BALAAM’S PRAYER¹

¹

Richard Schadle: Some minor changes have been made to make this more understandable for the modern reader. The older English terms have been changed, the Roman numerals have been converted and Scripture references have been changed to a more modern format.

A SERMON

Preached at the Surrey Tabernacle Borough Road,

By Mister JAMES WELLS

Minister of the Chapel

London: E. Palmer and Sons, 18, Paternoster Row

1838

“Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.” Numbers 23:10

There are four respects in which the true believer, whether minister or hearer, essentially differs from Balaam. 1st as to object. Baalaam's chief object was by his religion to get money; this, at least, was what he was in reality more concerned about than anything else. And have we not reason to believe that thousands who in the present day make a fair show in the flesh, go no further in their affections then the things of this world, as to any real experience of what they are by nature: the awful majesty of the law of God, trembling at the Word of God, fearing the vindictive wrath of God, the Holy Spirit searching them to the center of the soul, bringing them into the dust, stripping them of every free will, formal, and hypocritical pretension, making them loath themselves in their own sight, leading them to the fountain opened to the House of David, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and uncleanness, causing them to receive by faith and feeling the righteousness of Christ, shedding abroad in their hearts the everlasting love of God in Christ Jesus, are things which the majority of professors have no experience of. Where this experience is not, the world is their home, their element, and their chief object, whether they seek the world by means of their pretensions to religion or not, their affections have never been fixed, riveted, rooted, and grounded in and upon the Lord Jesus, and as such his person, his work, his heavenly Father, his Holy Spirit, fulness, promises, ancient covenant, mediatorial character, and great salvation, are neither really sought by them, nor really dear to their hearts. Such persons are wholehearted, and unhumbled, blind, dead, carnal, fleshly, professors, and know no more of the reality of the religion of the Son of God, then the beasts that perish. They may be easy moralists, free will zealots, duty faith liberalists, or even give their natural assent to the great doctrines of the gospel. Yet if their

hearts have never been plowed up by the law, and the incorruptible word of truth sown therein, they are still a part of the world, let their pretensions be what they may; And the world loves them, calling them nice people, obliging and pious people; Well, so they are, and demand and deserve esteem, as far as creature things go, but they are one with the world in enmity to gospel truth, neither are they looked upon as the offscouring of all things, as the true children of God are.

And, although, the true believer has in him all the propensities of fallen nature, and often manifests a selfishness, and other evils truly hateful, yet he loves, sincerely loves the truth as it is in Jesus. Unto such the word of truth, thus speaks: Fear you not, for I know that you seek Jesus.

Secondly, the true Christian differs from Balaam in the cause of acknowledging the truth. Balaam stated great and precious truths, but not because they were the real sentiments of his heart, the words were put into his mouth, but not into his heart; but the true Christian can say that the doctrines of eternal election, redemption, justification, sanctification, and salvation by Christ Jesus, are the real language of his heart, matters of experience, of constant use and everlasting importance, that it is by these truths the loins of his mind are girded up, his heart encouraged to hope and seek after the Lord, that these truths are sweeter to his taste than honey and the honeycomb, that they endear to his heart a God in covenant, the trinity in unity, and unity in trinity. Balaam could not with this truth say this.

Thirdly, decision. The true Christian is truly decided for the truth, which Balaam was not. Balaam offered sacrifices and tried hard to lower the excellency of Israel, in order to please the Moabites and Midianites, and is he not in this a prototype of the bastard Calvinists of the present day? Do not these preach the great doctrines of grace in the letter, in one part of their sermons, and in in another part of the same sermon invite all the world, and thus preach a yea and nay gospel, as Balaam did; but a yea and nay gospel is not the gospel of the living God. These preach the doctrines of the gospel of God, sometimes because they find them in the letter of the Bible, not because the Holy Ghost has brought them into their hearts. Such men are in all intents and purposes deceivers, their hypocritical contentions for fleshly sanctity, they're great noise and wonderful bustle about converting the world, are the leaven and the honey by which their ministry is made to suit the taste of the deluded multitude. But thus says the Lord, “You shall burn no leaven nor any honey in any offering of the Lord made by fire” (Leviticus 2:11). But to the true minister and man of God, Christ is indeed, and of a truth, the Alpha and Omega, the true minister endures all things for the elect’s sake, advocates the rights and liberties of the family of God, pleads in prayer, in practice, and in preaching for the counsels of heaven, the honors of the Savior, and ministration of the Holy Ghost. Giving way to cold blooded compromising preachers and professors? No, not for an hour, never shall they give way to the devil nor his angels, though the wicked one and his emissaries have won their side the approbation of the great, the wealth of the world, the wisdom of the flesh, and the inventions of men; What is the chaff to the wheat, says the Lord?

Fourthly, association is another respect in which the true Israelites are made to differ from the ancient and modern Balaam’s

Balaam abode among the Moabites, the same as the modern Balaam’s abide among the hosts of free-willers and mongrel Calvinists, and though many of the true children of God are detained for a time by these deceivers, yet the Lord in his own time will deliver them, then shall they take heed

and beware of false prophets which come to them in the name of Christ, which name is the sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves, devouring the flock to feed the world but they lead not the flock into high mountains of Israel, they bring not for and two, the children of promise, the true grapes of Eschol. These cannot be happy with the true Israelites who are blessed and cannot be reversed; As it was in the beginning, so it is now. The Lord has put enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, the ceremonial law was the enmity between Jews and Gentiles, this law the Saviour abolished, having slain the enmity, but the cross of Christ is still remaining, and let its absolute triumph and sovereignty be proclaimed and scripturally abode by, opposition will soon arise, the enmity will be seen and the two seeds made manifest. Yet the wrath of man shall be subservient to the purposes of mercy, and the Lord will turn all the curses of the enemy into a blessing to his people. Is it not a little remarkable, that when Balak found that Balaam could not curse Israel, that he commanded him, “neither to curse them at all, nor bless them at all.” does it not seem, that many of our blind charity men have received some such command, for many of them are hardly ever heard to speak in public directly against the great doctrines of the gospel. No, they have a more deceiving way of managing the matter; They will speak very sparingly of them, and thus shun to declare all the counsel of God; for it would be unpolite to speak against other sects; This would be contrary to charity. Some, however, of the less learned, and more straightforward, sometimes scold very much at the height of Zions towers, the strength of her bulwarks, firmness of her walls, and security of her inhabitants, nevertheless, the gentle plant of neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all, is most suited to this enlightened age.

The true Christian does not act by the covetousness of Balaam; he does not speak the truth without its being the real sentiments of his heart, as did Balaam; He does not as Balaam did, advocate the cause of the reprobate, nor can he make himself at home among the blind children, as Balaam did among the Moabites and Midianites. Yet Balaam saw at a distance, and in some measure, the glory of those doctrines of which he had spoken, and breathed out a lazy wish, that he might “die the death of the righteous, and that his last end may be like his.” but many shall seek to enter and shall not be able, for they cannot receive the truth and the love of it, though they receive it in some measure in the letter of it. Our business shall be to consider the language of the text, as the language of the heart of the true Christian. In so doing we may notice:

I.    THE CHARACTER: The righteous

II.    THE PETITON: The petition. “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.”

First, The character, the righteous. There is only one way in which sinners can be made righteous, before God. It is in the Lord that all the seed of Israel shall be justified and shall glory; let us then notice the nature, necessity, and glory of the righteousness of Christ. First, the nature of it, the nature of Christ’s righteousness appears from two things, namely the requirements of the law of God, and the nature of the person of Christ. The law requires perfection of heart and life. Adam was, before the fall, all that which the Lord required him to be in his creation state; Yet there would not have been anything meritorious in his continuing in that state. His doings were only creature doings and could not raise him above his creation state. And at the end of a thousand or ten thousand years, he would only have done that which was his duty to do; so that he would not have been entitled to one thing more than what he had by creation. How much less than, can fallen men do anything to alter the state of condemnation they are in by nature. Angels did not secure to

themselves the glory they now have, their security is of and in the Lord, and therefore it is that they are called elect angels, they are, through the Lord's goodness to them, and ever will be, all that the Lord required them to be according to their state. The righteousness in which Adam was created was suited to his state, but it would not be noble enough to wear at the marriage supper of the Lamb. As this will be a state above the brightness of the Sun, a state surpassing the glory of creation in its primeval state; And that, as the sun surpasses the light of a glow worm. The innocence, holiness, and righteousness of Adam were perishable which would not qualify for that inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away, for such an inheritance as this we must have innocence, holiness, and righteousness supernatural. That image of God, in which Adam was created, differs as much from that image of God to which the saints are conformed, as the likeness of a man taken by an artist, differs from the living likeness which a father has of himself in his own children, and with this exception, children have in every sense the same nature with their parents. The saints are not the same in nature as God, but they shall be the same in nature as Christ, conformed to the image of Christ, and also God dwells in them, and they are in this sense partakers of the divine nature. Christ is the brightness of the Father's glory, the express image of his person, the saints being conformed to the image of Christ are imperishable likenesses of him; Part of their likeness to him is that they are born again of incorruptible seed, that lives and abides forever. Now the first man, Adam, is of the earth, earthly, but the second man is the Lord from heaven, and as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly, so that an earthly paradise would be of no use to the saints; Christ is there all in all.

The difference then between the image and the likeness of God, we had in Adam, and the image and likeness of God we have in Christ, is this; that in the first Adam, our knowledge, holiness, and righteousness, we're according to that law relation to God, in which Adam was created, and according to the paradise in which he was placed, but in Christ our knowledge, holiness, and righteousness, are according to the gospel. The heavenly and new covenant relation we have to God, in Christ Jesus, and according to the glory of that paradise, in the midst of which is the tree of life, the one as much surpassing the other, as Christ is superior to Adam. In order then for us to enjoy this dignity, according to law, we must have a righteousness that accords therewith, and if we do not have this glory in accordance with the law, we cannot have it that contrary to the law, for not one jot nor tittle of the law can fail. We do not make void the law by bringing in the righteousness of Christ; For this is the only way in which the law is established, magnified, and honored, we justified, and God glorified; all things passed away, and all things become new. Again, the dignity of this righteousness appears, not only from the requirements of the law, but also from the nature of the person of Christ; He is God and man in one person. Divine perfections are his by nature. He is one of the eternal three, who in the fullness of time vailed himself in our nature; his human nature was the new thing created in the earth; He is at once, in one person, the Son given, the child born, the mighty God, and everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. David’s Lord, and David's son; The root and the offspring, the ancient and infant of days, living by his own infinity, in the Infinity of the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Comprehending from everlasting all worlds, beings and things! Taking into his bosom the whole election of grace, entering into the covenant to be accountable for their sins, to redeem them from death, hell, and the grave. The union of the two natures, was and is such as to constitute him one person, one nature endearing the other. Divinity without humanity would be to sinners a consuming fire. Humanity without dignity, would not have wrought redemption, comprehended the sins of a number that no man can number, nor

have so endured the curse of the law of God, as for it to have been written; “and there shall be no more curse.” Such is the nature of the person of Christ, that by him God will be a fullness of joy, and pleasures for evermore, to all whose names are written in the Lambs book of life. The manhood of Christ is, by its union to his Godhead, infinitely precious, as its dignity, stability, and glory of its obedient life, and efficacy of its atoning death, are by this union; take away either the Godhead or manhood of Christ, we are at once exposed to all the terribleness of a sin avenging God, the malignity of fallen angels, and miseries of sin and death; but by the complexity of Christ, God is on our side, not that the complexity of Christ is the cause of the love of God to us; but it is one of its happy consequences and is the way in which that love is made manifest. The Lord Jesus then being God and man in one person, and obeying the law personally, what must be the dignity and glory of that righteousness by which his people are righteous in his sight. Compare him for a moment with that law under which he condescended to be. He had none other Gods but one; He took not the Lord's name in vain, but declared it unto his brethren; he kept the Sabbath, yes every day holy; he finished his work in the time determined for its accomplishment; He honored God his father; And Mary his mother he honored with salvation, so that his days shall be long in the land, (the church) which the Lord God has given him he shall dwell therein forever. Again thou shall not kill; He gave life, health, and food to many, but took away the life of none; He abode by his church, did not rob God of his glory, nor bear fault with false witness against Moses, nor against anyone else, nor did he covet the goods of this life but endured the pain of poverty, not having where to lay his head. Is the law spiritual? So was Jesus, divinely so; For he was the Lord from heaven. Was the law holy, just, and good? So was Jesus, he unsulliedly holy, invariably just, and infinitely good; His life of obedience had in it all the nobleness of his manhood, and all the perfections of his godhead, which life of obedience was for, and is imputed to his people, and as he was, and is God as well as man, his righteousness both in the Old and New Testament, is called the righteousness of God. Yes he is called the Lord (in the Hebrew, Jehovah) our righteousness.

Such then is the nature of the righteousness by which the law is magnified, and the ungodly justified, and have peace with God, quietness and assurance forever.

I now pass on to notice some of the things which render such a righteousness necessary. 1st: Our state by nature, in which I observe that there were two things which he did and two things which he did not lose by our fall in Adam, we lost the holiness and righteousness in which we were created, so that our nature is vile, and our thoughts and ways unrighteous. Hence says Job, “behold, I am vile,” Paul calls our bodies vile. Not but thousands of graceless men, are to their credit and comfort kept from making themselves vile as it regards the relative and official duties of life. It is in this external sense that Eli’s sons made themselves vile; But whatever difference there may be amongst men in this respect, all are alike by nature, and if all were placed in the same circumstances, surrounded with the same temptations, having the same interests, all equally left to themselves, and possessing similar powers, this would not only lessen, but almost annihilate the great difference that now appears in the conduct of the men of this world. Man is a creature of circumstance, so that the same man who acts in one situation with much propriety and gives satisfaction to those whom his conduct may concern; Yet in opposite circumstances his conduct may be the very reverse. Hence, when Elijah told Hazael of the horrid barbarities, and (at that time to Hazael) incredible barbarities that he would perpetrate upon the Israelites, when he would be king of Syria; When the prophet told him these things, what exclaimed he, with all the assurance of free will power, and creature sovereignty; “what, is your servant a dog, that he should do this

great thing,” and did he do this very great thing? Yes, verily, to the very letter, and even good men, yes, even some of the most (in other respects) highly favored servants of God have fallen from the power of circumstances. Look at Noah, enduring for such a number of years the scoffs and persecutions of an ungodly world, and then think of this same Noah, a preacher of righteousness, falling a victim to intoxicating wine. See Lot brave the unrighteousness of the cities of the plain, delivered from their destruction, and then perpetrate unnamable deeds. See the shepherd of Bethlehem raised to Judah’s throne, fighting the battles of the Lord, and enjoying rest from all his enemies roundabout, yet is left to make a wound in his conscience and character, which he felt to his dying day, (2 Kings 8:10), Peter, one hour willing to die for his Lord and master, and almost the next hour with bitter oaths declaring he did not know him. Let him, then, that thinks he stands take heed least he fall, yet it is not in man that walks to direct his own steps. Hence the necessity and propriety of the prayer, “lead me not into temptation.” The redeemed of the Lord shall be brought to feel “that in the flesh dwells no good thing,” and that their consolation and salvation are “that the Lord is good, for his mercy endures forever.” Being then by nature destitute of any purity or righteousness, that would for one moment stand the test of the law of God, nothing can avail for us but the righteousness of Christ. Purity and righteousness are two things that we lost in Adam; But our dependence upon God and our accountability to him are two things which we did not lose by our fall in Adam. Independence and irresponsibility are what the wicked one told Adam and Eve they would attain, saying you shall be as gods. We may imagine the serpent to reason thus: if I, who by nature have neither reason nor the power of speech, have obtained these noble powers by eating of the tree which is in the midst of the garden; if I am thus ennobled by eating of this tree, to what would it exalt you, who are already in possession of reason and speech, why you shall be as gods, you shall be independent and irresponsible; as to dying, you shall not surely die, because if the tree were calculated to take away life, it would have killed me, but instead of this, I am thus exalted. This is one part of the craft of the serpent; Another part of his artfulness was to go to the woman instead of the man, for the command not to eat of the tree was given to Adam before Eve was created. So that she received (at least it appears so to me) the command not immediately from God, but from Adam. Therefore, the serpent said has God, not has Adam but has God said, you shall not eat of the tree? For God does know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be open, and you shall be as gods knowing good and evil. The enemy thus deceived the woman, and by means of which he overcame the man and thus so far accomplished his satanic intentions

There are four things here in the conduct of the wicked one rather remarkable.

First, that he chose the most crafty of the beasts of the field, and so it is now, for the most learned in the majority of cases are the greatest enemies to gospel truths. It is the Lord that chuses the fool but Satan chuses the wise of this world. There never were but two animals that spoke with man's voice, the artful serpent, and the simple ass. The former told lies, and the latter spoke truth.

Secondly, notice the mixture of truth and falsehood in what the serpent said; for God (said the enemy) does know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be open. Two things in this part of his speech are true, that is that God knew what the result would be of eating the forbidden fruit, it is also true that in that day their eyes should be opened, but it should be to the good they had lost and to the evil they had found. Now comes the daring lie, you shall be as gods. This doctrine was received and infused into our nature and springs up in the in the shapes of what are

called free-will universal charity, conditional grace, duty-faith, Socinianism, Catholicism, yes in shapes almost innumerable.

The third thing observable is the serpent went to the one who had not heard the command immediately from God, and so it is now, the enemy takes those for his use who know not the truth of divine teaching, and by the artfulness of these he tries and sometimes does ensnare those who do in some measure know the truth by the Lords own teaching; many of the Lords's little ones are kept in legal bondage for years by those agents of error. Such was their influence at Antioch that even Peter for a time walked not uprightly in some things, and brother Barnabas was led astray with their dissimulation. The prophet of God who reproved the idolatrous Jeroboam was decoyed by a false prophet and was slain by a lion. Here was the destruction of the flesh, but the spirit was safe in the hands of the Lord Jesus; we may be driven out of this world, but none can pluck us out of his hands.

Fourthly, observe the enemy did not turn Atheist, that is, deny the being of a God. He would not be so impious as to do this; This would have been two barefaced, so that he might have defeated his own design; In order, therefore, to carry on his work with success he is transformed into an angel of light and his ministers as ministers of righteousness.

We have, then, in the account the Holy Ghost has given us of the fall, some of the enemies craft laid open viz., that he chooses the most learned and crafty of this world, that he mixes truth and error, that he enlists those in his religious service who know not the truth by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, that he assumes the most attractive appearances, from the even tempered moralist to the angel of light, that he tells us that if we do our part, we shall be as gods, irresponsible and independent, that we have power thus to choose or refuse; but be it remembered that he is a liar and a deceiver.

Now as we are dependent upon and thus accountable to, God, against him whom we have sinned, of having lost the holiness and righteousness we had in Adam, this being our state by nature, nothing but the blood of Christ can be our redemption, nothing but his righteousness can be the way of our acceptance with God. It is by the Lord Jesus that we have deliverance from real evil; health, wealth, and life may render us tolerably comfortable for years, So what shall we do in the day of visitation, “if we have run with footmen (the men of this world) and they have wearied us, then how can we contend with the chariots of fire that attend the Lord as Sinai,” and if in this land of comparative peace, wherein we have trusted, we have at times been wearied, then how shall we do in the swelling of Jordan. Nothing, nothing but the finished work of Christ can be our stay in that eventful hour, and if we are convinced of our state by nature, sure I am that we shall seek for mercy, look to the God of our salvation, and be at times encouraged by the exceedingly great and precious promises of his holy word, nor be content, until the Holy Spirit has made the Lord Jesus so far precious unto us as to enable us to believe that the Lord is on our side; and if God before us, who can be against us.

As then our state by nature, renders the righteousness of Christ essential to our acceptance with God; So, also the love of God calls for this righteousness. The Lord has loved his people with an everlasting love. The righteousness of Christ imputed, is a declaration of this love; this righteousness being the righteousness of God, it accords with the love of God; this righteousness

is freely given, is infinitely important, and everlastingly useful, and thus gives expression to the freeness, fullness, and eternity of the love of God, and in proportion as men connect the work of Christ with the drawings of the creature, so in proportion do they becloud the glory of the love of God. The doctrine of free will is the smoke of the bottomless pit and will be truly hateful to those who are living in the freeness, fullness, and firmness of the love of God.

As the law of God, and the love of God, call for this righteousness, so do eternal election, and divine predestination. Eternal election gave us an eternal union to Christ. The righteousness of Christ is the wedding garment, nothing short of this accords with the dignity of such a union. Predestination to eternal life cannot stand good without the righteousness of Christ. And so, it is written, “he has not appointed us unto wrath, but to obtain salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ.” as then we are delivered from the curse of the law by the blood of Christ, so we are justified in the sight of God, by the obedient life of Christ. Of the blood of Christ, it is written, that it cleanses from all sin. Of his righteousness it is written that it justifies from all things. The life and death of Christ are distinct, yet inseparable. One cannot save without the other. The two together constitute complete salvation, and by which we are complete in him. After thus noticing the nature and necessity of the righteousness of Christ, I proceed to make a few observations on its present and future use; its present use to us, may be expressed in these two words, peace and endearment.

First. Peace with God. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. The sovereignty of God and the fixation of his love, and the choice of his people, and in their absolute predestination to eternal life, are truths we cannot expect the world to acknowledge; They are truths which paralyze human pride, and creature importance, and were these truths acknowledged by the world, it must have swept the doctrine of persecution from the earth; for had the Roman Catholic Church admitted the doctrine of creature helplessness, and divine sovereignty, they could not with any show of propriety have put others to death for differing from them in matters of religion, but being free willers, they pretended it was their duty to make other men believe what they themselves did, Popery cannot stand without free will, free will is the main spring in their infernal machinery, and yet this damnable heresy is winked at by our mongrel Calvinists while thousands pretending to universal charity, hug this brat of hell, and all the zeal of fiery indignation against the sovereignty of God, that it is impossible but that offenders must come, and the Savior says, “woe unto him by whom the offence comes;” from the abominations of this world, and the abominable doctrines of men, we are delivered by the righteousness of Christ. The treasures of wickedness profit nothing; But righteousness delivers from death (Proverbs 10:2) all the counsels of heaven and perfections of God are on our side, who shall lay anything to our charge, it is God that justifies how can we, who are brought to know this, but be reconciled to God in the purity of his nature and sovereignty of his will; In him by Christ Jesus we have inviolable peace, and in this peace with God are high and holy privileges of confession, prayer, and communion; But of these privileges I shall speak hereafter.

In our peace with God, we stand opposed to all that would in any measure keep back, neglect, or deny that righteousness of Christ. Peace with God is a mercy constantly needed, nothing can make it unimportant, it is our support through all the afflictions of life and death, it is a peace that passes, in the nature of it, the understanding of the natural man, and then the value of it, the comprehension of the Christian man; In some measure, felt and enjoyed, it proves our eternal election of God. This peace is brought about by nothing less than the life and death of Christ, the God man mediator; It

is the peace of God and shall be enjoyed by his people; it shall reveal his counsels and glorify his name. Our God then is the God of peace, who will never leave nor forsake us; but take away in whole or in part, the righteousness of Christ, and we are at once left in our sinner-ship character. And there is no peace to the wicked, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation, which shall devour us as adversaries. Shall we then trifle with, neglect, keep back, or undervalue the righteousness of Christ? Awful as this line of conduct would be, it is the path that must do, and all would pursue, if left to themselves; but there is remnant according to the election of grace, who are taught of God, these through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. As, then, by the righteousness of Christ, we have peace with God, and by this righteousness we have peace among ourselves. Let the finished work of Christ be our hope, and our constant theme, we shall then have peace one with another, and whatever schisms sin and circumstances are permitted to make among us, nothing can sever us as we stand in Christ; And when we are brought to the full enjoyment of this, animosities will be forgotten, and the more exclusively real Christians draw upon this great subject, the more they are enabled to exercise brotherly love one to another. It is true, they will be the more hated by the world, persecuted by the wicked one, and tormented by the flesh; This may be rather painful, but the Lord will make it profitable, in causing it to increase our ardor for the work of Christ; So that first and last our language will be with the Church of old, “the Lord has brought forth our righteousness, come let us declare in Zion the works of the Lord our God.”

Endearment is another present use of the righteousness of Christ. As by this righteousness, we have access to God our Father, so it endears him to our hearts; we love him, because he has first loved us. We see the beauty, and in some humble measure, feel at times, the sweetness of the following scriptures: “Holy Father, keep through your own name, those whom you have given me, that they may be one, as we are one.” “O righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you have sent me.” “Go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God and your God.” “His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting, and as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear him.” “With him is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” Here is, first our preservation: kept through your own name, those whom you have given me. Secondly. Our knowledge: these have known that you have sent me. Thirdly. Our joint heirship: my Father and your Father. Fourthly. Salvation: his mercy is from everlasting, for it is according to his mercy he has saved us. Fifthly. Succor and support: as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities us who revere his holy name. Sixth. Security: with him is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. He changes not therefore we are not consumed. These are a few of the blessings he brings us into possession of by the righteousness of Christ, and these endear him to our hearts, and we cannot be happy in God our Father, unless he is dear to our hearts.

These same things make the Lord Jesus, unto us who believe, truly precious; in these same things are founded all the covenant relations of the Holy Spirit, each person in the Trinity is equally important to the true Christian, his confidence in each is equal, he can no more give up one then another for he knows these three are one, one in nature, essence, mind, and will, he feels that the flesh profits nothing, it is the Spirit that quickens, and that without the words of Christ there is neither life, nor light, nor liberty, and without the ancient act of absolute and eternal election, he could have no interest in Christ. The Lord is exalted by the works of his own hands, the treasures of his own mercy, and power of his own arm.

Thus is the righteousness of Christ divinely glorious in the nature of it; Infinitely important as it regards the necessity of it; And for ever endearing to the use of it. As I have to speak of this righteousness, when I come presently to give some account of the death and reward of the righteous, I now pass on to the second part of the text mainly the prayer: “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.”

There are three kinds of false prayer, the formal, the pharisaic, and the presumptuous. First, the formal; how many thousands have their forms of prayer, which, if they say from time to time, they think all will be well, and if the Lord took no more notice of their prayers than what they do, it would be completely well with them, but their praying will be found at the last day among some of the greatest sins they have committed. Only think for a moment of the idea, of the great searcher of hearts being pleased with a little lip labor, when the soul, the heart and affection are all going after anything and everything, but the Lord. As to such people understanding what real prayer is, or really looking to the Lord for that grace, mercy, and pardon of which their prayers speak, it is quite out of the question. Real Christian experience is by these formalists generally termed enthusiasm; These do not disturb people any great deal by their religion, though they do sometimes, (Quaker like,) by their thriftiness in the things of this world, for most of these are wise as serpents, but very few of them harmless as doves; These are gliding down the streams of life, and blindly listening to that gulph which (if grace present not) will associate them (and that in the midst of unquenchable fire) with those who are worse than the lowest of the low on earth; and let not the profane think he shall, living and dying in his profanity, escaped the damnation of hell: for except a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Contrast the realms of bliss with the religions of the lost, and then let the cold formalist, and the profane neglecters of their immortal souls, tremble at their coming doom, for God will laugh at their calamity and mock when their fear comes.

But while the dead formalist is deceiving himself, many who are conspicuously zealous, are nonetheless deceiving themselves, as their principles are wrong and their prayers pharisaic. Not but the mere formalist’s prayers are decidedly pharisaic, still formality is the chief characteristic, as pharisaism and legality are the chief features of the class of which I now have to speak. These pray, and apparently very earnestly too, for the whole world; The Savior did not pray for the whole world; But these do, so that they undertake what he did not undertake; is it any wonder then that they do not succeed in converting the world, as some one of our divines has said, “if he who alone can convert the world, leave it undone, how vain are the attempts of the mortal men”? Yet the religion of these universalists suits the taste of the world pretty well, or else they would not succeed so far as they do. Nonetheless as some among them are to come out from them, we must continue to expose error and insist upon the claims of the cross.

Those then who are praying for perfection in the flesh, for the salvation of the whole world, whole towns, and whole villages, are praying for what they never did and never will attain; yet their prosperity approve their sayings (that is their doctrines), and go on from generation to generation, asking God for what he has never promised to give, and what they, therefore, have no authority to expect. But then they say the fault lies with the people, that they will not come; It is certainly a truth that they will not come, and it is equally true that they cannot come, and that God has never intended that any shall, but those whose names are already on high, for his people shall be willing

in the day of his power. Under the Mosaic dispensation none were invited to partake of the paschal lamb but the Israelites. So, none are invited now but those described in the invitation. The Lord, as if to convince us of the uselessness of the general exhortation system, has given us in his holy word several instances of its uselessness, the Savior said to the people who followed him for the loaves and fishes, “labor not for the meat which perishes but for the meat which endures unto eternal life,” and we are told in the same chapter, that these same persons went back and walked no more with him (John 6:27). Again, in the parable of the marriage; The servants went out and called those who were bidden to the marriage; as the Jews were commanded to observe the national marriage between them and the Lord, as their deliverer from Egypt, preserver, and provider, these were commanded to observe the laws by which these mercies were enjoyed; but none of the nations around were commanded to observe these laws, nor invited to enjoy the mercies the Israelites did enjoy. The Israelites, then, on the ground of the Lord's having chosen them, and doing great things for them as a nation, were invited to the privileges of this national marriage. The prophets were sent into them time after time, rising early and sitting up late, using similitudes, and expostulating with them, yet they hearkened not, but did always err in their hearts, for they knew not the Lord's way. So, in this parable of the marriage, the servant called, but none obeyed the call; so that when they were sent the second time, they were commanded to go to the halt, the lame, and the blind, these were needy, and they were to be compelled to come in, and fill the house. The first part of the parable shows up the national invitation of the Jewish prophets; the latter part of the parable describes their work in the spiritual sense, and the work of the apostles and after ministers, whom the Lord should send to preach his truth; the Holy Spirit attended it with power, and as many as are ordained to eternal life shall savingly believe in the Lord Jesus.

Therefore, the Lord has, by his expostulations with the Jews of old, together with a few instances of the same in the New Testament, give us proofs of the uselessness of general exhortations to the dead, nor is it scriptural to employ general invitations as a means of bringing sinners to Christ. For by such systems men may be ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. The Lord has not only told us without him we can do nothing, but he has shown us, by giving it a fair trial, the fertility of inviting dead men to rise and walk; this then is one important use of those examples he has given. He did not, therefore, send his apostles with the system of universal exhortation, but commanded them to tarry in Jerusalem until the Holy Ghost should qualify them for their great work. Then, and not till then, they were to go and preach the gospel, the true gospel, to every creature, that is to all kinds of people, Jew and Gentile, bond and free, male and female. The blessings treasured up in Christ, are to be given to those for whom they are prepared. The gospel finds all men in a state of unbelief and those who die in this state must be lost, for they are by nature in a state of condemnation, so that he that believes not, is condemned already. The only way of deliverance from this condemnation in the first Adam, is by faith in the Lord Jesus. The Savior came not to condemn the world, for it was condemned already, and yet it was the condemnation of the Jewish world that light came into the world, and they loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil: the traditions of men were the darkness they loved, more than the light of gospel truth, because the chief priests, scribes, and rulers, by these traditions misled the people, and secured to themselves, in abundance, the good things of this life; this they did by keeping back the truth and making void the commandment of God, these were their evil deeds, how then could they love that truth which brought their deeds to light? Yet by virtue of their offices it was their duty to teach the people, not by human traditions and false interpretations of the word of God, but by stating the truth clearly and fairly, and if they did not know the law as it

related to the Jews as a nation, why then they were holding sacred offices for a piece of bread, and were bold intruders in the sanctuary of the Lord. As it was the duty of these men, by virtue of their office, to state the truth of God to the Jews as a nation, so it was the duty of the civil magistrates of Judea, to minister justice to every man. Pilate, therefore, in giving sentence against Christ, did that which was unjust; these then were the sins of the Jewish nation, and by which this nation was condemned as a nation, even unto this day. This condemnation must not be confounded with the common condemnation we are all in by nature. Hence, then, we see in what sense it was the duty of the Jews to receive Christ, and what sense they sinned in rejecting him; nor can any nation commit any sin equal to that of shutting out by arbitrary laws, and persecution, that liberty of conscience which is every man's right in matters of religion. This loving of darkness rather than the light, has been, if not final, yet for a time the condemnation of many nations besides the Jewish nation. Look at the miseries of England a few centuries ago, look at the present civil wars and miseries in Spain, and the hardly gone by desolations of France. It is the duty of every king, and every queen, of every senate, and every civil magistrate, wherever the gospel comes, to protect liberty of conscience in matters of religion, and we who are Christians will sincerely pray for those our rulers, that they may be upheld, directed, and blessed by the King of kings and Lord of lords.

This then is the sense in which it is the duty of civil rulers to receive, and their sin to reject, the gospel. This civil and national duty is not to be blended with the spiritual acts of saving faith and spiritual prayer, to those who despise the ancient covenant of mercy in Christ Jesus, the completeness of his salvation, the invincible operations of the Holy Spirit, the freeness and fullness of saving grace, the sovereignty of God in the securing of his people. To those who despise these things, the word of truth speaks in this way: “behold, you despisers, and wonder and perish, for I work a work in your days, a work which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declares it unto you.” (Acts 14:41.) All prayer, therefore which is regulated by the doctrine of free will, and universal invitation, is anti-scriptural, delusive, and an abomination in the sight of the Lord, as without faith it is impossible to please God; so where the great doctrines of the gospel are not believed and received into the heart and affection, the service of such is in the oldness of the letter, and not in the newness of the spirit.

There is also a third kind of false prayer, viz. the presumptuous. The merely formal and pharisaic, are undoubtedly presumptuous; But the class to which I now allude, are those who are tolerably sound in the great leading doctrines of the gospel, but who know little or nothing of real soul trouble, whose carnal security passes for full assurance of faith, and his language in prayer is often very unbecoming and irrelevant, such as, the Lord must bless us, and that he cannot hinder himself from so doing, and much more of this kind of language, which amounts of anything but a broken heart. “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the Saints, and to be had in reverence by all of them that are round about him” (Psalm 89:9). Each of the seraphim seen by Isaiah, had six wings. “With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly.” Here is first the humble look, with two he covered his face. Secondly the solemnity of approach, they did not draw near with incautious step. Thirdly, here is the rapidity with which each move in obedience to the Lord's commands. Fourthly we have the nature and tone of their adoration, one cried unto another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory.” (Isaiah 6:2.) The humble look, the cautious step, the ready obedience, and solemn adoration of the holy angels, are not merely duty like efforts of theirs; no, these things are their element, for

they are holy, and dwell in the presence of God, and the Lamb; They are happy, nor can anything “violate their bliss.”

The Bible tolerates, and the Holy Spirit dictates, sooner or later, in the hearts of the Lord's people, the language of assurance, but the language of presumption is the language of hardened and unconscious men. “God is in heaven, and you upon earth, therefore let your words be few” (Ecclesiastes 5:2). While many are led by formality, and many by Pharisaism and some by presumption; The real Christian, though he be not governed by these evils, yet he not only has them in his nature, but is beset from time to time by them: he knows what it is to be made miserable by the coldness of formality, the workings of legality, and the fetters of presumption. Yet these are not his element, nor his home. The following scriptures will accord with the experimental knowledge the Christian has of himself: “and Abraham said, behold, now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes.” “Behold, I am vile.” “I am not worthy of the least of all your mercies.” “what am I, O Lord, that you should bring me hitherto?” and the more the Lord is pleased to lead our minds to the solemnities of eternity, the glories of Emmanuel, the beauties of salvation, and mysteries of his kingdom, the more deeply do we enter into that feeling implied in the language of Jacob, when he said “how dreadful is this place, this is none other but the House of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (Genesis 28:19) This is the element of those who know the Lord, who can say in the true spirit of prayer, let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.

I now pass on, to make a few observations upon the nature and privileges of true prayer. True prayer is the longing of the soul after that mercy, the need of which is felt; It is a thirst for God, a hungering after the bread of life, a sincere seeking of the knowledge and enjoyment of interest in Christ, an earnest concern to live to the glory of God, in body and spirit, which are his, a cleaving to his word, and his ways. The Holy Spirit is the author and regulator of all true prayer, and in proportion as he is pleased to deepen conviction of sin, create spiritual thirst, and reveal the great object of attraction, the Lord Jesus; So, will be our eagerness to run in the way of life and peace. Ample is the provision, and every way suited is the salvation of the gospel, yet none has by nature a real appetite for the one, nor a real knowledge of the necessity of the other. No man can keep alive (much less quickened) his own soul, it is the Lords own work; He began this good work, he alone can carry it out; The Lord alone can revive us in our bondage, keep us lamenting after him. Were it not that he condescends to carry on the work according to the abundance of his mercy, sins and circumstances would soon stifle the feeling and stop the mouth of true prayer; But the Lord carries on the work and keeps us sensibly poor and needy and dependent. To keep us in this humble, honorable, and safe state, is one use, he, in mercy, makes of those bonds and afflictions which are laid upon us, being, as we are by nature, so full of self-sufficiency, and self-importance. There is a needs-be for trials, to prove us, watery paths to baffle us, the lengthened wilderness to weary us, and the besetments of enemies, and false friends, to drive us to our wits end; All, that we might cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils, and make our prayer unto the Lord, even unto God of eternal life.

As true prayer arises from a real sense of need, so it is constant. This arises from these two principles, first the continuation of our neediness, and secondly, the Lords watering the work every moment, and keeping it night and day. I do not mean that prayer is in exercise constantly, and at all times alike. In saying it is constant, I mean simply these two things, 1st that the true Christian

knows, at all times that he needs a free grace salvation, that his feelings or fallings be what they may, in propensity or adversity, at home or abroad, among friends or enemies, nothing but yea and amen gospel truth can be approved of him; This is one of those things I mean in saying that prayer is constant. The next thing, that at all times, according to the new man, the true Christian is willing to live much more like a king and a priest to God, then what he does; The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak; Prayer then is constant in its nature and object, being an appetite for truth, and a thirst for God. But its exercise is another thing; Yet no particular place is essential to this. We sometimes pray most when we say nothing, and sometimes very little, or not at all, when we say a great deal. Prayer to God is an exercise truly solemn, and we ought never to multiply words for the sake of making a long prayer. Many Christians do not consider how they demean our prayer meetings, by multiplying words, from 10 to 20 minutes, and from that to half an hour, so that each one present feels the workings of impatience and is glad when the prayer is ended; to this it may be answered, that they are sometimes so lead out by the Lord, that they cannot occupy less time than what they do; When the Lord is with them, they speak with power, and their speech is truly seasoned with grace, and is more likely to entertain than to weary. It is that long, dry round of words, which is so much indulged in, of which I complain, and which, whether in the pulpit, or anywhere else, produces more pain than profit. It is not the language of the tongue, but the meaning of the heart which is noticed by the Lord.

Prayer is a privilege truly great; In the 1st place, where is the Christian who has not things to tell the Lord, which he would not, which he could not tell to fellow creatures.

“To thee I tell each rising grief, For thou alone can heal.”

All things are open and naked in his sight; And these sins of our nature which act in such a way, as to surprise us, and make it make us think it's strange that after being brought to know his name, experienced the shedding abroad of his love, to enjoy the light of his countenance, the power of truth, the sweetness of pardoning mercy, and comfort of justifying grace; to be let into the liberty of the gospel, to cry Abba, Father, to feel somewhat assured, that the gates of hell are closed against us, and the gates of heaven opened before us; that we are kings and priests to God, have left the devil, and his service, have taken the oath of allegiance to Jesus, have been made willing to die for the Lord Jesus, have been in a straight, betwixt two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ which is far better, than the most exalted enjoyment that we are capable of while in the body; Yet, after all this, with what strange things have we met, especially in ourselves; What ingratitude, hardness of heart, unbelief, infidelity, discontent, envy, hypocrisy; Yes evils without number. We know not what we were in our nature thus vile, so that we think it's strange; Yet it is not strange to the Lord, he knew all this, yet he fixed his love upon us, manifested it unto us, and loves us now the same as ever. His thoughts concerning us are still, and always will be, truly precious, so that we may look again towards his holy temple, make mention of the dear Mediators blood, plead his righteousness, and the exceeding great and precious promises of his holy word, for he will revive us again and cause his face to shine upon us; For he has said that he will never leave us, nor forsake us; So that we may boldly say, “the Lord is our helper, we will not fear what man can do unto us.”

Our prayers are to God, who is our Father, our Savior, and our Guide through all the labyrinths of life; he loves us, cares for us, watches over us for good, and will bring us to a city of habitation,

even to that city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God, even our own God. The whole tenor of the gospel encourages us to seek the Lord, assuring us that we shall find him; that although the vision tarries, yet at the appointed time it shall speak peace unto us.

I have here three things to say, which three things I wish you to notice; First that it is right that we should indulge ourselves in the full expectation of realizing what the Lord has positively promised; all his promises of mercy are in Christ, and are yea and amen, suited to our circumstances, and glorifying to God; These promises are sure to be fulfilled, so that all Israel shall be saved; they shall be gathered in from the ends of the earth; shall hear the voice of the great Shepherd, and shall follow him; Shall be partakers of his spirit and shall be living witnesses of his ability to save; So come to mount Zion, and ascribe salvation to God, and to the Lamb. All things pertaining to life and godliness, mercy and grace, are given unto us in Christ, and are made known to us by the Holy Spirit. For all these things, the Lord leads his people to inquire; These things do not set aside a praying heart but ensure it to all the Lord's people. And so it is written, that they shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces toward towards it; That they shall be led with weeping and supplication, therefore, all our needs are sure to be supplied; My God shall supply all your needs, out of his riches in glory by Christ Jesus, we know then, that it is the will of the Lord to bestow these things. For these things we ought to pray, and these things we shall obtain.

The second thing I have to say on this part of our subject, is this, that while on the one hand, we may look with assurance for what is promised, yet, on the other, it is unscriptural to pray for what is not promised, such as the redemption of fallen angels, the salvation of the whole world, perfection in the flesh; All such prayers are unscriptural and of the flesh. God works all things after the counsel of his own will; And if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us, and whatsoever is not according to his will is rejected.

We know it is the will of the Lord that his people should be saved, and that they should be compassed about with songs of deliverance, even in their pilgrimage through this world, but we also know that it is not the will of the Lord that the whole race of Adam should be saved, therefore, it is contrary to the gospel to pray for all men, in the sense that the free willers, and most of our pretended Calvinists, do; these, then, or two things, of the three, that I have to say upon this part of our subject.

The next thing I have to say is, (and now mind what I do say,) that there are many things, concerning which we know not what the will of the Lord is; here that little great word IF, so well-known to the Lord's people, comes into important use. So that concerning many things we have to go to the throne of grace with and if it be thy will; this submissive IF (as some have very well named it), is of great use in perplexing circumstances, family prayer, mixed companies, and in the pulpit and indeed, all our plans, purposes, and movements in life. “Go to, now, you that say today or tomorrow, we will go into such a city, and buy and sell, and get gain; You ought to say if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that”, for the Lord will not chide us for not knowing what his holy Word does not reveal.

These three things, then, are clear, viz. That we are to look with holy assurance for those things which it is the will of the Lord to grant, and that it is wrong to ask for things which are clearly contrary to his will; And thirdly that we must use the submissive IF, when it is not known what the will of the Lord is; and thus true prayer, which is indited by the Holy Spirit, will be in accordance with these truths which the Prophets and Apostles have left on record, for these “holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

After pointing out the four respects in which the true Christian differs from Balaam; Having also noticed the necessity, the nature, and the glory of the righteousness of Christ, together with three kinds of false prayer, and a concise account of true prayer, its author, and principles by which it is regulated, having got thus far with the important subject before us, I shall now, by way of drawing in a conclusion, notice three more weighty matters.

First. The death of the man who knows not God.

Second. The death of the man who does know the Lord.

Third. The real reward of the true Christian.

First. The death of the man who does not know the Lord.

View such a one meeting, unconsciously meeting, a sin avenging God! All his sins of heart and life to be brought against him, even every idle word he has ever spoken, all shall be brought to him, and charged upon him; What are the criminals heavy chains, the agonies of a dying body, the distress of bereavement, and most affecting scenes of this world, compared with the sentence passed upon the man who lives and dies without hope and without God in the world, the mask of delusion shall then be torn off, the majesty of God become his dread, fiery indignation penetrate to the inmost recesses of his mind, the arrows of the Almighty shall pierce him through and through, not one of his sins can be forgotten, nor one particle of the punishment to be remitted.

Look also at the helplessness of such and one; No counselor to plead his case, no one to mitigate his woes; Neither self nor earthly friends can retain the spirit in the day of death, recall the comforts of this life, nor give effect to the physician skill, nor again wind up the cord of life; The pendulum is stopped, the wheels are motionless, the hands drop, the heart ceases to beat, the body is dead, but the soul where is that? Ah! Solemn thought living, living still, but is lost; Sunk, and still sinking in the abyss where condemnation, awful sound, keeps all the aghast, and floods of fury to everlasting roll. How awful, then is the state of that man who thus dies under the curse of a violated law.

As the unjust, that is to say, those who are not given into the hands of Christ, and his work imputed to them, those who are not thus favored, remain under the law, and are in a state of condemnation and will be raised from the dead the last day as well as the just.

Now, I wish you to pay particular attention to the answer I make to the following question, namely, that as the unjust are to rise from the dead, as well as the just, will they (the unjust) be raised from the dead (as the just will be) by virtue of the resurrection of Christ? No certainly not, the unjust are under the law, and are accountable to their Maker; And it is by virtue of this, their accountability to God, that they must appear at the bar of God. The law and justice of God claimed them; They

have no interest whatever in the resurrection of Christ, for they have no other relation to God than that in which they were created. So that it is clear, that if Christ had never appeared, the dead would have been raised and brought to judgment. The non elect, then, are not raised from the dead by virtue of the resurrection of Christ, but by virtue of their accountability to God. Then, as in Adam all the human race died, so in Christ shall all the chosen race be made alive. By man, that is, by the 1st Adam, came death; And by the man, that is, the second Adam, the God-man, came also the resurrection of the dead, that is, the resurrection of the saints to a life of glory.

Read the 15th chapter of First Corinthians and you will find that the apostle does not, throughout the chapter, say one word about the resurrection of the unjust; He there speaks exclusively of the resurrection of the just. And so, in Romans 5:18, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. This is true of the whole human race, but the next part of the verse is not true of the whole human race; Namely, that by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life; nothing can be more clear, than that all men are by nature, in a state of condemnation; and it is equally clear, that only some, and not all, are in a state of justification; therefore the ALL men, upon whom the free gift of eternal life is bestowed, arer the all men that are given to Christ; The all men that shall come to him; which all men, are out of all nations; Therefore neither the 15th of Corinthians, nor the 5th of Romans, authorizes the doctrine of the non-elect raising from the dead, by virtue of the resurrection of Christ; For all whose names are not written in the lambs book of life, are under the law: they are born under it, live under it, die under it, they will be judged by it, then be punished according to it. They are condemned in Adam, condemned in their own hearts, in their lives, in their death, and will be condemned at the day of judgment, and to all eternity. The law is eternal, and they are its prisoners forever. The non-elect then must be raised from the dead, by virtue of their accountability to God; they have sinned in their bodies as well as in their souls; And that body and soul must suffer.

The bond-children, then, die in their sins, are helpless, and summoned to judgment by the law of God.

Let us now notice two more things, concerning the lost. First, their association; it will be with fallen angels, and fallen angels with them; All filled with hatred to God, and to each other; Cursing and detesting one another with unabating rage, but cannot change their place, their state, nor their company; there will be nothing in them, nor on them, nor about them, but shall as it were, deepen their wounds, keep up their torments, and perfect their misery; this then is they're awful companionship.

Notice, also, their exposure to the wrath of God, no impenetrable armor, no sheltering rock, no defending mountain, no shading tree, no fragrant rose, no cooling stream, no shining sun, twinkling stars, nor resplendent moon, no death to terminate the scene. Such are the death and destiny of those who live and die, and know not God, and that obey not the gospel.

Let us now turn to the death, and destiny of the righteous; they die not in their sins, but in the Lord; Not helpless, but victorious; Not under the law, but under grace. Follow the man who has been taught by the Lord, and made to renounce all confidence in the flesh; Who knows from trying experience, the depravity, and self-righteousness of fallen nature, the purity and spirituality of the law of God, and has been led on to a participation of pardoning mercy, through the blood and

righteousness of Christ, made to rest in the bosom of the eternal love of Christ, brought to know that there is a covenant ordered in all things and sure, that all the blessings that accompany salvation, such as faith, repentance, prayer, and spiritual knowledge, were given in Christ before the foundation of the world; and that they all center in Christ; And in their exercise, have to do immediately with Christ. Faith receives him, by receiving his eternal truth, repentance opposes the flesh, hates sin, throws human tradition away, and bows to the sovereignty of God in Christ Jesus, as revealed in the certain reprobation of some, and the certain salvation of others. Knowledge consists chiefly in being acquainted with Christ, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Nothing can be of any real use to the soul, of which Christ is not the root, the author, the object, and the end. He is the Father's unspeakable gift, the great subject made known by the Holy Spirit, the chosen head, of a chosen people. By him Israel is saved, in him they are complete, are brought to know him, love him, walk with him, and glory in him, and perfectly hate every false way

The man who is brought to know these things, whatever be his fears or feelings, his sorrow, or his joy in his dying hour, however matters may be in these respects, he dies in the Lord, his sins are put away by atoning blood, and by the great atonement of Christ he is redeemed and sanctified and has peace with God. And by the righteousness of Christ, he is justified, approved, accepted, and secured. And he thus stands in saving union to Christ; he is in this his union to Christ, where sin cannot reach him, nor can death, nor hell, nor the world touch him; He bids defiance to them all, bids adieu to this world, its comforts, and shall be in trouble no more forever. For there the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.

Christ then is the life by which we, who know his name, and receive his truth, shall overcome death; The light by which we shall walk through darkness, the liberty by which the Holy Spirit will enable us to cry Abba Father; walk at large in the fields of infinity, and dilate with indescribable and incessant rapture upon the wonders of eternal love, having the enjoyment of one eternal feast.

“It is finished,” were the Saviors dying words, and shall be our dying support, for by his great work he has made us unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight. Our conformity to Christ as to love, holiness, and righteousness, is by his life, death, and resurrection. Being washed in his blood, and arrayed in his righteousness, by which precious blood, and glorious righteousness, the Holy Spirit sheds abroad in our hearts that love to God.

These blessings are according to the ancient bestowment of mercy (Ephesians 1:4). Now notice the ends to be obtained: First. That we should be holy, this is brought about by the blood of Christ; his blood cleanses us from all sin; He by his infinitely precious blood, is our sanctification, and in this way we shall be holy, even as he is holy; and without this holiness no man can see the Lord; Not only are we to be thus holy and incorruptible, but also without blame: here is our justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ; This is our wedding garment, our robe of glory, the apparel in which we shall shine forth as the sun in the firmament; by his precious blood we are made holy, and by his righteousness we are without blame.

There is no sin, no enemy, no disease, no death, no charge, no spot nor wrinkle, nor any such thing, but what we are in this way delivered from; this is the ancient promise of God our Father, the great

work of our dear Emmanuel, the salvation brought into the conscience, understanding, and affections of the Lord's people, so that they become new creatures in Christ Jesus.

But not only are we to be thus holy and without blame, we are to appear before him in love, that is, in his love, for thus says the Lord, “continue you in my love” the love of God, Father, Word, and Holy Ghost, and what can there be but happiness in the heights, depths, length, and breath of that love which passes all that; And we are to dwell in this by the blood and righteousness of Christ, so that our holiness and righteousness, our right and title, will be the same in kind and degree, each equally glorifying to God, each equally precious to Christ, and all equally happy.

What is to disturb them in this their approaching bliss, the Lord knows them all, and he will bring them all to know him, he is holy and he has made them holy; he is righteous, and he has made them righteous, he is God over all, blessed forevermore, and he has given them the victory over all, and for them there is no more curse, he dwells in them and they in him; the law can demand no more, mercy can give no more, we can need no more; Washed in Emmanuel’s blood, clothed in the righteousness of him who is God with us, filled with the spirit of God, possessing the Christ of God, and living in the infinite love of God, what shall we say to these things, is not the glory to be revealed exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think? Are we then longing for the fire of these truths to increasingly penetrate our souls, warm our hearts, and eliminate our understanding; He who began the good work will carry it on, so that we shall die the death of the righteous, and our last end shall be like his.

The Lambs book of life contains the names of all those for whom the Redeemer died; All these shall be taught of God, this book of life will be produced at the last day (Revelation 20:12-15), and shall prove the exactness of the number given into the hands of Christ in the ancient covenant: he took them and became responsible for them, and engaged to redeem them, save them, and present them faultless before the eyes of his glory, and that with exceeding joy, saying, here am I and all the children which you hast given me. God the father did not, in giving them to Christ give them out of his own hands, no! For he possesses them, not apart from Christ, but as they are in Christ, for he has made them joint heirs with Christ, so that Christ is not ashamed to call them brethren; and when Christ has delivered up the Kingdom, the Kingdom will not be given out of his own hands, for he will present the church to the Father, by presenting it to himself, for he is and always will be, the way to the Father, yes, the Father dwells in him, so that he that has spiritually seen him has seen the Father; God will be all in all to the manhood of Christ, and through his manhood all in all to the Church, and thus God will be glorious and Christ precious the Father, Word, and Holy Ghost shall shine forth exclusively by the manhood of Christ. God dwells in him, he and God, and it is by him that God dwells in the Saints, and by him they dwell in God, and thus shall Christ be ever glorified in his people, and God the Father by him, and thus shall they ascribe salvation to God and the Lamb, Christ shall deliver up the kingdom to the Father, but it does not mean that he shall give up possession of his children when he gave them into the hands of Christ, as he possesses them in Christ, so Christ dwells in the Father, and possesses them in him, “all mine are yours and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.”

The Lamb's book of life, then, shall show up in the last day the number given to Christ, and joint heirs with him; we, therefore, cannot part with the book of life; The gospel is, to a certain extent a copy thereof, as the book of life will show up the number, so the work of Christ will be their title

to that inheritance which is undefiled and that fades not away, no deficiency will be found in the book, and no flaw in the title: his work, the perfect.

It is written of those who die in the Lord, that their works will follow them. Well, now then, be attentive if you can, while I tell you what these works are. Why they are said to follow; And also, of what use they will be to the Lord's people at the last day. First, what these works are. I scarcely need say they are not the works of the flesh, for these please not the Lord; And are for the sins of the Lord's people, they shall not be found; They are forgiven and forgotten. The King's daughter is all glorious within. The church is all fair, there is no spot in her; She shall be presented without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. She is approved in Christ, complete in him, and who shall lay anything to her charge. She shall be rewarded according to the works of her heavenly husband. What he did, was not for himself, but for her; And yet, O precious love, mercy, and condensation, she is his other self; From everlasting was this union formed, even

“Then in the glass of his decree

Christ and his bride appeared as one,

Her sin, by imputation his,

While she in spotless splendour alone.”

The works, then, that shall follow, are the works that are wrought in the Lord's people by the Holy Spirit. “Lord, you will ordain peace for us, for you also have wrought all our works in us” (Isaiah 26:12”. Again, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that works in you both to will and to do of his own good pleasure.” The works which the Holy Spirit works in the Lord's people are repentance, faith, godly fear, love, hope, prayer and praise; so that they are brought to repentance, which consists chiefly in these three things, 1st. the changing of false principles for true ones. 2nd., sin, becomes known, confessed, hated, and forsaken. 3rdly, A beholding of the glory of God, in the person of Christ, so as to be captivated by the preciousness of his saving mercy. This repentance is one good work, it is wrought by the Holy Spirit, centers in Christ, and leads to God. Faith is another good work, this receives the truth into the heart, by which it overcomes the world, defies the devil, and endures as seeing him who is invisible. Godly fear is another good work, this solemnizes the mind, rejects the vanity of the creature, reveres the truthfulness of the Creator, centers in the majesty of Christ, lives upon the mercy of God in Christ, holds in the most sacred regard the solemn truths of the gospel, flies to the refuge set before us in the gospel. Noah was moved with fear. Love is another good work, this endears the Savior, kisses his precious feet, laments his absence, glories in his presence, is delighted with his prosperity, and would die or suffer anything for his sake, which is only a humble acknowledgement of his having done and suffered everything for us, and all our afflictions he was afflicted, he all our sorrows bore.

Precious! Yes, it is precious when the Holy Spirit sets this precious love of God to work in the heart, we have then, neither doubt, nor fear, nor trouble, care for another enemy, dread no storm, nor desire any the retreat, but go on our way with the good old, yet new, song in our hearts and in our mouths. “We are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” Hope is another good work, this keeps us somewhat steady in the storm, encourages us in the dark, stands up against the carnal reasoning of old nature, bears with the sneers of the world and taunts of the devil, yet it holds fast the truth until love, joy, and peace, be realized; hope has nothing to do then, but to look on until

the days of darkness and doubt come, then hope goes to work again, and it works hard too, and needs now and then a little encouragement such as this, “hope you in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God.” Again “there is an end, and your expectation shall not be cut off;” This hope is good, its work is good, and its end is good, for it will at last change into sight. Prayer is another good work. Prayer (while the flesh is longing after the things of the flesh), thirst for the love, the salvation and the presence of God; were true prayer is, nothing can suit its appetite, silence its cry, nor satiate its thirst, but the provisions of mercy, the promise of the gospel, and the river of the water of life.

Praise is another good work; It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord; This is the grace of approbation, admiration, and decision. “Blessed are they that dwell in your house they will be still praising you.”

These, then, are one class of good works; there is also another class of good works, these are of a ministerial kind and are thus recorded. “I was hungry, and you gave me meat; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came unto me.” This account may be applied first to ministers, and then secondly to the Lord's people generally. First to minister; When the Lord's people are brought to feel, and know, where, and what, they are as sinners, then it is, that they are experimentally, and in the spiritual sense, hungry and thirsty, feel that they are strangers to God, and when brought to know him, so become strangers and pilgrims on the earth. They are brought to feel that they are naked, sick, and in prison. These ministers, who are set forth by the Holy Spirit, will bring ministerially, the bread and water of life; will entertain these strangers, and will take them into spiritual friendship, and by describing the work of God in them, will prove them to be the chosen generation, the royal priesthood. These same ministers will bring forth the garments of salvation, the robe of righteousness, the balmy blood of Christ, and the promise, the yea and Amen promise of hope. So that the real seekers of the Lord shall find food and raiment health, liberty, and entertainment. These things distinguish true ministers from false ones; By these fruits you shall know them.

The Lord's people minister these things to one another, in conversation, in reading, and in prayer. These things taken also literally, are ministered one to another; They would says Paul, that we should remember the poor, the which I was also forward to do. Now, these temporal charities are attended to, more or less, by every sect and party, professors, and profane, but this, while it is truly praiseworthy is rather the duty of one creature to another. For all, expect, these that can work and will not, have a right to the produce of the earth, so that to oppress the poor is against the laws of nature and the laws of God, the Lord makes poor and he makes rich, so that he that despises the poor reproaches his maker; These charities then, among men, are human duties, due from one fellow creature to another; But no one can give really and truly for the truth sake, unless he has the truth in him; And all love which is not the love of the truth, is false love, and that if a man does not possess the free grace truth of God in the love of it, he may give all his goods to feed the poor and even his body to be burned, and be lost at last. None but those who renounce all confidence in the flesh, which it is impossible for all free willers and mongrel Calvinists to do, without sacrificing their own principles, and happy for them if for the truths sake they are brought to do this indeed and not in word only, but those who do renounce all the pretensions of the flesh can give even a cup of cold water to a disciple for the truth’s sake.

The good works then, of the Lord's people are wrought in them by the Lord; These good works are said to follow, not to go before but to follow, that is, they are natural consequences of the love of God, the work of Christ, the mighty operations of the Holy Spirit, and vital union to the true vine; These do not go before, for Christ himself is our forerunner, he has gone to appear in the presence of God for us, yet the works of the Saints, are said to follow them, but mind, they are those works which are wrought in them by the Lord. We shall want then, at the last day, these three things, first, the book of life; This book shall show the number of the Lord's family. Secondly the work of Christ; this shall be the right and title of the Lord's family to the inheritance of glory; well, then, here are their number and title; Now, then, who are they, how can they be known? Now comes the good works of which I have spoken, the fruits of the Holy Spirit are the earnest, the distinguishing mark by which they are sealed to the day of redemption, and none shall escape destruction but these upon whom is this discriminating mark (Ezekiel 9: 6). This healing work, then, of the Holy Spirit, distinguishes the Lord's people in this life, and shall identify them at the last day; The souls of the redeemed are made to bear the impress of the great truths of the gospel, their souls are molded into the form of these great truths; Therefore, Paul exhorts Timothy to hold fast the form of the sound words, knowing, that if the form of the stamp be altered it will not give a faithful, clear, and proper image of Christ; whatever other mark it has, it is the mark of the beast (Revelation 19:20.) And to whatever other image it may be conformed, God will despise. And so, it is written, “O Lord, when you awake, you shall despise their image, (Psalm 63:20.)

Who dared to alter the plan which God gave to Noah for building the ark, the pattern Moses received, in mount Horeb, the form of doctrine delivered by the Lord Jesus to the apostles, and by them to us. If any should alter the great plan of the everlasting covenant, a covenant ordered in all things in shore, let him (says the Holy Ghost) be accursed, even if it be an angel from heaven; Let him be accursed that is, (as the original means) let him be excluded from the church, and society of the Saints. Again, if any man loved not our Lord Jesus Christ, viz. The true Christ, let him be anathema maranatha, viz. excluded till they come, until the Lord come in the way of mercy, or of wrath. Again, no man, speaking by the spirit, calls Jesus accursed, that is, excluded. For all who are taught of God, so include the Savior as to exclude everything else, he is their all in all, they are conformed to his image, being predestinated thereto.

The book of life then, at the last day, shall show the number chosen to salvation, the work of Christ shall appear as the title to the bliss before them, and their works wrought in them by the Lord shall be brought forth to identify their persons, and thus shall appear the glorious work of the ever blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

The difference then between the death and destiny of the righteous and the wicked, is, that the wicked die in their sins, are under the curse of the law, are accountable to God their maker and lawgiver, and must be imprisoned forever in the bottomless pit. But the righteous die in the Lord, under the blessing of the gospel, Christ is their surety, he has answered for all their sins, and put them away, by the sacrifice of himself, that his people shall forever walk at large, they shall be brought into a wealthy place.

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