1 DISCOURSE XV. ISAIAH, CHAP. liii. Part of VER. 12. “HE HATH POURED OUT HIS SOUL "UNTO DEATH." WELL might the noble Ethiopian, reading this remarkable chapter of Ifaiah, apply to Philip the Evangelist, whom Heaven had directed to meet him on a journey, to explain to him its mysterious import. " I pray "thee," said he, " of whom speaketh "the Prophet this; of himself, or of " some other man?" The question shews him to have been possessed of a good natural understanding, though utterly un acquainted with the great Truths of Revealed Religion. Certain it is, that the Prophet hath entered so minutely into the character and conduct of the perfon whom he describes, that the Ethiopian could not but suppose him speaking of himself, or at least of a man whom he had actually seen, and was intimately acquainted with. Philip soon resolved his doubts; and his honest, though untutored heart, was chearfully opened to the falutary communications of Evangelical Truth. Indeed, there is something so lovely and luminous in the appearance of Truth, that nought but the mists of paffion and prejudice can intercept its rays, or obstruct its efficacy on the human mind. Hence it was, that one of the most celebrated wits of the last century, after a life spent in the most ignoble pursuits, after having prostituted his heart, his tongue, and his pen, to the most profligate |