diately seated reason and intelligence, and a capacity of moral agency and therefore, they, in a peculiar manner, are the subjects of God's special providence, which he exercises in this lower world. And it is to be observed, that God's common providence is subordinated by his special provi dence; and all things in this world are governed and disposed of in subordination to the great ends God has to obtain, with respect to the souls of men: and it is farther to be observed, that as the creation of the world was committed to the Son of God, by the Father, so is the government of it, and in a peculiar manner, the affairs of God's special providence, are left in his hands, and so, the souls of men, which are the subjects of this special providence, are committed to his care; and more especially such souls as are of Christ's visible kingdom or church, which is often in scripture represented as the field or vineyard of which he is the owner, and the care of which he has taken on himself. And what Christ's value is for men's souls, appears from what he has done and suffered for them.

But these souls that Christ has made, and that are committed to his care by the Father, and which are so precious in his account, he commits to the care of ministers. There is a certain order of men that are so dignified and honored by him, as to have so great a trust reposed in them. He, as it were, brings these souls, as an infinitely precious treasure, and commits them to them to take care of, as a prince commits his treasure into the hands of one of the dignified servants of his household; or as

the father of a family, when he goes a journey into a far country, leaves his family to the care of a steward. I come now

身

II. To enquire to what purpose Christ commits the precious souls of men to the care of ministers. I answer, in two things,

1. He commits men's souls to ministers, to keep and take care of them for him, that by their means they may answer their end in glorifying him. God has made all things for Himself. He has created them for his glory; but more especially those creatures that he has endued with understanding, as he has done the souls of men. It is by them that God has his glory from all his creatures, as they are the eye of the creation to behold the glory of God, manifested in other creatures; and the mouth of the creation to praise him, and ascribe to him the glory displayed in them. The other creatures glorify God passively and eventually, as God glorifies himself in them, as they are the subjects of the exercise of his power and wisdom in their creation and preservation, and in those events that are brought to pass in his disposal of them. Thus God glorifies himself in his works that are manifest, in the irrational and inanimate creation, in the view of his rational creatures that he has made capable of beholding and admiring them, and adoring, loving, and praising him for them. But they only are capable of glorifying him actively and immediately; therefore all the other creatures do, as it were, bring their tribute of glory to them to be offered through their hands to the Creator. And therefore the souls of men are beings that, with regard

to the glory of God, the great end of all things, are of immensely greater importance than all other creatures in this lower world. But these, with respect to this their great end, are committed to the care and keeping of ministers. And therefore Christ has furnished them with proper means to bring them to this end. He has given them all needful instructions, they have a perfect rule and directory to guide them in this great affair; and he has enjoined them the duties they have to perform, in their office, in every particular, and the manner in which they are to perform these duties is pointed out in the charge which he has left them; and he has furnished them with all needful helps for the instruction of those souls that are committed to them, to lead them to answer their great end in duly glorifying their Creator; and all proper means for the exciting and engaging them to attend to and follow those instructions; as also means for their help and assistance in it, that they may do it the more easily and effectually.

2. They are committed to their care and keeping that they may not be eternally lost, but may have everlasting life. These souls, as I observed before, are immortal and made for eternity, and they are set in this world between two opposite eternal states, the one a state of exceeding and eternal glory and blessedness, the other a state of unutterable and unalterable misery and as they are by nature liable to either, by their original guilt and corruption they are exposed to perish for ever, in total and perfect destruction and misery. But Christ, from his

knowledge of the infinite worth of souls, and his great compassion and love to them, has by his own precious blood, made way for their escape, and at this infinite expense has procured unspeakable exaltation and perfect happiness for them in heaven to all eternity; which by this means they have opportunity to obtain. But yet it remains uncertain what will become of them till Christ's Redemption be applied to them, or they are actually cast into hell. There is an opportunity given, a time of probation, till the great and unalterable event shall determine one way or another. In the mean time there is a space for the use of means, and the exercise of care, prudence, and diligence for our own souls, and the souls of others; that they may not fail of the grace of God, but may escape that infinitely dreadful destruction of which they are naturally in danger, and may indeed obtain that infinite privilege of eternal life, that is now offered through the purchase of Jesus Christ. And now in this grand affair, and to this great purpose of an escape from eternal misery, and the obtaining everlasting glory, Christ has committed the precious souls of men to the care of ministers, that by their means they may have the benefit of his redemption, and may obtain that which he has suffered so much to procure. Christ knew that notwithstanding all that he had done to procure life for souls, they would need much care to be taken of them, and many means to be used with them, in order to their being indeed preserved from eternal perdition, and actually brought to the possession of life. And

therefore he has appointed a certain order of men, whose whole business it might be to take care of immortal souls, and into their hands has he committed these souls; and has betrusted them with the ordinances of his house, and the means which he has provided for their salvation, that nothing might be wanting which they need as their furniture for this great business; he has, as it were, committed to them his goods, and has given them, in some respects, the keys of his stores and treasury; to them are committed the oracles of God, and the treasure of the gospel. 2 Cor. iv. 7. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. v. 18, 19. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

And as the word of God, so the sacraments that he has appointed, and the discipline of his house, he has committed to them, to be administered by them, and has subjected the souls themselves, of which they have the care, to them, as far as is necessary to put them under the great advantage effectually to care for their salvation; and has left a charge to their people to obey and submit themselves, as in the words of my text. I now proceed,

III. That the way in which he committed souls to ministers, and expects they should seek that these purposes should be obtained with respect to them, is by watching for them. Though great things

have been done by Christ to make way for the Salvation of those precious souls, and although Christ has furnished ministers with all proper means to keep them, yet they are in such circumstances in this world, that there is need of great watchfulness, and the utmost care and diligence, in those that have the care of them, to prevent their being lost; for they are in the midst of snares, and encompassed round with dangers on every side; they are in the enemies country, where there are multitudes every where that are strong and subtle, and exceeding blood" thirsty and cruel, that are indefatigably, day and night, seeking the destruction of these souls.

If a prince should commit some great treasure, consisting of most precious jewels, to the care of a subject, to keep for him, and carry through an enemy's country, and bring safe to his palace, and knew that the enemies by the way would be sensible that the treasure was committed to him, and therefore would be exceedingly greedy of it, and incessant in their endeavours to get it from him; would not the prince expect that he, with whom he had entrusted this treasure, should use great care in keeping it? Would he be esteemed faithful to his trust in the care of so great a treasure, and in such circumstances, without keeping continual watch?

They that have the care of a city in time of war, and especially when the city is encompassed by enemies that lay seige to it, are wont, if faithful, to maintain incessant vigilance to defend it. The Watchmen of the city, in such a case, had need to watch strictly, for they have the care of

the lives of men. Ministers are, from time to time, represented in scripture, as the Watchmen that have the care of the city of God. Cant. iii. 3. v. 7. Isa. lii. 8. lx. 6. and in other places. These watchmen have not only the care of the lives of men's bodies, but of their souls, which are infinitely more precious. It is expected of them that they should behave themselves as those that both kept and built the city of Jerusalem, in Nehemiah's time, while they were continually observed by malicious and subtle enemies; that diligently sought by all means to circumvent them, and to destroy the city and people, who with one hand wrought in the work, and in the other hand held a weapon; holding spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared, and who had a trumpet always at hand to sound, to give warning of any approaching danger; and who did not put off their clothes, nor lay up their weapons, day nor night. Neh. iv. 16. to the end.

Ministers are appointed to be shepherds over Christ's flock. He commits his flock to their care, to keep and lead them thro' a great and howling wilderness, full of hungry wolves and roaring lions. And is there not need of a strict and constant watch of the shepherds in such a case, as they would preserve the lives of the sheep, and lead them to the land of their rest?

(to be continued.)

THE ATONEMENT. My dear Friend,

In my last letter I hope I satisfactorily proved that the doctrine of our Lord's Divinity was

clearly revealed in the scriptures; that it was impossible to interpret those passages which I quoted (and numerous others to the same purpose might have been quoted had the limits of a letter admitted,) in any other way, without perverting the common acceptation of the language that is employed; that if we judge of the scriptures as we judge of any other book by the plain and obvious meaning of the language used, we must admit that they establish the doctrine in question. That this doctrine has been believed as the scriptural doctrine by the whole religious world, with the exception of a very few, the History of the Church in every age will abundantly shew. Nor can I help thinking that this is a strong presumptive proof at least of its being the truth; not only as shewing what interpretation of scripture is the most obvious, and therefore on our principle the most likely to be the true one, but also because I find it difficult if not impossible to conceive that God would suffer such immense multitudes of sincere Christians, truly and warmly attached to divine revelation, to fall into so great and fatal an error as the doctrine of Christ's Divinity must be allowed to be if it is an error at all. For it cannot be denied by either party that, if Christ be only a man frail and peccable as ourselves, or if he be really a creature, of however exalted a rank, we must be guilty of gross idolatry, and be liable to the awful consequences of idolatry, if we consider and worship him as God.

I cannot help repeating that if this doctrine is revealed in the scriptures we are not at liberty to

reject it because it is beyond our comprehension. There is an obvious difference between a fact and the manner of a fact. If the fact of the union of the divine and human natures in Christ is revealed, is it reasonable to reject the fact because it is not explained, or because the manner of the fact is not revealed? This is to reject what God has revealed, merely because he has not thought fit to reveal more, a conduct equally irrational and impious. Let not any reject this doctrine because it is by them incomprehensible, unless they are, at least, prépared on the same ground to deny the doctrine of Spirits, the resurrection of the Dead, and the Divine existence itself.

In every view the doctrine of our Lord's Divinity is important, but it is especially so in its connection with the doctrine of Atonement; as it is evident from the language of the New Testament, in a variety of instances, that the sacrifice of Christ owes its efficacy as a propitiation for sin, at least in a great degree, to the dignity of his nature considered as the Son of God. It is however my intention in this letter to state what appears to me to be the scriptural representation of the work which Christ accomplished for our salvation, and to shew that he died as a sacrifice for sin.

Before however I proceed to this, I would just observe that the views of such as have believed the doctrine of the Atonement have by many been greatly misrepresented, and that by these misrepresentations many who have not seriously examined the doctrine for themselves, have been greatly prejudiced against it. It has

been said that this doctrine represents the Deity as harsh and vindictive, that it totally obscures the benignity of his nature, and clothes him with attributes the most unamiable and repulsive. It would indeed be sufficient to reply to this, that if this were true, no advocate for the doctrine in question could be found that loved God, as it cannot be in human nature to love a Being who is harsh and vindictive, and possessed of no one amiable attribute. And yet surely it will be conceded that the advocates for the doctrine of Atonement are not more wanting in love to God than they are who reject it, and that great numbers may be found among them remarkable for a devotional spirit, distinguished quite as much for their love to God, as for any other virtue whatever-and that the great motive to this sacred affection is furnished by the doctrine under consideration. This fact cannot by any reasoning be made to consist with the charge brought against the doctrine, that it represents the Deity as harsh, vindictive, and unamiable.

But this insinuation thrown out against this doctrine by those who reject it, deserves to be more directly met and considered. Does the doctrine of atonement represent God as harsh and vindictive, as swift to punish, and as slow to forgive? We think it gives an entirely different view of the divine character, and that no view of the Gospel entertained by those who reject the atonement affords so bright a display of the benevolence of God, as well as his other perfections. Let it be remembered then that it is a misrepresentation