beacons to prevent the ruin of us and those who shall come after: "For the Lord will not hold him guiltless who taketh his name in vain.”

THE SUBJECT OPENED UP.

When we speak therefore of the Being of God, let us beware of deceiving ourselves with a name without an idea, a shadow without a substance, a sound without sense; with the babblings of an echo, or the prattlings of a parrot, without the understanding of the heart; as those men most assuredly do, who talk so seriously to us of (that mysterious jargon, or rather incomprehensible-nothing) a First underived Cause, Being, or Existence, separate from the revealed, and only true character, attributes, properties, or perfections of the Divine Nature-which being only one, and not manifold, can admit only of one, and by no means of a manifold character; so that, if the revealed character of God be the true one, those who miss that, miss God and his character altogether: which is a point to be proved against all opposers-who, like the Babylonish king, in the pride of their foolishness, which they would have you to receive as the very soul and perfection of wisdom, set up to themselves a monstrous image of their own creation and garnishing, which they fondly call God; and are also absurd enough to expect that all tongues, nations, kindreds, and languages, should fall down and worship it, under the pain of being cast, as atheists and rebels against reason, and it, and them, into the fiery furnace of their indignation.

How anti-christ lavishes out all the treasures of his own in-bred falsehood and vain conceit, to dress forth with all the whorish arts and trickery of an apostate church, a most hideous abomination of an idol! And lo, how they bow down unto it, and humble themselves before it! What brutish doings, to worship a devil instead of God? But, leaving general declamationWill the Holy Ghost, who leadeth into all truth, say

Amen, think you, to the following particulars, (by whomsoever uttered makes no difference,) which contain the substance of what we now propose, with God's help, to impugn, as being, in our view, both by reason of their own nature, and by reason of their unavoidable consequences, as experience daily shews, of the most dreadful tendency and operation on all the subsequent articles of religion. We need not quote authors, protestant or popish, for they may be all comprehended under one name, even Legion, for they

are many.

Recollect a moment. How often have you heard it in the most confident manner asserted, 66 That the knowledge of God is (what they call) an innate idea; that is to say, a notion naturally implanted, and growing up in the soul from the moment of its creation, or an original impression of the Being of God made by the hand of God himself, without the word, upon the conscience, and even wrought into the very frame and essence of every human creature, which, by all the efforts of wickedness, they are never afterwards able to erase or obliterate; so that they are no more able to doubt of God's Being than of their own; especially when the books of creation and providence are so openly displayed before them; and he who runs cannot but read the being of God, independent of, and antecedent to, all revelation: wherefore, (proceed they,) there neither is, nor can be such a thing as an absolute atheist, at least in heart, to be found in the world." And yet the fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. But, if "All nations in the world, believe them, you every individual of those nations endowed with a reasonable soul, when arrived at the age of manhood, both know and acknowledge, that God is, and that merely by the force of their own unassisted reason, or (according to others) common sense, sensation, feeling, or intuition (as they will have it) absolutely of themselves, without any manner of revelation from without, or faith which comes by hearing." In opposition to all which, it is presumed that

and

The whole testimony of Jesus, from Moses to John, will prove such doctrines (whatever the authors may be) no friends to the eternal and ever-blessed Godhead, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, who are One.

DOCTRINES, AND NOT MEN, ATTACKED.

But, let the authors alone: we have only to do with the doctrines: the men must stand or fall to their own Master, who knows how to judge his creatures, making what difference he pleases; as it is written, "He hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth."

But, though it be his to judge souls, it is ours to observe and judge, according to his word, of fruits or doctrines of men who come in his name; or if we do not, from a pretence of delicacy, inability, or whatever else, we disobey our Lord.-And here, before the Lord, I declare, I have no quarrel with any man alive or dead; nor do I mean to hurt any one. Sorry, however, to find many, otherwise eminent persons, advancing the things I am obliged in conscience to oppose; with such weapons as the Scripture affords me, unequal as I am to the combat, I am compelled by the force of conviction to essay it; which I ought and hope to do without the dread of any fellow-creature's name or power, however great.

It was Aaron the Lord's high-priest that made the golden calf.

If I mention a few names of the living or dead, it is out of necessity, that I may not be understood to bring a false accusation, nor charge upon the innocent the faults of other men. Thus, I have made bold to mention Dr. Clarke, whose name and argument generally go together- -and his very name, with many, gives incredible weight to his doctrines in more points than one, full of the most consummate absurdities and blasphemies.

Moreover, it is impossible to point out many things, or it were to no purpose, without distinguishing the author, who to us has no existence but in his works; and when we say, "such an author," we mean no personal reflection against any man's name or memory, but merely to shew what he has advanced; which, when advanced, is every man's property, and must be examined by the word, and declared true or false; otherwise we hold not God, but the persons of men in admiration; which is a most universal and crying abomination! Lord, deliver me and all whom thou lovest from falling into such a horrible gulph! "If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch: for every plant which our heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up."

AN ADDRESS TO THE READERS.

To the law therefore, and to the testimony, O noble Bereans! search the Scriptures, and see if these things be so or not.

As Moses addressed the host after the sin of the golden calf, methinks I hear, or seem to hear, the only true God and eternal Life calling to his followers aloud

his

"Who is on the Lord's side? Who? Let him come over to me- -Let him stand forth with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, in his handlet him run along the camp from gate to gate, and sanctify himself through the truth, every man upon father, and upon his brother, and upon his child, yea every man upon himself, and cut off without mercy every cause of offence in the matter of a strange god; let not thine eye spare, but remember the word of the Lord, "If thy right hand offend thee, (or cause thee to offend,) cut it off, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than,' having all thy unmortified members about thee, 'to be cast into hell fire?"

Why, O why, ye good soldiers of Jesus Christ, who is the Captain of your salvation, whose Spirit reigns within you, tell your God, if your hearts will allow you, why any Achan, any Agag should remain unslain in all your camp? why any strange God should possess a corner with the Lord in all your heart? Strange gods, be assured, wherever they are harboured, will draw down vengeance and fire from the Lord out of heaven upon themselves and their harbourers: for our God is a jealous God, and a consuming fire.

Away, away therefore with strange gods! and so away with all the fear of wrath! If the following questions shall be duly determined by the authority and power of the Holy Ghost in our consciences, we shall be in danger neither of wrath nor fear: for we shall be delivered from strange gods.

QUESTIONS concerning the Knowledge of God; with SCRIPTURAL ANSWERS, ILLUSTRATIONS, and USES, subjoined.

THE NECESSITY OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.

Q. 1. Can any person escape from the wrath to come, and attain to eternal life, without the knowledge of God?

A. No. For it is written, "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, (because our testimony among you," say the apostles, "was believed) in that day."

Observe, Those who know not God are described by their not obeying the gospel; the obeying of the gospel of God being a necessary consequence of the knowing