independently of him. O then, caft yourself always into his almighty gathering arms, crying, O power, power, of the eternal Spirit of God, come !-Cry for a powerful conviction of the Spirit, whereby you may fee how far off you are from God and Clirift: they that are gathered to him, are made to fee how far they are feparate from him, and to fay, "Lord, I am lying in the arms of the devil, and I know not how foon "I may be in hell: O pity, pity, of thy fovereign mer"cy!"-Cry alfo for the powerful illumination of the Spirit, that you may fee a God in Chrift; not an abfolute God, fitting in the throne of flaming juflice, but on the mercy-feat, fprinkled over with the juftice-fatisfying blood of the Lamb, from whence mercy does vent itfelf, to the higheft honour, and greateft glory of infinite juftice. Cry, in a word, for the powerful operation of the Spirit, the irrefiftible efficacious pull of his omnipotent arm: O long for a day of power, a gathering day? Many a black powerful hinderance and drawback you have every luft fays, upon the matter, If I can get my will, he fhall never be gathered to Shiloh ; the devil fays, If I can get my will, he thall never win to Chrift; the world, and the cares of it, fay the fame; your graceless neighbours, and wicked companions, fay the fame; there is a ftrong hellish combination to hinder your coming to Shiloh. Yet nevertheless, tho' all the intanglements of the world, all the corruptions of the heart, and all the devils in hell, fhould join counsel together, to keep your foul back from Chrift, one divine draught of the cord of love will make them all yield. Thefe are potent enemies, but here is an omnipotent God; they are mighty, but he is almighty.

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O Sirs, cry, and continue to cry for his gathering power! and though you have been long feeking an omnipotent pull of divine grace, and, to your fenfe, have not got it; yet, if you wait for it, cry for it, and be earnestly folicitous to obtain it, it is a thousand to one, if you miss it; nay, it cannot be; for, He is a God of judgment, and bleffed are all they that wait for him, Ifa. XXX. 18. Judgment here, is not judgment in oppofition to mercy, but judgment in oppofition to folly: that

is, he is an infinitely wife God, who knows the best time of coming and paying his vifit; and becaufe he is a God of judgment, bleffed are all they that wait for him. He hath long waited for you; O wait for him in his own way! And when he is ftretching forth his arms towards you in this gofpel, offering to gather you; let your heart cry to him, faying, "Lord, thou who gathers the lambs with thine arm, O do thou not only "ftretch forth thine arms towards me, but clafp thine "arms about me; gather me, and I shall be gathered." If you be brought to this, I would hope the good work were begun.

3dly, The third fort, to whom I propofed to direct my exhortation, was to believers, who ARE gathered to Shiloh. My exhortation to you is, that, thro' grace, you would gather more closely to Shiloh, than ever you have done, fo as to be rooted in him, and abide in him, Col. ii. 7. John xv. 5. O cry for more and more of his gathering power and grace, to bring you nearer and nearer unto him. More particularly,

1. Hath Shiloh come and gathered you to himself? Then, O live UPON him; for that is the end, for which you are gathered to him, Gal. ii. 20. that the life you live may be a life of faith upon the Son of God, who not only loved you, and gave himfelf for you, but gathered you alfo out of the ftinking grave of fin and mifery, wherein you was. You have need to live a life of dependence upon him; for all other things may foon fail you, and nothing in all the world may be left you, but himself. But when the spider's web is fwept down, yet you may fee the houfe ftanding fure: even fo, when the cob-webs of creature-confidences fail, faith will fee a fure foundation to rely upon; "Tho' the figtree should not blossom, nor fruit be found in the vine," &c. yet faith in exercife will induce a person to rejoice in the Lord, and be glad in the God of falvation. You will every day need to be living on him; for, as I noticed upon another occafion, the veffel that is full today, needs a new filling to-morrow; and the ftomach 'that feemed to be fatisfied juft now, within a few hours will be empty and craving again; fo here, your veffel

may

may foon be empty; but though the veffel be empty, the fountain is full; and his power to help is creating power, whereby he can command nothing into a being.

2. Not only live on him, but live WITH him; let it appear, that you are gathered out of the world, by your living above the world, in the place where Shiloh is; "If you be rifen with Chrift, feek the things that are above, where Chrift fits at the right hand of God," Col. iii. 1. Oh! how unfuitable is it for them who are gathered to Shiloh in heaven, not to have their converfation in heaven? What a pity.is it, that they fhould fo much refemble a bird they call the lapwing, that hath a crown. upon her head, and yet lives upon excrements? Hath the Lord crowned you with his loving-kindnefs, and yet you live upon the dung of this world? Hath he made you an heir to a kingdom, and yet you ly tumbling in the afhes? Surely the believer that does not live above the the world, he lives below himself.

3. Are you gathered unto Shiloh? Then, not only live on him, and live with him, but live To him. For this caufe alfo, did he gather you to him, that you might live to him, and to his glory and honour; "You are not to live to yourfelves, but to him that died for you, and rofe again," 2 Cor. v. 15. In him there is a gathering of all gifts, and graces, and fulness, and all mediatorial offices, and divine qualifications for your use and behoof; and, to him, O believer, fhould be the gathering of all the powers and faculties of your foul, that you may glorify and honour him.-O let the gathering of your defires and delights be to him, who is the Defire of all nations, and the Delight of all the faints and angels in heaven!-Let the gathering of your thoughts and meditations be to him, and the meditation of his name will be fweet!--O let the gathering of your hearts and affections be to him; for, "He is altogether lovely."-Let the gathering of your prayers and praifes be to him. Begging and bleffing fhould go together; for you will have occafion to beg from him as long as you are out of heaven; and you will have reafon to blefs him, as long as you are out of hell.

Tho'

you that are gathered to him have no reafon to fear hell, "For there is no condemnation to them that are in Chrift; yet you have always reafon to blefs, that you have efcaped it. In a word, let the gathering of your words and actions be to him, fo as you may put honour upon him, before the world, by the whole tenor of your talk and walk, that your neighbours may take notice of it, that you have been with Jefus, and that you are gathered to him: and let the gathering of your fervices and facrifice be to him, faying, "What fhall I render to the Lord, for all his benefits towards me?" O render your humble fervice to him, faying, "Truly, I am thy fervant, thou haft loofed my bands." Render him the love of your hearts, the calves of your lips, and the obedience of your life. Thus are you to live to him.

4. Are you gathered to Shiloh? O then, endeavour to gather OTHERS to him! See if you can get all that are in your family to come to Shiloh with you; faying with Jofhua, "As for me, and my houfe, we will ferve the Lord, whatever others do," Jofhua xxiv. 15. O have you been gathered to Chrift? And will you be careless though your friends, your children, be gathered to the devil? O hath Chrift brought you to himself, and will he bring you to glory, and gather you to hea ven? and will you be eafy, though all about you be gathered unto hell? No, no; that cannot be your dif pofition, if you be a believer indeed. If you be content in your lifetime to ferve him, you will fudy to your power, that others may do the like. And, this is the way to make the love of Christ continue in the world; for, when you teach your neighbours, your fervants, your children, the way of the Lord, they, following your example, may teach their children too; and this will go from generation to generation, fo as generations to come may praise the Lord; or, at least, it will not fail on your part. Oh! how is it to be regretted, that few come to Chrift! and of the few that come, how few do fhew their love, in endeavouring to bring others to him? Therefore, O let this be a mended, and endeavour, in the place where you dwell,

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and the station your are in providence placed into, that, by your holy converfation, others may be gathered unto Shiloh too.

5. Are you gathered? O let not believers, that are gathered to Shiloh, forget their gathering together for Chriftian-fellowship and prayer: Heb. x. 24, 25. "Let us confider one-another, to provoke unto love, and to good works not forfaking the affembling ourfelves together, as the manner of fome is, but exhorting one-another, and fo much the more, as you fee the day approaching." The wicked, that are to be gathered to the burning Tophet, are making fpeed in finful ways, and gathering in clubs and cabals, to hearten and harden oneanother: and, O fhall not the godly gather together, to exhort and excite one-another in the way to heaven; as iron fharpens iron, fo does the holy gathering of faints ufe to fharpen the edge of their fpirits in the Lord's way. — But fince fellowship-meetings have been deferted, many profeffors are blunted and rufted; feveral Chriftian focieties are broken and evanished, even at a time, when they that fear the Lord, fhould fpeak often one to another in fpiritual conferences. O! if you be gathered unto Shiloh, let your zeal for him appear, in reftoring and reviving thefe Chriftian gatherings, in a regular manner; and pray, that the devil's fcattering wind that he hath raifed in our day, for feparating and dividing minifters and Chriftians from oneanother, may be laid.

6. To add no more, and to encourage you in the whole of your Chriftian courfe, O you, that through grace have been gathered to Shiloh, take home the comfort that belongs to your gathered ftate.-As to these that are yet in a diftant state, separate from the Lord Jefus, we have little comfort to offer, if you abide there; for, in the Lord's time, you will be gathered to the grave, and after that, you will be gathered before the tribunal of God, to receive the dreadful fentence, "Depart from me, ye curfed;" and, in all appearance, fome here will be gathered before that awful tribunal, before they be gathered together here again: it is more than

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