is not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God, John i. 13.

The oracles of God inform us that the children of the desolate are more in number than the children of the married wife; that many are called, but few chosen; that many enter the gates that lead to destruction, but that few find the gate of life. According to these scriptures the children of the flesh and of the bond-woman, which are called the children of this world, are by far the greatest host; these have undertaken the cause of Cain; the antediluvians renowned for wickedness, Ishmael Esau, Saul, Ahithophel, Judas, Simon Magus, Arius, Pelagius, and all the bond-children which God hath palmed upon Hagar, who began to vent her spleen at the good old Sarah, have maintained a perpetual controversy with Zion; they have ever encompassed the camp of the saints and the beloved city. They have counted Zion's towers, marked her bulwarks, and considered her palaces, and to little purpose. They have produced their cause, and brought forth their strong reasons against the king of Jacob; they have defied the armies of the living God from age to age. They have denied. the fall of man, reprobated the decrees of God, withstood the counsel of the Most High, contemned imputed righteousness, boasted of light, of freedom of will, of human power, of fleshly perfection, and even of sovereign prerogative; and yet not one of this fleshly family, whether distinguished by the name of heathen, pagan, mahometan, papist, pro

testant, or dissenter, notwithstanding all their united efforts, superiority of number, power, and policy, though they have maintained a perpetual siege against Zion's bulwarks, and attempted to take the kingdom of heaven and the throne of God by storm for upwards of five thousand years together without the least intermission; yet they cannot to this day, if it were to save their souls from hell, produce one champion among all their formidable host that ever succeeded in the attempt or carried the siege; salvation is not of works, it is not of him that willeth, it is the gift of God; "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the fire."

None but the righteous nation that keepeth the truth have ever entered into the heavenly Jerusalem. No bond-child, no son of the flesh, no Hagarene, no free-willer, no free-thinker, no meritmonger, no fleshly perfectionist, nor nervous logician, could ever say that the banner of everlasting love was ever struck to him; it is displayed to the elect only; nor even to them till they are humbled. The children of lies have never been able to carry away these imperial colours; "Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth." If so, none but those in whose hearts God puts his fear, and who receive the truth in the love of it, can ever unfurl this banner of electing and everlasting love; the others are given up to strong delusions that they might believe a lie; "That they all

might be damned who believed not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness."

The text that Mr. Skinner has produced from Ezekiel, of God's having no pleasure in the death of the wicked; Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die? is perverted; he is not enlightened to see the meaning of it; he does therefore err, not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God; it is a political death that is there intended. Israel, removed from the hill of Zion to the plains of Shinar, are compared in their state of captivity to dry bones in a valley, whose hope of return was lost: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, our hope is lost, and we are cut off for our parts." Their enlargement and restoration is called a resurrection: "Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, I will open your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel; and I shall place you in your own land, then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it," Ezek, xxxvii. 11-14. Theywere sent into Babylon for their idolatry, from whence their idol worship came, which was to be restored again and settled in the plains of Shinar, on its own base, Zech. v. 11. Babylon seems at that time to have been the fountain or spring head of idolatry; and what Israel received from thence, was to be left behind at their return; and at their restoration, Ephraim, the forwardest tribe to idolatry, was heard to say, What have I to do any more with idols? From these evil ways they

were to turn, on account of which they went into captivity; and the king's golden image in the plains of Dura gave them their fill of it, when they must worship the image, which was not a God of their own making; if it had it might have done better; but as it was an image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up, and must be worshipped at the expense of the burning fiery furnace, it was an irksome service to them; for although they were dotingly fond of a god of their own making, yet they could not endure to worship one made and set up by another. Some of the captivity might understand the prophet, not of a political but of a spiritual death and resurrection; to these he enforces the making of a new heart and a new spirit, to cease to do evil and learn to do well, as the only qualifications for heaven; but we have no account that any man upon earth ever did this, though many as well as our author have boasted of great power; nor is there any hope of it, seeing they are fools that trust in their own heart, and cursed of God who make flesh their arm; therefore let the children of the flesh perform what they may, they are under the law, and their works can be no more than the works of the flesh; and God declares, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh living be justified.

It is true, 'God hath no pleasure in the death ' of the wicked,' no more than he hath in their life he is angry with the wicked every day, and what pleasure can God take in the objects of

his hatred? He calls them the borders of wickedness, the people against whom he hath indignation for ever, Mal. i. 4. They are called the people of his curse, Isa. xxxiv. 5; his soul loaths them, and their souls also abhor him, Zech. xi. 8. When he drives them to darkness and dimness of anguish, they will fret themselves, look upward, and curse both their king and their God, Isa. viii. 21, 22. And what pleasure can God take in such worms, who are the objects of his just indignation, the vessels of his wrath, the people of his curse, and the rivals of his honour; who are rebels to his throne, disputing his sovereignty, opposing his will, resisting his discriminating grace, violating his laws, corrupting his subjects, and exalting flesh and blood in opposition to his tremendous majesty? Instead of God's having pleasure in the death of these, it is called easing himself of his burden: "Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies." He may be eased of these enemies, he may laugh at their calamity and mock when their fear cometh; he may have them in derision, and scatter them in the imagination of their hearts, and his anger may cease in their destruction, Isa. x. 25; but he hath no pleasure in wickedness, nor in the death of the wicked. "The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy." Mr. Skinner goes on.

Certainty and necessity are very different