by law, the retribution, repayment, or recompence, will be scanty enough, God knows. "Will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompence me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head." Should this be the case, our author had need to seek for a surety, and adapt the ancient petition, "Enter not into judgment with thy servant," O Lord, " for in thy sight," neither by a code of laws, nor by the free thoughts of man, “shall no man living be justified," Psalm cxliii. 2. But this right of private judgment, and liberty of conscience, so closely connected with a day of retribution, seems not to be a right granted from above, but from beneath; for it follows,

And it is the felicity of Britons, that they enjoy liberty, not only of private judgment, but of 'exposing their sentiments to the world.' This liberty was enjoyed by Simon Magus, Arius, and Pelagius, as well as Mr. Skinner, though they were not Britons, and they had the felicity of dragging thousands into the snare of the devil as well as themselves; they sent many proselytes to their wicked works beforehand to judgment, and they left their damnable heresies to entangle others that shall go after them, by which means their felicity will be increased; or, to speak in the language of Milton, they will be supreme in misery.

If a man's liberty and sentiments be from God, he has a divine right to expose them to others; but if a man hates instruction, if he casts God's word behind him, if he hates to be reformed, what

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ever liberty or felicity he may boast of as a Briton, God has forbidden him to declare his statutes, or take his covenant in his mouth, Psalm 1. 16, 17.

By exposing my sentiments, error is detected, ' and truth established, in defence of which these pages are made public.' By error our author means the doctrines of the gospel, which, if he be licensed, he swore to maintain; and by truth he means his own thoughts, or mischievous devices that he has uttered against the counsel of God; we know there are many devices in this man's heart, nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand, Prov. xix. 21.

Our author has no 'sinister ends to serve,' though he writes against the word of God in behalf of the world; 'no party to please; no system that must be supported, because it has long been established 'by men.' The doctrinal articles of the church of England were not established by men; they were drawn from the word of God, which was established in the secret purpose of God in Christ Jesus from all eternity. The system that our author's free thoughts are offered in defence of, has been long established by man; he is writing against the secret purpose of God, against his absolute choice of his people, and against discriminating grace. And has not this system been long established by man? These were the things that provoked Cain; "God had respect to Abel and to his offering, but to Cain and his offering he had not respect." Cain saw this; and God, who knew his heart, and knew that

he was for a free-will establishment, dealt with him accordingly, that is, conditionally, as he has dealt with all his followers ever since: "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? but if not, sin lies at thy door;" and Cain is as sure to do well as the Ethiopian is to change his skin, or the leopard his spots. God left him to his own free-will, and in his own religion; in defence of which, and in rage against the grace of God, he slew his brother. There are but two classes of men in the world, heirs of promise, and heirs of wrath; no more than two foundations, the rock and the sand; the one is mount Zion, which God has founded, the other is Sinai in the figure, the children of the flesh, whose foundation is in the dust, Job iv. 19; whose basis is free agency. This religion was founded by Cain; in the behalf of which human establishment Mr. Skinner's free thoughts are made public. This human establishment has never wanted its advocates; in every age there have been some zealous defenders of it; Ishmael, Esau, false prophets, Judas, false apostles, Pelagius, Van Hermin, and John Child in the puritanic age, stepped forth and published a legion of free thoughts, the same in substance as our author's, but more nervous a great deal. He wrote against the doctrines of grace, and the preachers of them, until the hand of God touched him, then he sunk into black despair, where he lay bellowing and cursing his book of free thoughts, till like Judas he hanged himself. The history and writings of John Child are well

known in the world. One would have thought such a visible stroke from God would have been sufficient to have awed every free-thinker in the world; "Every morning doth God bring his judgments to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame."

Our author wishes that his thoughts may be blessed to his readers, and Christ is to have the praise. Will a man speak wickedly for God? will he talk deceitfully for him? Job xiii. 7. Will he contradict his Maker, oppose the word of his grace, and attempt to secure a tribute of praise by encouraging rebellion? Surely God gets no praise from lying lips, nor from a deceitful tongue, Psal. lii. 3, 4. I shall dismiss the title and the preface, and consider our author's thoughts, and set the revealed thoughts of God against them; and as he has jumbled five or six doctrines together, I shall pick them out, one by one, and quote as little of his work as possible, lest I swell my own too big.

The first doctrine that is to be levelled by free thoughts is the doctrine of election, which is stated in the following manner: First, 'That God, ' before the foundation of the world, chose from among mankind a certain number of persons by name; and that this number is so determined, ' that it can be neither augmented nor diminished. For these persons, and for these only, Christ died;

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' and of consequence they must be saved; they are 'therefore termed the elect.' These are the errors

that he is going to detect; this is part of the system that he supposes has been long established by man, whereas these are the doctrines that God has established, these are truths that shall be settled in heaven. First, Their choice: "According as he [God] hath chosen us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love." Secondly, These are chosen from among mankind. " If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. I speak not of you all; I know whom I have chosen," John xiii. 18. "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." Here is a world that loves his own; here is a number chosen out of the world; a number that are not of the world, and this number the world hates, because they are chosen: "Because I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." Thirdly, These are chosen by name: "And he that remaineth in Jerusalem shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem." Rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." "The general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven," Heb. xii. 23. "I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow labourers whose names