may be thankful that it was so on this, especially: for we are hereby furnished with a most interesting and affecting view of the salvation of sinners; a salvation originating in the love of Christ, and terminating in their being presented to him, without spot, and blameless.

Three things require our attention: namely, the character of the church, when the designs of mercy shall be fulfilled upon her; the causes to which it is ascribed; and the honour for which it is intended to prepare her.

1. THE CHARACTER OF THE CHURCH, WHEN THE DESIGNS or MERCY SHALL BE FULFILLED UPON HER: a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but holy and without blemish. We are at no loss to perceive the meaning of the term church, in this connexion. It manifestly expresses the whole assembly of the saved, elsewhere called the church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven. It is denominated glorious, through the glory which Christ shall have put upon it; and which, it is intimated, will consist in a freedom from every imperfection, and the consummation of purity, or holy beauty.

In the description here given, the Apostle has, no doubt, an eye to the church in its different states, as fallen, as renewed, and as perfected. In the first, it is supposed to have been defiled, so as to need sanctifying and cleansing; and, even in the second, to have many things which diminish its beauty; such as spots and wrinkles: but, in the last, it shall be a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; or speaking more literally, holy, and without blemish.

Our ideas of a state of perfection are very defective. An Aposile acknowledged, We know not what we shall be. Indeed, it is, at present, but very partially revealed; and, if it were otherwise, our minds, naturally weak, and greatly enfeebled by the remains of indwelling sin, would be unable to sustain a direct view of it. We can better conceive what it is not, than what it is. The Apostle himself writes as if he could not fully conceive of the immaculate state of the church: but he could say what it would not be, or, that it would be without those spots and wrinkles which at present attended it, and greatly impaired its beauty. As this, then,

was the Apostle's manner of contemplating the future glory of the church, let it be ours.

I shall not attempt to compare the church perfected, with what it was antecedently to its being sanctified and cleansed, in virtue of Christ's having given himself for it; (for, in that view, it admits of no comparison;) but with what it is at present, notwithstanding; that is, the subject of many imperfections.

Spots suppose a loveliness of character upon the whole, though, in themselves, they are unlovely. They could not with propriety, have been attributed to the church, while she remained unsanctified; for then she was altogether polluted. The same may be said of imperfections. It is improper to attribute them to unconverted sinners. Such characters will often acknowledge themselves to have their imperfections; but, in truth, they thereby pay themselves a compliment which does not belong to them. Imperfection supposes the mind to be engaged in the pursuit of perfection, though it has not, as yet, attained it. Spots and imperfections, then, are properly attributed to the church in its present state; indicating a general loveliness of character, though they are in themselves unlovely. Whatever has tended to deface it, or to detract from its holy beauty, that is to be reckoned among its spots.

How much, then, in the first place, has the beauty of Christ's church been defaced by false doctrines, and by the strifes and divisions which have followed upon them. While we are of the Apostle's mind, determined to know nothing but Christ, and him crucified, we shall not be in danger of deviating very widely from the truth, in any of its branches: but, if we lose sight of this polestar, we shall soon fall upon the rocks of error. Paul, and his fellow-apostles, inspired as they were, could not maintain the purity of all the churches. The number of worldly men who obtrude themselves upon the church, some in the character of members, and others in that of ministers, together with the tendency to err, which is found even in believers themselves, too easily accounts for the same things in that and every succeeding age. When the gospel was addressed to the Jews, many of them believed; but, among their leaders there were men whose minds were not

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subdued to the obedience of Christ. Christianity,' said they, is very good, so far as it goes; but it is defective. It grates with our feelings, who have been used to so much religious pomp. Circumcision, and a few of our decent ceremonies, would complete it.' So also, when the gospel was addressed to the learned Greeks, some of them believed; but among them were men who wanted to supply some of its supposed defects. Christianity," said they, is good, so far as it goes; but it wants a little philosophy to be added to it, and the whole to be cast into a philosophical mould; and then it will be respectable, and worthy of being the religion of the whole human race.'

But what said the Apostle, to the churches, in respect of these proposals? Hear him: As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him; rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any may spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ: for in him dwelleth all the FULNESS of the Godhead bodily. And ye are COMPLETE in him, which is the head of all principality and power; in whom also ye are CIRCUMCISED with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the hand writing of ordinances, that was against us, which was contrary to us, and, took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. LET NO MAN THEREFORE JUDGE YOU in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath-days : which are a shadow of things to come: but the body is of Christ. Let no MAN BEGUILE YOU OF YOUR REWARD, in a voluntary humility, and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind; and not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nour

ishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.

Had the church of Christ adhered to this counsel, it had been free from many spots which have since defaced it but it has not. In every age, there have been men of corrupt minds, who have followed the example of these Judaizing and philosophizing teachers, in their attempts to render the doctrine of Christ more com plete, that is, more congenial to the wishes of their own hearts; and the church has, in too many instances, been carried away by them. Some have degraded the dignity of Christ, and thereby undermined his sacrifice; others have disowned the freeness of his grace; and others have turned it into licentiousness. Behold, how, at this day, the beauty of the church is marred by these antichristian principles, and the strifes which ensue upou them. One denomination, or society, sees the spots upon the face of another, and is employed in exposing them, instead of removing those upon its own; while the impartial eye must perceive, that deviations from the simplicity of the gospel are, in different degrees, to be found in all.

Blessed be God, who hath given us to expect a day when the church shall be freed from all this deformity; when the watchmen shall see eye to eye; when the people of God, now divided into parties, shall be of one heart and of one soul; when neither discordance nor defect shall attend their researches; and when we shall all come, in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ!

How much also has the beauty of Christ's church been defaced by superstitious and unscriptural worship. The method of comple ting Christianity, by the addition of a number of decent ceremonies, first practised by the Judaizing teachers, has been acted over and over again. The introduction of such things in the first three centuries made way for the grand Papal apostasy; and spots of this kind remain upon the faces of many Protestant communities to this day. The nearer we approach to the simplicity of primitive worship, the better. The meretricious ornaments of man's invention may adorn the mother of harlots, but they are blem

ishes to the bride of Christ. They are the wood, hay, and stubble of the building, which later builders have laid upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and which, when the day shall come, that shall declare every man's work, of what sort it is, will be burnt up.

Finally: The beauty of Christ's church has been greatly defaced by the impure lives of great numbers of its members. I do not not now refer to the immoral practices of all that have been called Christians; as a large proportion of them cannot be said to have deserved the name. I refer to those only who have either been Christians indeed, or, at least, received and treated as such by those who were so. The evils which have prevailed among them have been great, and still furnish matter of shame and grief in all the churches. The primitive churches themselves, some more especially, had many spots of this description. And it is worthy of notice, that those who most departed from the doctrine of Christ, such as the Corinthians, the Galatians, and the Hebrews, were most faulty in matters of practice. The evil communications of some of their teachers tended to corrupt good manners. The same causes continue also to produce the same effects. Those congregations where the pure doctrine of the cross is relinquished, whether it be in favour of what is called morality, on the one hand, or high notions of orthodoxy, on the other, are commonly distinguished by the laxity of their conduct. Many of the former, by a conformity to the genteel vices of the world, have nearly lost all pretensions to Christianity; and many of the latter, by their opposition to practical preaching, and neglect of Christian discipline, have been offensive to common decency. Nor is this all: even the purest communities have their spots. Individuals are chargeable with things, for which the good ways of God are evil spoken of; and they that have been enabled to maintain a fair character in the eyes of men, have, nevertheless, much alienation of heart; and many faults to acknowledge and bewail before God.

We are given, however, to believe, that it will not be thus always. The church will not only see better days, before the end of time, but, ere she is presented to her Lord, shall be entirely purified: The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall