of those who believe, those whom a sincere faith has invested with the privilege of considering themselves, according to St. John, as members of the family of God: To as many as received him, to them gave he power, which I would render right, prerogative, privilege, to become the sons of God.

The branches of God's spiritual family are not always visible to the eyes of flesh, but they are to the eyes of the spirit; they are not always objects of sense, but they are objects of faith, which assures us of the continued existence of a holy church. Sometimes the fury of persecution, which prevents us from perceiving them, drives them into deserts, and causes them to take refuge in dens and caves of the earth. Sometimes the prevalence of calumny paints their character in shades dark as hell, calls their moderation indolence, their meekness cowardice, their modesty meanness of mind, their firmness obstinacy, their hope a chimera, their zeal illusion and enthusiasm, Sometimes it is the veil of humility by which they conceal their virtues, and which causes them to be confounded with persons who have no virtue, and to be less esteemed than persons whose virtues are affected. Their kingdom invariably is not of this world: Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not appear what we shall be. We are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God, John xviii. 36. 1 John iii. 2. Col. iii. 3.

But though the members of this spiritual family are not always visible, the reality of their existence is not diminished. On their account the world exists. Their prayers stay the avenging arm of an an

gry God, and save the guilty world from being crushed beneath the stroke: for their sakes he sometimes mitigates the calamities, with which human crimes oblige him to visit the nations. It is their entreaties which cause their God and Redeemer speedily to descend, and which hasten the happy day that is the object of their wishes, and subject of their prayers, Come Lord Jesus-come quickly.

And if the family of Jesus Christ is named on earth, it is more especially named in heaven. There it exists, there it shines in all its lustre. But who are the members of this family of Jesus Christ? They are the redeemed out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. They are the ambassadors of the Gospel, who have turned many to righteousness ; they shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as stars of the first magnitude. They are martyrs, come up out of great tribulation, they are clothed in white robes, which they have washed in the blood of the Lamb. They are all saints, who, having fought under his banner, participate the laurels of his victory. They are angels who excel in strength, and obey his voice. They are winged cherubims, who fly at his command. They are seraphims burning with his love. They are the thousand millions which serve him, and ten thousand millions which stand before him. They are the great multitude, whose voice is as the sound of many waters, and whose obedience to God is crowned with glory; but they cast their crowns before the throne, and cry continually, Hallelujah--let us be glad and rejoice, and give glory unto

him.

Such is the spiritual family of Jesus Christ, and such is the Christian family. Many of its members lie scattered in different parts of the earth, but the part which is most numerous, excellent, and consummate in virtue, is in heaven. What a consolation! But language is too weak! What a consolation to the believer, against whom old age, infirmities, and sickness have pronounced the sentence of death! What a consolation to say, "My family is in heaven; a gulf separates me, but it is not like the gulf which separates the damned from the glorified spirits, of which Abraham said to the rich man, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed." It is a gulf whose darkness is enlightened by faith, whose horrors are assuaged by hope;---it is a gulf through which we are cheered and animated by the voice of Christ ;a gulf, from which one final struggle shall instantly make us free.

Death is sometimes represented to me under an idea happily calculated to assuage its anguish. There is not one of you, who has attained maturity of age, but has frequently seen those persons snatched away by death, who constituted the greatest happiness of your life. This is inevitably the lot of those to whom God accords, the precious shall I say? or the sad privilege of running the race of life. They live, but they see those daily taken away, whose company attached them to life. I look on death as reuniting me to those persons, whose loss had occasioned me so many tears during my pilgrimage. I represent myself as arriving in heaven and seeing this friend running to meet me, to whom my soul was united as the

soul of David to Jonathan. I imagine myself as presented to those ancestors, whose memory is so revered, and whose example is so worthy of imitation. I represent those children as coming before me, whose death affected me with a bitter anguish which continued all my days: with those innocent creatures I see myself surrounded, whom God, to promote their happiness, resumed by an early death.

This idea of death, and of the felicity which follows, is extremely delightful; and I do most sincerely believe it; at least I have never yet met with a thought, which could dissuade me from thinking that the glorified saints shall enjoy, in heaven, the society of those with whom they have been so intimately connected on earth. But how real and pleasing soever this thought may be, it is, my dear brethren, far too contracted. Let us form more exalted notions of the happiness God has prepared for us. Our family is in heaven, but not exclusively composed of the small circle of friends of whom we have been deprived by death. Recollect what we have just said. Our family is composed of the redeemed out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation:-of the ambassadors of the Gospel, who have turned many to righteousness, who shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever;-of martyrs, who came up out of great tribulation, who have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Our family is composed of those illustrious saints, who have fought under the banner of Christ, and they now sit down on his throne. Farther, our family is composed of those

angels that excel in strength, and obey the voice of God of those cherubims which fly at his command. Our family is composed of those thousand, thousand millions, and ten thousand millions which stand before him, and cast their crowns before the throne of Him who conferred the dignity upon them crying continually, Hallelujah, let us be glad and rejoice, and give glory unto him! Jesus Christ is the first-born of this household; God, who is all and in all, is head of the whole: these are the beings to whom we are about to be united by death.

What a powerful consolation against the fear of death! What an abundant remuneration of delight, for the privation of persons, whose memory is so dear! O my friends, my children, and all of you, who have, during my abode on earth, been the objects of my tenderest and most ardent attachment; -you, who after having contributed to my happiness during life, come again and surround my dying bed, receive the final tests of an attachment, which should never be less suspected than in these last moments; collect the tears, which the pain of parting induces me to shed ;-see, in the anguish of my last farewell all that my heart has felt for you.

But do not detain me any longer upon earth; suffer me, at the moment when I feel my loss, to estimate my gain; allow me to fix my regards on those ever during connexions I am about to form;-on the angels who are going to convey my soul to the bosom of God;-on the innumerable multitudes of the blessed, among whom I am going to reside, and with whose voices I am going to join in everlasting praises