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with the greatest hatred of God, and strong and constant opposition to his character and government.

Corollary.

Hence learn, That the faith maintained by Mr. Sandeman, and others who place it in a mere intellectual view and belief of the truth, and so as not to imply and involve any right taste or exercise of the heart, is of the same nature with the faith of devils and wicked men, and is not true saving faith. Indeed, what they suppose is impossible; viz. that the mind may have a true idea of the character of the just God, and the Savior, or see the truth, with respect to this, just as it is, independent of the heart, and while the whole heart is in opposition t this character. This is the same as to suppose, that the mind may discern moral beauty without any taste or relish for it, and while it perfectly hates it; that is, that it does discern, without any discerning at all!

It is further to be observed, that they whose faith is not a discerning of moral beauty, but a believing that Christ is My Savior, &c. are never able to distinguish a true faith from that which is not so; or to tell wherein the distinction and difference lies; unless it be in the fruits. But if there be no difference in the nature of true faith, from that which is false, how came the fruits to be different? This question has not yet been answered. by any man.

THE HALF WAS NOT TOLD ME..

So said the queen of Sheba when she became acquainted with the wisdom of Solomon. So says the soul, who be VOL. III.

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comes savingly acquainted with the excellency of Christ. And behold a greater than Solomon is here! Thus the true saint continues to say, while he enjoys the comfort of walking with God. So he will say again, when he comes to appear with Christ in glory. And thus he may express the rapture of his soul to all eternity. And may we not suppose that this will also be the cry of the sinner when he comes to feel the wrath of the despised Lamb of God? And will not the song of the saint be the cry of the sinner for ever and ever? While one is for ever soaring in climes of felicity, and the other for ever sinking in the regions of despair, will not this be their perpetual language, The half was not told me! the half was not told me! But how different their feelings! How distant the extremes! How broad the separating gulph!

ON THE DESIRE OF DEATH.

THOUGH, from an original principle of our nature, we love and cherish that existence the Creator has given us, yet there are certainly some cases, where the desire of dissolution is neither unnatural nor unlawful.

By dissolution here, is not meant an absolute priva tion of being: a thought disclaimed by every Christian, as without foundation either in philosophy or relig ion. The idea conveyed by the word, is merely a sep·· aration of constituent parts, and applied to man: such a separation as consigns the grosser part to decay, while the other, which is immortal, is transmitted to a new state of being. An apostle, speaking of death as it con

cerns believers, compares it with great happiness; to the pulling down of an insufficient cumbersome house, that the occupier might take possession of a more elegant and durable abode: "for we know," says he, "that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."*

A lawful desire of death is incompatible with any character but that of a good man: eternity has no charms for the sinner. He dreads a change of cicrumstances, which must wrest from his eager grasp the source of all his pleasures and his hopes. He has no pretensions beyond the present world. When dangers that threaten his existence approach, how dreadful are the agitations of his soul! he looks with terror on the stroke that breaks his house of clay, and, vainly pertinacious, clings to the falling pile! the appointed hour arrives, admits of no respite, and "the wicked is driven away in his wickedness."

But the man whose faith has been to him "the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things. not seen," has feelings of a very different nature. It is consistent with his habitual expectations to view death without 'horror, nay, with composure and serenity of mind. "The righteous hath hope in his death." The

* 2 Cor. v. 1, O'ídaμev yag, &c. for we know that if this our house, which has its foundation in the earth (EπíYE10s) and is erected, like a tabernacle, for temporary purposes, were broken down

(καταλυθῆ) we have a solid building of God (dinodoμnv) a house

which, as no hands made it, no hands can overthrow, eternal in the heavens.

sublime conceptions he has formed of the glories of a future state, and his firm dependence on Him who has purchased and secured them for his possession, pluck the sting from death, and triumph over the fears of humanity. In this world he has tribulation; but in the next he realizes uninterrupted happiness. Here, his best services are clogged with imperfections, and the clearest visions of his faith are obscure; in heaven he expects a perfect freedom in his praise, and a beatific sight of his God face to face.

So far then, from regretting his departure, the believer welcomes the messenger that calls him hence. Wrapt about in the righteousness of his Redeemer, he can look forward to his change with a cheerful anticipation; and with firm establishment of mind, bid adieu to all below. A writer of Mrs. Rowe's life, observes, that "when her acquaintance expressed to her the joy they felt at seeing her look so well, and possessed of so much health as promised many years to come," she was wont to reply, "that it was the same as telling a slave his fetters were like to be lasting, or complimenting him on the strength of the walls of his dungeon." "And (continues he) the fervor of her wishes to commence the life of angels, irresistibly broke from her lips in numberless other instances."

But the desire of death, to be lawful, must arise from proper sources. Such, in my humble opinion, may be reckoned the following:

I. A holy thirsting of the soul after a more complete enjoyment of the love and presence of a gracious God, than is consistent with the present state.

2

From this source arose the desire of the apostle, expressed in the following energetic language, "In this we groan, earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven;" and again, "we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not for that we would be uncloathed, but cloathed upon, that mortality may be swallowed up of life." Can it be unnat❤ ural for a soul, whose faith strongly realizes the blessedness of a future world, and the enlargement of capacity she will there receive for the reception of that blessedness, to long for the hour which breaks off her connexion with things below, and gives her leave to soar to the object of her love? Surely not. Devotion is in lively exercise; the affections are purified from low attachments; the soul aspires to union with her God; and the violence that is necessary to effect it, is not feared, but fervently desired for its blessed consequences. Her language is, "As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so pant I after thee, O God; I thirst for God, for the living God! When shall I come, and appear before God?"

II. A conviction of the mind, grounded on the peculiar dealings of God's providence, that a dissolution is about to take place.

In this case the will is entirely absorbed in the determination of God. The mind of the believer entertains no wish contrary to this determination. Sometimes, indeed, "he is in a strait between two;" but often feels a predominant "desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better."

III. A holy zeal to glorify God by death, in case of persecution.

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