fee the Lord's name; and that name is the angel of the covenant, who went in the cloudy pillar through the wilderness. This name is to be feen by those who have wisdom in the hidden parts of the heart: "All the churches fhall know that 1 am he that fearcheth the reins and the hearts." Therefore hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it; for all these things are appointed for thee, and many fuch things are with him. I was much furprised laft Lord's-day to hear that thou waft not as yet returned to the King's Dale, but that you was in hope of quitting the Bower this week, being fomewhat reftored to health again. I wifh much to know whether this hath been among the all things that work together for good to them that love God. Hath he fulfilled his promife? Hath he strengthened thee upon the bed of languifhing? Hath he made all thy bed in thy fickness? I am persuaded by the Lord that he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. Lam. iii. 33. It is to empty. us of felf, that we may favour more of him and of his good ointments. If the veffel of mercy goes but for a short space without the rod, without the cross, without difcipline, without afflictions, without the furnace, it foon fettles upon its old lees, and the fcent remains, and we favour not of the things of God, but those of flesh and blood. Sanctified trials banish the fpirit of this world from the mind, and keep thofe worldly cares (which (which too often choke the word) from rooting in the heart. When God comes with a fiery trial he goes through thefe briers and thorns, and confumes them all together. Ifa. xxvii. 4. It was thefe that overtopped the good feed in the thornyground hearers. Fiery trials fcorch thefe at the root, and the blafts of divine refentment wither them; and legal bondage to fear drives us to care for matters more weighty, and to feek for a more enduring fubftance; and, when fenfible union with the living Vine begins again to take place, a better crop is produced. "Inftead of the thorn fhall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier fhall come up the myrtle-tree: and it fhall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting fign that shall not be cut off." Ifa. Iv. 13. Divine life within, and a verdant profeffion without, make the believer appear as a fir-tree, the fap of which is always up, and the leaf of which is never withered, but always green; and, when the robe of humility is put on, and the influences of divine grace perfume the foul, it is like the myrtle, low, green, and fragrant; and where these things are experienced, enjoyed, and felt, it is to be to the Lord for a name; it is the fulfilment and full proclamation of the name of the Lord, proclaimed before Mofes; I mean, that of the Lord's being gracious and merciful, flow to anger, abundant in goodness and truth, pardoning iniquity, tranfgreffion, and fin, &c. &c. And, as this is to be to the Lord for a name of of praise, so it is to be to the Lord God for an everlasting fign that shall not be cut off. Ifa. lv. 13. It is like the rainbow, that is a fign to God of the promise that he hath made to all men, that he will drown the world no more, and a fign to man that he shall not be drowned. But to us the former is a fign that God will no more be wrath with us nor rebuke us, and a fure fign to us that we never fhall be drowned in deftruction and perdition. The fir and the myrtle fhall not be cut off; they never shall be cut asunder with the fword of juftice, nor be separated from the communion and fellowship of God the Father, and God the Son: they fhall ever abide in the favour of both. I think my dear fifter is a good deal relapfed into legal bondage; fhe has loft the Lord's prefence with respect to fenfible enjoyment; and now she lives too near home the creeps too much into self, and pores too much over the members and motions of the old man; and fhe has lived upon the old stock of past experiences so long that she has nothing left but the bare remembrance of them, and the hope which past experience hath wrought in her. Manna in the wilderness was to be gathered every day, except the fabbath; and you know that hidden manna is promifed to us under the gospel. Water from the rock followed Ifrael, and they drank of it: and we have the promise of being watered every moment, and of being kept night and day. When the land of Canaan was to reft reft on the seventh year, a blefling was promifed on the fixth; and on the eighth year, when the new crop came in, fome of the old store was to be found, that the householder might mix it with the new. And every fcribe inftructed unto the kingdom of God is to be like one of thofe old householders; he is to bring forth out of his treasures And But who are these ftores for? "At our gates are all man things new and old. which I have beloved!" Song vii. 13. Jaid up for thee, O for thee, O my beloved!" The paffover offering was to be offered up but once in a year, in remembrance of Ifrael's great deliverance, and to lead their faith to their great Deliverer then to come, and to a greater deliverance by him; and we know that Christ our paffover was facrificed for us, and we are to keep the feaft. But then there was to be a lamb offered every morning and evening throughout the year, which was called the daily facrifice; and with which was to be offered a perpetual incenfe. This was to lead their faith to look daily to the Lamb of God, both for help and for life; and the fweet perfume of unctuous prayer and praife, under the influence of the spirit of fupplication, muft, as our incenfe, attend our daily looks to the Lamb flain from the foundation of the world. We are to live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us, and gave himself for us. At thy first deliverance thou hadft little effe but banqueting banqueting for a whole year; then came weaning time; the breaft was put up, and stronger meat was brought forth; the fincere milk of the word was left for other little ones, who are coming after, and for those who are unfkilful in the word of righteousness; whilft knowledge and understanding are to feed them which are of full age. Ezekiel's roll and John's little book, were both to be eaten, and they were fweet in their mouth; but, when they came into the belly, and discovered all the innermoft parts of that, attended with the candle of the Lord, it caufed much bitterness there, through the rifings of inbred corruptions against the heavenly contents. John's little book produced the wife man's twofold ingredients: "The heart knoweth its own bitterness; and a stranger intermeddleth not with his joy." And this hath been the experience of all that ever received the word of God in power, in the Holy Ghoft, and with much affurance. As for those who receive it into their head, and have their natural paffions moved and stirred up under the found of it, their joys feem long to abide; they are always the fame; they have no changes of joy and bitterness, profperity and adverfity; they are not in trouble as other men, nor plagued as the people of God are; their strength is firm, until God's fan, or the midnight cry, comes on them; and then all their joys wither, like grafs upon the house-top," wherewith the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth |