and he was full of grace and truth; his own proper deity inhabited that body, and a sevenfold unction abode upon it.

He next treats of his omniscience. "He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears." But, as the searcher of all hearts, he shall judge and reprove according to their thoughts; as was verily fulfilled in his ministry, when there came a company to him saying," Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man; for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us, therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Cesar, or not?" Matt. xxii. 16, 17. There was not a word amiss in all this. They told the Saviour that they knew he was true, and that he taught the ways of God truly; that he was not afraid of the faces of men; and they asked him if it was lawful to pay tribute to the Roman emperor, who was no better than a usurper over them. Where was the harm in all this? I answer, there was none; but the omniscient Saviour knew their drift was to drag something out of his mouth that would amount to treason; and, if they could have caught him thus, then they would have been the first to have accused him to Herod of treachery, and delivered him up to his authority, and so have exposed him to all the severity of the secular power. "But Jesus perceived their wickedness and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?" Here the dear

Redeemer did not judge after the hearing of his ears; if he had, in all probability he would have judged charitably, for there was nothing amiss in their words. But, to confute them by their own acts and deeds, he said "Shew me the tribute money;" and, when they brought it, he said, "Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Cesar's." Is it Cesar's? Did not God at first reign over you? and did he not, in the wilderness, levy many tributes on you, to shew you that your obedience and loyalty was due to him only? But "whose image and superscription is this? They say unto him, Cesar's." How came you under the sceptre of an heathen. monarch? Is this his image? Why then, if his image and superscription go current among you, you allow of his government; and it is a proof that you have cast off the sceptre of God; "Render therefore unto Cesar the things which are Cesar's, and unto God the things that are God's."

Thus it appears that Jesus did not judge after the sight of his eyes, nor reprove after the hearing of his ears; but, as the omniscient Jehovah, he judged according to the base hypocrisy of their hearts.

"But with righteousness shall he judge the poor." By the poor understand the poor in spirit; such as are stripped of their own supposed merit, brought in debtors by the law of God and conscience, chased from all confidence in the flesh, brought to hunger and thirst after righteousness,

and humbled to beg the bread of heaven at mercy's door.

"And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth." By the rod of his mouth understand the power of his preached word. The Lord says, I have smitten Ephraim, and he is gone on frowardly in the way of his heart: "for the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth," Isaiah lvii. 17. That is, God smote him with the words of his mouth, and hewed him by the prophets, Hos. vi. 5. And, after God had thus wounded him, he brought him back, and bound up his broken heart. "I have seen his ways, and will heal him; I will lead him also, and restore comfort unto him and to his mourners." Thus he smites some, and then heals them again; as it is written, "Despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty; for he maketh sore, and bindeth up; he woundeth, and his hands make whole," Job v. 17, 18.

By the breath of his lips understand the spirit that attends the word of the Lord, and that slays the old man of sin; and, on the other hand, that makes the word of God a savour of death unto death to all that maintain an impious rebellion against the light.

"And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins." This represents the Saviour as a just God; that he will appear strictly just both as a saviour and a judge: as a saviour he will answer every demand of justice by paying a per

fect obedience to every precept of the law, and then submitting himself to death, as the just sentence of God, denounced against man for sin. Death is the sentence of God, man is the subject of this sentence, and sin is the cause. By sin came death." The Saviour submitted himself to death spiritual by taking our sins, and by being made a curse; to death eternal by the departure of God from him. "Why hast thou forsaken me?" To death temporal when his soul was separated from his body. "He made his soul an offering for sin." Having thus satisfied justice, he is strictly just when he justifies his own elect; and, as the judge of quick and dead, he will be strictly just in executing the sentence which the law denounces against the wicked.

By girdle, understand his close adherence to the administration of mercy to the elect, and of justice to the reprobate.

"And faithfulness the girdle of his reins." By reins, or kidnies, we may understand the deep counsels and secret purposes of the Saviour; that his immutable mind and will, and the secret thoughts of his heart toward his own people, are braced or girded about with all the faithfulness and veracity of Deity.

"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb." By wolf understand persecutors that devour the sheep of Christ; such as Paul was, who appeared to fulfil his father's character; "Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf," Gen. xlix. 27. Paul was one of that tribe,

and did destroy some of the Lord's sheep; and would have destroyed more, if sovereign grace had not arrested him on the road; but afterwards he lay down at the feet of the Lamb of God, and became as meek and gentle as any lamb of his fold.

"And the leopard shall lie down with the kid." By the leopard we may understand a pharisee who is cleansing himself, Jer. xiii. 23, and yet rebelling fiercely against the fountain that God has appointed to cleanse. However, some of this stamp have been humbled, and brought to submit to and find rest in the dear Redeemer, and to lie down with the Saviour's kids in the shepherds' tents, Cant. i. 8.

"And the calf and the young lion," &c. By calf we may understand young growing Christians thriving in grace; they "shall grow up as calves of the stall," Mal. iv. 2. And by lions, fierce opposers by nature, but brave gospel champions when fortified and panoplied by grace: in short, they shall all herd together; and a little child, or a babe in grace, shall lead them into the knowledge of the truth, under the Spirit's influence. Such were the apostles, who are called little children and babes. "Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes," Mat. xi. 25.

"The cow and the bear shall feed," &c. By the cow we may understand, in a figurative sense, a gospel nurse, 1 Thess. ii. 7, or a minister of consolation; such as Paul was, who fed the Lord's