This was a ftrong Argument to convince Unbelievers, and to confirm thefe new Converts that were yet weak in the Faith; as appears by that Anfwer which these Chriftians at Ephefus made to St. Paul, who being asked: if they had received the Holy Ghoft (in like Manner Acts namely as Cornelius and others had received at their Baptifm) they faid they had not fo much as heard if there be any Holy Ghoft; that is, whether there be any extraordinary Manifeftation or Spirit of Prophecy given to the Chriftian Church, as was of old in the Jewish Church.

This is what our blessed Saviour faid to his Difciples while he was yet with them, He that believeth on me, as the Scripture faith, out of his Belly fhall flow Rivers of living Water But this he fpake of the Spirit, which they that believe on him fhould receive; for the Holy Ghoft was not yet given them in fo plentiful a Measure as now, because that Jefus was not yet glorified and afcended up into Heaven to receive this Gift for Men.

And when the Day of Pentecoft was fully come, this was the Time when the Holy Ghoft manifefted himfelf, not inftantly upon Chrift's disappearing and leaving his Difciples, but ten Days after his Afcenfion; that fo they might prepare and pray the more earneftly for this Bleffing, that they might wait patiently and believe, when it came to pass that all the Promifes of God in Chrift are yea and in him Amen.

O my Soul, wait thou upon the Lord,. for yet a little while, and he that fhould come will come, and will

not tarry.

The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the Soul that feeketh him.

But now the Time, especially when the Holy Ghoft manifefted himself, is obfervable from the Solemnity thereof: It was upon the Day of Pentecoft, a great

02

Feaft

19. 2.

1

Feaft among the Jews in Remembrance of the Law that was published on Mount Sinai, fifty Days after their Deliverance out of Egypt, and now confecrated by this miraculous Appearance and Manifeftation of the Holy Ghoft, to be a folemn Festival in the Chriftian Church, in Remembrance of fo great a Mercy. When the Gospel was preached to Sojourners out of every Nation under Heaven, fifty Days after Chrift's Refurrection from the dead; as it is written, The Lord gave the Word, and great was the Company of thofe to whom it was given. For as the Apostle argues, If the Miniftration of Death, to wit, the publifhing of the Law, written and engraven in Stones was glorious, fo that the Children of Ifrael, could not fted faftly behold the Face of Mofes for the Glory of his Countenance, which Glory was to be done away; how fhall not the Miniftration of the Spirit, and that spiritual Law of the Gofpel be rather glorious: For if the Miniftration of Condemnation be glorious, much more doth the Miniftration of Righteoufnefs exceed in Glory; for even that which was made glorious had no Glory in this Refpect, by Reafon of the Glory that excelleth: For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. See how the fame Apoftle triumphs, that he was not any longer under the ceremonial Law of Types and carnal Ordinances, which were impofed only until the Times of Reformation. There is therefore now no Condemnation to them which are in Chrift Jefus, who walk not after the Flesh, but after the Spirit. For the Law of the Spirit of Life, in Christ Jefus, hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death. For what the Law could do, in that it was weak through the Flefb, God fending his own Son, in the Likeness of finful Flefb, and for Sin condemned Sin in the Flefb: That the Righteoufnefs of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the Flesk,

bust

ye

have

but after the Spirit. And a little after, For ye have not received the Spirit of Bondage again to Fear, but received the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Now was fulfilled that which was fpoken by the Prophet Ifaiah, faying, And it all come to pass in the laft Days, that the Mountain of the LORD's Houle fall be established in the Top of the Mountains, and ball be exalted above the Hills, and all Nations shall flow unto it. And many People fhall go up to the Mountain of the Lord, to the Houfe of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his Ways, and we will walk in his Paths: For out of Zion Thall go forth the Law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerufalem, as on this Day: And when the Day of Pentecoft was fully come, they were all with one accord in one Place, and this Place feems to have been either the upper Room where Chrift did Chro. celebrate the Paffover, and the Holy Communion with 8. 11. his Difciples, confecrating the Place then with his 1 King. fpecial Prefence, and now with the miraculous Mani- 6. 5, 6. feftation of the Holy Ghoft. Or this Place was the Luke Temple wherein were feveral Chambers, and where the 24. 53. Difciples continued daily at the conftant Times of Devotion, in Prayers and praifing God.

t

Thefe previous Difpofitions made Way for the Bleffing of the Day: First, Their Unity; they were all of one Heart and one Soul: Their Unity in Affection did conciliate their Unity in Judgment, and both thefe led them to Unity in Worfhip, keeping the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond.of Peace.

The Communion of Saints is an Article of our Creed, and a great Help to our Chriftian Charity; without which we can have no Fellowship with the Holy Spirit, or eternal Happiness; as it is written, And the Lord added to his Church daily such as should be faved: For

I

as

I

as the Hand, or any other Member is dead, when divided from the Body, fo are thefe fpiritually dead, that feparate from the Church, Chrift's myftical Body which is the Fulnefs of him that filleth all in all.

Behold the First-fruits of the Holy Spirit, to unite so many of different Rites and Ceremonies into one Faith and Worship, by his fpiritual Life and Light.

Matth. For where two or three are gathered in my Name (fays 18. 20. our bleffed Lord) there am I in the midst of them.

Pfal. 87. 2. Pf.102. 14.

Now the God of Patience and Confolation, grant you to be like minded one towards another, according to Chrift Jefus, that ye may with one Mind, and one Mouth glorifie God, even the Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift.

Next, Their Piety going up to the Houfe of the Lord, where every one doth speak of his Glory, and where he commandeth the Bleffing, even Life for evermore.

However the Earth be the Lord's, and the Fulness thereof, yet hath he a special Propriety in these Places that are fet apart for religious Worship; they are the Palaces of the great King, and the more decent and magnificent they are, like Solomon's Temple, or the Curtains of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, which. were adorned with curious Pictures and Cherubims, the more becoming they are the Divine Majefty, and the more proper and effectual to raise our Refpects and Devotions; as it is written,

The Lord loveth the Gates of Zion, more than all the Dwellings of Jacob.

For thy Servants take Pleasure in her Stones, and favour the Duft thereof.

Here the Lord manifefts his Glory, difpenfes his Graces, and wonderfully enlightens, comforts and 1 Chro. fanctifies his People in the Affembly of the Saints, and 2. 16. where the Word and Sacraments are adminiftrate, where

the

the facrifices of Prayer and Praises are offered: Here (far from the Noife and Cares of the World) we have a fpecial Promife of the Divine Prefence and Bleffing, for his Eyes and his Heart will be in these Houses perpetually: In all Places where Irecord my Name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.

Indeed God will be graciously Prefent with his own at all Times, and in all Places; on the Bed of Sickness, in the Depths of the Sea, and the darkest Prifons; as he was with Job on the Dunghill, with Daniel in the Lions Den, and with the three Children in the Fiery Furnace; when we cannot go to Worship him in his own Houfe; which fhould encourage us the more fo long as we have Health and Peace to feek the Lord in the Courts of the Lord's Houfe: So the Spouse enquires of Her Beloved, and is directed where to find him.

Tell me, O thou whom my Soul loveth, where thou feedeft, where thou makeft thy Flock to rest at Noon: For why fhould I be as one that turneth afide by the Flocks of thy Companions?

If thou know not, O thou fairest among Women, go thy way forth by the Footsteps of the Flock, and feed thy Kids befide the Shepherds Tents.

Thy Way, O Lord, is in the Sanctuary: Bleffed are they that dwell in thy House, they shall still be praising thee.

Selah.

One thing have I defired of the Lord, that I will feek after, that I may dwell in the Houfe of the Lord, all the Days of my Life, to behold the Beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his Temple.

Now when the Difciples were affembled together with united Hearts in the Houfe of Prayer, and at the Hour of Prayer, waiting for the Promife of the Father, and the Prefence of the Holy Spirit, in Obedience to their Mafter's Commands, when their Hopes were pregnant, and their Expectations attentive, fuddenly

there.

Cant.

I. 7, 8.