A SOLEMEN summons which the Almighty gave, through his prophet Joel, to a people whom he had owned above all the families of the earth, at a time when they had revolted and departed from him, has been revived in my mind, with an appre­hension that the same authority requires the republication of it in this day, to a people likewise highly favour'd of him, and who have, in like manner, departed from their first love.

BLOW the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a so­lemn assembly. Gather the people, sanctify the congrega­tion, assemble the elders; gather the children, and those that suck the breast: Let the bridegroom go forth of his chambers, and the bride out of her closet: Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, spare thy people, O Lord! and give not thy heritage to reproach, that the Hea­then should rule over them; wherefore should they say a­mong the people, Where is their God? Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people.

[Page 6] As I am about to conclude, perhaps finally conclude, my labours among you in this quarter; I would query with some, with many that are present, whether they have not heard, intelligibly, the sound of the trumpet, calling them, with a degree of certainty, to arise and prepare themselves for the battle?

My brethren and sisters, among whom I have been constrained, in the overflowings of the Father's love, to labour in a private capacity, breaking, I hope I may say, a little bread from house to house; the everlasting gospel has been preached among you with all the force of pathetic energy, with all the tenderness of divine com­passion: Let it not be ineffectual. The gospel message has been delivered with such indubitable clearness, that your judgments have been convinced; you have assented to the truth as it is in Jesus: Suffer not the impression it has made upon your minds to be speedily erased.

FAR, very far, be it from me to think highly of my­self, to exalt the officer, the minister; I would not that you should hold any man's person in estimation; I am deeply sensible that to me belongs blushing and confusi­on of face: But I magnify mine office, and the Power of him who has seen meet to employ me therein. I would endeavour to exalt in your view the adorable goodness and condescension of the great author of all our mercies, in that he has caused the trumpet to be renewedly sound­ed in your borders: Hear its important message with suitable attention; let it rouse and prepare all the ranks in the armies of our Ifrael to engage in the glorious cause of our God: Let the daughters of our Zion arise from the bed of indolence, from the lethargic stupor of a fa­tal forgetfulness; from all the deadening, benumbing [Page 7]gratifications of sensuality, and shake herself from the dust of the earth, that she may come up to the help of him who hath called her with an high and holy calling.—The trumpet is blown in her streets—the a­larm has been heard by all:—O! Let not its language be rendered unintelligible by the multiplicity of trivial things, that too much absorb the minds of many. I am fully persuaded, that the gracious visitation of humb­ling, melting goodness has been afresh extended to in­dividuals present, in (I had almost said a very memora­ble manner) nor will I recall the expression; for if it be not treasured up in your remembrance now, for your profit and advantage, it will be memorable in that awful, approaching period, when every neglected mercy will appear deeply engraven, in a dread hand writing on the wall, against us: Let me therefore tenderly entreat you with all the warmth of unutterable affection, as a bro­ther, as a fellow pilgrim, through the vicissitude of time, to the unmixed joys of a happy eternity, that you will no longer neglect the offers of mercy, or turn a deaf ear to the reproofs of instruction.

I FEEL my mind covered with that boundless love, that wishes, that ardently desires, you may indeed be wise for yourselves; for although I may be deficient in many qualifications of a gospel minister. I am not wanting in that pure, disinterested love which seeks not yours, but you unto the Lord.

Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast.

IF we were but enough attentive to the sound of the the trumpet, we should see the absolute necessity of this sanctified fast, a fast from every of those delusive plea­sures [Page 8]sures and slavish attachments that render the mind in­sensible of good.

Call a solemn assembly.

THIS branch of the summons some may think belongs only to a few, and we have no share in the duty it enjoins. I confess I am not of that opinion, I think every individual has a share in the instruction couch'd in it.

Call a solemn assembly.

OH, you active ones! Stop a while in your swift career; make a solemn pause: Stand collected from every object that can gratify or delight the sensual part: Labour di­ligently to assemble all the powers and faculties of the foul, that they may be sanctified by him who gave them. I believe there is no useless, dead, unactive member in the church of God; and those who can thus assemble the collected attention of a redeemed mind, devoted to the divine will, those have an undoubted right from the highest auth city to call an holy convocation. We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth, was the language of some formerly, who had indeed sanctified an acceptable fast. I must desire that those who perhaps cannot be so active in promoting this glorious cause a­mong the sons of men, as some who are called into more eminent stations in the Church, may, by a circumspect, care, over all their words and actions, see that they do nothing against the truth.

Call a solemn assembly; gather the people.

How scattered are many of the members of this quar­ter? Scattered indeed, as sheep without a shepherd, dis­persed [Page 9]up and down in the dark vale of insensibility, and self-forgetfulness; many upon the barren mountains of an empty profession; lost to all religious fellowship, unacquainted with that holy union in which is the bond of peace. How many are the careless I have met with amongst you, who, alas! it may be said, care for none of those things?—Oh! You elders, who might have been as pillars in the Lord's house: You delegated shepherds, who might have adorned the first ranks, in the armies of our Israel, if you had not set down and taken up a rest short of those glorious abodes, which are prepared for them who steadily persevere in the line of divine appoint­ment! —To you the call is,

Gather the people.

AM I my brother's keeper? Let it suffice for me that I look to myself, and that my own family is in tolerable order, is a language that too much prevails. But Oh! that you had the cause of God more at heart; that you were more engaged to gather the people; that you might, with a fatherly care, overlook those whose minds at present resemble the barren desart, the uncultivated wilderness; that you might comfort and encourage those who tread the gloomy scenes of an adverse allotment, as it were cut out from every joy, and alive to each painful sensibility. How would it comfort many of these, if an experienced friend was now and then to drop into their fa­milies, and at times speak a word in the openings of di­vine wisdom, suitable to their several states? I believe it would be a great means of gathering the people. Why should your care be circumscribed within the narrow li­mits of your own families, although they might be well regulated? But you might be more extensively useful if [Page 10]thus engaged in the care of the household of God: I am persuaded that the divine wing would be over you, and a blessing would attend your labour. 'Tis not a time for us to dwell unconcerned in our ceiled houses, when the house of God lies waste; we have many of us the same tender connexions as you. I myself have the same endearing attachments as some of you, the same ties of domestic love as some of you, not less attentive to every relative and social duty than some of you; my nature is not harsh, my principles much less so; yet I am made wil­ling to leave all to come and labour with you, if so be I might be instrumental to rouse any to a more arduous pursuit of their everlasting interest, and I can freely ac­knowledge with humble thankfulness, that I never more fully experienced my peace to flow as a river, never could with greater joy say, Return O my soul to the place of thy rest, for the Lord thy God hath dealt bountifully with thee, than when I have been thus engaged in exten­sive private labours, visiting the sick, reviving the sor­rowful, encouraging the disconsolate; strengthening the weak, watching over and carefully admonish­ing the giddy, incautious youth; and I doubt not but you would have the rewards of peace in your own bosoms, if, as heads of the society, you were more often thus employed in endeavouring to gather the people.

Sanctify the congregations; assemble the elders.

I HAVE been deeply concerned to see some of the el­ders so deficient in [...]ling the line of divine appointment. If they were more engaged to assemble under the holy in­fluence of that power in which they should move, they would many of them be commanded to

[Page 11] Blow the trumpet in Zion.

BUT I know of no state harder to speak to, more dif­ficult to reach, than that of an elder, whose mind is over­grown by the earthly nature.

Oh earth, earth, earth! Hear the word of the Lord.

I DON'T recollect any other instance, in sacred writ, where attention is demanded in a similar manner.

OH earth, earth, earth! Thus thrice repeated, plainly signifying the great difficulty there is in reaching to those, who are as it were buried in the earth, whose minds are fixed in it.

Gather the children.

You that have the rising youth under your care, let me call upon you, let me entreat you to,—gather the children:—Gather them from all the bewitching, enticing allurements of the world; gather their attention to that of God in their own minds. O! How have I secretly mourn'd to see the poor children so sorrowfully neglected, so uninstructed, so much estranged from that holy, divine principle which would exceedingly beautity and enrich them? But, alas! How few parents are rightly qualified to teach their children the law of divine love, to instill in­to their tender minds proper sentiments, to cultivate up­on them those impressions that would be of everlasting advantage;—and if the children, when the gracious visita­tion of the father of mercies moves upon their hearts, warming and animating them with the love of virtue; raising the secret sigh, and begetting desires after heaven [Page 12]and holiness: I say, if the children should then ask the negligent parent, What is this secret something which I seel; this principle which impresses my mind with the love of virtue? What is it? What value shall I set up­on it? How then can you give them suitable instructi­on? You cannot teach then obedience to its sacred dic­tates, when your own example speaks a language quite opposite? Oh! Why should the sea-monster be brought against you? "The sea-monster draweth forth the breast to the young, but the daughter of my people is become cruel as the ostrich in the wilderness, that leaveth her eggs in the sand, to be hatched by the beams of the sun, and considereth not that the foot of the passenger may crush them."—The daughter of my people hath left her ten­der offspring to the uncertainty of being accidentally be­nefited, or, I should rather say, to the mercy of God un­asked, unsought, exposed to all the dangers of a dreary wilderness, unaided, unassisted by the care of a natural parent; the tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of its mouth for thirst; the children ask bread, and there is none, in many families, to break it; they want to be nourished by the sincere milk of the word; but, alas!

The daughter of my people is become cruel.

OH you parents, you delegated shepherds! What ac­count will you have to render when the Lord of the whole earth ariseth to make inquisition for blood? Bear with me my dear friends; slattery and smooth tales may please fools, but they will not please him whom I desire to serve in the gospel of his son. All that is within me is moved while I thus earnestly expostulate with you on behalf of the dear children; suffer me to entreat you for God's sake, [Page 13]for your own soul's sake, for the sake of the cause of truth, Gather the children, and those that suck the breast.

THOSE who are filling themselves with the world's consolation, with the intoxicating pleasures and amuse­ments of a degenerate age; wean them from those de­lights: Gather them to the knowledge of themselves, to a sense of the mercies that are offered them by the great author of mercies, ancient and new.

WHILE thy servant was busied hither and thither, the man made his escape,—was the vain excuse of the officer to whose custody a certain captive was committed, with the charge, "Take care of this man till I come, and if thou let him go, thy life shall go for his life." No plea of other engagements, nor even want of ability to dis­charge our duty towards our offspring, will stand us in stead, if when the Almighty queries with us,—What hast thou done with those lambs I left under thy care in the wilderness, those tender offsprings I gave thee in charge?—We have through neglect, through unwatch­fulness, suffered him or her to go; but we shall most cer­tainly stand accountable for his or her life,—I said want of ability, because I assuredly believe, that want of ability will be so far from a palliation of our crime, that it will rather increase our condemnation. Can we plead want of ability to him who is always ready to furnish us with it, if we are but willing to receive it at his hand? I am of opinion with respect to many of our youth, that if they had been properly instructed and carefully watched over, if they could have seen the beauty of holiness shine in the example of their parents, they would not have gone out so widely as they have.

[Page 14] O YOU parents of both fexes! An important duty is reposed in you. Example your children in the practice of piety. Example speaks louder than precept, its influ­ence is far more extensive, and while on the one hand you are excited to a faithful discharge of your duty towards them, by the certain hope of a glorious reward; so on the other hand the powerful ties of natural affection, the warm solicitude for the happiness of those you love, must stir up to diligence in the work and service appointed you.

Gather the children.

IF after your attentive care has been employed for their preservation; if after the forcible voice of example, you have called them to the perfecting of holiness in the fear of God, they will go, they will turn aside, into the by ways & crooked paths of sin & iniquity, they must stand by their own choice. You will have redeemed your souls & will be found in your lots at the end of time. A ponderous crown awaits; you will close your eyes, and open them to the boundless fruition of unmixed joy, in a happy eter­nity. We do sometimes with sorrow observe the unwea­ried labours of a parent's love, bestowed without the desi­red effect: 'Tis mournful to see children pierce with bitterness and anxiety the breast that has been their sup­port, in their infantile years; to fill that eye with sorrow, that has dropt over them the tear of maternal tender­ness; 'tis a cruel thing for a child to mingle gall and wormwood in the cup of a parent descending to the grave! Let such be assured that their own portion of gall and wormwood will be doubly increased thereby, in the solemn hour of just retribution.

BUT Oh, beloved youth! I earnestly desire that you [Page 15]may never thus widely deviate from the paths of rectitude 'Tis on you the hopes of the present age must shortly devolve: May you wisely chuse an early submission to the holy discipline of the cross of Christ, that you may come up as an army for God. Consider the uncertainty of your stay here: Consider the important business of life, and let the love of every unprofitable delight be swallowed up in the arduous pursuit of glory, honor, immortality, and eternal life. We are daily instructed by the powerful, eloquent language of mortality. Death invades all ranks, snatches those of all ages from the bu­sy stage of life.—She who was yesterday surrounded with nuptial joys must, to-morrow, be confined within the cold inclosure of the silent grave.

"Let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet."

LET the young be joyous, and those who are in the bloom of life leave every thing that tends to retard their progress towards the city of the saints solemnity: Let them relinquish their most exalted satisfactions, rather than neglect to lay hold on the joys of God's salvation, which are unutterably more desirable than all the sin-pleasing gratifications that this world can bestow.

'Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar.'

THIS should not be confined to those only whose mouths may be opened publicly amongst you; for it be­longs to all those who preach to others by the regularity of a godly life and conversation, although we are favour­ed with a living ministry of divine appointment, who dare [Page 16]not fill the ears of men with a repetition of unfelt truths nor amuse them with the unprofitable productions of an empty mind; but are concerned to discharge themselves faithfully, as stewards of the mysteries of God; yet let them be joined by all those that mourn for the desolation of Zion, by all who wish peace within her walls, and pros­perity within her palaces.

Let us weep between the porch and the altar, saying,— Spare thy people, O Lord! And give not thy heritage to re­proach, that the heathen should rule over them; wherefore should they say among the people,—Where is their God?"

IF we are thus unitedly engaged in behalf of our If­rael, it may be that the Lord will again be jealous over his land, with an holy jealousy; for I cannot think that a peo­ple whom he has raised by his invincible power, and so signally placed his name amongst, were ever designed to be only the transient glory of a couple of centuries.— I am still revived by a secret hope of better times, when our Zion shall again put on her beautiful garments, and in her and with her shall arise judges, as at the first, and counsellors, as at the beginning. Let us weep between the porch and the altar; let us interceed for the people, that the land may yet be spared. The gracious ear of our heavenly Father is still open to the supplications of his children, and I believe he will yet be jealous over his land, and pity his people.

THE time approaches when the great dasher in pieces will more and more come up amongst us; and may all, who are broken by him, wait to be healed by the arising of his love: I shall not live to see it, but I live in the faith, and I believe I shall die in the faith, that the Lord [Page 17]of Hosts will yet beautify the place of his [...] our Zion will yet become an eternal excellency, and Jerusa­lem the praise of the whole earth.

Let us weep between the porch and the altar, for the Lord will yet be jealous over his land, and pity his people.

THE bowels of adorable condescension yet yearn over his children, with all the tenderness of a Father's love.

How shall I give thee up, O Ephraim? How shall I make thee as Admah, and set thee as Zeboim?—How shall I cut thee off from being a people before me?

BY this moving and pathetic language would the great Father of the universe induce you to return to the arms of everlasting mercy; and if we are placed as watchmen in Zion, faithfully discharge the trust reposed in us, we shall be made instrumental in gathering the scattered and dispersed sheep, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, to the great shepherd, to the one sheepfold, and finally obtain an ad­mittance into those glorious mansions, where the morning stars join in singing hallelujahs! And where all the sons of God for ever shout for joy.

Now unto the King eternal, immortal and invisible, the only God, be honor and praise, for ever and ever!