use all the Ordinances and Privileges granted to the Church by our glorious Lord and Master, Christ, who is the king, head, and saviour of his Elect. It appears the word Church signifies a sacred Assembly or Society, called of God by the Gospel, met together to worship God according to his revealed will. Let this suffice, the Church, in its just and expensive sense, includes _the whole body of the redeemed_. This Church has appeared in every age of the world; been kept up and supported in a very wonderful manner, which made Solomon exclaim, in raptures of affection, wonder, and delight, _Who is this that cometh up from the Wilderness_, _like pillars of smoke_, _perfumed with myrrh and frankinsense_, _with all the powders of the Merchant_?—The History of the Old Testament is but an History of the Church, which, though afflicted, tormented, and tossed with many tempests, yet was miraculously preserved by the Lord Jesus, who never left the world without a witness for himself, nor never will. ’Tis wonderful to trace her rise and prosperity, her persecution and deliverance, till the present hour—and as my dear friends (many of them at least) have but little time to read History, I presume to give them a brief Account of the Church in the Wilderness, for which I am indebted under God, to Historians. When our Lord made his appearance in the likeness of sinful flesh, he thoroughly purged the floor of his Old Testament Church—he effected a wonderful revolution, set aside every carnal ordinance, and fulfilled all laws, moral and ceremonial. After his death and resurrection he went to glory, that he might fill all things. He endued his Apostles with power from on high—raised up a company of preachers, who were means in the hands of the Spirit, for building Sanctuaries to God. The middle wall of partition was now broken down—the Gentiles were fellow-citizens with the Jews, and both made up one household. We shortly after read of Churches in many parts of the world. For the first fifty years after our Lord’s resurrection, the Gospel was most powerfully successful—God sent forth the rod of his strength, and much good was done in the name of the holy child, Jesus.—But Satan roared loudly; the Church was in the Wilderness—and as it had been persecuted as related by the Apostle in the 13th of the _Hebrews_, so it was again—they under the New Testament Dispensation, were persecuted, beaten, sawn asunder—they wandered about in Sheep’s and Goat’s skins, and hid themselves in dens and caves of the earth. Surely the New Testament Saints are included in that pathetic address, _Oh_! _thou afflicted_, _tossed with tempest_, _and not comforted_. Errors in doctrine soon appeared, even to the denying of the resurrection of the body—Ordinances were soon corrupted, and worldly-mindedness was prevalent. Persecution wasted the Church of God very early in the year 66; it began by imperial authority. _Nero_ having