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he be difobeyed and difregarded, I look upon it as an indignity done to myfelf. Hence Chrift tells us in the New Teftament, "He that defpifeth me, difpifeth him that fent me." It is the Father's will," that all men fhould honour the Son, even as they honour the Father." Oh Sirs unbelief, which is the fundamental act of difobedience to the voice of the Angel, is fuch an affront to the Majefty of God, that it gives the lie to a whole Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft: "He that believeth not, hath made God a liar." And "will you pro voke the Lord to jealoufy? are you ftronger than he ?"

2dly, Confider, that God will require it, if the voice of the Angel be difobeyed. You fee an awful word to this purpose, Deut. xviii. 18. 19. "I will raife them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I fhall command him. And it. fhall come to pass, that whofoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him."

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Queft, How is it that God doth require or refent it, when the voice of Chrift, the great Angel of the covenant, is disobeyed?

I answer in general, He refents it by fixing the finner under the curfe and condemnation of the broken law. Chrift comes, in a gofpel-difpenfation, unto a company of finners, who are already condemned, and fentenced to death by the fin of the first Adam, and their own original and actual fin, and offers to liberate them from the condemnatory fentence that the law has laid them under; he offers himself as a fponfible Surety, to ftand between them and all hazard, fo as there fhall be no condemnation to them, if they will believe in him. Well, the finner, by unbelief, rejects the bleffed Surety and Saviour, he defpifes the riches of God's grace, and chooses to ftand upon the footing of his own righteoufnefs, or to caft himfelf upon the abfolute mercy of God. And what is the fruit of this? God revenges the affronts and indignities, done to his Son, by cafting back the finner that rejected his great ordinance for falvation, unto the hand of the law as a covenant; and then he is curfed and condemned to purpose, and the vengeance of the law is doubled through his contempt of Chrift, the only remedy. Hence we are told, John iii." Hẹ that believeth not, is condemned already, and the wrath of God abideth on him :" and, Oh! "who knows the power of his wrath," that abideth on them that refufe to obey the voice of Chrift in this gospel?

I will only tell you in a few particulars further, what will follow upon it, if ye do not hear the cries that the Angel of

God's

God's prefence has been fending in among you, by his word and providential difpenfations.

(1) Sin will get the full power and afcendant over you; you will be given up to the empire and reign of your own lufts than which there cannot be a greater judgemtent on this fide of hell: Pfal. Ixxxi. 11. " My people would not hearken tơ my voice: and Ifrael would none of me. Wherefore I gave them up unto their own hearts lufts: and they walked after their own counfels.". And what will the man flick at, that is given up to the counfels of a deceitful and defperately wicked heart, where the feed of all fin is lodged.

(2.) When the voice of the angel is not regarded, he claps up finners under a judicial hardnefs of heart, fo as all means for recovery fhall prove utterly ineffectual. God ftrikes Phas raoh and the Egyptians with hardness of heart, because they would not hearken unto the conimand of the Angel, requiring them to let Ifrael go. God fays concerning the finner that is difobedient to the voice of Chrift, "He is joined to his idols, let him alone." My Spirit fhall let him alone, and cease to ftrive with him. My minifters, let him alone, or elfe go and preach him dead and lifelefs, and fenfelefs, If. vi. Confcience, let him alone, and ceafe to be a reprover. Rod and affliction, let him alone, allow him peace and profperity in his way, until he and I meet together upon the back of death. Oh how difmat is the cafe of the finner when it comes to this with it! "I would have purged them, and they would not be purged, therefore they fhall not be purged from their filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to reft upon them.”

(3.) The curfe of God mingles itfelf with every thing in a man's lot, that will not obey the voice of the Angel that has the name of God in him. If the man have fulness and profperity, the curfe of God follows him there, fo that his bread is baken, and his drink mingled with a curfe, Deut. xxviii. 15. Mal. ii. 2. &c. If trouble and affliction be upon the man, the curfe of God is in that cup alfo; his temporal troubles are but the beginnings of forrows, the prelibation and foretaftes of the cup of trembling, that he thall drink through eternity; they are but like fome drops of rain to the full fhower upon the wicked; God is determined to rain fnares, fire, and brimftone, this fhall be the portion of their cup.

(4) Public defolation, and down-hewing of churches and nations, frequently follows upon difobedience to the voice of the Angel. Be inftructed, O Jerufalem, left I make thee defolate, a land not inhabited." Jerufalem and the temple, where are they now? what is become of the once famous church and nation of the Jews, God's peculiar people? Their

land

Jand has fpued them out, and the fongs of the temple are turned into melancholy howlings. Why, what is the meaning of the heat of God's long continued anger against his ancient people for the space of feventeen hundred years? Why, the Angel here fpoken of, "came unto his own, and his own received him not; he would have gathered them, as a hen doth her chickens under her wings, and they would not;" and therefore, "behold, their house and land is left unto them defolate."

In a word, to fhut up this confideration according to the instructions that we have received from our great Lord, I proclaim from this high place of the city of God," Wo unto the wicked, it fhall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands fhall be given him," I. iii. 11. Perhaps you may think our words are but wind; but remember that they will be a heavy wind to you ere all be done. It is not our word, but the word of God proclaimed by us," Wo unto the wicked, it fhall be ill with him,”

(1.) It will be ill with you in the day of personal or public diftrefs, when an angry and revenging God will meet you in the face, whatever hand you turn to: "Whither will ye fly

from his prefence?"

(2.) It will be ill with you in the day of death, when that grim meffenger of the Lord of hofts is coming with that heavy meffage, "This day thy foul fhall be taken from thee." Oh! what a comfortless creature is a Chriftless finner in the day of death, when his riches, honours, profits, pleasures, lands, houses, relations, and all things that he adored, are bidding him a final farewell!

(3.) It fhall go ill with you on the back of death. When you begin to look into that awful and eternal world, what horror and confufion will feize you, when, instead of angels to carry you into Abraham's bofom, you fhall meet legions of devils to hurry you down to the lake that burns with fire and brimftone!

(4) It shall be ill with the wicked who refuse to hear the voice of Christ now, at the refurrection and the last judgement. You that refufe him a hearing now, you will hear him at that day, faying, "Bring forth thefe mine enemies who would not that I fhould reign over them, and flay them before me;" he will then tear in pieces, when there is none to deliver."

(3-). fhall be ill with the wicked after the last judgement, through all eternity, when" the wicked fhall be turned into hell, with, all the nations that forget God:" there the moke of your burning fhall go up for ever and ever, and you

fhall

fhall there through eternity be crying with Dives, for a drop of water to cool the tip of your tongue, and it shall not be allowed. Oh! confider thefe things, ye that forget God; ye that stop the ear, and pull away the fhoulder from the voice and cries of the Angel; let the terrors of God persuade you to confider what you are doing, before it be too late.

Confider, 6. To excite you to hearken to the voice and cries of the Angel, the advantage that fhall redound to you, if you give him the hearing and obedience of faith. I fhall inftance in a few particulars among many.

He

It, Give him the hearing of faith, and your fouls shall live before the Lord. Remember, Sirs, that before God you are all dead men, dead in law, "dead in trefpaffes and fins ;" but that moment you hear and obey the voice of God's Angel, 46 your fouls fhall live," If. lv. 3. John xi. 25. "I am the refurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet fhall he live." The man that gives the obedience of faith unto Chrift, he begins to live a life of juftification: being affoilzied from the fentence of the broken law, he is vefted with a law-fulfilling righteoufnefs, whereby he is able to anfwer every charge that the broken law has against him. begins to live a life of fanctification: the law of the Spirit of life in Chrift Jefus, makes him free from the law of fin and death; fo that fin fhall not have dominion over him, he not being under the law, but "under grace; being dead to the law as a covenant by the body of Christ, and married to a better husband, he brings forth fruit unto God." Hear the voice of the Angel, and ye fhall live a life of confolation, or comfort: "They that know the joyful found, they hall walk in the light of the Lord's countenance, and in his name shall they rejoice all the day long." Hear, and ye fhall live a life of communion with the Father, and with the Son; ye shall be "filled with joy unfpeakable, and full of glory." Hear the voice of the Angel, and your foule fhall live a life of eternal and immediate vifion and fruition of God in glory; for " he that believeth in the name of the Son of God, hath everlasting life, and fhall never come into condemnation." ye hear, your fouls fhall live. And, Oh! what a great matter is this? All things elfe are but trifles in comparifon of this one thing needful-" What is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lofe his own foul ?"

Thus if

2dly, Hear and obey the voice of the Angel, and not only fhall thy foul live, O finner, but thou fhalt live in honour and preferment. God the Father has fuch a regard for that foul that obeys the voice of his Son Jefus Chrift, that he allows them places among them that ftand by; he prefers them, as it

were

were, unto posts of honour in his court, John xii. 26. “If any man ferve me, him will my Father honour" and the Angel of the covenant declares, that " he that honoureth me," by obeying my voice, " I will honour him; but he that defpifeth me," and difobeys my voice, "fhall be lightly esteemed." I will tell you of leveral pieces of honour defigned for all that obey the voice of Chrift, however much they may be dishonoured and contemned in the world.

(1.) Obey the Angel's voice, and ye shall be preferred to the dignity of being the fons of God. And, behold, what manner of honour is this, for the heirs of hell to have a name and a place in God's household, a name better than of fons and daughters among men. Ye fhall be no more "aliens and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the faints, and of the houfehold of God." This honour have all that yield the obedience of faith to the voice of the Angel: John i. 12. "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the fons of God, even to them that believe on his name."

(2.) Obey the voice of the Angel, and ye fhall be preferred to be royal conforts to the King of glory; ye fhall be the bride, the Lamb's wife, married to your Maker and Redeemer, betrothed unto him in righteoufnefs, faithfulness, and lovingkindness; even betrothed unto him for ever. See to this pur pofe, Pfal. xlv. 10. 11. "Hearken, O daughter, and confider, and incline thine ear; forget alfo thine own people, and thy father's houfe. So fhall the King greatly defire thy beauty." Ver. 14. 15. She fhall be brought unto the King in raiment of needle-work.-With gladnefs and rejoicing fhall they be brought they fhall enter into the King's palace."

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(3.) By yielding the obedience of faith to the voice of the Angel, ye thall be exalted unto a princely honour and authority under the Prince of peace: Pfal. xlv. 16. “ Instead of thy fathers fhall be thy children, whom thou mayft make princes in all the earth." Believers are princes of Chrift's creating = Rev. i. 5. 6. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our fins in his own blood, and hath made us kings," &c. They are not born kings, but they are made kings by him who raifeth the poor out of the dunghill, and fets them among princes, even among the princes of his people.”

(4.) By yielding the obedience of faith unto the voice of the Angel, ye fhall not only be made kings, but priests unto God; and as fuch ye fhall be admitted to offer up facrifices upon the golden altar before the throne; and through the much incenfe of the blood and interceffion of the Angel, your facrifices and offerings fhall be accepted upon his altar. The priests under the law were admitted into the holy of holies; fo are believers VOL. II. under

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