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SERMON VI.

STATE OF THE SAINTS ABOVE, CONTRASTED WITH THEIR FORMER CONDITION

BELOW.

(FOR ALL SAINT'S DAY.)

Rev. vii. 9-17.

After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the Throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the Throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the Throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen: blessing, and glory, and wisdom and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might be unto our God for ever and ever:) Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the Throne of God, and serve him day and night in his Temple;

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and he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the Throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

ON this day, consecrated to devout meditation on a future state and a heavenly inheritance-within these hallowed walls, in which we feebly attempt to emulate the worship, the feelings, and the employments of the blessed spirits above;-on this festival, dedicated to the pious commemoration of the saints who have slept in Christ and are now with him in joy and felicity; let us endeavour, my Christian brethren, by the help of God, to detach our thoughts for a few happy moments from the alluring scenes below; from the tumults, the anxieties. the troubles, the vicissitudes, the fears, the follies, the vanities, the corruptions, of this sinful world; and fix them, in devout contemplation, on that glorious state and that blessed assembly of which so delightful a picture has been just presented to us. It is a picture rendered sacred by the recollection that it describes the felicity of those beloved friends who were once our companions and guides upon earth; who departed hence in Christian faith and hope; and to whom our souls yet cleave in all the union of the tenderest affection. It is a picture endeared to us by the humble hope that it describes the happiness which we ourselves shall one day enjoy, when our warfare has been accomplished, our labours finished, our sorrows ended, and our released spirits have "entered into the joy of our Lord."

"I beheld." says the Apostle (admitted, for the consolation of the church to witness and record the happiness of the saints in heaven;) "I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood

before the Throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands." O what a different scene, what a different world, separated only by a slight veil from that which we inhabit, is here exhibited to our view! a world into which we may enter by a single step, and in a moment of time! Here we see a busy world, eager in vain pursuits, agitated by mere trifles, contending about objects of no moment, and immersed in things which perish with the using. All is noise, and confusion, and vanity, and sorrow, and evil. But behold another world, nigh at hand, composed of different beings, governed by different principles; where all things are as substantial, as here they are vain; where all things are as momentous, as here they are frivolous; where all things are as great as here they are little; where all things are as durable, as here they are transitory; where all things are as fixed, as here they are mutable! That world has also its inhabitants-so numerous, that the population of this world is but as a petty tribe compared to them. It has its employments; but they are of the noblest kind and weightiest import; and compared with them, the whole sum of the concerns of this life is but as a particle of dust. It has its pleasures; but they are pure and spotless, holy and divine. There, perfect happiness and uninterrupted harmony, and righteousness and peace ever prevail. What a contrast to our present state! And is this blessed scene near us? Is there but, as it were, a step between? May we be called into it in a moment? With what anxious solicitude, then, should we endeavour to realize it! And how ardently should we desire to be prepared for an admission into it!

The number of the blessed inhabitants of heaven is represented as infinite: "I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number." And if we consider the infinite power and glory of him who created them; the magnificence and even profusion displayed in the works of His hands; the end and design for which they were created-viz. to manifest His glory; we shall at once

feel that their number must be, in the fullest sense of the word, infinite. Let us reflect, that to create a million, or a million of millions, of the brightest and most glorious spirits, is as easy to the Almighty, as it was to create our first parents: He has but to will and it is done. Let us consider, that he rejoices in the multitude of his works; that every part of the universe is filled with being-from the immeasurable system of worlds, to the atom whose minuteness eludes the keenest sight. Let us reflect that heaven is the perfection of his works, the grand scene of his glory, the immediate place of his residence. There he is to be known, and adored, and glorified; there he is to receive the homage so justly due to his majesty. And shall this part of his works alone be scantily peopled? Shall those realms alone, which he made for himself, be without inhabitant? Shall heaven alone be a blank in the creation? Our Lord, it is true, hath said, speaking of the race of man, that "narrow is the way which leadeth to life, and few there be that enter in thereat;" but this expression relates solely to the earth we inhabit-one world, amidst, perhaps, an innumerable multitude. It relates also, principally, to the time in which our Lord lived. Even this world, we trust, will not ultimately be barren. but produce numerous and faithful witnesses to the glory of the Redeemer. He made this earth the scene of his sufferings, and we may expect it to become the scene of his triumph. Only allow the Gospel of Christ to prevail, as the Prophets lead us to hope that in the latter days it will prevail; allow the world to continue as there is ground to expect it will continue, to a period of which the infancy has scarcely yet passed; and we may well conclude, that even from this fallen world shall multitudes, as numerous as the drops of the morning dew, crowd into the realms of light, to ascribe "glory, and praise, and honour, to him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb for ever."

In considering the multitudes, beyond the power of calculation, which will people the realms of bliss, we

must recollect, that there multitudes constitute happiness. On the earth, where a difficulty of subsistence is often experienced; where there exists a constant collision of interests; where one stands in the way of another; where jealousies and envyings, anger and revenge, pride and vanity agitate and deform the world; numbers may tend to diffuse wretchedness, and to multiply evil. Hence we flee for peace and joy from the crowded haunts of men, and court the sequestered habitation and the retired vale. But in heaven, where there can be no thwarting interests; where the wants of one are never supplied at the expense of another; where every bosom glows with love, and every heart beats with desire to promote the general happiness; the addition of a fresh individual to the innumerable throng diffuses a wider joy, and heightens the universal felicity.

The multitude assembled there is described as composed of "all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues."-Here, again, we must beware of forming our judgment from the feelings and views of this fallen world. There, it will be no cause of jealousy, or rivalry, or hatred, that one person received his birth on this, and another on that, side of a river or sea. A man will not despise his brother on account of the different shade of his complexion: he will not seek his destruction because he spoke in another language, nor renounce communion with him because he praised the same God, with the same spirit of piety, in a house of a different form. All these petty distinctions will have either ceased to exist, or will be completely annihilated in the general spirit of love which will then animate every mind. One pursuit will occupy every heart; each will strive only to glorify God. There will either be no distinctions, or the distinctions be like the beautiful variety we see in the works of God-like flowers enriched with different colours to delight the eye, or with various perfumes to gratify the smell. Why should distinctions offend, or variety disgust? It is the dark and selfish pride of the heart which considers

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