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inherit any of the offspring and iffue, or caft away any of the veffels that hang, by a faith of his operation, upon the nail faftened in a fure place..

Ufe third may be of Confolation to the offspring and issue, and. all the veffels of cups and flagons. This doctrine may yield comfort to you.

1. In cafe of public reelings and commotions in the world. The abounding fin of all ranks, and the prefent aspect of providence, gives juft ground to fear, that fome thaking judgement is not afar off, fuch as, fword, famine, or peftilence, to avenge the quarrel of a broken covenant, a contemned gof-, pel, and the blood of those whofe fouls are crying from under the altar. But whatever calamities may be a-coming, though the world fhould be unhinged, heaven and earth mingled, and nothing to be heard or feen but the confused noise of the warriors, and garments rolled in blood, yet verily it shall be well with the righteous; the great Manager of the houfe is given to be head over all things to the church, which is his body; and he, being at the helm, will take care that the leaft cup of his Father's houfe fhall not be loft, though the mountains fhould be removed and caft into the midft of the fea, If. xxvi. Pfal. xlvi. at the beginning.

2. Here is comfort in cafe of perfonal afflictions. Sometimes the Lord fees fit to take the veffels of his houfe, and to caft them into a hot furnace, or to plunge them into the deep and bitter waters of Marah; deep may call unto deep, one wave making way for another: but here is comfort, the great Manager fits at the fide of the furnace, to see that the drofs be purged, but the veffel preferved. He treads upon the waves, and the wind and the feas obey him, and at length he will fay, "Peace, be ftill;" and then there fhall be a great calm, Pfal. xlii. 7. 8. "All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Yet the Lord will command his loving-kindness in the day-time, and in the night, his fong fhall be with

me."

3. Here is comfort in cafe of rents, divifions, and manifold diforders in the visible church, as there is at this day; men beating their fellow-fervants, and puting them out of the houfe, for their faithfulness to the Mafter of the houfe; their maltreating the offspring and iffue of the family, mifplacing the veffels, preferring the man with the gold ring, to the man that is rich in faith, and an heir of the kingdom; thefe, or the like evils, take place in the vifibirch, and have a melancholy appearance. But here is comfort, that the great Manager of the houfe is looking on; he permits and overrules all these confufions and diforders, for his own holy

and

and wife ends, for the trial of faith and patience, and to fhew his own skill in bringing order out of confufion : and when he has performed his whole work, in Mount Zion, and in Jerufalem, he will reign among his ancients gloriously. 4. Here is comfort to the Lord's remnant, when there are few or none of the rulers, nobles, or gentry of the land to own the cause of Chrift, or to put to their hand to the rebuilding of the walls or gates of Jerufalem, lying in rubbish, as in the days of former reformation in this land. The great New Testament Zerubbabel can carry on his work, either with them or without them, even though great mountains be standing in the way; for it is "not by the might or power of man, but by my Spirit, faith the Lord of hofts, that the work is effected. The man whofe name is the BRANCH, he fhall come out of his place; he thall build the temple, and bear all the glory." This ufe might be enlarged in many particulars, which I wave at prefent, that I may go on to a fourth ufe.

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

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THE FIFTH SERMON ON THIS TEXT.

r. To all in ge

THE HE fourth use, namely, of Exhortation. neral. 2. To believers in particular. Firft, I would offer a word of exhortation to all it general. Is Chrift the great Manager of his Father's houfe, and has God the Father hung all the glory, all the offspring and ifflue, all the veffels greater and fmaller upon him, as upon a nail fattened in a fure place? Then let every man and woman, that has a foul to be faved, come to him in a way of believing, and lay the ftrefs of their eternal falvation upon the great Manager of the house. This is a business of everlasting concern, and therefore allow me to enforce the exhortation a little.

There is no help for you in heaven, or in earth; all other nails are weak, broken, or crooked, but this of God's faftening; and therefore to the bottom of eternal wo and mifery

you

you must go, unless you hang your falvation upon it. No name given under heaven whereby to be faved, but by the name of Jefus ; neither is there falvation in any other : all refuge fails, and proves only a refuge of lies: "In vain is falvation expected from the hills, or multitude of mountains:" and therefore I may put that question to you in this case, "Whither will you flee for help? or where will you leave your glory," if you do not “commit the keeping of your fouls unto him as unto a faithful Creator,"

This Manager is a perfon of great skill and experience in the business of faving fouls that are loft by the fall of Adam; it is his trade and business upon which he came into the world; no cafe is defperate to him, for he is able to fave to the uttermoft, and he has been occupied in the work of faving the loft, ever fince fin entered into the world. Many, many have gone through his hands, and he has made a good account of every one of them; the innumerable company that are about the throne, finging the fong of Mofes and the Lamb, are all standing monuments of his fkill and experience; every one of them cries, "Worthy is the Lamb that was flain; for thou haft redeemed us, and thou haft washed and faved us by thy blood."

The great Manager has not only skill, ability, and experience, but he is moft willing to be employed. "To you, O men, doth he call, and his voice is to the fons of men. Come to me who will, I will in no wife caft out. Come, and let us reafon together, faith the Lord: though your fins be as fearlet and crimson, I will make them white as fuow and as wool." And to put the matter out of doubt, and beyond all controverfy, he affures you of his willingnefs with the folemnity of an oath, Ezek. xxxiii. 11. "As I live, faith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn unto me, and live," &c. He is fo willing and defirous of having the management of thy falvation committed to him, that it is the joy of his heart when a loft finner comes to him for this end, as you fee cleared in the three parables, Luke xv.

You are well warranted to hang your all upon this nail, for it was fixed in a fure place. For this very end he was fet up from everlafting, from the beginning, to be the Saviour of loft finners; he is ordained for men in things pertaining to God: and it is the command of God, that you believe in him to the faving of your fouls, that you receive and rest upon him, John . 23. And therefore you must either truft this great Manager with your falvation, otherwife you counteract the

authority

authority of Heaven in the greatest command that ever was iffued out from the excellent glory.

Let nothing then fcare you from coming to the great Manager by faith, or from hanging your juftification, fanctification, and falvation, upon this nail faftened in a fure place. "Take heed, brethren, left there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in turning you away from the living God; and let us fear left a promise of salvation being left us, any of us fhould feem to come short of it;" the confequence thereof will be fatal through all eternity.

Do not fay, I am not prepared for coming to him; for I know of no preparation a finner can make for Chrift, but that of his feeing himfelf loft and undone without him. What preparation had the man-flayer, befides danger from the avenger of blood, when he fled to the city of refuge? What preparation has a drowning man to make for taking hold of a strong rope caft in to draw him afhore? Is not the fick man prepared for the phyfician? the man starving through want prepared for meat?

Do not fay, that the fiery law, and its curfe, ftands in your way; for the law condemns you because you do not improve the remedy prefented to you in the gofpel. The thunders of the law are huthed into a pleafant calm, whenever the finner comes unto mount Zion, and to Jefus the Mediator of the new covenant. Chrift is "the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth; and therefore no condemnation to them that are in him."

Do not fay, that the decree of God is any obftacle in your way of coming unto Chrift, and hanging your eternal fálvation upon him; for as the decree of God is fecret, and does not belong to us, fo, in the decrees of Heaven, the end and the mean are connected together, and the one made fubfervient unto the other. Does any man concern himself with God's decrees in the ordinary affairs of life? Does the merchant argue, If God has decreed that I fhall be rich, it fhall' come to pafs, though I never go to the market and buy and fell? Or doth the hufbandman argue, I fhall have a plentiful crop, if God has ordained it, although I neither plant nor fow? Men will not venture their worldly affairs upon fuch-a foolish way of arguing; why then should any argue at that rate in matters wherein their precious fouls are concerned, and lie at take?

May fome poor foul fay, O, gladly would I come to the great Manager Chrift, and hang my four's eternal falvation upon him, as on a nail faftened in a fure place; but, alas ! I find fuch an utter impotence and inability to believe in him,

that all exhortations are in vain, until the power of God be put forth to enable me; "No man can come to Chrift, unless the Father which fent him, draw him." Anfw. (1.) The foul that is truly fenfible of its own inability to believe, or do any thing for itfelf, is in the faireft way of believing; for faith fprings out of a thorough conviction of its own impotence and inability, either to will or to do. And therefore, (2.) From a fenfe of your own impotence, look up to him that giveth power to the faint, and increaseth ftrength to them that have no might; for he who commands you to believe, is the Author and Finisher of faith, ready to fulfil in you all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power. (3) I would fay to you that are in good earneft in making this objection, and complaining of inability to believe, that the power of God is exerted in a very filent and imperceptible way in bringing the finner to believe in Chrift, therefore likened unto the failing of the dew, the growth of the corn, or a grain of mustard feed, or the gradual working of leaven in a measure of meal, which are best known by the effects; and therefore obferve and fee if you can perceive any of the effects of the Spirit of faith in or about you, fuch as, a prizing of the word and ordinances, a drinking the fincere milk of it, a valuing of Chrift, a renouncing of our own, and a leaning only to a Surety's righteoufnefs, heart-love to all that bear the image of God; thefe, or the like fruits of faith, may be fometimes found in the foul that is complaining of its own inability to believe; and if so, it is a hopeful evidence that the good work is begun, and fo you may be "confident of this very thing, that he who hath begun the good work, will perform it against the day of Jefus Chrift."

I fhut up this exhortation with two or three advices, in order to your committing your all into the hand of the great Manager of the houfe of God.

1. Study to be in good earnest in the matter of believing; for it is with the heart that man believes unto righteousness. Faith is not a dreaming, fleeping work, as you fee in the cafe of Peter's hearers, Acts. ii. the jailor, Acts xvi.

2. Confider well the worth of the foul, and what danger it is into of being loft for ever. "What is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lofe his foul ?"

3. Be frequently viewing the majefty of that infinite God, with whom you must have to do for ever and ever, and what a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of an implacable and eternal enemy. "Who knows the power of his wrath? Who can dwell with devouring fire ?"&c.

4 Be convinced, that, by the breach of the holy law in VOL. III. Adam,

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