by ftripping her of the facred rights and privileges allowed her by her great Hufband. Instead of drawing a vail over the infirmities and weakneffes of real believers, they ftudied to expose them as a company of hypocrites, and loaded them with a great deal of invidious calumnies and reproaches, that fo they might with the better colour of equity harass and perfecute her. The application of all these things is easy. Even in our own day, what melancholy cries and complaints are going up to heaven. through feveral corners of the land, to the God of fabaoth, the great King of Zion, against some fet of men, who meet together in a judicative capacity even in this city? and I do not know but fome of them may be hearing me. I fhall only fay, that the injured little ones of Christ will have day about with thofe that carry it against them now; before the whole fcene be over, there will be wound for wound; tribulation will be rendered unto them that trouble the fpoufe of Chrift; and when the reckoning comes, "the great men, and the mighty men, the man with the gold ring," which are now adored, as if they were the only perfons to be owned in the planting of churches, they, and thofe that join hand with them in confpiring to hurt the little ones of Christ, will be crying to the rocks and mountains to fall on them, and hide them from the face of the Lamb;" when the poor people of God, that were accounted as the "drofs and offscourings of the earth," will be fitting upon the bench with Chrift, every one of them " fhining forth like the fun in the kingdom of their Father." I conclude this with a word of advice unto Chrift's oppreffed people, and you have it, James v. 7. 8. "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the hufbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; ftablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh."

Ufe third of this doctrine fhall be by way of Trial and Examination. That which I would have you to try is, Whether are you in this world as in a wildernefs, or are you in it as your home? and whether are you fitting down in the wilderness, or are you coming up from it? I am ready to think, that in these words there may be an allufion to Ifrael in their travelling from Egypt to Canaan: therefore with alJufion to their journey toward the promised land, which was typical of the true church of God travelling through this wil dernefs unto glory, I would by way of trial afk the few follow. ing questions.

1. Hath your Egyptian bondage been loofed in a day of power? Has God, as with a high hand, and ftretched-out arm, Brought you out from under the dominion of fin and Satan,

thefe

thefe oppreffing taskmasters? and has he made you to see these Egyptian enemies overthrown in the Red fea of the death and fuffering of a glorious Redeemer, while you by the fame. means made your efcape? This is God's way of dealing with all his own Ifrael; he first makes them to groan under the fears of fin and wrath, and then opens up a way for their escape by the death and blood of the Lamb. So then, has the Son of God made you free? If fo, you are free indeed. But,

2. I afk, Has God ever brought you to the foot of Sinai, and discovered himself in fuch awful majefty, greatnefs, and in the holinefs and severity of his law, as has perfuaded you that there is no dealing with God without a mediator. The law was published at mount Sinai " because of tranfgreffion," and that it might be "a schoolmaster to lead them unto Christ." So then, I afk, if you have feen fuch a distance between God and you, fuch holiness and perfection in his law, as has made you flee to him who is " the end of the law for righteoufnefs to every one that believeth? If fo, you are indeed coming up from the wilderness towards the promised land; but, if not, it is a fign you are yet in the Egypt of a natural ftate.

3. Have you ever seen the tabernacle that God reared, and the glory of God in it? You know, the tabernacle in the wilderness, it was the fymbol of God's prefence among Ifrael, in which the law was kept; and the glory of the God of Ifrael was therein discovered in the view of Ifrael: this was a type of Chrift, the true tabernacle which God hath reared. Now, I fay, have you seen this tabernacle, a God in Christ reconciling the world to himself? Have you feen the glory of God fhining in the face of Chrift, and the law magnified and made honourable in him? And are your motions through the wildernefs, and your way to the land of promife, directed by viewing this tabernacle; according to that of the apostle, Heb. xii. I. "Let us run our race, looking unto Jefus ?" And are you made to go " finging in the way of the Lord" through the wilderneís, becaufe "great is the glory of the Lord "

4. I ask how are you fed in the wilderness? Ifrael in the wilderness were not fed with the fruit of the earth, but with manna rained from heaven: fo God has a way of feeding his true Ifrael in the wilderness with the manna from heaven. Chrift the bread of life comes down in the difpenfation of the word, and they gather it by faith, and feed on it. And Oh but this manna hath a pleasant taste with it to the spouse of Chrift coming up from the wildernefs? they can fay in fome measure

of

of fincerity, with Jeremiah, "Thy word was found by me, and I did eat it, and it was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart."

5. Are you frequently drinking of the water of the rock? You know, there was a rock fmitten, out of which streams of water iffued, which followed Ifrael till they came to Canaan: "This rock was Chrift," who being fmitten with the rod of his Father's anger, refreshing streams of grace and confolations of the Spirit have iflued, which make glad the city of God. Now, what experience have you as to this? Is Chrift to you like "rivers of waters in a dry place?" And are you made now and then to see the accomplishment of that promise, If. xliv. 3. "I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground?"

6. Have you feen the myftical brazen ferpent? and have you got health conveyed to your fouls by looking on it, when ftung by the fiery ferpent in the wilderness, or when wounded by the fiery darts of Satan? for, "as Mofes lifted up the ferpent in the wildernefs, fo is the Son of man lifted up" on the pole of the everlafting gofpel; "that whofoever believeth in him," or looks to him by faith, "may not perish, but have everlasting life."

7. What is it that keeps up your heart in your journey through the wilderness? If God had not made a promise of Canaan to Ifrael, and engaged his veracity to bear them company in their journey, they had not gone out of Egypt; and it was the faith of God's promise that spirited and enlivened them in their travels and battles. Juft fo is the cafe here; God hath made a promise of life and reft on the other fide of death through Christ, and that he will be their God and their guide; that his Son, the angel of his presence, shall be your leader and commander: now, if you be really coming up from the wilderness to the promised land of glory, it is the faith of God's promife that bears you up, and carries you through in your travels, and in your wilderness-work and warfare. Hence the fpoufe here, he is faid to come up leaning on her beloved, refting on the promife of a God in Chrift for through-bearing, and for a comfortable landing at laft.

8. What pillars of fmoke are you fending up from the wilderness? The offerings of Ifrael in the wilderness, they went up to heaven like pillars of smoke towering upwards; fo you will be frequently fending up the facrifices of prayer, and of praife, and holy meditation; your affections, like the fmoke of the facrifice, will be foaring heavenwards.

9. You

9. You will be frequently cafting your eyes on the promi fed land that lies beyond the wildernefs, and longing with the church to be there: Cant. ii. 17. "Until the day break, and the fhadows flee away: turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe, or a young hart upon the mountains of fpices."

Use fourth fhall be of Exhortation, to follow the example of the church of God here, in coming up from the wilderness towards the promifed land of glory above; or, as the apoftle words it, Col. iii. 1. 2. "If ye be rifen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Chrift fitteth at the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth." By way of motive, I offer thefe confidera

tions.

1. Confider what the wilderness of this world is, from which you are called to come up. Befide what was faid of it in the doctrinal part, I fhall add these things following, to wean your hearts and affections from it.

ft, This world is but the reprobate dog's portion: Pfal. xvii. 14. "The men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whofe belly," &c. It was a common faying of Luther's, that the whole Turkish empire was but a crumb caft unto a dog.' Now, why fhould we caft in our lot among the dogs, who profefs to be of the church of God, and the spouse. of Chrift?

2dly, This world is groaning under the curfe of God: "Curfed is the ground for thy fake," faid the Lord to our first parents, immediately after they had finned. And under the weight of this curfe " the whole creation groaneth, and travelleth in pain even until now." Oh who would be content to fit down where the curfe of God dwells?

3dly, Confider, that the wilderness of this world has been a fhambles, defiled with blood, with the blood of Chrift, and with the blood of an innumerable company of martyrs, from which it has never been purged as yet; it may be called "Golgotha, the place of a fcull; and Aceldama, a field of blood." This earth has been ftained, and this land, and this city in particular, have been ftained with the blood of Chrift mystical; and it is to be feared that the guilt of that blood is crying to heaven, like the blood of Abel, against the land, and against the place. Now, I fay, is not this fufficient to wean your hearts from the wildernefs of this world, that is a field of blood, a place of butchering and laughter of Chrift perfonal and myftical? The men of the world, who take up with it as their home, they are just like the poffeffed man we read of in the gofpel, lodging among tombs and fepulchres.

4thly, Confider that the wildernefs of this world is just the gallery where the devil, the god of this world, that Apollyon, walks up and down, "feeking whom he may devour." Job i. fays God, "Whence comeft thou Satan? I come (fays Satan) from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it." Some think that the devil uttered thefe words with an air of haughtiness and pride, as if he made his vaunt before God, that he was the prince of this world, and that the kingdoms of it and their glory were his; fo that the meaning of the devil's anfwer is, as if he had faid, Why, fays he, where fhould I be, but travelling in circuit through my own territories? Now, why should we not come up from the devil's quarters and territories? Who loves to be at home in the devil's quarters, in the very den of that lion and leopard, but only they that are his devoted flaves and vaffals?

5thly, Come up from the wildernefs; for it is but a mere empty fhadow, and all the glory of it is but a piece of moonfhine. Why should we fet our hearts upon that which is not, and which perisheth in the very ufing? You have seen bells of water blown up by children, fparkling with a variety of beauteous colours, but which juft perish in a moment. And what is the whole vifible creation that we now fee, but just a great bell blown up by the breath of the Almighty? "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made: and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." It makes a gay and glorious appearance; but, alas! it is all imaginary, a mere shadow, a vapour, which appears for a little, and then vanishes. Now, who would be content with fuch an imaginary thing as this?

6thly, Come up from the wilderness of this world; for it is condemned to be burnt. It was a piece of madness in Lot to linger in Sodom, when he was told it was to be consumed with fire and brimstone. The fame madness poffeffes thofe that will not come up from the wilderness into a place of safety, when God has told them in his infallible word, that " the day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens fhall pafs away with a great noife, and be diffolved, and the elements fhall melt with fervent heat; the earth alfo and the works that are therein fhall be burnt up." Now, I fay, put all these things together, and fee if there be not weight in them to wean your hearts from this world, and to engage you to follow the practice of the spouse, and come up from the wilderness.

2. Confider, that there is a better country beyond the wil dernefs of this world. Heb. xi. it is faid of the worthies, that "they defired a better country, that is an heavenly." It is a

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better