer, should find its happiness in the full sunshine of the divine presence, is to suppose, not only the subversion of retributive justice, but a moral and even physical impossibility. Whatever may have been the intellectual creed or high profession of such a person, his false confidence must for ever fail him; under the influence of awful terror, he must descend into regions of darkness. In heaven, assuredly, he can have no life, much less enjoyment; for there all is light, and in that light, all is love. 2 "Heaven," said an eloquent and experienced preacher, "can be no place of happiness to the wicked. Do we not learn from Scripture, that the pleasures of the heavenly state consist in the immediate presence of a holy God and Saviour—in purity—in worship, and perpetual service-in an entire conformity of the will to that of the Deity-in union with him? But every one of these things is here a cross, yea, a cross unbearable, to the wicked, who flies. 2 "My chief conception of heaven," said Robert Hall to Wilberforce, "is rest." "Mine," replied Wilberforce, "is love-love to God, and love to every bright and happy inhabitant of that glorious place." Hall was an almost constant sufferer from acute bodily pain; Wilberforce enjoyed life, and was all amiability and sunshine; so that it is easy to account for their respective conceptions on this subject. What a mercy that both these conceptions are true! Hom the presence of God, refuses to come to Christ. 4. A in umpure indulgencies, shuns both p priver and pubite worship, and rebels against the divine Law wastica in Scripture, and engraven on the ta ca a soul, when disembodied, the jo Vivian of Seven would be impossible; or, i We've made - even the extremest miseryyula & long course of degradation, in which vos has been fully formed.” 4 ན་་་ on the south, or toward the *re the tree falleth there it the here as a solemn meaning couched its 2o Christian can doubt. དང་ཡིནttvacage、 so rapidly coming A e eternal fixedness, when de ha He that is unjust, and be which is filthy, let work dog is this--What is my soul? Does it with all its My Awards God or from him 25 werful assays writer of the present ook ત્યારે હવે to the da |