Chrift was firft fanctified and sent into the world, whereby, in his obedience as a fervant, he magnified the law and made it honorable; and he was then anointed, and divinely rewarded, with the oil of joy and gladness: fo alfo, David was firft proved as a fervant, and being found faithful, he was established in the throne of the kingdom:I have found David my fervant; with my holy oil have I anointed him. And all this took place with David, according to the nature of the divine principle, in a covenant-way, as may be obferved in the third verse of this Pfalm.-I have made a covenant with my chofen-I have fworn unto David my fervant: Alfo verfe 28. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant fhall stand faft with him:-And again, verfe 34. My cove nant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. But fo long and fo deep were his trials and humiliations, that in his agonies he exclaimed, Thou haft made void the covenant of thy fervant; thou haft profaned his crown by cafting it to the ground: My God, my God, why haft thou forfaken me.

As therefore, the divine will in Chrift unfolds in feparate parts, according to the great diftinction of a requirement and a reward, or of the law and the promife; of a fervant in receiving the commandment, and a son in receiving the inheritance ;-the reason is apparent, why the holy anointing is connected with his humiliation and exaltation diftinctly; and, in the exhibition, is repeated: Thus in Pfalm xcii, The Holy One faith, My

horn fhalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn; I fhall be anointed with fresh oil. He was once anointed in relation to the great work of redemption; in which, under every circumftance of trial and temptation, he was fent forth to labour as a fervant; and having shewn the most perfect fidelity to the caufe of truth; having proved that he loved righteoufnefs, and hated iniquity, he is anointed afresh with the oil of joy and gladness.

In like manner, David was anointed twice; first by Samuel; which was followed with a fcene of warfare and fufferings; but, acting as a fervant, he was found faithful-through all the long and complicated fcene, he was proved worthy of the kingdom-witness the confeffion of the men of Ifrael, 2 Sam. v. 2. Alfo in time paft, when Saul was king over us, thou waft he that leddeft out and broughteft in Ifrael. Wherefore, he was again anointed king in Hebron, which was followed generally with a fcene of royal grandeur and felicity.

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Agreeably to this diftinction, which arifes from the nature of the divine will, it observed, that the people of Chrift receive from him a twofold application of the fpirit; firft, in regeneration, or in being fubjected to the law of God; fecondly, in being fealed and confirmed by the Holy Comforter: for unless we have the fpirit of Christ, we are none of his, we cannot be the fons of God; but, fays the apostle, because ye are fons, God hath fent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father:-And again,

After that ye believed, ye were fealed with that holy Spirit of promife. And the fame is spoken of by Isaiah Ixi. 3. To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for afhes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praife for the Spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorifi ed. They who are in afhes in Zion, are the fubjects of grace; the fpirit of heaviness there, is a fanctifying fpirit; and the promises are made to her mourners :-- -Bleffed are they that mourn, for they fhall be comforted; they fhall have beauty for afhes, the oil of joy for mourn ing, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. This agrees with the beautiful defcription of the rifing of the church from her low and deeply humbled ftate-Pfalm xviii. 13. Though ye have lien among bots, yet fhall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with filver, and her feathers with yellow gold.

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As the diftinction of the law and the mife, forms two of the three great divifions of the word of God, which two respect the work of redemption, every thing in the work of grace, will be found to conform to fuch a view of the divine principle; hence, in the operations of the fpirit, there exists the work of the law, and the comforting work ;--the work of killing by the commandment, and of making alive by the promise:-and hence, Jefus Chriit employed in the work of the miniftry, Boanerges, fons of thunder; and Barnabas, the fan of confolation; yea, Christ

Jefus the Lord, who through the Eternal Spirit offered up him felf, was quickened by the fame, and liveth by the power of God.

This will lead to an explanation of the remark of Christ upon the good work of the bleffed Mary: She is come, faid he, aforehand to anoint my body to the burying: and also, it will explain the diftinction which appears in the scriptures relative to baptifm; which is an emblem to fignify the operations of the Spirit, viz. the baptifm of a burial, which imports the service work of Chrift, according to the law; and the baptifm by effusion, which imports the miniftration of the Spirit by Chrift, according to the promife. Were the nature, the connection, and agreement of these things understood, there would not exift that difputing and fchifm among the people which, in this day of fcattering and difperfion, is every where witneffed; and that painful, finful and deftructive scene of exhibiting one part of the work of grace in opposition to the other.

The great end of the law-work, which is to bring to submission and under fubjection to the law of God, is ordinarily accomplished by the means of parental government; and it has frequently been obferved, that when the gracious work takes place in this way, it is, in most inftances, effected more infenfibly; and the fword of the fpirit performs the deep operation, with a much lefs tremendous fhock, than when it is done by fome other more extraordinary means.- It is a merciful providence towards people, to

be brought up from their childhood in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; for though fuch fubjects of the work of grace, be not ordinarily, rent and torn by the earthquake, the tempeft, the lightning and thunder of the law, as many others are; yet it is found, that the operations of the commandment and promife upon their minds and hearts, are as clearly distinguished by the effects and fruits produced in them; and they have usually as firmly adhered to the caule and interest of truth, as have those who have been brought in by the most fudden and furprizing difplays of divine power.

The divine unction is a teaching, it is truth, John ii. 27. It confifts fimply in the doctrine of Chrift, and in a teaching to abide in him: but though it be fo plain a matter as is the doctrine of Father and Son, the parental commandment, and the filial duty; yet this divinely taught truth is as hard, and, in fome fenfe, infinitely harder to be understood by unhumbled, unfanctified fouls, than it was for the Philiftines to find out where lay Sampfon's great ftrength.

Practical remarks are not digreffions in an illuftration of the divine theory; it is all calculated for practice. Mary's being employed in anointing Chrift for his burial, accords with many inflances given in the fcriptures, of the agency of women in what relates to the precept of the divine will, and which may quently be noticed in the Lord's house. The initiating of the Sons of Zion into the fecret of their Nazaritefhip, has ufually been the

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