but know that he never gave his consent to it, and could not possibly have been, in the least degree, accessary to it? Good and bad conduct are, in their own nature, personal, and cannot possibly be transferred from one to another. Whatever some divines pretend, nothing of this kind can be imputed in this sense of the word. We may receive harm by means of one person, and benefit by means of another; but no sin of the former, or righteousness of the latter, can be considered as ours, in the eye of an equitable and just God. The contrary is as much the language and the plain meaning of the Scriptures throughout, as it is agreeable to the common sense and reason that God has given us. IV. OF ELECTION AND REPROBATION. SUPPOSING that all mankind became liable to the everlasting wrath and curse of God for the sin of one man, some divines say, that it was mercy in God to save any, though by an arbitrary decree, which left all the rest of the human race under an inevitable necessity of perishing. But certainly, my brethren, such tender mercy is cruelty. All the creatures of God must look up to him as the author of their being, since it was, undoubtedly, in his power to give, or to withhold it, at his pleasure; and, surely, a good and merciful God would have put a stop to the propagation of such a race of creatures, rather than suffer them to be born in such shocking circumstances; in which he infalli bly bly foresaw, that the greatest part of them must be exposed to, and even actually suffer, remediless destruction. As surely as I derive my being from a just and merciful God, I conclude that the terms on which I came into the world are advantageous to me; and therefore, that it must be my own fault only, if I have not reason to rejoice in it, and to be thankful for it. But, indeed, I can hardly think that any man seriously believes, that the greatest part of his fellow-creatures are born into. the world under a predetermined necessity of being for ever miserable. For, in that case, it must appear probable that any children which he himself may be the means of bringing into the world will be for ever miserable; and surely no man of real goodness or compassion would wish to have children, or be accessary to their being born in such eircumstances. If this doctrine be true, what motive can any man have to endeavour to “flee from the wrath to come," Matt. iii. 7. when, if it is to be his lot at all, nothing that he can do will enable him to escape it? Or what motive can a man have to exert himself to lay hold on eternal life," 1 Tim. vi. 12. when, if he is to enjoy it at all, he cannot possibly miss of it, or of any thing belonging to it, or that is necessary to prepare him for it? What reason had the apostle Paul to exhort Christians to "take heed lest they should fall," 1 Cor. x. 12. when when none that ever did stand could possibly fall? And what reason had he to "labour, lest, after having preached to others, he himself should be a cast-away," 1 Cor. ix. 27. when, being certain of his conversion, he must have known that that consequence was impossible? This doctrine, of absolute election and reprobation, is certainly a doctrine of licentiousness, and not a doctrine according to godliness; and let divines employ all the ingenuity they are masters of, it is impossible for them to clear this opinion from being the cause of fatal despair in some, and as fatal a security in others. If this opinion were true,, and men were really aware of their situation, I should think it impossible to prevent their falling into absolute distraction, through terror and anxiety. It would be like a man having his all, his life, nay, infinitely more than his life, depending upon the cast of a die; the decree of God being a thing that he has little power to command. Besides, this doctrine certainly represents the God and Father of us all in such a light, as no man would ehoose that he himself should appear in. V. OF THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. So fatal have the consequences of the sin of Adam been represented, that you have been told, that nothing but the blood of God himself could reverse them; and therefore you have been taught to to believe, that Jesus Christ, whose proper title is the Son of man, as well as the Son of God, was not merely man, but very and eternal God himself; without considering that, by thus making more Gods than one, you are guilty of a breach of the first and most important of all the commandments, which says expressly, "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me," Exod. xx. 3. But whatever such divines may say, the apostle Paul says, in direct contradiction to them, that "To us there is but one God, the FATHER, of whom are all things; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him," 1 Cor. viii. 6. And again, after saying that we have 66 one Lord, one faith, one baptism," he adds, "one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all," Eph. iv. 5, 6. The creed of all Christians, therefore, ought to be, "There is ONE GOD, and one Mediator between God and men, the MAN Christ Jesus," 1 Tim. ii. 5. The Father is frequently styled God, even with respect to Christ, as well as other beings. "The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give unto you, that ye may know the exceeding greatness of his power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand, &c." Eph. i. 17, &c. Christ himself uses the same language. "I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and unto my "My my God, and your God," John xx. 17. Christ, who was "the image of the invisible God," and the "first-born (or most excellent) of all his creatures," Col. i. 15. and "in whom dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily," Col. ii. 9. acknowledged that his Father was greater than he," John xiv. 28. And indeed, upon all occasions, and in the clearest terms, he expressed his dependence upon God his Father, for all his power and glory; as if he had purposely intended to guard his disciples against forming too high an opinion of the dignity of their master. "Verily I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself," John v. 19. "I can of my own self do nothing. As I hear I judge, and my judgement is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father who sent me," v. 30. "The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father who dwelleth in me, he doth the works," xiv. 10. "I live by the Father," vi. 57. "The Father hath given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgement,” v. 26, 27. "All power is given unto me, in heaven and in earth," Matt. xxviii. 18. He even calls his Father the only true God," John xvii. 3. "that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." It appears to me not to be in the power of language to exclude the |