fee, that every part of it is founded on the word of God, either directly, or by plain and neceffary confequence. Only this general rule is to be obferved, namely, that the reader always confider what is the subject treated in every fection or ftanza; and this, for the fake of the moft illiterate, I fhall illuftrate by two examples; the one concerning the law, the other concerning the believer. The former you fee Part III. Sect. vi. ver. 25.

I'm not oblig'd to keep it more;

Yet more oblig'd than e'er before.

Here you are to remark, that as the fubject spoken of is the LAW, fo the law in fcripture is confidered two ways, viz. both as a covenant of works, and as a rule of duty. Now, that the believer is under no obligation to the law, as it is a covenant of works, or to perform obedience to it as a ground of juftification, (which is also the fubject treated in that Section,) is confirmed in the foot-notes by the following fcriptures, to which you are directed by the letter (s,) Rom. vi. 14, Gal. v. I, 2, 3,

4. Where you may fee believers are faid to be "not under the law, but under grace;" and exhorted to "stand faft in the liberty wherewith Chrift hath made them free;" and affured, "that Chrift is become of no effect to them, whofoever of them are juftified by the law, they are fallen from grace." Again, that the believer is under more obligation than ever, before he was juftified, to yield obedience to the law as it is a rule of life, (which is the other branch of that paradox,) is confirmed by these following texts of fcripture, to which you are directed by the letter (t,) Rom. vi. 1, 2, 15, where it is faid, "Shall we continue in fin, that grace may abound? God forbid: how fhall we that are dead to fin, live any longer therein? What then? fhall we fin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid." From which texts, together with their contexts, it is evident, that the believer's freedom from the law as a covenant, does not at all free him from obligation to it as a rule, but fuperadds to the natural obligation that of grace, which both argumentatively and affectively teaches what the law does authoritatively and preceptively, namely, "to deny ungodliness and worldly

fufts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this prefent world," Tit. ii. 11, 12.

The other example I adduce, you may read, Part III. Sect. ii. verfe 47, where the words are,

To good and evil equal bent,

I'm both a devil and a faint.

Here the reader may notice, that the fubject fpoken of is the BELIEVER, or the faint's old and new man defcribed, (which is part of the title of that Section,) or confidered as to his unregenerate and regenerate part; in which view he is frequently spokeof in fcripture; ex. gr. 1 John iii. 6, 9, it is faid of the believer, or the perfon born of God, that he finneth not, and that he cannot fin, because he is born of God: there he is fpoken of as to his new nature, or regenerate part. But, 1 John i. 8. the words are, "If we fay that we have no fin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us :" where the apoftle speaks of believers unregenerate and corrupt part. Now, this being the fcriptural representation of the believer, the forefaid paradox is eafily proved from fcripture.

The first branch is, that he is equally bent to good and to evil. For the proof of this, you are directed in the foot-note to Rom. vii. 21, where the apostle Paul, fpeaking both of his corrupt and renewed part, fays, "I find a law, that when I would do good, evil is prefent with me." And, if you read the preceding and following context, you will find him complaining how corruption bends him as far one way as grace another.

The other part of the fame paradox is, that the believer is, on these accounts, both a devil and a faint. Now, that the believer is by nature and corruption a devil, is one branch of this pofition here to be confirmed. That he is fo by nature, is proved by the following fcriptures in the fore-cited page at the bottom, John vi. 70, and viii. 44, compared; where Chrift, fpeaking of fome that were in a natural ftate, viz. of Judas and the Jews, difcovers what is the ftate of all men by nature, "that they are of their father the devil, fince the lufts of their father they will do ;" and therefore may be called devils, as our Lord calls Judas, faying, "I have chofen you twelve, and one of you is a devil." And fuch are be

lievers alfo naturally, as defcendants of the first Adam, being "children of difobedience, and children of wrath And that the by nature, even as others," Eph. ii. 2, 3. believer is fo, not only by nature, but alfo by reafon of remaining corruption, is proved at the foot of the fame page, from James iii. 15, where that apoftle, fpeaking of ftrife and envy, that may be even among the children of God, (which indeed has too much taken place in all ages,) fays, " This wisdom defcendeth not from above, but is earthly, fenfual, devilifh. Again, that though the believer be by nature and corruption a devil, yet he is, by grace and regeneration, a faint, is documented alfo, in the fame from 1 Cor. vi. II. "Such were fome page, of you; but ye are fanctified," &c.

I

In this manner, you may easily go over all the rest of the paradoxes, riddles, or myfteries, contained in this book, and find them evidently confirmed by the fcrip. tures of truth, the word of God. This might be no un profitable exercise, but tend to lead you into the true knowledge of the gofpel, to which myfteries are so ef fential, that it is defigned by them, and called the wisdom of God in a myftery, I Cor. ii. 7; and the knowledge of which is fo effential to Chriftianity, and fo abfolutely neceffary to falvation, that the fame apostle declares, that "if our gofpel be hid, it is hid to them that are loft; " in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds “of them which believe not, left the light of the glori ❝ous gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should "fhine unto them," 2 Cor. vi. 3.

But

Again, if you fearch the scriptures, you will fee many more proofs for every point than I have adduced, and perhaps many much more appofite; for these only are fet down at the bottom of the page that first occurred to me: yet, I suppose, though sometimes but one, and sometimes more fcriptures are pointed out, they are such as fufficiently confirm the pofitions they relate to. that other scriptures might have been adduced in plenty, I fhall give one inftance, in the paradox now mentioned, viz. that every believer, while in this world, is both a devil and a faint. The latter clause is what none will deny, namely, That every true believer is a faint; for further proof of which, you might fee Acts xv. 9, and xxvi. 18,

&c. But because the firft claufe may feem more harsh, it may by fcripture be also further evinced two ways: ift, In respect of the daily commiffion of fin he has to challenge himfelf with; for the feripture fays, Eccl. vii. 20, “There is not a juft man upon earth, that doth good and finneth not." And with this compare 1 John iii. 8, "He that committeth fin, is of the devil." Hence it is plain, there is not a juft man upon earth, but may, in respect of the commiffion of fin, be called a devil.

2dly, In refpect of prevalent temptations, by which he may be hurried into thofe things "that favour not of God, but of men ;" on which account Christ says to Peter, Matth. xvi. 23, "Get thee behind me, Satan." And if Christ calls Peter a devil, whom he had defcribed as a faint of the firft magnitude, verfe 17, one divinely bleffed and enlightened; what occafion may every believer have to call himself a devil! Yea, it is a part of his faith and fanctity, to fee and acknowledge with fhame. before the Lord, his own devilish and defperately wicked heart and nature; which a blind, felf-conceited world are ignorant of, being neither acquainted with themfelves, nor with God and his word. However, so it is, that the more any fhall fearch the fcripture, the more, I hope, will they difcern, not only by the texts I have quoted, but from many others alfo, the truth and evidence of every part of this book, however myfterious fome paffages of it may feem to many.

Though fome of thefe lines may want the politeness that can pleafe the curious age, yet, while they ftand firm upon a fcriptural foundation, none of them want. authority, and that of the highest nature, except in the account of mockers, and thofe (of whom there are too many in our day) that are either Deifts, who undervalue the fcripture, or Atheifts, who deride it: and it is fad. ly to be regretted, that those people are hardened in their wicked principles and practices, by fome that perhaps have a higher profeffion. For I have feen two prints, one called the Groan, and another the Laugh, wherein fome lines, picked out among others, have been exposed to ridicule: but however fuch gentlemen may laugh at their own fport, and wickedly divert themfelves

with ferious matters for a time, I fear their laughing will iffue in weeping for ever; if God by giving them repentance, do not make them groan to purpose, for the evidence they thus give of either their grievous ignorance of the fcripture, or their grofs profanity, and of their readiness to yield themfelves inftruments of the devil, to promote the atheistical spirit of the age, which is bent enough, without any fuch provocations, to laugh at every thing ferious, facred, and fcriptural. This is fo palpable, without my observation upon it, and fo selfevident to all that fear God, and have had the patience to read fuch prints, that I would not have thought them worth my noticing fo far, as to make this bare mention of them, had not Providence put the pen in my hand to preface this edition, wherein fcriptural proofs are added to that part of the book.

Reader, it gives me fatisfaction enough to understand, that this book has already been useful and edifying to fome, however it is entertained by others. The gofpel itself is to fome the favour of life, to others the favour of death; to fome wisdom, to others foolishness; to fome matter of faith, love, and comfort, to others matter of mockery and fcorn. I fhall be far from thinking it any difcredit or disparagement to this book, if it meet with the like entertainment. May the Lord of heaven and earth, who overrules all things, accompany it, in its journeys abroad or at home, with his bleffing to many fouls, and to his care I commend it, in the words of a famous Scots poet, upon Pfalm xxxv. 1:

Rerum fancte Opifex, ades,

Et patrocinio protege me tuo.

Which may be adapted to the matter in hand thus ;
The truth which hell may criticise,

Great God, be near to patronize.