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gates praise. In those days the Lord will be as the dew unto Israel; they will thrive as the corn, and grow as the vine, and send forth their roots as Lebanon. All which is expressive of the gentle distillations of grace, and the abundance of it; when hard hearts will be softened, barren souls revived, parched souls refreshed; the sun of persecution, and the flames of carnal lust, shall be allayed; and both the floor of the Lord's harvest, and the fleece of the Lord's sheep, will be wet with the dew of heavenly grace. The morning mentioned in my text, the womb of it, the innumerable progeny, the universal ruin of the wicked, the spread of the gospel, the wonderful increase of Zion, and the universal call of her family, are all mentioned in one psalm, which is as follows, Psalm 1xxii. The first is, the committing all judgment into the hands of Christ, and the execution of all righteousness by him; "Give the king thy judgments, O Lord, and thy righteousness unto the king's son." The next particular is, the justification of his people, and the avenging their wrongs by executing the righteous sentence of God upon them. "He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment." Next comes the free publication of the finished work on mount Calvary, and sweet reconciliation by the preaching of peace and imputed righteousness upon every little hill of Zion, or in every little assembled flock of the chief Shepherd. "The mountains shall bring peace to

the people, and the little hills, by righteousness." The next branch of his work at this future time is, to execute true judgment in behalf of the poor in spirit, to proclaim and save them that feel the need of salvation, and to execute vengeance and eternal damnation on all the covetous, overreachers, defrauders, and oppressors. "He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor." When this is done all the world will fear him, and every generation will share in the benefits of his reign till time is no more. "They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations." And now comes in the dew of his youth mentioned in my text. "He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass; as showers that water the earth: in his days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.” All this alludes to the time when all the kingdoms of this world shall become his, from one end of the world to the other; for so it follows. "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth; they that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust; yea all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him." I must now conclude this subject, having said what I can of the beauties of the Lord Jesus Christ; of his beauties on Zion by the manifestations of him

self to her, of the beauties of holiness in the worship of the saints, of the mystery of it, of the womb of the morning, of the youth, and of the dew of grace that is to appear upon these youths, and of the glory of these children of light, which are to spring from this womb of

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XI.

THE GAIN OF GODLINESS, OR THE BEGGAR'S

PROFIT.

PROVERBS Xviii. 20.

"A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled."

By the belly, here, I presume, is meant the heart or the soul. It is said that the prodigal would fain have filled his belly with husks: but a better banquet was provided for him; namely, the fatted calf and best robe, which is Christ crucified and his imputed righteousness; neither of which are food for the bowels, but for the soul. Again, Elihu, who declares that he was inspired, and that the Spirit of God had given him understanding, finding the Spirit to operate strongly upon him, says, that his belly is as wine which hath no vent, it is ready to burst like new bottles, Job xxxii. 19. And so the Saviour says; "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water; but this spake he of the Spirit." But it must mean the heart, for it is the heart, and not the bowels, that is the seat of divine inspiration, "I will give them a new heart and a new spirit."

This heavenly merchant in my text, whose belly is to be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth, and to be filled with the increase of his lips, cannot be the person that the wise man calls a prating fool that shall fall; for a fool is not a praying man, and he that falls can never be said to be satisfied; nor can this merchant be a man employed in temporal concerns, for it is not by talking, but by working with the hands, that the generality of men are fed and filled in a temporal sense. "He that laboureth, laboureth for himself, for his mouth craveth it of him." This is working for the belly, not talking. Hence it appears that this trader in my text is not an earthly trader, for in the general they live by labour, not by talk; no, nor a prating fool about religion, for the kingdom is not in word; "In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury." But this man that I am describing hath his belly satisfied by the fruit of his mouth, and filled by the increase of

his lips.

Again, This trader must be an hungry man, a man that hath an appetite, for he cannot be said to be filled if he is not in some measure empty; for God filleth the hungry with good things, but, as for the rich, he sends them empty away: it is they that hunger and thirst after righteousness that are blessed, and they shall be filled: But, "Wo unto you that are full, for ye shall hunger." Furthermore, this empty man is one that is empty of good, empty of righteousness, of the bread of

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