Lord, under the Old-Teftament-difpenfation, by appointing memorials of it; fuch as the Ark, and Mercy-feat, the Altar, and the Sacrifices offered on it: and under the New-Teftament-difpenfation, by the miniftry of the word, and the minifters of it; whose business it is, to make mention of the name of the Lord, and put men in mind of him; to publish and proclaim his free grace, goodwill, and favour, in the election, redemption, justification, and salvation of men; and to preach Christ and him crucified; to make mention of his perfon, as God-man; of his offices, as Mediator and Saviour; and of his blood, righteousness, facrifice, and interceffion; and purely, faithfully, conftantly, and confiftently, to dispense the doctrines and mysteries of grace, they are stewards of: likewife, they record the name of the Lord, and he by them, through a faithful administration of his ordinances, especially the ordinance of the Lord's fupper; which is defigned to commemorate the grace of God, and the love of Chrift until his fecond coming. And now, where the riches of the grace of God are displayed; Chrift, in his person and office s, is exalted; his word is faithfully preached; and his ordinances truly and rightly administered; these are the places where the Lord may be faid to record his name, and where his people should meet together to worship him. And, as we have now opened a new place of worship, we enter upon it in this way, by recording the name of the Lord, in the manner before described; namely, by preaching the doctrines of the grace of God, and of free and full falvation alone, by Jefus Chrift; and by the adminiftration of gofpel-ordinances, as they have been delivered to us. To do these from time to time, is our prefent view, and what, by divine affiftance, we shall endeavour to purfue, in the course of our worship and ministrations here. What doctrines may be taught in this place, after I am gone, is not for me to know; but, as for my own part, I am at a point; I am determined, and have been long ago, what to make the subject of my miniftry. It is now upwards of forty years fince I entered into the work of the miniftry; and the first fermon I ever preached, was from those words of the apostle, For I determined not to know any thing among you, fave Jesus Christ, and him crucified; and, through the grace of God, I have been enabled, in fome good measure, to abide by the fame refolution hitherto, as many of you here are my witneffes; and I hope, through divine affistance, I ever shall, as long as I am in this tabernacle, and engaged in fuch work. I am not afraid of the reproaches of men; I have been inured to thefe, from my youth upwards; none of these things move me. But I hope you will pardon this digreffion; I return to my fubject, and proceed to confider, VOL. I. K k a 1 Cor. ii. 2. II. The II. The regard which God has to fuch place, or places, where his name is recorded; and the encouragement he gives his people, to meet and worship him there; namely, the promise of his prefence and bleffing; I will come unto thee, and bless thee. First, The Lord here promises his prefence with his people, affembled together in his name, and where his name is recorded, and they meet to worship him, to celebrate his name, to make mention of it, and put one another in remembrance of it; I will come unto thee; that is, in fuch place, or places, where this is done. Under this head I fhall endeavour to fhew, in what fenfe the Lord may be faid to come unto his people, when gathered together for religious worship; under what confiderations he comes unto them; and when it may be known that he is come unto them, and is in the midft of them; as well as the wonderfulness of this grace and favour; which will appear, by obferving the contrast between the I, the person who fays he will come; and the thee, or perfons to whom he comes. 1. What is meant by his coming to his people. And this is to be understood not locally, of any change of place; or of his removing from place to place, which he is incapable of, being omniprefent. The Jews call God Makom, "place," because he is every where, and fills up all places; the heaven is bis throne, and the earth is his footstool; and neither of them can contain him; he fills both with his prefence, and is not circumfcribed by either: fo that he cannot, with propriety, be faid to come or go from one place to another: when he is faid to defcend, or come down from heaven to earth, it is not by local motion, but by some display and effects of his power, or of his grace and goodness. Thus, when he said, Let us go down; and it is faid, he came down, to fee the city and tower the children of men were building, this was done in a way of wrath and judgment; by fhewing his power, and by confounding their language, and scattering them abroad upon the face of the whole earth: and when the Apud Rabbinos, inter nomina Dei eft, & quidem cum articulo, per antiphrafin, quafi illecalis, infinitus, qui nullo loco capitur, fed omnibus rebus locum dat. Buxtorf. in rad. DP, p. 673. Vid. Pirke Abot. c. 5. f. 4. & 6. 1. The reafons of this name given by the Jewish writers, are thefe; fays Aben Ezra *, our antients, of blessed memory, call him (God) the place; because every place is full of his glory; and R. Hona, in the name of R. Ame, fays †, why do they furname the holy blessed God, and call him p, place? because he is the place of the world; and there is no world his place, but what is written, behold, there is a place by me, Exod. xxxiii. 21. And elsewhere it is afked likewise, why is his name called place? because in every place where the righteous are, there is he found with them; as it is faid, in every PLACE where I record my name, &c. Exod. xx. 24. • Gen. xi. 5, 7. Præfat. in Comment. in Efther. + Bereshit Rabba. S. 68. fol. 60. 4 S the Lord is faid to descend, and stand at the door of the tabernacle, to meet his people there, it is to be understood of difplays of his grace, difcoveries of his love, and intimations of his favour; and of his mind and will; and which is greatly the fenfe of the expreffion here: for, it is not to be taken either in a corporal fenfe, as if any bodily fhape was affumed by the Lord, and he appeared in it. Indeed, this is the fenfe of all thofe paffages, which speak of, and foretel the coming of Chrift, and contain the promise of it; fuch as, your God will come, even God with a recompence; he will come, and fave you; and again, Bebold, the Lord God will come with a strong hand; but these only belong to the second person in the Trinity, the Son of God, and his incarnation; to his coming into the world, by the affumption of human nature; to the Word being made flesh, and fo dwelling among men; but cannot be faid of Jehovah, the Father, who is the person speaking in our text, and who never appeared in any corporal form; for Chrift exprefsly fays, Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor feen his fhape. Nor is this coming of the Lord to his people, to be understood now of any visible token of his prefence, as in former times; as in a cloud, or by fire, or any other way. Thus he came to Mofes in a thick cloud; and defcended on mount Sinai in fire. These were indications of his being come, and of his being prefent. So he went before the children of Ifrael, as they travelled through the wilderness, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. When these were feen, it was known the Lord was there; when the tabernacle was fet up, a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. The cloud was a visible symbol of the prefence of the Lord in it and the fame may be obferved of the temple of Solomon at the dedication of it by him: the cloud filled the boufe of the Lord, fo that the priests could not stand to minister; for the glory of the Lord had filled the boufe of the Lord and it was the cloud, as is plain, that was the visible token of that glory, or of the glorious prefence of the Lord there. Sometimes God gave intimations of his presence with his people, and of his approbation of them, and their facrifices, by fending down. fire upon them; and which is thought by fome', to be the way and manner, in which he expreffed his acceptance of Abel's facrifice. However, in this way he did fignify his acceptance of others: it is faid, And the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people; and there came fire out from before the Lord, and confumed upon the altar the burnt-offerings, and the fat; which when all the people faw, they shouted, and fell on their faces in reverence of the divine Being, who was prefent by this fymbol; and they fhouted for joy, and in thankfulness, for his declaring his approbation and acceptance of their facrifices. And in like man d Exod. xxix. 42. and xxxiii. 9. m Kk 2 e Ifai. xxxv. 4. and xl. 10. • Exod. xix. 9, 18. h Exod. xiii. 21. 1 See Ainsworth on Gen. iv. 4. : ner, f John v. 37. k1 Kings viii. 10,11. ner, the Lord fhewed himself to be prefent, and to be the only Lord God, by caufing fire to fall down and confume the facrifice, the wood, ftones, and duft, and lick up the water in the trench, when Baal could do nothing to make it manifest that he heard his prophets, or was prefent with them". But nothing of this kind is now to be expected, under the gofpel-difpenfation; the Lord's coming to his people, is only in a fpiritual manner; by his Spirit and grace, and the communications of it; by his Spirit teaching, and inftructing, enlightening, comforting, quickening them, and applying his word with power; and bleffing that and his ordinances to them; in like manner as Chrift promised his prefence to his difciples; I will not leave you comfortless, I will come unto you°; meaning, that though they should be deprived of his bodily prefence, yet they fhould have his spiritual presence with them, especially when miniftering his word, and adminiftering his ordinances; and in this fenfe it is to be understood in a following verfe; where he promises his prefence to all that love him, and keep his commandments, and his father's alfo; faying, We will come unto him, and make our abode with him; which cannot defign the return of his bodily prefence to his difciples, at his refurrection; but the gracious and spiritual prefence of him, and his divine Father, with his people, in all ages; particularly, while they are employed in his worship, and are obferving his commands and ordinances and it is in this fenfe we may understand the expreffion in this paffage; especially as it may be applied to gofpel-times. 2. It may be inquired, under what confiderations God may be faid to come unto his people, in this gracious and spiritual manner, whilft worshipping him. He comes unto them, as into his own house and habitation; and that as the master, owner, and proprietor of it; his church and people are built up, an babitation for him, through the fpirit; believers are the lively ftones, of which the fpiritual houfe confifts; and these being laid on the foundation, Chrift, grow up unto an boly temple in the Lord; and for his ufe; and whither he comes; and of which he says, This is my reft; here will I dwell, for I have defired it"; and from this time forward, that God takes up his abode and refidence here, the name of fuch a place, city, and church, is, Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is there': he comes unto them, as unto his family; as the father of it, who cares and provides for it. He is their father by adopting grace; and has taken them into this relation in the everlasting covenant, to which he predeftinated them, according to the good pleasure of his will; in which he fays of them, and to them, I will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, faith the Lord Almighty'; and which grace he makes known unto them by the Spirit of adoption, fent unto them: in confequence of this, he will not leave them com 1 Kings xviii. 38, 39. Pfalm cxxxii. 14. • John xiv. 18. › Ver. 23. t 2 Cor. vi. 18. fortless, Ephes. . 21, 22. fortless, or orphans, as is Chrift's word concerning them"; but will come unto them, in a fpiritual way, as he promises; and fhew his paternal love to them, and care of them, bringing food in his hands for them; afking one and another of them, Children, have ye any meat"? and puts it into their hands and mouths, and bleffes Zion's provifions, the word and ordinances, to them, and fatisfies his poor with bread; with the bread of the gofpel; with the bread of life, Christ Jefus. He comes unto them as to his flock, and as the shepherd of it; it being under his peculiar watch and care, and he the proprietor of it: his own the fheep are, the fheep of his hand, and the fheep of his pafture: to thefe he comes; and he looks well to this his flock; and infpects narrowly and carefully into their state, cafe, and condition: he comes to fearch and feek out those that are ftraying, and fcattered in the dark and cloudy day; to look up that which is loft and driven away, and restore them, and lead them into green paftures, and befide the ftill waters; to bind up broken hearts, and broken bones, and strengthen the fick, and heal all their spiritual maladies, and do all the offices of a good fhepherd to them; by feeding them in a good pafture, and making them to lie down in a good fold *. He comes unto them, as to his friends, and pays kind visits; he makes a feast of fat things for them, in his holy mountain; he brings them into his banqueting house; he fits down at table with them; he fups with them, and they with him; whom he welcomes to the entertainment he makes for them; faying, Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. To obferve no more; he comes unto his people met together for worship, as his fpecial favourites; for whom he has a peculiar respect, and admits to peculiar nearness to himself, and to peculiar enjoyments; whom he remembers with the favour he bears to his chofen ones; having loved them with an everlasting love, and distinguished them by the bleffings of his grace, beftowed upon them; to those he loves, he fhews his covenant; the bleffings and promises of it, and their interest in them; discloses the secrets of his heart's love unto them, and sheds it abroad in them; makes known more fully to them the great falvation, and restores unto them the joys of it; indulges them with near and intimate communion with himself; and manifefts himself to them, as he does not unto the world: by all which it appears, they are the delight of his foul, and the darling of his heart; the favourites of heaven, and friends of God. 3. It may be asked, how it may be known when God is come unto his people, in a spiritual manner, in public fervice and worship? In answer to which, it may be faid, that it may be in fome meafure known, when the minifters of the word are affifted by him, both in praying and preaching; when they manifeftly pray agpares, John xiv. 18. " John xxi. 5. y Cant, i. 12. and ii. 4. and v. 1. x Ezek. xxxiv. 12-16. |