the fhining of a flaming fire by night; for upon all the glory there fhall be a defence. And there fhall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day-time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from the ftorm and from the rain." Hence Péter tells us, that we are kept by the power of God through faith unto falvation." Shall not all this engage us to hear his voice?

5. Hear and obey the voice of the Angel, for his errand is to lead and guide you in the right way; "He fhall keep you in the way, and bring you to the place of reft." O Sirs, there are many by-ways in the wilderness, many turns in the road to glory, that ye know not; but hearken to and obey the voice of the Angel, for he brings the blind by à way they know not, and in paths which they have not known; he is the Shepherd of Ifrael, that leads Jofeph like a flock," Pfal. lxxx. 1. and Pfal. Ixxviii. laft verfe," He fed them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the fkilfulness of his hands." See the way defcribed in which he leads his Ifrael to glory, Il. xxxv. 8. An high-way fhall be there, and a way, and it fhall be called the way of holinefs; the unclean fhall not pafs over it, but it fhall be for thofe; the way faring men, though fools, fhall not err therein," Obey his voice then, as ever you expect to be led by the right way, till you come to the city of habitation, "whofe builder and maker is God.”

6. To excite you to obey the voice of the Angel, will you confider whither he leads thofe that follow and obey him here; we are told that it is a place prepared of God;" that is, to Canaan in the type, but to heaven and glory in the antitype. The place that the Angel leads you to, if you obey his voice, is defcribed varioufly in fcripture. Sometimes called a “house, and a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens; a houfe of many manfions," where there is lodging for all the innumerable inhabitants. Sometimes it is called a city that has foundations, whofe builder and maker is God, the gates. of which are of pearls, the Itreets of it are of pure gold, and tranfparent glafs." Sometimes called "a kingdom : Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me." And in this kingdom all the inhabitants are crowned kings; they wear a crown of glory, life, and righteousness, which fadeth not away; and they have thrones to fit upon, yea, they fit with Chrift upon his throne. Sometimes it is called "an inheritance, and an inheritance that is incorruptible, and undefled, and that fadeth not away.” If you afk further, what fort of a place it is? I answer,

(1.) It is a place of life, for there is no death there; it is pro perly the land of the living, and therefore commonly called everlafting life. (2.) A place of health, for there is no noxious diseases enter there: "The inhabitant fhall not fay, I am fick," &c. (3.) It is a place of light for there is no darkness there, either of defertion, temptation, or affliction: "The Lord God and the Lamb are the light of the place." There that promise fhall be fully accomplished, "The Lord fhall be thy everlafting light, and thy God thy glory," (4.) It is a place of reft: "There remaineth a reft for God's people. They fhall enter into peace: they fhall reft in their beds, each one walking in his uprightnefs." No difturbance there through eternity from fin, Satan, or a wicked world. (5.) A place of joy and pleasure: "In thy prefence there is fulness of joy, and at thy right hand pleafures for evermore." All the inhabitants "come to it with fongs, and everlasting joy upon their heads, and forrow and fighing fhall for ever flee away." (6.) A place of plenty, no pinching wants either in foul or body, there they are in the midst of all fulness," &c. (7.) It is a place of immediate vifion and fruition of the Lord: John xvii. 24. " Father, I will that thefe whom thou haft given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory which thou haft given me." (8.) It is a lafting and everlafting place, a kingdom that endureth for ever. Eternity is the confummation of the miferiés of the wicked, and the confummation of the happiness of the ranfomed in glory, it fadeth' not away. (9.) It is a prepared place, as you fee in the text; fo it is called in the laft fentence, Matth. xxv. 34. * Come, ye bleffed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

Queft. How is this place prepared for thefe that follow and obey the voice of the Angel?

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Anfw. (1.) It is prepared by an eternal decree, by which God ordained it for you, and you for it; for he hath "chofen us for falvation, predeftinate us unto the adoption of children: and whom he did predeftinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he alfo juftified; and whom he juftified, them he alfo glorified." (2.) It is prepared by a large price or purchafe paid for it, not of filver or gold, or fuch corruptible things, but by the precious blood of Jefus Chrift, as of a Lamb without fpot; therefore heaven is called a purchased inheritance. (3.) It is prepared and laid up by an inviolable charter, the covenant and promife of God, which is confirmed by the oath of God, and the blood of the Son, &c. (4.) It is prepared by the refurrection and afcenfion of Chrift into heaven, where he appears as our forerunner and reprefentative, for he is for

us, or in our name, entered: hence is that of Chrift to his drooping difciples, John xiv. 2. "I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there ye may be alfo."

Now, put all these things together, and fee if there be not as much in this verfe, as may excite and engage a rational foul to comply with this duty I am urging upon you, viz. to obey the voice of Chrift, the great Angel of God's prefence; why, he is fent to go before you, to keep you in the way, and to bring you to the place that God has prepared for all that obey him.

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

THE TWELFTH SERMON ON THIS TEXT.

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AM still upon an exhortation to obey the voice of Chrift. I have fhewed you firft, what we are to understand by the voice of Chrift, and how it is conveyed to us. 2dly, I endeavoured to fhew what his voice is to the present generation, and particularly to us in this place. 3dly, What it is to obey his voice. 4thly, I endeavoured by several motives to exyou to obey his voice. I go on now to

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The fifth thing in handling this branch of the exhortation, which was, to offer fome characters of thofe that have complied with this exhortation. Some perhaps, after all they have heard, may put the queftion, How fhall a perfon be satisfied in their own minds, that they are among that number, who yield the obedience of faith to the voice of Chrift? answer,

If ever you have heard the voice of the Angel, Jesus Christ, that has the name, and nature, and voice of God in him, you have felt fomething of a divine power coming along with it unto your fouls; for "the voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is full of majefty," Pfal. xxix. "I am not

afhamed of the gofpel of Chrift; for it is the power of God unto falvation," fays Paul, Rom. i. 16. The word which is the voice of Chrift is called "the rod of his ftrength," Pfal. cx. 2.; and when he himself comes in it, andwith it, a “willing people is made in the day of his power.'

Quet. What is that power that accompanies the voice of Chrilt in his word?

Anfw. 1. It has a killing power coming along with it, efpecially his voice from mount Sinai: "When the commandVOL. II.

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ment came (fays Paul), fin revived, and I died." The man was fo full of himfelf, and of his own righteousness, that he thought himself alive without the law; touching the law he imagined himself to be blameless; like Laodicea, he fancied himself "rich and increased with goods, and fo stood in need of nothing;" but whenever he heard the voice of Chrift, he is ftruck to the ground, and all his fine airy imaginations about his own righteoufnefs, by the law, falls to the ground; he fees himfelf to be a dead man, and "what things were gain to him before, thefe he counts lofs and dung now." Did you ever find this felf killing power of the voice of Christ from mount Sinai? for if proud self was never battered down by the hammer of the law, which breaks the rock in pieces, you never yet heard the voice of Chrift. You know before ever Ifrael cried for a Mediator between God and them, they got fuch a hearing of the voice of the Angel, as made the whole camp of fix hundred thousand to fall a-quaking: “The law is our fchoolmafter, to lead as unto Chrift, that we may be justified by faith;" not that the law in itself reveals Chrift, but prepares the foul for the revelation of him in the gospel. I do not limit adorable fovereignty in his way of working; but fo much of law work is neceflary, as to fhake the foul out of all its lying refuges, and created confidences, that it may bétake itself unto Chrift, and to him alone, for righteoufnefs and life.

2. The voice of Chrift, where it has been heard in a faving manner, it has had a quickening power: John v. 25. "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead fhall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear fhall live. Are not my words fpirit and life?" fays the Angel, with the name of God in him, John vi. "The fpirit of life which is in Chrift Jefus," comes in and with the word of the gospel, which reveals Chrift unto the foul, and "makes it free from the law of fin and death," Rom. viii. 2. The law confidered as a covenant is a law of fin and death to the poor foul while under it. It is a law of fin, becaufe "the ftrength of fin is the law", fin has the dominion over the man, and is in its full power, while he is cleaving to the law as a husband; fin has dominion over him, becaufe he is not under grace, but under the law. And then the law confidered as a covenant, is not only the law of fin, but of death, because it binds over the man to undergo the penalty; however he may work and weary himself in the greatnefs of his way, to make out a title to life by his obedience and works, yet he being weak to yield that obedience that the law requires, which must be every way perfect, it becomes a law of death to him, the penalty takes

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place upon him, "The foul that Gnneth fhall die." But now the law or power of that Spirit of life, which is in the word or voice of Chrift, makes a man free from this law of fin and death; it makes a man fly from the law as a covenant, unto him who is "The end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth ;" and then the man becomes a living man; he reckons that he is "dead indeed unto fin, but alive unto God through Jefus Chrift," and cries with David, “I fhall not die, but live, and difcover the works of the Lord," and the wonders of his grace, and love through Chrift unto my foul. "I live; yet not I, but Chrift that liveth in me," &c. Alas! may fome poor foul fay, I find fo much deadness in my heart, that I am afraid I never heard the quickening voice of Chrift to this day. Anfw. It is just the fruit of the voice of Chrift to discover, that thou has no life, no ftrength, no righteousnefs, no goodnefs in thyself, but to fee, though thou be legally and fpiritually dead in thyself, yet your lite is in the Son, it is hid with Chrift in God. Oh! say you, if my life were hid there, all would be right; but I cannot think that I can be fo dead and lifelefs, and yet have my life hid in Christ. Anfw. Can thou fay before God, that thy life is fo much bound up in Chrift, and that thou fees such an abfolute need of Chrift, that thou can neither live nor die without him? I fee myself fo unrighteous and guilty before God, that if 1 get not him for the Lord my righteoufness, I am a dead man, a dead woman, through eternity? If this be the cafe, "furely in the Lord haft thou righteousness and strength;" and therefore thoufhalt not die, but live," the voice of the Angel has quickened thy foul to fly to him.

3. The voice of Chrift has an enlightening power with it, for "the entrance of his word gives light.' The word of the Lord is powerful," enlightening the eyes." At the fame time that Chrift unftops the deaf ear, fo as to hear his voice, he opens the blind eyes of the finner alfo, to behold his glory and the glory of God in him. We are told, Rev. i, that John, whenever he heard the voice of Chrift, faying, "I am Alpha, and Omega, the first and the laft," he immediately turned to hear the voice of him that fpake unto him, and he faw one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot. When Chrift fpoke unto Paul in his way going to Da mafcus, he at the fame time revealed himself unto him: "It pleafed God to reveal his fon in me." And therefore try yourselves by this, Have you ever feen an incarnate God? has "the light of the knowledge of his glory, in the face of Jefus Chrift, thined into your hearts ?" Oh! fay you, how fhall I know if ever that divine light did enter with the voice of