"I will furely affemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will furely ga ther the remnant of Ifrael, I will put them together as the fheep of Bozrah, as the flock, in the midft of their fold: they fhall make great noife by reafon of the multitude of men. The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have paffed through the gate, and are gone out by it, and their king fhall pafs before them, and the Lord on the head of them." The Angel of the covenant, he is also the tender thepherd of Ifrael "who gathers the lambs with his arms,"

&c.

6. The Angel of the covenant is crying to all his faithful fervants and ambafladors, who are endeavouring to maintin the work of God, and to bear witness for him, against the cor ruptions of the day and generation, and to hold up Chrift's ftandard and teftimony, in oppofition to thofe who would pull it down; he is faying to them, "Cry aloud, and spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, tell the houfe of Judah and Israel their abominations. Be ye faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life. Keep the word of my patience, and I will keep you in the hour of temptation, that fhall come to prove them that dwell upon the earth.”

I will conclude with a few cries he is yet uttering from mount Zion; for if I could help it, I do not love to ftand long on mount Sinai, or Ebal; but what the Lord bids us, that we muft fpeak, whether it be good or bad.

1. He is crying to the condemned finner to come to him, and he fhall have a free pardon of all his fins: If. i. 18. “Come, and let us reafon together, faith the Lord: though your fins be as fcarlet and crimfon, I will make them white as fnow and as wool." If. xliii. 25. "I, even I am he that blotteth out thy tranfgreffions, for mine own name's fake."

2. He is crying to the rebels to fubmit, and they fhall have peace: If. xxvii. 4. 5. "Fury is not in me: who would fet the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together. But let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me, and he thall make peace with me. We are ambaffidors for Chrift, as though God did befeech you by us: we pray you in Christ's Read, be ye reconciled to God.”

3. He is crying to captives to accept of liberty, and he will make them free indeed: "The lawful captive shall be delivered," &c. Liberty from fin, from Satan, and the world, &c.

4. He is crying to the wounded and diseased foul to come unto him and be healed, for his name is JEHOVAH ROPHI. There is healing in his wings for every difeafe, &c.

5. He is crying to the weary and burdened foul to come. unto him for reft, Matth. xi. at the clofe. Pfal. lv. 22. "Caft thy burden upon the Lord, and he will fuftain thee," &c.

6. He is crying to the ignorant to come to him for inftruction, for he hath pity on the ignorant, that are groaning under a fenfe of ignorance: "Come hither, ye children, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. He is made of God unto us wisdom," &c.

7. He is crying to naked fouls that have not a rag to cover them, to come to him for clothing, for the garments of falvation and the robes of righteoufnefs. "Hearken unto me, ye that are ftout-hearted, and far from righteoufnefs. Behold, I bring near my righteousness: it fhall not be far off, and my falvation fhall not tarry," &c.

8. He is crying to the hungry and starving foul to come, eat of his bread :" If. xxv. 6. " A feaft of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined." If. lv. 1. Prov. viii. at the beginning. Prov. ix. at the beginning..

9. He is crying to the finner that is bewildered, and cannot find the way to life and happinefs, that he is given for a “leader and commander," and that he "leads the blind in a way they know not," &c.

10. He is crying to the bafe-born finner, to come unto him, and he will give them the adoption of children, a place in God's family that fhall never be cut off: John i. 12. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the

fons of God." Gal. iv. 4. 5. He was "made of a woman,

made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of fons."

11. He is crying to the finner that is in a compact and confederacy with hell, to break his covenant with hell, and his agreement with death, and take hold of his covenant of grace and peace: If. lv. 3. " Incline your ear and come unto me; hear, and your foul fhall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the fure mercies of David.

12. He is crying to the finner that is upon the very borders of hell and eternity, to believe in him, to look unto him, and be faved.

Now, Sirs, for the Lord's fake hear the voice of the Angel; for ye fee, if ye do not hear, he will not pardon your tranfgreffions, for his father's name is in him. Oh! "how fhall ye escape, if ye turn away from him that speaketh from heaven?

EXOD.

Exon. xxiii. 21.-Obey his voice: for my name is in him.

THE NINTH SERMON ON THIS TEXT.

I

AM ftill upon the second general head in difcourfing this branch of the exhortation in the text, Obey his voice: for my name is in him.

I told you what we are to understand by the voice of Christ; and came, fecondly, to tell you what is the voice of Chrift unto the prefent generation. I told you, in fix particulars, what feemed to be the Lord's voice to all in general. I told you, more particularly, what seemed to be his voice to the powers of the earth; what seemed to be his voice unto these lands, and this land especially; what his voice is to the nobles and gentry; what his voice is to a corrupt ministry, that are unfaithful to the fouls of men, or run when he does not fend them; what his voice was to the mourners in Zion, the Lord's oppreffed ones; and what his voice is to all the faithful fervants and ambaffadors at this day, that are witneffing for him against the corruptions and abominations of the day; and then turned to mount Zion, and told you of twelve cries that he was fending forth from thence.

I propofed to tell you of fome cries that the Angel feems to be fending forth unto this city and congregation of Stirling at this day, and to several forts of finners, that are to be found in the midst of it. And, Sirs, remember that we that are minifters, are but earthen trumpets, through which the voice of God is conveyed to you; we are the "voice of the Angel crying in the wilderness" to men of this generation, as John Bap tift his voice was unto the generation wherein he lived. And if the voice of the Angel, fpeaking by us, touch any man, or point to him in particular, let him remember that it is not the earthen trumpet he has to do with, but he that founds it, or Speaks through it. We that are minifters, we are ambaff dors for Chrift; and ambaffadors must deliver their king's commiffion, whether men will hear or forbear, for they speak upon the peril of their fouls, which no wife man will risk, either for the pleasure or displeasure of mortal worms, of whatever quality in the world; for if we pleafe men, our great Lord has declared, that we are not his fervants.

2

Perhaps

Perhaps fome are beginning to fay already, Minifter, we with you would let us alone; preach the general truths of the word, but do not meddle with the particular evils of the place, or perfons or parties in it. To fuch I fhall only fay, that it bewrays guilt in any party or perfon whatever, when they can not endure the plain truths of the word to be preached, without being irritated or offended. We are in Chrift's ftead, and if we utter any thing that does not correspond with our commiflion from the Lord, ye are at liberty to reject it; but if we keep by our commiflion, and deliver nothing but what is the voice of the Angel, remember that it is hard for you to. kick against the pricks. And with refpect to you who cannot endure plain dealing from the word, but would have general and smooth truths preached and infifted upon in a time of abounding and crying fin, fee what is the voice of the Angel to you, lf. xxx. 12-14. Read from ver. 8. and downwards where you will fee the perfons characterised, to whom the word of the Lord is there fpoken, "They faid to the feers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophefy unto us smooth things." They choofed rather to be foothed and flattered to their own deftruction, than to have their fores touched, and the truth told them, to the prefervation and falvation of their fouls. They could not endure to be troubled with harth and repeated warnings from God. But fee what God fays by the prophet in the next words, ver. 12-14. "Wherefore thus faith the holy One of Ifrael, Because ye defpife this word, and truft in oppreffion and perverfenefs, and stay thereon; therefore this iniquity fhall be to you as a breach ready to fall, fwelling out in a high wall, whofe breaking cometh fuddenly at an inftant," &c. You that fpurn at the reproofs, or warnings, or threatenings of the word, and love only to have fmooth things preached unto you, take care, for ye are here told of your danger by the Lord of hofts; you are in danger of furprifing ruin, "the breaking fhall come fuddenly in an inftant," when ye do not expect it," like the breaking of a potter's veffel."

But now I come to tell you what I think is the Lord's voice unto this city and congregation; for " the Lord's voice is crying in the city," though it is only the man of wisdom that will hear and obey the defign of it. There are these two or three cries that I think the Angel is giving unto the city in general.

1. The first is that which ye have been hearing front the mouth of your aged minifter for fome time, Matth. xxi. 43. "The kingdom of God fhall be taken from you, and given to others bringing forth the fruits thereof." This city and congregation has been long privileged with the gofpel in purity; VOL. II.

Ху

the

the privileges of the kingdom of grace, and the way to the kingdom of glory, have been opened to you. The laws and the ftatutes of the kingdom have been publifhed among you, by his heralds, whom he has fent one after another fince the réformation from Popery; but where is the fruit of all this among the bulk and generality? how few are they that believe the gospel-report, and bring forth the fruits thereof, in their lives and conversation? And therefore the Lord has been, and ftill is, crying, "The kingdom of God fhall be taken from you, and given to others bringing forth the fruits thereof" You may fee what the Lord fays to, and does with, his barren vineyard, after all the pains he wared on it, If. v. 2.-6. "And he fenced it, and gathered out the ftones thereof," &c. Now, feeing the fame cry is lifted up among you in this place, you had need to hear and take warning, left the iffue be fatal, as it was to the children of Ifrael. "If God fpared not the natural branches, take heed left he spare not thee," &c.

2. The fecond cry to this city in particular, may be that which you have, If. lvii. 1. " The righteous perifheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none confidering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come." Sirs, God's little remnant, however little they may be thought of by fome, yet they are the pillars of the land or city where they live: they stand in the gap to keep off the flood of wrath from the Lord, that is ready to break in upon a finful place; If. i. 9. " Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very fmall remnant, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah." It was the want of a very fmall handful of righteous perfons in Sodom, that made hell to fall out of heaven upon that wicked people. And therefore when the Lord is taking away the righteous out of a place by death or otherwise, it is a fign that evil from the Lord of hosts is de termined against that place. And is not this the cafe with us? The Lord is weeding up his own, and taking them away to their reft; and when few are laying fuch strokes to heart, it bodes ill to the place, and has a loud cry from the Angel of God's prefence, that he is on his way to punish ust for our iniquities.

3. Another cry that the Angel feems to be giving unto this city, is that which you have, Matth. xii. 25. "Every kingdom divided against itself, is brought to defolation: and every city or house divided against itself, cannot stand." It is a thing too well known now through the nation, to what a height party humour and intereft has run, even to the effufion of blood and legal profecutions before courts of juftice. I do

not