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sight, and capable of being filled with God-so capacious, that, were it able to grasp the vastness of the universe, and claim it as its own domain, it would then snatch at a shadow, and feel within itself an empty void, which God alone can fill: for it came from God, and with him alone can it be satisfied. And Solomon asks, “Who knoweth the spirit of the sons of Adam, which is continually ascending," (for so the Hebrew reads,) that is, constantly in the pursuit of high and mighty things, continually craving after something which the earth and all its fulness cannot supply-a noble faculty, so mysterious and subtle in its workings, that man becomes bewildered and lost in astonishment, when he contemplates his own existence. For he cannot, with all his cunning sophistry, bring himself to believe that after this life is ended, he then becomes extinct. O no; there is that witness within every man, which assures him that his spirit, the inner man, is something more than animal existence-a spirit which goeth upwards: for "the spirit of the beast goeth downwards;" for the English text reads thus "Who knoweth the spirit of a man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" Eccles. iii. 21.

And the same inspired writer declares, Prov. xx. 27, "That the spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of his belly"—that is, all the secret thoughts and desires of man.

THE CONSCIENCE OF MAN.

The Hebrew word translated belly, as a noun, signifies the central and internal part of any body, and is used in 1 Kings vii. 20, to denote the hollow

of the pillars in Solomon's porch; but in the text in Ecclesiasticus I believe it has reference to the desires and propensities of the heart, or the seat of human affection, wherever it may be ; but thus much we do know, that as the brain is the region in which we sensibly feel the power of reason and understanding, so is the region of the heart the focus in which we as really and sensibly feel every passion to kindle, whether good or bad; and that is the region which the DTNO spirit of man, the candle of Jehovah, explores ; as, according to Parkhurst, the radical meaning of the word implies to split, separate, or divide; or representing the action of light or fire splitting or dividing the masses of gross air.

And thus does the voice of conscience search out and divide every thought of the heart; and every one who has felt the voice of conscience speaking like a clap of thunder, knows well how sensibly its throbs are felt in the region of the heart, when the pulsation of which is so suddenly, rapidly, and alarmingly increased, that respiration is with difficulty performed.

Thus does man possess a noble faculty which the brute beast has not a faculty which man himself cannot comprehend, although he is well assured of its existence: because, superior to the brute creation, he can, through by-gone ages, trace back the thoughts and exploits of his forefathers, weigh their actions, and the motives by which they were actuated, in the balances of truth and justice, and, according to their fruits, applaud or execrate their memory: or, can record for future generations yet unborn, his own ideas on religion, morality, philosophy, learning,

or national polity; and, however wide their principles or hypothetical schemes may deviate from the simple truth, yet conscience, the candle of the Lord, always speaks truth-for it is truth, and abstract truth, which judges not according to appearance, but righteous judgment. Consequently conscience often condemns what custom doth allow; and what one man's conscience will not permit him to do, his neighbour might do with impunity, because the same motions of the mind doth not affect all men alike. And that which a man's own conscience condemns must not be indulged in, though the whole church allow it, and more especially so, what the word of God in the plainest language condemns.

And this, and much more, belongs to the spirit of a man, which goeth upward. He being the image and likeness of his Maker, and possessed of a reasonable soul, was so constituted an accountable creature-a free agent, with an unbiassed will-free to stand and free to fall: whilst his felicity depended upon his obedience to a certain law which God gave him, as a test of his fidelity, the account of which is given in the following verses :

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Verse 8. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that was pleasant to the sight, and good for food: the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”—Concerning which trees I intend offering a few remarks further on, but at present go on with the history. Verse 10." And a river went out of Eden to wa

ter the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison," &c. " And the name of the second is Gihon," &c. "And the name of the third, Hiddekel," &c. "And the name of the fourth river is Euphrates." Thus four rivers went out of Eden. "And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it, and to keep it."

Thus we see that man, even whilst in his state of perfection, was not to live a life of idleness, but was to dress and keep the garden into which he was put, with permission to eat of all the trees of the garden, excepting of the tree of knowledge of good and evil of that he was forbidden to Concerning which I shall make a few remarks, after I have considered of the tree of life. THE ORDER OF THE CREATION, TYPICAL OF THE KINGDOM OF GRACE.

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There is no doubt upon my mind, but that all the operations of God in setting the natural creation in order, as likewise the condition of the elements prior to his commencing the same, are symbolical of the kingdom of grace. For it cannot be supposed but that God saw that man would fall from that perfect state in which he was created, before he created him: so that the state of the confused chaos before the Spirit of God operated upon it, perfectly typified the true condition of man after he had fallen; and the method which the Creator took to set the creation in order, is the way in which he proceeds in renovating every poor sinner who returns to him: first he awakens him by the Holy Spirit, next he moves and en

gages his affections towards him, and then makes him willing to serve him with body, soul, and spirit and, as the natural sun keeps up the life of nature, so doth Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, by the Holy Spirit which he hath received without measure, keep alive the kingdom of grace in his heart, until at last he " presents him faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy." Jude, 24 v.

Thus was the fallen state of man typified: but, blessed be God, he set up in the garden of Eden the tree of life-a glorious and lively type of the blessed covenant of grace, by which fallen man should be restored to another and more glorious paradise than that which he lost by transgres

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I have just remarked, that the tree of life in the midst of Eden was a type of the everlasting covenant of grace, which I now proceed to shew: and, first, it was an emblem of Christ, who indeed, is the tree of life. But, in order to obtain some light upon the subject, I must draw my readers' attention to the 22nd chapter of Revelations, from the first verse," And he shewed me a pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." And, again, in Ezek. xlvii. where the prophet, by the Spirit of God, (when speaking upon the same subject,) says, "And the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine."

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