to the great archetype of faith, the patriarch Abraham, in Gen. xv. 1, not for his working and deserving, there being no hint of the kind in the text, but as the joy and crown of the gratuitous mercy of God, which enabled him to stand forth as a pattern of firm and steady believing.

In the next place; judgement will be brought forward upon the unbelieving and the ungodly, according to their deeds,-upon those, who would not have Christ to reign over them, nor accede to his plan of salvation ; and upon those, who, under the ty

strange to say, that he merited a reward for receiving a gift, or for enjoying the gift received. The Lord hath, indeed, given HIMSELF to be the portion of his people, or (as the word in the above text signifies) their full consolation, their satisfying possession, their strong support; but, in every point of view, it is wholly according to his abundant mercy. So Psalm xvi. 5; lxxiii. 26, et al. ranny

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ranny of the devil, followed the pride, the lusts, the gratifications, of their own hearts, with little or no concern about God in the matter. In that awful day, the great separation will be made. The sheep will be parted off eternally from the goats, among whom they were formerly mixed; and notwithstanding the colours, the pretences, the outward appearances or the inward deceits, which rendered in many cases the latter scarcely distinguishable by men from the former; all shall then be exposed to the open view of men and of angels. The specious hypocrite, the fair formalist, the false and unrenewed professor, shall in that eventful hour appear in their true shape, beyond all possibility of disguise; while the humble children of God, obscure and unknown in thousands of instances by the world, and rejected of it when discerned ; yet living in the spirit of faith, and, according

according to measure, producing its genuine fruits and effects; shall shine forth as the stars in the firmament for ever and ecer. These two sorts of people at the resurrection for judgement will be more easily marked out by Him, who searcheth the heart and the reins, than now by any of us the corn can be known from the chaff which surrounds it, or wheat from those weeds and tares which spring up with it in the same field. The division, the everlasting division, between them, will be made accordingly, with perfect precision. But if the plan of a present moral government were correct, and God were now entering into judgement with man; this judicial determination must be always taking place, and upon earth too, and chiefly for earthly things. Thus wicked men, unrighteous and rapacious nations, with their impious or ambitious rulers, must be called to N 2 continual

continual account for their misdeeds even here, and quickly after their commission; or the ends of this presumed moral government, which is to keep order and minister justice, would be frustrated, and the malefactors escape with success-a position that few people, I think, will be hardy enough to maintain, on account of its obvious consequences. On the other hand; what becomes of those called moral and obedient, upon this scheme, who, we know, suffer a thousand present ills from an ungodly world, and are often permitted to pass away, unpitied and unnoticed, to sufferings or to death?

Upon the whole; it appears to be untenable ground; without congruity with divine revelation, or with the general history of mankind. But Truth is harmony: Truth is analogy: Truth is unity.

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To return, however, from these digressions, which seem important and to have some connexion with the subject, we may farther observe upon the effects of heterodox principles, of which we were treating:

§ Ss. That there is another mistaken and unhappy class of men: Those, I mean, who, holding the fair principles of grace, do hold them without the grace of the principles. These, 'therefore, (horrible to say!) carnally abuse the Gospel of Christ, and pervert the goodness of God into a licence for sin. And, because the most profligate of sinners have been called and saved, and thereby eminently displayed the rich mercy of God; these nefarious men have presumed, that the more they abound in sin, the more will grace abound in finally saving them. Execrable logic! Ranting and diabolical inference! But, (says the Apostle,) How shall we, that are dead to sin, N 3 live