is God that justifieth: who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us."

4thly, The assurance of the effectual application of all the benefits of his purchase, and legacies of his testament, is a fruit of his intercession: for "seeing he lives for ever to make intercession," he will surely take care that the purchase of his blood be not lost, and that the legacies of his testament shall not be null and void; now he is his own executor, lives to see his latter will made good. And what is his latter will? It is just this: "I will be their God: I will be merciful to all their unrighteousness: I will lead the blind in a way they know not," &c.

5thly, The hearing of our prayers, the acceptance of our persons and weak services, is another fruit of his intercession. O sirs, our prayers would never go farther than our lips, if it were not for the intercession of Jesus, Rev. viii. 3, 4: "And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God, out of the angel's hand." The ascending of the incense out of the angel's hand before God, notes the complacency that God takes in the service and obedience of his saints through Christ, &c.

Now, put all these together, and see if the tree of life be not a fertile tree; he brings forth twelve manner of fruits; that is, many good fruits, a certain number being put for an uncertain.

Having given you an account of his twelve manner of fruits, I proceed,

Secondly, To notice some of the "months" in which he yields fruit to the souls of his people. You see here, that the tree of life yields fruit every month, that is, at all times of the year. Other trees yield their fruit only every year; but here is a tree that yields its fruit every month of the year; there is not a moment of time in which ripe and ready fruit is not to be had for the hand and mouth of faith. And there are some of them summer, and some of them winter months.

1. I say, there are some of them summer-months.

1st, then, There is the spring-month, or time of conversion, or effectual calling; the tree of life yields fruit then to the soul. In this month the tree of life drops in life into the dead soul: then it is that the poor soul of the believer begins

first to drink in the sap of the true olive, and to taste of his fruit; then it is that the tree of life yields the fruit of a renewed nature to the soul: "A new heart will I give them, and a new spirit will I put within them," the fruit of the divine image and stamp, a partaker of the divine nature.

2dly, There is the pleasant summer-month of manifestations and discoveries of the divine glory of the Lord's countenance. This is called "the time of the singing of birds." "They shall sing in the ways of the Lord; for great is the glory of the Lord," Psal. cxxxviii. 5. "All we with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

3dly, There is the pleasant and sweet summer-month of access to God in duties and ordinances. Then he opens the door to them, and brings them into the chamber of presence: "He brought me into the banquetting-house, and his banner over me was love." "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." "My soul is filled as with marrow and fatness."

4thly, There is the pleasant month or season of remarkable deliverances that the Lord works for his people, either from spiritual or temporal enemies. The believer feeds so upon the tree of life then, that he cannot but chirp and sing with the church, Is. xii. 2: "Behold, God is my salvation: I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." And Exod. xv. 1, 2: "Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him a habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him."

5thly, There is the pleasant month of the renewed or lively actings of faith upon the Lord Jesus Christ, or on the covenant and promises. This is a pleasant month, in which the soul is filled with peace and joy; by eating the fruit of the tree of life, we are said to be "filled with joy unspeakable, and full of glory."

6thly, There is the month of a lively love to the lovely Jesus. This is a pleasant summer-month, in which the soul feeds liberally on the fruit of the tree of life. When the poor believer gets this and the other promise, and is helped to press with the hand, and suck with the mouth of faith these honeycombs of salvation, oh, how then are the affections of the

soul drawn out after the Lord! The man cries then, with the church, "The desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee;" and, with David, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee."

2. As there are summer, so there are winter months, in which the tree of life yields his fruit.

1st, There is the sharp-piercing winter-month of conviction, reproofs, and challenges from the Lord, when he challenges for the abuse of mercies, for untenderness of walk, for unkindness to him, "Is this thy kindness to thy friend?" In this month the tree of life yields the fruit of repentance, "They shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and mourn. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing." It is in this month that sin is imbittered to the soul, and the man is brought farther off the law, and made to flee to the righteousness of the Son of God.

2dly, There is the dark and weary winter-month of desertion, when the believer goes "mourning without the sun, crying, O that I knew where I might find him! Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: on the left hand where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him." Even then the tree of life brings forth fruit by his Spirit in his branches; for hereby they are made more tender, more holy, and more circumspect; hereby they are taught what "an evil and a bitter thing" sin is, that separates between them and their God; hereby the believer is taught the way of living more by faith on the stock in Christ's hand, than upon the grace they have got in their own hand.

3dly, There is the weary winter-month of the prevalency of indwelling corruption, when the soul is crying, "Iniquities prevail against me: O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death!" Oh! does the tree of life yield any manner of fruit to the soul then? Answ. Yes, for then it is that the soul is filled with self-loathing and abhorrence, with Job, and taught more and more the lesson of self-denial, and to flee to the blood of sprinkling for the destruction of the body of sin.

4thly, There is the heartless winter-month of deadness, dulness, and barrenness. This is another melancholy, weary month; but yet in this month the tree of life brings forth his fruit in the soul, and teaches it that its life is not in itself, but in the Lord: "We are dead, but our life is hid with Christ in

God.

When Christ who is our life shall appear, then, shall

we also appear with him in glory."

5thly, There is the stormy month of inward and outward trouble, like two seas meeting together, the soul "afflicted, tossed with tempest;" but yet, even then, he is "laying the stones with fair colours, and the foundations with sapphires," weaning the soul from this world, and "making it meet to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light."

6thly, There is the melancholy and gloomy month of death, in which the shadows of the evening stretch themselves out; the poor soul is held "in bondage through fear of death." Well, even in this month the tree of life bears fruit, which is an antidote against the terrors of death and the grave: by tasting his fruit, the believer can look death in the face, and sing, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" he hath said, "O'death, I will be thy plagues; Ŏ grave, I will be thy destruction. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."

THE TREE OF LIFE, SHAKING HIS FRUITS AND LEAVES AMONG THE NATIONS.

In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.REV. XXII. 2.

THE THIRD SERMON ON THIS TEXT.

I GAVE you this general or comprehensive doctrine from the words, That the Lord Jesus Christ is a medicinal and. fertile tree, planted by his Father in the city of the New Testament church, for the benefit of the starving and diseased nations of the earth.

I. I spoke a little of this tree of life.

II. Of the situation of this tree in the city of God; it is said to be in the midst of the street, and on each side of the river. III. Of the fertility of this tree; it bears twelve manner of fruits, and yields fruit every month. I come now to,

IV. The fourth thing in the method, which was, to speak of the medicinal quality of the tree of life; his very leaves are for the healing of the nations.

Now, if time would allow, I might here show, 1. Whom

are we to understand by the nations? 2. What are the diseases of the nations? 3. What are these leaves of the tree, that are for the healing of the nations? 4. How does it appear that these leaves are ordained for the healing of the nations? I can only glance at these particulars.

First, Whom are we to understand by the nations? I answer in a word, By the nations we are to understand all that ever sprung of Adam, every creature endued with a reasonable soul, whether of Jew or Gentile. "Go," says Christ, "and preach the gospel to every creature," without exception, "Go and teach all nations," &c. Go, and tell them, that I, who am the tree of life, am ordained for their use, and there is fruit enough in me, and life enough in me, for every one of them. He is ordained a Saviour for lost sinners. Although I am not for universal redemption, I am for a universal Saviour in the offer of the gospel: "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." But I conceive, that here, in a particular manner, the poor Gentile nations are intended, as contradistinguished from the Jews: I say, they, or rather we of the Gentile nations, are in a particular manner intended, because now, under the New Testament dispensation, Christ and the blessings of his gospel are no more confined to the Jews; no, the boundary is broken down, the veil of ceremonies, and partition-wall of the Mosaic testimony, is rent and pulled down; so that "life and immortality are brought to light" to us, as well as to them. The poor Gentiles for some thousands of years were excluded like aliens and foreigners from the commonwealth of Israel; and they, when hearing of Christ, the tree of life, might be ready to say, O can we have any benefit by the tree of life? O yes (says the Lord,) here my Christ, my anointed Redeemer, is given for a light to enlighten the Gentiles, and for salvation to all the ends of the earth; his leaves are for the healing of the nations.

Secondly, What diseases do the nations labour under, which make them need the healing leaves of this blessed tree to be brought unto them? Answer in general, ever since the fall of Adam, the whole nations of the earth have been just like a great hospital of diseased persons overrun with a loathsome leprosy. "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint: from the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is no soundness in them; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores." And if you still ask me, what is to be understood by the diseases of the nations? Answ. In a word, it is just the disease of a depraved nature, venting itself in all manner of sin and wickedness. See an account given by the apostle