silenced Aaron when Nadab and Abihu were slain for being drunk in the tabernacle.

'Besides, Mr. Universal Charity has contradicted Moses, and given him the lie. Moses says, God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy; but Universal Charity has preached down the sovereignty of this glorious and fearful name, the Lord our God, Deut. xxviii. 58, and is endeavouring to fix God's mercy on all without distinction. Moses has told us not to regard any prophet, or dreamer of dreams, that may arise to give unwarrantable prophecies out of his own presumptuous heart; or any prophet that seems filled with universal charity for all sinners, if it damps our love in the least to the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth; nor does Moses allow us to quarrel with God's decrees in behalf of rebels: "If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign; [suppose he tells thee that contending for traitors is a sign of a Christian spirit, and fleshly perfection is a wonder from the Lord of Hosts,] thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams; [he only wants us to hate God's decrees, and to get us to love them whom God hateth;] for the Lord your God proveth you [by these,] to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul; [which no man can who hates the sovereign decrees of his Maker; therefore] that prophet, or dreamer of dreams, shall be put to

death, because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God," Deut. xiii. 1—5.

'Moses was no friend to rebels; he courted the affections of Israel for God only, Deut. vi. 5, and declared God too jealous to put up with a divided heart, Exod. xxxiv. 14. He blessed the Levitical tribe for their zeal for God against idolatry, and for their disdaining to own father or mother, brethren or children, when called upon to execute God's judgments upon idolators, Deut. xxxiii. 9. Moses was no foe to imputed righteousness, as appears in the ninth chapter of Deuteronomy. He preached discriminating grace and mercy freely, Exod. xxxiii. 19, and exalted the sovereignty of the Lord his God, Deut. xxxii. 3, and was a terrible enemy to necromantic art, Deut. xviii. 10-12; all which Universal Charity contradicts: but, by his appeal to Moses, it plainly proves that he, who errs in the gospel, has never seen or felt the power of the law; if he had, he would not appeal to an accuser to act as an advocate. Moses accuses all legalists before God, John v. 45; and, in all his discourses about a jubilee trumpet, he proclaims gospel liberty from the shackles of Arminianism, and all other bondage whatsoever, except the yoke of the great Messiah.

easy

'Howbeit, the God of heaven keeps four books, which Universal Charity seems to be ignorant of: first, the book of life, Rev. xx. 12; second, the book of God's remembrance, Mal. iii. 16; third,

the book of the law, Deut. xxviii. 61; and, fourth, the book of a heathen's conscience, Rom. ii. 15: and each sect of criminals shall be judged by the things written in these books, Rev. xx. 12. He that sins without law shall perish without law, Rom. ii. 12. Conscience shall receive light, and an impression from the eye of justice, which shall compel her to do her office, John viii. 9; and the sentence of conscience shall be sufficient to stop the sinner's mouth, and kill him to all hope in God; yet his own sentence shall live in him, and feed on him, as a never-dying worm, Isaiah lxvi. 24.

'He that sins in the law shall be judged by the law, Rom. ii. 12; and, as he never heard the Lord's will in the gospel, shall not be smitten with the stripes of bitter reflection for persecuting, despising, or neglecting the gospel: he shall be beaten with few stripes, Luke xii. 48. But he who hears the gospel, and in pride boasteth of his profound knowledge, saying, Am I blind also? his sin remaineth; and, by contending for free-will and power, he boasteth of ability to perform. If he doth not perform his Lord's will, he is a gospel sinner, and ranked with hypocrites and unbelievers, and shall be damned for his unbelief, Matt. xxiv. 51.

'When the final judgment is set, all those books will be opened, and the dead will be judged according to the things written in them, Dan. vii. 10.

The man who sins against his own conscience breaks through the law of nature: he is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself, Tit. iii. 11: and by these acts of sin he exposes himself to the punishment of a never-dying worm, Mark ix. 44; but when he comes to know the law written, and sinneth against that, he breaketh through God's bounds, sinneth against the glorious dispensation of God, 2 Cor. iii. 7; is convinced by the law that he is a transgressor of it, and exposeth his soul to every plague and curse of it; and all these curses shall lie upon him, Deut. xxix. 20.

'But if, after all this, he hears the gospel, and believes not, the word of life which Christ spake, the same shall judge him, John xii. 48; the apostles are witnesses against him, Matt. xxiv. 14, as a despiser of it: he shall be judged by the book of life, and at the spiritual court of the gospel, because the gospel has been unto him a savour of death unto death, 2 Cor. ii. 16. He boasted of power to perform, but did not, Luke xii. 47; he promised to go into Christ's vineyard, but went not, Matt. xxi. 30; he had an invitation, but begged to be excused, Luke xiv. 18: such a one has broken through the bonds of the gospel, and cast its cords from him; and, as he has sinned against the laws of sovereign grace, Heb. x. 29, he is guilty of the greatest transgression, because he has sinned against the dispensation of God's Spirit, 2 Cor. iii. 8, and therefore has resisted, neglected, or done despite to

the Spirit of grace, Heb. x. 29; his wickedness is spiritual, and his stripes must be many.

'It is a sin unto death indeed, when even atoning blood will not heal him; there is no more sacrifice for the sins of some men, Heb. x. 26. First, he obscures the light of nature, by sinning against his own conscience; he also obscures the light of the law, by transgressing the commandment; and so goes to blackness and darkness, the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; then he heard the gospel, boasted of power, but did not perform; promised to go into the vineyard, but mocked Christ, and went not; had an invitation to the gospel, but begged to be excused; boasted of light when in darkness of error; and, as he said

I see,' his sin remaineth. Satan, being turned into an angel of light, led him to do despite to the Spirit of grace. What a state must such a one be in! If the light that is in him be darkness, how great is that darkness? Matt. vi. 23. Thus he is in Egyptian darkness; secondly, in blackness of darkness; and, even under the gospel, his light is darkness: the sentence, therefore, in the great day, will undoubtedly be, "Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth;" where the worm, or sentence of an accusing conscience, shall gnaw him; the curse of the law shall lie on him; and all the cutting reflections cast on his boasted will and power, for trampling on atoning blood, and doing