to a high degree, in his holy ordinances, where his name is recorded. May I enquire of you christians, have you never found this prophecy fulfilled, in your former attendance, on the ordinances of divine worship? Have you never experienced, that this promise has been made good to you, and this divine joy conferred upon you? Take it as a pledge and earnest of the full satisfactions and delights of the house of God on high, and in such proportion as it makes you holy and humble.

Happy will it be for your minister, if he can say from sweet experience, that he has been clothed with divine salvation, when he ministers in this place, that he has been taught to spread the savour of the knowledge of Christ, through a numerous assembly, in this building. Happy for the people, when many of them shall be enabled to say, I was once blind and dead, but I was here awakened into divine light and life. I was new-born in Sion, and through the grace of God I am taken out of the family of Satan, and am become a son or a daughter of the Most High. I was overwhelmed with fears about my soul, and with the terrors of God which hung about me, but here I found the way of salvation, by Christ Jesus, made known unto me; thus all my terrors were scatterred, and divine peace was spoken to my conscience. I was pained at my heart, under a sense of my guilt, and from such a text of scripture, or from such a sermon, I found divine rest and relief. My inward corruptions were strong, my irregular passions were wont to get the victory over me, but here I met with a word of power and grace to subdue them. I was entangled with a strong temptation, and here the snare was broken. I was oppressed with heavy sorrows, and I found support and comfort from the word of God, which was dispensed in this place: Aud, may this be the happy case, may this be the salvation and the joy of multitudes, that shall attend the future seasons of worship here!

The Use. It is now time to conclude my discourse, and I shall do it by setting before you these four plain and natural lessons, which may be derived from it. 1. We may learn by this discourse, our obligations to give thanks to the Lord, for the general and special instances of his grace and goodness to us, in the things whereof I have been speaking. Come then and bless the Lord, all our souls, and let all that is within us bless his holy name. That he has built houses and habitations for himself, in this sinful miserable world; that he has not banished us for ever from his sight, and retired far away and withdrawn himself for ever from such a defiled and wretched place as this earth is made by the iniquity of its inhabitants. Bless the Lord, that he has recorded his name upon any thing that we can do, or we can enjoy, and that he has permitted sinners to make any approaches to him in all the ages of mankind, since the guilt and

fall of our first parent; that he has given so many rich and precious promises for our encouragement to attend his babitation, and that he has ordained institutions of solemn worship for us to maintain any communion with himself. Bless him, that he has sent his gospel to Great Britain, to enlighten us from heaven, while other nations lie in gross darkness and death; that he has taught us his name and his grace, and the forms of his worship; that he has called the inhabitants of our islands to assemble together in churches; that he has raised these dwelling-places for himself in the midst of us, for every church of Christ, even in the heathen nations, is a little Sion, a sanctuary where God dwells. We cannot say, God has his name at all recorded in the large nations of heathenism and idolatry, where the true God is not worshipped, nor his Son Jesus known; Jesus, in whom his name dwells for ever. We can hardly say, his name is recorded in popish countries, though there is abundance of blasphemous and superstitious use of it there; but idolatry and antichristian worship are powerful and prevalent over every thing that is evangelical and divine. It is the name of Babylon and antichrist that are recorded there, rather than the names of God and his Son. Blessed be God, from our very souls, that our lot is not cast in such a land, where gods of wood and stone are wor shipped, where the name of the true God is not recorded, and where we can have no special promises, no reasonable expectation and hope, that he should meet and bless us.

Let us again give thanks to our God, who has so formed our civil constitution and government, at this day, that we have liberty to worship God, through Jesus Christ the Mediator, in his own appointed ways; that we are not persecuted from corner to corner, but in every place we are permitted to erect synagogues for divine service, and to attend on our God in those ordinances, on which he has stamped his own name. How many scattered christians are there up and down in the popish nations, where they are forbid to meet in any place for the solemnizing of true christian worship? How many nations are there where the places of protestant worship are utterly demolished, and christitians are not suffered to unite their prayers and praises to the God whom they adore, in spirit and in truth? Let us yet again give thanks unto God, that, in the course of his providence, we have convenient places to assemble for his pure religion; that we are provided with so many advantages, that we are not exposed to the inconveniences of wind, or rain, or sultry seasons, and are secured from the disturbances of a sinful world. Let us bless God, that he has so plentifully stored the provinces of this land with such buildings, that we are not exposed to the labour and hardships of long travel, which was a burdensome ceremony imposed on the Jews, who were required to wait upon their God

three times a year, where be recorded his name, at Shiloh, or at Jerusalem; we may meet him nearer at hand, and receive his public blessings, in so many of the streets of this great city, and in so many of the towns and villages of the British isles.

And you, my friends of this congregation, have abundant occasion and reason for thankfulness, that God by his providence has fixed your assembly in so couvenient a place, wherein you begin this day to pay him your worship. May you long enjoy it in undisturbed peace! O blessed be his name, that many of you have found God with you in former places of assembling, and that you are daily training up under his divine instructions and blessings, for the worship and happiness of the heavenly state, and for his more joyful and immediate presence.

2. There is a lesson of self-enquiry to be derived from this discourse. Do we, on good ground, believe, that the name of God is recorded on the worship we offer to him? Otherwise we cannot possibly claim, or reasonably expect the accomplishment of this divine promise. Let us examine our consciences on this head, according to the evidences before given of such worship whereon God has stamped his authority and his name. Do we heartily and sincerely seek, to learn the mind and will of God in his own word, concerning the religion that we should chuse, and the worship which we perform? Do we engage in such services, as we find directed and appointed by him? Are the sermons on which we attend, the prayers and the songs which we offer up to God, and all the ministrations of the holy ordinances amongst us such as are formed and guided by the rules of holy scripture, so far as scripture has given us any prescriptions about them? Do we take care to perform all that God has enjoined as far as possible, and do we take as much care to let nothing creep into our worship, but what the word of God or the necessary reason of things dictates to us? Do we make no additions, of our own, to the religious practices which God has enjoined, or the ceremonies which he has instituted? And can we appeal to God, so far as we know our own hearts, and can understand his word, that we practise nothing herein but according to his mind and will? Again,

Do we offer up all our religious services to the Father, in the name and by the mediation of his Son? Do we seek to draw near to the Father only in that new and living way, which he has ordained? Do we seek for acceptance at the throne, through the atoning sacrifice of our great High-Priest, and through his intercession as our advocate at the right hand of God? Can we appeal concerning our own conduct herein even to our Lord Jesus Christ himself, Lord, thou, who knowest all things, knowest that we love thee, and that we would never draw near to the mercy seat without thee.

Do we pray for the assistance of the Holy Spirit of God in all our acts of devotion and attendance on his word? Do we seek to have our minds enlightened, to have our thoughts directed, and our wills made obedient by this blessed Spirit? Do we seek earnestly for the influences of this Spirit, to raise our hearts towards heaven, and to animate and warm all our affectionate powers in religious worship? Do we depend on him for divine aids, so that we may get nearer to God by every part of the religious services we perform? Where the Spirit of God is utterly neglected, I fear it will be hard to prove, that the name of God is recorded in that worship.

Do we endeavour to exercise every christian grace, suited to those parts of worship in which we are engaged? Do we appear before God, with all holy reverence of his majesty? Do we enter into his courts, even the assemblies of his people, with a religious temper of mind, desirous to see God in his sanctuary? Do we address him in prayer with holy fervency for what we want, and yet with humble resignation to his wisdom and will? Do we keep our spirits intent and watchful, in the season of prayer, or do we let our thoughts wander as they please, to the ends of the earth? Do we offer up our souls in sincere praises, and rejoice before the Lord in our holy songs? Do we attend, on the ministrations of his word with trembling and fear, with hope and desire to profit? Do we long to learn something further concernthe will of our God and Father, concerning the characters and offices of our blessed Jesus, and all the glorious grace which the gospel contains? Do we receive the precepts of God concerning our duty to God and to our neighbours with all holy submission and obedience, and are none of his commands grievous to us? Do we relish the joys of his sanctuary, in this lower world, with a delightful expectation and hope of paying better worship to him, in a superior state? Are our souls daily growing up towards a more perfect conformity to the blessedness, and the business of the heavenly world, so far as we are permitted to know it here on earth? If we find these characters upon ourselves, and on the worship which we perform, we may then reasonably hope that God has recorded his name amongst us, and will come and meet us and bless us.

3. Another lesson we may learn here, is a direction what we should pray for, especially on this day, together with a strong encouragement for prayer, and expectation of the presence of God with us, and his blessing upon us. He has connected our duty with his promises, and we should encourage our faith, and learn to expect the promises fulfilled, when, upon the sincerest searches of our own hearts, we find them engaged in a proper manner, in his service, and our duty. We are met toge ther this day, to pray that God would be pleased to accomplish

his gracious word of promise both to the minister and to the people, who hope to pay their worship to the great God, if he perauit, for many following years in this place. Let our prayers then be directed by the divine words of promise. We would pray for all the blessings of Sion on you, who shall worship God here. That your minister may be clothed with salvation, that he may diffuse the savour of the name of Christ in this place, with great success; that his gifts and graces may be multiplied and increas ed for your edification, and that his health may be restored and maintained to your great advantage and joy.

We would pray, that souls may be born again, in multitudes, in this place: That some may be taken, as it were from Egypt, and from Babylon, from the vile and wicked generations of men, from the persecutors, and the profligate of this world, and may be born into a new and divine life by the word of grace, as it is here ministered: That the lewd and drunken, the profane and the vicious, if any such attend in this place, may be Convinced of their sins here, may here be released from the bonds of their iniquities, and return no more to madness and folly That the cruel and malicious may here be taught to put on meekness, and gentleness, and love; and the wrathful and passionate, learn to govern their spirits: That the coveteous wretch may have his hands released from the greedy gripe of gold and silver, and his heart learn here to despise earthly possessions, in comparison of the riches of grace; and may seek after an inheritance more glorious, and more durable than lands or houses on earth. In short we should pray that every part of the gospel of Christ may have its due place in the ministrations which shall be performed here, that grace and duty may go hand in hand; and that many who are children of wrath, and dead in trespasses and sins, may here be created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works, and made the children of Sion, the sons and daughters of God.

We would pray, that the crown of David may here flourish on his head, that Jesus the king of Sion may see a large increase of his kingdom, and many souls subjecting themselves to the sceptre of his righteousness, and his mercy, and receive him in every sacred office he sustains for the salvation of sinful meu: We would pray, that the poor may be satisfied here with bread; that every hungry soul may find something here suited to his sacred appetite and pious desires, may find some word in the ministry, to relieve and support him, under every want, to advise and direct him, under every darkness and difficulty, and to strengthen him under every weakness of mind; that those who are poor in spirit, and empty and despairing in themselves, may be filled with all heavenly blessings with pardon and peace, with righteousness and grace and holy consolation through Jesus Christ.