hills of electing love, and " by the way in the places of the paths." Here fhe ftands, in all these watering places, breathing places, refting places, halting places, and fainting places, in order to give caution, encouragement, refreshment, seasonable counsel, ftrength, and comfort; by all which they go from firength to ftrength," while paffing through the valley of Baca." Heavenly fhowers fill the pools: "I will pour water on him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will make the wilderness pools of water, and the dry land fprings of water."

"She crieth at the gates ;" and the voice of her cry is, "The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation, which keepeth the truth, may enter. This is the gate of the Lord, into which the righteous fhall enter."

"She crieth at the entry of the city," saying, "Glorious things are fpoken of thee, O city of God. Ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerufalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general affembly and church of the firftborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the fpirits of juft men made perfect, and to Jefus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of fprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. Wherefore thou art no more a stranger and a foreigner,

foreigner, but a fellow-citizen of the faints and of the household of God. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh."

"She crieth at the coming in of the doors." Prov. viii. 3. The firft doors fhe cries at are the doors of death's fhadow: "Haft thou feen the doors of the fhadow of death?" Job xxxviii. 17. Thefe doors are the covering and veil that is spread over all nations (Ifa. xxv. 7), and the difmal gloom that the god of this world hath blinded our minds with, left the light of the glorious gofpel of Christ should shine into us, and we should be faved. But Wisdom cries at thefe doors, faying, "The people that walked in darkness have feen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the fhadow of death, upon them hath the light fhined." Ifa. ix. 2. The light of the Lord penetrates through and opens thefe doors, and the understanding receives the light, and goes forth in it, and we begin (the doors being opened)" with open face to behold, as in a glafs, the glory of the Lord." 2 Cor. iii. 18. But, though the understanding is gone forth, the foul is not wholly enlarged: "Light is given to him that is in mifery, and life to the bitter in foul." Job iii. 20.

Then Wisdom leads us to another door, faying, "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wildernefs, and fpeak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of E 4 hope."

hope." Hofea ii. 14, 15. Now hope enters in, and expectation goes forth; and the cry of Wifdom at this door is, "Bleffed is the man that trufteth in the Lord, and whofe hope the Lord is; for he fhall be as a tree planted by the waters, which spreadeth out her roots by the river, and fhall not fee when heat cometh; but his leaf fhall be green, he fhall not be careful in the year of drought, nor shall he ceafe from yielding fruit." Thus Wifdom rends the veil, and opens the doors of death's fhadow, and lets the understanding look out of obfcurity, and out of dark nefs. Then the banishes black defpair, and opens the door of hope, when hope enters the foul, and expectation of better times goes forth.

And next fhe leads us to another door, faying, "They rehearfed all that God had done by them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles." Acts xiv. 27. The feat, or proper place, of faith is the heart: "With the heart man believeth unto righteoufnefs," &c. Obdurate hardnefs and unbelief are the doors that keep the word and faith out of the heart, till a divine power attends the voice of Wifdom, But the cries at this door, and her powerful voice is, "As foon as they hear of me they fhall obey me." Now faith gacs into the heart by hearing, and hearing by the word of God; then our obdurate hardnels gives way, the door of faith opens, and the right hand of the Lord makes the injurious

bolt

bolt of curfed infidelity fly back. The opening of this door diffolvcs the foul: "My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him." Song v. 4. v. 4. But ftill we are not enlarged; for this is but the hole of the door. The bowels move for him, but he is not come in the promifed and glorious manifeftation of himself. Faith is come, as it was to the blind man healed; but the object of faith is not yet difcovered: " Doft thou believe on the Son of God? Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? Thou haft both feen him, and it is he that talketh with thec. Lord, I believe. And he wor→ fhipped him."

The next door that Wisdom opens is the door of" the ftrong hold of Satan." And her voice at this door is, I am fent "to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prifoners from the prifon, and them that fit in dark nefs out of the prifon-houfe." Ifa. xlii. 7. "Son, daughter, thy fins are forgiven thee." And this is a full discharge, Guilt flies, the yoke of our tranfgreffion is broken, Satan vanishes, pardoning love flows in, and fear and torment are caft out; the chains of our fins are knocked off, the prifon garments are laid afide, and the wedding garment is put on. He puts off our fackcloth, and girds us with gladnefs.

The next door is the door of mercy. This opens almoft of its own accord, as foon as we efcape the prifon. By Jefus we have access with confidence

fidence into this grace wherein we stand. And the cry of Wisdom at this door is, "Verily, verily, I fay unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the fheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he fhall be faved, and fhall go in and out, and find pafture." John x. 7-9. Now this door, that admits us into the prefence of God, and into communion and fellowfhip both with the Father and the Son, is God's lifting up the light of his countenance upon us, and giving us the light of the knowledge of the glory of himself in the face of Jesus Christ, and a full enjoyment of God's everlasting love through Chrift, which is fhed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghoft. This is the door; for, if God hides his face, who can behold him? and, without being drawn by his love, who can come to him? And, if he leaves a man in his own guilt, and under the wrath of the law, by these things" he fhutteth up a man, and there can be no opening." Job xii. 14. Hence it appears that a man must have the light of the Lord's countenance, attended with his love, before he can enter into the joy of the Lord.

The next door that Wifdom crics at is the door of the wedding-chamber: "And they that were ready went in with him to the marriage; and the door was fhut." Matt. xxv. 10. Wisdom's cry at this door will be, "Come, ye bleffed of my Father,

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