for ever in that holy land, and that heavenly city, which thou hast prepared and builded for thy holy Patriarchs, and, with them, for all those who through faith and patience shall inherit the promises. Amen.

THE QUESTIONS.

Q. What is a Tabernacle?

A. A Tent, stretched out with cords, and moveable from one place to another. Q. Who dwelt in these habitations?

A. The holy Patriarchs, abraham, Isaac,. and Jacob.

Q. Why did they inhabit such dwellings as Tabernacles?

A. To remind them daily that they were strangers upon earth.

Q. Had not God promised them the possession of the land in which they dwelt?

A. Yes: but he made them live in it as travellers or sojourners, to shew them and us, that the hope of all his Saints is in another life.

Q. Who else lived in Tabernacles?

A. The children of Israel, in their journeyings through the wilderness.

Q. How long did they live in this way?

VOL. XI.

G

A. Forty

A. Forty years so that the whole generation of them who were brought out of Egypt finished their course, short of the promised land, in their unsettled habitations.

Q. Did good people understand what God intended by their dwelling in tents?

A. Certainly; because some dedicated themselves freely to this way of life, after they were settled in towns and cities.

Q. Who were such?

A. The Rechabites; whose father gave them a charge to renounce the world, and live as the Patriarchs had lived before.

Q. What was the house in which God dwelt at first with his people?

A. It was a Tabernacle set up in the wilderness.

Q. Why did God dwell in such a place?

A. To shew that he would be a stranger upon earth as we are, and dwell in the tabernacle of a mortal body.

Q. What are we to learn from these things?

A. That all the servants of God are to renounce the world, and live like strangers upon earth.

Q. What do they hope for by so doing?

A. They

A. They prepare themselves for a better inheritance in heaven.

Q. Why does the Apostle call our bodies tabernacles?

A. Because we lead a travelling life in them, and they are soon to be taken down, as a tent is.

Q. How do the children of this world live? A. They build houses and buy lands, as if they were to live for ever; when perhaps their tent may be taken down this night, and their soul required of them.

Q. What is the best improvement of this and other subjects of the Scripture?

A. To make a prayer to God upon them.

THE TEXTS.

Gen. xiii. 18. xxv. 27. Numb. x. 28. 2 Sam. vii. 6. Jer. chap. xxxv. John i. 14. Acts vii. 1, &c. Heb. xi. 9. 2 Pet. i. 13, 14.

IV. THE CHAPTER OF WAR.

WHAT a strange thing is war! yet we see it every where; and we ourselves are en

gaged in it, whether we will or not.

There is war in the natural creation: the hawk is always in arms for the seizing of his prey; the lion and the wolf are at war with cattle; birds and beasts are persecuting one another; and the innocent are destroyed by the cruel and the rapacious. Even in seas and rivers there are greedy monsters, which devour other kinds when they are within their reach. If we turn our eyes to mankind, we see nation rising in arms against nation, and kingdoms divided against themselves. And why is all this permitted? For many wise reasons; but for this above all, that, from the enemies we see, we may consider the enemies we do not see. For the invisible world is also at war: there was war in heaven: God himself hath his enemies among Angels that excel in strength; principalities and powers are confederate against all the great and merciful designs of Heaven and the war, which they began there, is carried on upon earth against us men and our salvation. We are therefore born to a state of war, and are accordingly enlisted as soldiers at our baptism; and Jesus Christ is the captain of our salvation, under whose banner we are to fight against his and our enemies. Our Christian profession is called a

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fight

fight of faith; because it is subject to all the dangers, losses, fears, and miscarriages of war; and the same rules are to be observed, the same measures to be followed, in the one case as in the other; with this difference, that ghostly dangers are a thousand times worse than bodily, and call for more valour and more vigilance. Being therefore soldiers, we are to do as soldiers do.

1. We are to put on the whole armour of God. There is the helmet to save the head in natural war; and there is the protection of God, the helmet of salvation, in spiritual war. There is the shield of faith, which we are to hold up against the fiery darts of the enemy. There is the sword of the spirit, the word of God, sharper than any two-cdged sword, which, when skilfully used, will give mortal wounds. to the adversaries of our faith.

2. We must practise the prudence which is necessary in earthly war: considering, that we are here in an enemy's country, in continual danger of being surprised by evil spirits who are always upon the watch; and therefore obliged to be sober and vigilant. A drunken soldier, in a time of war, is in danger of death; a drunken Christian is in danger of damnation. All levity and dissipation, and