idolatry; he was a little sanctuary to them when they came there, and was seen upon a red horse among the myrtle trees, when they came back again, Zech. i. 8. He stopped the lions' mouths in Daniel's den; walked with the three children in the fiery furnace; brought his own captive daughter to the throne of the kindom; hung Haman at his own expense; and advanced Mordecai from a decreed destruction to the dignity of prime minister. It was this Michael, the great prince, that stood for the children of Israel against the devil in the courts of Persia; and it was he that resisted him again at the right hand of Joshua, in the land of Israel: in all which he appeared their God, their Saviour, their King, and their Mediator. And, as for the Song of Solomon, every line of it proclaims its own author; for there is none that speaketh like him; and, it being a sealed book to the wise and prudent, shews plain enough that it is sacred; and, were all the worldly wise upon the earth to undertake to make a book like it, there would be no more resemblance between theirs and the original, than there is between the prophet Isaiah's predictions and the whims of old mother Shipton. That which flows from a divine spring has both a fulness and satisfaction in it; but that which is pressed from human brains is nothing but a sound from emptiness, and proves a broken cistern to all that seek entertainment therein. This Jesus is the truth of all the Bible. "Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they

are they which testify of me." But then, says the Saviour, the world sees me no more. They shall see him as their judge in the great day, for then every eye shall see him; and his enemies shall lick the dust. But, as a Saviour, the world sees These believe not on him. "Ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins; whither I go ye cannot come." And, if they are to see him no more, and if they cannot come where he is, then they that go down into the pit cannot hope

me no more.

for the truth.

Again, by Truth we may understand the Holy Ghost in all his convincing, quickening, regenerating, renewing, sanctifying, comforting, sealing, and purifying, work on the souls of God's elect. "The Spirit beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth," 1 John v. 6. And so are all his operations and instructions. This blessed anointing teacheth us all things, and is truth, and is no lie, 1 John ii. 27. He guides us into all truth, and bears a true testimony with our own conscience to our justification and adoption; and reveals to us the true mind and will of God, and the true state of our souls before him. He searches the deep things of God, and lets us know what is freely given us of God. He reveals the sovereign grace of God, and his good will to us; and is the life and truth of all grace in us. He purifies our heads and hearts from guilt and falsehood, and from the false notions that we entertained both of God and ourselves. He bears a true testimony of Jesus to us; "He shall testify of me." He receives the thing

of

of Christ, and reveals them to us; and shews us things to come. It is this ever-blessed Spirit of truth that applies the word of God to the elect sinner; and makes it effectual, and the power of God, to salvation. The word comes with power in the Holy Ghost, and with much assurance. He softens the hard heart, meekens the stubborn soul, and gives the ingrafted word both a place and a root. He influences, and mightily persuades, the mind to yield the obedience of faith, by crediting the glorious testimony; and makes faith work by love, both to the everlasting gospel and its adorable author. He helps our infirmities at a throne grace, as a spirit of supplication; makes us feel, and points out our wants; dictates every petition that shall find acceptance, and attends the same with confidence; and sends them from off thẹ heart with warmth, fervour, and energy. And we have the infinite satisfaction of seeing and feeling that they do not return empty. This holy and ever-blessed Spirit of truth is the earnest of the great reward; the witness, sealer, and comforter, of every saint of God. But then this Spirit of truth the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, John xiv. 17. And, if the world, the non-elected world, cannot receive him, then they cannot be sanctified by him; and without sanctification by the Holy Ghost there can be no meetness for heaven: the unclean cannot enter there; and "without holiness no man can see the Lord." Hence it follows that,

except a man be born again of the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God, much less enter into it. And, as the world cannot receive this Spirit of truth, then they that go down into the pit cannot hope for it.

By Truth we are to understand the soulquickening word of God. "Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth." This word, faithfully and purely preached, and cordially received, embraced, and credited, is the incorruptible seed, that abides for ever. It is called the word of faith, because faith comes by hearing of it, and hearing by the preaching of it. It is called the word of wisdom, because it makes us wise to salvation through the faith of Christ; the word of knowledge, because it holds forth, and reveals, all that is essential to be known both of God and ourselves; it is the word of life, by which we are quickened; it is the word of righteousness, by which we are made just; the word of reconciliation, by which we are made friends; and the word of truth, by which we are made free. But then this word is only made to Christ the elect head, and to his predestinated offspring. For thus saith God, “This is my covenant with them, my Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, from henceforth and for ever." The promises of the gospel are only to the heirs of promise; the promise and word of eternal life are to none but those that are ordained to it. It is al

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ways applied to the sheep; it was never applied to the goats. They that are of God hear God's word. Others hear it not, because they are not of God; not of God's loving, choosing, and ordaining to life. They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God; he that knoweth God heareth us. Hereby know we the Spirit of truth, and the spirit of error." The mysteries of the kingdom are hid from the wise and prudent; the natural man cannot know them: and, if he cannot know them in this world, while joined to all the living, he will never get at the knowledge of the truth afterwards; "For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest." There shall be nothing of all these things communicated to a man in the grave. But sure I am that it must mean an ungodly man to whom none of all these things are to be communicated; for the Spirit of God, that now dwells in all the saints, shall in the great day quicken their mortal bodies, and reveal the great work of God, and the wonderful device that he has framed. Imperfect knowledge shall vanish, and perfect knowledge be made known; and the wisdom of God in the gospel mystery shall be revealed in all the latitude, and in all the beauty and glory of it, as soon as the ever-blessed Spirit quickens our mortal bodies. For now we know but in part, and prophesy in part, and see through a glass darkly; but, when that which is perfect is come,