never have had any more a name among men, than blindness, ignorance, and sickness, had man continued, as at first, an holy image of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Every thing, then, that dwelt in him, or came from him, would have only said so much of God, and nothing of himself; have manifested nothing to him, but the heavenly powers of the triune life of God dwelling in him. He would have had no more sense or consciousness of his own wit or natural reason, or any power of goodness in all that he was and did, than of his own creating power at beholding the created heavens and earth. It is his dreadful fall from the life of God in his soul, that has furnished him with these high intellectual riches, just as it has furnished him with the substantial riches of his bestial appetites and lusts. And when the lusts of the flesh have spent out their life, when the dark thick body of earthly flesh and blood shall be forced to let the soul go loose, all these bright talents will end with that system of fleshly lusts in which they began; and that of man which re mains, will have nothing of its own; nothing that can say, "I do this," or "I do that;" but all that it has or does, will be either the glory of God manifested in it, or the power of hell in full possession of it. The time of man's playing with parts, wit, and abilities, and of fancying himself to be something great and considerable in the inellectual world, may be much shorter, but can be

no longer, than he can eat and drink with the animals of this world. When the time comes, that fine buildings, rich settlements, acquired honours, and Rabbi, Rabbi, must take their leave of him, all the stately structures which genius, learning, and flights of imagination, have painted inwardly on his brain, and outwardly on paper, must bear full witness to Solomon's vanity of vanities.

Let then the high accomplished scholar reflect, that he comes by his wit, and parts, and acute abilities, just as the serpent came by his subtilty; let him reflect, that he might as well dream of acquiring angelic purity to his animal nature by multiplying new-invented delights for his earthly passions and tempers, as of raising his soul into divine knowledge through the well exercised powers of his natural reason and imagination.

The finest intellectual power, and that which has the best help in it towards bringing man again into the region of divine light, is that poor despised thing called simplicity. This is that which stops the workings of the fallen life of nature, and leaves room for God to work again in the soul, according to the good pleasure of his holy will. It stands in such a waiting posture before God, and in such readiness for the divine birth, as the plants of the earth wait for the inflow. ing riches of the light and air. But the self-assuming workings of man's natural powers shut him

up in himself, closely barred up against the inflow ing riches of the Light and Spirit of God.

Yet so it is, in this fallen state of the gospel church, that with these proud endowments of fall en nature, the classic scholar, full fraught with Pa gan light and skill, comes forth to play the critic and orator, with the simplicity of salvation mys} teries; mysteries which mean nothing else but the inward work of the triune God in the soul of man, nor any other work there, but the raising up a dead Adam into a living Christ of God.

However, to make way for parts, criticism, and language-learning to have the full management of salvation doctrines, the well-read scholar gives out, that the ancient way of knowing the things of God, taught and practised by fishermen-apostles, is obsolete. They indeed wanted to have divine knowledge from the immediate continual operation of the Holy Spirit, but this state was only for a time, till genius and learning entered into the pale of the church. Behold, if ever, the " abomination of desolation standing in the holy place!" for as soon as the doctrine is set up, that man's natural parts and acquired learning have full right to sit in the divinity chair, and full power to guide men into all truth, which was once the office and power of the Holy Spirit only; as soon as this is done, and so far as it is received, it may with the greatest truth be said, that the kingdom of God is entirely shut up.

and only a kingdom of Scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites can come instead of it. For by this doctrine, the whole nature and power of gospel religion is much more denied, than by setting up the infallibility of the Pope; for though his claim to infallibility is false, yet he claims it from and under the Holy Spirit; but the Protestant scholar has his divinity knowledge, his power in the kingdom of truth, from himself, his own logic, and learned reason. Christ has no where instituted an infallible Pope; and it is full as certain, that he has no where spoke one single word, or given the least power to logic, learning, or the natural powers of man in his kingdom. He has never said to them, "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;" never said to them, 66 go ye' and teach all nations," no more than he has ever said to wolves, go ye and feed my sheep. Christ indeed said of himself, according to the flesh, "It is expedient for you that I go away." But where has he said of himself, according to the Spirit, It is also expedient for you that I go away, that your own natural abilities and learned reason may have the guidance of you into all truth. This is no

where said, unless logic can prove it from these words: "Without me ye can do nothing," and "Lo, I am with you to the end of the world.”

The first and main doctrine of Christ and his apostles was, to tell the Jews" that the kingdom

of God was at hand," or was come to them." Proof enough surely, that their church was not that kingdom of God, though by God's appointment, and under laws of his own commanding. But why not, when it was thus set up by God? It was because it had human and worldly things in it, consisted of carnal ordinances, and had only types and figures, and shadows of a kingdom of God that was to come. Of this kingdom Christ says, "My kingdom is not of this world ;" and as a proof of it, he adds, if it were of this world, "then would my servants fight for me;" which was saying, that it was so different in kind, and so superior in nature to this world, that no sort of worldly power could either help, or hinder it. But of this world, into which the kingdom of God was come, the Holy One of God says, "In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be ye of good comfort, I have overcome the world." Now, how was it that Christ's victory was their victory? It was because he was in them, and they in him, "Because I live, ye shall live also; in that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you."

This was the kingdom of God come to them, the same kingdom of God in which Adam was born and began his first glorious life, when the image and likeness of the Holy Trinity had an outward glory, like that which broke through the