row and sighing shall flee away.-The vail of sickness and uneasiness of body or soul shall be rent in twain The inhabitants of that land shall not say, I am sick; the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. The vail of wandering thoughts and vain imaginations will be rent in twain; you shall not have a wrong thought or conception of God throughout all eternity for all your heart-plagues, lusts, and corruptions, that you have been wrestling with all your days, will leave you; and I am sure you will leave them with such pleasure and satisfaction, and be so glad to part with them, that you will hardly shake hands with them; but rather say, the back of my hand to you: many a sad hour, many a sigh and groan have you cost me; but it is well for me, that now I am quit of you for ever. And I cannot but say, that they who now have a glad heart to think of a parting with these, and a meeting with Christ for ever, they have gotten some communion with him this day.

Finally, the vail of time will be rent in twain: and the streams of time will be swallowed up in the ocean of eternity. O how will you say with wonder then, O hath such a black and ugly creature as I was, gotten glorious Christ in my arms, never, never, never to part again! O how will his kind looks dart a sweetness and joy inexpressible into your hearts, when you shall be led with the Lamb about the rivers of living water, when time shall be no more!-Take all this comfort into your hearts, believers, for the God of consolation allows you to rejoice for ever, and to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which you shall see and be for ever possessed of within the vail.

Use Fifth, for exhortation. All I shall now say, is this, if the vail be rent in twain by the death of Christ, O then come and see, come and take, come and wonder, come and enter, come and sing.

1. Come and see. When the seal was opened, Rev. vi. then the voice cried, " Come and see :" so, when the vail is rent, O come and see; come and see. Turn aside and see this great sight, the vail of separation betwixt God. and us rent in twain from the top to the bottom.. What .

was to be seen within the vail of the temple, you are told Heb. ix. 4. 5. "There was to be seen the golden censer, the golden pot, the ark of the covenant, the tables of the covenant, and over it the cherubims of glory overshadowing the mercy-seat." What all these did signify, I cannot stand to shew; but in short, they all pointed out the glory of God in Jesus Christ. Now the vail is rent: then look into the holiest, and see the glorious mystery of redeeming love; see the wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and grace of God, manifested brightly in the face of Jesus, who by his death rent the vail, that we might see heaven and the glory of it.

2. Come and take. The pot of manna was within the vail, as you see in that forecited text, which signified Christ the bread of life. Now, that the vail is rent; you may come to the holiest and take manna: if you go away fasting this night, it will be your own fault; for you have liberty to come and take, since the vail is rent. Christ himself is the manna; and if you take him, you take all things with him that you need. Do you need a pardon? Why, the opening of the vail is a proclamation of pardon upon a jubilee day. In the year of jubilee, the priests enterd within the vail into the holiest; and there was a discharge of debt, and liberty proclaimed; so here is our jubilee; Christ our High-Priest having rent the vail, and entered into the holiest, he issues out his proclamation of indemnity; he proclaims pardon of debt. Many a bankrupt drowned in debt is in this green; but behold, the cry is, "Go forth ye prisoners of hope." There is a pardon in this pot of manna, if you will but take it: yea, there is life to your souls, and death to your sins in this pot of manna, if you will take it. Object. But you will say, I cannot take what is offered to me. Answ. I wish you indeed knew your own weakness, and were sensible of it: "No man can come to me," says Christ, "except the Father draw him :" But, O hath God drawn you so far as that you are willing to take Christ, though you can do nothing; and willing that Christ should take you? Do you know what it is to believe? It is not to do some great thing by your own power, no: it is a grace that hath two eyes; with the one it looks to a man's self, and sees his own utter

weakness, saying, "Not that I am sufficient of myself to think any thing as of myself:" and with the other it looks to God, and sees his infinite power, saying, "My sufficiency is of God." So, that to believe, is to see that you can do nothing, and to employ the power of God to do all things for you and in you that you need. Now, when you are called to take Christ, you are called to take and employ the power of God to do all things that you are called to do, but cannot do of yourself; this power of God is in your offer, and you may give employment to it: Isa. xxvii. 5. "Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me, and he shall make peace with me." Did you ever know before that the power of God was at your service? Take hold of his power, and give employment to his power, saying, Lord, let this power of thine be put forth upon an indigent creature, that I may take Christ. Behold, the Father offers him for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption: there is manna indeed, which you have for the taking in this manner, saying, Lord take me, and I will take thee. Let thy power and grace be glorified upon me. If you be in earnest, it is a bargain; for he never called a sinner to take his Son, upon any other terms, but that they only consent that Christ perform all the work, and take all the glory.

3. Come and wonder: "Behold, the vail of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom." Come and wonder, that all hinderances are taken out of the way of your access to God. Wonder at the love of God in sending his Son to rend the vail; wonder at the love of Christ in rending the vail, that you might have access to God; wonder that it was rent at all; wonder that it was rent in twain; wonder that it was rent from the top to the bottom; wonder at the thing, and wonder at the occasion of it. Christ gave up the ghost, and the vail of the temple was rent. The rending of the vail cost him his life, it cost him his soul; his soul was made an offering for sin, and then the vail was rent. O is there no wondering at this? It would be an evidence of a good communion to you, if you were filled with wonder. A short wonder is better than a long prayer,

4. Come and enter. Not only see and take, and wonder, but also boldly enter into the holiest: not standing in the outer court, as it were, or behind the vail gazing, or only putting in your hand by the rent vail, but come in wholly and enter boldly. The vail is rent in twain ; O then, come and enter by the rent. You may all come boldly to the holiest, by this new and living way that is consecrated through the vail. O may such a dog, such a filthy dog as I come? Yes, we use to say, when doors are open, dogs come in; the door is open, the vail is rent; let dogs come in and get a crumb. The Gentiles are called dogs in scripture; and it is said, "Without are dogs, murderers, sorcerers, whoremongers:" but to all the dogs that are without the vail, we, in God's name proclaim liberty to come in, and get what will save you and sanctify you. You say you have nothing to bring with you, no grace, no good. I tell you, there is none here, but they have something to bring to Christ with them. What is that? Have you not much sin and misery to bring with you; have you not much want, weakness, and wickedness, to bring with you? Come with all your ills, in order to get all good; come with your sins, and get grace; come with your guilt, and get a pardon; come with your filthiness, and get cleansing ; come with your wants, and get fulness. Let dogs come in and get a crumb; yea, a feast. There is nothing to hinder you, since the vail is rent. The law is not in your way, for that is fulfilled: the flaming cherubim is not in your way, for Christ hath rent the vail of God's wrath, and divided the Red Sea of divine vengeance, that you might pass through. Have you a mind for heaven, man, woman? here is the way, it lies through the rent vail; and if you take not this way, you shall never enter there: For there are two porters that will keep all unbelievers out, namely, justice and Holiness. Justice will say, I must be satisfied; holiness will say, I must be vindicated, or else you shall never enter here; but if you come by this rent vail, you shall have open entrance into the heavenly kingdom. Christ will say to Justice, let such a man in, for I paid you all his debt; Holiness let such a man in, for I gave you a perfect obe

This will satisfy

O then, come Christless soul,

dience for him; look upon him in me. both these porters to let believers pass. and enter through the vail that is rent. who will satisfy justice and holiness for you? These porters will never be bribed by you. Therefore, O come and enter by the rent vail, for there is no other way to heaven.

5. Come and sing. If you have made entrance, O sing, Glory to God in the highest, that ever rent this vail. You might go home singing, if you took up the true meaning of the text and turned it to a song; and sing it with understanding, "Behold, the vail of the temple was rent in twain, from the top to the bottom." Behold the vail is rent, and shall never be whole again. Behold, the work is completed by the Son of God; the work is done, and shall never be undone.-To the author and finisher of this great work be glory for ever. Amen.

SERMON III.*

The BEST MATCH; or, the Incomparable Marriage between the CREATOR and the CREATUre.

ISAIAH liv. 5.-Thy Maker is thy Husband.

THE prophet Isaiah having largely discoursed of the sufferings of Christ, and the blessed fruits and effects of them; among which, one is, that he should have a numerous seeds to believe on him; and that, when the Jews reject him, the Gentiles should gladly receive him: And thus foreseeing, by the spirit of prophecy, the glorious state of the Gentile church, he breaks forth into a song of triumph in the beginning of this chapter; where the prophet directs his speech to the church and spouse.

*This was delivered in two discourses at Culross; but the precise time and occasion cannot be ascertained; only we see the first edition was printed Anno 1722.