are left in it: and Tophet, not heaven, is prepared for that king, and all his subjects. He is the king of misery, and they are the much wood, Isa. xxx. 33. None but they who are of the faith of Abraham, and blessed with him, none but they who are ordained to eternal life, shall ever enter that kingdom. Christ has power over all flesh; and to this end, that he may give eternal life to as many as the Father has given him, and to none else. The rebel he awes with terror, curbs him by his power, lets him loose, and checks him at his pleasure, just to serve his own purpose; but the chosen vessel is conquered, humbled, and brought to submit to his reign and sceptre by irresistible grace. And such shall be admitted into Christ's kingdom. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And to these he will say, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you." But he never will say, Come, ye cursed, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord: for "they that

the pit cannot hope for thy truth.”

go down into

25. Whatsoever God promises to do for a people, he has appointed prayer to be the mean of bringing it to pass. "Thus saith the Lord, I will yet be inquired of by the house Israel, to do it for them." Let the things be whatever they may, they are all to be fetched in by prayer and supplication. Now, if Mr. Winchester does not make prayers, supplications, intercessions, and giving of thanks, for reprobates, devils, and damned sinners,

and all his dear friends in hell, that his doctrine may reach them, and be fulfilled in them, he either does not in his heart believe his own doctrine, or else his conscience so lashes him for his lies, that he dare not pray to God for the fulfilment of his ministry. When God was about to bring Israel out of Egypt the Spirit of prayer was poured forth. What I am warranted to preach I have a warrant to pray for. But, if we have no warrant to pray for them, we have none to preach to them. And sure I am that such intercessors must pray against the decree of God, the truth of God, the existence of God, the law of God, the holiness of God, and the immutability of God: and who against these can be heard? Now we have no warrant to intercede with God for devils, no grant to pray for the damned, nor for the murderers of saints, only that God would avenge the blood of his servants on them who shed it. We are to pray for all men in authority, that we may live a peaceable life; but not for the salvation of all men. Christ prayed not for the world: nor áre we allowed so much as to pray for such as bear the evident tokens of perdition, or of the unpardonable sin. "There is a sin unto death, I do not say that he shall pray for it." And the reason is, because the pardon of it is never to be granted. Nor does the Spirit ever help the infirmities of a child of God, at a throne of grace, for any person that is dead, though the nearest and dearest friend he ever had: for he believes in his

the

heart that the die is immediately cast upon death of the person, and the doom for ever fixed, and that prayer will then avail nothing. And in this I can appeal to the experience of all good men who are taught of God. David wept, fasted, and prayed for the child, as long as life lasted; but when it was dead he left off, 2 Sam. xii. 22. His prayer would not bring the child back to life; much less will prayer bring a soul from hell to heaven. Now, if we are not even in this world to pray for an unpardonable sinnner, are we to pray for him when he is in the bottomless pit? Purgatory, and salvation from it, and prayers for the dead and damned, are not from Christ, but from antichrist. The notion was invented by Plato, Pythagoras, &c.; it was adopted by the pope for gain, and is supported and defended by Mr. Winchester as his last refuge from the storm. But, for my part, I shall never have any opinion of Mr. Winchester's sincerity, in his doctrine of universal restoration, unless he adopts the mass, absolution, extreme unction, prayers and paternosters for the dead; for all these are things inseparably connected with purgatory, and restoration from thence. "They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth."

26. The doubtfulness of Mr. Winchester's mission and commission from Christ to preach this doctrine is another entanglement upon his system, When Christ sent his apostles out he endued them with power from on high: filled them with the

Holy Ghost; armed them with grace and truth; and bid them preach the gospel to every creature; and that he that believed should be saved, and he that believed not should be damned. All whom by their ministry they bound on earth, in heaven were bound; and all whom they loosed on earth, in heaven were loosed. They were to seek the kingdom of God, and the elected subjects of it; to seek the lost sheep of the house o Israel, and the sons ordained to peace among the Gentiles; and to "endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory." And Paul was sent to turn men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they might receive the forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith. that is in Christ. But there is not a word about the salvation of devils and reprobates in all their commissions. They were not to convert men from natural darkness to utter darkness; nor from truth in the law of nature to the lies of Satan; nor from hell to heaven; nor were they sent to turn sin from Satan, nor Satan to God; much less to convert souls from union with Zion to fellowship with devils: but they were sent to turn sinners to God from sin and Satan. Satan's kingdom is usurped, and Mr. Winchester's authority is assumed. He has no grant, warrant, mission, or commission, to enforce such a restoration in all the book of God. It is not to be found amongst

all the commissions God ever gave, either to apostles, prophets, saints, or angels. And, as it is a human device, and not the counsel of God, it shall not stand: for "they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth."

27. The characteristics that attend Mr. Winchester in this his office militate hard against him. The apostles and ministers of Christ were to be hated of all men for his name sake; and blessed are ye when men revile and persecute you for righte ousness sake. But Mr. Winchester's doctrine is well calculated to cause the offence of the cross to cease; for who can object to such a doctrine? None but the children of God! Impostors, apostates, hypocrites, ministers of Satan, hirelings, Simonists, rebels, traitors, desperadoes, persecutors, perjured persons, whoremongers, Sodomites, usurers, grinders of the poor, oppressors, witches, wizards; yea, and devils also, if they have but faith, must approve and rejoice in this doctrine: but he that preaches to please such men cannot be the servant of Christ; then he must be the minister of Satan, for there are but two masters. "Wo unto you," says Christ, "when all men shall speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets." This scriptural mark of a minister of Satan, and this awful wo of the Lord Jesus, militate hard against Mr. Winchester as an ambassador. They are none of the signs of an apostle, but of an impostor; for it is promising a people what they shall never have; for "they