ftretch out the withered hand, ye would take the help of Chrift's grace offered unto you, ye would take no reft till ye were got away.

4. Ye nced not expect to get the good-will of your father, nor of the family, to the parting. The call is directed to you, without noticing of them; for it is known, they will never let you go, as long as they can hinder you. Therefore you must be refolute and peremptory over the belly of all oppofition to come away from among them, Matth. xi. 12. No fooner does one begin to ftir out from among them, but he will raise the hue and cry after him. Hell's flatteries and threatenings are all plied to get them back again, and to lay afide their purpose. But ye muft ftop your ears to them all, and look not behind you, as Lot's wife did, Gen. xix. 17.

5. Ye must come out from among them, for good and all. Be ye feparate. Come away wholly, come away for ever, Pfal. xlv. 10. Come away, with a fincere purpose never to go back among them, Pfal. lxxx. 18. Leave not your heart behind you. Remember Lot's wife, who was turned into a pillar of falt, for the rueful look fhe gave to what the had left in Sodom. They that come not away thus, freely feparating from them, they will not go far away, they will not go off the devil's ground: and they will go back again, if the communion were over.

6. Laftly, Take up nothing from among them, to bring along with you. Touch not the unclean thing. There are many who meaning to come out from among them, fecure themselves in the devil's fnare, and fhut the door of the houfe of heaven on themselves, by the preparation they make for the journey.

(1.) They think they will need fomething in God's houfe for their hearts to feed upon. They think Chrift's blood will do well enough for their confciences; but to get fomething to ftop the mouths of their hungry hearts, that muft have fomething to feed upon, they bring along, with them fome

of the provision of the house they come from. [1] Some of the duft they were wont to eat with the ferpent: fome luft or other, which they have fucked much fap and sweetness out of, and they know not how to live without it, more than Herod without his Herodias, or Judas without the bag, &. But remember, if ye touch that unclean thing, God will not receive you. Leave it then behind you to the devil, from whence it came; it is his proper food, If. lxv. ult. all the pleasure he has lies in fuch things. Say ye, I have behaved and quieted myself as a child, that is weaned of his mother: my foul is even as a weaned child, Pfal. cxxxi. 2. [2.] Some of the husks they were wont to eat with the fwine, Luke xv. 16.; the dry, fapless, foifonlefs world, that Satan used to drefs up to them, as beft fuited their palate, in the pleasures, vanities, profits, and pomp of it. But touch not that unclean thing, Cant, iv. 8. and drop that unclean bulky vanity, and come away. There is no need of any fuch provifion in our heavenly Father's houfe, that is abundantly provided with the product of the better country, If. lv. 2.

(2.) They think they will need fomething on them, fuitable to the new house they are coming to, that they come not in among them like hand-beggars, And fe they take up the garb of the house they come from, and bring it with them, even the filthy unclean garment of their own righteoufnefs, the loathfome rags of the pretended good that is in them or about them, to cominend them to Chrift. But O drop the nafty garment, and touch not that unclean thing, If. lxiv. 6. Come away naked and bare, and receive the bleffing in the elder brother's cloaths, or ye cannot have it. Seek nothing to commend you to him, but your utter mifery, vilenefs, and want of all things. The more you bring with you to commend you to him, the more fecurely ye fhut his door on you,

II. The next head is to fhew what this coming out from among them is. It is no local motion, but a spie

fitual motion of the foul; and I give it you briefly in three steps.

1. A hearty and unfeigned willingness to leave them, and to come out from among them. This is the firft step. And O what a deal of work is there, ere the finner can be brought this length! No lefs than the power of grace is able to bring the foul to this, Pfal. cx. 3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. It is a dead gripe the finner takes of his father's house, and he will shift hither and thither ere he let go the gripe. It is as death to him to think of parting with his dear lufts, that are to him as a right hand or eye, which neither promifes nor threatenings can make him confent to part with, till grace loofe the heart. Whosoever then has got the length of this, they have made the firft ftep, which is the most diffi cult one.

2. An actual renouncing and giving up with that house, and all that belongs to it. The foul being willing to leave it, actually gives up with it, Job xxxiv. 32. renounces its natural relation to that fociety, their work, their way; refolving, come what will come, to ftay no longer there among them, it bids an eternal farewell to it. Though a Red fea appear before fuch perfons, which they know not how they will get through, they are peremptory they will not return to the fpiritual Egypt, the houfe of their fouls bondage. This is the fecond step.

3. Lastly, A fincere acceptance of Jefus Chrift by faith, in the marriage-covenant held forth in the gofpel; whereby they take him for all and instead of all, and give themfelves to him, to be his only, wholly, and for ever, Cant. ii. 16. There is no interpendent ftate betwixt the two families, but the foul lifting the one foot, as it were fets down the other. It lets go the hold of its lufts and idols, by embracing of Jefus Chrift, not only for a reft to the confcience, but a reft to the heart; and embracing Chrift as the one pearl of great price, lets go all

that it has. Thus the foul is united to Jefus Chrift, and is come out from among them, as one that is married is from that moment no more of her father's

house, but her husband's. So the foul, though in the midst of the world lying in wickednefs, is no more of that fociety, but come out from among them, John xv. 19.

Now the fouls thus joined to Chrift, are by him introduced to his Father's house and prefence, and by him adopted as his children, as Jacob did the two fons of Jofeph for his fake.

I fhall not here ftand to confirm the doctrine, fince it is very plain from the text, and I confirmed the certain. ty of adoption into God's family, to thofe that comply with the gofpel-call, the last day; but fhall proceed to the application; which I make in the words of the text.

Wherefore, O finners, come forth from among them, and be ye feparate, &c. It is the Lord's call to you this day to come away freely and cleanly out of the devil's family, and the Lord will take you in. Hearken unto this,

1. Ye that have lived all your days at eafe in Satan's family, never knew ye were there, and were never troubled how to get out of it. Open your eyes, and know your natural ftate; fee yourfelves children of the devil, and heirs of wrath, at length; and fleep no longer the fleep of death, but look about you; fee your danger, and come out from among them, and be ye feparate to-day.

2. Ye that have fometimes had an awakening, and feen yourselves undone, but have fallen afleep again, and look on that former fright as a dream. Know ye that it was moft real, and reprefented your cafe to you as indeed it was, and yet is: and Satan it is, who, to keep you ftill among them, deluded you to think, that God's armies advancing against you, were but the fhadow of the mountains. Wherefore beftir yourfelves, and come out from among them..

3. Ye apoftates and backfliders, that fometimes

feemed to make confiderable advances in coming out, but now have gone back in among them, and fallen afresh to the entertainment, the work, and manners of the house. Our Lord gives you a new call to come out from among them, and fet to the way again, Jer.

iii. 22.

4. Ye that are halting, and in a doubt what to do, whether to come out from among them or no. Confcience is preffing you forward, and corruption drawing you back. Something tells you, To-day if ye will hear his voice, har den not your hearts. Something elfe is faying, It is too foon, there will be time enough after this. Know, this laft is the language ye hear among them that seek the ruin of your fouls. Take no heed to what they fay, but refolutely come out from among them.

5. Ye that have been often aiming at coming, but never yet have come away freely and cleanly. Make a fair and cleanly feparation now, Touch not the unclear thing. Give up with your natural father's houfe, and have no more to do with any thing that belongs to it. Let no beloved luft be fpared. Leave not a hoof behind you, as being minded never to return.

6. Lastly, All that mind for heaven or the favour of God, in time or eternity, come out from among them. And be ftill coming farther and farther from them, and nearer to Jefus Chrift. I offer the following motives.

Mot. I. It is a moft miferable cafe to be among them, the true fight whereof may fright one out of their fociety. Never could one that was in a den of lions, or befet with ferpents, or inclosed with venomous creatures, be more defirous to be from among them, than God's elect to be out of the world lying in wickednefs, out of the devil's family, when once the Spirit of the Lord has opened their eyes to fee clearly where they are, Luke xv. 17. 18. For,

1. There is not, and never will be, any peace with VOL. II.