body shall ere long be as loathsome as the dirt on the streets, and must be buried several years out of sight too, before it can be borne with as well. Need I tell you then, that the noble inhabitant within is by far most worthy of your care and attention. Here your labour can never be lost, for when the dust shall return to the earth as it was, the spirit shall return to God who gave it; it survives the ruins of this earthly tenement, and, if adorned while here with the beauties of holiness, it shall flourish eternally in the presence of God, in whose presence is fulness of joy, and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore. persuaded, then, my dear friends, to make the improvement of your souls your principal study. They were made at first after the likeness of God, and herein consisted both their glory and felicity. Let this then be your highest ambition, your constant unwearied endeavour, to get this divine image re-instamped upon them, that being purged and refined from all your dross, you may become meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.

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3d, It deserves our notice, that the Apostle not only calls the body an earthly house, but, the earthly house of a tabernacle, to make us still more sensible of its meanness and frailty: A tabernacle or tent, you know, is a very slender habitation-a few slight poles put in the ground, and a piece of canvass, or painted cloth thrown over them; yet such is the body of a man, a fair but frail tenement, liable to be thrown down, or torn in pieces by every blast of wind. At any rate, we are told, in the

4th place, That these earthly tabernacles must at length be dissolved. Death will soon plant its batteries against them; this king of terrors will storm them with troops of pains and diseases, and shall in the issue so far prevail, as to dislodge the soul from the body, and throw down the house of clay, crumbling it into that dust from which it was taken. This is not a bye-law that binds

only a few, but an universal royal statute, that stands in force against the whole human race. "It is appointed for all men once to die," saith this Apostle; hence the road to the grave is called the way of all the earth, and the grave itself is styled, in Scripture, the house appointed for all living. Even the bodies of the saints, which have been the temples of the Holy Ghost, are subject to this awful decree; they too must be dissolved and see corruption, but with this material difference, that in due time they shall be raised up again in glory and incorruption. Nor shall their souls for any space be destitute of an habitation; for, as the Apostle here informs us, "they have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." And this is the

II. Branch of the text, upon which I shall offer a few obvious remarks. I suppose you have already observed, that this figurative description of the future happy state of the saints, is conceived in terms of opposition to their present state of frailty and mortality. Once, indeed, the Apostle calls the body a house, but he immediately explains his meaning, by calling it a tabernacle, a slender thing which is easily taken down, or moved out of its place; whereas their future abode is styled an house, without any diminishing epithet, a place of rest and safety, where they dwell with God the great master of the family, and enjoy the sweetest communion with the Father of their spirits, and all those social pleasures which the company and conversation of their brethren and fellow-servants can be supposed to give them.

Our blessed Lord, in his last consolatory discourse to his disciples, made choice of the same similitude, as best adapted to dispel that gloom which was hanging over their minds. "In my Father's house," said he, "are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you; and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to my

self, that where I am, there ye may be also." And is not this, my brethren, a delightful representation of the saints felicity? Every word is full of melody. The very notion of an house or home is agreeable, especially to a poor pilgrim, who is tossed and persecuted in a malignant world, and perhaps, like his great Master, has not where to lay his head. But to what a height must our joy arise, when we hear that this is the house of God himself, the house of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, where we shall dwell with our dearest friend and benefactor, and have a place allotted us in those happy mansions which his blood hath purchased, and his infinite love hath prepared for us.

This house is farther described by the builder of it. The great God is the architect, and therefore we may be assured that nothing is wanting, that can render it a fit habitation for his people. It is a house not made with hands; it was not built by any creature, neither was it formed out of any pre-existent matter, but created immediately by God himself. It is called his building, by way of eminence. All things were made by him, but this was intended for the master-piece of his works, the brightest display of his creating power and goodness.

This house is farther described by its situation-it is a house in the heavens. The earth which we now inhabit, is a valley of tears, a place of exile, a common inn, as it were, where clean and unclean, saints and sinners, meet together, and are promiscuously entertained. Here the godly live as in a strange land, amidst the enemies of their Father and their King, where their righteous souls are vexed from day to day, with the unlawful deeds and filthy conversation of those among whom they are obliged to dwell. But heaven is a place of perfect purity, where there is nothing that defileth, nothing to hurt or destroy. None shall be able to ascend into that hill of God, none can dwell in that holy place, but such as have clean hands and pure hearts; who are washed, and sanctified, and

justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. And,

Last of all, this house in the heavens is farther described and commended by its duration. It is not subject to decay or dissolution, it is an eternal house, an incorruptible inheritance, a kingdom that cannot be shaken. All other things shall wax old and perish, but this shall endure for ever and ever.

But who are the persons for whom this building of God is prepared; or how shall we know whether we belong to that happy number?-This, my brethren, is a most important inquiry, which I propose to make the subject of another discourse.

SERMON XXXIII.

2 CORINTHIANS V. 1.

For we know that if the earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,

In the first part of this verse, the Apostle compares the

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body to an earthly house, yea, to a tabernacle or tent, which is still less durable, and more easily taken down, and therefore the dissolution of such a frail thing ought not to be reckoned a very great calamity. To this he opposes the glorious object of the Christian hope, which he calls" a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." At the same time expresses the firm persuasion which he had, in common with all true Christians, of being admitted into that glorious and permanent habitation, as soon as the earthly tabernacle should be dissolved. "We know." He does not say we think, or we hope so, but we are assured of it; we are as firmly persuaded that this shall be our lot, as if we were already entered upon the possession of it. In handling this important branch of the subject, I propose, through divine aid,

I. To describe the persons for whom this building of God is prepared.

II. To inquire how, or by what means they come to know that they shall certainly possess it.