back, and withdraw the influence of it, and then they remain weak and powerless. And when He gives them power, He useth and disposeth of both them and their power as seems him good. Therefore, His style is The Lord of Hosts. He can command more armies than all the kings and princes of the earth: from the most excellent, to the meanest of the creatures, all are His trained bands; from the host of glorious spirits, to the very armies of grasshoppers and flies. And you know, that as an angel was employed against the Egyptians, so likewise, these contemptible creatures were upon service there too, and being armed with commission and with power from God, did perform the service upon which they were sent so effectually, that the wisest of heathens were forced to confess, This is the finger of God.

This is the Lord to whom we address our prayers, who cannot fail in any thing for want of power, for He doeth what He will in heaven and in earth.

The glory. In these two consists mainly the eminency of kings, in their power and their majesty; but they exceed not the meanest of their subjects, so far as THIS King surpasseth the greatest of them in both; Psal. xciii. 1. Clothed with both majesty and strength. They are often resisted, and cut short of their designs for want of sufficient power, and are (the best of them) often driven to straits; sometimes men, sometimes money or munition, or some other necessary help is wanting, and so their enterprises fall behind. But this King can challenge and defy all oppositions: I work, says He, and who shall let it? Isa. xliii. 13.

And as their power, so, their majesty and glory is infinitely short of His. He is the King of Glory, as the Psalmist styles him, Psal. xxiv. 10, alone truly glorious, both in the excellency of His own nature, and the extrinsical glory that arises to Him out of His works. Of the former, we can know but little here, for that light wherein He dwells, is to us inaccessible (1 Tim. vi. 16.); but this we know, that He is infinitely above all the praises even of those that do behold Him. Likewise, how

unspeakable is that glory which shines in His works, in the framing of the whole world, and in the upholding and ruling of it from the beginning! In which appear the two former that are here ascribed to Him, His kingdom, and His power; and so, this third, His glory, springs out of both. Then if we consider the glorious attendance that is continually about His throne, as the Scriptures describe it to us, it drowns all the pomp of earthly thrones and courts in their highest degree. See Rev iv. For ever. This kingdom, and power, and glory of God, besides their transcendent greatness, have this advantage beyond all other kingdoms, and power, and glory, that His are for ever and ever, all other are perishing, nothing but pageants and shows that appear for a while, and pass along and vanish.` It was a wise word of a king, (especially at such a time,) when he was riding in a stately triumph, and asked by one of his courtiers, thinking to please him, What is wanting here? he answered Continuance. Where are all the magnific kings that have reigned in former ages? Where is their power and their pomp? Is it not past like a dream? And not only are the kings gone, but the kingdoms themselves, the greatest in the world have fallen to nothing; they had their time of rising, and again of declining, and are buried in the dust. That golden headed image had brittle feet, and that was the ruin and break of it all. But this kingdom of the Most High is an everlasting kingdom, and His glory and power abide for ever.

Not only things on earth decay, but the very heavens wax old as a garment, says the Psalmist, but Thou, O Lord, art still the same, and Thy years have no end.

Refl. 1. It is a thing of very great importance, for us to have our hearts established in the belief of these things, and to be frequent in remembering and considering them: to know that the kingdom is the Lord's, that He sovereignly rules the world and all things in it, and particularly, the great affairs of His Church that He is the mighty God, and therefore, that there is no power, or wisdom, or counsel of men, able to prevail against Him; and that in those things wherein His glory seems

to suffer for the present, it shall gain and be advanced in the close.

2. Let us always, and in all things, return this to Him as His peculiar due: Thine is the glory; it belongs to Thee, and to none other. Deo quæ Dei sunt: To God the things which are God's.

3. Let us think most reverently of God. Oh, that we could attain to esteeming thoughts of Him, to think more of His greatness and excellency beyond all the world! It is our great folly to admire any thing but God. This is because we are ignorant of Him. Certainly, he knows not God, who thinks any thing great beside him.

Amen.] In this word concentre all the requests, and are put up together: so be it. And there is in it withal, as all observe, a profession of confidence that it shall be so. It is from one root with those words which signify believing and truth. The truth of God's promising, persuades belief; and it persuades to hope for a gracious answer of prayer. And this is the excellent advantage of the prayer of faith, that it quiets and establishes the heart in God. Whatsoever be its estate and desire, when once the believer hath put his petition into God's hand, he rests content in holy security and assurance concerning the answer; refers it to the wisdom and love of God, how and when he will answer; not doubting that whatsoever it be, and whensoever, it shall both be gracious and seasonable. But the reason why so few of us find that sweetness and comfort that are in prayer, is, because the true nature and use of it is so little known.

AN EXPOSITION

OF THE

TEN COMMANDMENTS.

EXOD. XX. 1, 2.

And God spake all these words, saying,

I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Ir is the character of the blessed man, and the way of blessedness, to delight in the Law of God. Psal. i. 2. And because the eye is often upon that whereon the affection and delight of the heart is set, the sign of that delight in the Law, is to have the eye of the mind much upon it, to meditate on it day and night. And that we may know this is not, as the study of many things are, empty speculation and fruitless barren delight, we are further taught, that the soul that is fixed in this delight and meditation, is a tree well planted, and answerably fruitful. The mind that is set upon this Law, is fitly set for bearing fruit, Planted by the rivers of water; and is really fruitful, Bringeth forth its fruit in its season.

If this holds true of the Law in the largest sense, taken for the whole will of God revealed in His word, it is, no doubt, particularly verified in that which more particularly bears the name of The Law; this same summary of the rule of man's life, delivered by the Lord himself, after so singular a manner both by word and writ.

So then, the explication of it being needful for the ignorant, it will be likewise profitably delightful for those who be most knowing and best acquainted with it. It is a rich mine, that