the arm of God revealed, that worked in thee the good pleasure of his will, and the work of faith with power? How hast thou been delivered in six troubles, and escaped the seventh? Was it the empty sound of carnal professors, or was it the right hand of God's power, that upheld thee and brought thee through? Has it not been the mighty power of God that has given thee spiritual might in the inner man? that has appeared the most conspicuous in thy weakness, and that has often appeared when a temptation has discovered itself, and thy deceitful heart has already given in to it, and the death brought forth by sin conceiving, has been felt in thy conscience. I ask, if it was the doctrines of the law that appeared and kept thee, and delivered thee, or the power of God? and whether by word thou art kept through faith to salvation, or by the power of God? and lastly, whether the word candour will prop thee up in a dying hour, or God, who is the strength of his people's heart and their portion for ever? If thou sayest all this is right, then I ask, Art thou now staggering between the omnipotent arm of the Saviour and the cant of old women, who walk in craftiness, and by idleness deny the faith, and are worse than infidels; and all for the sake of a few pence, or a morsel of bread. Thou art not to receive the law from old women; they are to teach younger women to be sober, to guide the house, love their husbands and their children; this is their sphere; out of this, they are out of character,

and put the church of God to shame; "It is a shame for women to speak in the church. What? came the word of God from you? or came it out from you only?" 1 Cor. xiv. 35, 36. God tells thee, that a law shall proceed from him; Receive the law, I pray thee, from God's mouth, and lay his words in thine heart, Job xxii. 22; thy faith is not to stand in old wives fables, nor in human wisdom, but in the power of God. It was Mr. Worldly-wiseman that sent Christian to Mr. Legality to get rid of his burden, till Sinai was ready to fall on his head; and others who have been directed by Evangelist, have forsook his council, and gone to Sinai for rules, till they have brought a fresh burden on their souls, and an old yoke on their necks, conceived fresh enmity in their minds, and have not spared to spit their venom at the grace of God; this shews what wrath the law works, and what bondage it genders; such preachers can only prejudice, plunder, insnare, and strip thee; when God will use others, to settle, comfort, support, and succour thee; these latter are they that he makes manifest in thy conscience, whether thou knowest it or not, 2 Cor.v.11; and such, agreeable to thine, own heart's experience, thou wilt be glad to live and die with. This divine manifestation brings about the divine cement or bond of union which the carnal professor cannot get at, for savoury souls will smell them out, though they labour hard to deceive them. I come with one more appeal to conscience, which is, whether this

doctrine of the law being the only and all-sufficient rule of life, was the doctrine in whole or in part that God applied to thee when thou escapedst the damnation of hell at first; or whether it was any thing like it if you say, 'No, nothing bore me up, nor brought me out of the regions of the shadow of death, but that experimental preaching that set forth Christ as all in all;' very well, the kingdom stands in the same power still, and on that same shoulder whereon, as a lost sheep, thou wast laid at first, and brought into the fold; as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. He has appeared the author, believe in him as the carrier on, and hope in him as the finisher of faith; and thou shalt have hope in thy death, nor shall thine expectations be cut off. Let others contend for legal rules, run thou the race set before thee, looking to Jesus; walk in him, and in union with him; he has promised to keep that man in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on him, and continue thou so to do to the very last, for they, and only they, are blessed, that die in the Lord; that is, in confidence in him, in view of him, and in union with him as the Lord God of hosts liveth, this must be thy confidence and thine hope at last, if thy dying head finds any support; therefore, recline on this arm in thy life, which alone can sup port thee when heart and flesh fail. The law, or the doctrines of it, will afford thee but little comfort in a dying hour. Footmen who never get into the chariot of love, have sometimes set thee a

running a wrong road and wearied thee; and if thou hast been often wearied of the warfare in a land of peace, how wouldest thou smite the waters with such a mantle at the swellings of Jordan? Jer. xii. 5. Surely Israel did not enter into that land of Canaan for their righteousness sake, nor for their obedience to the rule of the law; it is called the land of promise; God gave it to Abraham by promise, and God brought them in, and by an high hand drove he the Canaanites out. I have written thus that you might have somewhat to answer them that glory in appearance, but not in heart. Let these men and women who call for meekness and candour give us a better account than this of it, that we may know what it is, and where they got it; whether it is from heaven, or of men; whether from grace, or from themselves, and whether they mean the thing, or the name only. It is true, men may cull scripture, and write something like it, who never tasted that the Lord is gracious, yet the wise will find them out; for if they borrow, or steal the words, yet, the broad seal of God is wanting; therefore their attempts make no impression, nor can they be received as a part of the mystical body, which, by the Spirit, is to be fitly joined together; for before they can be a part of this connected body, they must have an unction; without this joint oil, there can be no union; the body is compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in every part, making increase, Eph. iv. 16. But,

alas, a noise about candour produces no joint oil; these pretended members have no effectual working in them; they have got no hold of the head, and consequently cannot be spiritually joined to the body, nor afford any increase to it. I come now to shew, that this meekness does not destroy the zeal nor the faithfulness of the Lord's

servants.

Of all the children of men, Moses is reported to be the meekest; and no wonder, when God had so clearly revealed himself to him, telling him, that he had found grace in his sight, and that he knew him by name, and that he would be with him. Moses had seen God's providential care over him, and his people, the dreadful severity of God to the Egyptians, and the deliverance he wrought for Israel; the destruction of the one, and the salvation of the other. He had received the law, and quaked and trembled at the promulgation of it, therefore he knew the terrors of God; and on the other hand, God had revealed himself to him as his God in covenant; he had proclaimed his name before him, and communed with him mouth to mouth. He dwelt perpetually under the cloud of divine favour, and was led by the pillar of eternal love for forty years together, and had seen God rise up at his request, and return at his desire; and had been kept perpetually crippled in spirit by a stiffnecked people, who had so grieved his spirit that he spake unadvisedly with his lips; nay, it went ill with Moses for their sakes.

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