six hundred thousand to fall in the wilderness?-Why did God strike Uzza dead? And why a thousand more things which have happened in the sight of the world? Surely it cannot be for our good to be struck dead and sent to hell; and surely it cannot be for the good of any in all God's world, that shall see or ever hear of it, when, all the while, it is publicly known that we deserve no ill at God's hands-no, not the least.

And now, after all, to torment us in hell forever, for nothing in the world, where the fire shall never be quenched, and the worm shall never die; yea, and to appoint a day of judgment, under a pretence of doing nothing but strict justice; and to summon all worlds together, to see and hear, to the end that his impartiality and justice might appear to all, when, all the while, he knows, and all the world knows, that his poor creatures deserve no ill at his hands-no, not the least! What can he mean?

Yea, and that which is a great deal worse than all, that I even shudder to think of it, he not only makes a law to punish sinners eternally in hell, when there was no reason for it, but puts it in execution upon his poor creatures who do not deserve it; but, having one only Son, of equal glory with himself, he delivers him to death, in the room and stead of sinners; pretending that sin was so bad a thing, that without the shedding of blood there could be no remission, and therefore his own Son must die, to the end he might be just, while he justified the sinner that should believe in him-while, all the time, if their scheme is true, he knew, and all the world will know, sooner or later, that sin never deserved the least punishment at his hands!

To conclude, therefore, if God be what they suppose, I grant the scheme I have laid down is not right; and it is equally evident that the Bible is not right neither: for the law and the gospel, the Old Testament and the New, every where suppose, and take it for granted, that sin is an infinite evil-deserves the wrath and curse of God...all the miseries of this life, and death itself, and the pains of hell forever ;-the law threatens all this. According to the gospel, Christ has died to redeem us from all

this, as what we justly deserve: The Bible, therefore, in a word, supposes we deserve it all; but their scheme supposes we do not. The God that made the Bible has no doubt of it; he made his law upon this ground, and upon this footing he gave his Son to die....has appointed a day of judgment, and prepared a place of torment-a lake of fire and brimstone: but their God is of quite another mind....can see no such infinite evil in sin—yea, no evil at all in it, but what results from its tendency to make us miserable: Their God, therefore, is not the God of Israel, nor the God that made the Bible; and, therefore, is no God....is nothing but an image framed in their own fancy, suited to their own hearts.

Besides, their idea of God is contrary not only thus to the general tenor of scripture, but also to many plain and express declarations. (1.) It is manifest that God does not make the happiness of his creatures his last end, from Exod. ix. 16-Numb. xiv. 13-21-Lev. x. 3-Psalm cvi. 8-Ezek. xx. throughout. Ezek. xxxvi. 21, 22, 23, and xxxviii. 23, and xxxix. 6, 7, 13, 21, 22—Rom. ix. 22, 23-Rom. xi. 36-Rev. iv. 11. (2.) It is manifest that God does not require his creatures to love and obey him merely because it tends to make them happy so to do, from Exod. xx. 2-Lev. xix. 2—Psalm xxix. 2, and xcvi. 4, 8, and cxlviii. 13-I. Cor. vi. 20. (3.) It is manifest that God does not threaten and punish sin merely because it tends to make his creatures miserable, from I. Sam. ii. 29, 30-II. Sam. xii. 7-14-Psalm li. 4-Mal. i. 6, 7, 8, 14.

But to conclude;-how sad and dreadful a thing will it be, for poor sinners, when they come to die, and enter into the world of spirits, there to find that the God they once loved and trusted in, was nothing but an image framed in their own fancy! They hated the God of Israel, and hated his law, and therefore would not believe that God or his law were indeed what they were. They were resolved to have a God and a law more to their minds. How dreadful will their disappointment be! How dreadful their surprise! They would never own they were enemies to God; now they see their enmity was so great as to

make them resolutely, notwithstanding the plainest evidence, even to deny him to be what he was: And how righteous will the ways of the Lord appear to be, in that he gave such over to strong delusions to believe a lie, who did not love, and would not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness?.... II. Thes. ii. 10, 11, 12: So, the Gentile nations, not liking to retain God in their knowledge, were given over to reprobate minds, and left every nation to make such a God as best pleased themselves....Rom. i.-But it is time to proceed to the next use,

SECTION VI.

RULES OF TRIAL.

USE II. Which may be of examination. What has been said may serve to clear up, to real saints, their gracious state, and may afford matter of conviction to others.

And here I would take the humble believer in his element, that is, in his closet, where he retires from the noise and business of the world-where he loves to be alone, to read the Bible....to meditate on the perfections of God, and think of his works and ways-where he mourns, and prays, and loves God, and gives up himself to him: In a serious hour of sweet retirement, when you are most yourself, and your thoughts most about you, I would enquire, What are your views? And what is the inward temper of your mind? And how do you live? And what is it that habitually influences you in your daily conduct?

Do you know God? Do you see him to be such an one as he really is-even such an one as the scriptures represent him to be? And do you account him infinitely glorious and amiable in being such an one? And do you begin to love him with all your heart? Do you esteem him so as to exult in his su premacy and absolute sovereignty? And so will seek his glory, and value his honor and interest, as to give up yourself to live to him; and so delight in him, as to choose him for your pres ent and everlasting portion? True, your remaining blindness and ignorance is very great: but do you not feel it, and groan under it as your burden, and hate yourself for it as your sin, lamenting the sottishness of your heart, that you should be se

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senseless and brutish, after so many outward advantages and inward helps, and amidst such clear manifestations made of God and of his infinite glory, in his word, and in all his works and ways; and feel that you are wholly to blame for the stupidity and unteachableness of your heart-ready to say with him of old, So foolish am I, and ignorant, I am as a beast before thee ?... Psalm lxxiii. 22. Your disesteem of God, and unconcerned. ness about his honor and interest, is great, and you have still a disposition to hate to live upon God only, without any thing else to take comfort in, as the portion of your soul; and so you are inclined to forget God....to forsake him....to depart, and go away, and fall in love with something else, and seek another resting-place, and something else to take comfort in: But do you not feel this your remaining want of conformity to God's law, and native contrariety to it? And do you not hate it, and hate yourself for it? Do you not groan under it, and lament it, and watch, and pray, and fight against it, feeling the infinite sinfulness of it? saying, The law is holy, just, and good; but I am carnal, sold under sin: O wretched man that I am!....Rom. vii. 14, 24.

And what are the grounds of your love to God, and from what motives is it that you are influenced to love him? Does God, indeed, appear infinitely great, glorious, and amiable in being what he is? And do you love him because he is just such an one? Do you love to meditate his incomprehensibly glorious perfections, and wonder and adore? Are you glad that he knows all things, and can do every thing? Are the various manifestations of divine wisdom, in the moral government of the world, glorious in your eyes? Does it suit your heart that God governs the world as he does? Do you love that the pride of all flesh should be brought low, and the Lord alone be exalted? Are you glad that God loves righteousness and hates iniquity as he does; and do you heartily approve the strictness of his law in the matter of your duty, and the severity thereof against the least sin? And are you sweetly sensible of the infinite good ness of God, and of his truth and faithfulness? And does God

appear infinitely glorious because he is just what he is? And is this the primary foundation of your love?... In a word, do you see him as the great Creator, Preserver, and Governor of the world as the Redeemer, Sanctifier, and Savior of his people, as he has thus revealed himself, by his word, and in his works; and do you love him for being what he is? And do you also feel the powerful influence of those superadded obligations you are under to love him?-In other cases, when we love any thing, we know why we love it: so, also, do believers know why they love the Lord their God.

And does it not appear to you infinitely reasonable that you should love God with all your heart-that you should be wholly his, and wholly for him, and make him your all, while you be hold his infinite glory....his complete all-sufficiency....his original, entire right to you, and absolute authority over you? And does not his law, in requiring you to do so, appear to be infinitely right, perfectly holy, just, and good....worthy to stand in full force forever, unabated and unaltered? And do you not see that the least want of conformity to this law, or transgression of it, is infinitely vile, and that a perfect conformity thereto deserves no thanks? And do you not feel yourself wholly to blame for your not being altogether such as the law requires? Hypocrites are generally very ignorant of the law, in its true meaning and strictness; and so are ignorant of their want of confor mity unto it, and of their inward contrariety to it....Rom. vii. 8, 9 --for otherwise all hypocrites would know certainly that they have no grace. But yet hypocrites, at least many of them, know something about the law, and their want of conformity to it, and something about their inward contrariety to it; and hence may complain of the blindness of their minds, the deadness of their hearts, and of their pride and worldliness: but no hypocrite is heartily sensible that the law is holy, just, and good in requiring perfection; and that he himself is entirely to blame for not being perfectly holy, and that the fault is wholly his. Some will say, "I desire to love God, and to aim at his glory, "and do my duty; but no man is, or can be perfect: and God