ove, accept, the
holy doctrines of the Gospel. It will occupy itself in various ways,
it will take interest in things of sense and time, but it can never be
religious. It is at enmity with God.

And now we see what must at once follow from what has been said. If
our hearts are by nature set on the world for its own sake, and the
world is one day to pass away, what are they to be set on, what to
delight in, then? Say, how will the soul feel when, stripped of its
present attire, which the world bestows, it stands naked and shuddering
before the pure, tranquil, and severe majesty of the Lord its God, its
most merciful, yet dishonoured Maker and Saviour? What are to be the
pleasures of the soul in another life? Can they be the same as they
are here? They cannot; Scripture tells us they cannot; the world
passeth away--now what is there left to love and enjoy through a long
eternity? What a dark, forlorn, miserable eternity that will be!

It is then plain enough, though Scripture said not a word on the
subject, that if we would be happy in the world to come, we must make
us new hearts, and begin to love the things we naturally do not love.
Viewing it as a practical point, the end of the whole matter is this,
we must be changed; for we cannot, we cannot expect the system of the
universe to come over to us; the inhabitants of heaven, the numberless
creations of Angels, the glorious company of the Apostles, the goodly
fellowship of the Prophets, the noble army of Martyrs, the holy Church
universal, the Will and Attributes of God, these are fixed. We must go
over to them. In our Saviour's own authoritative words: "Verily,
verily, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God[2]." It is a plain matter of self-interest, to turn our thoughts
to the means of changing our hearts, putting out of the question our
duty towards God and Christ, our Saviour and Redeemer.

"He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we see Him, there is no
beauty that we should desire Him." It is not His loss that we love Him
not, it is our loss. He is All-blessed, whatever becomes of us. He is
not less blessed because we are far from Him. It is we who are not
blessed, except as we approach Him, except as we are like Him, except
as we love Him. Woe unto us, if in the day in which He comes from
Heaven we see nothing desirable or gracious in His wounds; but instead,
have made for ourselves an ideal blessedness, different from tha