3. The readers of this discourse will desire to see cases of men who have been changed into the image of Christ, and have continued to make progress from glory to glory. Cases are numerous wherever the gospel is preached and received, yet many men may not see them. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, the people who heard his sermons and saw his miracles did not know what a model of benevolence, piety, wisdom, and truthfulness, they had in their midst. When Paul was preaching Christ to his cotemporaries, his hearers did not know the purity of his heart, the burning zeal of the apostle, and the joy of the Christian. When Wesley, Fletcher, and Whitfield, were at work in England, the people abused them, and the clergy persecuted them. Man sees the outward form, God sees the heart. Man judges of motives by actions; God looks first at the motives, and then judges the action. Every sinner who gives his heart to God is changed into the image of Christ; and every one who keeps the precious grace in his heart, and does not frustrate it, is advancing towards perfection. Cases of this kind are around us, though we may not see them. Reader, strive to be like your Lord. When you have the inclination to judge your neighbor, repress it by looking into your own heart. 4. Preparation for heaven must be begun and finished in this world. The body presents no insuperable obstacle to the holiness of the soul. The hour of death has no more power to aid the sinner in secking the grace of salvation than may be secured and experienced by any penitent in the enjoyment of health and life. The image of Christ may be stamped on our souls in this life; and it must be done in this life, or exclusion from heaven and imprisonment in hell will be the result. When we pass through death and enter eternity, the angel of God will say, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still."* * Rev. xxii, ii. te, andørn,stit fara part and pro d oral andi, cesul la versi , with adora his ever wed, and sunni; the moral ho, er, a with revers at once the digan, on the d ine.pl'eable pr tem of hean existega. 5 of is elent, trod in Carist Jem, “robating th word v‘6 l meif," tæ great bath she 4. lllum iu s tovelation's page from the Pentauch to the Apocalypse. Such a " j'on, then, rises into sag 10. d wandem n hur...cutem dation, it challenge theaftsation. ucnds the confidence of mankin i. Bu to accony lish its the oy Toc oike with the Facts of I'virite y play of Cranipot nee in 's 1 |