soul that is born again of God. And the babe in grace will draw in the comforts and instructions as fast as the tender nurse can bring them forth; as it is written, "That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory," Isaiah lxvi. 11. Let it be observed that

None but justified persons can feed a babe in grace with wholesome food. Prating lips and barren hearts afford no nourishment to the child of God. Zion must be justified by faith, and enjoy gospel peace herself, before she can draw out the gospel breast to her offspring. As it is written, "For thus saith the Lord, Behold I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. Then shall ye suck; ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees."

These divine comforts are an unction to the understanding, a rapture to the affections, and a fortification to the whole soul; as the prophet speaks, "And when ye see this your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb," Isaiah lxvi. 14.

I come now to describe the object of the sport. The object to be sported with is an asp. "The sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp." The asp, or aspic, is a most dangerous reptile, very numerous in the great deserts of Arabia, and

in Ethiopia, and was well known in the Holy

Land.

They are a kind of serpent, or adder, very small, curiously marked on the back, are very wise and subtle, apt to bite; and so venomous, that it is almost impossible to cure their bite. The venom which it conveys with its teeth spreads its contagion so fast, that, unless a remedy be speedily procured, it is almost impossible to stop the infection. The venom of this creature is dreadful in its operations; it has a benumbing, stupifying, and intoxicating nature; it exhausts the animal spirits, withers the frame, and speedily draws the sufferer into a state of insensibility; insomuch that it lulls him into the final sleep of death, by a kind of lethargy. It causes a swelling as it runs, and has as bad an effect on the intellects as it has on the blood. There is no venomous creature so fatal in its bite, unless it be the scorpion.

So much for the history; I come now to the mystery of the

asp.

This asp, in the mystery, is the devil, who is often called a serpent, Isaiah xxvii. 1; and an adder, Psalm xci. 13; because of his wisdom, Mat. x. 16; his subtlety, Gen. iii. 1; his crooked turns, Job xxvi. 13; his dreadful bite, Eccl. x. 11; and the hellish contagion of sin that spreads its dreadful infection throughout both body and soul. It benumbs the conscience, hardens the heart, stupifies the mind, and lulls the sinner fast asleep in his

sin; and, if grace prevent not, sends him out of the world in an awful lethargy, till in hell, when he lifts up his eyes, being in torment.

When that old serpent the devil seduced Eve, he chose the most subtle creature in the brute creation to disguise himself in; and he pursues the same scheme now; for he pitches upon the subtlest and wisest men to support his interest in the world. Men in ecclesiastical or civil power, of great learning, great parts, quick turns, and nervous reasonings, are generally the devil's tools to spread his nets, and ensnare the souls of men. Hence it is that God has poured so much contempt on the wisdom of this world, as to make their understanding foolishness. And the Saviour thanked his Father for hiding the gospel from the wise and prudent, and for revealing it unto babes.

In times of darkness Satan works men up to practise all manner of debauchery, oppression, and cruelty, and to deal destruction round them in a thousand forms; but, when the light of the gospel appears, then he stirs men up to persecute, and to spread his errors: by the former he labours to stop the progress of the gospel, and by the latter to mingle lies with it; and generally conveys his venom by those who are falsely called gospel ministers. Such are the Arminians, who discover the serpent's wisdom by producing much scripture, as the devil did when he deceived Eve, and yet perverting the plainest truths; they discover the crooked workings of the serpent by their serpentine wrig

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gling, first out of truth into error, then out of error into truth. Sometimes, by their words, you would think they were in Christ, and soon after you will perceive them to savour of nothing but flesh and blood; hold up and confess one doctrine at one time, then turn about again, and tear it all down. This is the crooked serpent. They have made them crooked paths, whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace." At times they hold for the blood of Christ as shed for all the human race, and then by and by tell you that those washed in it may be damned. This is the spirit of error that intoxicates. "Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright; at the last it biteth like a serpent, and it stingeth like an adder," Prov. xxiii. 31, 32. They discover the deafness of the serpent by being hardened against all reproof, rushing on in the face of every faithful witness, and spitting their venom at the brightest testimonies. "They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely," Psalm lviii. 4, 5.

They discover the subtlety of the serpent, by concealing their inward principles until they have insinuated themselves into your affections; and then they will bring them forth a little at a time, as you can swallow them down; and, lest you should suspect the devil to be in them, they contend vehemently for good works and holiness of life. Under this mask they convey the bane of

Satan to your heart. This is the subtlety of the devil, beguiling souls by false teachers, as Paul says, "But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ," 2 Cor. xi. 3. So much for the asp. I come now to treat of his hole on which the child is to play.

In the verse out of which my text is taken you read of a cockatrice den, and that the weaned child shall put its hand on that. The cockatrice and the asp are both serpents; and there is but very little difference between them. The cockatrice den is a false preacher's heart, and the hole of the asp is a false preacher's mouth.

The Saviour called the Jewish tribe of false

teachers serpent and vipers. "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" Mat. xxiii. 33. He called them serpents because the old serpent, the devil, was in them. Satan keeps his court in the heart, which is his palace, Luke xi. 21. The devil worketh in the hearts of the disobedient, Eph. ii. 2. And the unrenewed heart is the serpent's den. There it is that he works up all his destructive compounds, and sends them forth in the open blaze of gospel light; that, while some precious souls simply receive the new wire of the kingdom of God, and rejoice in it, these instruments of Satan secretly hold all their venom; as Moses speaks of some of the Israelites, who brought away the Egyptian