SERMON xXXIX. 555 j .tot}n iii. 'ti. and his increasing purity will confirm his hope. Believe it christians, as your life and practice grows more divine and undefiled, the image of Christ will appear in you with fairer evidence, and raise your hopes of dwelling with him to the joys of assurance. Many a soul has gone to heaven as in a chariot of triumph, after some years of their practice of christianity, who, at their first profession of it, wereoppressed with many doubts and fears, and were often trembling upon theborders of despair. Life was their blessing indeed, when it taught them to die with faith and honour, and enter into the world of spirits with divine joy. Let it he said then concerningyou, O christians, that you sensibly approachnearer to heaven every monthof your continu- ance Uponearth, and that you look more like the inhabitants of that upper world, by how much the'longer you continue in this lower state ; that when you depart hence, you may be assuredof a joyful admission into paradise. May your graces shine bright, and your evidences for heaven appear so glorious and incontested, that there may be no tremblings about your heart in that solemn andimportant hour ; no doubtful flutterings or frights on adeath- bed, but that you may find the gates of glory open before you, that you may see your way clear through the dark valley, and have a rich and'abundantentrance into the kingdom of your God on high. VI. Life is yours, that by a due improvement of it your crown of glory may be enlarged, and your seat advanced in heaven. That there are different degrees of honour and joy confer- red on the. saints above, according to their different characters and capacities, is a doctrine that bath so much countenance and evidencefrom scripture, that we can no longer justly doubt of it: And, I think, I have made this appear by incontested proofs in another place. If you are zealous for the cause of Christ, and active in his service through all the stages of life, and your old age be crowned with abundant fruits of righteousness, your re- ward in glory shall bear a proportion to these labours, and the lengthof your time on earth shall give a glorious addition to your recompence in the heavenly world ; 1 Cor. xv. 58. Be ye sled- fast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; for asmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. What a shame and pity is it that you or I should have a long life on earth, and but a low rank or a little portion of reward in heaven I But to animate your zeal, I would humbly propose yet a fnore surprizing advancement in glory, to the diligent improvers * Treatise on Death and Heaven, discourse II. sect. 2.
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