with various errors; and the Arminian scheme is as well adapted, perfection excepted, to please those that are working for life as any scheme that ever the devil invented. But of this we may be assured, that the elect of God will never be finally deceived, nor shall the smoke of Satan ever extinguish the fire of truth. The word of God shall destroy all the doctrines of men, the maintainers of them, and the adherents to them, if grace prevent not; as it is written," For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the Lord. They have belied the Lord, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us. And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them; thus shall it be done unto them. Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them," Jer. v. 11-14. We are commanded to contend earnestly for the faith that was once delivered to the saints; and, if we do this, we must contend for the glory of the ever-blessed Trinity; for the glory of all the revealed perfections of the godhead, that their glory may not be eclipsed; we must contend for every essential truth of the bible, and for the Spirit's work on the souls of God's elect. This is the duty of every Christian: and, if any of our opposers be of the chosen seed of Israel, God will in his own time bring them out; but, if they are of the house of Esau, the gospel will be a savour of death unto death to them, and

in the end consume them; as it is written, "And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it,” Obad. 18.

There are many deluded souls, that fight desperately against the truth, who have got the fire of God's wrath within them; and conscience fights as much against them as they fight against the truths of God. It is the duty of every Christian to contend for the truth; and we shall be sure to set fire to the hole one way or other; for, if the fire of eternal love never purifies them, the flames of wrath will surely torment them. The Saviour is both a refiner's fire, and a consuming fire; a propitious saviour, and a dreadful judge.

"The sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp." When we find that there are no signs of reclaiming these enemies of truth, they being hardened against all reproof, we may turn the tables against them. "He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." By turning the tables against them I mean, that, while they are raging against the decrees of God, we may prove to their faces that they are at the same time. fulfilling them; yea, while such are kicking against election and predestination, they are all the while fulfilling the pre-appointments of God; as it is written, "To whom coming as unto a living stone,

disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner-stone, elect, precious; and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient; whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation."

But to whom is Christ a stumbling stone? I answer, to merit mongers. They want to climb to heaven without being brought in debtors to grace. Jesus Christ resisteth them, agreeable to his word: The Lord resisteth the proud, 1 Pet. v. 5.

Jesus Christ will allow a preacher to be a worker together with himself, in dispensing the word of his grace, because the feet of the preacher carry the message, and the preacher's tongue delivers it. We then are workers together with him, 2 Cor. vi. 1. But the Arminian wants to be a copartner with him in the work of justification. God says, No. Jesus shall magnify the law, and make it honourable, Isaiah xlii. 21. And "by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many,' Isaiah liii. 11. The Arminian wants to be a coworker with the Holy Ghost in the work of sanctification. The Lord of Hosts "Not by No. says, might, nor by power, but by my Spirit." The

these revealed truths of God. Therefore we are commanded to hold fast the faithful word as we have been taught, that we may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers: "for there are many unruly and vain talkers, and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision [that is, workmongers], whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not," Titus i. 9-11.

It is true, the faithful servants of God may sometimes see their flocks scattered and corrupted by false teachers, and they may seem to thrive in their deceivings, inasmuch as the true prophets may be brokenhearted under and amazed at it, as you read in Jeremiah, chap. xxviii. Notwithstanding this, their devised fables shall not stand; nor shall they destroy the elect of God in the end, though they may deceive the reprobate and themselves; and this is often made manifest when their errors entangle them in the revealed wrath of God, until they break out into open rebellion against the light, and then they are left to stagger on in darkness, and grope like the blind for the wall, even while the Sun of Righteousness shines in his full strength. We may be sure of this, that God will save the poor in spirit from being destroyed by their mouth; as it is written, "He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong. They meet with

darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night. But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty, so that the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth," Job v. 12-16.

I come now, as was proposed, to speak to the last branch of this general head of discourse, namely, that we may set fire to the hole, and run safely away by the light of it.

The Spirit of God operates as a spirit of judgment, and as the spirit of burning, in the souls of the elect. He kindles the flame of love in the affections, and a holy zeal according to knowledge in the mind, and shines like a sunbeam in the understanding, by his burning and shining rays. It is the Holy Ghost that makes a minister a flame of fire, Heb. i. 7. Nor is this the blessed privilege of ministers only, but of the whole household of faith; for the Spirit of God is promised to all the chosen seed, Isaiah lix. 21; a measure to each to profit withal. We We may hold forth God's flaming truth at the hole of the asp; we are not to spare the asp, let him appear where he may; if he suggest evil to Peter, we may say, "Get thee behind me, Satan." I know that an erroneous preacher and a hearer of errors are the hardest of any to work upon, especially when the cockatrice has kept possession of the impenitent heart so long, and bent their tongue like a bow to shoot lies, instead of being valiant for the truth, Jer. ix. 3. Yet some such as these have been brought to under