the Moabites. And thus the end of those who are possessed with such a false spirit of doctrine, except they be again dispossessed, may be represented by that herd who ran from the Ga darene-mountains violently down a steep place, and were all choaked in the sea.

They who have conscience for it, may call such ones Christians, if they please, and then, when they have done so, endeavour to sanctify Satan by calling him Saint. But saints indeed will do well to consider those words of their Lord, as they stand in their own connection, Every 'plant which my heavenly Father hath not "planted shall be rooted up.'

These are the men who are for ever filling your ears with something or other about philosophers, Tully, Seneca, Socrates, the divine Plato, as they call that other whom the devil at Delphos is said to have deified, (honest heathens, the wonderful things the light of nature teaches you!) the moral sense, the beautiful, the sublime, the decent, the fair, the handsome, and sometimes the το καλον and the το πρέπον, (for they love to speak plain !), with other ravings of the same stamp.

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There is another, but in many respects very different kind of men, indeed, whom you will find also at the head of their thousands and ten thousands, who do, verily, highly, as just ly, disapprove of those misinterpretations of the Psalms, and other scriptures concerning righteousness, &c. just now mentioned, yet are by no

means free themselves of some sort of corrupt leaven; which shews its malignity in them also, but in a different appearance from the former.

Observe them only expatiating and enlarging upon their darling heads of spiritual desertions, hidings of God's countenance, withdrawings of his favour, or a sense of it at times from his accepted dear children, doubts and fears about their es tate, darkness concerning their interest in Christ; which, with their other kindred topics of discourse, make up no small part of their doctrine and popularity.

To give a taste of this same leaven: after these, or the like words, of the Lord Jesus have come in their way, In my prosperity I said, I ‹ shall never be moved: Lord, by thy favour ‹ thou hast made my mountain to stand strong.

Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.' These expressions, the meaning whereof is not difficult to see, when viewed in the light of the apostolic testimony, do they compare with, and illustrate by that testimony? No; but with the experiences of Job, who, in the day of his affliction, said, "O that it were with me as in months past, when the candle of the Lord shined upon my head! Is the cause of Job's complaint a secret? But whatever he feared, doubted, or complained of, it was not, certainly it was not, concerning his state with God, or his interest in Christ; seeing in that he triumphs, and in that only, saying, I know that my Re‹ deemer livethe Though he slay me, yet will

I put my trust in him:-then shall I be at

• rest.'

They proceed next to David's experiences, as what frequently happen, say they, or may happen, to all saints. How they trumpet forth that famous saying of his which he said in his heart, • One day I shall perish by the hand of Saul,' &c. If that of David had any relation to a believer's fears of falling into perdition, it is plain, that the reading of the sentence to the end, would have given the conclusion a quite contrary turn; being a proof, that, like David, they thought they should escape, and not fall. Why do you trifle with us in the name of the Lord!

Have we need of this? or, if such a doctrine is to be maintained, has it need to be maintained with such weapons?

They are now come to the Psalms; and there, see how they seize upon every strong figure of speech which the Holy Ghost hath used, expressive of the sufferings of Christ, and of the following glory! Lo, how heartily, blindly, and boldly they apply them all as expressive of the frames of the spirits of David, Heman, and Asaph, in the times of their soul-trouble and spiritual desertion; till at length, through their prayers, supplications, fastings, and tears, they find a glorious outgate (as they speak) by a new and sensible manifestation! And these same risings and fallings in their spirits or frames, through the vain supposition that they were the experiences of mere mortals, are considered, upheld,

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and ascertained, as so many incontrovertible models, or patterns of God's sovereign way of dealing with his children, whom the New Testament says, he fills with peace and joy in believing; so that they even glory in God (which is not an accidental coming and going thing, but an essential permanent part of their character) through their Lord Jesus Christ, by whom they have now received the atonement.

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But those leaders, in diametrical opposition to the apostles, apply upon occasions to the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus, all such passages in the Psalms as the following: My soul is sore vexed-The sorrows of death compassed me-The pains of hell got hold upon me-Thine · arrows stick fast in me-Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water-spouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me→→ -Horror hath overwhelmed me: I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing-I am come into S deep waters, where the floods overflow me

I am like a pelican of the wilderness-I have ⚫ eaten ashes like bread, because thou hast lift'ed me up, and cast me down-The deep waters are come into my soul-My soul refused to be • comforted-I remembered the wormwood and • the gall-I remembered God, and was troubled--While I suffer thy terrors, I am distracted,' or torn asunder- Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? And doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God

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forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah. And I 'said, this is mine infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High,' &c. What ideas have those men of the power and operation of the Comforter upon the spirits of the saints, when they think that their state, even at any juncture, may be described in the very same language which describes the power and operation of God's wrath upon the spirit and body of their Redeemer, when standing in their room, and drinking up for them that cup of bitterness which the Father had put into his hand, that they, in place thereof, might have a cup of salvation, thanksgiving, and eternal consolation, put into theirs?

O vain men, how came ye to make sad the hearts of those whom the Lord by the sadness of his heart hath made glad? how many distressed ones go with a back bowed down always through the influence and burden of your strange doctrines? How came ye to rob them of their peculiar privileges and titles, calling them desponding believers, whom their God and Father had filled with the Holy Ghost, and all his divine consolations and fruits, love, peace, hope, joy,-joy unspeakable and full of glory?

How came ye to overlook, that the infirmity, or weakness, which ye attributed to them, was their strength, their glory, their crown? What else mean such passages as these? He was cru

cified through weakness; but raised again by