of a cause which you seem determined to oppose. Look upon Zion, and recollect, that though you have often said, "Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us," yet the Lord holds you in derision; and that your attempts against his cause are feeble and vain, and that your hope of success is an idle dream. But we would excite you to look upon Zion, that you may long to join its holy society, and unite in the solemn vows that are therein paid to the mighty Maker of heaven and earth. Can you behold its order, happiness, and joy, and not feel a wish that you might exchange the dissatisfaction and the melancholy you often experience, for the good of God's chosen, and the felicity of his heritage? Do not you think that "it will be an honour to appear, as one new born and nourished here?" Go then, and express your wish to the great Head of the church, that he would write the name of the Lord on your foreheads, and invest you with the privileges of the inhabitants of Zion. Again,

3. Look upon it, christians, with wonder, love, and praise.

Of all characters in the world, it behoves you to "walk about Zion, and go round about her, to tell the towers thereof, to mark well her bulwarks, and consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generations following." Surely, as you reside in it, you ought ever to admire it, and call it the city of your solemnities, a place to which you are no strangers, but which is the place you have chosen

to dwell in. O, let your eyes ever see Jerusalem a quiet habitation. Gaze on it with pure affection towards all your fellow-citizens: you shall be blessed if you love Zion: look on it then as the lot of your inheritance, and the place in which your soul delights; and ever praise, magnify, and bless Him, who constituted it what it is, who made you to dwell in so quiet a habitation, so secure a resting-place: be it your glory to be joined to the saints, and near to

the Saviour.

All of us, in the presence of God; should look upon Zion; should contemplate the solemnity, the peace, and stability of the church; and this will inspire us with contempt of the world. For what is the world and all the glory thereof, compared with Zion, the city of our solemnities? Our worship is serious; they are fools, who never raise their thoughts above the ground they tread on: they sport now, but their laughter will be turned into sorrow, and their pleasure into the bitterest pain : all around them is serious, but they are without consideration, and consequently without hope. We have a quiet habitation; but "There is no peace, saith my God to the wicked:" the church of God is secure; they are exposed to every evil in this world, and in that which is to come. Looking upon Zion, too, will direct our attention to its great Original. It will teach us to ask, Who formed all this? And thus from Zion our thoughts will pass to Zion's God, and our meditation upon him shall be sweet, yea, we will be glad in the Lord. Looking upon

Zion will show us God's chief work; for here he is seen, and here he is great in Israel; so that we shall be led to rest in him, whose workmanship we

are.

I have already anticipated the idea, that looking upon Zion will also fill us with desire to be inclosed within its walls. For who can look upon it without suing for a residence in it, if the saints are so quiet from fear of evil, and so secure, notwithstanding the number, power, and situation of their enemies? A child of God, must be a name better than that of sons or daughters; who can survey it without saying, Lord bring me, keep me there?

And, finally, looking upon Zion will tend to strengthen our confidence and faith. For we shall say, If God has already defended his church so long, he will continue to do so; will be a wall of fire round about it, and the glory in the midst of it; yea, will raise the members of the church militant to the glories of the church triumphant. O, then, "turn away your eyes from beholding vanity," and "look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities; see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down, not one of whose stakes shall ever be removed, not one of whose cords shall ever be broken."

SERMON XIV.

PREACHED SEPTEMBER 10, 1809.

EXODUS XXIII. 20.

BEHOLD, I SEND AN ANGEL BEFORE THEE, TO KEEP THEE IN THE WAY, AND TO BRING THEE TO THE PLACE WHICH I HAVE PREPARED.'

Ar the period when these words were spoken, the children of Israel were about to leave Sinai, and proceed on their journey towards the land of Canaan. The Sovereign, Judge, and Lawgiver of his saints, had already given them plain directions for the regulation of their conduct, and now encourages them by a promise of the care of infinite love, and by an assurance that he would commission an angel to go before them, to keep them in the way, and to bring them to the place which he had prepared.

And who was this angel? certainly not a created one true indeed it is, that the whole host of angels are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation; and that it is their perpetual employment and delight to guard

the saints of God from danger, or to bear them up in their hands, lest at any time they dash their feet against a stone. It is most evident, that the sons of God, the children of the light, those who are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise, are the objects of their peculiar charge; yea, the angels of God are powerful guardians, to whose care we are partly committed during the time of our minority, previous to our possession of our heavenly inheritance. Yet it is not one of these who is referred to in our text, because this great and mighty Messenger from heaven possesses more honours than they can claim, and is invested with authority and power which they could never hold. This Angel has God's name in him: this Angel can forgive sins: for the next verse to my text says, "Provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions:" this Angel was ever to be present with them, and to conduct them safely to the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey. See, then, his superiority to those who, notwithstanding the powers they possess, are but the creatures of God; and ask, Who this Angel is? It must be evident, that he is a divine person, if it were only from this consideration,-that he pardons transgressions;-for, as the Jews justly asked, "Who can forgive sins but God?" But surely you have frequently heard and read of the Angel of the covenant; and you remember Him that dwelt in the bush. It is far more than probable, that this Angel, then, is no less a person than our Lord and