Improvement.

AND this shall be by way of earnest exhortation to all my hearers, or readers, not to seek to fill their bellies with the husks that the swine do eat, but repair to their father's house, where they will find bread enough and to spare; and by faith and love re­ceive and feed on those heavenly dainties, those truths which are good, and let their souls delight themselves in fatness.

GEN. ETHAN ALLEN, hath of late been at great pains and cost to write a book to little good pur­pose, but to tell the world that he is a prophane, prayerless, graceless infidel. I once gave it a cursory reading; but as I have it not by me at present, I pur­pose not to enter into any particular consideration of his arguments, or the prophane flouts he casts upon the sacred oracles of God. He may hereafter find that he hath done this to his eternal cost, unless true re­pentance, and faith in that Saviour which he despises, prevents.

BUT my design, in order to dissuade all men of sense from attending to these husks, is to point out some of the foundation errors, which being obviated, the su­perstructure must fall to the ground.

[Page 13]AND the first foundation error that I shall mention, in which he betrays a swinish ignorance is, his not ma­king a proper distinction between the essence and will of God. Hence, in creation, he doth not consider the Divine Being as producing this great work, in which such infinite wisdom, power, benevolence and design, is manifested, by the word of his power, or by the free act of his will, under the influence of infinite wisdom, benevolence and counsel: But he considers the creation as proceeding from the essence of God, without any wisdom or design of his, by an eternal necessary ema­nation.

AND hence he makes the futile distinction between creation and formation, as if the will of God, in a course of nature, produced the latter, but not the for­mer.

AND hence he considers the divine government as a fixed course of nature, not under the direction of an all-wise, all-powerful benevolent Being! possessed of perfect liberty, and able every moment to alter the course of nature as he pleases, without increasing his own knowledge, or altering his mind or purposes, but as under the influence of blind fatal necessity; so that according to his idea, prayer, and all other means, are rendered useless in the divine government, because the fates are inflexible; which seems to be his idea of God.

AND his idea of the decrees of God is very gross. He makes no distinction between forming and executing a decree. The blessed God, in forming his decrees, had, in his infinite understanding, a clear ordination or arrangement of all things, into all possible plans; and under the influence of infinite wisdom and benevo­lence, he determined in eternity, in his own mind, of all possible plans, which is the wisest and best. This I take to be forming a decree.

[Page 14]BUT this determination, of all possible plans, which is the wisest and best, doth not execute any plan, cre­ate a world, or produce any effect, or make God the Author of sin or any thing else.

GOD's forming decrees in his own eternal mind, in eternity, is very different from the execution of them in time, and doth by no means imply the eternal exist­ence of those things which were in eternity, ordained or arranged in the divine knowledge and understanding —if it does, then all created existences are coeval with the divine existence; which must appear false and ab­surd at the first blush.

NONE but God himself could form his decrees in eternity; but angels, men and devils, execute many of them in time. And it is no impeachment of the divine wisdom and power to say, that God never could execute the decrees he hath formed, according to his own plan, without angels, and men and devils, and second causes; such as human ideas, perceptions, vo­litions, prayers, and other actions that depend upon the free will of creatures; because these second causes were considered in his plan in eternity; and these be­ing left out in the execution, it would not be the exe­cution of God's eternal decrees, but some other plan.

AND the eternal decrees of God, have not the least influence on the mind of man, in forming his designs, or inclining him to action by way of efficiency or mo­tive, any more than if there were no decrees formed. They do not deprive man of any liberty, or take away any blame. And in directing the course of nature, and in overruling all things, God acts as a being per­fectly free, without the least necessity, but what is with­in himself—his own wisdom and benevolence.

AND he determined from all eternity, to alter the [Page 15] course of things just as he pleases, in answer to prayer; and he can alter the course of nature by miracles, without increasing his knowledge, or changing his de­crees. And General Allen seems to deny that God is a free agent, but is under a fatal necessity to act with­out any wisdom or design. And though he says some things well, upon the free and moral agency of man; yet, in treating on that subject, he discovers he is very deficient in philosophy: For he does not tell us what constitutes a moral agent: He gives us no account of the three faculties of the soul, understanding, principle and will, as distinct from its exercises. And how the understanding differs from the other faculties, as it is the seat of ideas and speculative knowledge, and not of moral perception or volition—And that the will cannot be the seat of speculative knowledge or moral taste, but only of volition; but the power of percep­tion, or moral taste, must be alone seated in the prin­ciple; and this being right, lays a foundation for holy and righteous exercises, but being corrupted, lays a foundation for sinful exercises in the will;—and sin consists radically in hating the true character of God, and in loving or embracing a false or erroneous cha­racter of God, when formed in the understanding— and holiness or righteousness consists in loving or em­bracing the truth, and acting in conformity to it.

IN speaking against the scripture doctrine of a tri­nity of persons, or agents existing in the divine essence, he speaks evil of that which he understands not any more than a swine.

THAT three distinct persons, or agents, should exist eternally and necessarily in one infinite essence, and yet be distinct in their agency and operations, is no more repugnant to reason, than that one agent should exist from eternity infinite in his essence and perfec­tions, and yet limitted in his agency and operations [Page 16] by his own wisdom and will—for all must grant, that although God is infinite in his essence and perfections, yet he limits himself in his agency and operations— his exertions of power are limitted by his wisdom and will; otherwise, God's works would be as infinite as God himself—which is a glaring absurdity.

AND why may not three distinct agents depend on one essence for their existence and operations, as well as thousands of distinct agents depend on one will (the will of God) for their existence and power of opera­tion? The second person in the sacred trinity doth not depend on his own will or act, or on the will or act of the first or third person for his existence—nor do either of them depend on the will or act of each other, or their own, for their existence; but all exist necessari­ly, in one infinite eternal essence; and in this they differ from creatures, who depend on the will and act of God for their existence.

AND all he says about the eternal generation of the son is futile, and is in direct opposition to the argu­ments he uses in favour of eternal creation. In scrip­ture, the second person in the sacred trinity is called the prototoros; rendered, first born, or first begotten in our translation; but according to the most judicious critics, should have been rendered, the first progenitor, producer, or father of every creature. "For by him (says the inspired writer) were all things created that are in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible—And he is before all things, and by him all things consist." See Col. i. 15, 16, 17.

AND the second person, or the eternal logos, being spoken of as a son,—an only begotten or first begotten son— as one brought up with the father, and daily his delight—I take to be only figurative expressions, to set forth the perfection of their happiness: For happi­ness [Page 17] lies not in solitude but society; and the sacred trinity must have enjoyed infinite delight, commu­nion, complacency and happiness in themselves before any creature existed. See Prov. 8, 30.

AND the hypostatical union, when rightly under­stood, is perfectly consistent with reason as well as scripture. For the second person in the trinity to cre­ate a man with soul and body, and so cloath it with the moral perfections of the divine nature, as to give it the character of a divine person, and one with him­self, so as to put the divine character, as moral Go­vernor, into the power of his enemies; and considers all their spite and enmity to truth and righteousness, and all their reproaches and cruelties acted out against this Theanthropos, as acted out against the character of God himself, as moral Governor of the universe, is by no means repugnant to reason, is a wonderful display of infinite wisdom and power, in giving opportunity to sinners to act out the infinite evil of sin as opposed to God's moral character, law and government—and to convince them of the justice and righteousness of the divine threatening.

AND all the doctrines our blessed Saviour taught, and all the miracles he wrought, shew that God was with him, and that he did rise from the dead by his own divine power. He had power to lay down his life and power to resume it again; and no man had power to take it from him against his will. No truths can come better attested than these. And to deny that there can be any miracles, is to deny that God is pos­sessed of infinite wisdom, power and liberty to alter the course of nature as he pleases; but that the blessed God, and all his volitions and operations, are subject­ed to a fatal necessity.

GEN. Allen labours exceedingly to oppose the scrip­ture [Page 18] doctrine of the substitution of the innocent to suf­fer for the guilty, and the imputation of merit and de­merit. But how he came by his idea of this doctrine, doth not appear; for I am sure it is not contained in the bible: And to impute the mistaken notions of fal­lible men, and their corrupt explanations of the scrip­tures, to the scriptures themselves, and then vilify and reproach the scriptures, as containing such absurd unreasonable doctrines, is very unfair.

IF I believed that many doctrines, as held by some we call orthodox divines, were contained in the scrip­tures, I should scruple their divine original and autho­rity: For such doctrines as some hold them, are, in my opinion, unworthy of a God of infinite wisdom and righteousness. But we must understand the scriptures themselves, and the doctrines contained in them, be­fore we reject and vilify them.

THE holy scriptures no where, as I can find, sup­pose, that criminality can be imputed or transferred from one to another—nor can an innocent person be so substituted as to become the object or victim of the divine wrath and displeasure, or suffer the individual penalty or punishment threatened to the guilty, consist­ent with reason or justice: But an innocent person may undertake, and with his own consent be substituted, to answer for the guilty, by paying the price of his re­demption or ransom, by discharging a debt, or making good the damages to the injured, so that the merit of the innocent person may avail for the pardon and dis­charge of the guilty or criminal, from the penalty or punishment, consistent with the honour of the charac­ter, law and government of the injured prince or ruler. And this is common among men, that a glorious, in­nocent, worthy person, should in such a case become a mediator, and surety and advocate for the guilty, who hath forfeited his liberty, life and inheritance, [Page 19] and by his arduous services and great sufferings, bring that honour to the injured prince, and that interest to his kingdom, as might purchase a pardon and redemp­tion for the guilty—and this is vicarious sufferings.

FOR instance, we will suppose, in the time of the late contest, that Gen. Allen was a great and worthy friend of his country: He hath a number of sons that become enemies to his country, and join the Britons to conquer and destroy it: According to a law of this empire they are condemned to death. Gen. Allen hath a great af­fection to his sons, and desires their salvation, if it can be obtained consistent with the rights of government. At the appointment of Congress, and with his own con­sent, he is substituted to undertake the war at his own expence. He engages the enemies of his country, and is first made a victim by them; and they sacrifice, for a time, his liberty, his ease and honour, and all his wealth, and he faces death in all its formidable shapes—and his sufferings are extremely great—more bitter than death itself, and his services arduous. But yet he, by this means, finally overcomes all his ene­mies, and puts an end to the war. His sons are now convinced, that their enmity and opposition to their worthy father, and the laws and government of the empire, are unreasonable and vile; the punishment threatened just, and the threatening ought to be verified, notwithstanding their repentance; because the honour of government must be supported.

WHEN they are called before the tribunal to receive their sentence according to law; the General, their worthy father, steps in as their mediator, surety and advocate—shews his wounds that he hath received in the cause of his country, and pleads his expence of ho­nour, blood and treasure, and all his humiliation, ar­duous services, and great sufferings, and the honour hereby brought to the rulers, laws, and government, [Page 20] and good to the empire; and if by all these he hath merited any thing of his country, he may receive the pardon of his penitent sons as his reward.—The Con­gress pardon them freely of their own grace, on ac­count of the merit that is in their father; which is a proper merit of condignity with the Congress. This I take to be the scripture sense of substitution, vicari­ous sufferings, and the imputation of merit. Is this repugnant to reason, justice, common sense, or the usa­ges of nations?

BUT had Gen. Allen been substituted to bear the penalty, in order to redeem his sons, and so been hang­ed, and his sons released from the threatened punish­ment on the account of his suffering it; would this be consistent with justice, reason or common sense? But Gen. Allen doth not redeem his sons by suffering the penalty, but by paying the price of their redemption, by his services and sufferings. And though he doth not purchase the benevolence or grace of the Congress to his sons; yet he opens a way for them to exercise it consistent with the rights of government; which they would not have done, had it not have been for the merit of their father. But hanging Gen. Allen in his sons stead, would not have supported the honour of the law and government, in the same manner as they are supported by his services and sufferings in the cause, and for the good of the empire.

AND as to the imputation of demerit, suppose a man of great wealth and honour, and high in the fa­vour of his country—and having a numerous family of small children, and many yet to be born with his wife —turns enemy to his country, and according to a law of the empire, his whole estate is confiscated, and they with their families are banished their country, and de­prived of all the privileges and immunities of it. He removes with his family into another kingdom, whose [Page 21] prince is a sworn enemy to the righteous laws and good government of this empire, and trains up his children in enmity and opposition to the righteous government of this land—and there they live and die in darkness, error and wickedness, and in extreme poverty, all in consequence of their parents conduct. Will General Allen condemn the law of this empire, by which this man and his family was banished, and his estate confis­cated, as unreasonable and unjust?

AND as to Gen. Allen's description of the objects of Faith, I understand he is convinced himself that he hath made such gross blunders, that there needs a sup­plement to his Oracles of Reason, in order to correct them; and I leave him and the swine he feeds to cook that dish.

I THINK I have said enough to dissuade all reason­able people, that would consult their own honour and best interest, from seeking to fill their belly with these husks.

I WOULD now endeavour to persuade all to leave these husks, and repair to their father's house, where there is bread enough and to spare, lest they perish with hunger, yea, perish to all eternity, in the land of darkness, error and wickedness, in satan's king­dom; where they will be so destitute of all relief as not to have a drop of water to cool their tongue.

AND O, be prevailed upon to attend to the oracles of divine truth without prejudice, and seek first to ob­tain the knowledge of these truths, as contained in di­vine revelation, and a right understanding of there, and then receive them, and feed upon them with faith and love, and you will find the word of the Lord will be unto you the joy and rejoicing of your heart — The truths contained in divine revelation are infinite­ly [Page 22] more precious than pearls. O be not like the swine, who trample them under their feet, and turn again and rent such as present them, for mocking them with pearls instead of husks. The Deists would persuade you not to attend to the oracles of God, because there is danger that they are corrupted by length of time, and being frequently translated and transcribed. And they have many other objections; all which may be easily answered, and have been answered a thousand times. But the principal objection in their mind is, they do not love the truths therein contained: Their sore eyes cannot bear the light, which condemns their heart and conduct. They hate truth and righteousness, and the inflexible justice of God, and love darkness, error and wickedness; and therefere will not come to the light of revealed truth, lest their deeds should be reproved, and it be made manifest that they are in the kingdom of the devil, and going down to hell, to suffer the just penalty of disobedience.

BUT the principal truths contained in divine reve­lation, speak for themselves; and it must appear to all that understand them, that they are not corrupted, but afford clear evidence that they are from God. And were we to take only a cursory view of the principal truths contained in divine revelation, we must be con­vinced, that there is no essential corruption of those sa­cred volumes, but that they now contain pure truths sufficient to guide every benighted soul to happiness, who will but obtain the true knowledge and understand­ing of them, receive them with faith and love, and make them the only rule of their faith and manners, and conform their hearts and lives to them. And there is no book on earth contains such a full and compleat a system of theology.—These volumes contain in them a clear account of the eternal existence of one supreme God, in three distinct persons united in one essence, independent on their own will, or the will or act of [Page 23] each other, for their existence. And this God is pos­sessed of all possible perfections, both natural and mo­ral—and doth from eternity to eternity comprehend, in his infinite understanding, all things possible—and of all possible plans of government, his will, under the influence of infinite wisdom and benevolence, deter­mines which is the wisest and best. And in the exe­cution of this plan, he created the heavens and the earth, and all their numerous hosts of creatures. An­gels and men, he made free moral agents, endowed with understanding, principle and will; capable of thinking, perceiving, reasoning, judging and chusing—and so subjects of moral law and government, capable of knowing, loving and serving their Creator.—And the oracles of God contain a most compendious and com­pleat system of moral precepts, comprising our duty to God, ourselves, and one another—and both the first and second table summed up in love to God and our neighbour.

THE oracles of God do not place religion in ab­struse speculation, and mere metaphysical subtilties— not in outward show and tedious ceremony—not in superstitious austerities, and in enthusiastic vision and impulses;—but in love to God and our neighbour, and purity of heart and holiness and righteousness of life.— Only consider what a system of morality is contained in the decalogue. Where will you find one equal to it in all the Heathen writers who were unacquainted with it?—But divine revelation is not merely a re­fined system of morality; but it contains a stupendous plan of providence, designed for the recovery of man­kind from a state of guilt and ruin to the favour of God, and the hopes of a happy immortality through a Mediator. For herein we are taught that some of the angels apostatised from God, and fell under his displeasure and the penalty threatened to the disobe­dient, and were doomed to hell, in a confirmed state of wickedness and misery, under the wrath and curse of God for ever.

[Page 24]UPON this there commenced a grand moral contest between heaven and hell, concerning the righteousness of God as moral Governor. The devil set himself to oppose God, not by natural power or force, but in those things in which the nature of virtue and vice, and the very essence of moral government require, that moral agents should not be over-ruled and influ­enced by irresistable force and divine efficiency, as God governs the material world; but by manifestation of truth to their minds—by instructions and motives —by laws containing promises and threatenings, re­wards and punishments. This contest is of a moral kind—the devil doth not contend with the Almighty for the natural kingdom or dominion of the universe; but he opposes God by opposing his truth and righte­ousness. And the kingdom of the devil is founded in darkness, error and wickedness, in opposition to God's moral kingdom—founded in light, truth and righte­ousness. The devil cannot be conquered in a moral sense by natural force, even by Omnipotence. The devil, by his erroneous reasonings concerning the righteousness of God, deceived, and so induced our first parents to transgress a plain, positive command of their Creator; and by this means brought them and all their posterity into his kingdom.

ALL created intelligencies being imperfect in their knowledge and wisdom, are unfit for self-government, and so must be under infinite obligation to put an im­plicit confidence in the wisdom and benevolence, an im­plicit faith in the word, and yield an implicit obedience to the known command of their Creator; as they can­not but be rationally convinced that God is all-wise and infinitely benevolent. And to transgress a com­mand, is the breach of an infinite obligation, and pregnant with infinite mischief to the divine govern­ment. But the devil reasoning (as the Universalists do at this day) That it is inconsistent with the infinite [Page 25] goodness and benevolence of God to his moral king­dom, to execute his threatening upon transgressors according to truth and justice, made our first parents believe, that if they did transgress, God would violate his justice and truth, expressed in the threatening, to save them from death. "Ye shall not surely die," saith the devil. And this emboldened them to par­take of that fruit that they saw pleasant to the eyes, good for food, and to be desired to make one wise; contrary to the known command of their all-wise and infinitely benevolent Creator. They first, under the influence of the devil's beguiling and deceiving them by his erroneous reasonings, disbelieve the truth of the threatening, and then transgress the command; notwithstanding their infinite obligation to put an im­plicit faith in God's word, and yield an implicit obe­dience to his known command, and their love to his moral character. This transgression of our first parents involved them in death, temporal and spiritual, and eternal; which was the threatened penalty: by this transgression they forfeited their own and their poste­rity's liberty, life and inheritance of glory and felici­ty: For this they were banished the favourable pre­sence of their Creator, totally deprived of the vital influences of the holy spirit, and the rectitude of their moral principle; and left of God to suffer all the na­tural and moral consequences of their apostacy in the devil's kingdom, under the power of darkness, igno­rance and error and wickedness; under the wrath and curse of God, the power of sin, and the tyranny of sa­tan, forever.

BUT the second person in the adorable Trinity, en­gaged to be a mediator, surety and advocate in behalf of man; and engaged to fulfil all righteousness, and to procure such an infinite fountain of merit or righte­ousness with the Deity, as should be abundantly suffi­cient to pay the price of man's redemption from the [Page 26] penalty and curse of the divine law, and entitle them to eternal life—and at the same time, by the power of divine truth, to deliver some from the power of darkness, error and wickedness, and vindicate them into his own kingdom of light, truth and righteous­ness; and so from a state of misery to a state of happi­ness. And in order to accomplish these ends, the son of God engages in this grand moral contest concerning the righteousness of God as moral governor, and he decided the controversy when he died on the cross and rose again from the dead triumphing over all the pow­ers of darkness. He then by his perfect and sinless obedience and death, fully declared the righteousness of God as moral governor. And it was by the intrinsic value of the dignity of his person, his amazing humi­liation, his arduous services and great sufferings in obedience to the law of mediation, in order to declare God's righteousness, that he procured an infinite foun­tain of merit with the Father, sufficient to pay our debt, that we had contracted by sin, in reproaching the divine character, transgressing his laws, and rebel­ling against his righteous government; and thus, by a merit of condignity, he hath paid the price of our redemption, and purchased liberty, life and glory for all that believe in him. And God the father hath be­stowed on him, as a reward of condignity, the honour and glory of governing the whole universe. The re­ward is equal in value to the services and sufferings. As a reward of his humiliation, services and suffer­ings, he hath all judgment committed into his hands —and receives homage and worship from angels and men—and hath pardoned, and justified and saved, a numerous offspring given him by the Father—and he is appointed to be the judge of all, to pass the last sen­tence on his friends and on his enemies. He will have the honour at the last day to say to his friends, and all that believe in him—"Come ye blessed of [...]y Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you"— [Page 27] And he will reward them with granting them an open and an abundant enterance into his heavenly kingdom, where they shall live and reign with Christ, with crowns of victory on their heads, and palms of victory in their hands, for ever and ever.—He will also have the honour to say to his enemies, and all that re­jected his gospel by enmity and unbelief—"Go ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." And he will say to all infidels in that day, "Those my enemies that would not that I should reign over them, bring them hither and slay them be­fore me."—"And they shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torments ascendeth up for ever and ever." And this will be the day of the manifestation of the righteous judgement of God. God declared to angels and man, If they transgressed his command, they should surely die: And the righteousness of God in this sentence, is witnessed by the law and the prophets. But sinners will not believe God's word. They imagine that God will violate his justice and truth, to save transgressors; —and sinners have been ever since the fall, disputing the justice and righteousness of God, in the eternal damnation of transgressors. The eternal son of God, appeared by the appointment of the Father, to decide this controversy, and put an end to this quarrel, and make the righteousness of God as moral governor, i. e. the infinite benevolence, the inflexible justice, and in­violable truth of God appear. To this end he consent­ed to become a victim in the devil's kingdom, and to be sacrificed in that great city, which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, by the hand of his enemies. And this was according to the determinate counsel and fore knowledge of God; as being a part of the wisest and best plan that could be devised. And in all this sinners, with wicked hands, did nothing to him, but what God's hand and counsel determined before to be [Page 28] done. And this moral contest between the son of God and the devil, concerning the righteousness of God's character as moral governor; especially concerning the inflexibleness of his justice, and the inviolableness of his truth, expressed in the threatening; and how it was decided by Christ on the cross, was foretold by all the prophets.

TO this, that most ancient prediction had refer­ence, Gen. iii. 15. "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." And Psal. xlv. 3. &c. "Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty! with thy glory and thy majesty. And in thy majesty ride prosperously, because of truth, meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach the terrible things," &c. And Isa. ix. 5.6. &c. "For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire," &c. See also Isa lxiii. from the first to the sixth verse.— And all the victims and sacrifices under the law, were types of the victim and sacrifice that Christ was made in the devil's kingdom, not by God the father, but by his enemies; by means of which he decided this moral controversy. And although this was decreed, fore-known and predicted by God; yet sinners execu­ted these decrees, and fulfilled these predictions, in the exercise of their own free agency, without any influ­ence from the decrees, fore-knowledge, or predictions of God, as inclining them to form or execute these wicked designs of theirs.

GOD did not by his decrees or efficiency put Christ to death, or either form or execute, by his creating power, the wicked designs of his crucifiers; if he had, his sufferings and death would not have declared God's righteousness. For what manifestation of righteous­ness [Page 29] is it for a righteous Governor to inflict that pu­nishment on the innocent, that is threatened only to the guilty. But God in his wise and holy providence over-ruled what they meant for evil, and naturally tended to evil, for great good. But because God was more than a match for them, and prevented their de­sign to dethrone him as moral governor, and ruin his kingdom from producing its natural effects and conse­quences; this doth by no means exculpate the sinner, or remove the blame, or imply that God is in any sense the Author of Sin. This proves their design to de­throne God, and ruin his moral kingdom, in putting Christ to death, to be an infinite evil, in its nature and tendency, and their own production; and that they deserve an infinite or endless punishment for it. This proves that they were enemies to God, and op­posed to the righteousness of his government; and they would prevent his justice taking place, and the truth of his threatening being verified, if it was in their power. And they would make all intelligent creatures believe, that for God to execute the threat­ening on transgressors, according to truth and justice, is inconsistent with the exercise of infinite goodness, love and benevolence and righteousness to his creatures.

AND this sin is not a created existence as the soul itself is, made by God; nor is it an essential mode as activity or exercise is to a living soul; but a contin­gent mode of exercise, produced or formed by the sin­ner in transgressing the divine law. As crookedness is not an essential mode of a line as extention is, but only a contingent mode.

THE controversy between God and devils, Christ and infidels, is this—Is God a righteous Governor? Is his law holy, just and good? Will God execute the threatening in damning sinners to all eternity?—And to decide this, Christ Jesus submitted to be made a [Page 30] victim and sacrifice by devils and wicked men, to give them opportunity to act out their enmity to the justice and righteousness of God as moral Governor, that they might be convinced of the evil nature and tendency of this enmity, and their own just desert of eternal damna­tion for it, according to the threatening of the law.

AND this sacrifice of the son of God was infinite! For the Lord of life and glory, a person of infinite dignity, freely to humble himself to take human nature, and cloath it with the moral perfections of his divine, so as to make it one with himself, on purpose that he might put his divine character, as heir of the king­dom, into the power of his enemies, who denied the righteousness of the divine government—and had an inveterate enmity to it—how wonderful! Of this won­derful humiliation of the Son of God, the Apostle speaks,—Phil. ii. 6.7.8.—"Who being in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man," &c.

AND for a person of such infinite dignity to suffer himself to be conquered by his enemies, and be as a helpless victim in the power of his creatures, and give them opportunity to deny his divinity—and challenge his veracity—when he appeared unable to vindicate himself. And for God the Son to make such repre­sentations to his holy benevolent soul, of the evil of sin—the displeasure of God against it—the dreadful sufferings of the damned—and the awful scene of suf­ferings through which he had to pass in order to make atonement, and forsake it and leave it in the power of the enemy—and to deliver up his body to poverty, pain and death, when cloathed with the moral cha­racter of his divine, must be an infinite sacrifice!— But this was the only way in which the grand contro­versy, [Page 31] concerning God's righteousness as moral Go­vernor, that commenced upon the apostacy of angels, could be decided; for would a less expensive one an­swer, this would not have been wise.

BUT in this way God's righteousness was declared in every part of it, viz. Benevolence, Justice and Truth. By the Son of God, thus being set forth to be a propitiation, and made a curse by being crucified and slain, not by his Father, but by his enemies; the infinite benevolence of God to his moral kingdom, is manifested and declared in a manner in which it could be declared by no other means. For God not to spare his own Son, but deliver him up to such sufferings for the sake of redeeming sinners, how great the love!— And for the Son of God to offer his liberty, life and glory, a sacrifice to pay the price of our ransom, what an infinite expression of benevolence!

AND the justice of God in the threatened penalty, and his disposition and determination to execute it on the sinner, that is not interested in the atonement by faith, is fully declared in this transaction.

THE Son of God in this way gave opportunity to sinners to act out their enmity to the righteousness of God as moral Governor, in a manner in which it could by no other means be expressed. For he puts the whole moral character of God, as moral Governor, in their power, and gives them opportunity to dethrone him, and put him to death, as the heir of the Crown. And if this is the tendency and nature of sin—it is an in­finite evil—and deserves eternal death—the threaten­ing is just—and the least degree of punishment cannot be remitted, consistent with the righteousness of God as moral Governor, unless adequate satisfaction be made; but the sinner being a creature, can neither do nor suffer any thing by virtue of which he can be re­leased [Page 32] from the threatened penalty. And hence God insists upon the mediator and surety, being a person of infinite dignity and merit; and that he do and suf­fer that which is of infinite value;—that, which shall bring infinite honour to his character as moral Gover­nor, and infinite good to his kingdom. And this our mediator and surety did, when he declared God's righteousness, by being made a propitiation. He then condemned sin as an infinite evil, broke the serpent's head, exposed all his wicked designs against God's character and kingdom, and destroyed the devil's pow­er and dominion, that is supported by error and wic­kedness; and established the kingdom of God by the manifestation of truth and righteousness.—As Samp­son, by being conquered by his enemies conquered them; and by being slain by them slew them; so Christ Jesus the Captain of our salvation, by being made a curse, i. e. a victim by his enemies, and be­ing sacrificed by them, hath conquered and destroyed them all in a moral sense. The curse which the Son of God was made, was not the curse threatened to the sinner in the law, but the substitute of it, and fully answered the penalty; for the curse threatened to the sinner included in it spiritual and eternal death, and implies that the sinner is the victim or object of the wrath and anger of God: But the Son of God, in be­ing made a curse for us, never was the object or victim of the divine anger or wrath, nor did he suffer spiri­tual or eternal death. When it pleased the Father to bruise him, and put him to grief, and make his holy soul an offering for sin, God the Father was not him­self the executioner, but he delivers him up out of his bosom, into the power of the enemy, and saith, "A­wake, O sword, against my Shepherd, against the man that is my fellow." And God laid on him the iniqui­ties of us all, i. e. imputed to him the immense debt we had contracted by our iniquities—and were unable to discharge—but Christ paid it, by his services and [Page 33] sufferings, in declaring God's righteousness, and so executing judgement on God's enemies.

THE sword which God waked up against Christ, must not be considered as a passive weapon in the hand of God; but free distinct agents, capable to form their own wicked designs, and execute them on Christ; and their enmity to him was waked up by the manifesta­tion of the truth and righteousness of God's character to their consciences. But God's conduct in deliver­ing him up, and leaving him in the power of the ene­my, to be treated by them as he was, gave occasion to many to esteem him stricken and smitten of God, and afflicted: But he was then paying our debt in this manner, and was the object of his Father's love, and not the victim of his wrath. And God the Father's insisting on such an adequate satisfaction being made, before he would pardon one sin, or release the sinner from the threatened penalty, declares God's disposition and determination to punish the devils, and every christless sinner, to all eternity, as fully as if we had seen eternal damnation already executed on them.

AND how dreadful must be the case and condition of all such as neglect to attend to this gospel plan of salvation, so as to obtain the knowledge of it, and believe it, and cordially embrace it, and return to the knowledge, love and service and enjoyment of God, in this way, which he hath in infinite wisdom and good­ness provided? This way is not provided to save sin­ners in their sins, but to save them from their sins. Without holiness of heart and life, no man can see the Lord. Faith in Christ is not designed to make void the moral law, and give us a low esteem of God's jus­tice; but to establish it, and to support the moral go­vernment of God. Christ Jesus is not the minister of sin. All that preach up salvation for sinners, without their exercising faith in Christ's merits and holiness, [Page 34] and a conformity to the moral law as a rule of life, encourage rebellion in God's kingdom, and may ex­pect to receive an aggravated damnation. This is the only state of probation for sinners—all that die without faith in Christ, and holiness of heart, will re­main under the guilt and power of sin, and the tyran­ny of satan, and the wrath of God and the Lamb, to all eternity!—Do not dream of any other state of pro­bation after this life is ended, for God hath expressly declared the contrary in his word; and it is inconsist­ent with reason, and the design of the present state of probation, that any other should be revealed to us in this state; for this would frustrate the design of it. O then, our improvement of the present, will move an eternity for or against us!—But you will say, Then what will become of the heathen? How can they be­lieve in Christ, who have not the gospel?—To this I answer, That those who never had the means of knowledge in their power, and so never could know that God had found a ransom, or provided an atone­ment, will never be condemned for not believing the gospel; but they will be condemned for their en­mity to God and his righteousness, as manifested to them by the light of nature or the moral law; for these afford light enough to convince and condemn sinners, though not enough to save them. But the sa­cred scriptures declare, that the gospel hath been preached to all; and that all may have sufficient means of knowledge of the atonement to save them, if they do not neglect to hear and understand the saving truth. See Rom. x. 17.18. Col. i. 23. Wherever sacrifi­ces were known, the gospel hath been preached—and it hath been communicated from one nation to another by tradition—and inspired men have been raised up formerly, and sent into all nations, to spread the gos­pel;—and if any have not received sufficient know­ledge of the atonement for salvation, it will not be be­cause they could not obtain sufficient means of know­ledge, [Page 35] but because they hated the light, and would not attend to it. Much less knowledge of the gospel was sufficient for salvation, before Christ came, and among the heathen, than is now required of us, who have the written word in our hands, and have ministers to ex­plain it to us, and use instructions and motives with us. If we should not repent and believe the gospel, but remain infidels, it will not be for want of means of knowledge, but our neglect to attend and hear and understand the truth. We shall have no excuse, if we neglect to hear, so as to obtain the saving knowledge of the truth, and the influences of the holy spirit. God is inflexible in his justice, and would not pardon or pass by one instance of transgression or disobedience, 'till adequate satisfaction was made, sufficient to vin­dicate the honour of his justice, expressed in the threatening. And he verifies the truth of this threat­ening in that he doth not pardon one sinner, 'till he is united to the Mediator by faith in him, and so is interested in that infinite fountain of merit which he hath procured, and is lodged with the Father.

IT would be as inconsistent with the righteousness of God, as moral Governor, and all the rights of his go­vernment, to pardon and save an infidel or unbeliever, remaining such, as it would have been to save sinners, had Christ never come, or any atonement been made. And God can as consistently pardon and save devils as infidels, or any that finally reject the atonement or deny the necessity of it. We must first own ourselves rebels justly condemned, and no way to make satisfac­tion by any thing we can do or suffer—and receive the atonement Christ hath made—and own there is no o­ther name by which we can be saved—or Christ will profit us nothing.

THUS hath the Son of God, by his amazing humi­liation, arduous services and great sufferings, declared [Page 36] God's righteousness, and so decided this great moral controversy between heaven and hell—brought infinite honour to God, and good to his moral kingdom—exe­cuted judgement on God's implacable and incurable enemies—and so procured an infinite fountain of righ­teousness and merit, sufficient to pay the price of man's redemption;—the benefits of which will, by the Fa­ther, be bestowed on what sinners he pleases, freely of his grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom he hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him that be­lieveth in Jesus." See Rom. iii. 24.25.26.

PARDON and justification, and eternal life, are be­stowed by God the Father on the sinner, as much of free and sovereign grace, without any respect had [...] any merit belonging to the sinner, as deserving them, as if Christ had merited nothing of the Father. That benevolence and grace which God exercises freely, in bestowing benefits on sinners, never was purchased by Christ. Christ Jesus did not die to make God the Fa­ther benevolent—the death of Christ was the effect, and not the cause, of God's love and grace, manifest­ed to sinners. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son," &c. What Christ did and suf­fered, was only to open a way for God freely to exer­cise his love and grace to sinners, in pardoning, justi­fying, and saving them, consistent with his justice and truth, expressed in the threatening. And it is a grand misrepresentation of this affair, which the Universalists make, when they tell us, that because the merit of the Son of God was a proper merit of condignity, equiva­lent in value to all the honours conferred on him, and benefits bestowed on his friends, that therefore God is obliged to save all mankind on account of the merit of the Redeemer: For the Son of God hath, by a merit of condignity, purchased of the Father the honour to [Page 37] damn his enemies, as much as to save his friends; and therefore universal damnation may be as clearly infer­red from the merit of condignity, as universal salva­tion. The merit of Christ being a merit of condigni­ty and sufficient for the salvation of all, doth not lay God under obligation to pardon any. And if he doth pardon and save any, it is free and sovereign grace in the Father, to which the sinner can lay no claim, any more for what Christ hath done and suffer­ed.—Jesus Christ, in declaring God's righteousness, obtains of God all the honours he receives himself, and all the benefits men have through him, by a proper merit of condignity, and a true purchase by an equiva­lent.^* And hath hereby opened a way for God to appear faithful and just, in forgiving the sins of peni­tent believers. And hereby Jesus Christ hath purcha­sed the gift of the Holy Spirit to be the great agent in his kingdom, to accompany those truths exhibited by his cross, by his power and efficacious influences to rectify the moral principle, that was totally corrupted by the fall, and to convince of sin, produce repent­ance, faith and love in the soul, and bring the sinner into a state of union with Christ Jesus, in order to ren­der it consistent with the justice of God to pardon justify and save him. And the Holy Spirit accompanying the truths of the gospel, which is the only ministration of the Spirit, in its saving influences, brings the soul to the practice of holiness and righteousness, and so car­ries on a work of sanctification, 'till it becomes me [...] for the sight and enjoyment of God in heaven.

NOW it is evident, that the principal design of di­vine revelation is to communicate these truths to man­kind, and so minister the Holy Spirit to men. And now, whatever alterations or corruptions the divine oracles may have suffered as to any circumstantial parts [Page 38] of the history, yet this principal part of divine revela­tion, it is evident, never hath been corrupted, but is now contained in the sacred scriptures pure and entire; and the Spirit doth accompany these truths: For as it is self-evident to every one who understands it, that this plan could not have been devised at first by any created wisdom, and never could be known but by im­mediate revelation from God; so if it had been cor­rupted, it never could have been rectified by any crea­ture, so as to appear as it now doth, with all the distin­guishing marks of divine wisdom, power and benevo­lence, and accompanied by the spirit of truth. How is it possible for creatures to know that God is willing to pardon rebels, unless he reveals it? Or how he can pardon such as have transgressed his laws, consistent with his truth, and the righteousness of his govern­ment? Reason could not discover this! And this doc­trine of atonement by the Son of God, if rightly un­derstood, carries in it as plain marks of infinite wis­dom, power and benevolence, as are manifested in cre­ation: And we can in the same manner prove the di­vine original of the gospel, as we can that this world is of divine original. We need not go to any external evidences to prove that the gospel is from God, if we have but a right speculative understanding of the doc­trines therein contained. No created benevolence could conceive such mercy and grace to enemies—no created wisdom could devise such a method for the ex­ercise of it—and no created power could accomplish such a plan in such an astonishing way! The devil ne­ver invented it; for it is subversive of his kingdom and interest: It is inconsistent with the character of any good creature to put such a cheat upon mankind (if he was able) as to attribute that to God, of which he himself was the author. But no created being was able to lay out such a plan—thus to display the perfec­tions of God by occasion of sin, and even to render them more illustrious than if sin had never entered in­to [Page 39] his moral kingdom: And thus bring the greatest good out of the greatest evil!

HOW much doth this plan of redemption by Christ exceed all created wisdom! What a glorious display of the divine! You might as well set a created under­standing to lay out the plan of a world, as to devise such a plan as this! Let any rational infidel attend to it, and understand it, and he must confess that the gos­pel in which it is contained, is of divine original. And that all the writings of heathen, and all the oracles of reason, are but husks for the swine to feed upon in com­parison of it. Who among them ever wrote concern­ing this grand moral contest, and how it commenced —and how it was decided—and the righteousness of God as moral Governor was declared, and atonement made, and the spirit of truth in its supernatural influ­ences, ministred, and a foundation laid to convert sin­ners from sin to righteousness, and deliver them from the power of darkness, and translate them into the kingdom of God's dear Son—and destroy and torment wicked men and devils by the manifestation of divine truth and righteousness? These truths will be the en­tertainment of heaven to all eternity. And, O! what an aggravated damnation will be their portion who finally reject this gospel for the Oracles of Reason, and will not come to the light of this sun of righteousness, but do all they can to extinguish it, and so damn as many of mankind as they can. Should men and de­vils strive to extinguish the influences of the natural sun, and deprive mankind of the benefit of them; what a cruel and wicked design would this discover: But this would be nothing in comparison of the at­tempt of the Deists, who are seeking to extinguish the light, and deprive mankind of the blessed influences of the Sun of Righteousness, who hath arisen on this dark and diseased world, with healing in his wings! On this Sun all depend for light, righteousness and [Page 40] life; for grace and glory. O, then, attend to the light of this Sun! study the scriptures—come to your Father's house, and you will find bread enough and to spare: But feed on husks and you will to all eternity pe­rish with hunger. Could I but draw your earnest atten­tion to the truths of the gospel, so that you would read, hear and meditate upon them, and improve Sabbaths and other opportunities, seriously to attend to them, and seek to understand them; I should have hope con­cerning the worst of you, though you had been as bad as publicans and harlots—that you will obtain the knowledge of the truth, receive the spirit of truth, that accompanies it, be convinced, repent of sin, be­lieve in Christ Jesus, receive his righteousness, be­come holy, and obtain salvation with eternal glory. But so long as you remain secure, and do not wake up and earnestly attend to the truths of the gospel—and do not improve Sabbaths and other opportunities to read the gospel, or hear it preached; I see no reason to en­tertain hope, that your eyes will be opened 'till they are opened in the flames of hell—where your know­ledge and conviction of the truth will tend to torment you for ever and ever. But hear now, and receive the truth with faith and love, and your souls shall live!