obtain mercy through their mercy. Yea, the corn, the wine, and the oil, shall hear the cry of Jezreel. What a day must that be with the Jews when the Messiah, whom their fathers rejected and murdered, and whom their posterity ever since have despised and blasphemed; when these come to unite together, and to appoint by choice this covenant Head over them; when they join with the Gentiles in serving the Lord, and David their king, whom God will reveal to them; and that same Saviour, that has been loaded with so many blasphemies by them, shall with one heart receive him as the most blessed and only Saviour of them. And sure I am they shall never see the Lord Jesus as he is, nor shall they embrace him as their Messiah, until this time comes, and they are prepared to heap ten thousand blessings on him. " Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." Hence I conclude, that the voice of God in his covenant, the voice of Christ in the promises, the voice of saints in their prayers, the voice of the atonement, and the voice of the Holy Spirit, will all attend to the cry, and speak to the comfort of Jezreel.

VII.

THE WISE PUPIL, AND HIS DOMESTIC TUTOR.

PROVERBS xvi. 23.

"The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning

to his lips."

For method's sake, and to inform my reader's judgment, and to assist his memory, I will lay down my intended plan of operation in the following manner, and execute it under the following heads.

I. Treat of this man's wisdom, "The heart of the wise."

II. What we are to understand by the heart; for it is his heart that teacheth his mouth.

III. Who it is that furnishes this man's heart with all this wisdom, and these mighty works. And,

IV. The progress that he makes in learning; his heart not only teacheth his mouth, but adds learning to his lips.

First, I have treated largely of the wisdom of the wise in this little work before; but, as that subject is copious, much more may be said upon

it.

It lies principally in these four things:

I. In the divine instruction which is given to

the soul by the Holy Spirit of all grace when he condescends to regenerate and renew the soul, and to lead it into the truth as it is in Christ. "The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace."

1. That the Holy Spirit and his grace are meant in the above passage, appears plain, by its being first pure. God sprinkles clean water upon us, which is his Spirit, in order to purify us, and to cleanse us from all our filthiness, and from all our idols.

2. The Spirit testifies of Christ as our peacemaker; and one fruit of the Spirit himself is peace, for he fills us with joy and peace in believing.

3. Gentle. It is under the Spirit's humiliating and meekening operations that the turbulent soul is tamed and made tractable. "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them," Isaiah xi. 6.

4. This wisdom that is from above is easy to be entreated, but cannot be driven; as may be seen in the prophet Elijah, who had much of the spirit of power upon him. For, when king Ahaziah sent a captain of fifty with his fifty to the prophet with this message, "Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down, and Elijah answered

and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume thee and thy fifty; and there came down fire from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty; and he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly. And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty: and the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight. Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight. And the angel of the Lord said unto Elijah, Go down with him; be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king," 2 Kings, chap. i. By all which it appears, that the Holy Spirit is easy to be entreated, but he is not to be commanded, much less driven.

5. This wisdom is said to be full of mercy; for the sure mercies of David, which are made sure to Christ, who is of the seed of David, and sure to us in him, are revealed to us by the Holy Spirit; hence it is said, that "according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour."

6. This wisdom is full of good fruits. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, &c." Gal. v. 22, 23.

7. This wisdom is without partiality. It will never justify the wicked, nor condemn the just. It influences a man to love God, and to love those that love him. "Every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him." It is this spirit of wisdom that makes a man a freeborn citizen of Zion; and the character of such a citizen is, that in his eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the Lord, Psalm xv. 4.

8. This wisdom is without hypocrisy. It makes the heart honest and sincere; it deals not deceitfully with God, nor with man; nor will it suffer a man to appear to be something when he is nothing; nor yet to lie against his right when the Spirit bears witness to his sonship.

II. The second general head of this discourse is, the wisdom of divine revelation, especially the covenant of grace, or what is called the gospel. "To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God." The folds