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by rejecting the counsel of God against ourselves, and casting out his messengers.

14. O God," in the midst of wrath remember mercy!" Be glorified in our reformation, not in our destruction! Let us hear the rod, and him that appointed it! Now that thy "judgments are abroad in the earth, let the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness!

15. My Brethren, it is high time for us to awake out of sleep; before the "great trumpet of the Lord be blown," and our land become a field of blood. O may we speedily see the things that make for our peace, before they are hid from our eyes! "Turn thou us, O good Lord, and let thine anger cease from us. O Lord, look down from heaven, behold and visit this vine;" and cause us to know "the time of our visitation." "Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name! O deliver us, and be merciful to our sins, for thy name's sake! And so we will not go back from thee: O let us live, and we shall call upon thy name. Turn us again, O Lord God of Hosts! Show the light of thy countenance, and we shall be whole."

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the Church, by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end.Amen!"

SERMON IV.

SCRIPTURAL CHRISTIANITY:

PREACHED AT

ST. MARY'S, OXFORD, BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY, ON AUGUST 24, 1744.

"Whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head." Ezek. xxxiii. 4.

"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." Acts iv. 31.

1. THE same expression occurs in the second chapter, where we read, "When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all," (the Apostles, with the women, and the mother of Jesus, and his brethren,) " with one accord, in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost:" One immediate effect whereof was, "They began to speak with other tongues; insomuch, that both the Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and the other strangers who "came together, when this was noised abroad, heard them speak, in their several tongues, the wonderful works of God." (Acts ii. 1-6.)

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2. In this chapter we read, that when the Apostles and brethren had been praying, and praising God," the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." (Acts iv. 31.) Not that we find any visible appearance herc, such as had been in the former instance nor are we informed that the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost were then given to all or any of them; such as the "gift of healing, of working other miracles, of prophecy, of discerning spirits, the speaking with divers kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues." (1 Cor. xii. 9, 10.)

3. Whether these gifts of the Holy Ghost were designed to remain in the Church throughout all ages, and whether

not "taste and see that the Lord is gracious." He "hath not seen God at any time," nor "heard his voice," nor "handled the word of life." In vain is the name of Jesus" like ointment poured forth, and all his garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia." The soul that sleepetli in death, hath no perception of any objects of this kind. His heart is past feeling, and understandeth none of these things.

11. And hence, having no spiritual senses, no inlets of spiritual knowledge, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; nay, he is so far from receiving them, that whatsoever is spiritually discerned, is mere foolishness unto him. He is not content with being utterly ignorant of spiritual things, but he denies the very existence of them. And spiritual sensation itself is to him the foolishness of folly. "How (saith he) can these things be? How can any man know that he is alive to God?" Even as you know that your body is now alive. Faith is the life of the soul; and if ye have this life abiding in you, ye want no marks to evidence it to yourself, but exerxos Ivauμaros, that divine consciousness, that witness of God, which is more and greater than ten thousand human witnesses.

12. If he doth not now bear witness with thy spirit, that thou art a child of God, O that he might convince thee, thou poor unawakened sinner, by his demonstration and power, that thou art a child of the Devil! O that, as I prophesy, there might now be "a noise and a shaking;" and may "the bones come together, bone to his bone!" Then, "come from the four winds, O Breath! and breathe on these slain, that they may live!" And do not ye harden your hearts, and resist the Holy Ghost, who even now is come to convince you of sin, "because you believe not on the name of the only begotten Son of God."

II. 1. Wherefore, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead." God calleth thee now by my mouth; and bids thee know thyself, thou fallen spirit, thy true state and only concern below. "What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise! Call upon thy God, if so be thy God will think upon thee, that thou perish not." A mighty tempest is stirred up round about thee, and thou art sinking into the depths of perdition, the gulf of God's judgments. If thou wouldst escape them, cast thyself into them. "Judge thyself, and thou shalt not be judged of the Lord."

2. Awake, awake! Stand up this moment, lest thou "drink at the Lord's hand the cup of his fury." Stir up thyself to lay hold on the Lord, the Lord thy Righteousness, mighty to save! "Shake thyself from the dust.". At least, let the earthquake of God's threatenings shake thee. Awake, and cry out with the trembling Jailor, "What must I do to be saved?" And never rest, till thou believest on the Lord Jesus, with a faith which is his gift, by the operation of his Spirit.

3. If I speak to any one of you, more than to another, it is to thee, who thinkest thyself unconcerned in this exhortation. "I have a message from God unto thee." In his name, I waru thee to "flee from the wrath to come." Thou unholy soul, see thy picture in condemned Peter, lying in the dark dungeon, between the soldiers, bound with two chains, the keepers before the door keeping the prison. The night is far spent, the morning is at hand, when thou art to be brought forth to execution. And in these dreadful circumstances, thou art fast asleep; thou art fast asleep in the Devil's arms, on the brink of the pit, in the jaws of everlasting destruction!

4. O may the Angel of the Lord come upon thee, and the light shine into thy prison! And mayest thou feel the stroke of an Almighty Hand, raising thee, with "Arise up quickly, gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals, cast thy garment about thee, and follow me."

5. Awake, thou everlasting spirit, out of thy dream of worldly happiness! Did not God create thee for himself? Then, thou canst not rest till thou restest in him. Return, thou wanderer! Fly back to thy ark. This is not thy home. Think not of building tabernacles here. Thou art but a stranger, a sojourner upon earth; a creature of a day, but just launching out into an unchangeable state. Make haste. Eternity is at hand. Eternity depends on this moment. eternity of happiness, or an eternity of misery!

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6. In what state is thy soul? Was God, while I am yet speaking, to require it of thee, art thou ready to meet death and judgment? Canst thou stand in his sight, who is of "purer eyes than to behold iniquity?" Art thou "meet to be partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light?" Hast thou "fought a good fight, and kept the faith?" Hast thou secured the one thing needful? Hast thou recovered the image of God, even righteousness and true holiness? Hast thou put off the old man, and put on the new? Art thou clothed upon with Christ?

encouraging a consideration is this, that whosoever thou art, who obeyest his call, thou canst not seck his face in vain! If thou even now awakest and arisest from the dead, he hath bound himself to give thee light. The Lord shall give thee grace and glory; the light of his grace here, and the light of his glory when thou receivest the crown that fadeth not away. "Thy light shall break forth as the morning, and thy darkness be as the noon-day." "God, who commandeth the light to shine out of darkness, shall shine in thy heart; to give the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." "On them that fear the Lord shall the Sun of Righteousness arise, with healing in his wings." And in that day it shall be said unto thec, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." For Christ shall reveal himself in thee: And he is the true Light.

2. God is Light, and will give himself to every awakened sinner, that waiteth for him and thou shalt then be a temple of the living God, and Christ shall "dwell in thy heart by faith" and, "being rooted and grounded in love, thou shalt be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of that love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that thou mayest be filled with all the fulness of God."

3. Ye see your calling, Brethren. We are called to be "an habitation of God through his Spirit ;" and through his Spirit dwelling in us, to be saints here, and partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. So exceeding great are the promises which are given unto us, actually given unto us who believe! For by faith we "receive, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God," the sum of all the promises, "that we may know the things that are freely given to us of God."

4. The Spirit of Christ is that great gift of God, which, at sundry times, and in divers manners, he hath promised to man, and hath fully bestowed since the time that Christ was glorified. Those promises before made to the fathers, he hath thus fulfilled: "I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes." (Ezek. xxxvi. 27.) “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." (Isaiah xliv. 3.)

5. Ye may all be living witnesses of these things; of re

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