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the world can pluck them, and out of which they shall never fall. What was faid by the queen of Sheba, concerning Solomon, with respect to Ifrael; because thy God loved Ifrael, to establish them for ever, therefore made be thee king over them, may be faid of Chrift, with respect to his people; that because he loved the faints, and in order to establish them for ever and ever, he put them into the hands of Chrift, where they are fafe from all danger, and from every enemy. They are fecured in the covenant of grace, which is fure and immoveable; its bleffings are the fure mercies of David; its promifes are yea and amen in Christ; it is established on better promises than any other covenant; and the perfons in it can never be removed out of it. They are fettled on the rock of ages, on which the church is built, against which the gates of hell can never prevail; they are built on a fure foundation God has laid in Zion; fo that, though ftorms and tempefts of corruptions, temptations, and afflictions should beat upon them, they stand unmoved against them all, being built on a rock. They are in a state of grace, in which they will ever remain; they are in a state of justification, and shall never enter into condemnation; they are in the family of God, by adopting grace, out of which they will never be turned; for, if a son, no more a fervant, but an heir of God through Chrift; they are in a state of regeneration, and can never be unborn again; they have the principle of grace, which fprings up unto eternal life: these things are fo chained together, that not one link can ever be broken; whom he did predeftinate, them he also called, and whom be called, them be also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Now this establishment does not arife from faith, nor is it by it; if all the faith that ever was in the world, from Adam to this moment, was engroffed and poffeffed by one man, it would not make his ftate, God-ward, a whit the furer and firmer than it is. But,

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2. The hearts of God's people are very unfettled, and need establishing; they melt like wax, and flow like water, through fear, and want of stronger faith. They are unstable as water, as is faid of Reuben, and do not excel'; their frames are changeable and various; one while their mountain ftands ftrong, and they say they shall never be moved; presently God hides his face, and their fouls are troubled: one that could fay, the Lord is my portion, therefore will I hope in him, soon comes into fuch distress as to put his mouth in the duft, if so be there may be hope"; he whofe love is as strong as death, exceeding fervent and ardent, the coals thereof give a most vehement flame, which many waters cannot quench"; through the prevalence of corruption, the force of temptation, and the fnares of the world, waxes chill and cold. And he that feemed to be ftedfast in the faith, falls from fome degree of his ftedfaftness in it; and instead of quitting himself like a man,

• 2 Chron. ix. 8. Lam. iii. 24, 29.

P Gal. iv. 7. • Rom. viii. 30.

▾ Cant. viii. 6, 7.

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Gen. xlix. 4. • Pfal. xxx. 6, 7

is like a child toffed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, wavers in his profeffion, flackens in his duty, and is negligent of it. Now faith in God, and in his word, has a tendency to establish the heart, and make it fearless; he shall not be afraid of evil tidings, even he whose heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord; his heart is eftablifhed, he shall not be afraid: as is a man's faith, fo are his other graces; if faith is in lively exercife, hope will be lively too, and be as an anchor fure and ftedfaft; his love will abound, for faith works by it; he will become established in the truths of the gospel he believes, and has an experience of; he will be more stable and conftant in the difcharge of duty; he will be stedfaft and immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord'.

2dly, Profperity arifes from faith in God and his word; not temporal, but fpiritual profperity; not profperity of body, but profperity of foul; fuch as Gaius had, whom the apostle John thus falutes, Beloved, I wish above all things, that thou mayeft profper and be in health, even as thy foul profpereth; on which foul-prosperity faith has a very great influence. The foul is in good health and in a profperous condition, when there is an appetite for the word; when it hungers and thirsts after righteousness; when it defires the fincere milk of the word; when it finds it, and eats it by faith; when the word is mixed with faith upon hearing, and it is taken in and digefted by it; as alfo when a foul has a comfortable view by faith of the forgiveness of its fins through the blood of Chrift: fins are diseases, pardon is the healing of them; and then is a believer in a profperous condition, when the fun of righteoufnefs rifes on him with this bealing in his wings; and when he, the inhabitant of Zion, shall not fay I am fick; the reason of which is, because the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity: fo likewife when a man has much spiritual peace and joy through believing in the righteousness of Chrift for his juftification; in his blood for the remiffion of his fins; and in his facrifice for the atonement of them; and fpiritual joy is such a certain concomitant or confequence of faith, that it is called the joy of faith; and whoever is poffeffed of it must, in a spiritual sense, be in profperous circumstances. Such a one is fat and flourishing, and all he does profpers and as profperity in the text carries in it an idea of victory over enemies, this may be ascribed to faith; it is by faith the believer resists Satan and his temptations by holding up the fhield of faith, he quenches his fiery darts, and obtains a conqueft over him; as he does alfo over the world, the men, things and lufts of it: This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith; who is he that overcometh the world, but be that believeth that Jefus is the fon of God? What heroic actions, what wonderful things have been done by faith! men through.

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faith have fubdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, &c. and such must be in profperous and flourishing cicumftances.

From the whole we learn, what an excellent and precious grace the grace of faith is; what ufe it is of, what purposes it ferves, and what influence it has upon the stability and prosperity of the believer; it is pity it should be put out of its place; for when it keeps its place, it is very useful and serviceable; but if it is put in the room of Chrift, it is good for nothing. Careful we should be, not to afcribe that to the act, which belongs to the object. It may be known, whether a perfon has this grace or no; for where it is, Christ is precious, to them that believe he is precious; it works and fhews itfelf by love to him, his word and ordinances, his people, and his ways; and it is attended with good works, the fruits of righteousness; for faith without works is dead and if persons are satisfied that they have this grace, they should be thankful for it, and attribute it, not to the power of their own free-will, but to the free grace of God, whofe gift it is; for it comes along with the abundant and fuperabundant grace of God in converfion. And fuch who have it should pray for an increase of it; fince their stability and prosperity have fuch a connexion with it; and fhould guard against unbelief; and upon every appearnce of it, pray as the poor man did, Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief". To conclude, fince fuch are the advantages of believing in God and his word, Take beed, brethren, left there be in any of you an evil beart of unbelief in departing from the living God'.

• Heb. xi. 36. 4 Heb. iii. 12.

f Peter i. 7.

James ii. 26.

Mark ix. 24.

SERMON

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The fure Performance of Prophecy.

Preached at a Wednesday's Evening Lecture in Great-Eaftcheap, Jan. 1, 1755.

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ISAIAH IX. 7. latter part.

The zeal of the Lord of hofts will perform this.

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IN my laft annual Sermon + fave one, on this occafion, I difcourfed concerning the glorious things foretold of the church of God in the latter day, both in the fpiritual and perfonal reign of Chrift; and now I fhall treat of the certain performance of thofe things. I gave an hint in my last annual Difcourfe", that whereas great part of prophecy, particularly in the book of Revelation, has been already fulfilled, there is great reason to believe the reft will be; and this hint I fhall pursue and enlarge upon at this time; and argue from the actual accomplishment of fome things relating to the kingdom of Chrift, to the certain completion of others; and into this train and course of reasoning I fhall be naturally and easily led in confidering the words of my text; which refer partly to the performance of fome things foretold, fince fulfilled, and partly to others which yet remain to be accomplished; and as fure as the one is fulfilled, fo fure fhall the other. The things that are already performed are,

1. The appearance of Chrift in the land of Galilee, which is predicted ver. 1. and which land, as it had been afflicted by the Affyrians, and was to be more fo by the Romans, as it has been in the times of Vefpafian and Titus, as the hiftory of Jofephus fhews; and as it was vile and mean, and lightly efteemed of by: men, it should be made glorious and honourable, as the word ufed fignifies, particularly by the prefence, miniftry and miracles of Chrift in it; and to this pofe it is quoted and applied by the evangelift Matthew, chap. iv. 13-23. from whence it appears, that Chrift firft began to preach in that country; that he called his first disciples near the fea of Galilee; and that he went through that whole land, and taught and preached in the fynagogues in it, and healed all difeafes; here he wrought his firft miracle of turning water into wine; here he lived the

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greateft

⚫ Called the Glory of the Church in the latter Day, on Pfal. lxxxvii. 3. Intitled, Faith in God and his Word, the Establishment and Prosperity of his People, on 2 Chran.. tap vilem effe vel haberi. glorificavit, honorificavita

XX. 20.

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הקל

greatest part of his private life; and here he refided chiefly during his public miniftry; here he promised to meet his difciples after his refurrection, and here he did in fhort, being educated and brought up in this country in the former part of his life, and converfing here so much in the latter part of it; the Jews concluded he was born here, and confronted his Meffiahfhip with it, fhall Chrift come out of Galilee? And hence he was called by them Jefus of Galilee, and his followers Galileans: all which confirm the truth of this prophecy, and the performance of it; and it is with respect to this, no doubt, that the antient Jews expected that the Meffiah would firft appear in Galilee'.

2. Another event in confequence of the former is foretold, and that is, the illumination of the Galileans by the miniftry of Chrift among them, ver. 2. These people were an ignorant and illiterate people; their common language was ruftic, rude and barbarous; their speech betrayed them, as Peter's did, who therefore was fuppofed to be a Galilean; they were reckoned a people that knew not the law, and were accurfed: it was observed, that no prophet arose among them, and no good thing was expected from them; and fo are here said to walk in darkness, and to dwell in the land of the fhadow of death; and yet these people, according to this prophecy, were first favoured with feeing Chrift, the light of the world, both with their bodily eyes and with the eyes of their understanding, enlightened by his miniftry; the great light of the gofpel fhining in them, removed their dark nefs, and filled them with spiritual light and knowledge. Hence, as here predicted,

3. There was a multiplication of them; thou hast multiplied the nation, that is, Galilee of the nations; which was multiplied with glory and honour, with light and knowledge, with joy and comfort, and with a number of truly gracious fouls that believed in Chrift; the five hundred brethren to whom our Lord appeared at once after his refurrection, feem to be Galileans, when he fhewed himself on a mountain in their country to the eleven difciples; for it will not be easy to say where there was fuch a number of brethren, or believers, but in Galilee; it is certain their number at Jerufalem was not fo large, being but about an hundred and twenty.

4. It is foretold that there fhould be great joy upon all this; indeed our version renders it, not increafed the joy; but the Keri, or marginal reading of the Hebrew text is, and increased joy unto it, unto the nation or it may be rendered with an interrogation, as it is by fome, and may take in both the textual and marginal reading, haft thou not increased joy unto it? and in one way or other it must be rendered, or otherwife there is a glaring contradiction in the text; for it follows, they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice

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John vii. 41.

אתר - .3 .74 .Zohar in Gen. fol יתגלי מלכא משיחא בארעא דגליל *

bob mixd7p ion ba♫ ibid. in Exod. fol. 3. 3. Ed. Sultzbach.

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