found him at Rome, and supplied him, and was not ashamed of his chain, for whom he puts up a most hearty prayer, that he may find mercy of the Lord in the great day, agreeably to the Lord's own promise, "I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat, thirsty, and ye gave me drink, in prison, and ye visited me;" from all which we may conclude that Paul- left but little of this world's riches behind him.

It is certain that Paul knew nothing of us, and yet we are found among his residuary legatees. What became of his cloak I know not; but I reckon that his dear son Timothy got that, for who should have Elijah's mantle but his successor Elisha? And, as for the books and the parchments, believe they are both in our possession to this day, and I hope that they ever will be.

obs 14 ho Now for the words of my text.. 3500h 135 272 "And the books, but especially the parchments." From which words I shall consider four things.

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I. What I understand by the books.

II. What by the parchments.

III. Why this special charge is given concerning them. And 2.00.

IV. Ishall bring some things, both from the books and the parchments, suitable to the present occasion.

First, the books. By the books I understand the five books of Moses, and the books of all the pro- . phets, to which he compared his own conversion to the faith, and his own call to the ministry; toge ther with his commission to the apostolic office, which was to proclaim the predicted salvation of

God to the Gentile world, to which his commission reached, and to which it was chiefly confined.

The first book of Moses, called Genesis, contains a prediction of this great apostle's work. "The Lord shall persuade or enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem." This was the first hint dropped of the salvation of us, after the destruction of the old world, and the discriminating clemency of heaven had appeared to Noah and his family in the ark. Japheth was the Father of the Gentiles; by him were the islands of the Gentiles overspread. To persuade, is to work faith in the heart; to enlarge, is to disentangle, unyoke, release, and bring forth from confinement, those that are shut up under a broken law, in unbelief and in the strong holds of sin and satan, and barred out, and kept at a distance from the favour, countenance, presence, and all communion and fellowship with God. To dwell in the tents of Shem, is to have the curtains of divine favour spread over us, the cords of everlasting love stretched out to us, and the stakes, the chosen pillars of truth, the elect among the Gentiles, raised up.

He produces from the books the prophecy of Moses, another prophecy on this head. "They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their vanitics; and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people, I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation." The prophecies of Hosea and Isaiah are both produced in proof of this, and the apostle

by these saw that himself being raised up, commissioned and sent to the Gentiles, was an accomplishment of the prophecies and promises made to us.

By the books the apostle squared all his work in the Lord. "He testified both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come, that Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles."

From the books he took his words and phrases. "And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech, or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God; for I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."

The books were Paul's rule, line, and plummet, by which he tried all his architecture, as a wise master builder; and, if any thing was required of him which he had not God's judgment or sentence upon, he informs us of it, and tells us that he gave it as his own private judgment. "This speak I, not the Lord but I speak this by permission, not of com. mandment. And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord."

Paul's experience, judgment, faith, ministry,

doctrine, discipline, worship, life, walk, and conversation, were all tried by the books; his judgment of things was laid to the line, and the righteousness that he preached to the plummet.

"He compared spiritual things with spiritual;" spiritual predictions, with spiritual accomplishments; spiritual promises, with spiritual fulfilments; spiritual works on the heart, with spiritual words in the books; and here he saw mercy and truth going before in all the promises, and faithfulness and love following after to make them good.

From the books Paul takes all the legal sacrifices, feasts, and other observances of the Jews; the types, figures, and shadows, under the former dispensation; the tabernacle, and the mysteries of it. The covenant made with them, and all the vessels and things. belonging to the sanctuary service, are brought forth, and, under the operations of the Holy Spirit, they are distilled by our great apostle, and drawn out, and handed down, in all their pure, spiritual, and evangelical sense and meaning; and Christ, in his great undertaking and finished work, it set forth before us as the end to which they all pointed, the substance which they all shadowed out, and the great antitype which they all typified: hence Christ is called our altar, great high priest, sacrifice, atonement, and passover. offering, who suffered without the gate, rose from the dead, ascended on high, and entered the holy of holies, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

From the books the apostle traces faith, from Abel down throughout the antediluvian world, the patriarchal age, and mosaic economy, till time failed him in pursuing the spiritual genealogy of the heavenly fraternity. He tells us what their faith was, and what their faith did: First what it was; "It was the substance of things hoped for." They hoped for the appearance of the Messiah, redemption by him, and glory through him; and Christ dwelling in their hearts by faith, who is king of grace and king of glory, was the substance of all that they hoped for and expected. And their faith was the evidence of things not seen. They saw not the Messiah in his incarnate state, nor the prophecies and promises fülfilled by him, nor the way into the holy of holies consecrated through the vail of his flesh, nor he in his glorified humanity, made higher than the heavens yet their faith was the confidence of these things, and in confidence their strength stood; by the eye of faith they saw the promise at a distance, and by charity they embraced the promised seed; and, as they lived, so these all died in faith; the eyes of their bodies were closed in confidence, and their souls awaked in open and endless vision. They left their flesh to rest in hope, and their souls are called the spirits of just men made perfect.

These obtained a good report through faith; their testimony stood in their confidence. God gave witness to their faith. This was the end of their faith,