Divine teaching, to estimate the Lord's manifestations towards them, not by the largeness of the gift, but by the largeness of the love which accompanieth it. I have found it good sometimes to be straitened in myself, that I might better know, when I am enlarged, that I am enlarged in the Lord. Old disciples in the school of Christ, like the fathers the Apostle John speaks of, who have "known Him that is from the beginning," are careful to trace every renewed manifestation up to the Eternal source from whence all blessings flow, namely, the Everlasting love of Jehovah, which first gave Christ, and all things with Him. And this connected view of Eternity with time, in relation to manifestations, brings all who are thus taught of God, to what the Apostle John calls them-fathers. Now, the sweetness and value of such Divine things are not so generally known, and consequently are not practised, by scholars less advanced. And the young men, the Apostle so calls, who are said to be strong, are the Timothy's the Apostle Paul speaks of—" strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus," for there is strength in no other. But the little ones are equally beloved, and are frequently said also to have known the Father, for, being regenerated, their sins are forgiven for His name's sake. But it may be said, perhaps, the attainments of these little ones are so slender, that they are frequently at a loss to give an "answer to any one who asketh of the hope that is in them." Be it so. But let such little ones recollect, it is not their attainments, but the Lord's grace; not what is wrought in them, but what is wrought for them. Jehovah's communication to His people in his Trinity of Persons, is not their communica

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tion to Him. A babe in Christ, like the babe in nature, desires "the sincere milk of the word, that he may grow thereby." And how doth the babe at the breast testify his delight in this food? Not by reason, but by appetite; not by what others take, but by what he enjoys: and "having tasted that the Lord is gracious," he hangs satisfied at the "breasts of consolation."

May the Lord the Holy Spirit visit His Church with acts of personal communion, and His eyes be ever upon it, as upon Judea of old. And if the Lord be pleased to give the savour of His grace to this production, and an unction from the Lord accompanying the reading of it to His people, the design is accomplished. Never can a child of God be too earnest, in all his attendances on the several means of grace, to discover in all this savour from Jehovah. It is among the many melancholy signs of the present awful times, that head knowledge supplieth the place of heart influence; and amidst the increased and increasing tide of general profession, the waters of the sanctuary run low. Let it be particularly noticed, there is a way of preaching Christ, or writing of Christ, and in which many of the great truths of the Gospel may be delivered, and yet, if acquired only in nature's school, and received by natural men, however promising it may appear, inward decays manifest the lifelessness of the principles, as consumptive persons sometimes have very florid countenances.

Spiritual truths can only be received spiritually. Nature, in her highest elevation, is but nature still. And a regenerated child of God manifests more of that Sovereign work of grace upon his soul, by those simple acts

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of spiritual life, than all the sermons and books of unregenerate men; namely, that the incomings of grace, and the goings forth of faith in him, are all spiritual.

CHAPTER X.

The Children of God witnesses for Him.-God demanding an audience from his Creatures: his Challenge proclaimed.-The Work of Regeneration in contradistinction to a Professional Name.

Here let us make a pause, and consider that it is no small token of Divine love, when from Divine teaching the child of God is enabled to bless God, for what God is in Himself, independent of what he has done, and is doing, and will to all Eternity do, for His people. Such a frame of mind can only come from God, because it leadeth to God, and manifests great grace given of the Lord. And we are warranted from Scripture to say that God is well pleased, when at any time his children, from the sweet influences received from Him in their hearts, can, and do, "bless the Lord in all places of His dominion." The Lord takes it kind when they put their hearty amen to His glory. For so the Lord saith himself "Whoso offereth praise, glorifieth me."

But the child of God adds another sweet note to his hymn of praise, when, in contemplation of the Lord's goodness to his Israel, he celebrates the love-tokens of God in his song, and saith, "The Lord taketh pleasure in His people, and beautifieth the meek with salvation.”*

* Ps. cxlix. 4.

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Here the children of God, in their hallelujahs, are said to "sing aloud upon their beds, and the high praises of God are in their mouth."

And yet higher and louder still the note of praise swells in their song, when, from the same Divine source, they are enabled to become witnesses for God in the midst of a "crooked and perverse generation, among whom they shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life."*

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Perhaps this is among the highest dignities to which any of God's children can be exalted, during the timestate of the Church upon earth. And it is as distinguished as it is honourable, when the Lord makes his chosen ones to be his witnessing ones, amidst these pestilent seasons, when infidels swarm like hornets in the corrupt atmosphere. And beyond all doubt, nothing tends to demonstrate the Sovereignty of God in more striking characters, than when the Lord thus accomplisheth the purposes His will, in producing great events by slender means, and choosing "foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty."† For this is what, in the unequalled majesty of Holy Scripture, is called, "taking the wise in their own craftiness." God is there said to "frustrate the tokens of the liars, and make the diviners mad; to turn wise men backward, and make their knowledge foolish."+

Holy Scripture abounds with instances of the kind; but, perhaps, in none more than in that sublime part of the Word of God, where the Lord is represented as

*Philip. ii. 15, 16.

† 1 Cor. i. 27.

Is. xliv. 25.

coming forth to manifest His self-existence and Sovereignty, distinguished from all creature idols. Under the similitude of a tribunal of judicature, Jehovah appears as convening an assembly, and demanding an audience from his creatures. Men have their courts of justice, and God will have his. And as in these transactions among men, the opening of all trials is introduced with a proclamation, where all persons interested are required to attend; so the Lord of Hosts will not be outdone by his creatures, in granting both time and opportunity for a fair hearing, but will both summons an auditory, and command attention. Yea, God will be heard and acknowledged too; for the knee that will not bend to the sceptre of His grace, shall break under the iron hand of His justice. And the Lord himself thus makes proclamation in open court: "Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears; let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled. Who among them can declare this, and show us former things? Let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say it is truth. Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen."*

Let the reader figure to himself such an assembly. Let his imagination bring before him (if the thought be not too vast for the human mind to grasp), not a court on this earth, where a few hundreds or a few thousands may sometimes be crowded together, but where millions upon millions are brought-even all the human race, that ever have been, or ever shall be, in all ages of the world.

*Is. xliii. 8-10.