106 TAIt WOttLD TO COME. this, and wonder at the grace of Christ, that has taken`a colony out of this miserable world, and made a heaven of it. We shall, many of us, be a wonder to each other, as well as to ourselves, and we shall all review and admire the grace of Christ in and towards us all. Among the rest there are two sorts of christians, whose salvation shall be a special matter of wonder, and these are the melancholy and the uncharitable. The melancholy christian shall wonder, that ever such a sinner as himself was brought to heaven ; and the uncharitable shall wonder, how such a sinner as his neighbour came there. The :poor doubting melancholy soul, who was full of fears, lest he should be condemned, shall then have full assurance that he is elected and redeemed, pardoned and saved, when he sees, hears, and feels the salvation and the glory upon him, within him and all around him, and he shall admire and adore the grace of God bis Saviour. The narrow souled christian, who said his neigh- bour would be damned for want of some party - notions, or for some lesser failings, shall confess his uncharitable mistake, and shall wonder at the abounding mercy of Christ, which has par - doned those errors in his neighbour, for which he had excotmntt- nicated and condemned him. Both these christians in that day, I mean, the timorous and censorious, shall stand at his right - hand, as monuments of his surprising grace, who forgave one the defects of his faith, and the other his want of love ; and their souls and their tongues shall join together to rejoice in the Lord, and their spirits shall magnify their God and Redeemer : Christ shall have his due revenue of glory from both in the hour of their public salvation. O what honour shall it add to the overflowing mercy of .Christ, what joy and wonder to all the saints, to see Paul, the ..persecutor and blasphemer, there, and Peter, who denied the Lord that bought him, and Mary Magdalen, that impure sinner ! See what a foul and shameful catalogue, what children of ini- quity, are at last made heirs and possessors of heaven ; 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. The fornicators and idolaters, the thieves and the covetous, the drunkards, the revilers, and the extortioners. Suck they were in the days of ignorance and heathenism, fit fuel for the fire of hell ; and in those circumstances they are utterly ex- cluded from the kingdom of God, but now they find a place in that blessed assembly ; and the converting grace of Christ is admired and glorified, that could turn such sinners into saints. O surprising scene of rich salvation, when these Corinthian con - verts, washed in the blood of Christ, and renewed by his Spirit, shall appear in their white garments of holiness and glory ! There is not one sinful creature to be found in all the vast reti- nue of the holy Jesus, but there are thousands, who have been once great criminals, notorious sinners, and have been snatched,
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