understand, that the knowledge and utterance of them, came not by those usual and ordinary means whereby we are brought acquainted with the mysteries of our salvation. For whatsoever we know, we receive from the agency of men; and are led along, like children, from a letter to a syllable, from a syllable to a word, and so from line to line, and sentence to sentence. But God himself was their instructor. He himself taught them; partly by dreams and visions in the night, partly by revelations in the day, taking them aside from amongst their brethren, and talking with them as a man would talk with his neighbour in the way. And thus they became acquainted even with the secret and hidden counsels of God. They saw things which themselves were not able to utter. They beheld that whereat men and angels are astonished. They understood in the beginning what should come to pass in the latter days.

We have received, says the Apostle, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth. This is that which the Prophets mean by those books written within and without; and which were so often delivered them to eat; not that God fed them with ink and paper, but to teach us that so oft as he employed them in this heavenly work, they neither

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spoke nor wrote any thing of their own, but uttered syllable by syllable, as the Spirit put it into their mouths; even as the harp gives its sound according to the direction of his hand who holds and strikes it. The only difference is this—the instrument, though it makes such distinction of time and sound as to give delight to the hearer, is itself unconscious of the music it affords: but not so the Prophets and holy men of God. They were not like harps or lutes; but they felt, they felt the power and strength of their own words. When they spoke of our peace, their hearts were filled with joy. When they prophesied of lamentations, and mourning, and woe, they wept in bitterness and indignation of spirit; the arm of the Lord being mighty upon

them.

Such were the prophecies of Holy Scripture. Which, though they contain nothing that is not profitable for our instruction; yet as one star differeth from another star in glory, so every word of prophecy has a treasure, as it were, contained in it. As, therefore, all treasures are not of equal price, so the chief and principal matter of prophecy is the promise of righteousness, peace, holiness, victory, immortality, unto every one that believeth that Jesus is the Christ, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. Now, since the doctrine of salvation by faith in Him, who, in outward appearance, was a man forsaken of God; in Him who was numbered, judged, and condemned with

the transgressors; in Him who was buffeted on the face, scoffed at by the soldiers, scourged, crucified, pierced to the heart; in Him whom the eyes of so many witnesses beheld, when, in the anguish of his soul, he exclaimed, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? I say, since the doctrine of salvation by Him is a thing so improbable to a natural man, that, whether we preach to the Gentile, or to the Jew, the one condemns our faith as madness, the other as blasphemy; therefore, to establish and confirm the certainty of this saving truth in the hearts of men, the Lord, to the preaching of those whom he sent immediately from himself to reveal these things unto the world, added prophecies of things, both civil and ecclesiastical, which were to come in every age from time to time, even till the very last of the latter days; that, by those things in which we daily see their words fulfilled and done, we might have strong consolation in the hope of things which are not SEEN; because the one as well as the other have been equally REVEALED by them. For, when many things are predicted in Scripture, of which we see first one thing accomplished, and then another, and so a third, perceive we not plainly, that God leads us, as it were, by the hand, till he has settled us upon the rock of an assured hope, and that not one jot or one tittle of his word shall pass, till all be fulfilled? It is not, therefore, said in vain, that these godless wicked ones were spoken of BEFORE.

But, by whom? By them whose words, if men or even angels from heaven gainsay, they are accursed by them, whom whosoever despiseth, despiseth not them, but me, says Christ. If any man therefore love the Lord Jesus, (and woe is he that does not love him!) hereby may he know that he loves him, if he despise not the things that are spoken of by his Apostles; whom too many, alas ! have despised merely for the meanness of their perHerod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an ORATION unto them: And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a God, and not of a man. Paul preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection; and they called him a Babbler.

sons.

Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, that they should be rich in faith? Has he not chosen the refuse of the world to be heirs of his kingdom, which he hath promised to them that love him? Has he not chosen the offscourings of men to be the lights of the world, and the Apostles of Jesus Christ? Men unlearned, yet how fully replenished with understanding! few in number, yet how great in power! contemptible in appearance, yet in spirit, how strong, how wonderful!

Remember, therefore, that which is spoken of by the Apostles; whose words if the children of this "world do not regard, is it to be wondered at? They are the Apostles of the Lord Jesus: not of

THEIR Lord, but of OURS. They have told us, that in the last time there should be mockers; therefore we believe it. Noah, at the command of God, built an ark; and there were in it beasts of all sorts, clean and unclean. A certain king prepares a great supper, and bids many; but when he is seated at the table, he finds here and there among his guests, a man whom he knows not. This has been the state of the Church from its very beginning. God has always mingled his saints with the faithless, his friends and children with aliens and strangers. Wonder not, then, if, in the last days also, you see the men with whom you live, and have daily intercourse, laugh at your religion, and blaspheme that glorious name by which YOU are called. Thus it was in the days of the Patriarchs and Prophets and are we better than our fathers?

By mockers are meant men that shall use religion as a cloak, to put off and on as best may serve them such as, with Herod, shall hear the preaching of John the Baptist to-day, and to-morrow consent to put him to death; or, with the other Herod, say, they will worship Christ, when they purpose a massacre in their hearts. Ishmael, the son of Hagar, laughed at Isaac, who was heir of the promise: so shall these men laugh at you, if, like Moses, you choose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. And why? God has not given