The judgment seat my petty judge assumes,
And to arraign the justify'd presumes;

He gives me laws, and tells me how to act,
What to advance, and what I must reject;

He smites my pride, my wisdom, and my wit:
Shews what will miss, and what is sure to hit;
Arraigns my mystic thoughts and ready tongue,
And feigns to set me right by counsel wrong.

He owns the Saviour rais'd me up on high;
My call to preach the word he'll not deny;
Yet hints my climbing, not my coming in,
To make me out a minister of sin.

Of priestly pride he bids me to beware,
And shews a danger that engenders fear;
Yet deigns to nurse the senior clergy's pride,
Or stir them up that they may help deride.

My heart he searches, and each thought arraigns; To find my motives, he will try my reins:

He bids me love, but tells me not to rail,

And shews what God will own, and what must fail :

He bids me preach, but never mention men,
Lest truth disturb the cockatrice's den:

At Antinomian errors I may bawl,

But at free-will must let no sentence fall.

My learned tutor having set my task,
And penetrated through my sable mask,
His sire advis'd him to conceal his name,

Lest Truth should put this crafty son to shame.

At old Socinus I may storm at large,
At Arius the shaft of God discharge;

For these he owns would pull the Saviour down,
And, if they could, would rob him of his crown.

On lies like these my tutor drops a curse,
But spares Arminius, though by far the worse;
If they would fain see Jesus' kingdom fall,
These steal the crown, the sceptre, sword and all.

The stubborn will of man resists the Lord;
Self-will and Truth did never yet accord;
Remove the cause its ill effects must fall-
When man is nothing revelation's all.

Behold how bless'd are preachers of the word,
Idiots and knaves their kind advice afford!
Lest from destruction's path our feet should stray,
Both moles and bats will point us out the way!

He that judgeth us is the Lord; "it is God that justifieth, who is he that condemfieth?" There are those that condemn the just and justify the wicked, this is their presumption; "but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man," 1 Cor. ii. 14. 15. This superiority of judgment in things spiritual is a privilege that results from sovereign grace. Judgment, according to truth or righteous judg

ment, is to be attended to; what is commonly called a judgment of charity, or candid judgment, is too often seen to be nothing but hypocrisy, or false judgment, favouring the children of falsehood, and the cause of Satan. I must, dear Friends, conclude, wishing you and your's the comfortable possession of the upper and nether springs, while I remain, in the cause of our sovereign Lord, your ready and dutiful servitor to command,

and, if God permit, and the weather be fine, will dine with you under the tree in the little field next Thursday. I am to come, as Sheba did to Solomon, I find, bringing a very great train; but not to prove you with hard questions, knowing

you are, through grace, an admirer of the wisdom of God in the mystery of the cross. O the manifold wisdom of God, wrapt up in his secret purpose from all eternity! one fold opened at the creation of the world; another at the revelation of grace in a promise to Adam; another when Israel forsook Egypt; another when salvation was finished on the cross; another when it was proclaimed to the Gentiles; another at the conversion of the Jews; another at the close of the world; and another in the fruition of God. When Zion shall appear on his most holy hill, then shall be known in heavenly places, by the church, the manifold wisdom of God: and it is most certain that we shall be among them; we have the oath of God, the promise of God, the covenant, the bond of the covenant, the blood of the covenant, the immutability of the Most High, the witness and seal of the Spirit, and the testimony of a whole cloud of witnesses, to dash our unbelief out of countenance, and assure our faith of our safe arrival there. These bases, Madam, are laid to afford a strong consolation to them that have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before them. We are got the greatest part of our way; it is but a few steps more that remains; God has borne us from the belly, and has promised to be the same to old age, and even to hoary hairs he will carry us. Meanwhile, let us daily entreat him to teach us the heavenly art of living by the faith of

us.

his dear Son, who loved us, and gave himself for Then we shall live a life of communion with him by his Spirit, converse with him in the word of his grace, view his supporting and protecting hand, pursue the footsteps of his Providence, view ourselves as in his immediate presence, depend on his friendly aid and direction, fetch in our comforts from the higher world, know his good will towards us, and rejoice in the thoughts of his heart, which stand fast to a thousand generations.

To understand, submit to, believe in, make choice of, and love, his decrees and counsels, purposes and promises, as revealed in Christ Jesus to us, is real obedience to the Gospel. To believe in Jesus for pardon, peace, reconciliation, justification, sanctification, and redemption; to trust in him for the accomplishment of his promises; and to hope in him to make them all good with respect to our preservation and glorification; is dwelling in Christ Jesus. To enjoy a heavenly mind that dwells and meditates on heavenly things, attended with a comfortable persuasion of Christ's love to us, which kindles a love to him, brings life and peace; and such have the mind of Christ.

Our unbelief shall not make the promise of God without effect; "if we believe not yet he abideth faithful; he cannot deny himself." The weakest believer is as dear to Christ as the strongest; neither of them have any thing but what they have received, even as it hath pleased God to deal the measure of faith. It is true, strong faith brings