The widow's SERMON services they yield him. and even a cup of cold water given to a tinued as long as the sun. ; the His It shall be con Men shall be blessed in him; and all nations shall call him blessed* WE have now under several views considered the ascension of Christ, and the important purposes which were answered by it. In going along, I have pointed out some of the chief effects which ought to be produced on us by this object of our faith. Much more might be said on this * Pfalm lxxii. subject, XIV. subject, did the bounds of a discourse permit SERMON. it. One improvement of the subject which the sacred writers, often point out, must not be forgotten. If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, and not on things on the earth*. A certain conformity with Christ, their great leader, in all the circumstances of his history, is in Scripture exacted from Christians. As they must die with him to sin, they must rise with him unto newness of life; and with him ascend in heart to heaven, and dwell in their affections where he is. The elevated hopes which Christ, by his resurrection and ascension, has set before us, ought to inspire Christians with suitable elevation of sentiment above this present world.—As Christ is in you the hope of glory, let every one who bath this hope in him, purify himself as Christ is pure . Let not the corrupt pleasures of this world debase you. Let not its terrours deject you. But in your whole conduct, let that dignity and equanimity appear, which belongs to those who have John, iii. 3. *Coloss. iii. I, 2. X 4 such SERMON such high connections. Christ, as your XIV. forerunner, hath entered into the highest heavens; Him, it is your part to follow, in the paths of piety and virtue. In those paths proceed with perseverance and constancy, animated by those words of your departing Redeemer, which ought ever to dwell in your remembrance: Go to my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; to my God, and your God. In my Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also*. * John, xx. 17. xiv. 2, 3. SERMON XV. On a peaceable Disposition. ROMANS, xii. 18. If it be possible, as much as lieth in live peaceably with all men. you, T cannot but occur to every one who SERMON has read the New Testament, even in a cursory manner, that there is nothing more warmly and more frequently inculcated in it, than peace and love, union and good understanding among men. Were a person to form to himself an idea of the state of the Christian world, merely from reading our sacred books, and thence inferring how they would live who believed those books to be Divine, he would draw, in his fancy, the fairest picture of a happy society: XV. XV. SERMON Society: he would expect to meet with nothing but concord, harmony, and order; and to find the voice of clamour and contention for ever silent. But were such a person, fond to be himself a witness and a partaker of such a blissful state, to come amongst us from afar, how miserably, alas! would he be disappointed, when in the actual conduct of Christians he discovered so little correspondence with the mild and peaceful genius of their professed religion; when he saw the fierce spirit of contention often raging unrestrained in publick; and in private, the intercourse of men embittered, and society disordered and convulsed with quarrels about trifles? Too justly might he carry away with him this opprobrious report, that surely those Christians have no belief in that religion they profess to hold sacred, seeing their practice so openly contradicts it. In order to prevent, as much as we can, this reproach from attaching to us, let us now set ourselves to consider seriously the importance and the advantages of living peaceably with all men.This duty may be thought by some to possess a low rank among *6* |