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they shall live and become a glorious army, animated by the heavenly grace. How is it possible, if we see things only with carnal eyes, that we should see them as God sees them, who directs all things with a view to an eternal state of being? Our "light affliction" may work for us a "far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen for the things that are seen are temporal; but the things that are not seen are eternal." * It is only by looking at things unseen and eternal," that we can derive true benefit from the miseries of life. Under the hand of God every thing is propelled, every thing temporal is rushing forward to give way to, or to be united with, that which is eternal. This is the developement of the whole plan, the explication of all the complicated movements of providence. Look at the things which are eternal: there is the state to which we are tending, where we shall know in perfection what we now know only in part, and shall be satisfied that all has been conducted agreeably to the known character of God.

6. Yet, let it be observed, even here the light of prophecy dispels many of those clouds which would otherwise obscure, for the present, the government and the throne of the Deity. We are assured that in the latter day the gospel will be more widely disseminated, that its influence will be more extensive and efficacious, that the superstitious

* 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18.

prejudices and vices, by which it has been so long opposed will give way; that the desert and the wilderness shall become a fruitful field, and "shall blossom as the rose;"* that all the kingdoms of the earth shall bring their riches and glory into the church, the whole earth shall be full of the glory of the Lord, and there shall be peace unto the ends of the earth. At what period this glory of the latter day will commence, is not for us to determine; it is generally agreed the time draws near; how long it will last is, again, not easy to tell. The thousand years are perhaps to be calculated upon the same scale as other prophecies, wherein a day stands for a year, which would make them more than three hundred and sixty thousand years. Be this as it may, at that period the Spirit will be poured down from on high; the potsherds of the earth that have been striving, will be dashed to pieces; the great Proprietor will come to fashion them anew then "the fruitful field will be as a forest," and the forest "as the garden of God;"† none shall destroy in all God's holy mountain; the sacred influence of piety will bring us back to a paradisaical state; the love, the harmony, the plenty which will abound, will fill every heart with gladness; the temple of God shall be among men, the marriage of the Lamb will come; and the universal song will be, " Hallelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!"‡

If this period shall continue long, the miseries that once reigned will be forgotten, and all the disorder that was introduced by the fall will be as Isai. xxxii. 15. ; li. 3. + Rev. xix. 6.

* Isai. xxxv. 1.

nothing, when compared with the joy of the restoration; the creation of a "new heaven and a new earth, wherein righteousness shall reign."

"Behold, the coming of the Lord draweth nigh; but who can abide the day of his coming?" He will come with his "fan in his hand." " He will sit like a refiner of silver." The chaff will be separated from the wheat; the visitations of the Almighty will find out his enemies; the phials of his indignation will be poured out upon the opposers of the gospel; wrath will come upon them in this world, preparatory to that of the eternal state. Let us "flee from the wrath to come." Let us consider the salvation of the soul to be the one thing needful. The body is only the tenement in which the soul is lodged, the case in which it is enclosed; the soul is all important; "the redemption of it is precious;" "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul; or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"*

The gospel is the only refuge to which we can flee. It presents Christ crucified among you, shedding his blood as an atonement for your sin, willing to "save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him." O my friends, accept his grace; break off from every sin; ask yourselves in what you have offended; set your sins in order before you; remembering that if you do not, Christ will do it at the great day. Judge yourselves now, that you may not hereafter be judged

* Mark viii. 36, 37.

and sent to condemnation. Turn with humble penitence to the cross of Christ, and approach God by him; bend your knee before the throne of grace, plead the merits of the Redeemer's blood, and be "reconciled by his death."

May God grant you these blessings for the sake of his Son. Amen.

VII.

ON THE DISCOURAGEMENTS OF PIOUS MEN.*

[PREACHED AT BEDFORD, MAY, 1815.]

NUMBERS XXI. 4.—And the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.

It is generally understood and believed that the Old Testament is in great part typical. The history of the deliverance of Israel is a type of redemption by Jesus Christ; the paschal lamb a type of the great Passover. The journey of the people through the wilderness represented our pilgrimage through this world; and the land of Canaan was a shadow of the heavenly rest. Viewed in this light, many parts afford direction and consolation peculiarly suited to individual experience.

I shall take leave to accommodate this passage as an expression of what frequently befalls the

* Printed from the Notes of the Rev. Samuel Hillyard.

people of God in this world; their "souls are greatly discouraged, because of the way."

The present life is a way; it is not the end of our being it is not our rest, it is not our abode; but the place of our pilgrimage, a passage to eternity.

There are two ways; the way to heaven, marked out by the example of Christ, and the way to perdition, marked out by an evil world. But there are many discouragements that the christian meets with, though he is in the way to heaven. These we shall point out in the first place, and then direct you to some considerations to remove these discouragements.

I. I shall point out the discouragements in the way; and, in doing this, I shall keep my eye on the pilgrimage of the people who were originally referred to in the text.

1. The way is circuitous, and therefore discouraging. This is suggested in the beginning of this verse: "And they journeyed from Mount Hor, by the way of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom;" they took a way which was round about, which added to the tediousness of their journey. Their nearest route would have made it comparatively easy; but, instead of taking this, they went up and down in the wilderness. When we consider what God had done for this people in Egypt, it might have been expected that all the way would have been prosperous; that joy would have been heard in their tents, and triumph attended their march; and it would have been seen that they were the people of God by the blessings