nant. Till there be a remarkable reviving hereof, we can hardly expect a remarkable gathering of the people to Shiloh. 3. Confeffing times, in the church, have been gathering times; times of humble acknowledging of perfonal and national guilt, as you fee, Ezra. viii. 23. and ix. 7. and downwards, compared with chap. x. 1, 2, 3. No doubt, there were better days of the gofpel, in refpect of the power thereof, with us than now, when there was public and folemn acknowledgment of public fins and breaches of the Covenant; fuch as you have an account of in the ordinary Confeffions of Faith among your hands. But in our days, we feem to be fo far from taking with our public fins and defections, that we are rather upon the self-justifying lay, as if we had done nothing amifs, and as if matters had never been better with us. May we not hereupon conclude, that the Lord is fpeaking to us, as he did of old to Judah, Jer. ii. 34, 35. "Behold I will plead with thee, because thou fayeft, I have not finned?" While our motherchurch is not duly taking with her fin, how can we expect a remarkable gathering of her children to Shiloh? Whereas, if our uncircumcifed hearts were humbled, and that we were confeffing our iniquities, and the iniquities of our fathers, then we might expect the Lord would yet remember his covenant, and heal our land, as it is, Lev. xxvi. 40, 41, 42. Not that public reformings, covenantings, and confeffings have any meritorious influence upon, or are procuring caufes of remarkable gatherings unto Shiloh; only in this method and order he ufes to work, preparing the way of the people, Ifa. lvii. 14. and lxii. 10. He gathers out the ftones, lifts up a standard for the people, and then follows the gathering of the people to him: therefore, while none of these national revivings, or public acknowledgments of our own and our forefathers iniquities, appear, little wonder, that, inftead of a gathering of the people to Shiloh, we fee clouds gathering in our fky, and more and more national bondage and thraldom taking place : We walk contrary to God, and God walks contrary to us, and will punish seven times more for our iniquities. There Therefore, if you would wifh for a remarkable gathering, O cry for a remarkable outpouring of the Spirit of repentance and reformation, whereof there is fo little to be seen in church or flate in cur day: O feek for a return of his departed glory, and that cur land may not be called LO-AMMI and Lo-RUHAMAII, as it is faid, Hofea i. 6. 9. but rather AмMI and RUHAMAH, Hof. ii. 1. and that we may be called HEPHZI-BAH, and BEULAH, Ifa. Ixii. 4. that the Lord may yet delight in us, and our land may yet again be married; fo that every one may not only call him BAALI, but IsHI*, Hofea ii. 16.-But, 4. Suffering and contending times in the church have been remarkable gathering times. It was in times of perfecution and fuffering of the church, that fuch great numbers of people were converted and gathered in to Chrift in the primitive ages, as you fee, Acts iv. 4.— Times of contending for the faith, have been times of conveening to Chrift, the glorious object of faith: yea, scattering times have been gathering times, when the Lord hath fcattered his fervants abroad, that by the preaching of the word in every airth to which they were scattered, there might be a gathering of the people to Shiloh, as you fee it was. Acts viii. 4. and particularly, Acts xi. 19, 20, 21. Thus the Jewish perfecution firft, and then the primitive Pagan perfecution next; especially the fecond under Domitian, which was about the fixty-ninth year of Chrift; and the ninth and tenth under Aurelius and Dioclefian, as hiftorians relate, were the very means of bringing the gofpel firft to Scotland, while eminent men fled from thefe dreadful tempefts unto this land, and fo planted the gospel here. Suffering times, perfecuting times, and hiding times, have been gathering times in the church. Some old perfons here, perhaps, have been witneffes to days of power in the time of perfecution, in the late *LO-AMMI; i. e. Not my people. Lo-RUHAMAH; i. e. Not having obtained mercy.AMMI; i. c. My people. RUHAMAB; i. e. Having obtained mercy.---HEPHZI-BAH; i. e. My delight is in her. BEULAH "; i. e. Married.---BAALI; i. e. My Lord.---Ismi ; i. c. My Hufband. fuffer fuffering times in Scotland. Our fathers have told us, how the Lord appeared for them and with them, when men were appearing moft bloodily against them: they have heard the beft news from heaven, when they heard the worst from earth. God many times fmiles moft upon his church, when the world frowns moft against them: when the caufe and truths of Chrift are most oppofed by men, God ufually puts the moft remarkable feal to them upon the hearts of many. Some can fay, When they were contending moft for the truth, then the Lord hath made the truth moft fweet and refrefhful to themfelves, and moft powerful and efficacious to others. Even a time of bonds hath been a time of begetting children to God: "Mind Onefimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds," fays Paul, in the 10th verfe of his epistle to Philemon. Indeed, the Lord's gathering time is not confined to fuffering periods of the church; for, "Glorious things are spoken of Zion the city of God," even at other times, "that this man and that man was born there ;" and that it can be faid of our Zion, without looking many years back, that this man and that man, this woman and that woman was born there. But I fpeak of remarkable gatherings, where it can be said, not only this man and that man, but this multitude and that multitude was born there: and O for a time of the gathering of multitudes to Chrift! Perhaps fad and fuffering days muft come again, before we have fuch gathering days; and there may be terrible fufferings before there be remarkable gatherings: for, he whofe fan is in his hand, does ufually purge his floor, before he gather in his wheat, Mat. iii. 12. But as the day of calamity in itself is not to be defired; fo, that we may not be hopeless in the mean time, I would further tell you, that the church's backfliding times have been God's gathering times, according to Jer. iii. 14. “Turn, O backfliding children, fays the Lord! for I am married unto you; and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and bring you to Zion.” There is a call in a backfliding time; but fee ver. 22. where there is not only a gathering call, but a gathering power accompanying the call, even at a time wherein they had had perverted their ways, and forgotten the Lord their God: "Return ye backfliding children, and I will heal your backflidings;" and then it follows, "Behold we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God." Behold a gathering of the people unto Shiloh in a backiliding time! O then, let backfliding Scotland fay, Behold we come! O that the hearts of hearers were faying, Bebold we come! Oh! there is no national reformation can take place, till there be a perfonal reformation; if perfonal returning to the Lord were general and univerfal, then there would be a national returning.-Therefore, if you would wifh to fee a national reviving, let every perfon put in for a fhare of gathering power and grace, faying, "Turn me, and I fhall be turned; draw me, and I fhall run:" and, under the conduct of drawing power, let us fay, "Behold we come to thee, for thou art the Lord our God." Hath your perfonal backfliding, man, woman, been great and grievous? Hath this been your difeafe all your days, a backfliding heart, a backfliding nature, a backfliding practice, a bentnefs to backfliding in thought, word, and action! Is that your difeafe, that you are a backfliding heifer, a backfliding devil, that, it may be, thinks the difeafe is defperate and incurable! O let me affure you, that there is Healer come here today, that fays, "I will heal your backflidings;" and he will not fay the thing that he cannot do. And while his mercy is faying, "I will heal your backflidings," let your heart be faying, Lord, I will come to thee for that healing, for that is my difeafe, and there is none in the world needs it fo much as I: the church and nation need to have their backflidings healed; but I am the particular perfon that needs it most of all; heal me, and I fhall be healed; behold, I come to thee for that end. Is your heart faying fo? Then welcome be all comers; welcome, welcome, welcome! Him that comes, I will in no wife caft out; nay, he will in no wife caft up your for mer backflidings, but heal you, without upbraiding you; for he gives liberally, and upbraids not. I will heal your backflidings: it is fpoken without limitation, either of former or future backflidings; and therefore the fear of backfliding again, needs not difcourage you from from coming to him; your former, backflidings will not caft you out and though you backflide again, he will not caft you off: He may vifit your iniquity with the rod, but his loving kindness will he not take away: No; he will in no wife caft you out. Backflidings fhall never part him and you, for he will heal your backflidings; I will beal your backflidings. It hath ref pect to the future, as well as the prefent time; not to encourage your finning for the future, no, no; but to encourage finners to come, notwithstanding of their fears of future failings: this fhall be my office and employment, fo long as you labour under that difeafe of backfliding, which will be till you come to that land, where the inhabitants fhall not say, I am fick: now, till you come there, I will conftantly and perpetually be a phyfician and healer to you, to give you my healing word, my healing blood, my healing vifits, from time to time, and to arife like the Sun of righteoufnefs, with healing under my wings, from day to day: therefore come, backfliding foul, and let me have all your emplayment from day to day. O! is your heart faying, Bebold we come! then, bleffed be the comers, though they have been backfliders. The people that must be gathered to Shiloh, are a backfliding people; and if it were not fuch, it would be none of Adam's race, for all are fmitten with the fame difeafe; therefore all the backfliders here are invited to be comers. Come and welcome in the name of Shiloh, to whom the gathering must be and in his bleffed Father's name, come and welcome. And if there be any comers here, then glory, glory to God, that, notwithstanding all that is amifs in the church of Scotland, yet it is a gathering time; notwithstanding all your backflidings, yet it is a gathering feafon. Thus I have confidered the gathering feafons with relation to the remarkable gathering of the church in general. 2dly, The gathering feafons may be confidered, with relation to the initial gathering of finners in particular; when he begins to gather in finners to himfelf, O the freedom and fovereignty of his grace, that fhines in the feafons and times of gathering! for fome he gathers at the |