13 and 50; 24, 25; Heb. 11. 2; Exe 3. 16, 17, &c. and Lev. 26. 27, 28, &c. Hark! If ye will not for all this, hearken unto me (faith God) but walk contrary unto me, then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury, and I, even I, will chaftife you seven times for your fins. Now if all things are decreed right ftraight forward, how could the Jews walk contrary to God? and if not, how could God walk contrary to them? God help thee to confider this, if there be no condition implied; and likewife, Exod. 13. 17; and Numb. 14. 21, 22, 23, and 24, &c. Because those men, which have feen my glory, and miracles which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now thefe ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice, furely they fhall not fee the land which I fwear unto their fathers, &c. verfe 34. God help you to take warning by the Jews, for it is evident, that according to the talk of Mofes, Deut. 28. that great bleffings were promited, if the nation would obey, and curfes in confequence of difobedience, which ideas were confirmed in the dying fpecch of Jofua, 24. 20; which was fulfilled

according to the book of Judges.-When it went well with the Jews, we find they were ferving God; but when they did evil, God fold them into the hands of their enemies. God help thee to compare the promifes and threatenings in Deuteronomy, to the book of Judges, &c. And obferve God's dealings thenceward, and apply that to Mat. 7. 24, &c. and obferve the Gofpel, for we are to take warning by God's dealings with the ancients, and fquare our lives accordingly, because to judgment we must come, and be judged with strict justice, and receive fentence accordingly; either "Come ye bleffed, or depart ye curfed," Math. 25. 34, 41, &C.Now obferve, if I am guilty, I must have pardon here, and then if my life from the day of my forgiveness, brings forth good fruit from a holy heart, it is right; confequently the reward must ensue accordingly. But if I turn, and willingly love fin again, my conduct flowing from that evil defire, thus living and dying, my fentence muft be accordingly, agreeable to the principles of true juftice; this is the truth, and you cannot deRead attentively about the good

ny it.

and evil fervant, from Math. 24. 46 to 48, &c. and 18. 23, &c.

Obferve, Paul exhorts Timothy to war a good warfare, holding faith and a good confcience, which, faith he, fome having put away concerning faith, have made fhipwreck; of whom is Hymenius and Alexander, 1 Tim. 1. 19; John 15; Chrift faith," I am the true vine, and my Father is the Hufbandman; every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away, (obferve, he could not take them away unless they were there) and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean, through the word which I have fpoken unto you." Observe, a finner is not clean, but filthy. But if these were made clean thro' the word of Chrift, as juft mentioned, then they were faints, and you cannot deny it; verfe 4, "Abide in me, and I in you." As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me, I am the vine, ye are the branches, &c. verfe 6, If a man abide not in me, he 15.Caft forth as a branch, and is with

When the righteous [man] turneth from his righteoufnefs, and committeth iniquity, he fhall even die thereby," &c.

Object. The death there fpoken of is temporal. Anf. I deny it, for the body will die, whether you fin or not; and God, when he meaneth the body, doth not fay the foul, but pofitively declares, "the foul that finneth, it fhall die"chap. 18. 4.

Objec. But the righteous man then fpoken of, is a felf righteous man. Anf. I deny it, for he is pronounced a righ. teous man by God himfelf, and how can he be righteous in the judgment of God, without faving faith? God doth not call a wicked man good, nor a good man evil; yet you fay, that him that God here pronounceth righteous, is only felf righteous, a Pharifee. Oh, fcandalous for any man to twift the fcriptures thus! Now look at it in your own glafs; felfrighteoufnels being wickedness, we will ftile it iniquity, and the man an iniqui tous man, and then read it "when an iniquitous man turneth away from his iniquity, and committeth iniquity. for his iniquity, &c. fhall be die"-read the above twice over, and then found and

fee, if there be any bottom or top accor ding to your expofition. Leaving your fhameless construction, I pafs on to anfwer another objection, which may be urged from Rom. 8. 38, 39, where Paul faith, "I am perfuaded, that neither death nor life, nor angels, principalities, powers, things prefent or to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, fhall be able to feparate us from the love of God, &c."

Obferve, though Paul fpeaks of a fecond caufe, not being able to separate us from the enjoyment of God's love; yet he doth not fay but what we may feparate ourselves by difobedience, which is fin. Sin is not a creature as fome people falfely think, but fin is a non-conformity to the will of God.If you ftill fay, that fin is a creature, I ask you what fhape it is in, or what colour it is of, or how ma ny eyes or wings, it hath, or whether it crawls like a fnake: Paul doth not term it a creature, but agreeth with St. John, where he faith, fin is the tranfgreffion of the law, and where there is no law, there is no tranfgreffion; and being not without law to God, but under the law of