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E have a remarkable queftion of the difciples, and anfwer of our Lord, Luke xvii. 37. The queftion is, Where, Lord? The answer is, "Wherefoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together." Christ had been speaking of days of great tribulation a-coming; and the meaning of the queftion feems to be, Lord, where fhall thefe that fear thy name, fly in thefe days of trouble and diftrefs? Where fhall we find peace in the midst of war? Where is he who gives peace to the world? Where is Chrift to be found, to whom the believer fhall fly like an eagle to his prey? Faith needs not be at a lofs in this inquiry, Where, Lord? In the womb, in the rags, in the manger? thither may we go to fee the Son of God in a low humbled ftate.Where, Lord? Go to the garden, and fee him fuffering for your fins the wrath of his Father.-Where, Lord? Fly to Mount Calvary, and fee him on the cross; there may the eagles gather together, and behold him bleeding, fuffering, crying, dying for them.-Again, Where, Lord? From Calvary to heaven, there he is now, and there must the foul fly, and fee him crowned with glory and honour.-Where, Lord? Even at a communion-table, where he is fpiritually prefent, to be fed u

This fermon was preached at Kinclaven, on the Sabbath-evening, immediately after the administration of the facrament of the Lord's fuppe there, June 1ft. 1735.

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pon like a carcafe, by the poor, believing, greedy, hungry eagle. Where, Lord? Wherever he be, the believing fouls muft be at him; if on earth, no corner must be unfearched: if in heaven, distance muft not keep them from him; nay, though he be mounted up to glory, yet they must mount up after him, according to his promife, They fhall mount up with wings as eagles.

In the four preceding verfes we have the prophet,

1. Reproving the children of Ifrael for their unbelief and diftruft of God, their dejection and defpondency of fpirit; "Why fayeft thou, O Jacob, and fpeakeft, O Ifrael; My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment. is paffed over from my God," ver. 27. Why do you think and fpeak, as if God did not heed and obferve you, and as if God could not help and fave you, whatever be your afflicted miferable cafe?

2. He reminds them of what is able to filence all their fear and diftruft, "Haft thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Crea tor of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no fearching of his underftanding," ver. 28.

9. d. He is an eternal God; fo that there is no defect, no decay in him; he is an omnipotent God, who created the ends of the earth, and doubtless is as able to fave, as he was at firft to make the world. He is of infinite wisdom to contrive your falvation; "There is no fearching of his understanding :" none can fay, fo far God's wisdom can go, and no further; for when we know not what to do, he knows; and he is a God of infinite power, he faints not, nor is wearied: he upholds the pillars of heaven and earth, and is neither wearied nor toiled with it.

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3. The prophet relates to them God's communicative goodness, He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might, he encreafeth ftrength," ver. 29. He is not only powerful himfelf, but he communicates power and ftrength to these that need the fame: “He gives power to the faint." Many out of weaknefs, even of body, are made ftrong, and recovered by his providence:

and many that are feeble in Spirit, unable for fervice and fuffering, yet are ftrengthened by his grace, with all might in the inward man; and especially to them that are fenfible of their weaknefs, he increafes ftrength: for when they are weak in themselves, they are ftrong in the Lord.

4. The prophet flates the difference betwixt them that truft in themselves, and them that truft in God: as for them that truf in themfelves, and truft to their own fufficiency, they fhall find their ftrength to be but weaknefs; "Even the youths fhall faint and be weary, and the young men fhall utterly fail," ver. 30.; the young men who are ftrong, and apt to look upon themfelves as ftronger than they are, and fo look not unto God for his grace to be fufficient for them, they fhall faint and fail, and be made to fee the folly of trulling to themfelves. But as for them that truft in the Lord, and wait on him for fupplies of grace, They fhall renew their Strength: they fall mount up with wings as eagles; they Shall run and not weary; they shall walk and not faint, ver. 31.

Thus you fee the connexion of the words with the preceding; and in them you have three things, 1. The exercife of God's people. 2. Their privilege, They fhall renew their firengib. 3. The effect of this privilege, They fhall mount up with wings as eagles; they fball run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.

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1. The exercife of God's people; they are fuch as wait upon the Lord. Now, who are thefe that wait upon God? I anfwer, in the words of the pfalmift David, Pfal. xxiv. 6. "This is the generation of them that feek him, that feek thy face, O Jacob;" that is, O God of Jacob. And hence feeking and waiting are joined together; "The Lord is good to them that wait for him, and to the foul that feeks him," Lam. ii. 25. The true waiter is a feeker, and the true feeker is a waiter upon God. It is a duty comprehenfive of the whole character of the religious perfon. If you be truly feeking God, man, woman, at this ordinance, then you are waiting upon him.

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2. But

2. But what advantage have they that thus feek and wait upon God? This is fhewed us in the fecond part of the words, their privilege; They fhall renew their firength. Their ftrength fhall not only be increased, but renewed; as there is new occafion, they fhall have new fupplies, and so they shall renew their ftrength; or as it is in the Hebrew, They fhall change their strength,' as a man changes his raiment: as their work is changed, their ftrength fhall be changed, whether it be doing or fuffering work; they fhall have ftrength to labour, ftrength to wreftle, ftrength to refift temptation, and ftrength to bear burdens; They fhall renew their firength: get new ftrength for new duty. The beft of God's children, if continuing long in duty, their fpirits are wafted: well, God will renew their ftrength, especially their fpiritual ftrength, which is from God himfelf, from whom is their new temper and difpofition, their new nature. But what of all this, fay you indeed, they fhall have much benefit, if you confider,

3. The effect of this privilege, or how it is made evident; that is evinced in three particulars.

(1.) They fhall mount up with wings as eagles. O it is a great privilege for a believer to be brought, thro' grace, to fly; yea, not only to fly like a weak bird, but to mount up like an eagle, the strongest of flying birds: the weak believer, by waiting on God, becomes ftrong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Grace ftrengthens the foul to mount heaven ward, and carries it above the world and the things of it.

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(2.) They fhall run and not be weary; that is, they fhall run in the way of God's commandments chearfully, and with alacrity, conftancy, and with perfeve

rance.

(3.) They fhall walk and not faint; weak and fickly perfons are in danger to faint and fail when they walk, but they shall walk and not faint. You have a word, Gal. vi. 9. "Let us not weary in well-doing; for in due feafon we fhall reap, if we faint not." O fays a child of God, that is endeavouring, through grace, to wait upon the Lord, I fear I never reap, becaufe I will foon

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be faint and weary: but here is the promise you are to take hold of, "You fhall run without wearying, and walk and not faint:" and in this way, there is no fear but you fhall reap grace is promifed, as well as the reward of grace.

We have already difcuffed one doctrinal obfervation from these words, viz. That as it is the duty and practice of God's people to wait on God; fo it fhall be their privilege to have their ftrength renewed. But having finifhed what we intended upon this doctrine, we come now to confider the fecond obfervation, namely,

DOCT. That believers, who, in waiting on the Lord, get their ftrength renewed, they fhall mount up on wings as eagles.

The fcripture is full of parables, where fpiritual things are reprefented by natural; fo here, the believer is com pared to the eagle: the gofpel of Chrift is full of them; and it may be for thefe two reafons.

1. Becaufe parables make a lively impreffion on the minds of auditors, and convey the truth to the perfon before he be aware: fome, who are ready to forget the truth, will mind the fimile; and fo it leads them back again to the truth, which they had forgot.

2. To teach us a fpiritual and facred use of the creature, like Jacob's ladder, the foot on earth, and the top in heaven; that by these we may afcend to heaven, and by the creature look above the creature.

The method we would propofe, for illuftrating this fubject, through divine affiliance, fhall be the following.

I. We shall speak a little of the wings wherewith they mount up.

II. The things wherein they mount up.

III. The feafons when it is efpecially they mount

up.

IV. The manner how they mount up.

V. The reafons why they mount up. And,

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