And He likewise told them, "He was come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."* And yet they would not come unto Him for it; they would not look unto the Father in Him; they would not accept the invitation, and therefore they missed of that great salvation, and have not attained it unto this day, because they "will not come unto Him that they might have life," but are banished from the "Land of Promise," and trodden under foot of all nations.

It is now several ages since our progenitors had the Holy Scriptures of both Testaments translated into our own language, strictly and exactly enough, with respect to all points necessary to salvation; and they had, and we still have, the free use of them; a great blessing, of which some of our neighbouring nations are hitherto deprived. Have we read them with diligence and attention? Have we duly considered them, and made a right use of them? What advantage have we reaped thereby? Are we come unto God, whose invitation is recorded therein, and unto Christ, of whom they abundantly testify in every dispensation? What end have we had in reading the Scriptures? Hath it been only to furnish ourselves with certain texts thereof whereby to fight one against another, to aggravate one another, and exercise our passions upon one another, (g) and to support this, that, and the other notion and opinion, true or false; and never regard the moral precepts, holy examples, or great and necessary gospel truth and doctrines they contain, so as to bring them into practice? This would be an ill and perverse use, or rather abuse of them, and a great neglect.

(g) It is the letter that kills. It is the letter that divides in Christendom. This is plain to every rational mind. It is as clear as the sun at noonday. It has divided into hundreds of sects, alt fixing their foundation upon this literal book, as though it were a sufficient rule. And so long as it is considered so, there may be hundreds and thousands; for every one can put on a new construction, and give it a different interpretation. There never was any thing made more a nose of wax of than the Bible, and it is the most mischievous thing, when held up above what it is. (Sermon XII, Trenton, p. 316.)

Have we indeed looked unto the only true and Living God, of whom we read in the Holy Scriptures, with desire and hope of salvation by Him? Have we looked, with sincerity, to the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom they testify? The Creation of God declares that He is, but we cannot find him there with all our search, we cannot KNOW Him thereby. "No man by searching can find out God to perfection." We all know, who have so searched, we cannot find Him thereby, we cannot see Him fully and clearly there. They testify of Christ, and are clear and full in their testimony of and concerning Him in all points; but alas! I am afraid the same charge is too true at this day, against the generality of people professing the Christian faith and religion, which was justly uttered against the Jews in that day, "You will not come unto Me;" You might, but you will not come to the Son of God that you may have life, and know the aboundings of it in you, by Him, "even as a well of living water, springing up unto life eternal."

The Scriptures give a sure report of Christ the Son of God, and that all that is to be known of the Father is revealed and manifest in Him. They testify that He is the Eternal Word, Wisdom, and Power of God; that He was born, as to his bodily appearance, of the holy Virgin Mary; that the power of the Highest overshadowed her, the holy Divine Influence came upon her by which she became pregnant, in order to that wonderful production conceived in her thereby, that holy thing called the Son of God: (h) of which she being premonished, by the Messenger of the Most High, she believed the message, and by faith conceived the true promised Seed, the Redeemer of the world; that all men might believe in Him, and be born of the Spirit

(h) We cannot suppose that it was the outward body of flesh and blood that was begotten of God, but a birth of the spiritual life in the soul-By the analogy of reason, spirit cannot beget a material body, because the thing begotten must be of the same nature with its Father. Spirit cannot beget any thing but Spirit; it cannot beget flesh and blood. What seems to be my mission, among my fellow ereatures, is to endeavour to lead the minds of my fellow creatures to the substance, and not to the shadow; and from every thing external, as nothing but shadow. (Sermon I, Mulberry Street, p. 10, 11, 12.)

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of Him, who was thus by the Spirit conceived in the flesh; for in Him alone is the promise of God fulfilled; "The Seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head."

And what do the Scriptures further testify concerning the Son of God? They bear testimony of Him in more points abundance than I have either time or strength, or is needful, at this time to go through; because most of you now in my audience, (of several persuasions,) have read the Holy Scriptures, I do not doubt; yet I desire and exhort you young men and women especially, not only to read them, but consider them, that you may understand them, and be more fully informed in those points and others by them; waiting, in the mean time, for the inbreathing of the Life and Light of the Lord Christ, by the influence of whose Spirit they were first written, without which they are not rightly to be understood, or the true end of them attained.* Yet the concern and influence I am now under may carry me further on this subject, for your sakes, than I am now aware of.

The Lord Jesus was concealed from the people till about the twelfth year of his age, and then a glimpse of the Wisdom of the Father shone in Him, and through Him, among the wise and learned in that day among them; yet He was not made manifest as the Messiah, until the Divine Influence of the same Power which operated in his bodily production, did anoint or fit Him to preach the Gospel of Salvation unto his people. (i) And then He was made manifest, not only by wonderful works, but by his doctrines which He pub

* Luke xxiv, 45. Jolin xx, 22.