reafonings against the fovereign will of his Lord, vanished, and his love and zeal burned stronger for truth than ever.

Abimaaz. I evidently fee that there is no growth in grace nor in knowledge without croffes and trials; for, as Hezekiah faith, By these things men live, and in all these things is the life of our fpirits. A child of God often gains ground by fuch ftumblings, and gets fresh discoveries out of confufion; for God difcovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the fhadow of death.

Cufbi. Very true; and this was the cafe with Prodigalis; he had been for fome time in the bufinefs of an Attorney, and had learnt many curious quibbles of law, and had formerly entertained no small opinion of his nervous logic. Satan knew this, therefore he fwelled his pride of that talent, exalted his former applauded reafon to the decifive chair, and then fhewed the inconfiftency of his new religion with his former rules of logic. Prodigalis, having loft a fenfe of his comfort, and the fight of his Advocate, difplayed his former talent; but as reafon was too stiff to fubmit to a fuperior power, pride called in rebellion; flesh and blood was conferred with concerning the myfteries of heaven; and the more reafon laboured, the more fhe was confounded; unbelief, getting the upper hand, gave the lie to all that was divine; and thus, between a confounding devil, and confounded reafon, the trial ended in

wind and confufion, and Prodigalis, with all his natural abilities, was found in the balance of the fanctuary to be lighter than vanity."

Abimaaz. Nevertheless I dare fay this trial turned out to a good account to poor Prodigalis, for it must teach him the infufficiency of natural reafon to determine divine matters, and must undoubtedly convince him of the need of God's promised Spirit to guide him into all truth.

Cufbi. Yes, my brother, Prodigalis loft nothing but drofs in this fiery trial; he was effectually convinced that the Spirit of God was the only allfufficient arbitrator in divine causes, and that reason must submit even to faith, instead of dictating to God. This was difplayed to him in his aftercontemplations on the faith of Abraham, whofe obedience is fet forth as our example, after whofe footsteps we are to copy, and who is called the father of us all. Hence we are commanded to look to Abraham our father, and to Sarah that bare us, Ifa. li. 2; and to tread in the fteps of our father Abraham, Rom. iv. 12, who is the father of us all. ver. 16. Prodigalis confidered firft the call of Abraham, and the obedience of his faith; in which act he found that carnal reafon was wholly excluded. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed and went out, not knowing whither he went. Heb. xi. 8. By faith he obeyed, and went; while Abraham and his reafon were kept entirely out of the fecret

-for he obeyed, and went out, not knowing whither he went; which reason would call a wildgoofe chace. Abraham received a promise of the land of Canaan, and that he should be heir of the world, Rom. iv. 13, and yet God gave him none inheritance in it, no not fo much as to fet a foot on. Acts vii. 5. Abraham had a good eftate behind him in Ur, and had left that to wander in a strange land, where he had all in hope, but nothing in hand. If reafon had been confulted in this matter, her determination would have been this, One bird in the hand is worth two in the bufh; and therefore, like Balaam, she would be for getting herself back again. Numbers xxii. 34.

When God made Abraham a great prince, and his lady a princefs, reafon would have expected the palace of Salem; but, instead of that, the king of that city bleffes him as the lefs, for without all contradition the less is blefjed of the better, Heb. vii. 7,— gives him refreshment- takes tithes of him as his fovereign and high-prieft, but gives him no invitation to the city, much lefs to the palace. All thefe riddles Abraham's faith had to explain; which would have remained as obfcure to human reafon as Samfon's riddle did to the Philiftines. If we plough not with Chrift's heifer we fhall never find out his riddles. Abraham's leaving his own country was to teach him that this world was not his home; his travelling in pilgrimage was explained by faith, that this was not his reft, because it is pol

luted,

luted, as the land of Canaan was with filthy inhabitants; his promise of the land of Canaan, and of the world, faith conftrues to mean an heavenly country, Heb. xi. 16, and a new world to come; Abraham's not inheriting Salem, after he had received the promise of the whole land, and was made a prince in it, faith led him to understand that he muft feek Jerufalem that is above, as that city that bath foundations, whofe maker and builder is God. Heb. xi. 10.

These things Abraham had in view, and his faith brought them to live in his foul;-an earnest and a foretafte exifted in Abraham's heart by faith, and thus his faith was the fubftance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not feen. The way that these things were to be obtained was fhewn to Abraham in the offering up of his fon (as typical of Chrift), which reason would have called murder inftead of obedience. Abraham communed with his God in the promises that he had revealed to him, and enjoyed much fweetnefs in the bleffings contained in them; and by his faith he lived in a ftate of perfect reconciliation and friendship with his God, and endured his pilgrimage like Mofes-as feeing him who is invisible; which, to reason, is no better than a plain contradiction, and is called enthufiafm to this day.

As Abraham lived, fo he died; faith attended his last moments, and, like a divine and constant friend, lent her fupporting aid in the moment of diffolution,

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diffolution, and handed the redeemed foul to the centre of all happiness-he died in faith, and received the end of his faith, the falvation of his foul. His fhield is now his everlasting portion, he enjoys Canaan in the best sense, and Salem is his royal city in every sense; and he, like Melchifedec of old, is no less than a king and a priest in it.

Abimaaz. These contemplations must be very fweet to Prodigalis, as well as teach him to keep reason in her proper place; that, in matters of divinity, wisdom may be asked of him that giveth liberally and upbraideth not; befides, he muft fee the neceffity of being kept by the mighty power of God, when he faw the various ftratagems of Satan, and the advantages that he had hitherto gained over him.

Cufbi. It is a wretched fault in Chriftians to neglect prayer in these times of trouble; they often fall to reafoning, difputing, and contriving, instead of fupplicating; this is their lofs, and the devil's gain. This is evident in Jonah, when God commanded him to denounce his judgments on Nineveh. He begins to reafon on the goodness of God, and of his flowness to anger, and then concludes, that, if God repented of the evil, his reputation would fall to the ground; he then began to contrive which way to fave his reputation, and Satan told him by a flight to Joppa. Jonah tells you, that they that obferve lying vanities forfake their own mercy. Jonah ii. 8. You hear nothing of

Jonah's