reigning disposition. The seed of the bond woman may persecute them, not they one another. A holy heretic, is not a greater contradiction, than a pious persecutor.

Thirdly. From what was said, the children of the free woman may draw the strongest consolation. I would congratulate all such on the evils they have escaped, the inheritance of which they are heirs, and the absolute certainty that they shall possess it. All hail, my brethren! Time was when ye were the children of wrath even as others: lying as in chains, and pining away in your iniquities. Exposed to the curse of the fiery law, on you there was neither rain, nor dew of Divine influences. Like Hagar and her son, ye were wandering in the wilderness, in a solitary way. Hungry and thirsty, your soul fainted in you. And had not mercy found you out, ye had perished for ever. That law on which you leaned could send you no relief: the cisterns you so painfully hewed, could hold no water. But what the law could not do, the God of grace effectually did. He brought you as from among the lions dens, from the mountains of the leopards. When none eye pitied thee, O precious soul! when none had compassion upon thee, then he in whom bowels of compassion ever roll, stretched out his arm for thy deliverance. Into thee when spiritually dead, he breathed the breath of life, and made thee to live in his sight. Thine eyes he opened, thy sins which were many, he forgave, and from a howling wilderness brought thee into a wealthy place.

I congratulate you that you are not only pardoned, but promoted. Not only brought out of the fearful pit, and the miry clay, but made heirs, heirs of God through Christ, Gal. iv. 7. What an ineffable honour this! While multitudes shall be cast out, as not being heirs, your title to the enjoyment of God stands firm as his unchangeable promise. Isaac was not more certainly born heir to Abraham and the land of promise, than you are in virtue of your new birth, heirs of God and everlasting glory. Ye are begotten unto a lively

hope, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 1 Pet. i. 3, 4. Our apostle tells us that God gave the inher itance to Abraham by promise, Gal. iii. 10. viz. not on ly the typical Canaan, but the better, the heavenly country, Heb. xi. 16. And ye being Christ's are A braham's seed, and heirs according to the promise, Gal. iii. ult. The inheritance secured by promise is held forth under a variety of names, to intimate its ineffable excellence. Sometimes it is called the hope of righteousness, Gal. iii. 5.; sometimes a crown, 2 Tim. iv. 8. 1 Pet. v. 4.; sometimes a throne, Rev. iii. 21.; sometimes a kingdom, James ii. 5.; sometimes a city, Heb. xi. 16.; sometimes a country, verse 14.; some times eternal life, Tit. iii. 7.; sometimes salvation, Heb. i. ult; sometimes the promise, chap. vi. 17.; sometimes an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glo. ry, 2 Cor. iv. 17. But which is the sum and substance of all, the saints are heirs of God himself. If children then heirs: heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, Rom. vii. 17. If a son, then an heir of God through Christ, Gal. iv. 7. What a happy people! Jehovah himself is the portion of your inheritance!

I congratulate you on the certainty of your entering on the full possession of your inheritance. Isaac was not more certainly taken from off the altar, Gen. xxii. 9, 13. than ye shall one day in your whole man enter the heavenly Canaan. There are but two ways to prevent possessing an inheritance. Either the heir is torn by death from it, or it by the hand of man from him. But neither of these can take place here. Your inheritance is reserved in heaven for you, and ye are kept by the power of God unto it, 1 Pet. i. 4, 5. Your enemies must scale the battlements of heaven, and conquer Omnipotence itself, before they can deprive you of your inheritance. Unfaithful must be the word of God, and enfeebled his arm, ere ye can totally and finally fall. When the children of the bond woman, ye were by adopting grace made those of the free. And sure as the gifts and calling of God are without repentance, ye

shall not fall back into your former state. The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but his kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of his peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy upon you, Isa. liv. 10. A woman may forget her sucking child, and have no compassion on the son of her womb, but your God, O ye children of grace! will not forget you, neither shall his compassions fail, Isa. xlix. 15. Thy Maker is thine husband, Isa. liv. 5, a husband who cannot die, and who will not divorce. His promise bears, not only, that he will not turn away from you, but also that you shall not depart from him, Jer. xxxii. 40. and thus you are secured on every side. To deny the perseverance of the saints is a double robbery. It robs God of his glory, and them of their comfort.

you to

Fourthly and Lastly, on this department of the subject. Let me conclude with a few exhortations to those who are the children of the free woman, and to those who are not. With respect to the former, 1st. See that ye admire that grace which made differ from others. By nature ye were the children of wrath even as they, Eph. ii. 3. Ye were equally involved in the guilt of original sin, with all the rest of Adam's posterity. Like other Gentiles ye were walking in the vanity of your mind, serving divers lusts and pleasures, Eph. iv. 17, Tit. iii. 3. There was nothing in you to allure the love of God, but much much to the contrary. Think then, O think what it was that made you to differ from others. Why were ye taken, while they were left? Were ye better than they? No, in noways. But the same sovereign God who put a difference between Isaac and Ishmael, Esau and Jacob, chose you, while he rejected others. And thus, as our apostle teacheth, election standeth not of works, but of him that calleth, Rom. ix, 11. As it was not for your righteousness ye were chosen, neither was it for their sin that others were rejected. Their sin, though the meritorious cause of their damnation, was not the reason of their rejection. Had any been rejected on

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that account, all would. A number of subjects have been equally involved in treason, and therefore all deserve to die. Their sovereign, however, graciously pardons some, while he consigns the rest to deserved punishment. Their guilt is the reason why they die, not why they were passed by. The application is obvi

ous.

2dly. Let your walk be suitable to your high, your kingly birth. Being born from above, let your conversation be in heaven. As born of the Spirit, be spiritually minded. Let the fruits of the Spirit enrich and adorn the whole of life. Grieve not the Holy Spirit whereby ye are sealed to the day of redemption. What awful ingratitude in you to grieve the Comforter! Tremble in yourselves at the thought. As children of the same family love one another. Travelling to the same country, see that ye fall not out by the way. Why be as briars and thorns in one another's sides, as if the enemies were not more than sufficient for that purpose? As heirs of the promise, walk cheerfully. Being on the road to the better country, nay, to your Father's house, go on your way rejoicing. Let not the little and the light afflictions of life discourage you, nor its flatteries lift you up. Remember that ye were born for higher things, than to be dejected by the one, or elated by the other. Walk as the sons of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom shine ye as lights in the world, Phil. ii. 15. The men of the world, who have their portion in this life, Psal. xvii. 14. may howl at the spoiling of their goods, for what have they more? But knowing in yourselves, that ye have in heaven a better and enduring substance, rejoice in hope, and be patient in tribulation. What Jehovah said unto your father Abraham, he is saying to each of you, Fear not; I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward, Gen. xv. 1. Thy shield by the way, and thy reward at the end of it. In the belief of this, walk on to the possession of Immanuel's land.

3dly. Pity and pray for others who are visibly the seed of the bond woman. I may say to you as did God

to Israel, ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt, Exod. xxiii. 9. Remembering your affliction and your misery: the wormwood and the gall, when ye were in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity, O pour out your hearts in behalf of such as are still in that deplorable state. Though they should persecute you, cease not to pray for them. He is not a Christian who would not wish all the world to be such. Pray that God may open the eyes of Hagar's sons, that seeing their sin and misery, they may hasten to him who only can deliver from both. Do nothing to make the bands of mockers stronger than they are, Isa. xxviii. 22.; nothing to harden their hearts, or confirm them in their prejudices against the mystical seed. They say you are fools, ye see that they are so. But instead of insulting, endeavour by every laudable mean to gain them: and who can tell but in some instances ye may succeed. At any rate your labour of love shall not be lost.

As for such as are the children of the bond woman, let me in the bowels of Christ beseech you,

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1st. To open your eyes and see your misery. Ye are far from God, as Hagar and her son from Abraham's house. Like them ye are wandering in a wilderness, destitute of true consolation. Ye may think otherwise at present, but in a little ye shall find it so. of Hagar and her son, that wandering in the wilderness of Beer-sheba, the water, which Abraham had given her, was spent in the bottle, and she cast the lad under one of the shrubs, that there he might expire in the shade. And she went and sat her down over a gainst him, a good way off, as it were a bow-shot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the lad. And she sat over against him, and lifted up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the lad, and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, support him with thy hand. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water: and she went and filled

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