men of the world is, in the language of Scripture, to be no Christians. Ye then, who are of the world, and who shew it by possessing the spirit of the world, consider what is before you. The world goeth into condemnation, and all that belong to it will go with it: and into what condition? Into final, everlasting ruin. O take warning! "Flee from the wrath to come."

SERMON XVI.

JEREMIAH xxxI. 34.

AND THEY SHALL TEACH NO MORE EVERY MAN HIS NEIGHBOUR, AND EVERY MAN HIS BROTHER, SAYING, KNOW THE LORD: FOR THEY SHALL ALL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST OF THEM UNTO THE GREATEST OF THEM, SAITH THE LORD: FOR I WILL FORGIVE THEIR INIQUITY, AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SIN NO MORE.

THE Prophet is here even avowedly speaking of the times of the gospel; predicting the new covenant to be made with the church through the Messiah, in the place of the old covenant made with Israel through Moses: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord; but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days,

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saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." The blessings promised are precisely the great blessings of the gospel; regeneration, justification, adoption.-Regeneration; "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts."-Justification; "I will forgive their iniquity, and will remember their sin no more."-Adoption; "I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

This covenant indeed, as well as the former, is said to be made "with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah," and the gospel was first to be offered to the Jews; the preaching of "repentance and remission of sins in the name of Jesus Christ," was to "begin at Jerusalem;" and though that people, as a nation, rejected it, yet the time, we are assured, shall come, and we anticipate it with ardent expectation, when their "heart shall be turned to the Lord," and they shall enjoy a full share of the blessings which they have hitherto refused. Yet it is the glory of this

covenant, and it was predicted as such by the Jewish prophets themselves, that it belongs not exclusively to any one people, but makes us all alike "the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ." The Messiah was to be given for a covenant of the people, "a light to the Gentiles; for God's salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Accordingly, this whole passage is quoted by the Apostle in the eighth chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews, as descriptive of that "better covenant, established upon better promises," by which we draw nigh to God. And in the closing verse of the passage, (the verse of our text,) the holy prophet is carried forward to predict those full and universal effects, which all scripture, with united voice, declares shall ultimately result from this covenant. "They shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord."

Now it is one important feature of this prediction, that, while it declares what shall be the privilege of future times, it suggests what is the duty of present, and of all intervening times. The present duty is, "to teach every man his neighbour and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord." The future privilege, resulting from the

performance of the present duty, will be, that there shall no longer be any need to continue the service of teaching: " for all shall know the Lord, from the least unto the greatest."

These then are the two points which we will consider. THE DUTY OF THE PRESENT TIME: and, THE PRIVILEGE OF FUTURE TIMES.

I. THE DUTY OF THE PRESENT TIME, and of all times till the blessed period, promised in my text, shall arrive, is "to teach,"-to teach men religion, and earnestly to press it upon their regard, saying, every man to his neighbour, and every

man to his brother, Know the Lord."

"The knowledge of God," is frequently put in Scripture for the whole of religion and hence it is considered as of the greatest possible importance. "This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." Accordingly, it is promised as the greatest of blessings:-"Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God." And it is spoken of as the only solid and sufficient ground of "glorying" or rejoicing. "Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the