mode of associating? In opposition, however, to this, what mode of living can less tend to educe men's temporal and eternal welfare; than for fifteen hundred thousand or upwards of the bodies and souls of men to be packed together, as they are in the metropolis, and less numbers in other large places of this country? This is, beyond all question, utterly opposed to the divine will. The immorality it generates is one of the sins oppressing legislators have to answer for at the tribunal of Heaven!

8. Assurances of the most exuberant plenty and felicity are repeatedly promised at the Restoration. And as a peculiar mark of divine favour, they are assured of a most redundant population. 'The number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered.' 'As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem, in her solemn feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men.' And the land shall be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants.

9. We saw how these solemn feasts, and other institutions of the ancient Israelites, had a tendency to bring them into very intimate union; and we cannot question, that at the Restoration these institutions will be improved upon; for as the Hebrews are to be all righteous, all objections to their being brought into the closest possible connection will be removed. Hence we may conjecture, that they will be associated according to the perfect constitution. We have just seen, that the population is to be so numerous, that the land shall be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants. No human means could tend so powerfully to superinduce such a state of things, as this constitution of society. And as the population increased, the more difficult and tedious it would be to subdivide the land; which furnishes an additional argument, that such constitution will prevail. If the whole conduct of the Israelites is righteous, the mighty effects that will arise by their being thus associated, cannot fail to awaken the utmost astonishment, in the minds of all foreigners accustomed to associate Imperfectly or Viciously. This may be a powerful instrument of their conversion, as they must necessarily perceive the unspeakable benefits arising from the peculiar constitution of the Israelitish society. (xiii. 9.)

10. Referring to the observations elsewhere made, on the subject of government, it is obvious, that in a society where all are constantly righteous, the great office of an administration must be to associate the productive powers according to the Perfect Constitution; unless, indeed, the great business of the government at the Restoration will be to regulate the intercourse of the Israelites with the Gentiles. It is scarcely supposable, the Divine Being will a second time do violence to the course of things he has established, by giving laws which are not good. On the contrary, we have seen, he thus declares

to the Israelites:- I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.' The Perfect Constitution of society, requiring all to be strictly righteous; to devote their whole powers, that the greatest possible benefits may be educed to each other, and to dedicate themselves wholly to God!-in what other way can men walk in his statutes, and keep his judgments? At the restoration of Israel, the Mosaic Polity is not to be adopted. And if one not according to the Perfect Constitution is to be substituted, what can it be imagined to be?-Assuredly, not the Vicious Constitution.

11. The language made use of by the Holy Spirit, is very remarkable. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for ever; for the good of them, and of their children after them.' Between those, who are all to have but one heart, and one way,' obviously no opposition can exist. This, we have seen, excepting for the repression of unrighteousness, is utterly unholy, under every circumstance, at all times, and in all places. If, then, no opposition can exist, the only question can be, as to what extent men may unite. If the ancient Israelites, among whom so much unrighteousness prevailed, might, with the divine sanction, enter into the most powerful warlike associations, to suppress evil; it can scarcely be doubted, that for far nobler purposes, and in the best state of things, where men are all righteous; they may associate in the most powerful manner, that all the benefits of which the nature of man is susceptible, may thereby be educed. It appears, therefore, that among those who are all to have but one heart, the Perfect Constitution of society only can prevail. At the Restoration, saith the Lord of hosts' to the Israelites, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig-tree.' All which is confirmed from the consideration mentioned, when treating of the state of society before the Fall-namely, did universal righteousness now prevail, the Perfect Constitution would be adopted.

CHAP. XXI.

THE HEAVENLY ASSOCIATION.

1. We have now to advert to the grand and final consummation of the dealings of the Most High with mankind, as far as this world is concerned ;-when from his throne the dread fiat shall issue,-There shall be time no longer! And the

Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and sever the wicked from among the just.'—When he who before was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorsows and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not:'-' shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations.'-' For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body; according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad! God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing.'-' Every one of us shall give account of himself to God!'- Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment !'-' It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!'-And judgment being passed on all, the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal!'

2. Be now, says Thomas à Kempis, solicitous for thy redemption, and afflicted for the sins that oppose it, that in the day of judgment thou mayest stand securely among the blessed; for then shall the righteous man stand in great boldness, before the face of such as have afflicted and oppressed him.' Then shall he rise up in judgment, who now meekly submits to the jndgments of others;-then the humble and poor in spirit shall have great confidence, and the proud shall be encompassed with fear on every side ;-then it will be evident to all, that he was wise in this world, who had learned to be despised as a fool for the love of Christ;-then the remembrance of tribulation patiently endured, will become sweet, and all iniquity shall stop her mouth;'-then every devout man shall rejoice, and every impious man shall mourn;-then shall the mortified and subdued flesh triumph over that which was pampered in ease and indulgence; the coarse garment shall shine, and the soft raiment lose all its lustre, and the homely cottage shall be more extolled than the gilded palace ;-then constant patience shall give that stability, which the power of the world could not confer;-then simple obedience shall be more highly prized than refined subtility, and a pure conscience more than learned philosophy;-then the contempt of riches shall be of more value than all the treasures of worldly men ;-then shalt thou have greater comfort, from having prayed devoutly every day, than from having fared deliciously; and shalt more rejoice that thou hast kept silence long, than that thou hast talked much ;-then works of holiness shall avail thee more than the multitude of fine words;-then a life of self-denial shall give thee more satisfaction, than all earthly delights could bestow.-(The Imitation of Christ.)

3. Of the joys of the blessed, even the true worshippers of Jehovah must necessarily remain in ignorance during their sojourn here. Men's capacities are probably not sufficiently enlarged to comprehend them; and if they were, it would unfit them for the business of this life; for who but he that had a martyr's spirit, could have a moment's fruition of the felicity of the heavenly world, and be content to remain here? But though such knowledge is mercifully hidden from our eyes, we have sufficient intimations to convince us of the utter inability of any language, however powerful, to evince the complete nothingness of the very highest degree of worldly delights, when compared with the joys of Heaven! Whatever divisions, confusions, wickedness, and misery prevail here; it may with the mightiest emphasis be affirmed, that in the transcendently glorious association of the holy Jerusalem, THERE WILL BE NO DIVISION! (i. 38.) There shall in no wise approach the ineffable presence of the Eternal any thing that defileth ;-none but those that are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. far as the constitution of human nature will admit, as the divine will should be done on earth, as perfectly as it is done in Heaven; let the chiefs of unlawful political associations (vi. 123), who are the prime authors of the great divisions that prevail on earth, and necessarily, therefore, of all the unspeakable evils thence arising, look well to the dread responsibility they incur !

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4. The rebellion of the human race, in all ages, against Heaven, and the means pursued by the Most High to bring man to his duty, is one of the most deeply interesting subjects, with which the mind can be engaged. Without insisting, at the length the matter demands, on the constitution and course of things, and the divine government in its ordinary exercise having an unvarying tendency to conduct every man to the highest degree of happiness of which human nature is susceptible, in every period of his existence, we may notice the extraordinary measures pursued by Heaven. And in the manifestations of love, as they are exhibited in acts of mercy or severity, we are at a loss to determine which most eminently display the goodness of God. Passing over acts of less importance, how tremendously awful has been the divine judgment-in passing sentence of death on the whole human race throughout its generations at the Fall-in the summary infliction of it, on the whole of the existing portion of the human race, with the exception of Noah's family, at the flood-in the totally withdrawing all visible intercourse with men, from a period commencing soon after the Christian era. On the other hand, how unspeakably merciful have the dealings of Heaven been-in originally giving men such a constitution of things, as even Infinite wisdom and power

pronounced to be very good'-in devising and carrying into effect the great plan of human redemption; all the intercourse of Heaven with the wretched Israelities, being in furtherance of it, though they were ostensibly the immediate objects of such intercourse ;-in inviting all sinners, in all ages, to repent; and promising them if they unfeignedly do so, though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.' But there must somewhere be a limit to the exercise of the divine mercies. This, we have reason to apprehend, the goodness of Heaven has arrived at, in exhausting every means within the compass even of Omnipotence, to bring rebellious man to his duty. Seeing, then, all these things, it may be truly asked, How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation.'

5. To some, perhaps, it may seem scarcely compatible with the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, that he has not taken other measures, besides those that have been adopted, for the universal extension of his most holy will. To this the reply may be as follows:-A governor, whether human or divine, has only two modes of dealing with the contumacious: either to bear them with a less or greater degree of long suffering; or punish them in some way or other, so as at length wholly to take away their lives. And this long suffering must have a limit, or the power of the governor becomes a nonentity. Though ever since the creation of our world, Heaven has allowed the divine law to be contravened, it would probably be derogatory to the character of the Most High, as Governor of the universe, or the angels that do his will, to be visibly present at the continued rebellion of mankind. During the passage of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan, on one occasion the Lord said unto Moses, 'I will send an angel before thee,' for I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiffnecked people, lest I consume thee in the way.' Were Heaven, then, to send a revelation to every nation and generation of men, the presence of a divine messenger would be necessary; and this would only afford a fresh opportunity for the dispensations of the Most High, to be treated with the same contumely, those he has already sent, have been and are. Besides which, it would be wholly without benefit, for as he has revealed all that is necessary for men to know of his will, a thousand fresh revelations could do nothing more. As to every man on earth deprived of the light of sacred writ, Heaven has provided two modes whereby he may attain the knowledge of it. Of those who possess it, every man is unquestionably bound to do all that lies in him; that it may reach all the individuals of the human race who have it not. Each one of these, by making use of his faculties, must know that the universe could not come into existence without a Great First Cause; and he must also know, that nothing either within him