mise and blessing of everlasting life, and being a partaker also of the Holy Ghost, for she spake as the Spirit moved her when she said, "Cast out this bond woman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And God said, In all that Sarah hath said hearken to her voice: for in Isaac shall thy seed be called." So also her offspring was an heir of promise, and born after the Spirit. And Sarah gave suck to her son even in her old age; and she is called the freewoman, and her son a freeborn heir; and in all these things she was the covenant of grace in a figure. The bondwoman and the free: "These are the two covenants; the one from mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." All which teaches us this lesson, that Sarah's freedom, Sarah's promise, Sarah's spirit, Sarah's life, Sarah's blessing, Sarah's son, and Sarah's faith, all came to her from the covenant of grace, and she received them as a free gift. "Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised."

And we may observe, that the commandment of the father, and the law of this mother, come both from this covenant of grace. Faith is called the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which makes us free from the law of sin and death. And as the Holy Spirit writes the law of faith in the

heart, and is called the Spirit of faith on that account, so the word of life is applied by the same. And it is a truth that the Spirit of faith, and the promise of life, both come from the same covenant; and they always come together. "As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seeds' seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever." Here is our mother, the covenant of grace, the heavenly Jerusalem; and here is the word of life and of faith which we preach; and here is the Spirit of faith, which is promised to all the seed. "My son, keep thy father's commandment; and forsake not the law of thy mother."

"Bind them continually upon thine heart." We may have a full persuasion in our own mind of the truth we hear; and this Paul allows; "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." And this persuasion comes from God: "God shall persuade Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem." But the heart is not fixed till it the conscience.

purge

We read also of others who for a while believe, but in time of temptation fall away. This is temporary faith, which abides but for a season, and when most wanted fails.

And we read of miraculous faith, which will remove mountains, but bring no charity with it.

Now faith in the mind may stay it, and keep a person in firm hope and expectation, and it may abide there for some time, and yet things are not clear, nor sound, nor is the soul fully satisfied, settled, and firm; far from it. But when faith reaches the heart or conscience, by applying the atonement there, which Paul calls having the heart sprinkled from an evil conscience, Heb. x. 22; this makes clear work, even at the very bottom. Here is pardoning grace in the heart, removing evil from the conscience. And sure I am that it is a good thing to have the heart established with "Bind them continually upon grace.

thine heart.”

Faith is a law, and laws are binding; but faith must lay hold of love, for that is the bond that binds. Faith is a uniting power; you read of the unity of the faith. When the grace of faith takes root in the heart, and works by love there, and pleasingly assures the soul of its interest in Christ, it sweetly constrains to obedience, and powerfully engages the whole soul with God. There is such a thing as a growth in faith; and a growing exceedingly in it; which is done by observing the actings and exercises of faith; by using of it, and stirring it up in constant and continual approaches to God, especially in times of trouble; in observing its workings, its successes, and the returns that are granted to the prayer faith; in observing the liveliness of it at some times, and its deadness at others; its strongest ef

of

forts, and its apparent declensions. It grows by cherishing it and nourishing it, by reading, hearing, conversing, and meditating; by praying for an increase of it, and that it may not fail; and in watching and guarding against those besetting sins which weaken and discourage faith. David's faith, with a good conscience, faced the Goliath of Gath, but, with a bad one, fled from Absalom his own son. To bind faith on the heart is to encourage its powerful constraints; for it bows, bends, influences, and draws the heart to cleave to Christ; it brings in fresh power from Christ, and we are kept by that mighty power through faith, and made to stand fast in him by faith. To bind the word of promise to the heart is to receive the love of the truth, and truth in the love of it, which is called binding up the testimony. Love is a strong cord; a thing loved is held fast, and cannot be forced away from love as long as love lasts. And what we love is uppermost in our thoughts, always present, much meditated on, and greatly delighted in. And the Holy Spirit leading the mind into the word, and giving us an unctuous experience of the truth, truth becomes familiar to us, and very cheering and entertaining; and it makes the mind spiritual; and life and peace attend a spiritual mind. Satan is sadly foiled at a spiritual mind; he cannot get our attention. The corruptions of the heart are much put off, and their inclinations and requests much weakened, where truth is held

fast in love, and meditated on, and delighted in, which sweetly entertains the soul with knowledge and understanding. "Bind them continually upon thy heart.”

"And tie them about thy neck." The believing soul that embraces the gospel, the promises and blessings of the covenant, is espoused as a chaste virgin to Christ. And it is well known that the neck is a beautiful part of the body, and especially if fair. You read of her fair neck, Hosea x. 11; and in the Song, "Thy neck is as a tower of ivory," and ivory is very white. Moreover, the neck, especially of a bride, is commonly adorned with beads, gold chains, pearls, necklaces, and sometimes with a necklace of diamonds. The doctrines, promises, and blessings, of the gospel, which are all promised to faith, together with the graces of the Holy Spirit, are our ornaments and adornings; hence you read, Thy neck is comely with chains of gold, Song i. 10. “Thou hast ravished my heart with one chain of thy neck."

Some, like the Galatians, think that they are not ornamented with the gospel without going over to the law; they begin in the Spirit, but must be made perfect by the flesh; whereas the chain of harmonious truths, and the golden links of divine graces, are the only things which adorn the Lord's spouse; and with these his heart is ravished and charmed.

Again: bondage, slavery, and captivity, are called the bands of the neck; and so they are to