which will not be conferred until that day, SE R M. which is not temporary, but shall remain eter- XXVIII. nal in the heavens.

5. The 5th and laft thing expreffed is, the character of the perfons to whom this reward will be given, and that is to St. Paul and to all who love the appearing of our Saviour. By his appearing, is more especially meant that time when the Son of man fhall appear in the clouds of heaven, arrayed in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels, to reward every man according to his work; and they are faid to love his appearing, who by an unfeigned repentance, and a fincere practice of a holy life, have juft reafon to hope for his coming at the day of judgment, thofe who have quitted and foregone all the finful pleafures and vanities of this life, and brought their mind fo much off from the perishing fatisfactions of this world, that all their hopes and expectations are bent upon what fhall then be conferred upon them. It is natural for all people to long for the time when they have any certain expectations of good, efpecially what their hearts are fet upon; and therefore if perfons, by denying themselves many of the pleasures and fatisfactions of this life for the prefervation of a good confcience, have few or no worldly defires left; if by frequent converfing with God, by prayer and meditation, by thinking often of divine things, and letting their mind run upon virtue and holinefs, upon God and the things of another world,

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SER M. world, they have arrived to a good degree of XXVIII. fincere religion, fo as to render all the appetites

and affections of their fouls divine and fpiritual, they will of course be pleased with the thoughts of that day when all these defires of theirs fhall be filled, and all they lived in expectation of, brought to pass.

I am fenfible the thought, what I am now fpeaking occafions in the mind of every fincere Christian that hears me, is this, if the loving his appearing, and longing for the day of judgment be a neceffary qualification for it, they have reafon to fufpect their condition, for they find in themselves a mighty fear of that day, and they are apt to be filled with terror at the thoughts of it. But there is a great difference between these fears of good Christians, and those boading thoughts of vengeance, which upon every appearance of danger or approach of death, rife up to terrify and fill the wicked with black and difmal thoughts; there is a great difference between defpondency and despair: to defpair, is to have no degree of hope left; but to defpond, is only to have our hopes intermixt with fears and jealoufies of ourselves, and our own performances, which proceed from the weakness of our judgment, or from a melancholy conftitution, or from the fuggeftions of the devil; and the first occafion of them, is the great eagerness of our minds, and the earnest bent of our fouls upon those heavenly enjoyments, fo that we think we can never be fure enough

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of them. But that all these distractions do SE R M. not so much deftroy their hopes while they XXVIII. continue their endeavours, is plain; for no man would use the leaft endeavour in a thing he had no hopes at all of fucceeding in. So that if these things quicken their endeavours, make them more watchful over themselves, and more exact in the discharge of their duty, it is fo far from deftroying their hopes, that it encreases that very grace which they think they tend to destroy. It is with religion, as with our endeavours in any worldly matter which we profecute: if men have no hopes at all, they wholly defift: if their confidence be too great, this naturally makes them carelefs and negligent, and many a person hath loft heaven by this prefumptuous affurance: if his hopes are mixt with fears, this quickens his endeavours, makes him more refolute and vigorous, and active, and thus his fears become the greatest means of gradually strengthening and enlarging his hopes.

But I must confefs there feems to be fomething beyond this defigned in thefe words of loving his appearing, and that is, that Chriftians by conftancy in virtue and holiness fhould wear off these fears by degrees, and arrive to fuch a difpofition of mind, that the thoughts of that day fhall be comfortable to them; that it fhall chear their minds, and that they shall live in a joyful expectation of it; and this is the reafon of thofe expreffions where

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SER M. where we are bid to abound in hope, to rejoice XXVIII. in hope of the glory of God,

So that in truth it is matter of duty to acquire as good a degree of this joy in the holy Ghoft as we can; and therefore we are bid daily to pray thy kingdom come, because all fincere Chriftians are fuppofed to be in a condition of wishing for this appearance of the Son of God. And the reafon of this is, because a strong and lively hope is the greatest encouragement to virtue and holiness that poffibly can be; he that hath this hope purifieth himfelf as God is pure. It is the natural effect of hope, to make us cleanse and purify ourselves, and this hope of falvation is by St. Paul more than once called a helmet. The fimilitude is very apt and fignificant, for when our thoughts are thus taken up with the things of another world, when our fancy is full of it, and our imaginations deeply affected with them, temptation cannot tell how to affault us, nor where

to enter.

I shall obferve here, that this crown of glory is laid up not for him only, but for all that love the appearing of our Saviour, for all good Chriftians, who in the piety and fincerity of their hearts are difpofed for any fuffering if God fhould call them to it; for it is not prepared for Apostles, Martyrs, and Confeffors only.

So that there is not one of us here prefent, but through the grace of God we have it in our power to arrive at this comfortable assurance,

we

we have the fame encouragements and the af- SER M. fistance of the fame Spirit. So that we may XXVIII. triumph even on this fide the grave, and glory over our spiritual enemies here in the midst of their own kingdom. There wants nothing to effect this but an obftinate invincible refolution in time, before we have loft all opportunity for virtue; and it is this will fting the fouls of wicked perfons, when they are near their death, that they did not provide this comfort for the evil day, when it was fo eafily in their power.

Having thus spoke to those five things contained in the text, I fhall only make two inferences, which directly follow from this paffage of Scripture.

1. And the 1ft is, that the only good foundation for affurance of glory and immortal life, is that of good works and the practice of a virtuous and holy life. It is this we find was the ground of St. Paul's affurance, and that upon it he built all his hopes. In the verfe before the text, he fays, that he hath fought a good fight, he hath finished his courfe, he hath kept the faith, and therefore it is that he concludes fo peremptorily, that henceforth there is laid up for him a crown of glory, which the Lord the righteous judge fhall give him at that day.

It was not any confident perfuafion of his particular election by which he came by this affurance, but by thofe good works and vir

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