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night; and that upon all the glory there may be a defence; and that he may yet recover the spoils of the house, that the ancircumcifed Philistines have carried away.

4. See hence, that when a church departs from Chrift, either in point of doctrine, worship, difcipline, or government, fhe is off from her proper hinge, and therefore is fallen from her purity; her crown is fallen from her head, her glory is departed. The glory of that church is at a low pafs, which hangs upon the nail of legal fecurities, by kings and parliaments, instead of the nail which God hath fattened in a fure place. This, alas! is the cafe with the church of Scotland. at this day. What have the judicatories to fupport them, in their fcreening the erroneous, fufpending, ejecting, and depofing men for bearing teftimony to the truth? in tyranizing over the Lord's people, by wrefting from them their Chriftian rights and liberties, and the like? The word of God cannot fupport them in fuch proceedings; they do not hang upon the nail in a fure place; no, fuch things ftand in a flat contradiction unto the authority and will of the King of Zion. The only thing that fupports and emboldens them in fuch proceedings, is the nail of a legal fecurity and establishment, which one time or other will give way, and then all that hangs on it falls to the ground. As it is faid of Eliakim, perfonally confidered, or of Shebna his predeceffor, upon his removal by death, or otherwife, from his high station in the court of Hezekiah, he and all his dependents fhould fall together, in the verfe following the text," And in that day, faith the Lord of hofts, fhall the nail that is fastened in the fure place be removed, and be cut down and fall; and the burden that was upon it fhall be cut off :" Thus will it fare with churches that hang only on legal fecurities from men; Jer. xvii. 5. 6." Curfed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whofe heart departeth from the Lord," &c.

VOL. III,

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Is.

Is. xxii. 24. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of bis Father's houfe, the offspring and the issue, all veffels of (mall quantity from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of Aagons.

THE THIRD SERMON ON THIS TEXT.

I

AM yet infifting upon the fourth general head propofed in the profecution of the doctrine, viz. What is it that hangs upon our bleffed Eliakim, Jefus Chrift? And here we are told of three things that are faid to hang upon this nail. 1. All the glory of his Father's houfe. 2. The whole offspring and issue. 3. All the vellels of the houfe, from the leaft to the greateft. And thefe two, namely, the offspring of the house, and the veffels, are a great part of its glory, alfo mentioned in the first part of the verfe. I have already mentioned feveral glorious things in the houfe of our God, which do all hang upon the nail fastened in a fure place.

I proceed, fecondly, to speak a little of the offspring and iffue of the houfe, which are alfo faid to hang upon Chrift. By the offspring and issue, I understand all true believers, who are fo called upon feveral accounts.

1. Because they are born or brought forth in the houfe: Pfal. lxxxvii. 5. "Of Zion it fhall be faid, This man and that man was born in her." And ver. 6. "The Lord fhall count when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there." The church is the mother that bare them; for, "Jerufalem, which is from above, is the mother of us all," Gal. iv. 26.

2. Because the Father of the houfe or family begat them: James i. 18. "Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth. John i. 13. "Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the fleth, nor of the will of man, but of God;" hence commonly defigned the children of God, being in a day of power begotten by the incorruptible feed of the

word.

3. Because the first-born of the family, Jefus Chrift, the only begotten of the Father by eternal generation, he owns them for his brethren, and is not alhamed to do fo, faying to his Father, "I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midft of the congregation will I praife thee," Pfal. xxii. 22. compared with Heb. ii. 12.

4. They

4. They are fitly called the offspring and iffue of the house, becaufe, like new-born babes, they are fuckled and dandled there: Pet. ii. 2. "As new born babes drink in the fincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby." The ordinances of the gospel, particularly the preaching of the word, and adminiftration of the facraments, are, as it were, the breafts which the church, like an indulgent mother, draws out unto all the babes of the family: If. lxvi. 11. "That ye may fuck, and be fatisfied with the breafts of her confolations:" and in the verfe following, believers are faid to be "borne upon her fides, and dandled upon her knees." What fhall we think of that church that dandles the baftards, and neglects the true begotten of the family, and is more concerned to encourage and cherish the world's great ones, than Chrift's little ones, and that yields the corrupt and unfound milk of error unto the children of the family, which has an evident tendency to poifon instead of nourishing them? Surely fhe must be an adulterous mother, for the natural mother is more careful of the children.

5. They are called the offspring and iffue of the house, because they have their education and nurture there: "All thy children fhall be taught of the Lord :" and they are trained up in the knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom. The Father of the family takes pains upon their inftruction; and all that have heard and learned of the Father, come to the Son to be taught by his word and Spirit more and more: and thus they know the Lord, and follow on to know him; and his goings forth to them are prepared as the morning. Upon this, and other accounts, believers are called the offspring and iflue of the house.

And now I come to let you fee that the offspring and issue do all hang, with every thing that concerns them, upon the New Teftament Eliakim, who is faftened as a nail in a fure place.

1. then, Their very being, as they are new creatures, hangs upon him: Eph. ii. 10. "Ye are his workmanship, created in Chrift Jefus." The expreffion is remarkable; they are "created in Chrift Jefus." As the branch has its being in the root upon which it is graffed, fo has the believer his fpiritual being, as a new creature, in Chrift, infomuch that, if you take Chrift from the believer, or the believer from Chrift, he is not, his being ceafes. A true Chriftian is á creature in Chrift Jefus.

2. Hence it follows, that their life hangs upon Chrift. The fecond Adam is called a quickening /pirit, because he is the refurrection and the life of his whole myftical body. The law

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of the Spirit of life, which is in Chrift Jefus, makes them all free from the law of fin and death; and it is not fo much they that live, as Chrift that lives in them: hence the life that they live is "by faith in the Son of God." He it is that quickens them at firft, when dead in trefpaffes and fins; and he it is that holds their fouls in life; the fountaion of life is not with them, but with him. The life of the believer is juft bound up in the life of Jefus: " Because I live (fays he) ye fhall live alfo." Whenever the spiritual life of the believer begins to languish, they run to him, and cry, "Wilt thou not revive us again, that we may rejoice in thee?"

3. Have the offspring and iffue of the houfe any thing of the light of faving knowledge of God? Why, this hangs upon Chrift; for he is their everlafting light, the true Sun of Righteousness, the day-fpring from on high, that gives light to them that fat in darkness, and in the regions of the fhadow of death: 2 Cor. iv. 6. "God who commanded the light to fhine out of darkness, hath fhined into our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of his glory, in the face of Jefus Chrift." He it is that tranflates them from the power of darkness unto his marvellous light. It is in his light that they are made to fee light; and through him it is that the path of the just is as the fhining light, that thines more and more unto the perfect day. His abfence makes night, and thence they go mourning without the fun; but by his return the fhadows of death are turned into the morning.

4. The offspring and iffue of the houfe of God enjoy a glorious liberty: Rom. viii. we read of " the glorious liberty of the fons of God." Well, this hangs upon Chrift; for "if the Son makes us free, then are we free indeed; and, Gal. v. 1. we are enjoined to "ftand faft in the liberty wherewith Chrift hath made us free;" which has a refpect both to our ecclefiaftic liberty, as we are members of the visible church, and our fpiritual liberty, as we are believers, or members of the church invifible. All finners, that are out of Chrift, are prifoners in chains, captives to the mighty, under the power of fin, under the curfe of the law, led captive by Satan at his pleafure; but Chrift comes in a day of power, and fays, Let the lawful captive be delivered, and the prey be let go from the terrible; and it is done. He fays to the prifoner, Go forth; it is the Lord that loofes the prifoners, and gives liberty from the power of all their enemies, that they may ferve him in holinefs and righteoufnefs all the days of their lives. In a word, he gives liberty, and he maintains it.

5. The offspring and the iffue of the houfe have all the best robe put upon them, when they return from a far country to

their Father, I mean, a justifying and law-bidding righteoufnefs, whereby they are enabled to ftand before God with acceptance, fo as the fhame of their nakednefs fhall never appear. Well, by whom, or from whom, have they this? It is from Chrift, who is "the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. He was made fin for us, who knew no fin, that we might be made the righteoufnefs of God in him." Our bleffed Eliakim clothes all the children of the family with his own livery; through him it is that the righteoufnefs of the law is fulfilled in them. Hence every one of the genuine children of the family will be ready to fay, "Surely in him have I righteousness, and in his righteousness I am exalted; in him will I be juftified, and in him alone will I glory." He it is that hath "clothed me with the garments of falvation, and covered me with the robe of his righteoufnefs."

6. Have the offspring and iffue of the houfe any thing of the beauty of holiness within, or fhining out in their way and walk before the world? Why, this they have from Chrift, who is made of God unto them, not only righteousness, but fanctification. It is the beauty of the Lord their God that is upon them; he takes them from among the pots, and makes them like the wings of the dove covered with filver, and her feathers with yellow gold.

7. Have they any ftrength for work or warfare? Why, he is" the glory of their ftrength;" they are strong, not in themfelves, but "in the Lord;" not in their own might, but "in the power of his might." He it is that makes the feeble, as David, and as the angel of God. He it is that teaches their hands to war, and their fingers to fight; by him the arms of their hands are made ftrong to do exploits, and to break through troops, and break bows of fteel in pieces; through him it is they wax valiant in fight, and turn to flight the armies of the aliens: and when their faith in a lively way is acted upon him, they can speak like little omnipotents, with Paul, "I can do all things through Chrift ftrengthening me."

8. Are they heirs of God and of glory? It is through him that they are fo: "If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jefus Chrift." By faith the believer ferves himself heir to the God of Chrift, as his God, and to the Father of Chrift, as his Father; and upon Chrift's title he adventures to take up the words of the Head, faying, with the confidence of faith, "Thou art my God, my Father, and the rock of my falvation. God is the portion of my cup, and of mine inheritance; thou maintaineft my lot. The lines are

fallen unto me in pleafant places, and I have a goodly heritage.'

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