ed cannot be limited to the millenium, as is generally done; for it is even for the age of ages, and to comprehend the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, one universal divine government under Chrift its head. But where shall the faints poffefs this, if not in the new earth, which the meek fhall inherit, and in which righteoufnefs fhall dwell. Thus the dominion fhall be restored to the firft-born, to whom their brethren fhall be fubjected during the age of ages; for "the upright fhall have dominion over them in the morning," Pfal. xlix. 14. Then fhall the first words of that Pfalm be realized, "Hear this, all ye people, give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world."

Such as will not examine these things, or cannot receive them, let them beware of rafh judgment, and uncharitable cenfures. Inftead of railing at thofe who love truth as much as they do, and are as anxious to discover it, and load. ing them with odious epithets, a too common practice, let them fhew their wifdom, by folving, with meeknefs and fear, the difficulties that occur on the common fyftem, and then will they deferve the cordial thanks of every true humble inquirer after truth, of whom your correfpondent prefumes to call himself one. Such things led Paul to folicit an intereft in the prayers of Chriftians," Brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glori fied, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not faith," whatever pretenfions they may make to it, 2 Theff. iii. 1, 2o There are fome, of whom we would charitably hope, that they have faith, who are in fome things very unreasonable, or, as the margin renders it, absurd.

Wishing you, and all others cordially engaged in the cause of our common Christianity, much fuccefs in every laudable effort, and that thefe may be fuc cessfully employed to unite all the friends of truth, in their zeal and exertions only against its common enemies, a zeal proceeding from knowledge, and actu ated by that charity which thinketh no evil,

I remain,

Dear Sir,

Cordially yours, &c.

LETTER IX.

The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.—For vain man would be wife, though man be born like a wild affes colt.—The foolishness of God is wifer than men. The fluggard is wiser in his own conceit, than seven men that can render a reafon. The glory of the Lord fhall be revealed, and all flesh shall fee it together for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. The word of our God Shall hand for ever. Pial, xciv. 11. Job. xi. 12. 1 Cor. i. 25. Prov. xxvi. 16. Ifa. xl. 5,-8.

DEAR SIR,

SEVERAL inftances occur in Scripture of the beft of men remaining for a time ignorant of, and prejudiced against fome of the plainest and most important truths. The difciples were filled with indignation at the woman who anointed their Mafter with the precious fpikenard, counting it profufion and wafte. opening of the box of ointment diffufed however a fweet odour throughout the

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97 house, and our Lord deemed the application of it on the occafion as an anointing of himself against his burial. The box of ointment was no unapt figure of divine truth, the opening of which does so much honour to Chrift, and serves to anoint and perfume his myftical body, though it fhould excite the indignation of difciples: Better have the box opened even by a woman, than that it should remain fhut. These things are written that we should not pay more deference to men, even the best of men, than is meet, or be deterred, by their clamours and indignation, from fearching the fcriptures of truth, that land of promife, following the Lord fully in the report we make of their contents. If we have a fingle eye to his glory, and the triumph of his truth, we may rest affured he will defend us from all the reproaches and indignation of difciples, as he did Mary of old, who piously expended her precious ointment in anointing him. Would Christians follow the example of their brethren of old, who gave Peter an opportunity of being heard in his own caufe, and liftened patiently to his candid defence, before they would draw a conclufion, like them they might find caufe to rejoice, and blefs God for the very thing that formerly excited their alarm. This was the good old way, but few now discover that they have fo learned Chrift.

But fhall the fervant expect better treatment than his Mafter? The Son of God was opposed in the course of his miniftry, defpifed, rejected, and even crucified at length; not through defect of fufficient evidence of his Meffiahfhip, the truth of which was abundantly attested, but from the abufe of it; and I feel convinced, that if any reject the Universal doctrine, after attending to the report of fcripture refpecting it, it must be owing to fome other caufe than the want of evidence. To the Jews this was the condemnation, that light came into the world, and they chose to retain their former darkness in preference to that light, as many do fill. It is not a bad fign of any doctrine, that, like Chrift's fan, it fets the chaff on the floor in motion, and discovers the hidden things of the heart; for whatever makes manifest is light. Were it of the world, the world, and profeffors that are conformed to the world, would love their own; but the oppofition and hatred of fuch mark a doctrine and cause from above.

Our bleffed Lord gives thanks to his heavenly Father for hiding certain things from the wife and prudent-such as were too full of themselves to receive his inftruction, and employed their wifdom and prudence to oppose and pervert his word; and alfo for revealing them unto babes, who defire and value the fincere milk of his word, drawn pure from that full breaft of Zion's confolation, that they may grow thereby, Mat. xi. 25. While pride, the prejudices of education, carnal reasoning, and the influence of Scribes and Pharifees, unite in swelling and blinding the eyes of these wife and prudent men, whence they love mutual praise, how can they perceive the myfteries of the kingdom of heaven, which are too high, out of their reach, and too pure, glorious, and fimple, to receive their cordial affent. But when the myftical Jews reje& the glorious gofpel of the ever-blessed God, let his fervants turn to the Gentiles, who are reputed dogs by the former, and fhew that he has thoughts of merey even towards them; for publicana and harlots enter fooner into the kingdom of heaven, than the self

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important and felf-righteous race, who are proud of their fhewy lamp, and rich and increased in goods, in their own blinded eyes. Oh, that men were wife!

when fhall it once be?

To

How remarkable the language of the weeping prophet! "The Lord will not caft off for ever: But though he caufe grief, yet will he have compaffion, according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly," or from his heart, as the margin reads it," nor grieve the children of men. crush under his feet all the prifoners of the earth," Lam. iii. 31,-34. Here we have a general declaration, worthy of the Father of the Spirits of all flesh, and to restrict it to the faithful in ancient Ifrael, who made but a small number of the people to whom the prophet was fent, or to the elect in any age, would be to do violence to the language of the Holy Spirit. So far from cafting them off for ever, the Lord never cafts off his people. But the Lord cafts off foolish virgins, formalifts, the ignorant, hypocritical, and profane, at death; yet not for ever, but for the age, because he means then to gather them with loving kindnefs and with tender mercies. Thus the willing and obedient are not cut off at all; and tho' the reft are cut off, yet is it not for ever, as it is meant to restore them. Can any phrase be more general and comprehensive than the children of men? a phrase never applied to the church of the firft-born, who have the honourable character of the fons and children of God. But does not the popular doctrine maintain, that God will caft off millions of the children of men for ever; yea, all of them, as diftinguished from his own children? Does it not hold forth, that where he caufes the greateft grief he will have no compaffion, according to the multitude of his tender mercies; which are fuppofed to become, to the finner at death, a fpring and fountain for ever shut up and fealed? Real Chriftians or believers, in whatever ftate we can conceive them in this world, can, with no propriety, be called the prisoners of the earth; for whom the Son makes free, they are free indeed, fo that fuch are entirely out of the queftion. Yet we are told that God will eternally crufh under his feet all the prifonera of the earth; all mankind but his own chofen people. How can it be faid that he does not afflict any willingly, willingly, or from his heart, when he is reprefented as. tormenting all the damned, without the leaft compaffion, world without end? Would he not be ashamed to be called their Father, as he often calls himself in his word, if he did not provide, far other and better things for them, to the enjoyment of which their punishment fhall be made preparatory?

Can it be proved, that a wife and beneficent father acts out of character in expreffing pity for his rebellious offspring, under the very miseries that their own follies have brought upon them? Nay, if he declined this, and fhut up his bowels cf compaffion in inexcrable wrath, would he be thought either wife or beneficent? It is worthy of him, who is the rock of Ifrael, and changeth not, at one time or other, to address his miserable creatures, Ye have destroyed yourselves, but in me is your help to be found. Sooner fhall a mother forget her fucking child, than he forget his people, many of whom refufe to hearken to his voice in this life, Pfal. lxxxi. 11, 13. What the Lord has done times paft number, he may and will do; for he is the fame yesterday, to day, and for ever. Who may ay to him, in his faving work, Hitherto fhall it come, even to the gates of death,

up

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but no farther, and here fhall all its exertions be ftayed? Before we feal bowels of the Divine compaffion, never more to be opened, and shut the gates of mercy upon mankind, we should be very well affured that we have authority from above. One single text of fcripture, more than once referred to, did its authority duly weigh with us, would fettle this point for ever; "The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works," Pfal. cxlv. 9. Will a period come when this text fhall not be true? The Lord is good only to elect angels and faints, and his tender mercies are over only part of his works :---' ..The common doctrine requires it should be so qualified; but God's words are fo pure and irreversible as to admit of no fuch change. The feripture cannot be broken, John x. 35. and the word of the Lord endureth for ever.

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But if future mifery be endless, the above texts cannot be true; for what has mercy to do with helpless wretches, and their punishment, who are doomed to never-ceafing deftruction and defpair? Such a fcripture must then be broken, and cannot endure for ever. Let God, however, be true, and all the wife men of Gotham in the world found liars, when they prefume to differ from him; for we have his own authority for afferting, that his tender mercies, even those of a kind and pitiful-hearted Father, fhall be over the prisoners of Tophet, and the punishment to be inflicted on them, till mercy fhall rejoice and triumph against or over judgment. Thus they may receive judgment without mercy, as Jame, speaks, at the great decifive day, and yet mercy find abundant scope before Chrift finish his glorious procefs in making all things new. The time may come, when the prisoners of the pit in which there is no water fhall adopt the language of the church, It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not confumed, becaufe his compaffions fail not," Lam. iii. 22.; and of the Palmitt, "We fhall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord hath chaftened us fore, but he hath not given us over," as we have dreaded, and been so often told, to the endless power of the second death: "For thou haft delivered our foul from death, our eyes from tears, and our feet from falling," Pfal. cxviii. 17, 13. & cxvi. 8..

It becomes us to be merciful, as our heavenly Father is merciful. If assured that he entertains pity for any, and caufes his mercy to spread her benign wings over them, why should we deny our commiferation, like peevish Jonah, who felt hurt at the mercy extended to the Ninevites? It is God-like to wish the happinefs of all. Who put into Paul's heart fo cordially to feek the Salvation of his countrymen, and to travail as in birth till Chrift fhould be formed in them the hope of glory? Who difpofed Mofes to intercede fo powerfully for the people, as to beg his life might be taken rather than theirs, tho' offered to be made the father of a great nation? Do the ftreams rife higher than the funtam? it is to be lamented, that mankind in general are prone to think o hig ly E themselves, but too meanly of their Make, as if he were but an hue e matter, and but a half-merciful father. Were a neighbour to charge any father amongst them with what they daily afcribe, without fcruple, to the b-ft of all fath rs, their refentment would burn, and they would reply, Is thy fervant a dog, that he fhould do fuch a thing? When the mind dwells on the common doctrine, and its concomitants and native confequences, one cannot help, at least I cannot,

detefting it as antichriftian and diabolic, and feeling pity for those who are fo tenacious of it as to liften to no argument, and to father the groffeft abfurditie on the word of truth, and its divine Author, rather than once think of giving it up. Such firm hold do religious prejudices take of the human heart, especially when fupported by the regular clergy, that our Lord himself, who spoke as never man fpake, reclaimed few in his day from their rooted attachment to their old fyftem. And in our own day, did an angel defcend from heaven, he would not be liftened to by many, if he did not move in the beaten tract; fo great is the power of prejudice and custom!

The Pfalmift tells us, that the compaffions of our heavenly Father fail not, and affigns this as the reason of the deliverances he works for the miserable. The popular fyftem fays, that his compaffions fhall fail with regard to every impenitent finner at death, and will work deliverance for none beyond the grave, be they ever fo wretched. What can we think of that fyftem which so often gives the direct lie to God's word, and yet fathers itself upon him, and the oppofite on the devil? In convicting it of falsehood I strain no, nerve, wreft no fcripture expreffion ;-he that runs may read it.

The Pfalmift fays, in a pfalm that is faid to be for Solomon, "Lo children are an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb his reward," Pfal. cxxvii.

3.

In the Bible before me, in the reference to this verfe in the contents, I find, "Good children are God's gift;" but is there any such restriction in the text? The affertion is general, and none has a right to limit it; the 'unhallowed liberty fo often taken with the fcriptures, but without which, however, the fyftem of many would fall to the ground. Is not God the former of all, and does he not claim all fouls as his? Are they not all on a level, viewed as his workmanship and are they not alfo on a level, confidered as involved in the effects of the general apoftacy? Is it as forming them anew that he claims them as his heritage and reward; or in virtue of their original formation? Surely the latter. How hard do some strain to evade plain truth, that needs none of their comments to make it intelligible? The Pfalmift tells us, "The Lord will not caft off his people, neither will he forfake his inheritance," Pfal. xciv. 14. Tho' the elect are his peculiar inheritance, yet he claims an interest in all men, and Chrift is appointed to be heir of them all; whence we are justified in maintaining, that he will not caft them off nor forfake them for ever; and this cannot be denied but at the expence of contradicting the above express declaration.

I have all along avoided, and wish always to avoid, the too common practice of quoting a text of fcripture only to fupport a previous train of reafoning of our own, thus making the word of truth fpeak what language we please. The oppofite course would I follow, endeavouring to found my remarks on the word, and not the word on my remarks. James tells us, that "men are made after the fimilitude of God," without excepting any; and certainly this must hold true in one sense or other, James iii. y. This is one reason why he should claim property in them as his inheritance. Now, I would beg leave to ask, Does he refign his right in this heritage, when children come to years? or relinquish it entirely at death, if they die impenitent, and that in favour of his greatest adverfary the devil, to be retained for ever as his own poffeffion?