46 a:cE ExcEtz.ExçY OF . [4824t, i.i#. other world are thrown open ; a heaven of happiness, and a hell of misery are discovered there, and set before us in a divine light. The blessedness of departed saint!, who see the face of God, and the agonies and onto-let of the sinner, who lifts up his eyes in the place of tor- tuent, are revealed to us and described in the speeches of Christ, and the writings of his apostles. The awful and glorious scene of the day of judgment is spread put at large in the christian dispensation, together with the decision of the eternal states of the righteous and the wicked according to their works, when everlastingjoy, or everlasting sorrow shall be the portion, of every son and daughter of Adam. If hope and fear have any power in mankind, to awaken them to anabhorrence of sin, and the practice of holiness, surely these motives of the New Testament, which have so transcendent an influence on our hope and fear, are of the most effectual and con- straining kind. But this leads me to the second part of my text, which corresponds with the appointed theme of my discourse ; and that is, " The excellency of the promises of the new covenant," as St. Paul tells us, this new covenant is esta- blished, appointed or constituted upon a set of better promises. The promises ofthe New Testament will appear to be much superior to those of the Old, if we consider what was hinted before, that they contain in them such blessings as were scarce known under the former dispensations, or at least were so expressed, that it was hard to read them : But in the gospel these future scenes of solemn glory are set before our eyes in the clearest language. We hear the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God ; we see the dead arising out from their graves, a glorious army of saints and martyrs springing at once out of the dust, and their bodies all bright and active, vigo- rous and immortal. We behold Jesus the Saviour and the Judge upon the throne, and his faithful followers at his right-hand, invested withpublic honours. We hear the happy sentence pronounced upon them, " Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom." We behold them, as it were, reigning with Christ, upon his throne, . and ascending with their lord, to dwell for ever in his presence.,
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