newed by his Spirit. Hence his kingdom is said to be in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. It is the application and experience of these things that makes a man a loyal and a joyful subject of this king. Add to this, that he sets up an empire of grace in the hearts of his people; which, by the will of God, and through the righteousness and obedience of himself, shall reign to eternal life, as sure as ever sin reigned unto death by the disobedience of Adam. To the fulness of grace in this king, my dear friends, we must look, whenever Satan tempts, or sin prevails.

"And princes shall rule in judgment." In allusion to the seventy elders in the wilderness. The Lord Jesus appointed, once and again, seventy disciples, and sent them forth, two by two. And, in allusion to the twelve princes of the twelve tribes, he chose twelve apostles, who, under him, were to be the chief founders of, and rulers in, the gospel church. Not that the dignity of a prince is confined entirely to them: no; this honour have all his saints. This character is applicable to all the Saviour's seed, according to the promise; "Instead of thy fathers, shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth." In ancient times, there was much said about the fathers of the Messiah; he was to be the son of Adam, of Noah, of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, of Judalı, of David, &c.; but, after his incarnation, instead of thy fathers, shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth. The title is

applicable, therefore, to every poor sinner who is humbled in the dust, who supplicates a throne of grace by humble prayer, and obtains mercy from the God of our salvation. "He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory."

Such princes shall rule in judgment: not in the world, but in the church, like the princes of the sanctuary; they being a royal priesthood, or kings and priests. The ministers of the gospel are rulers over the household of faith, to give them a portion of meat in due season: and the members are to try lesser causes, and to judge between brother and brother, without going to law before the unbelievers. And this ruling is to be

In judgment, according to the sentence or judgment of God in his word; and by righteous persons, whose judgment is past, and who have gone from death to life, or passed from a condemned to a justified state by faith. And it is to be done under the influence of the Spirit, who is to guide into all truth, shew the sentence of scripture in the case, and so be "A spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment,” as well as of strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.

"And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind:" which sometimes signifies wars and commotions, which often fall upon a nation for the abuse of the gospel, and rejection of the Saviour; not to purify and try, as is sometimes the case,

but to destroy. A dry wind, neither to fan nor to cleanse. By wind, sometimes, error is meant; false gales, raised up by the devil, in order to blow the smoke of the bottomless pit into sinners' eyes, that they may not behold the way of the vineyards, nor find their way to the city. Hence the divine caution, "Be no more carried about with every wind of doctrine;" for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace. As false doctrines are compared to wind, the devil raises them, in imitation of the power of the Holy Ghost, which is compared to the blowing of the wind; and with a glorious rushing, like the wind, he descended on the day of Pentecost, when he filled the Apostles with his power and grace. This power the devil tries to imitate. He gave the Pope not only his doctrines, and his seat, and great authority, but his power also, which was sufficient to puff up whole nations; it worked and fermented in the souls of the deluded like new wine, and made them so drunk, that they could not see where they were got; it blinded their eyes, and made them call evil good, and good evil; and, in the end, filled the kingdom of the Beast full of darkness. These false gales have caused wonderful operations and emotions among the Arminians. The preachers, under the influence of the spirit of error, with a blind zeal, and empty oratory, have so worked upon the passions of their audience, as to move the hair of their head, and make the blood rankle in their veins: some have rolled their

eyes, others have cried out; some have kicked up, and others have tumbled over. These are commonly called good times; and those who can perform this sort of work are deemed powerful men, though, in an unconverted state, destitute of the grace of God, and enemies to the truth as it is in Jesus. From public calamities, and from these dangerous blasts and gusts of contrary winds, which, if it were possible, would deceive, blind, and mislead, the very elect, I know of no hidingplace but the Lord Jesus Christ; who is to be an hiding-place from the wind

"And a covert from the tempest:" by which is meant the wrath of God, roused up and awaked by sin, and revealed in the law against it. At the giving of the law, clouds and darkness appeared, betokening hot displeasure against the works of darkness: the curses pronounced against transgressors were attended with rolling thunders; and the flashes of fire on the mount, represented the divine vengeance against sin. Thus God answered Israel in the secret place of thunder.

We

Upon the Lamb of God, our surety, this heavy storm fell with all its weight; after which the clouds cleared up, and the glory of a reconciled God shone forth in the face of Jesus Christ. have no refuge from the avenger of blood, nor covert from the above storm, but the Saviour. When the law awakens and pursues the elect sinner, this refuge is set before him; and hither he must fly, if he will escape for his life, for he can

never be safe till he arrives here. As the Lord Jesus is a covert from the tempest, so is he to be

"As rivers of water in a dry place." The fiery law revives the fire of sin: the ashes of dead works, and the legal covering of the sinner, under which his sin lies hid from his eyes, blow away, and the whole frame of nature seems all on fire; at which times the fiery darts of Satan often fly thick and fast, which all together are ready to scorch the poor sinner up. Sinai stands in a barren wilderness; and the sinner finds himself in a dry land, where no water is, and he may go to the troughs of a hundred called shepherds before he finds any water. But God says, when the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongues fail for thirst, he will hear them: and, just as the rock was smitten in the wilderness to refresh Israel, so the Spirit points the poor sinner to the Rock of ages for spiritual drink; or, as Hagar was directed to a well, where she filled her bottle to save her son from famishing by thirst, so the Spirit directs the sinner to the well of salvation, where he may drink and live for

ever.

Many old watering-places are now become dry; the Philistines have stopped up almost all the wells that our blessed Isaac opened; and we have too many who set themselves to dig wells without proper staves, and without any direction from the lawgiver, so that nothing springs up nor flows out. Many who began with the name of