children to bring him again into bondage. Such a sinner has found the righteousness and truth of God in the law, which opened his ear to discipline; and now, in Christ, he finds mercy and peace in harmony with truth and righteousness; where mercy and truth met, there God reconciled and the true penitent meet; and where righteousness and peace kissed each other, there the Father kisses the prodigal, and the prodigal kisses the king of peace.

This is the man that hath escaped the mount that might not be touched, and that burneth with fire; and is gone from blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and from the sound of a trumpet, and from the voice of words; and is come to Mount Zion, where the Saviour reigns, and unto the city of the living God, which he has chosen, founded, and built, and where he dwells; even to the heavenly Jerusalem, the married wife, the free woman, and the mother of every free-born son; and to an innumerable company of angels, who were elected by the Father, confirmed in their standing by the Saviour, and who are the retinue of the Lord, ministering spirits to the heirs of promise, and the fellow-servants of the saints; and to the general assembly, both of Jews and Gentiles; and to the church of the firstborn, which the elder brother bought with his blood, arrays in his righteousness, and sanctifies by his blood and Spirit; and which consists of firstborn sons, heirs of promise, and of the grace of life; whose names are

savory lees of the old cask, and the lurking leaven of self-righteousness, legal pride, and hypocrisy; together with the loathsome sediment of self-confidence and self-seeking; and, as it purifies the heart, so it purifies the speech. God turns to his people a pure language, that they may call upon his name, and serve him with one consent. Thus counsel in the heart, not in the head, is as deep waters, and the words of wisdom as a flowing brook. This blessed spring, rising up within, purifies and renews the spirit of the mind, and carries it up to heavenly things, where it enjoys both life and peace; and is entertained with fresh discoveries of covenant love, and solaced with refreshings from the presence of the Lord. This is a knowledge, sir, which no hypocrite could ever attain, and which false apostates never knew.

Head notions are like a standing pool in the midst of summer, neither sweet nor clear; and therefore require a great deal of learning, flowery rhetoric, empty oratory, pompous speech, swelling words, and cunning craftiness, in order to decorate, garnish, and set them off: but these things do not feed the poor hungry soul. This book, having treated of the knowledge of Christ, but not described any part of it, proceeds to mention the doctrine of the trinity, and the characters, &c. of the Lord Jesus, by collecting a number of scripture texts, which are better read in the bible than in this book, for here is nothing described nor explained in it.

VOL. XI.

All the head notions of the glorious trinity that men can attain to will never keep Satan out of the heart, nor hold the soul in a storm. The real Christian has got the work of a trinity of persons on his own soul. "He that loveth dwelleth in God, and God in him.” Such an one has fellowship with the Father. And he that enjoys pardon, rest, and solid peace, in his Saviour, by virtue of heart-felt union with him, has fellowship with the son, and has fellowship with the spirit; who communicates knowledge, comfort, and joy, to him; who maintains his standing in faith, his soul in hope, and his hope in expectation of future glory; who helps his infir mities in prayer, strengthens him with might in his weakness, bears testimony to his adoption, seals him with a comfortable assurance, and operates upon him as an earnest of the future inheritance. He is a witness and proof of his eternal election, and a pledge of eternal glory : he reveals the secrets of heaven to him, and leads him into a state of friendship and familiarity with God; he makes known to his soul the good-will of God in Christ Jesus, and makes him obedient thereto by faith; enables him to stand fast therein, and that with an holy boldness, in unfeigned faith, in unpresuming confidence, and in undissembled love; which no Arian, no bondchild, no Socinian, no Sabellian, no Antinomian, no Arminian, nor any other species of hypocrites, ever experienced, felt, or enjoyed.

This doetrine, sir, confounds the wise, and

puzzles the prudent: it makes devils roar, and impostors rage; it drives the pharisee from his sandy foundation, the hypocrite from his false hope, and the vessel of wrath from his anchorage; it discovers the rottenness of hypocrites in Zion, and makes diviners mad; it makes a novice in the pulpit look like an actor on the stage, and the writings of graceless souls like old mother Shipton's prophecies.

Under this divine teaching the productions of carnal men are all thrown to the bats: a dry system in the brain appears a broken wheel at the cistern; a noisy and empty profession, a rattle for prating fools; and all the pleasures, honours, and riches, of this world, like the drop of a bucket, or the dust of a balance.

Quot. The scriptures testify of the Lord Jesus that he is a Redeemer.

Answ. Notions of redemption in the head will not do, reverend sir: we must enforce the experience of it. The elect sinner is led to the fountain open; his conscience is purged from guilt and dead works by an application of the blood of sprinkling; he is redeemed from the bondage of the law, from a vain conversation, and from among men. No man can sing of redemption without an application: "No man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from among men." Ifs,' and 'Buts,' and 'We trust,' and 'I think,' will not answer the purpose here: head notions