unto his worship, his laws, inftitutions, and ordinances, in that degenerate age; they that followed the example of Jacob, and their other worthy ancestors, in wrestling with God, efpecially in that dark and cloudy day: fays the prophet, I quill not utterly deftroy them. In the worst of times, God has always a remnant that worship and serve him, and that cleave unto his ways; as I was hinting already, he had his feven thousand in Ifrael, that had not bowed the knee unto Baal; and whatever comes of the rest of the world, God will take care of them. And this you will fee further illuftrated in 9. Where, ver. 5. We have an account of God's management with respect to that remnant: For, lo, I will command, and 1 will fift the boufe of Ifrael among all nations, like as corn is fifted in a five, yet fhall not the leaft grain thereof fall to the earth. There is an alfufion here to an husbandman, who when he fifts his corn in the five, he fhakes it, and he toffes it hither and thither, not to destroy it, but to preferve and purify it, and to feparate betwixt the good corn and the chaff; but all the time that the husbandman is fifting the corn, he has the five faft in his hand, and he manages the five for the good of the corn. Juft fo here, God's remnant are his good corn, and the wicked are the chaff; and he will fend a winnowing and fifting wind into the barn of the visible church, and will shake his remnant; yet he will take care of them, he has them in his hand, “Ail his faints are in thy hand," Deut. xxxii. 3, "No man fhall pluck them out of my hand, nor out of my Father's hand,” fays our bleffed Lord; and not a grain fhall fall to the ground, or be loft. There is a particular providence of God exercifed about his own people; his eye is fet upon them for good; and the hand of his providence manages the great field of the creation in a fubferviency unto his own glory, and to their good; "He rides in the heavens for the help of his people, and in his excellency on the fkies; he is the fhield of their help, and the fword of their excellency." But then, 6. We are here told what will become of the chaff, ver. 10. "All the finners of my people fhall die by the fword, which fay, The evil fhall not overtake nor prevent us." It is a ftrange thing that the great Lord fhould lay claim to them as his people, though they were a finful people; he would fain lay claim unto them, if they would lay claim to him. But this is an aggravation of their fin, that they are his profeffing people, and yet they rebel against him; it is fuch a heightening aggravation of their fin, that he appeals to the very heavens against them, If. i. 2. "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: I have nourished and brought up children, yet they they have rebelled against me." All the finners of my people fball die by the fword. All the finners of my people! Certainly this is not to be understood absolutely, or elfe no flesh should be fpared; "for all have finned, and come fhort of the glory of God:" but you fee what finners are intended, in the latter claufe of ver. 10. That fay, The evil fhall not overtake nor prevent us. They promised themfelves impunity in their way, and "faid within their hearts," and perhaps with their tongues too, "We shall have peace, though we walk after the imaginations of our own hearts." And is there not a fet of people in the land, and I fear too many of them in this city, who fpeak the fame language? Let God fay what he will by his word, let him fay what he will by his provi dence, let minifters and Christians teftify against them never fo much, and warn them of their fins, and of the judgements of God they are bringing on themselves and the land; yet they say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us ; we will go on and profper; we will" add drunkennefs to our thirft: Tomorrow fhall be as this day, and much more abun dant." Sirs, fome are finning with a high hand against the great God; but their high hand will fall, when God lifts his hand; they may deal proudly, but God will be above them : let them do their utmoft, "the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone fhalt be exalted," although it be unto their rain and deftraction. I would have you who promife yourselves impunity in your evil ways to remember, that though" fentence against an evil work be not fpeedily executed," yet when the time of execution comes, the feverity of the ftroke will make a recompenfe fufficiently for the delay of it; God's hand is heavy when it is laid on, and that you will find to your coft. "Confider this, ye that forget God." Confider this, ye who, to the offence of all fober and serious Christians, are following thefe obfcene fpectacles and comedies that are set up in this place, and you who, in your night-revellings, adventure to profane the holy word and worship of God in the open streets. You may imagine that evil ihall not overtake you: but whether hall God's word or yours hold good? You fay, "You fhall have peace, though you" thus infult the great God, and "add drunkenness to thirft;" but God fays, "There is no peace to the wicked." But now follows another fcene: a scene of mercy is opened up in ver. 11. In that day will I raife up the tabernacle of David, that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof, and I will raife up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old. Where briefly we may notice, ift, The defignation that God gives unto his church, particularly the New Teftament church; church; it is called the tabernacle of David. I think it is fo called, with an allufion to the tabernacle that was made by Mofes in the wilderness, which was a badge of God's particular prefence among that people: it was a kind of portable thing that they carried about with them from one place to another, till they came to Canaan; and then it was fet in the place which God had appointed for it in the temple at Jerufalem. God's militant church in the world is a kind of move. able thing: "The tabernacle of God is with men," but it is not always fixed in one particular place; fometimes he fees meet to remove his tabernacle, as the tabernacle was removed of old from one place to another; fometimes he removes it from one nation to another; hence Christ tells the Jews, that "the kingdom of God should be taken from them, and given to a nation that would make a better use of it." Sirs, God's tabernacle has been pitched among us for a long time; but it has met with courfe handling, many foul hands have been admitted to approach it. None but thofe that were called of God were allowed to touch the tabernacle; but, alas! how many are there in our day who intrude upon tabernacle work, that never had the call of God, or his people, unto that service! And this I look upon, among other things, to be one of the many melancholy figns of God's removing his tabernacle from among us. Little of God, little of his glory, is to be seen, as in former times: the cloud of his prefence is departed. But then the tabernacle is here called the tabernacle of David. Sirs, David had great pleasure in God's tabernacle: " How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hofts? One day in thy courts is better than a thousand : I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." Alas! this is not the fpirit of the generality now-a-days; many love rather to be in a tavern than in the tabernacle. But by David here, we are not to understand David perfonally, but David typically, the Son of David, he in whom David's family, David's throne, and David's power, were perpetuated. And then it is called the tabernacle of David, because it is his property. The church is Chrift's property, he bought her at a dear rate, even with the price of his precious blood; she is his dwelling-place, and he has no other dwelling upon earth but his church: he fays of Zion, where the tabernacle was placed, "This is my reft for ever: here will I dwell, for I do like it well," Pfal. cxxxii. 14. 2dly, We may notice the prefent cafe of the tabernacle of David; it is fallen, there are breaches made upon it, and it is in a ruinous condition. "The boar of the wood had wafted it, the wild beasts of the forest had devoured it :" the laws of the temple had been violated and profaned, as they are in our day: God in his righteous judgement had let robbers into it, that had spoiled it: "Who gave Jacob to the spoil and Israel to the robbers? He against whom they had finned." Civil robbers, ecclefiaftical robbers, break in upon his vineyard, and "fpoil the tender grapes and vines," inftead of preferving them; they carry away the rights of the people of God, instead of patronizing and defending them. The typical tabernacle of David fell when Chrift rofe from the dead; the Mofaic economy was then unhinged, giving way to the New Teftament church. 3dly, We have a promise here of rebuilding David's tabernacle: I will raife up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old. We read of great furniture laid in to the hand of Chrift, of great gifts beftowed upon our Emmanuel. But for what end? It was for building a houfe for God to dwell in among the fons of men: "When he afcended up on high, he led captivity captive, he received gifts for men, yea, even for the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell among us." Chrift laid the foundation of a new tabernacle in his blood, and he afcended up to heaven, and fat down upon the throne, in order to pursue that great end, to raise up a spiritual temple for himfelf and his Father to dwell in; for from eternity "he rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth, and his delights were with the fons of men." Now, the tabernacle of David was fallen, but "the man whofe name is the BRANCH, he comes out of his place, he builds the temple of the Lord, and he fhall bear the glory thereof." But then, 4thly, That which I would have you particularly to notice is, the time or feason when this is to be done; it is in that day, when the Lord deftroys the finful kingdom from off the face of the earth-that day when he fifts the house of Ifrael among all na tions, like as corn is fifted in a five-that day, when the finners of his people fhall die by the fword. In that day will I raise up the tabernacie of David. From this connection I only take notice of this obfervation, and fo fhall conclude at present. OBSERY."That God many times ushers in a glorious work of reformation, by very cloudy, dark, and dismal dispensations of providence." What a difmal afpect had God's procedure in the preceding verfes! and yet grace and mercy breaks out of that dark cloud. But the further profecution of this doctrine I fhall refer till the afternoon. The Lord blefs his word. 3 D VOL. II. AMOS AMOS ix. 11.-In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof, and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old. HAVI THE SECOND SERMON ON THIS TEXT. noon, AVING explained this portion of fcripture in the foreI fhall not ftand to refume any thing that was faid that way. I just named a doctrine from the words taken in their connection, to wit, "That it is God's ordinary way to usher in the revival and restoration of his own work, by very awful, dark, and gloomy difpenfations of providence." Here was a very dark day, a day of deftruction from the presence of the Lord, a day of hewing down by the fword, a day of unbinging nations and churches; and yet you fee what it all ter minates and refolves in, In that day will I build up the tabernacle of David, I will restore the breaches, and repair the ruins there of, as in the days of old, I remember, when the prophet Elijah came unto mount Horeb, the Lord paffes by him, and he knew it not. There is a very ftrange appearance made unto the prophet: first, there was a great and ftormy wind raised, which breaks the rocks and shakes the mountains, but God was not in the wind: after the wind came an earthquake; but God was not there after the earthquake came a fire; but God was not in the fire. Well, what does all this refolve in! This was just a preparation towards God's manifefting of himself unto the prophet in the fill and small voice. This is God's ordinary way of working, both towards particular perfons, and particular churches; clouds and darkness are round about him in his way, before mercy and truth are feen going before his face. I read you two or three texts of fcripture to confirm it. The one you have in the prophet Malachi, the laft chapter of the Old Teftament, ift and 2d verfes; "Behold, the day cometh that fhall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, fhall be ftubble, and the day that cometh hall burn them up, faith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Well, but the cloud turns about, and the bright fide of it appears, in ver. 2. "But unto you that fear my name, fhall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and ye fhall go forth and grow up as calves of the tall." Ver. 3. "And ye fhall tread down the wicked i |