which is the same thing, some genuine expression of it; but under its administration punishments were not always inflicted, nor rewards conferred, according to what men really were, but what they appeared to be, or according to the judgment which would have been pronounced had a fellow-creature sat in judgment upon them. It was on this principle that Abab's punishment was averted on his humbling himself before God. So far was the divine Legislator from requiring mere external obedience by the Sinai covenant, that the grand preliminary to that covenant was this: If ye will obey my voice INDEED, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people. And what is meant by obeying his voice indeed, is sufficiently evident, by the subsequent addresses of Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and others; in many of which it is observable, that though the blessings promised were external, yet the proviso on which the promises were made was nothing less than a heart sincerely devoted to God: If ye will hearken diligently unto my commandments, TO LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND TO SERVE HIM WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, I will give you the rain of your land in his season : the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn and thy wine, and thine oil.-Take heed o yourselves, that your HEART BE NOT DECEIVED, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods; and then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit, and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.-Take diligent heed to do the commandments which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you, TO LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND TO WALK IN ALL HIS WAYS, AND TO CLEAVE UNTO HIM, AND TO SERVE HIM WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL.-ONLY FEAR THE LORD, AND SERVE HIM IN TRUTH, WITH ALL YOUR HEART; for consider what great things he hath done for you. If external obedience were all that God required by the Sinai covenant, why was he not satisfied with the goodly professions which they made during that solemn transaction,saying, All these things will we do; and wherefore did he utter that cutting exclamation, that there were SUCH AN HEART IN THEM, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them and their children for ever!

Lastly: If the foregoing principles be just, instead of being a question whether ministers should exhort their carnal auditors to any thing spiritually good, it deserves to be seriously considered,

WHETHER IT BE NOT AT THEIR PERIL TO EXHORT THEM TO ANY

thing short of IT.-If all duty consists in the genuine operations and expressions of the heart, it must be utterly wrong for ministers to compromise matters with the enemies of God, by exhorting them to mere external actions, or to such a kind of exercise as may be performed without the love of God. It is disloyalty to God; betraying his just authority over the heart, and admitting that in behalf of him which we should despise if offered to ourselves from a fellow-creature. Nor is it less injurious to the souls of men; as it tends to quiet their consciences, and to cherish an opinion that, having complied with many of the exhortations of their minister, they have done many things pleasing and acceptable to God; while, in fact, every thought and imagination of their heart has been only evil continually.

It may be thought that these things bear hard upon the unconverted sinner, and reduce him to a terrible situation. But if such in fact be his situation, it will not mend the matter to daub it with the untempered mortar of palliation on the contrary, it will render it still more terrible. The truth is, there is no way for a sinner to take, in which he can find solid rest, but that of returning home to God by Jesus Christ. And, instead of trying to render his situ ation easy, it ought to be our business as ministers, to drive him from every other resting place; not for the sake of plunging him into despair, but, if it please God to bless our labours, that he may be necessitated to betake himself to the good old way, and find rest unto his soul! We ought solemnly to assure him, that, do what else he will, he sins, and is heaping upon his head a load of guilt that will sink him into endless perdition. If he pray, or frequent the means of grace, his prayer is an abomination to the Lord; if he live in the omission of these things, it is worse. Whether he eat or drink, plow the soil, or gather in the harvest, (like the supposed ship's company, mentioned before, who with all their regularity continued in their rebellious course,) all is iniquity. Incense is an abomination; it is iniquity, even the solemn

meeting. To die, is to be plunged into the gulf of destruction; and to live, if he continue in enmity to God, is worse; as it is heaping up wrath, in an enlarged degree, against the day of wrath. What then, it will be asked, can sinners do? If they go forward, destruction is before them; if on this hand, or on that, it is the same. Whither can they go? and what must they do? All the answer which the scriptures warrant us to make is included in the warnings and invitations of the gospel :-Repent, and believe the gospel.-Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out.-Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.Deny thyself, take up thy cross, and follow me, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven! If the answer be, 'We cannot comply with these things; our hearts are too hard; advise us to any thing else, and we will hearken ;"-if this, or something like it, I say, should be the answer, the servant of God, having warned them that what they call their incapacity is no other than a wicked aversion to God and goodness, that they judge themselves unworthy of everlasting life, and that their blood will be upon their own heads,must there leave them. His soul may weep in secret places for them; but it is at his peril to compromise the matter. If, seeing they cannot find in their hearts to comply with the invitations of the gospel, he should offer any directions which imply that their inability is of such a kind as to afford them any excuse; any directions which imply that it is not their immediate duty to repent and return to God by Jesus Christ; any directions which may descend within the compass of their inclinations; let him look to it! They may be pleased with his advice, and comply with it; and, considering it as about the whole of what can reasonably be expected of them in their present circumstances, they may be very easy; and persisting in such a spirit, they may die in it, and perish for ever;

BUT THEIR BLOOD WILL SURELY BE REQUIRED AT HIS HAND!

I am, my dear friend,

Yours very affectionately,

GAIUS.

THREE CONVERSATIONS,

ON

IMPUTATION, SUBSTITUTION, AND PAR

TICULAR REDEMPTION.

CONVERSATION 1.

ON IMPUTATION.

PETER and JAMES considered each other as good men, and had for several years been in the habit of corresponding on divine subjects. Their respect was mutual. Their sentiments, however, though alike in the main, were not exactly the same; and some circumstances had lately occurred, which tended rather to magnify the difference than to lessen it. Being both at the house of JOHN, their common friend, in his company they fell into the following conversation.

I am not without painful apprehension, said Peter to John, that the views of our friend James on some of the doctrines of the gospel, are unhappily diverted from the truth. I suspect he does not believe in the proper imputation of sin to Christ, or of Christ's righteousness to us; nor in his being our substitute, or representative. John. Those are serious things; but what are the grounds, Brother Peter, on which your suspicions rest?

Peter. Partly what he has published, which I cannot reconcile with those doctrines; and partly what he has said in my hearing, which I consider as an avowal of what I have stated.