to the law." As for your works of righteousness that you gloried in, you will count them dung, and lofs, filthy rags, &c. As for the wifdom of the flesh, you will reckon it stark folly and madness, &c. As for your own ftrength, you will fee it to be weakness. "I am not fufficient of myself," &c. As for your own fulness, you have found it to be nothing but emptinefs; and that, instead of being rich and increafed with goods, you have feen that you are wretched and miferable, &c.

5thly, If you have really fled to Chrift as doves to their windows, there are fome things you have found in him, which you could never find any where elfe. 1. Thou haft found the

life of thy foul in him: Our " life is hid with Chrift in God: He that hath the Son hath life," &c. 2. Thou hast found rest to thy foul in him: Thou triedit to find this and the former in lying refuges, but was ay difappointed in thy expectation, but now, now, thou haft found it according to his promife, Matth. xi. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you reft," O glorious reft! If. xi. 10. 3. Thou haft found foul health in him, like the woman that fpent all her means upon other phylicians to no purpose, till the came and touched the hem of Chrift's garments, and then the bloody iffue was ftayed. So can not thou fay upon thy coming to Chrift; thou foundit his countenance to be thy health; healing is under his wings, Mal. iv. 2. Pfal. ciii. 3. He healeth all my difeafes, &c. 4. Thou haft found food to thy foul in him: His " flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed, &c. O tafte and see that the Lord is good," &c. 5. Thou haft found clothing to thy naked soul in him: You was trying, like our first parents, to cover thy nakedness with fig leaves; but now thou cafteft thefe away, and taking the skin of the word to cover thee with, which God provided, and upon thy being thus clothed with the righteoufnefs of Chrift, thou haft been made to fing that fong, If. ixi. 10. "He hath clothed me with the garments of falvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteoufnefs," &c. 6. You have found riches, and unfearchable riches, in him, that do not rot in the grave, gold better than the gold of Ophir, to make you up for all eternity. 7. In one word, you have found your God in him, whom you loft in the first Adam; for God is in Chrift, and you have found him as your own God: And now you will be ready to fay, He is "my God, and I will prepare him an habitation, even the God and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift; and therefore I will exalt him. Our God is the God of falvation," &c.

Ule third may be of Confolation unto God's doves in this

dark

dark and evil day, in which their ufual windows to which they ufe to flock, are like to be fhut by a fett of men and judicatories who fhould open them, and who fhould gather God's doves, instead of scattering them.

There are these few things I offer for comfort in an evil day like this.

ift, Know for your encouragement, that, when the windows of public ordinances are fhut up, either by perfecution, violence, or defections, or when you are scared away from them by vultures, or birds of prey, that have got into the house, yet God can let you in to communion with him, by the private and fecret windows I mentioned in the doctrinal part. God's doves, though they may be fhut out of the kirks, yet they fhall not be shut out from fellowship with him, one way or other; no, he will gather unto him them that are forrowful for the folemn affumbly, &c.

2dly, God hears the mourning of his doves even when they are driven to the "clefts of the rock, and fecret places of the ftairs," Cant. ii. 14. &c.

3dly, God's eye is upon his doves, and he "tells all their wanderings;-the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,and they run to and fro," &c.

4thly, His heart and his affection is fet upon his doves, even to a ravishment, Cant. iv. 9. "Thou haft ravished my heart, my fifter, my spoufe." And this affection is invariable, for he rests in his love, &c.

5thly, The arms of his power and providence are about his doves, and "He covers them with his feathers, and he will hide them in the fecret of his tabernacle, when thousands shall fall at their fide, and ten thoufand at their right-hand. Come, my people, "enter into your chambers, fhut the doors about thee," &c.

6thly, Ere it be long, thy foul will take a flight out of this ill world, into the land of reft, the houfe of many mansions, where thou wilt be at reft for ever.

Ufe fourth might be of Terror unto all these that are doing. hurt to God's doves at this day.

Some are fearing and frighting them, fome are scattering them, fome are plucking at their gofpel rights and privileges, fome plucking at their name with flander, fome plucking them out of their dwellings, because they cannot commit themselves into the hands of the birds of prey. I fhall only fy to you, if there be any fuch hearing me, as I doubt not but there may be fone of them to fpy out our liberty on this occafion, 1. "God is jealous for his doves with a great jealoufy," Zech. i. 14. 2. He is fore difpleafed with you for the injuries that VOL. III.

3 C

are

are done to them in helping on their affliction, Zech. i. 15. 3. God is preparing a cup for you to drink, and a bitter one, Pfal. Ixxiv. 8. “In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red," &c. He will render tribulation to them that trouble his doves. God's doves, that are mourning now, fhall fing when ye fhall mourn; they will be finging in hea ven, when ye shall be mourning and howling among devils,

&c.

Ule fifth fhall be of Exhortation: ft, To all in general; 2dly, To God's doves in particular.

ift, a word of exhortation to perfuade finners to rise out of the earth like a cloud, and fly like doves unto Christ. O that all this company before me would clap their wings, and take a flight, and never reft until they had fled for refuge to this hope fet before them in the gofpel! To fet you all a-flight, if poffible, let me deal with you in a rational way.

1. God commands you to fly to Chrift, "This is his commandment, That we fhould believe on the name of his Son Jefus Chrift," &c.

2. He invites you to fly to his Chrift, "Behold my servant whom I uphold," &c.

3. He intreats and befeeches you to fly to him, "We pray you in Chrift's fead, as though God did befeech you by us, be ye reconciled to God," &c.

4. He expoftulates with you, because of your backflidings, to fly to him, "O my people! what have I done unto thee?"

&c.

5. He affures you of welcome by his promife, "Come to me who will, I will in no ways caft out," &c. And by his oath, "As I live, I have no pleafure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live," &c.

6. All things in his houfe are ready to give entertainment nhto you, behold, "all things are ready, come to the marriage, Proverbs, 8th and 9th chapters.

7. Fly, the windows are open, the heart of Christ is open, &c. His arms are open and stretched out, &c. His covenant is open to you to take hold of it, &c.

8. Confider what is behind you. (t.) The roaring lion, ready to devour you. (2) The curfe of the broken law is behind you, &c. (3) The wrath of God is behind you. O! who knows the power of it? &c.

9. There is no fafety for you in heaven nor earth, if you do not fly from fin: "There is no other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be faved," &c. "How fhall

не

we efcape, if we neglect fo great a falvation, they that defpifed Mofes' law died without mercy," &c.

10. The time of flying will be gone within a little; no flying out of hell; none to come to you there to cry, "Turn ye to your ftrong holds," &c. "He that lives for ever and ever, has fworn, with his hand lifted up to heaven, that time fhall be no more," &c. "And therefore to-day, if ye will

hear his voice," &c.

11.

Fly, or elfe you will lofe your foul for ever; "He that believeth not fhall be damned." And "what is a man profited, if he fhall gain the whole world, and lofe his own foul,"

&c.

Objec. 1. You bid us fly, but to what purpofe, you tell us we are dead in fins? Anfw. It is the glory of fovereign grace, to fhew wonders to the dead; fee what he did among the dry bones, Ezek. xxxvii. 3. &c. Can these dry bones live? Yea, if the Spirit of the Lord breathe upon them, God has bidden prophefy upon the dry bones, to cry to the dead, to arife and fly; and therefore we must do it. And if God would bid me fay to the mountains remove, to the rocks and trees and grafs piles, arife and live, I would do it, and I would believe that God would make it effectual.

Object. 2. You bid me fly, but alas, I want wings to fly, "O that I had wings like a dove, for then would I fly," &c. Anfw. If there be a will to fly, and a hearty defire to fly, thou haft got wings and if you want even that, feek wings from him that bids you fly, for he gives power to the faint, and then they mount up with wings as eagles, &c.

Object. 3. I have a load of fin upon my back, I cannot get up. Anfw." Caft thy burden upon the Lord," and if you cannot fly, reft you with your load upon him; for as faith is a flying, fo it is a refting, &c.

Object. 4.

Chrift is fo far away, that I will never reach him. Anfw. Do not fay fo, for he is near, Rom. x. S. &c. Objec. 5. When I attempt to fly, the devil and the world, and my own heart, pull me back again into the mire, and then I am juft where I was.' Anfa. From that moment that thou makeft an attempt to fly to Chrift, the devil, the world, and corruption, will be upon thee to harafs thee. But though they may do thee many an ill turn, yet they fhall never pull thee out of Chrift, if once thou haft fled to him, no manfhall pluck them out of my hand, my Father who gave them me is greater than all (fays Chrift), and none fhall pluck them out of my Father's hand." Many a pluck the enemy gives at Chrift's doves, but they hall never pluck them away from him.

Quejt

Queft. You bid me fly like a dove into Chrift, and his windows; but will you give me your advice in order to it? Anfw. 1. Be much in viewing the holiness of the law, and of the Lawgiver, for it is a schoolmafter to bring us to Chrift," &c. 2. Be much in viewing your danger while out of Chrift, condemned already, &c. 3. Be much in ftudying the gofpel, Chrift in his perfon, nature, and offices, the freedom of the covenant, and the fulness and suitableness of the gofpel remedy, &c. 4. Be perfuaded of the Lord's willingnefs to take you in to himself, at his windows, his bowels found towards finners, &c. 5. Cry for the wind of the Spirit to blow, that thereby you may be set a-flight, for he testifies of Chrift, and joins the finner to him, &c. 6. Make a defperate attempt to be at Chrift, through the window of prayer, and of faith in prayer; wrestle, cry, feek, and knock, for to fuch it fhall be opened, &c.

2dly, The fecond fort I would fpeak to are believers, who have fled like a cloud, and as doves to Chrift's windows.

1. Blets the Lord that gave you counfel, and did not allow you to fit ftill in a natural state, within the fea-mark of his wrath, but chafed you with his la terrors, and drew you in at his windows to himself. Sing his praife, faying, "Blefs the Lord, O my foul," &c. "He brought me up alfo out of an horrible pit," &c.

2. Have you fled to Chrift? Abide in him as in a lodging and dwelling-place: Juft as the man-flayer was to abide in the city of refuge, after he had fled to it, and was never to go out of it, until the death of the high priest: and your High Priett never dies; and therefore you are never to be found out of your gofpel-refuge, &c.

3. Frequent the windows of his ordinances, both the more fecret and retired windows of prayer and meditation, reading, fafting, Chriftian conference; and these that are more folemn and public, fuch as word and facrament, when you can have accefs: For there it is that Chrift feeds his doves, and gives them interviews with himfelf; and when the public windows are fhut, or defiled, or haunted with foxes or birds of prey, that fright, fcatter, or tear the doves, be the more frequently reforting unto the n ore private or fecret windows, &c.

4. Have you fled to Chrift like doves to their windows, and taken up your reft in him: never look back to your old houfs and reforts, your lying refuges, nor look to the general mercy, &c. Never look to an empty profellion, &c.; never take up again with the works of the law, &c.; bid all these adieu, never to come back to them again, &c.

5. When like the dove, you come to pick up any thing that