world. And the reafon of this is obvious. For if men quit this guide, then as they have no folid, no certain principle to reafon from, in any cafe; fo, of course, they ftand prepared to hearken to, and follow every wild imagination that may arise in their own minds, and be captivated to every impofition that may be put upon them by others, they having nothing wherewith to guard or defend themselves. The light of the body is the eye, and the light of the mind is the principle of difcernment before mentioned; and if these, or either of them, are blinded, then, of course, darkness must enfue. And (according to our Lord's juft remark, Matthew vi. 23.) If the light that is in us be darkness, how great is that darkness. If the falt has loft it's favour, wherewith fhall it be falted? And,

HERE I take the liberty to obferve, that fince the Chriftian fect has taken place in the world, many fets of enthusiasts have sprung up amongst them; of which the last age was very fruitful, and the prefent has not been quite barren; feeing it has brought forth two fets among us, viz. the modern Prophets as they are called, and our present Methodists. And as thefe men think, or at leaft

leaft pretend, that they are under the immediate and fpecial influence and guidance of the fpirit of God; fo, ufually, a strong faith, as it is called, together with great fpiritual joy and pretended raptures of divine love, these are with them the great and main points. This is what the Methodists pretend to experience in themselves; and this is what they recommend to be obtained by others, If a man can work up in himself a strong perfuafion that God loves him, and that be loves God and Chrift, that Chrift died for him, that all his fins are forgiven, and the like (which groundless prefumption or confidence paffes for divine faith) and if he can work up his paffions fuitably; then all is fafe with him, all his fins are forgiven, and he is highly in the love and favour of God, But then, this faith and thefe inward feelings are the gifts of God, wrought in him by, or through his being born of the spirit ; which regeneration or new birth does not confift in a man's being changed from a bad man to a good man, but in fomething which is internal, and which can only be felt, but not expreffed. And as to repentance and good works, if they take place before the new birth, then they are but a kind of beautiful

fins; and if after regeneration, then they are rather the effects of God's mercy and love, than the ground and reafon of them. So that if God forgives a man his fins, it is not because that man has repented that he has done amifs, and has returned back to his duty by new obedience, and thereby has rendered himself the proper object of God's mercy; but because it is God's pleasure to forgive him, of which repentance and good works are only tokens or evidences, as they flow from faith, produced by the new birth, as aforefaid. And though these enthusiasts pretend to be under the Special guidance of God's fpirit, yet that guidance is very different in different perfons; infomuch that what one man is guided by the fpirit to believe truth, another man is guided by the spirit to believe erroneous, and this is a common cafe with respect to those who pretend to be, or who hope they are under the special guidance of God's fpirit. Though, by the way, this, I think, fhews plainly what an uncertain and unfafe guidance those people are under. And as the book which, by way of eminence and diftinction, is called the holy bible, is held in great veneration by Chriftians; fo this book is appealed to by

each

each set of enthufiafts, and is made a voucher for their respective tenets and pretenfions, how widely foever they may differ from each other. Upon which I obferve, that if God is in reality a wife and good being, which moft certainly he is, and which even these men allow him to be; then what is laid down above cannot poffibly be true; because then the only ground of pity with regard to God will be, that the creature pitied is in himself the proper object of pity; and the only ground of mercy to God will be, the creature to whom mercy is fhewn being in himself the proper object of mercy; and the only ground of God's love will be, that the creature loved is in himself the proper object of that affection; and not upon any other account, or from any other motive or confideration whatever. For were God to fhew pity*, or mercy, or love from any other motive, or upon any other ground than what I have mentioned, he would be affected and would act contrary to what the rules of wif

dom,

*Note, It is not fin which renders the finner the object of pity, for that renders him the object of averfion; but it is the distress and mifery that fin bringeth upon a man in this world, or which it expofes him to in futurity, that renders him the object of pity and compaffion both to God and man.

dom, justice and goodness require; and therefore, that cannot be the cafe. This is grounded on principles that are certain and indifputable; and therefore, must afford much fafer guidance than what any enthufiaft can pretend to boast of. And as to the faith mentioned above, it is out of the queftion, when confidered as the ground of God's pity, mercy, &c. Thus, for example: If I am, by repentance and reformation, rendered the proper object of God's mercy; then God will most certainly fhew mercy to me, tho' through weakness and a distrust of myself I fhould doubt, or even defpair of that mercy. My doubting or defpairing, in such a cafe, would be my misfortune, but not my crime, as it would fpring not from any dif refpect or contempt of the Deity, but from a distrust and jealousy of myself, as being unworthy of his favour; and it would be a great affliction to me, which would render me the object of God's pity, but not of his refentment, and therefore, it could not poffibly be a bar to divine mercy. So that it is not faith strictly speaking, that is, it is not believing that God loves us, and will fhew mercy to us, which gives us a title to (if I may fo fpeak) and affures us of

thofe