1 Sam. ii. 34. xiv. 10. 2 King. xix. 28. · Isai. xxxviii. 7,8. Jer. xliv. 29, &c. &c.

Ver. 16. And Cain, by force of the divine curfe, went out from the prefence of the Lord, i. e. out of the affembly where the Lord appeared, and was worshipped, and never enjoyed the bleffings and advantages which attended the affembly any more.

H

С НА Р. XV.

Of the SHECHINAH, and Divine Appearances.

AVING had occafion, in the foregoing chapter, to mention the Shechinah, (a rabbinical word from a to dwell,) which is ufed to fignify a glorious Appearance, covered, or attended with a cloud, denoting the extraordinary prefence of God, who is neceffarily every where prefent; this may be a proper place to examine the Scripture upon the point of Divine Appearances. They are mentioned in both parts of the holy Scripture; fometimes without taking any notice of a vifible glory, and often exprefsly mentioning it; as in the following places. Gen. xv. 17. The fmcking furnace and lamp of fire, wx 7951, are juftly fuppofed to correfpond to the cloud and pillar of fire, afterwards mentioned, as reprefenting the Divine Prefence. Probably, in a vifible glory the Lord appeared to Abraham, Gen. xvii. 1; and to Ifaac, chap. xxvi. 2; and certainly to Mofes in the bufh, Exod. iii. 2. The Shechinah was alfo in the cloud and pillar of fire, Exod. xiii. 21. For it was the fame cloud that afterward refted upon the tabernacle, when it was fet up, and is called the Cloud of the Lord. Exod. xl. 38. Numb. x, 34. For the glory of the Lord was within the tabernacle upon the mercy-feat, as the cloud was on the outfide of it. Exod. xl. 34. 35. And it is there defcribed, as in Exod. xiii. 21. that it appeared as a cloud upon the tabernacle by day, and as a fire by night. Exod. xl. 38. Numb. ix. 15, 16.

Thus it conducted and guarded them in their journeys, [and then alone was ordinarily feen by the whole congregation] Exod. xl. 36. Numb. ix. 17, 18, &c. [Ifaiah alludes to this chap. iv. 5, 6.] And, as thus the token of the Divine Prefence went before them, the Lord is faid to go before them, and to lead them by this cloud. And out of this cloud, or rather from the glory of the Lord, within the tabernacle, the Lord fpake unto Mofes what he spake and delivered in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. Numb. vii. 89. And when Mofes went into the tabernacle of the congregation, to speak with him [God], then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy-feat, that was upon the ark of the teftimony, between the two Cherubims, and he fpake unto him; agree.

ably

hurt us, further than God permits. He is not like the pretended ev god of the Manichees, eternal, felf-existent, almighty, and independen but as much under the power of God as the weakest reptile under ou feet. When God, gives him a commiffion, he cannot act beyond it and when he has no commiffion, he is chained up and can do nothing He is therefore no other than an agent, entirely and always in God hand, to be used as he fees fit.

2. Nor can he any ways pollute our minds, further than we ourselve do confent. If God permits, poffibly he may work upon the humour of the body, he may inflame our paffions, abuse our imaginations, o fuggeft evil things to our thoughts; but unlefs we willingly admi thofe impreffions, he cannot poffibly ftain our confciences with fin.

3 God hath not only furnished means and ftrength to refift him, bu hath appointed that, if we do refift him, he shall be conquered and van quifhed. Fam. iv. 7. Refift the Devil, and he will, he fhall, he muft, flee from you; not by his own choice, but by the will and power of God. "The God of our peace and fafety fhall bruife Satan under our feet. And fuch a victory fhall turn to the praise and glory and establishment of our virtue. Hence it follows,

1. That it must be our own act and deed if we are overcome by the temptations of the Devil. It is common for people to confider themfelves as altogether paffive in this cafe, and to afcribe the wickednefs they commit to the power of temptation; whereas, in truth, fo far as we are tempted effectually, we are active, we confent and agree to the temptation, we are drawn away of our own luft and enticed, Jam. i. 14. Satan tempts, yet can have no advantage over us but what we choofe to give him. And therefore,

2. It must be an aggravation of any crime, that it was done under the power and influence of this wicked fpirit. For we must be the children of difobedience, we must have abandoned ourf: Ives to wickednefs, before Satan can work in us. If Satan can fill our hearts, confider in what a wretched condition we must be. We must have abused the faculties of our minds; we must have defpifed all the riches of Divine Goodness; we must have fhut our eyes against the light of faving truth, hardened our hearts against the fear of God, feared our confciences, ftifled many and strong convictions, done despite to the Spirit of Grace; we must have withdrawn ourselves from God, till he hath forfaken us; we must have advanced from one degree of iniquity to another, till our hearts are prepared to be the feat and refidence of the unclean fpirit, the murtherer, the father of lies, the prince of dark nefs. A condition unfpeakably deplorable!

With men of virtue and piety he hath no power, though he may vex and affault them, but only with the vicious; and they not only imitate his wickedness, which is bad enough, and conftitutes him their father, but likewife are under his government, which is still worfe, and conftitutes him their prince and ruler. Most dreadful cafe, to be the children of fuch a father, the fubjects of fuch a prince, the children of perdition, the fubjects of the enemy of all righteoufnefs! To have the powers of our minds, defigned for the nobleft acts and enjoyments, under the dominion of error and luft; to have the fpirits created for eternal happiness

Of the Confequences of Adam's Tranfgreffion.

57

in union with God, in flavery to the vileft of beings; to have the
fouls for whom Chrift fhed his blood, to deliver them from iniquity,
to purify them into the Divine Image, and to prepare them for ever-
lasting falvation,-to have those fouls quite infenfible to all that is true
and excellent, heavenly and divine, guided by the grand deceiver, in
the power of the deftroyer, and by him pufhed on in the way of ini-
quity to eternal perdition; how frightful is the reflection! how dread-
ful mult the state of fuch fouls be!

To prevent our falling into fuch a fad condition, and to fecure our-
felves from the encroachments of this wicked fpirit, let us ever be mind-
ful that we have fuch an enemy, and that, without due care and cir-
cumfpection, we fhall fall under his power. Let us carefully guard our
hearts, and obferve well the temper and frame of our minds, that we
may feasonably reftrain every inordinate affection, and immediately re-
ject every evil thought and fuggeftion which starts up in our minds.
Be fober, be vigilant. Nothing gives this adverfary greater advantage
than fenfual indulgences. Mortify the flesh with the affections and
Jufts. Shun all intemperance and excefs; and never dare to venture,
how little foever, into the way of temptation and fin. And let us be
fure to keep close to God in prayer, and other exercises of religion.
Thus we shall put ourselves under the banner of the Prince of Life,
the Lord Jefus Christ, and shall be kept by the power of God, through
faith, unto falvation.

Of the Confequences of ADAM'S TRANSGRESSION.
Gen. ii. 7, to the End.

WE are now come to a very grand point in Therion the
felf and his pofterity. Which Confequences Dres, T
Proteftant, have generally, and for a long tract of e
be thofe that follow, namely, "the guilt of Asam's
❝to, or charged upon, all his pofterity

“ tequsness wherein he is supposed to have be
“ruption of the human nature, whereby a
«d:fpofed, difabled, and made oppofite unto a
"and wholly incli
"ruption of our
"in the world
"deprived of
" come int

all evil, and that cura
he fource of all woman
by

4

" punishments in this world, and in the world to come, to an ever"lafting feparation from the comfortable presence of God, the most છંદ grievous torments in foul and body without intermiffion in hell-fire ❝ for ever."

This is an affair of the most dreadful importance, and requires to be examined with all poffible care and impartiality; for an error in this point will affect the whole fcheme of Chriftianity, pervert and abuse our confciences, and give us very wrong notions of God and of ourfelves. Upon this article I have examined the Scriptures, with diligence and impartiality, in the treatise entitled The Scripture Doctrine of Original Sin, propofed to free and candid Examination in the study of which this is a proper place to exercife your thoughts and judg

ments.

But

[* Adam having tranfgreffed the law, not only loft a claim to life, but became obnoxious to death, which was death in law, or eternal death. And had the law been immediately executed, his pofterity, then included in his loins, must have been extinct, or could have had no existence at all; for, the covenant of innocence being broken, there was no covenant or conftitution fubfifting upon which Adam could have the least hope of the continuance of his own life, and confequently, could have no profpect of any pofterity. Thus in Adam all die. White things were in this ftate, under broken law, and before a promise of favour, or grace, in this interval, for any thing Adam could know, he, and the whole world in him, were utterly loft and undone for ever. our merciful God and Father had quite different views; he graciously intended to make Adam's fin, and his being expofed. to eternal death, an occafion of erecting a new difpenfation, a difpenfation of grace in the hands of a Mediator. According to which, Adam was affured that he fhould not immediately die, but fhould live to have a pofterity by his wife. So Adam understood what the Lord God faid, ver. 15. And upon this he gave his wife a new name, (ver. 20.) mm Life, or Lifegiving, for joy that mankind were to be propagated from her, when he expected nothing but immediate death in confequence of his tranfgreffion.]

[t God gracioufly intended, after Adam's Tranfgreffion, to erect a difpenfation of grace, for the redemption of mankind; which grace was declared, and, confequently, which difpenfation was established, (Gen. iii. 15. And I will put enmity, &c.) before the fentence of death was pronounced upon Adam (ver. 19. Dust thou art, and to duft thou halt return). Death therefore, in that fentence, ftands under the new difpenfation, or the difpenfation of grace, and for that reafon cannot be Death in LAW, or eternal death; but death in DISPENSATION, or death appointed for wife and good purposes, and to be continued only fo long as God fhould think fit. And thus alfo all die in Adam; thus by man came death; thus by one man fin entered into the world, and death by, or in confe

quence

• Take this in, as a note, p. 18 of Scripture Doctrine of Original Sin, at the paragraph, 1. Whereas Adam had before, &c.

Take this in, as a note, p. 66 of Scripture Doctrine of Original Sin, ať No. Immediately upon the annulling the first covenant, &c.

quence of, his fin. But it was the high and glorious purpose of God, that his beloved Son, the feed of the woman, having, in our flesh, performed the most perfect and complete obedience, fhould be invested with dominion and power to raise all men from the dead, and to give eternal life to all them that tread in the fteps of his obedience. Thus, as by man came death, by man came alfo the refurrection from the dead; for, as in Adam all die, fo in Chrift fball all be made alive. 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22. Thus, as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation ; even fo, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto juftification. For as by one man's disobedience the many were made finners, fo by the obedience of one fhall the many be made righteous. Rom. v. 18, 19.]

H

66

Of the Origin of SACRIFICES.

Gen. iv. I -6.

WERE Cain and Abel perform an act of religious devotion, by way of Oblation or Sacrifice. The question is, whether this kind of worship was of divine or human inftitution. They who are of the latter opinion alledge," that we read of no command from "God for facrificing; therefore men did it of their own heads, out of a grateful inclination to return unto God fome of his own blesfings, and to acknowledge him the abfolute proprietor of all their "enjoyments; though they had no directions from him about it." Anfwer. This feems highly improbable. For how came Abel to offer his Sacrifice in faith of God's acceptance, (Heb. xi. 4.) if his faith had nothing to warrant it but his own imagination? Human imagination, or opinion, never was, or ever can be, either the ground or object of faith. It is faid, Gen. iv. 4. that God had refpect to, or fhewed his approbation of, both Abel and his offering; or in the Apostle's words, he obtained witness, that himself was righteous, God teftifying of his gifts, that they were right, and offered in a right manner. On the other hand, he cenfured Cain as having prefented his Oblation in such a manner as was not pleafing to God; which evidently fuppofes a previous insti, tution, and a rule which Cain was, or might have been, acquainted with. For, had there not been fuch a rule given, how could he have been blamed for not obferving it? It is abfurd to fay, he tranfgreffed a rule of his own imagination and, invention.

The inftitution not being mentioned in a hiftory fo concife, argues nothing. Other things are alfo omitted, as religious affemblies, Enoch's prophecy, Noah's preaching, the peopling of the world, or the increase of Adam's family. Things well known, or generally supposed, when

the