from the evil that he propofed against finners; and yet in other places we are told, that God is not a man, that he fhould lie, neither the Son of Man that he should repent. Thus Pfal. xviii. 11. God is reprefented as dwelling in thick darknefs: He made darkn fs his fecret place; his pavilion round about him, were dark waters, and thick clouds of the fky. And yet 1 Tim. vi. 16. he is defcribed as dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath feen, nor can fee: and 1 John i. 5. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Thus in the fecond commandment, God is reprefented as visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the fourth generation of them that hate him: and yet, Ezek. xviii. 20. The for fhall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither fhall the father bear the iniquity of the fon.

Thus it is said, Exod. xxxiii. 11. The Lord pake unto Mofes face to face, as a man fpeaketh to his friend. And yet in ver. 20. he declares to the fame Mofes, Thou canst not fee my face: for there fhall no man fee me, and live. There are multitudes of other inftances of the like nature, that feem to carry fome appearance of a contradiction in them, but are purposely defigned to make us underland, that thefe are only afcribed to God by way of analogy, and to correct our imaginations, that we may not miftake them for perfect reprefentations, or think that they are in God, in the fame manner that the fimilitudes reprefent them; and to teach us not to ftretch thofe to all cafes, or further than they are intended.

We ought to remember, that two things may be very like one another in fome refpects, and quite contrary in others; and yet to argue againfi the likeness in one respect, from the contrariety in the other, is as if one fhould difpute against the likeness of a picture, because that is made of canvas, oil and colours, whereas the original is flesh and blood.

Thus in the prefent cafe, God is reprefented as an abfolute Lord over his creatures, of infinite knowledge and power, that doth all things for his mere pleafure, and is accountable to

none;

none; as one that will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens: that forefees, predeflinates, calls, juflifies and glorifies whom he will, without any regard to the creatures whom he thus deals with. This gives us a mighty notion of his fovereignty, at once flops our mouths, and filences our objections, obliges us to an abfolute dependence on him, and to acknowledge the good things we enjoy to be entirely due to his pleasure. This is plainly the defign of this terrible reprefentation: and the meaning is, that we should underfland that God is no way obliged to give us an account of his actions; that we are no more to enquire into the reafons of his dealing with his creatures, than if he really treated them in this arbitrary method. By the fame we are taught to acknowledge, that our falvation as entirely depends on him, and that we owe it as much to his pleafure, as if he had bestowed it on us without any other confideration, but his own will so to do. And that we might not think that there could be any thing in our best works, the profpect whereof could move God to fhew kindness to us, the fcriptures give us to unde: fland that thofe good works are due to his grace and favour, and are the effects, not caufes of them. So Eph. ii, 10. For we are his workmanship, created in Chrift Jefus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we fhould walk in them.

All which reprefentations are defigned to make us conceive the obligations we owe to God, and how little we can contribute to our own happiness. And to make us apprehend this to be his meaning, he has on other occafions given us an account of his dealing with men, not only different, but icemingly contradictory to this. Thus he frequently reprefents himself, as propofing nothing for his own pleafure or advantage in his tranfactions with his creatures, as having no other defign in them, but to do thofe creatures good, as earnestly defiring and profecuting that end only. Nay, he reprefents himfelf to us, as if he were uneafy when we failed to anfwer his expectations; as we may conceive a good, merciful, and beneficent prince,

that

that had only his fubjects' happiness in view, would be, when they refufed to join with him for promoting their own intereft. And God, further to exprefs his tenderness towards us, lets us know, that he has left us to our own choice: and to convince us of his impartiality, declares that he acts as a just and equal judge; that he hath no respect of persons, and favours none; but rewards and punishes all men, not according to his own pleafure, but according to their deferts; and that in every nation he that fears him, and works righteousness, is accepted with him, Acts x. 25.

Whoever is acquainted with the holy fcriptures, will find all thefe things plainly delivered in them. Thus to fhew us that God propofes no advantages to himself in his dealings with us, he faith, Job xxii. 2, 3. Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wife may be profitable unto himself? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him that thou makeft thy ways perfect? And chap. xxxv. 6. 7. If thou finneft, what dost thou against him? or if thy tranfgreffions be multiplied, what doft thou unto him? If thou be righteous, what giveft thou him, what receiveth he of thine hand?

And as to his leaving us to our own choice, observe how he is reprefented, Deut. xxx. 19. I call heaven and earth this day to record against you, that I have fet before you life and death, bleffing and curfing; therefore chufe life.

As to his earnest concern for our falvation, Ezek. chap. xxxiii. 11, Say unto them, As I live, faith the Lord God, I have no pleafure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O houfe of Ifrael? And Hof. xi. 1. How Shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How Shall I deliver thee Ifrael? How fhall I make thee as Admah? How Shall I fet thee as Zeboim? Mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.

Every one may fee, how diftant this view of God and of his dealings with his creatures is from the former; and yet if

we

ve confider it as a fcheme framed to make us conceive, how graciously, mercifully, and juftly God treats us, notwithstanding the fupreme dominion he has over us, there will be no incon fiftency between the two. You fee here, that though the creatures be in his hand, as clay in the potter's, of which he may make veffels of honour or difhonour, without any injury; yet he ufes that power, with all the paffionate love and concern that parents fhew toward their children: and therefore we are to conceive of him as having all the tenderness of affections, that parents feel towards their young ones; and that if he had been so affected, he could not (confidering our circumftances) have gone further than he has done to fave us; that our deftruction is as entirely due to ourselves, as if we were out of God's power, and abfolutely in the hand of our own counsel.

If we take these as schemes defigned to give us different views of God, and his tranfactions with men, in order to oblige us to diftinct duties which we owe him, and ftretch them no further, they are very reconcileable: and to go about to clash the one against the other, and argue, as many do, that if the one be true, the other cannot, is full as abfurd as to object against that article of our belief, that Chrift fits on the righthand of God, because fcripture in other places affures us, that God hath neither hands nor parts.

[To be concluded in our next.]

SER M ON LX.

On MATT. vi. 22. 23.

If thine eye be fingle, thy whole body fhall be full of light: but if thine eye be evil, thy whole body fhall be full of darkness. Therefore if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness?

1. "

SIMPL

IMPLICITY and purity, fays a devout man, are the two wings that lift the foul up to heaven: fimplicity,

: VOL. XIII.

4 C

which

which is in the intention, and purity, which is in the affections.". The former of these, that great and good man Bishop Taylor, recommends with much earnestnefs, in the beginning of his excellent book, "Rules of holy living and dying." He fets out with infifting upon this, as the very first point in true religion, and warns us, that without this, all our endeavours after it, will be vain and ineffectual. The fame truth that ftrong and elegant writer, Mr. Law, earnestly preffes in his "Serious call to a devout life:" A treatife which will hardly be excelled, if it be equalled, in the English tongue, either for beauty of expreffion, or for juftness and depth of thought. And who can cenfure any follower of Chrift, for laying ever fo great ftrefs on this point, that confiders the manner wherein our Mafter recommends it, in the words above recited?

2. Let us attentively confider this whole paffage, as it may be literally tranflated. The eye is the lamp of the body. And what the eye is to the body, the intention is to the foul. We may observe, with what exact propriety our Lord places fimplicity of intention, between worldly defires, and worldly cares, either of which directly tend to destroy it. It follows, If thine eye be fingle, fingly fixed upon God, thy whole body, that is, all thy foul fhall be filled with holiness and happiness. But if thine eye be evil, not fingle, aiming at any other object, seeking any thing beneath the fun, thy whole body fhall be full of darknefs: and if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? How remote not only from all real knowledge, but from all real holiness and happiness?

3. Confidering thefe things, we may well cry out, How great a thing it is to be a Chriftian, to be a real, inward, scriptural Chriftian! Conformed in heart and life to the will of God! Who is fufficient for these things? None, unless he be born of God. I do not wonder, that one of the moft fenfible Deifts fhould fay, "I think the Bible is the finest book I ever read in my life, yet I have an infuparable objection to it. good. It lays down fuch a plan of life, fuch a

It is too scheme of

doctrine