ness and seal that he gives. All these are sure in Christ to us, and we secure in him. "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is," "For surely there is an end, [or reward] and thine expectation shall not be cut off."

I now come to my second general head, which is
To treat of Truth hoped for.

By Truth we are to understand, in the first place, the veracity of God. "He is a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he." Which truth is pledged in every doctrine of the everlasting gospel, and in every promise of the better covenant; which, in the mouth of the Spirit, is the soul-quickening word of eternal life. God will be true to his dear Son, who is our covenant head, and true to his covenant, which was made and which stands fast with him; and he will be true to all his seed, and to every promise made to them in Christ, which will, and must, appear in the exact fulfilment of every promise, and in the accomplishment of every prediction, respecting Christ and them. Thus divine truth, accompanying every prophecy of good, and every promise made to us in the word, comes forth from the God of truth; and which, in the application of it to us, in the experience of it, power of it, and enjoyment of it, makes us and the whole church the pillar and ground of the truth. And certain it is that the truth of God in his word shall never return void: it shall return, but not void: it shall accomplish the end for the

which it is sent, and prosper in the thing that pleases God: and at last in the salvation and glorification of God's elect. Truth shall be settled in heaven, Psalm cxix. 89. But then the nonelect are a seed of falsehood; there is no truth in them; their right hand is a right hand of falsehood. They are not of God; but of their father the devil, who was a liar from the beginning. They cannot deliver their souls, nor say, "Is there not a lie in my right hand?" And as the tree falls, so it lies: it shall never be turned, nor the state of it ever be altered: "For they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth."

But then it may be objected; if they that go down into the pit cannot hope for God's truth, it looks as if no branch of divine truth will ever appear there, nothing but falsehood; which is confirming Mr. Winchester's doctrine, whose hope is, that God will prove a liar, and be perjured in his oath. Must not the truth of God appear to the wicked in his unrepealed law, in his fulfilment of the awful threatening, and in the execution of the righteous sentence according to the just demerit of sin, which ends in an eternal banishment from his presence? I answer; the truth of God will appear in all these: for as is his fear, so is his wrath; both are for ever, and both are sure; the former to the saint, and the latter to the sinner. But this branch of truth is not hoped for, but hoped against. Hope is always employed about something good, something desirable, and something that the poor sinner feels his need of:

hope of the right kind hopes for the mercy of God, and the truth of his salvation. But these reprobates are "a people of no understanding, therefore he that made them will have no mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour:" and, if no mercy is to be had on them, nor favour shewn to them, then they that go down into the pit cannot hope for it.

By Truth we are to understand our Lord Jesus Christ, in the truth of his divine nature; who is truly, properly, essentially, and eternally, God in every sense of that great and tremendous name, and in all glorious perfections. He is the true God, and eternal life; and in his human nature truly and properly man; and in every covenant character faithful and true. In his prophetic office, in the doctrines he taught, and in the testimony that he bore, he is the faithful and true witness; yea, he is the truth of all the ancient prophecies: "To him gave all the prophets witness:" and he is the truth, sum, and substance, of every doctrine of the everlasting gospel. He is the angel of the great council, and the first elect in the ancient settlements of eternity. Predestination to the adoption of children, and the choice of God to eternal life, are both in him. Redemption and satisfaction, justification and reconciliation, pardon, peace, and acceptance with God, are all in him, and of him. He is the great and rich gift; and all the invaluable treasures and blessings, that are held forth in every unconditional promise, are

what is called the unsearchable riches of Christ. He is the substance of all the ceremonial shadows, and the truth of all the legal types. "The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." He is the true tabernacle, which God pitched and not man. And this King, in his divine favour, is the cloud, and this Holy One is the flame, that followed Israel throughout the dreary desert. He is the hidden manna, and the flowing rock; the mercy seat, and the ark of our strength, where all the secret treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid. He is the vail, and the entrance into the holy place; the golden pot, and the blooming rod; the golden table, and the bread of life; the altar, priest, and sacrifice. He is the laborious ox, that bore the legal yoke; the red heifer, that made atonement; the fatted calf, that feeds the prodigal; and the lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world. He is the daybreak, daystar, and dayspring, that has visited us, and who has made all those shadows flee away, and nothing but a solid substance is left for us. God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect."

He is the fulfilling end of the moral law; by whom it was magnified and made honourable; and by whose obedience, to us imputed, attended with the Holy Ghost and love of God, the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us, though not by us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Indeed he is the truth of the whole Bible. The history of the creation exhibits his eternal power.

and godhead, being clearly seen by the things that are made; which things were not made, as the Deist fancies, of the things which do appear, Rom. i. 20. The destruction of the antediluvian world, and of the cities of the plain, is an awful display of his inflexible justice, and of his holy indignation at all sin; while the preservation of Noah and Lot as loudly proclaim his discriminating grace and sovereign clemency. The journals of the patriarchs, and their posterity, are all attended and bestrewn with his faithfulness and truth to them, both in providence and in grace. His tender care of them is clearly seen, and his blessings on them, the provision he made for them, his protection of them, and his love tokens to them. "And when they went from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people, he suffered no man to do them wrong; yea, he reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.”

And, although some say, I can see nothing of Christ in the Song of Solomon, in the books of Ruth and Esther, &c.' yet the book of Ruth exhibits nothing else but the grace of Christ, and the wonderful footsteps of Providence; yea, the conversion of that woman, through whom, by the female line, according to the flesh, Christ came, is a wonderful hint of the salvation of the heathen. And, as for the book of Esther, the hand of the Lord toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies, appear almost in every line. It was he that sent them into Babylon for their