My age a span, my life a thread,
A living man, and yet I'm dead;
A sinner lost, a sinner saved,
I'm risen, yet am in a grave;

I'm perfect weakness, yet have strength,
I am a man, but child at length;
A warrior, yet I cannot fight,
But oft in victory take delight.
In many battles gained the day,
Tho' lame, yet overcome the prey;
An ass by nature I was born,
But now an ox that treads the corn:
A book I am that few can read,
A tree, and but a broken reed;
A worm that crawleth on the earth,
Yet, like an eagle soars aloft ;
I'm perfect darkness, yet have light,
I'm crooked, but I walk upright;
A fool, but grace has made me wise,
I'm blind, but still have got my eyes;
My pleasures wrapt up in the cross,
My greatest gain. I count my loss;
'Twas grace which raised me from the fall,
Of Christ I'll boast, my all in all.

W. M. S.

THE GOSPEL PULPIT.

A SPIRITUAL ENTERTAINMENT;

A Sermon Preached at Crispin Street, Spitalfields, London, Dec, 25, 1750, by the late

REV. WILLIAM BENTLEY. "And in this mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people, a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.—Isaiah xxv. 6.

THIS prophet speaks great things of Christ and his kingdom, and may well be called the evangelical prophet; he saw his glory and spake of him, John xii. 14; in his birth, in his twofold natures, in his sufferings and death, and in the glories that should afterwards follow; and of the kingdom of the Messiah as it should break forth among the gentiles; yea, this prophecy leads us unto the glories of the latter days, and the closing up of time: this chapter, where my text is, is full of gospel grace, as it was to break forth in and under the gospel dispensation, though clothed in Old Testament language, of which my text is a part. And as I have invited you to partake of a feast, a spiritual entertainment, before you feast with your friends this day, I shall, in speaking unto these words, December, 1845.

I. Shew you what the provisions of this feast are, expressed in our text; fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.

II. The place where this feast is made, in this mountain, in allusion unto the temple of the Lord's house or palace.

III. For whom it is made, for all people, without distinction of nations.

IV. The founder of this feast, by whom it is made, not angels, nor men, but the Lord of Hosts.

I. What the provisions of this feast are, or of what it consists: our text is full of metaphorical expressions; fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined; yet noching taken out of the flock, or fields, or vintage, is to be here understood; though these expressions in our text have a special reference unto what God's church was feasted with of old, under the law; and may have some reference unto that grand feast spoken of by Moses: "And they saw the God of Israel; and there were under his feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in its clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand also they saw God, and did eat and

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xiv. 17. Nay, all the fields with all the cattle upon a thousand hills, and all the vintages or olive yards, yea, the whole creation cannot spread a table with such provisions, as are in It has been, and still may my text. be, so far as I know, the custom at some great men's houses, or king's palaces, to present the guests with a bill of fare, before the provision is served up at table. This bill of fare, which I would give you, consists of five things: 1. The lamb slain, or the fatted calf killed. 2. A spoiled leviathan, that old serpent, the devil. 3. The old man, with his deeds crucified. 4. Death abolished, and the power of the grave conquered. 5. and lastly, The oil and wine of the kingdom.

1. The Lamb slain, or the fatted calf killed; in other words, a crucified Christ, a slain Christ for the sins of God's elect: this is God's standing 'dish, (if I may so say) to feed and feast the saints in time, and throughout the endless ages of eternity; not one soul ever reached heaven, but fed upon this royal provision here, and they will need no other when they come there: the sacrifices of old were an early appointment of God, to teach and lead them unto Christ, the Lamb of God; in all probability, the first that was offered up was in Eden's garden; sacrifices began there, there our first parents were taught the doctrine of atonement by Christ, being clothed with his righteousness, when God clothed them with the skins of beasts, Gen. iii. 21. But from Abel's time these were more in

use, and the ceremonial law was full of them; the morning lamb, the red heifer, the yearly sacrifices, all pointed unto this Lamb, this fatted calf, in my text; the Lord was full of the fat of beasts; Isa. i. 11; these he appointed for a time; but to this man would he look, Isa. lxvi. 2; the great Mediator and High Priest, that had somewhat to offer. Let go this doctrine of the substitution of Christ in the room of his people, and his death being a proper atonement for sin, and the glory of our Bible is lost, and the worship of the Old Testament a mere fable and idle shew, to please children; but it was not so, Christ was preached in them, and held forth in them; these were shadows of good things to come, but the body is of Christ, Col. ii. 17; the law came by Moses, but grace and truth by Jesus Christ. John i. 17. O let us value the Old Testament, because it is full of the slain Lamb of God, and our provision laid in and under the shadows of the law, under that dispensation; but now we feed and feast upon him without those types. Gospel ministers dare not, cannot feed their people with any other food, than this slain Lamb, or fatted calf killed. The chaff and husks of morality will not go dowu with a hungry soul, that has a spiritual appetite. Paul did not feed his hearers with these; he did not give them a lecture out of Seneca, or Plato, or the heathen philosophers, but preached up Christ crucified; for I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified;" Cor. ii. 2. They then fed and feasted on this slain Lamb of God. Let us keep the feast, saith the same apostle; but upon what? why, upon Christ our passover Lamb, sacrificed for us; 1 Cor. v. 7; exposed unto the wrath of God, for us, for our sins. The lamb roasted with fire, was the type of this Lamb, bearing the wrath of God for us all. The saints of old fed and feasted upon this slain Lamb,

held out in types, shadows, promises, and prophesies; your first parents, by faith, fed upon this Lamb of God; this was to all the saints of old, a feast of fat things, and of marrow unto their souls. God was to have the best brought unto his altar, the fat was the Lord's; and the Lord spreadeth his table with the best for his guests now; he saith unto his people, eat the fat and drink the sweet; Neh. viii. 10; and all the saints of old did eat of this spiritual meat, of this Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, Rev. xiii. 8. To think, and say, and write, as some do, that we may get to heaven without faith in Christ, as a sacrifice for sin is false; if any such are here, sirs, you never can, none ever did, ever will; you must eat his flesh and drink his blood, to be saved by him, or you are lost for ever. It is not Christ as an example, but Christ as a sacrifice, that must save us from sin; for Christ has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God; 1 Pet. iii. 18; and he made his soul an offering for sin. Isa. liii. 10. Faith feeds now on this, and you shall feed to all eternity upon this provision; the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, Rev. vii. 17; this provision will be for ever new to the saints above; Christ is now, and will be then, to his people, all in all. Col. iii. 11.

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2. A spoiled Leviathan, that old serpent, the devil, is another part of this provision; he that first seduced and drew our first parents into sin and rebellion against God, called a murderer from the beginning; John viii. 44; and whose enmity and opposition unto Christ, personal and mystical, were spoken of in the first declaration of grace, the seed of the woman was to bruise the serpent's head, and he was to bruise Christ's heel, Gen. ii. 15; that is, his human nature; or his body, the church, and for this cause, the apostle John

saith, the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil; 1 John iii. 8; not only his works, which are many in us and in the world round about us, but him also; Christ was to destroy the devil, and that in our nature; for this cause he assumed it, to attack him; and he did so openly in it, once and again, in the wilderness, and on the pinnacle of the temple, and on an high mountain, and in many other instances of his life, and at his death; "for the children being partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil:" Heb. ii. 14; he has cast him out of the gentile world, as to the manner that he played his tricks formerly; he has also dispossessed him of the bodies of men when on earth; and by his gospel, the rod of his strength, Psal. cx. 2, hath and doth cast him out of the hearts of the elect world, and makes them willing in the day of his power. Satan still, indeed, terrifies and affrights God's children, tempts and distresses them; and sometimes has raised up dreadful persecutions against them; but yet cannot do as he would; he could not tempt or distress a Job, or sift a Peter, but he must have Christ's leave for it first. Christ has spoiled principalities, and powers, and made a show of them openly, Col. ii. 15; he may cast down, but he cannot destroy, nor pluck one soul out of Christ's hands; he may be suffered to put lets in the way of your perseverance, but he cannot hinder your persevering; though, like a lion, a roaring lion, he walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Pet. v. 8. And is not this food for faith? Do not believers feed upon Christ's victory over him? surely they do; or else way that word, in the Psalms, "Thou breakest the heads of Leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilder ness?" Psal. lxxiv. 14 The people