while Samuel did mistake the voice of the Lord, as if it had been the voice of Eli, he ran the wrong way; fo while men come and hear the word preached, and, fancy that it is only the voice or word of a man like themselves, they will run the wrong way; it will never have any impreflion upon heart of life, to turn them from fin unto God: but whenever the voice of Chrift is taken up in the word or providence, they run directly to the Lord himself, faying, as Ifrael did, Jer. iii. "Behold we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God. In vain is falvation expected from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: in the Lord God alone is the falvation of his people."

4. It implies application of the word to a man himself in particular. Oh! fays the man, it is to me that this word of threatening, this word of promife or command, is directed, and the Lord is pointing out me in particular by it, as though he were calling me by name and fitname. There are fome hearers that have a dexterity of applying the word unto others; Oh, will they fay, the minifter met with fuch a one, he fell foul upon such a man or party: but though their own idol be touched, they take no notice of that; or when á Saviour is revealed and offered, they imagine that this is only to the elect, or to believers. But, Sirs, they that obey the voice of Chrift, they take him up as directing his word unto them; and therefore they bring it home to their own fouls in particu lar, as though they heard Chrift faying, as Nathan did unto David, "Thou art the man."

5. It implies an efteem and approbation of what the Angel fpeaks: "Good is the will of the Lord." The man's will bends and stoops unto the will of the Lord, when intimate to him, either by his word or by his providence, and he loves and approves it as "worthy of all acceptation." "O how love I thy law it is my meditation all the day. I efteem all thy pre cepts concerning all things to be right." He efteems the word of promife, and rolls it like a fweet morfel under his tongue, faying, "It is fweeter to me than honey from the honey-comb:" he elleems the word of command, and cries, “I delight in the law of the Lord, after the inward man ;" he would have it writ ten in his heart, and hid in his inner parts.

6. It implies a regulating of heart and life according to the voice of Chrift in his word. The man is not fimply a hear er, but a doer of the word. "He that doth the will of God, fhall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." There are many hearers of the gospel, who gather up more of the manna of the word than they make good ufe of; they have it in their heads and memories, but it

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never either enters into their heart or practice; and so it turns 'to the worms and vermin of pride and hypocrify, and fo lands in their destruction, not in their edification. But they that hear the voice of Chrift in his word by faith, they study to reduce all into practice; hence it is, that the light of the word within them shines out in their walk, fo as others "feeing their good works, are made to glorify their Father which is in heaven." Thus you fee what is implied in obeying the voice of the Angel.

The fourth thing upon this ufe, was to offer fome confiderations to excite and engage you to hear and obey the voice of the great Angel of God's prefence. You fee here that the command of God is exprefs and peremptory upon this head, Beware of bim, and obey his voice; which is the very fame with that voice three times iflued out from the excellent glory concerning him, when he was yet in a state of humiliation, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." The frequent repetition of this charge plainly fays, that it is a matter of the last confequence and moment unto us, that we indeed obey his voice. To excite you to it,

Confider, 1. Whofe voice it is that you are required to obey. You fee here that it is the voice of the Angel of God in the preceding verfe," Behold, I fend mine Angel before thy face, to lead thee," &c. Chrift is called an Angel, because he is the -Sent of God, or the great Ambaffador of Heaven, the Meffenger of the covenant, who was much fought after by the faints under the Old Testament, Mal. iii. 1. It is not the voice of any created angel, but of the great uncreated Angel, even the Lord and the Prince of angels, for "by inheritance he has obtained a more excellent name than they." This Angel has a name above every name that can be named, whether in this world, or in that which is to come, and is fet down at the right hand of God, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and hath all things put under his feet and therefore beware of him, and obey his voice. If you afk further whofe voice it is? I anfwer, It is the voice of the great Melfiah, whom the world was expecting with impatience for the fpace of four thousand years. It is the voice of Immanuel, God-man, God with us the voice of God fpeaking in our nature, for " he took not on him the nature of angels, but the feed of Abraham." Oh! fhall we not hear the voice of an incarnate God, or of God manifested in the flesh? It is the voice of a Redeemer, O finner, who has paid a ransom to jus tice for thee, that thou may not go down to the pit. Oh! how hard is it that he should pour out his foul unto death, and bear the curfe of the law, and the wrath of the Father for us, and VOL. II. Z z

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yet not to get a hearing from us? It is the voice of a Mediator who negotiates thy peace with God, O finner, and who has, to effectuate the reconciliation between God and man, endured the cross, and despised the fhame, and is now at the right hand of God, in the quality of an advocate with the Father, making interceffion for the tranfgreffors. Would it not be reckoned ftrange, if a client, who has a caufe of great importance depending before a court, thould refufe to obey the voice of his advocate, who pleads his caufe? It is the voice of thy Surety, O finner, who has paid thy debt, and fatisfied for all thy crimes, "He was wounded for thine iniquities, bruised for thy tranfgreffions," he has paid the round fum under which thou had drowned for ever; and yet fhall he not get a hearing? It is the voice of the Shepherd of Ifrael, that "leads Jofeph like a flock, and who gathers the lambs with his arms, who carries them in his bofom ;" and will not the sheep hear the voice of their Shepherd? It is the voice of the great Prophet, who reveals the will of God for our falvation. The voice of the great Prieft of the New Teftament church, who is over the house of God, and hath the keys of the house hanging at his girdle, and who opens, and no man fhuts, and fhuts, and no man opens. It is the voice of Zion's King; and shall not the children of Zion hear and obey the voice of their King, who "rules in Jacob, and to all the ends of the earth ?" It is the voice of the King of kings, and Lord of lords. It is the voice of the Prince of the kings of the earth. In a word, you fee in the context, it is the voice of God, and not of man; the name and nature, the majesty and glory of his eternal Father is in him, Obey his voice, for my name is in him: and in ver. 22. "Thou fhalt obey his voice, and do all that I fpeak." He and the Father are one in nature, and have one and the fame voice; and should not this engage you to obey it?

Confider, 2. To whom this voice is directed. You fee that it is directed to men, and to the fons of men, Prov. viii. 4, "Unto you, O men," fays Christ the effential Wisdom of God, "do I call, and my voice is to the fons of men." And what is man that he should ware a word of his mouth upon him? Man in his beft eftate is altogether vanity." Adam in his beft innocence, what was he, but just a piece of red clay, enlivened by the breath of the Almighty, and beautified with his image? But what is man in his fallen eftate? He is ten thousand times "worfe than nothing and vanity." Oh! finner, "look to the rock whence thou art hewn, and the hole of the pit whence thou waft digged," and thou wilt find thy genealogy derived from hell, a child of the devil, an heir of wrath, dead in trefpaffes and fins, lying under the curse of a ... broken

broken law, and the fentence of death, every moment lying upon the brink of utter deftruction; and fhall not fuch a creature as this hear and obey the voice of the great God, iffued forth by the Angel of his prefence? In fhort, there is not a foul hearing me, but the voice of the Angel is directed to you in particular, as much as though there were none hearing me but thyfelf; for we preach this gofpel, and found the trumpet of the law, to every creature, every rational creature, on this fide of hell. Art thou a finner? His voice to thee from mount Sinai is, "The foul that finneth, fhall die :" but his voice from mount Zion is, He "came not to call the righteous, but finners to repentance; he came not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be faved." In fhort, let thy fins be never fo many, and never fo highly aggravated, yet his voice, if thou be out of hell, to thee, is, "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he fhall be faved. Whofoever cometh unto me, I will in no wife caft out." And where the Angel makes no exception, it is none of our business to except ourfelves, or to fcore our own name out of his commiffion. And I know nothing that can exclude you out of his commiffion, but final unbelief: that doth it effectually; for the Angel mfelf has faid, "He that believeth not, fhall not fee life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."

Confider, 3. After what manner the Angel of God is crying to you in this gospel.

ift, He cries openly from the tops of the high places, and in the chief places of concourfe.

2dly, He cries audibly; he does not mutter, or peep, but he fpeaks up, he speaks out, he cries aloud, as with the found of a trumpet; he makes no fecret of his commiffion to you.

3dly, He cries importunately. O how loth is he to take a refufal at the hands of loft finners! he befeeches you to be reconciled to him, and to God through him; he cries and weeps over Jerufalem, Luke xix. 41. " When he beheld the city, he wept over it," and would as gladly have gathered them, the hen gathereth her chickens under her wings."

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4thly, He cries with an alluring and charming voice: "We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented." He, as it were, fuits his voice unto the cafe of the finner, to see if any way he may be allured, and drawn to him. Oh Sirs! hear the voice of the charmer, charming never fo wifely.

5thly, He is very conftant in his cry, he ftretches out his hand all the day long, faying, " Behold me, behold me. Be hold, I ftand at the door, and knock: If any man will hear my

voice, and open the door, I will come in and fup with him, and he with me."

Confider, 4. Who concurs with the voice of the great Angel of the covenant. His voice alone should command our attention; but there is a manifold concurrence of voices with his from heaven above, and from earth beneath, all inviting and requiring you to obey his voice.

ift, The voice of the Father concurs, faying, Obey his voice, for my name is in him. Hear ye him, for this is my beloved Son.

2dly, The voice of the Holy Gholt concurs: Heb. iii. 7. "As the Holy Ghost faith, To-day if ye will hear his voice." So that, in this respect, it is to fin against the Holy Ghost not to hear the voice of the Son of God; and that is a dangerous rifk: and if you continue to reject the voice of the Spirit in the Son, it fhall never be forgiven you, either in this world, or in that which is to come.

3dly, The voice of all the angels in heaven concurs. If they were allowed to fpeak, as they did at his nativity, they would with one voice cry, O hear the voice of your great Lord and Master, for to you was he born, and for you did he die, "Peace on earth, and good-will towards man." And when a finner, by faith, obeys the voice of Chrift, there is joy in heaven among the angels of God.

4thly, The voice of all faithful minifters, the friends of the Bridegroom, is, to hear his voice, and obey it. We are but his heralds, through whom his voice is conveyed to you; and "as though God did befeech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."

5thly, The voice of the bride concurs; all true believers, who have already believed or obeyed his voice: Rev. xxii. 17. "The Spirit and the bride fay, Come. And let him that heareth, fay, Come. And let him that is athirst, come: And whofoever will, let him come and take of the waters of life freely."

Confider, 5. The evil and danger of difobeying the voice of the great Angel, who is now fpeaking to you from heaven. You fee in the words of my text there is an awful certification added with respect to thefe that do not obey his voice, Obey his voice, provoke him not: for he will not pardon your tranfgreffions. I thall more particularly reprefent the danger of not obeying the voice of Chrift, fpeaking particularly in a gofpeldifpenfation.

ift, It is an egregious affront offered unto the glorious Majefty of God, not to obey the voice of Chrift. This is implied here, My name is in him, and therefore obey his voice; for if

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