fown in a good ground, it beareth fruit, fome thirty fold, fome fixty, and fome an hundred.And as they who receive the light of the Lord, are called light in the Lord; fo, they who receive the feed of God, are themselves the feed or children of God; as in Matth. xiii. 38. The good feed are the children of the kingdom.; for, in receiving this word of life, they are regenerated and born of it, and fo become the children of God by faith-Being born again not of corruptible feed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 1 Peter i. 23.

As this evidence may be fummed up in the refurrection of our Lord Jefus Chrift, this alone is sometimes confidered as the life-giving power, and feed of immortal glory; as in 1 Peter i. 8, 4. Bleffed be the God and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift, which, according to bis abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jefus Chrift from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, referved in heaven for you.

They, in whofe hearts the fpirit of error and tranfgreffion worketh, are properly flyled the feed of the ferpent, and chilaren of the wicked one; for, Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jefus is the Chrift? This is the feed from whence is the offspring of the devil, who abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him; and when he speaketh a lie, be Speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it. So on the other hand, they who receive the feed or word of the kingdom, are

with propriety confidered as being of jezreel, the feed of God; for they are of the truth, and the truth is of the Father; therefore, Whofoever believeth that Jejus is the Chrift is born of God. 1 John v. 1. And, as wickednejs pros ceedeth from the wicked, they who are of the devil will do his lufts, fow his errors, and propagate his lies; and, in fome way or o ther, will be engaged againft Chrift; fo likewife, they who are of God will do the truth, confefs and propagate it, and, as workers together with Chrift, they will themselves become fowers of the feed of the kingdom; and thus, in the very deed, will fhare in the blef fedness of the liberal man, who hath difperf ed, who hath given to the poor, whose righte oufnefs endureth for ever.

As the hufbandman by fowing his feed preferves it, which otherwife would be confumed and loft, whilft, at the fame time, the encreafe of it affords him fuftenance; fo, the righteoufnefs of him who difperfeth, or foweth the word, being the righteousness of faith, confifting in the feed itself, remaineth for ever – For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he fhall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away, even that which he bath.-I will bear, faith the Lord, I will bear the heavens; and they shall bear the earth; and the earth fhall bear the corn, and the wine, and the cil; and they fhall hear jezreel.

This word of the kingdom, and evidence of things not feen, is the grain of mustard-feed, which a man fowed in his field, and which, in the flate of feed, is very fmall, but, in its

growth, becometh great, fo that the birds of the air come and lodge in the boughs thereof. It is the leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened.-It is a treafure hid in a field, the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and, for joy thereof, goeth and felleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

It is the pearl of great price, which the wife merchant-man, when he had found it, efteeming it better than the merchandize of filver, and the gain of it more to be defired than fine gold, went and fold all that he had, and bought it. It is a net that was caft into the fea, and gathered of every kind; which, when it was full, they drew to fhore, and fat down and gathered the good into veffels, but caft the bad away.-It is the good vineyard, yielding a thousand fold, which is let out to hufbandmen, who must render to the owner the fruits thereof in their feafons.—Such are the goods of the great Houfeholder, committed to the care and improvement of his flewards, who must give to their Lord a ftrist account of their stewardship, in which it is required that a man be found faithful.-And of this nature alfo are the talents which the nobleman, travelling into a far country, gave to his own fervants to occupy in his absence; and for the wife and faithful improvement of which they will be reckoned with, when, having received for himself a kingdom, he fhall return to destroy his citizens that hated him, and faid, we will not have this man to reign over us; together with the wicked fervant, N n

who mifimproves his money; and to share out cities to them who love him, and have been faithful in a few things.

This is the living bread which came down from heaven, of which if any man eat, he shall live for ever. And because it is brought forth and given to the world in the death and refurrection of the Lord Jefus Christ, he faid to the Jews, Whofo eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raife him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.—As the living Father hath fent me, and I live by the Father: fo he that eateth me, even he fhall live by me. This is the bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did cat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread fhall live for ever. It is the living water which Chrift giveth to them who afketh of him; of which whofoever drinketh fhall never thirst; but it fhall be in him a well of water fpringing up into everlasting life. And this is that immortal principle in the children of God, which, in their darkeft and heavieft hours, holds their hearts waking, and forbids them to fleep as do others. On account of this never-failing principle, they cannot fin as do others. Whofoever is born of God doth not commit fin; for his feed remaineth in him: and he cannot fin because he is born of God. John iii, 9. that is, according to the view here taken of fin, he that is born of God cannot ceafe to love Christ, neither can he hate his brother.-Peter, though toffed by the power of fatan as

in a fieve, and his own righteousness flew away like chaff, was yet faved as a grain of wheat; for his faith failed not; his watchfulness failed-his good conduct failed-his morality failed-his virtue failed; but, under the gloom of fo heavy a night, and the panic of fuch a furprising temptation; his drowfinefs, his rafhnefs, and his timidity; his denying that he was with Jefus of Galilee, with his curfing and fwearing that he knew not the man; though they concealed, they did not extinguifh the yearning of his bowels for his fuffering Lord.-A fentiment that moment existed in his heart, which bound up his foul with the life of Chrift. Peter never ceafed to love Jefus; yea, this feed of God in the heart of a believer, how foever for a moment it may be depreffed; in the ftrength of its incorruptible nature, and in its certain effects, is infinitely an over-match for all the enticements of life, or the terrors of death, or any other poffible temptation of earth or hell.

The fowls of the air may pluck away the feed that falleth, and lieth uncovered by the way-fide; the fun, when it is high, will fcorch its tender blades, when it fpringeth up in ftony ground, and has no deepnefs of earth for a root; and the thorns will choke and render unfruitful that which is fown among them in ground not broken up; but, when it is received into an humble, a broken and contrite heart, it will not fail to strike a root too deep for fatan to find, and his cropping the blade, will only caufe it to grow with more ftrength. The heat of tribulation or perfecution, fo far