II. Contemplate that office, for the discharge of which he is so eminently qualified.

Observe his divine commission. "I," says God, "send an angel before thee." He has been divinely dedicated to the office of Guide and Leader of his people; and hence, as he was present with the believing Israelites, and glorified their families, and their assemblies, with his heavenly grace, and conducted them forty years in the wilderness; so will he guard us from danger; the Lord himself shall be our Sun and Shield, we shall go whithersoever he leads us, and where we reside, there shall he also dwell. He shall lead, direct, and advise us: the rising generation shall cry after this glorious Angel, and say, "Be thou the guide of my youth" and, to those in the decline of life, he says, " Even to old age I am he, and even to hoary hairs will I carry you." Oh, how happy ought we to be under the conduct of so divine a guide! he goes before us, then, for two purposes specified in the text: to preserve us all through our journey, and to administer to us an entrance into the wealthy place.

1. This Angel of the Lord goes before us so preserve us all through our journey. "I send an angel," says God, "before thee, to keep thee in thy way." He preserved them from wandering, for he led them forth by a right way, that they might go to a city of habitation: he keeps them in the way marked out by unerring skill; the way that has been trodden by the whole host of the redeemed, and, consequently, the way that leads directly to our Father's house. And if this great and mighty Angel goes before us, surely our safety is made abundantly certain; for what enemy can withstand him, if he slew Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og the king of Bashan for the Jews?

surely an army of corruptions, shall be by his power laid level with the ground, and the world, sin, and the devil, be trampled under the feet of his followers, while they shout, "The Lord God of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge." If he goes before us to keep us in his way, how animated should we be by his conquests; and while he says, 66 Fight on, my faithful band," let us wage war with every spiritual foe, and have respect to the recompense of the reward. This Angel goes before us to keep us in the way, and thus displays his infinite perfections: his goodness, wisdom, condescension, ability, and holiness, are manifest on every occasion; and whilst he plants fear in the hearts of his foes, his grace and love will never fail to delight those who are chosen, called, and faithful. In conducting them through this world, he makes use of the directions of his word, the excellences of his own example, the influence of his divine Spirit, and the hand of his providence these things say to us, "This is the way, walk ye in it." Having then such a glorious Companion, let us not fear the difficulties that lie in our way, but forget our troubles; and in the strength of the Captain of salvation, who leads us in paths of righteousness for his name's sake, "Let us run with patience the race set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of our faith."

2. The Angel of the covenant, too, goes before us to administer to us an entrance into the wealthy place.

"I send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee to the place which I have prepared:" thus he did for the Israelites when he introduced them into Canaan but, oh, what will he do for believers when he brings them to the place which he has prepared!-a place of which Canaan, after all, affords but a feeble representa

:

tion a place prepared for our reception before the world. began, and taken possession of by Jesus as our forerunner, who has entered within the veil for us: to this place our exertions are directed, and at this place we shall all eventually appear; whilst to bring us thither is the part of our adorable Leader, the Angel of the covenant.

He shall cause us to loose our anchor from the earth, to pass into eternity, a gallant vessel, with every sail set to the favoring breeze, and entering into the harbor of eternal peace, amidst the plaudits of redeemed men and waiting angels. Jesus shall be the medium of our access to God in heaven, and through him, we shall have an abundant entrance administered unto us into his eternal kingdom and glory. He shall receive our disembodied spirits to himself, and at the end of our journey, open to us the door of everlasting bliss, and show us the regions of glory; yea, say to us, "Come in, ye blessed of the Lord: why stand ye without?" Yea, he will present us to his Father, "blameless before him in love;" he will glory over us as the objects of his love, and the purchase of his blood: yea, through his mediation and death, we shall be forever "holy, and unblamable, and unreprovable in his sight, being presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy." Oh, what a distinguished part in the economy of our salvation does the Angel of the covenant bear! He first leads to the road that will conduct us to his kingdom and glory; and he finally introduces us into the august presence of God, even the Father, and so brings us to the place which he hath prepared. This shall be the portion of all his saints, for in glory they will all finally appear, though some on boards and some on broken pieces of the

ship, yet it shall come to pass that they shall all escape

safe to land.

Who is our guide?

Reason? passion? or the Angel of the Covenant?

Sinners, destitute of a guide, &c.

What is the object of our hope?

It is being brought to the place which God has prepared, or are we yet attached to earth? If we now have our conversation in heaven

"See the kind angels at the gates,

Inviting us to come;

There Jesus the forerunner waits,

To welcome travelers home."

IMPROVEMENT.

Our text suggests a motive to obedience: a test of examination, and a ground of hope.

* No doubt Mr. Spencer enlarged on these subjects in delivering this Sermon, and also, as usual, in the improvement.

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SERMON XV.

SINNERS ABUSE THE LONG SUFFERING OF GOD.

"Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil."-ECCLESIASTES Viii. 11.

How dreadfully depraved is human nature! How abject is the condition in which the fall of our first parents has placed us! What a sink of pollution is the heart of man! Considered, indeed, as creatures in the eye of Deity, we must appear meanness itself: of the dust of the earth we were formed; and as soon as our sovereign Creator says, "Return, ye children of men," we mix with our original, we are obliged to say to corruption, "Thou art my father; to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister." But, oh, viewed as sinners, how offensive must we be in the sight of the God of infinite purity and immaculate holiness! Alas, for us, for we have fallen! fallen low indeed from the state of rectitude in which we were created: being in honor, we did not abide: now darkness overspreads our understanding, perverseness distinguishes our will; earthly mindedness characterizes our affections: the path of folly, is that we choose; the course of impiety, the