with them; but when his presence is not enjoyed they are sure to fast in those days. Sometimes this feeding is done by the Spirit taking the things which are the Lord's and showing them unto us; but without the light of the Lord's countenance the things set forth are not seen; nor are they felt or enjoyed unless attended with his life-giving presence, for the Spirit testifies of him.

Again: "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Here is a right to the tree of life; and they have this right who do his commandments. And these commandments are not the commands of the moral law; for they that are of the works of the law are not under a blessing, but under the curse. There is no one spiritual blessing in all the book of God promised but to faith; "As many as are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." Besides, if they which be of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect. These commandments are faith in the Son of God, and love to the brethren: "This is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And sure I am that the tree of life is already in the doers of these commandments; for he that believeth is passed from death unto life, and so he is that loveth his brother. These are the

blessed doers of his commandments; and these have a right to the tree of life, to the leaves of it, which are to heal, and to the fruits of it, which are for meat, and shall enter through the gates into the city; for they are already fellow citizens of the saints, and of the household of God. And this city itself is no other than their own mother; their birth and their breasts are nothing else but the love of God, the Spirit of God, and the promises of God made to the elect in this better covenant, which is called the heavenly Jerųsalem.

Again: "For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the market-place, and said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way." To go into the vineyard is to come out of the world and go into the church at the call of God; the labour is that of a spiritual birth, and of working out our salvation with fear and trembling, bearing the cross, denying self, holding fast our profession and the word of life, and following hard after God through evil report and good report. Now, whatsoever is right, saith the parable, I will give you; and upon this mise they went their way, exercising faith upon

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his word, and hoping for the promised reward, which is of grace, and not of debt. I will go now to the old law to see what this hire is: "Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates: at his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee." Whatever this penny per day may mean, it is the wages of the kingdom. The kingdom of God is like this householder, who hires labourers into his vineyard. The kingdom of God is the grace of God, which is to reign through righteousness unto eternal life. The labourer's wages are intended to buy him food and raiment; upon this he sets his heart. The grace of life; and the righteousness of faith, are what the poor and needy sinner seeks after. The Roman penny bore the image and superscription of Cesar upon it; and the work of grace within is called the new man, which is created after the image of him that created him in righteousness and true holiness. And the most lovely feature in this image is charity; and every believer sets his heart upon this. And sure I am that the Sun of righteousness will never go down upon this hire; for at six of the clock, according to the parable, every one was paid, and every one received a penny, the last as well as the first; and this, according to the parable, was right; and that which

was right they received: "He preserveth not the life of the wicked: but giveth right to the poor. He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous: but with kings are they on the throne; yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted." In this passage we see the poor and needy in full possession of all their right which God has granted to them in his dear Son; for they are with kings on the throne, established, and exalted for ever.

We have seen what this right is, and who it is that grants us this right; in what way it comes, and how it is secured; namely, by a covenant of promise: "It is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed." But, then, "Should I lie against my right?" No: I should not. But I often have, and so have others also: "For Job hath said, I am righteous: and God hath taken away my judgment," Job xxxiv. 5. Now the judgment that is in favour of a righteous man, and that should always be passed upon him, and which is his right from God, whether at the tribunal of men, or at the bar of God himself, is and should be, that of justification. This is the just man's right at all tribunals, whether human or divine. "If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them, then thou shalt justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked." Again: "If a man sin against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to make him swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house: then hear

thou from heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, by requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way upon his own head; and by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness." Again: "Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not; for I will not justify the wicked," Exod. xxiii. 7. Here we see that the right of a righteous man, at all tribunals, is justification; and if this sentence be not passed upon him his judgment is taken away. And this leads us to the true understanding of that mysterious passage in the in the prophecy of Isaiah, as quoted in the Acts: "In his humiliation his judgment was taken away." The sentence of justification, which was due to him, was passed upon Barabbas the robber, and he was set free; and the sentence of condemnation, due to the robber, was passed and executed upon the Saviour. Every one who condemns the just takes away the right of the just, and the right of the poor and needy, hence the complaint, "They are waxen fat, they shine; yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge." Elihu had pointed out to Job that he should put his trust in the Lord; and that God in due time would pass a true sentence upon him and upon his case, and that to the shame of all his friends, and to the confusion of the devil and all his accomplices: "Although thou sayest thou shalt not see