country; and in the city which hath foundations, whose maker and builder is God!

Steward. Free-will was his law; pride and covetousness were his motives; at sovereignty he aimed; and, when the heir of promise, the heir apparent, the type of the great King, appeared, he forbore not to mock at the infant; and, by despising that little one, he despised the King that sent him, and was banished for ever.

Shepherd. I see the reason why Hagar is called desolate: it is because she was without God, as Sinai is, of which she is the figure; and Ishmael is called the bond son, because he is in bondage to the law; and, if so, he must be under the curse of it. Self-will, and despising sovereignty, were the bane and destruction of both the mother and the son.

Steward. They were; and you have touched upon their characteristics, which are left upon record for a caution to all generations. They are called the children of the flesh; and are said to walk after the flesh, instead of walking in the Spirit; to despise government, and refuse to submit to the sovereignty of the King of kings. "Presumptuous are they:" they presume without Divine leave; and venture to build their hopes, and to advance, and affirm, to others, without a Divine warrant. "Self-willed," they ridicule and oppose, contemn and blaspheme, the sovereign will of their Maker, the decrees and counsels of it; exalt

themselves to sovereignty, and make self-will their law. "They are not afraid to speak evil of dignities," 2 Pet. ii. 10. They are not afraid to speak evil of the uncontroulable power and sovereign sway of the King of saints; and the delegated power of the elect, who are made kings and priests: yea, both are spoken evil of without fear; yea, and ascribed to Abaddon himself!

Shepherd. He is a wild man indeed! and the wild man seems to live in all the children: and I am sure the prophecy will be fulfilling to the end of time; for he can neither forsake his principles nor his practices till God withdraws his prophecy; and therefore his hand will be against every loyalist, and every loyalist will have his hand against him, as long as the world stands.

Steward. And longer too; for they will hate the seed royal even in the gloomy regions: nor will the children of Zion find any love to them in the realms of bliss, though filled with immortal love.

Shepherd. This accounts for their sculking about the palace-royal: it is to make the children self-willed; to set them to despise the sovereignty and government of their royal Father; to ridicule the laws of Zion; and to slight the royal apparel of Mordecai, by whom the welfare of Israel is sought, and by which he speaks peace to all his seed.

Steward. In short, that is their whole work, except digging down the walls of Zion, and de

basing the royal family to an equal footing with themselves. These things are enforced by all the magicians, sorcerers, astrologers, and prognosticators, that ever have appeared, or ever will appear, in the synagogues of the Hagarenes. And I know that there is neither prince nor princess in all the King's household, but would find, if they would observe carefully, the same things suggested to them in secret, even by Abaddon himself; which is a manifest proof of his being the author of these rebellious and destructive tenets, and the chief tutor of those academicians.

Shepherd. I believe you are right: though sometimes Abaddon comes as an angel of light, and suggests these things; while he operates in the blood, tickles the fleshly feelings, softens the passions, stirs up the corrupt affections of nature, and drowns the cheeks with tears. Yet rebellion, self-will, and despising government, boil up at the bottom: and often, when he is not likely to succeed with candour, he will bring the same things with rage and violence; and, if he cannot fix them in the heart, he will buffet the mind with them till he renders it incapable of attending to any thing else.

Steward. He will. But the most usual way is by a preparatory dose, which gives motion to the fleshly passions, attended with tickling the sympathetic feelings of nature; and then the pill, his bread of deceit, gilded with candour, is swal1 down, but afterwards the mouth is filled

with gravel, Prov. xx. 17. And I know, by sound experience, that such must be purged with hyssop before ever they can find quietness in their belly, Job xx. 20.

Shepherd. Whether Smut growls, or whether he fawns, I know he aims at nothing but biting, destroying, and devouring, both the sheep and lambs.

Steward. And I know that the Hagarenes and Athaliah are both agreed in conspiracy; for nothing less is intended than cutting off all the seed royal, 2 Kings xi. 1. For my own part, I am as much hurt if I see any of the King's children with Hagar's boys, as you are at seeing a lamb in the jaws of Smut. I have formerly observed Little Faith, after stealing away, to get among them, when he has come home, even when he was a little thing, not much higher than a twopenny loaf, he would justle up against me, and mutter enough to convince me where he had been, and to discover the wretched rebellion that they had instilled into the mind of the child.

Shepherd, Why, what could such a little pismire say?

Steward. Say! He would prim up his mouth, blink with his eyes, look this way, and that way, and then begin, 'I wonder the King has not more children. Why don't he adopt some of the other sort of boys? Why don't he adopt all? I find a love to them; and, if I love them, how much more must he love them whose name and nature is love!

as you yourself sometimes have owned, Mr. Steward!'

Shepherd. Then Little Faith thinks the King is just such an one as himself, Psalm 1. 21. And, pray, what answer did you make him?

Steward. I told him that, why, and, wherefore, were not proper words for infants: and that neither the queen, the children, nor the servants, were allowed the use of them, especially in a rebellious way, when finding fault with the proceedings of his Majesty, who works all things after the counsel of his own will. And I farther told him to bridle his tongue, and take heed that he did not affect a company of rebels, nurse a spirit of conspiracy, despise the government of his Father, and aim at sovereignty himself, till he hung in an oak, and perished in his rebellion, like Absalom.

Shepherd. And how did he take it? Would his countenance stand?

Steward. He could easily perceive that I knew where he had been; and that I gave an answer to what was in his heart, as well as to what came out of his mouth. As to his looks, he appeared like a dog that had burnt his tail in the cook's kitchen, and was sculking away to his kennel with a whip and bell at his heels.

Shepherd. This shews that their own conscience is pointblank against their rebellion, as well as the King and the records of Zion; for the countenance, even of a child, cannot stand before an appeal to either.