But behold and admire the grace of God! Salvation is always of grace. Surely it was so in this instance. Sin indeed abounded, but grace superabounded. Whoever is saved, must be saved on the very same terms as the thief was, "justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ;"" without money and without price;" "not of works, lest any man should boast." Boasting is always excluded in salvation, whoever is the subject of it. How eminently so here! Who was it that made one thief-to differ from the other? Bishop Hall says, "Lord, he could not have spoken this to thee, but by thee. What possibility was there for a thief to think of thy kingdom without thy Spirit? That good Spirit of thine breathed upon this man, breathed not upon his fellow: their trade was alike; their state alike; their sin was alike; their cross alike; only thy mercy makes them unlike : One is taken, the other left. Blessed be thy mercy, in taking one! Blessed be thy justice, in leaving the other! Who can despair of that mercy? who can but tremble at that justice?" Let every sinner, who reads or hears this, know he needs mercy, just as much as this criminal. " But I am not a thief," says one. Perhaps you have not robbed man, but have you not "robbed God?" Have you not defrauded him of "the glory due to his name! Have you not robbed him of the Sabbath, a portion of time which he demands for his own service? Have you not embezzled his talents, which were given you to trade with for the purposes of his honour, and your salvation?" Boast not, then, that you "have paid every man his own," when you have, in a thousand instances, defrauded the blessed God of his due. See then the necessity of mercy, and dread the thoughts of a double condemnation, the one for sin, and the other for unbelief. May the goodness of God, so divinely displayed in this instance, draw thee to repentance. Jesus Christ "came, to seek and to save that which was lost." This was always his character, and he maintained it to the last. His enemies reproached him for it; they called him "the friend of sinners;" so he was; but not the friend of sin. Blessed be his name, he is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." He casts out none that come. O come, and try him. What encouragement is here for him "that is ready to perish;" who has a world of guilt, and not a grain of worthiness! Say, with the dying thief, "Lord, remember me, now thou art in thy kingdom," and he will find a place in Paradise for you, even for you. This prayer will suit the Christian all his days, Lord, remember me. When guilt recurs; when temptations assault; when troubles arise; look to the Saviour. He who "remembered thee in thy low estate," will not forget thee now. Like the High Priest of old, he bears the names of all his people on his heart; and, though even a tender mother may forget her sucking child, yet he protests he will remember thee. In return, go thou and remember him. SERMON XXXVIII. THE WORLD TO COME. Luke xx. 35, 36. But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels, and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. T I may justly excite our wonder and our grief, that be lievers, who are professed candidates for another world, should have their hearts so little set upon their heavenly home. The glory that shall be revealed, and which faith humbly expects, is so exceedingly great, that one should suppose the children of God would scarcely be able to think or speak of any thing else. But, alas! it is not so. "Our soul cleaveth to the dust," and we have abundant cause to pray, "Quicken thou us, according to thy word." May the Lord bless our meditations on this passage of Scripture, in which Jesus Christ replies to the objections of the Sadducees against the doctrine of the resurrection! The Sadducees were the disciples of Sadoc, and composed one of the four sects of the Jews; their leading notion was, that "there is no resurrection;" ver. 27; they also denied the existence of angels, the immortality of the soul, and a future state. The Sadducees thought to perplex the doc "In trine of the resurrection, by proposing the case of a woman who had been married to seven different men. the resurrection, said they, whose wife of them is she?" Our Lord mildly answered this impertinent question, by showing that there is a vast difference between the state of men on earth, and that of the children of God in heaven; a great difference between this world and that world. The whole passage is full of instruction, which we shall endeavour to obtain, by making several observations upon it. Observe, I. There is another world. Our Lord calls it that world: It is evidently opposed to "this world," ver. 34, "the children of this world." We know a little of this world. O that we knew aright? O that we saw it with the eyes of faith! We should then confess it to be a vain world; "for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." Solomon, who made a full trial of the world, with advantages for making it above all other men, solemnly pronounces the whole to be "Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities, and vexation of spirit." How emphatically is it expressed! as if his heart was full of the idea; as if he longed to impress upon others; as if he could not find sufficient words to do it. And remember who it was that declared this. Not a hermit, who never saw the world: not a pauper, who has got nothing in the world: not a spendthrift, who has lost all he had in the world: but "the king of Jerusalem," who abounded in wealth and honour, and who had tried the whole round of worldly pleasures. If he pronounces all to be vanity, we need not make the fruitless experiment; for "what shall the man do who cometh after the King?" it This world is as wicked as it is vain. "This present evil world." St. Paul calls it; "The world that lieth in the wicked one," saith St. John. It was good, when God first made it, "very good;" but sin has made it evil; filled it with snares and sorrows; insomuch that it is a part of Christ's redemption, "to deliver us from this present evil world;" and from Satan, "the prince of this world," who makes use of its pleasures, as baits, to destroy the souls of men. And yet, such is the evil heart of man, that he dotes upon this evil world; he seeks "his good things in this world;""his portion is in this life;" he is "a man of the world;" or, as Christ says, ver. 34, "6 'a child of this world." But there is another world. Solemn truth! generally admitted, but little regarded. O think of it, you who trifle away your precious time. There is another world; and though you forget it, you are hastening towards it every moment. Yes! there is another world. Jesus Christ, who came from it, and who is gone to it again, Jesus Christ assures us of it. "He has brought life and immortality to light," he has made a plain revelation of it in the Gospel, which shows us the certainty of it; the sublime, excellent and spiritual nature of it, as in our text; together with the true and only way of obtaining eternal life, which is by Jesus Christ. Our Lord in his public discourses often spoke of another world, of heaven, and of hell, very plainly, very familiarly, very solemnly; urging his hearers, by arguments drawn from eternity, to regard the things which belonged to their peace. The world of which we speak is a world of light, and purity, and joy. "There is no night there." Hell is eternal darkness. Heaven eternal light. No ignorance, no errors, no mistakes; but the knowledge of God in Christ, begun on earth, is there completed; for "we shall know even as we are known." The heavenly world is all purity and holiness. Nothing retaining the defilement of sin can have admission there; only "the pure in heart shall see God." And there, joy, which also commenced on earth in the possession of "spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus," shall be full, uninterrupted and everlasting. "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." Such is that world our Lord here speaks of: and it is the grand object of faith. Believers in all ages have kept it in view. Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob, lived and died in the faith of it; they desired a heavenly country, and, in the hope of it, were dead to this world; "confessing themselves strangers and pilgrims on earth." The apostles "having the same spirit of faith," looked "not at the things which are seen," like archers, intently viewing the mark they shoot at; their object was nothing visible and sensible; but they "looked at the things unseen," they seriously regarded, and carefully aimed at heavenly things, as the grand mark, the noble prize of their high calling in Christ Jesus. And is this the character of real Christians? Stop a moment, and ask, Is it yours? Amidst the unavoidable labours and the lawful pleasures of this world, is heaven the principal object? Or do you wholly forget it? It has scarcely even a place in your thoughts; and can you suppose you shall ever enjoy glory without seeking it? Be not deceived, for Observe, II. It will be a great matter to obtain that world. Notice our Saviour's words, "they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world." O it will be a great matter to obtain that world. Surely men do not believe there is such a world; for faith, of any sort, will work. What is it sets the world of men in motion? what makes them so busy from morning to night? Is it not the belief that they shall obtain something worth their pains? Why then are no pains taken to obtain heaven? Infidelity lies at the bottom of their sloth, or people would seek heaven as diligently as they seek this present world. “So run," saith St. Paul, that ye may obtain." "Know ye not, saith he, that they which run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain." 1 Cor. ix. 24. The Christian life is a race, and heaven is the prize: and a race implies motion, vehement motion, and continued motion. O let us be in good earnest for heaven. Lazy wishes and formal religion will not do. Christ represents it as a great thing to obtain that world. It will be a matter of amazing grace and favour. Labour, we must; yet, after all, it is a matter of pure mercy, for "the gift of God is eternal life." Every glorified saint will be filled with surprize, and be ready to say, Lord is it I? "How can it be thou heavenly King, |