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enemy fows his tares; fuch are perfonally exposed to every fin, and fnare, and temptation; liable to have spiritual poverty and leannefs brought upon them; to lose their spiritual peace, joy, and comfort; and to be furprized with the midnight-cry: wherefore it is high time for them to beftir themselves, and awake out of fleep; Chrift calls upon them to this purpose, and fays, Awake thou that Sleepest, and arise from the dead; shake off thy lethargy; throw off thy dead companions, and converfe no more with them who have been the means of bringing on this fleepy, drowsy frame, and Christ shall give thee light"; pray, as well as thou canft, that the Lord would quicken thee, that thou mayest call upon his name.

To come to a clofe; we may fee our own picture in the people here defcribed, that called not on the name of the Lord, and stirred not up themselves to lay hold on him this is exactly our cafe; there are none, or however very few, heartily engaged in fuch spiritual exercises, and which fhould be matter of lamentation and humiliation: what has been faid, fhould serve to stir up our minds by way of remembrance of the state wherein we are, and from whence we are fallen; and to quicken us to every duty of religion, and particularly to this of prayer, and to the exercise of faith in it; and as we should stir up ourselves, fo one another, to this, and every other good work; and which is a principal end of our meeting together at fuch times as thefe; and the Lord grant this end may be answered by this difcourfe, and God be glorified.

f Matt. xii. 25.

Rom. xiii. 1.

Ephes. v. 14.

1 Pfalm lxxx. 18...

SERMON

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Attendance in Places of religious Worship, where the Divine Name is recorded, encouraged.

Preached October 9, 1757, at the Opening of a New Place for Worship, in Carter-lane, St Olave's-ftreet, Southwark.

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EXODUS XX. 24.

In all places, where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.

HIS chapter begins with an account of the giving of the law of the decalogue, or ten commands, on mount Sinai, to the children of Ifrael. very compendious fyftem of morality this, and was peculiarly calculated for that people; as the preface to it fhows, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; Thou shalt have no other God, &c. and was admirably adapted to their tempers, difpofitions, and circumstances; and exceedingly well fuited to correct their minds and manners; and to guide and direct them in matters of religion, and in their duty to God and man: not but that all of it, that is of a moral nature, is binding upon the Gentiles, and especially ought to be regarded by us Chriftians, who profefs ourselves to be the followers of Jefus ; fince most of the precepts of it have been recited and urged by him, and the whole by him reduced to these two heads, love to God, and love to our neighbour; faying, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy foul, and with all thy mind; this is the first and great commandment and the fecond is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. And the apostle Paul, a difciple of his, and one that had the mind of Chrift, having mentioned the several laws of the second table, observes; that if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this faying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour

a Matt. xix. 17-19.

Matt. xxii. 37–40.

as

as thyfelf. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law; for he that loveth another bath fulfilled the law and elsewhere he fays, all the law is fulfilled in one word; even this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. And the rather this law fhould be attended to by us, fince our bleffed Redeemer and Saviour came not to destroy it, but to fulfil it, by his fubjection to it, both to the precept and penalty of it; whereby, though he has delivered us from the curfe and condemnation of it, yet has he not exempted us from obedience to it; fo that we are not without law to God, though freed from obligation to punishment for the tranfgreffion of it, through the fatisfaction of our furety; but are under the law to Chrift, as he is head, king, and lawgiver in his church. And it is with pleasure we can behold the law fulfilled for us by his obedience, fufferings, and death, and held forth in his hand, as king of faints, as a rule of walk and converfation unto us: in which view of it, every believer may fay of it, as the apoftle did, I delight in the law of God, after the inward man 3. The delivery of this law, indeed, was attended with very terrifying circumstances; fuch as a dark, thick, tempeftuous cloud, fire, and smoke; thunders, lightenings, and earthquakes; which not only made the children of Ifrael to tremble, and to stand at a distance; but Mofes himself faid, I exceedingly fear and quake". Thefe were emblems of the dreadful things uttered by the law, against the tranfgreffors of it; and of the terrible conféquences of their tranfgreffions; and of the terrors raised by it in the confciences of awakened finners; wherefore the apoftle fays, Tell me, ye that defire to be under the law; that is, as a covenant of works, do ye not hear the law? the voice and language of it, its menaces and curfes, what it faith to them who are under it, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. It accufes of breaches and violations of it; it effectually fupports its charges; it convicts of guilt, and confounds the finner; and fays enough, to the filencing of all objections; fo that nothing can be faid, why judgment fhould not proceed, and the fentence be pronounced and executed. To them who are of the works of the law; who feek for justification, salvation, and eternal life, by obedience to it; it fays, Curfed is every one that continueth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law, to do them'. In short, it is a cutting and killing letter, and the miniftration of condemnation and death. Hence a Mediator was found neceffary, and defired by the people of Ifrael, at this time the law was given; They faid unto Mofes, Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, left we die, ver. 19. This office Mofes undertook, at their request, and drew near unto the thick darkness, where God was, ver. 21. and became a Mediator between God and them; and has the

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name of one given him. Hence the law is faid to be ordained by angels, in the band of a Mediator; that is, Mofes, who was a type of Chrift, the Mediator between God and man; by whom we have access to him, with boldness and confidence, through his being the fulfilling end of the law for righteousness", by obeying the precept, and bearing the penalty of it.

Now, though this law, as to the manner of its delivery, was fo terrible; yet, as to the matter of it, it was boly, just, and good; a tranfcript of the divine nature, and a revelation of the will of God; and it was an high favour; and a peculiar privilege to be indulged with it: hence, fays Mofes, What nation is there so great, that bath ftatutes and judgments fo righteous, as all this law that I fet before you this day? And the pfalmift David also takes notice of this, as an instance of the distinguishing goodness of God to the people of Ifrael; He fheweth his word unto Jacob; his ftatutes and his judgments unto Ifrael; he hath not dealt fo with any nation; and as for his judgments they have not known them; praise ye the Lord. And the apostle Paul reckons, among the many fpecial privileges of the Jewish nation, that to them pertained the covenant, the giving of the law, and the fervice of God. Wherefore, fince Jehovah condefcended to speak with them from heaven, and favoured them with a divine revelation; they were laid under obligation to serve and worship him, in the manner he should direct them, as well as in places where they should do it. You have feen, fays he, ver. 22, 23. that I have talked with you from heaven: ye shall not make with me gods of filver; neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold; and then directs them to make an altar, to offer on it facrifice unto him, ver. 24 an altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt facrifice thereon thy burnt-offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen; which altar was a type of Chrift, who is that altar we chriftians, or believers in Christ, have; have a right unto, to use it, and partake of it; whereof they have no right to eat, that ferve the tabernacle', or keep up the Jewish forms of worship, now abolished: that altar, that fanctifies every spiritual gift, prefented on it by faith, and which renders every spiritual facrifice of prayer or praise acceptable to God. Alfo the facrifices offered up on the altar of earth, were typical of better; even of the facrifice of Chrift, which is of a sweet-smelling favour to God; thereby fin being made an end of, and reconciliation and atonement made for it. Now, the Lord, to encourage the people of Ifrael to worship him in his own way, and where he would have them, promifes his presence with them, and his bleffing on them, in the words I have read to you; In all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. As yet no particular places were appointed for worship; and, therefore, he fays, where I record, or am about to record, or fhall record. The tabernacle was not now

m Ga! iii 19.

Rom. x. 4.
Heb. xiii. 10.

9 Ruin 18. 4

erected

Deut. iv. 8.
P Pfalm cxlvii 19. 20.
• Matt. xxiii. 19. Ifai. Ivi. 7.

erected, nor orders given for it, which afterwards were, Let them make me a fanctuary, that I may dwell among them. Nor as yet was the ark of the testimony made, over which was the mercy-feat; on which were the cherubim; between which Jehovah took up his refidence; nor were any place, or places, pointed at as yet, where the tabernacle, or the things in it, when made, fhould be fet up and, though after this, the Lord did fignify there was a place he should choose to put his name in, and cause it to dwell there; and where, and where only, they should come and offer their facrifices, and keep their pass-over, and other feafts; yet he did not prefently exprefs this by name; eventually, and in the iffue, it appeared to be the city of Jerufalem; though before that, the tabernacle and the ark in it, were at other places, as Gilgal, Shiloh, &c. but this was a fixed and ftable place for it: here Solomon, by divine direction, built a magnificent temple, where the worship of God was continued fome hundreds of years this was destroyed by the Chaldeans, which occafioned an intermiffion of service for fome time; and then it was rebuilt by Zorobabel, which continued till the coming of Christ, and was a little time after demolished by the Romans; and ever fince, the worship of God is not limited and restrained to any certain place; neither at Jerusalem, nor any other particular place, are men obliged to worship the Father; but they may worship him any where, fo be it they worship him in fpirit and in truth". Under the gofpel-difpenfation, men may lift up holy hands every where, without wrath and doubting"; they may pray and preach, and administer the ordinances of Christ, wherever they can find a place proper and convenient: the only description of places, and the only direction to us, where we should meet and worship, is, where God records his name: And, in this light and view of things, I shall confider the above words, by obferving,

I. What thofe places are which God has a regard unto; and where his people have encouragement to serve and worship him; and these are, where be records his name.

II. The regard he has to fuch places, and the encouragement he gives to perfons that worship him : he promises his prefence and his bleffing; I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.

I. The place, or places where the people of God are directed to worship him, and he fhews a regard unto, are where his name is recorded. Under this head I shall shew, what is meant by the name of the Lord; what by recording his name ; and point at the places where this may be done.

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