from the gate; and cause our eyes once more to see our Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that fhall not be taken down, none of whofe cords fhall be broken, neither any of the ftakes thereof ever removed. Amen.

SER

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SERMON VIII.

REVELATIONS, iii. 18.

I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayeft be rich; and white raiment that thou mayeft be clothed; and that the fhame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eye falve, that thou mayeft fee.

B

EFORE I enter upon the confideration of this gracious counsel, I conceive it may be of ufe to give you fome account, firft, of the person who gave the advice; and, fecondly, of thofe to whom it was addreffed.

The perfon, who gave the advice, was our Lord Jefus Chrift; that Wonderful Counsellor, and Prince of Peace, foretold by the prophet Ifaiah, of the increafe of whofe government there fhall be no end. Here he ftiles himself the Amen, the Faithful and True Witnefs: One whose word may be depended up

on, who does not come and go, fay and unfay, but who is always in one mind, without any variableness or shadow of turning. He is God's witness to the fons of men, and as he is perfectly acquainted with the Father, fo he faithfully reports the Father's mind and will to us. His teftimony is infallible; for as he cannot be deceived himself, so neither is he capable of deceiving others. I need scarcely obferve to you the vast importance of this part of his character. Indeed without it, our faith, and confequently our hope and comfort, would be mere delufion; but bleffed be God, the truth and faithfulness of this divine witness, doth infinitely remove from us every poffible cause or ground of fufpicion. Men may utter falsehoods through mistake and ignorance; or, even when they know the truth, they may be induced, by felfish views, to conceal or disguise it. But neither of these grounds of diftrust are applicable to our Lord. His knowledge is unlimited, and abfolutely perfect; and his infinite fulness and felffufficiency, raife him above all kinds of dif fimulation or artifice. And probably this is the reason why he ftiles himself, in the close

of

of the 14th verfe, the Beginning, or first Caufe, of the Creation of God. He can have no dependence upon the workmanship of his own hands. As their goodness cannot profit him, neither can their malice hurt him; fo that he can be under no temptation, either to overawe them with imaginary terrors, or to allure them with vain and flattering pro mifes. Well then, the character of our Counsellor is fair and untainted, and, if the advice he gives us is kind and obliging, there is no room to queftion the fincerity of his good-will. Here, therefore, my brethren, is one great point gained; and, as I am afterwards to lay a confiderable ftrefs upon it, I beg you may attend to it in the mean time, and confider, as I go along, that the perfon who spoke in this paffage, and in whofe name I now speak to you, is the Faithful and True Witness, the independent Creator and Governor of the world.

Let us next inquire who the perfons were to whom the advice or counsel was addreffed. In general they were members of Chrift's visible church, and inhabitants of the ancient city of Laodicea; it appears alfo from the defcription

13

description given of them, that, with respect to their spiritual concerns, they were in a very degenerate and wretched condit n. The first thing taken notice of is their luke-warmness and indifference-a temper which is peculiarly loathsome and offenfive to Chrift, and therefore he threatens to "pue them out of his "mouth;" that is, to teftify his displeasure against them, by fome very awful and remarkable judgments. Their ftate is more fully represented in the verfe preceding my text, where the Faithful and True Witnefs tells them that they were wretched and miferable, and poor, and blind, and naked; and which prodigiously aggravated both their guilt and mifery-they knew it not-they were infenfible of it; though they might have known it, yet they would not. Such was their woful indifference, that they did not examine their spiritual condition, but took it for granted, and boafted of it, that they were rich, and increased with goods, and had need of nothing. And now judge, my brethren, whether these perfons were worthy of any notice or regard, I mean in a way of mercy; for that they merited wrath, I fuppofe you will readily al