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light out of darkness, order and beauty out of chaos, comes down from heaven to attest this truth. He shall glorify me, saith Christ, "for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you," John xvi. 14. Displaying the glory of the person and work of the Redeemer who came to seek and to save that which was lost.

Judge now what must be the soul's excellent worth, which originally was the offspring of God, and made in his image; then the purchase of the blood of his equal Son; and, at length, the pupil of the Holy Ghost, to be educated under his eye and influence for heaven. When nobility stoops to the office of a teacher, nothing beneath the heir of a kingdom is the scholar. How great then must be the worth of the soul, which has the Spirit of God for its appointed instructor and continual guide! Further, consider that height in glory, or dire extremity of woe, which must be the endless condition of every soul. Man, on revolting from God, was banished from all commerce with the blessed spirits of heaven. But when a few years have taken their flight, if salvation has been accepted, the soul shall be as the angels of God, clothed with a body refulgent like the sun; raised to a perfection exceeding our highest reach of thought, all its faculties infinitely surpassing in excellence the outward beauty with which it is arrayed. Now, as we always estimate the grandeur of a person from the exalted station he is born to bear, and the possessions he shall one day call his own, how amazingly great must the worth of the soul be, since, unless ruined by incorrigible contempt of God, it shall inherit the riches of eternity, minister before his throne, and drink of rivers of pleasures, which are at his right hand, for ever more!

On the other hand, the scripture account of their miseries, who perish, as strongly proves the same

truth, though it be distressing to consider their case. For if the soul be not admitted, through the Saviour's mediation, into heaven, O sad alternative! its doom (like a sentence pronounced on offenders whose high distinction serves only to inflame their guilt) strikes us with horror. It must, indeed, be banished to an inconceivable distance from God, and separated by and impassable gulph. It must have him for the avenger of all its crimes, in comparison of whose strength, all created might is weaker than a new-born babe. That arm is to be stretched out against it which shoots the planets in their rounds, and taketh up the isles as a very little thing. The soul which perishes is to suffer punishment the same in kind with the avowed enemy of the blessed God, whose only aim, since his fall from heaven, has been to undermine and oppose Christ's kingdom; who has already seduced souls without number, and will go on in enmity against his Maker, till eternal vengeance falls on his head. Though not in equal torment, yet in the same hell with this execrable being, the soul which perishes must endure the wrath

to come.

Whether you regard, therefore, the felicity or ruin, one of which, in a few fleeting years, the soul must feel, you will find it hard to determine, which of the two most loudly declares its grandeur.

These evidences, obvious in the scripture page, demonstrate that the poorest beggar possesses a dignity in his own person greater, above expression, than all the world can give him. The soul within, by which he thinks, and reasons, and acts, surpasses in worth all the eye ever saw, or the fancy ever formed. Before one such immortal being, the magnificence even of the natural world is diminutive, because transient. All these things wax old, as doth a garment, and all the works of nature shall be burnt

up; but the years of the soul, in happiness or woe, like its Maker, remain unchangeable.

From considering, with due attention, these proofs of the excellent worth of the soul, you will understand the ground of that astonishing assertion, from the mouth of Christ, that in Heaven the seat of glory, and among angels, whose thought can never stoop to any thing low, "there is joy over one sinner that repenteth." You will understand why the Lord God almighty gives such solemn warnings, such pressing calls, such affectionate entreaties to sinful men, to bring them to feel a just concern for themselves. These things bear exact proportion to the worth of an immortal soul.

SUNDAY II.

CHAP. II.

The Knowledge of the Soul's excellent Worth necessary to perform Christian Obedience.

NATURALLY we pursue, which greediness, the gratifications of sense, and the things of time. When we enter on the stage of life, the amusements of fol ly and the pleasures of sin captivate us, as the chief, if not the only sources of delight. Hence youth are very shy of religion, notwithstanding its rich promises of present peace and joy, and of eternal life in the world to come. They regard it as a malevolent foe to their pleasures. But soon as they perceive the excellent worth of their souls, they supremely value

and earnestly pursue things unseen and eternal. Thus informed, every prejudice against religion ceases and the language even of youthful hearts is this:

"The bloom of my days, and the vigour of my life, shall be directed to my best, my everlasting interest. A clear abiding conviction of my soul's immortal nature, has delivered me from listening to the flattering solicitation of my lusts, and broken the magic force of their cruel enchantments."

Through the several succeeding stages in life, no less than in youth, this knowledge is equally needful. Nothing less can with certainly be depended on, to preserve men inviolably honest amidst the temptations which abound in trade, and in every profession. For the coffee-house, the change, the university, with every private circle of company, pour out infectious discourse, and, by perpetual praise of wealth, inflame us with desires after it. Hence spring deceit and roguery, the diseases of trade, which ruin thousands. They are engendered by rage after money, as the chief good of men. This wide-spread evil nothing can control, but a full persuasion of the soul's inestimable worth. Establish this, immediately every false defiling idea of gain and worldly prosperity appears in its folly and deformity. Trade will then be carried on with temperance of affection; an enlightened conscience, like a vigilant sentinel, will sound an alarm in every hour of danger, and enable the man of business to conquer what led him captive before. For to all that would lead him to transgress, he will naturally now say, as he feels, "What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? and what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"

Further, the ground of real prayer, and success in it, entirely depends in knowledge of the soul's worth.

Hypocrisy, in addresses from one man to another, is detestable; how much more in confessions or petitions before God? Yet prayer can be no better than hypocrisy, till the supplicant feels the worth of his immortal spirit. Wrath revealed against sin, deliverance from its dominion and defilement, supplies of grace and spiritual consolation, are empty sounds, till the salvation of the soul is our grand concern. For, in the nature of things, there can be no cries to God from the heart in prayer, where we apprehend no great misery, if we fail; nor hope for any considerable advantage, though crowned with success. We may, indeed, personate in a closet, or at church, a man in earnest seeking after God, by constantly using the prayers one of that character would pour out before him with the noblest sensibility. But till we are deeply conscious of the soul's worth, we act a part on our knees in secret, or at church, as much as players do upon the stage. We appear at certain times in a character no more our own, than what they assume on the theatre, is theirs. Hence multitudes, constantly engage in acts of devotion, remain grossly ignorant and utterly unaffected by every thing they profess to believe, and day by day seem to implore. Their confessions are deceitful, their prayers heartless, and their thanksgiving without gratitude. They are ridiculous to men of sense, the triumph of the profane, and an offence continually in the sight of God: for he must receive services just as they are; and where nothing but outward homage and fine words are offered up to him, nothing can be obtained. Sin is not pardoned, nor one evil temper subdued. All the fruit of such feigned intercourse with God is to flatter self-love, and harden men in presumption, till their hypocrisy be at once fully discovered, and punished as it deserves.

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