have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

May God give us grace to live under the perpetual influence of this expectation, that by the habitual impression of these glories upon our imaginations, and the frequent sending forth our thoughts and employing them on the other world, from this,

we may disentangle them and by so having our conversation in heaven whilst we are here, we may be thought fit inhabitants for it hereafter that when God at the last day shall come with thousands and tens of thousands of his saints to judge the world, we may enter with them into happiness, and with angels and archangels, and all the company of heaven, we may praise and magnify his glorious name, and enjoy his presence for ever.

SERMON XXX

DESCRIPTION OF THE WORLD

Seeing, then, that all these things shall be dissolved, — what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God.-2 PETER iii. 11.

HE subject upon which St. Peter is dis

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coursing in this chapter, is the certainty of Christ's coming to judge the world; - and the words of the text are the moral application he draws from the representation he gives of it, in which, in answer to the cavils of the scoffers in the latter days, concerning the delay of his coming, he tells them, that God is not slack concerning his promises, as some men count slackness, but is long suffering to usward;-that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up. Seeing then, says he, all these

things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? - The inference is unavoidable,

at least in theory, however it fails in practice; - how widely these two differ, I intend to make the subject of this discourse; and though it is a melancholy comparison, to consider, what manner of persons we really are with what manner of persons we ought to be,' yet, as the knowledge of the one is at least one step towards the improvement in the other, the parallel will not be thought to want its

use.

Give me leave, therefore, in the first place, to recall to your observations, what kind of world it is we live in, and what manner of persons we really are.

Secondly, and in opposition to this, I shall make use of the apostle's argument, and, from a brief representation of the Christian religion, and the obligations it lays upon us, show, what manner of persons we ought to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God.

Whoever takes a view of the world, will, I fear, be able to discern but very faint marks of this character, either upon the looks or actions

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of its inhabitants. Of all the ends and pursuits we are looking for, and hastening unto, this would be the least suspected, - for, without running into that old declamatory cant upon the wickedness of the age, — we may say within the bounds of truth, that there is as little influence from this principle which the apostle lays stress on, and as little sense of religion, - as small a share of virtue (at least as little of the appearance of it) as can be supposed to exist at all in a country where it is countenanced by the state. The degeneracy of the times has been the common complaint of many ages:- how much we exceed our forefathers in this, is known alone to that God who trieth the heart. But this we may be allowed to urge in their favour, they studied at least to preserve the appearance of virtue;

- public vice was branded with public infamy, and obliged to hide its head in privacy and retirement. The service of God was regularly attended, and religion not exposed to the reproaches of the scorner.

How the case stands with us at present in each of these particulars, it is grievous to report, and perhaps unacceptable to religion herself; yet as this is a season wherein it is fit we

should be told of our faults, let us for a moment impartially consider the articles of this charge.

And first, concerning the great article of religion, and the influence it has at present upon the lives and behaviour of the present times; concerning which I have said, that, if we are to trust appearances, there is as little as can well be supposed to exist at all in a christian country. Here I shall spare exclamations, and, avoiding all common-place railing upon the subject, confine myself to facts, such as every one who looks into the world, and makes any observations at all, will vouch for me.

Now whatever are the degrees of real religion amongst us,whatever they are, the appearances are strong against the charitable side of the question.

If religion is anywhere to be found, one would think it would be amongst those of the higher rank in life, whose education, and opportunities of knowing its great importance, should have brought them over to its interest, and rendered them as firm in the defence of it, as eminent in its example. But if you examine the fact, you will almost find it a test of a politer education, and a mark of more shining