the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Before thou enterest on this awfully pleasing subject, let thy heart be sprinkled from an evil conscience, and thy body washed with pure water, that while thou art musing, the fire may burn; and while thou art endeavouring to explain the duty and privilege of a creature's approach to God, he may condescend to pour grace into thy lips, and joy into thy heart; and by the most familiar and endearing manifestations, sweetly draw thee up far above the noises and temptations of this hurrying world, and fix thee in the presence of thy Lord and Saviour.

I shall endeavour,

I. To explain the nature of this approach to God which is here represented as the supreme blessedness of man.

But have I not undertaken more than I can per form? A difficulty occurs which seems to render it impossible to do it in a satisfactory manner. If I were to describe the transporting sensations which Christians have sometimes experienced in their ap proaches to God, those who are strangers to experi mental religion, would think it enthusiasm, or little better than blasphemy. If, on the other hand, I were only to mention the outward acts of devotion, the true Christian would call it a form, a shadow, or a carcase; a bodily exercise, which profiteth nothing. That I may not, therefore, talk to either of these, characters in a language that should be unintelligi. ble or offensive, I shall first show the formalist what is not meant by approaching to God, and then I shall desire the genuine Christian to inform us what it is. I must beg your attention while I endeavour to

convince you, that approaching to God is a very different thing from what is generally apprehended. It is not bowing the knee, and saying a prayer, and putting on an appearance of seriousness at particular times; it is not going often to the house of the Lord, and coming and sitting before him as his people; the humble, self-condemned publican, that stood afar off, approached nearer to God than the pharisee, though he confidently pushed forward to the holy of holies. This man would have been angry, when he came from the temple, if any had told him that he had not been approaching to God; and so would many others, who despise their neighbours as less righteous and holy than themselves. They frequent the house of God, and may even regularly observe their hours of religious retirement; but their heart is still reserved for sin and the world. Such pharisaical worshippers are as far from God when they are at church, as when they are at home; and are not at all nearer to him when they are upon their knees, than when engaged in the most common affairs. They cannot approach to God: they are neither capable nor desirous of this blessedness. Ifconscience or custom, or still meaner motives, at any time induce them to pray, or to perform any other outward act of devotion, they feel no elevation of soul, and no inward awe and reverence at the thought of appearing before God. They wonder to hear some Christians talk of the difficulty, and others of the pleasure, of prayer: it is to them as easy to pray at one time as at another, but never is it pleasant. Satan disturbs not, and God hears not, such prayers. Their hearts are unemployed, their affections unmoved, and their loudest howlings-(let that

word not offend, for it is the name which the scrip tures give to the empty prayers of certain hypocritical professors)-I say, their loudest howlings never reach heaven. If you were to ask such, when they come from any religious duties, whether they approached to the mercy-seat, and " filled their mouths with arguments;" or whether "God hid his face from them," and kept them at a painful distance; whether the spirit of adoption, or the spirit of bondage, prevailed most in their devotions;-I say, if you were to make such inquiries as these, they would not know what you mean. Yet will such still imagine that they have been approaching to God? What! approach to God, and retain nothing of a divine lustre upon your countenances? nothing of a spiritual joy in your hearts? Approach to God, and not know how your spirits were affected at the interview, or whether they were affected at all! whether the Almighty appeared with the tenderness and affection of a father, or the distance and reserve of a stranger! Approach to God, and not experience love or joy, or holy sorrow; or at least not feel earnest desires for these blessings! Approach to God; while you are so irreverent during the duty, and so worldly after it has been performed !--What! approach to God with a lie in your right hand, with the world in your heart, and sin hidden under your tongue! It cannot be. As well might an unanimated carcase find its way into the presence of an earthly monarch, as such lifeless worshippers draw near the King of Kings! To approach him is an act of the mind, not of the body. God is a spirit, and they that worship him acceptably, must do it not

merely with a bended knee, and a loud voice, and an uplifted eye, or a head hanging down like a bulrush. These things are comparatively indifferent: if unaccompanied with sincerity,, they are worse than indifferent; they are offensive and abominable to God, who will be worshipped in spirit and in truth.

But if all this be not approaching to God, shall we desire the Christian to inform us what it is?

There was a time when the Lord came down, and conversed with man, frequently and freely, as we do with a friend; when the Divine Presence was visi ble and glorious, and no clouds of darkness were round about him, but what were necessary to make the blaze of Deity sufferable. A time will also come again, dark and disconsolate, Christian, as thy present condition may seem, it will certainly arrive,— when all veils shall be removed, and we shall so behold the glory of the Lord as to be completely changed into the same image from glory to glory. At present, sin separates between God and us, so that our approaches to him are frequently and sadly interrupted; and it is a language too common, even among believers of considerable experience, "O that I knew where I might find him!" There are seasons, however, when the Christian gets near to the mercy-seat, and has such a lively sense of the Divine Majesty, as the immediate interviews of heaven only can exceed, "Yes," could many a Christian say, referring to such a season as this, "the blessed God, with a countenance of inexpressible sweetness and complacency, looks down upon us, and admits us to all the endearments of friends and favourites.

He puts underneath us everlasting arms; with more than a parental tenderness, wipes the tears from our eyes; and removes all our terrifying apprehensions, by saying, "Fear not, for I am with thee." Our souls mount up as on the wings of an eagle, and ascending to the throne of God, we see him who is invisible, and have as undoubted evidence of his presence, as we have at noon-day of the sun in the firmament. We have the spirit of adoption, enabling us to draw near with confidence, and call him our Father; and losing all the forbidding thoughts of his justice and jealousy, we perceive nothing in God, but what is infinitely amiable and endearing, We cast all our cares upon him, and pour out our hearts before him. We delight ourselves in the Lord, and forget and trample upon the most tempting proposal which would interrupt our communion with God. On these occasions, we have looked down from our happy elevation on this trifling, vexing, sinful world, with pity and contempt; and wished, perhaps with more eagerness than became us, that we had wings like a dove, that we might fly away, and be at rest. We have been led up to the inexhaustible fountain of grace and joy, and have drunk abundantly of the rivers of his pleasure. We have heard and seen things unutterable, and have been so lost in the contemplation of the Great All in All, as for a moment not to know, at least not to think, whether we were in the body, or out of the body. Our eyes, and hearts, and thoughts, and hopes, and joys, all centered in God. Every thing below the skies was distasteful. Our eager souls longed for still nearer approaches to God, and larger communi.