that he was the Lord, and might, in ages to come, tell their children, and their children's children, of all these mighty works; that they might know that the gods of the heathen were no gods, and might forever cleave to the God of their fathers.

Nor had they the least reason, at any one time, from the day they passed through the Red Sea, to dislike one step which God took: nor would they have done it, had they a right disposition; yea, a good taste would have enabled them to have seen much wisdom in all God's ways. "Here, in this wilderness, where there is neither bread, nor water, nor flesh, even here is a good place for the God of Abraham, our father, to show his wisdom, power, and goodness, and train us up to a sense of his all-sufficiency, and bring us to live wholly upon him, as children upon a father, and to be wholly devoted to him." Thus might they have thought. And instead of murmuring at every new difficulty, and then falling under the frowns of the Almighty, they might have spent their whole time in prayer and praise, till they arrived at Mount Sinai, and while they were setting up the tabernacle, and while the spies were gone to search out the land. And had they done so, had they been of such a temper, and spent their time thus, those fourteen or fifteen months, all in prayer and praise, the whole congregation would have been prepared to have disregarded the ten spies, and cheerfully to have joined with Caleb and Joshua, saying, "If the Lord is with us, there is no danger. Have not we all seen what he did in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and since? And he that has done these things cannot want power or willingness to do what remains, unless, by our unbelief and perverseness, we should provoke him to cast us off." And so they might have marched right on to Canaan, driven out the inhabitants, and taken possession. But they were of a temper every way the reverse; and they acted as they felt; and it happened to them accordingly. Their carcasses were doomed to fall in the wilderness: they behaved like wild bulls in a net upon the occasion; blasphemed God; stormed at Moses; till God was obliged to strike them dead by hundreds and by thousands, from time to time, before he could subdue them.

Now, "they were our ensamples, and these things were written for our instruction." Let us take heed, therefore, that we do not murmur at the divine conduct in the government of the world, as they did; nor venture blasphemously to say, "He has brought us out of Egypt into this wilderness on purpose to destroy us. He has suffered mankind to fall into a state of sin and misery, that he might delight himself in the

eternal torments of the damned." Whereas the Israelites would not have fallen in the wilderness, had they not perversely despised the good land, which flowed with milk and honey, and refused to give credit to the revelation they had of God's readiness to lead them into Canaan. And let it be remembered that it was not God's decree, but their own dearly beloved lusts and corruptions, which influenced them to conduct as they did. Nor shall we ever be sentenced to hell, unless we despise the glories of heaven, and prefer the leeks and onions of Egypt; the pleasures of sin and of this world; and so turn our backs upon God, and refuse to give credit to the revelation made to us in the gospel of God's readiness to be reconciled through Christ, and to grant us his Holy Spirit to lead us on to the heavenly Canaan; and refuse to comply with the gospel way of life. And if we do act thus wickedly, it is as reasonable we should perish, as it was that the carcasses of the wicked Israelites should fall in the wilderness. And as their carcasses falling in the wilderness was overruled by infinite wisdom, for the general good of that community, and to fill the whole earth with his glory, so will the righteous punishment of the wicked eternally in hell be overruled to the good of the intelligent system, and God will be exalted throughout all his dominions. Read Revelation xix. 1-6.

The wicked Israelites did not feel themselves to blame, to be sure, not much to blame, for all their murmurings and rebellions. "Who among mortals," they were ready to say, "would conduct otherwise than we do, under the like circumstances? We were always against leaving Egypt, and entering on so wild an expedition. God has contrived it on purpose for our destruction. Fools that we were, ever to leave the fleshpots of Egypt. Would to God we had lived and died there; this had been our highest interest. Therefore, let us make a captain, and return, and make our peace with the Egyptians, as well as we can, and submit to our bondage forever." When, therefore, the judgments of God came upon them in such a manner, they would naturally be so far from seeing the justice or wisdom of the divine conduct, that their hearts would be full of blasphemous thoughts against God and Moses; and the whole divine conduct would appear dark and unaccountable, to the highest degree. And in all this they show the very spirit of unhumbled, obstinate sinners, who are insensible of their sin and guilt, and desert of eternal damnation, and are ready to say, "God brought us into being on purpose to damn us: we had no hand in it: we would not have chose it: would to God we had never been born! O that we could return to non

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existence! that would be our true interest; seeing the wisdom and justice of God, in his dispensations towards them, they are full of blasphemous thoughts, and the whole of the divine conduct appears to them dark and unaccountable, to the highest degree.

Had the Israelites been thoroughly sensible how hateful their Egyptian temper, their carnal disposition, their infidelity, and their continual murmurings were, and how much to blame they appeared in the sight of God, the justice of the divine conduct would by them have been easily seen; and that would have prepared them to have seen the wisdom of his ways, too. "It is fit such wretches as we should be shut out of the promised land, and our carcasses should fall in this wilderness; and righteous art thou, O Lord, in our doom. We have but our just deserts. No wonder the earth swallows up such monsters, and that thousands are struck dead in a moment, who are guilty of such crimes. The honor of divine Majesty requires this severity; and even the good of our posterity makes it necessary." Thus would they have thought. Nor can unhumbled, obstinate sinners ever discern the wisdom and beauty of the divine government in general, until first their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they cordially approve of the justice of God's law, by which they stand condemned; and are "born again;" as it is written, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." For it is the "pure in heart," and they only, that "shall see God;" for "the natural man," who is destitute of a spiritual, holy, divine taste, "discerneth not the things of the spirit of God;" seeth not the divine beauty of the law or of the gospel, and, for the same reason, is blind to the wisdom, glory, and beauty of God's universal plan-so very blind, that the full and clear revelation to be made of it at the day of judgment, how convincing soever it may be to their reason and conscience, will be far from suiting their hearts. Nor will the beauty and amiableness of it be by them ever discerned; for, as the obstinate Israelites, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, never saw the beauty of God's conduct towards that congregation, so neither will those, who die impenitent, ever see the beauty and glory of God's universal plan. But in heaven it will be seen.

To conclude: As all the hard thoughts of the divine conduct, which are to be found in the hearts of mankind, through a fallen, depraved, guilty world, arise entirely from our partial views and bad taste; so there is no other remedy, but, first of all, to have our hearts renewed and sanctified by divine grace; and then to endeavor to enlarge our views of God's universal

plan, and search into the nature of the divine government, and the glorious designs and noble ends which infinite wisdom has in view, and will at last accomplish.

And as the Bible contains an authentic history of the conduct of the Deity for a long series of many hundred years; and, by prophetic representations, opens to our view things yet to come to pass, as far down as to the end of the world, and the general judgment, and the consummation of all things; so hither should we come, with honest minds and pure hearts, and form all our notions of God's moral perfections, the nature of his moral government, and of his views, ends, and designs, in all his works, from what we find here written. Nor ought any solutions of difficulties to be accounted right, but such as quadrate exactly with, yea, are the natural result of, Scripture representations.

Some of the heathen philosophers, who knew no better, imagined there were two gods; a good god, the author of all good in the system, whom they called Oromasdes, and an evil god, the author of all evil in the system, whom they called Arimanius. But it is enough for us to confute this hypothesis, that the Bible teaches us that there is but one God, and that he is absolutely supreme, and does according to his pleasure in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and that his providence extends to every thing, both good and bad. And it is supposed that those remarkable words, in Isa. xlv. 6, 7, directed to Cyrus, king of Persia, where the forementioned notion of two gods anciently prevailed, were designed in express contradiction to that doctrine. "I am the Lord, and there is none else; I form light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I, the Lord, do all these things."

Some, who profess to adhere to divine revelation, in order to solve the difficulties relative to God's permission of sin, affirm, it came to pass unexpectedly to the divine Being; as he was not capable of foreseeing what would be the conduct of free agents. But it is enough for us, to confute this hypothesis, that we have hundreds of instances in Scripture of God's foreknowledge of the conduct of free agents, and that it is a doctrine constantly taught and inculcated in the Bible.*

Others, to solve the difficulties, have asserted that it was not in the power of God to prevent the fall of free agents, without destroying their free agency, and turning them into intelligent machines, incapable of virtue as well as of vice.

But it is

* See this proved at large in Mr. Edwards on Liberty, pages 98-116.

enough for us, to confute this hypothesis, that it is contrary to plain Scripture representations, which teach us, that the man Christ Jesus, our second Adam, was a free agent, capable of the highest virtue, and yet in a confirmed state, so that he could not sin; as are also all the saints and angels now in heaven. From whence it appears, that it was in God's power to have confirmed all intelligences at first; and left them moral agents notwithstanding.

Others, to solve the difficulties still more fully, have not only asserted as above, but also denied the eternity of hell torments, and affirmed the universal salvation of men and devils. But it is enough for us, to confute this hypothesis, that, instead of its being taught in Scripture, it is contrary to what those infallible writings affirm, in language as plain, and express, and repeated, as could have been expected, if God had intended to establish us ever so fully in the belief of the eternity of hell torments; of which more afterwards.

But it will be said, "If God certainly foreknew that man would fall, unless he interposed and undertook for their safety; and if it was in his power to have done it; and if millions would be eternally miserable in hell if he did not, why did not he interpose and undertake?" Not, I dare say, for want of forethought, or of a thorough weighing of the affair, with all its consequences; for he had the whole in full view, from eternal ages. Nor will any pretend it was absolutely without any end at all; for an infinitely wise Being acts always upon design.

Now, God, of his infinite mercy, grant, that by a diligent attention to the divine oracles, and through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, we may come to such an understanding of this dispensation of his providence, as may tend to create in us the greatest dread of sin, and the highest veneration for the Divine Majesty; and show us our entire, absolute dependence on God, and infinite obligations to him; that we may learn to be perfectly self-diffident; to trust wholly in God, and live wholly to him, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory in the church world without end. AMEN.

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