nor did I form any true idea of corruption till I ftumbled on that mount myfelf; for I thought I fell from all hope of mercy; I felt myself the baseft mortal in all the world; my beauty and felf-fufficiency all vanished, and I thought the mount and myself were both of a piece, for all my comeliness was turned into corruption, and I retained no ftrength [for bearing tidings]. Dan. x. 8.

Cufbi. Then I fuppofe you could hardly credit your own tidings, I mean, that all was well," nor yet praise the king, as usual?"

Abimaaz. Indeed I found neither love to the king nor to the loyalifts; I was all enmity as well as corruption,

Cufbi. You was more fit to carry tidings then, than ever you had been before: I fuppofe you found yourself in a fine pickle; pray who helped you up

?

Abimaaz. Indeed, if I had been fent with tidings then, they would have been heavy tidings, and confequently I fhould not have run fo fast.

There appeared to me a man with a shining countenance, and asked me what country I was of? I told him I was not a countryman, but a citizen of Jerufalem, and the fon of a certain prieft. He replied, I did not ask after your descent, but your refidence; if you are a citizen of Jerufalem, there is a fountain opened for the inhabitants of that city for fin and for uncleannefs. Zech. xiii. 1. I told him that I could not ftand. He answered, Let the

weak

weak fay, I am frong. Joel iii. 10. But I replied, I cannot fee. He answered, I bring the blind by a way that they know not. Ifa. xlii. 16. I fell into a kind of a gloomy trance, and was infenfibly conveyed to a fountain which my mind had fome glimmering views of: and I found myself, in three days after, before Mount Calvary, clothed, becalmed, cleansed, in perfect peace, and in my right mind: but what I faw there, and what I felt, I shall never be able to defcribe; nor how this amazing change was wrought, fhall I ever be able rightly to relate; for I foon found that all my eloquence, and fublime style, were entirely insufficient to relate or represent fo divine an operation, and fo glorious a change.

Cufbi. But did you not run to fome of the king's messengers, and tell them the vision?

Abimaaz. Yes; and in this I acted like Daniel, I was aftonished at the vifion, but none understood it. Dan. viii. 27.

Cufbi. But did none laugh at it, nor rail againft it?

Abimaaz. Yes; fome called me a myftic, fome a Sadducee, fome an enthufiaft, fome a fanatic, fome a Pythagorean, and others an Antinomian; but I knew no more what they meant by these names, than they did of my vifion.

Cufbi. It is very well you did not; for they only called you by these names, being provoked to jealoufy by your happiness: they will take care not to

explain

explain the meaning of these reproachful names, left they should appear applicable to themselves..

Abimaaz. They seemed to me to be quite ftrangers to the mount on which I fell, and indeed fo was I, till I tumbled upon it; for I have often gone over it without feeling its dreadful effects.

Cufbi. Yes; and fo have many more; but the great Meffiah, when he ftood at the foot of the Mount of Olives, took particular notice of the Mount of Corruption. For, in the morning as they paffed by, they faw the fig-tree dried up by the roots. And Peter calling to remembrance, faith unto him, Mafter, behold, the fig-tree which thou curfedft is withered away. And Jesus answering, faith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I fay unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain [pointing to the Mount of Corruption, which was parted from the Mount of Olives by only a valley], Be thou removed, and be thou caft into the fea; and fhall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that thofe things which he faith shall come to pass; he fall have whatfoever he faith. Mark xi. 21, 22, 23.

Abimaaz. If you fee any thing in the Meffiah's words, my brother, I wish you would explain them to me, as I am concerned in their meaning, and have not the leaft defire of fatisfying a vain curiofity.

Cufbi. Depend upon it, my brother, that the Meffiah never spake or did any thing in vain. You fay you know what the Mount of Corruption means,

!

by

by woful experience; if fo, when the Saviour, pointed to that mount in the fingular number, doubtlefs he meant the fins of men, and the guilt which they have contracted, both which go by the name of corruption; and when he fays, faith fhall remove it into the fea, he means, that thofe who really believe in a reconciled God, through himself, fhall find the guilt, and deftroying power of their fins, and at last the whole body of corruption, removed for ever; agreeable to this text, be will turn again, he will have compaffion upon us, he will fubdue our iniquities, and thou wilt caft all their fins into the depths of the fea. Micah vii, 19.

If we had faith enough to remove the Mount of Corruption, no mountain of difficulties would difcourage us, nor would mount Sinai itself terrify us.

Abimcaz. I believe you, my brother; for a man's worst enemies are the corruptions of his own heart; and I believe the main root of all is unbelief. If I had faith enough to pluck up unbelief, I could fay to the fycamine-tree (mentioned by the Meffiah), Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the fea; and it should obey me. Luke xvii. 6.

Cubi. It was that kind of tree that Zaccheus climbed up into, in order to fee the Saviour. Luke xix. 4. If he had climbed up into Ezekiel's cedar, I believe the Meffiah would never have called him down, for that is to be a refuge for all fowls of

every wing. Ezek. xvii. 22, 23. But pray how did

you fare among the meffengers of the king, after they had heard your vision.

Abimaaz. Why, after all of them had treated me and my vifion with contempt, I began to think lightly of it myself, and fo gradually lost all the comfort of it. That which gave the greatest difguft to them was, my faying it was "a fovereign and difcriminating act of God to bring me that way:" and fuch an act it was to a demonftration, becaufe I could find none that understood it; but, bleffed be God, I felt the comforts of it, nor do I believe the remembrance of it, nor the effects of it, will ever be loft; but the word fovereign feemed to give great offence among them, as if I would feign myfelf to be a fingular man; when I only told them the dealings of God with myfelf, that they might pass their judgment on it, not doubting but they all had experienced the fame; but as none of them had experienced the like, nor underftood the 'vifion, I took it for granted that there was fomething fingular in it.

Cufbi. Every man muft ftand by his own teftimony, that is yours, and you must abide by it: he that would deprive you of it, without convincing you that you are wrong, is both a thief and a robber, and you are no better than Efau if you give it up. Hold fast that which thou haft, that no man take thy crown. Rev. iii. 11.

Abimaaz. I blefs God, the impreffion and the

witness