fords, and commons on our side, I mean if they were all true believers, O if we had all the kings upon the earth on our side, suppose you had; alas! alas! do you think the church would go on the better? why, if it was fashionable to be a Methodist at court, if it was fashionable to be a methodist abroad, they would go with a bible or a hymn-book instead of a novel; but religion never thrives under too much sunshine. Not many

mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of the morld to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. Dr. Watts says, here and there I see a king, and here and there a great man in heaven, but their number is but small.

Sheep are looked upon to be the most harmless, quiet creatures that God hath made: O may God of his infinite mercy, give us to know that we are his sheep, by our having this blessed temper infused into our hearts by the Holy Ghost. Learn of me, saith our blessed Lord; what to do, to work miracles? no; Learn of me, for I am meek aud lowly in heart. A very good man, now liying, said once, if there is any one particular temper I desire more than another, it is the grace of meekness, quietly to bear bad treatment, to forget and to forgive; and at the same time that I am sensible I am injured, not to be overcome of evil, but to have grace given me to overcome evil with good. To the honour of Moses it is declared, that he was the meekest man upon earth. Meekness is necessary for people in power; a man that is passionate is dangerous; every governor should have a warm temper, but a man of an unrelenting, unforgiving temper, is no more fit for government

than Phaeton to drive the chariot of the sun, he only sets the world on fire.

You all know, that sheep of all creatures in the world are most apt to stray and be lost; Christ's people may justly, in that respect be compared to sheep; therefore, in the introduction to our morning service, we say, We have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. Turn out a horse, or a dog, and they will find their way home, but a sheep wanders about, he bleats here and there, as much as to say, dear stranger, shew me my home again thus Christ's sheep are too apt to wander from the fold; having their eye off the great shepherd, they go into this field, and that field, over this hedge and that, and often return home with the loss of their wool.

But at the same time sheep are the most useful creatures in the world; they manure the land, and thereby prepare it for the seed; they clothe our bodies with wool, and there is not the least part of a sheep but is useful to man: O my brethren, God grant that you and I may, in this respect, answer the character of sheep. The world says, because we preach faith we deny good works; this is the usual objection against the doctrine of imputed righteousness, but it is a slander, an imputed slander. It was a maxim in the first refor. mers time, that though the Arminians preached up good works, you must go to the Calvinists for them. Christ's sheep study to be useful, and to clothe all they can; we should labour with our hands, that we may have to give to all those that need,

Believers censider Christ's property in them; he says, My sheep: O blessed be God for that little, dear, great word My. We are his by eter

nal election: the sheep which thou hast given me, says Christ. They were given by God the Father to Christ Jesus, in the covenant made between the Father and the Son from all eternity. They that are not led to see this, I wish them better heads; though, I believe, numbers that are against it have got better hearts; the Lord help us to bear with one another where there is an honest heart.

He calls them my sheep, they are his by purchase. O sinner, sinner, you are come this morning to hear a poor creature take his last farewel; but I want you to forget the creature that is preaching, I want to lead you farther than the Tabernacle ; where do you want to lead us? why, to Mount Calvary, there to see at what expence of blood Christ purchased those whom he calls his own; he redeemed them with his own blood, so that they are not only his by eternal election, but also by actual redemption in time; and they were given to him by the Father, upon condition that he should redeem them by his heart's blood. It was a hard bargain, but Christ was willing to strike the bargain, that you and I might not be damned for ever.

They are his, because they are enabled in a day of God's power voluntarily to give themselves up unto him; Christ says of these sheep especially, that they hear his voice, and that they follow him. Will you be so good as to mind that? here is an allusion to a shepherd: now in some places in scripture the shepherd is represented as going after his sheep*; that is our way in England; but in the eastern nations, the shepherds generally

went before; they held up their crook, and they had a particular call that the sheep understood.. Now, says Christ, My sheepshear my voice. This is my beloved Son, saith God, hear ye him. And again, the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and live: now the question is, what do we understand by hearing Christ's voice?

First, we hear Moses' voice, we hear the voice of the law; there is no going to Mount Zion but by the way of Mount Sinai, that is the right straight road. I know some say, they don't know when they were converted; those are, I believe, very few generally, nay I may say almost always, God deals otherwise, Some are, indeed, called sooner by the Lord than others, but before they are made to see the glory of God, they must hear the voice of the law; so you must hear the voice of the law before ever you will be savingly called unto God. You never throw off your cloak in a storm, but you hug it the closer, so the law makes a man hug close his corruptionst; but when the gospel of the Son of God shines into their souls, then they throw of the corruptions which they have hugged so closely; they hear his voice saying, Son, daughter, be of good cheer, thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven thee. They hear his voice; that bespeaks the habitual temper of their minds: the wicked hear the. voice of the devil, the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life; and Christ's sheep themselves attended to them before conversion; but when called afterwards by God, they hear the voice of a Redeemer's blood speaking peace unto them, they hear the voice of his word and of his Spirit.

+ Rom. vii. 7, 8, 9.

The consequence of hearing his voice, and the proof that we do hear his voice, will be to follow him. Jesus said unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. And it is said of the saints in glory, that they followed the Lamb whithersoever he went. Wherever the shepherd turns his crook, and the sheep hear his voice, they follow him; they often tread upon one another, and hurt one another, they are in such haste in their way to heaven. Following Christ, means following him through life, following him in every word and gesture, following him out of one clime into another.

Bid me come to thee upon the water, said Peter: and if we are commanded to go over the water for Christ, God, of his infinite mercy, follow us! We must first be sure that the Great Shepherd points his crook for us: but this is the character of a true servant of Christ, that he endeavours to follow Christ in thought, word, and work.

Now, my brethren, before we go farther, as this is the last opportunity I shall have of speaking to you for some months if we live; some of you, I suppose, don't chuse in general to rise so soon as you have this morning; now I hope the world did not get into your hearts before you left your beds; now you are here, do let me intreat you to enquire whether you belong to Christ's sheep or no, Man, woman, sinner, put thy hand to thy heart and answer me, didst thou ever hear Christ's voice so as to follow him, to give up thyself without reserve to him? I verily do believe from my inmost soul, and that is my comfort now I am about to take my leave of you, that I am preaching to a vast body, a multitude of dear, precious D d