A fourth volume containing one hundred and fifty sermons on several texts of Scripture…

Do ye not know that the Saints shall judg the World? and as Kings shall reign with Christ for evermore, and be far more glorious than Solomon in all his Glory. Their Piety was like a Plant that grows in the Shade; now the Sun is risen, which scattereth his Light, Heat, and Influences.

(4.) Consider what should be God's Aim in the Designation of his Providence, that he hath brought it and laid it before you: Acts 13.26. To you is the Word of this Salvation sent: The Apostle doth not say, we have brought it to you, but God sent it. God hath a special hand in bringing the Gospel: if you accept it, it will be God's Token sent to you in Love; for the present it is God's Message, sent for your trial. There's a mighty Providence that accompanieth the preaching of the Gospel. You will find the Journeys of the Apostles were ordered by the Spirit, as well as their Doctrine; as Acts 8.26. The Angel of the Lord said to Philip, Arise, go towards the South, unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert: If they went North or South, it was not by their own good Affection, or by the Inclination and Judgment of their own Reason, but by the Direction of the Spirit: So, Acts 16.7. They assayed to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them not. They were not left to their own Guidance and Direction, but still they were ⟨p. 20⟩carried up and down by the Spirit: As Prophecy came not in old time by the Will of Man, but Holy Men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, 2 Pet. 1.21. So also the delivery of it to what People it should be disclosed, was not by the direction of Men, but by the Holy Ghost. The Apostles had not only their Commission what they should do, but where they should preach it. If God send a Minister to you to preach this Grace that bringeth Salvation, do not look upon it as a thing of Chance. The Gospel doth not run by Chance, and merely according to the Intention and Designment of Men, nor in an orderly stated Course as the Sun, but by the special Direction of God. You would stand admiring, and think it a special Benefit in a time of Drought, if the Rain should fall on your Garden, and upon none else, as it did upon Gideon's Fleece; or if the Sun should be shut up to others, and shine in your Horizon, as it did in Goshen; such a Distinction hath God made in sending of the Gospel; it is Darkness to others, but a Sun to you. God hath a special hand in the progress of the Gospel; certainly the preaching of it in Power, there is much of God in it: the Word goes from Place to Place; if you accept it not, God will go to another. When the Jews refused the Salvation of God, it is sent to the Gentiles: