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SERM. ftruct us fo far to caft our care upon God, VII. as to expect his bleffing on our own endeavours in proportion as he gives us opportunity. Once more,

5. Fifthly, we fhould endeavour above all things to feek for that fpiritual food and refreshment, which may luftain our fouls unto eternal life. Labour not (fays our bleffed Saviour) for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlafting life *. The Manna of the Text was only typical of that bread of God, that true bread which cometh down from heaven, to give life and falvation to the world. And therefore, the nourishment which That fupplied was only temporal, but figured out that fpiritual nourishment to life eternal, which is fupplied under the gofpel by the death of Christ. And therefore, fays our Lord, Your fathers did eat Manna in the wilderness, and are dead; but this is the bread that cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die +. This is the great privilege of christianity, which not only fets Christ before us in all its ordinances, but more particularly, in the facrament of the Lord's Supper, exhibits bread and wine, the myftical symbols of his body and blood, to be first prefented before the Father, as the commemoration + Ver. 49, 50.

* John vi. 27.

of

of his facrifice for fin, and then to be eaten SER M. and drank by us as the fpiritual repast and VII. food of our fouls.

Only it is neceffary, in order to qualify us for receiving this fpiritual efficacy, that we should work the works of God: And this (fays our bleffed Saviour) is the work of God, that we believe on him whom he bath Jent *. We must exercise our faith in Chrift, and come with humble truft and confidence in his merits, with an earnest repentance of our fins, and a fincere purpofe to forfake them, by the aid and direction of his grace: and then may we expect the performance of his gracious promises, and experimentally perceive his flesh to be meat indeed, and his blood to be drink indeed.

Withal, the promife of temporal provifion (in fuch measure and proportion as may be fitteft for us) is annex'd to this faithful and regular discharge of duty. Seek ye firft the kingdom of God and his righteoufnefs, and all these things fhall be added unto you †. Be but folicitous to fecure your intereft in Chrift, by a steady faith in him, and obedience to his laws; and then together with your fouls, you may truft him with your bodies alfo, and make no doubt but

* John vi. 28, 29.

the provifions for this

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SERM.life shall be fupplied, as is beft for you;
VII. and whatever is with-holden fhall be abun-

dantly made up, as well in prefent confo-
lation of mind, as in that fulness of glory
which shall hereafter be revealed thro' Je-
fus Christ our Lord; to whom with the Fa
ther, and the Holy Ghoft, be all honour and
glory, now and henceforth for evermore.

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SERMON VIII.

Of the REVERENCE due to
CHURCHES.

GEN. xxviii. 17.

How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

TH

HESE words are the reflection SERM. of the Patriarch Jacob, upon that VIII. extraordinary vifion which he faw in his journey towards Padan-Aram, in the neighbourhood of Luz. He faw a ladder which reached from earth to heaven, and the angels of God afcending and defcending on it. The God of Abraham and of Ifaac called to him from the top, and not only promised him a great increase of his pofterity, to poffefs the land, in which he then fojourned, but repeated the promise made formerly to Abraham, that in him and in his feed fhould all the families of the earth be blessed.

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The

SERM.

The Patriarch was fo affected with the VIII. matter when he awoke, that, as he was not without fome apprehenfion for having hitherto regarded it no otherwise than as a common place, fo he refolved, for the future, to distinguish it with marks of refpect. The name of the place he changed from Luz to Beth-el, which fignifies the boufe of God. And the ftones which he had used for his pillow, he not only erected into a pillar of memorial, fuch as in those times was usual for the Altar of God, but moreover poured oil upon it, as a rite of confecration, and made a vow that when he should return profperously from his journey, he would ufe it as God's house, and endow it with a competent revenue. If God will be with me (fays he) and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on; fo that I come again to my father's boufe in peace: then shall the Lord be my God. And this ftone, which 1 have fet for a pillar, fhall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me, I will furely give the tenth unto thee.

All which was the refult of that reflection made in the Text. How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the boufe of God, and this the gate of heaven. From which words there are these three things very obvious to be collected, namely,

I. That

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