not, shall be damned."

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Repent and be converted,

that your sins may be blotted out," &c. And many other

places. Thus, God will have witness borne :-to have this witness borne, there must be probation; and in order to this probation, the connexion of "the life and the death, the good and the evil," must be stated conditionally, and thus the free choice of the one or the other will determine the character.*

The Divine wisdom and advantages of the probationary government above insisted on, will appear from the following considerations:

1. Admitting of all sorts of means and motives to induce to obedience, on the failure of them it makes man to know what was in his heart, and so tends to humble him, and prepare him for something better. We no longer wonder that the Scriptures should exhort men to reading, hearing, praying, &c., as means of religion,—or that it employs promises and threatenings, exhortations and expostulations, as motives to religion; for they are not only suited to our rational nature, but to our accountable condition; and they serve to prove man's temper or disposition towards God. And, since God has afforded such an abundance of means, and urged such a variety of motives for obedience,

* The necessary connexion of things occasions that the promises &c., belonging to God's spiritual Israel under the dispensation of special grace, hereafter to be considered, are given in a conditional form such as "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love"-" If ye continue in the faith," &c.-" If ye [believers at Rome] live after the flesh, ye shall die." But then grace is given to fulfil such condition. Not belonging, however, to the probationary government here treated of, such promises are not inserted here.

both to the "law of works" and to the "law of faith," as well under the Jewish as Christian dispensation; and in both cases they have proved ineffectual, when man has been left in the hand of his own counsel; we see a character of infamy stamped upon man that has a tendency to humble us as in the dust. This, in fact, seems to have been Jehovah's design in regard to Israel, even to "humble them and to prove them, and to do them good in their latter end." And, indeed, when we consider that, knowing in himself that he had used such an abundance of means and motives, he could turn round upon them and appeal to all beholders, and say, "Judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard, what could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it ?" they must needs be humbled, and ashamed that, instead of" bringing forth good grapes, they had brought forth wild grapes!" Thus this system, admitting so of means and motives, and proving so fully man's evil temper towards his Creator and King, tends to humble; which, all that are taught of God know to be wisdom,-know to be an advantage in the case of man.

2. The design of God to bear testimony to himself by the probation of man, supposed in this probationary system of government, accounts for the universal aspect of the gospel revelation. Whether men hear or forbear, the gospel of the kingdom was to be preached in all the world, and to every creature, and that for a testimony (eis papтúpiov.) And being so uniμαρτύριον.) versally preached, it would prove man, and it would be a testimony for God.

3. This probationary manner accounts for the ad

dresses made to the human will and to human agency in Scripture. It accounts for the exhortations, for the promises and threatenings, for the expostulations and entreaties, that so much abound therein, and for all the other moral motives that are presented to the mind there. Thus considered, there appears to be wisdom and propriety in such addresses, although God foreknew that they would not be successful. They would prove what was in man, and though they would be a witness against him as to the perverseness of his temper and disposition, yet they would be a witness for God that he had not been wanting, not only as an equitable but as a benevolent Governor, on his part.

4. And finally, it would prepare for the superadded dispensation of sovereign grace, yet to be exercised, as we shall see in the Second Part of this work.

Having now completed those preliminary dissertations that bear upon the system, as tending to explain and confirm its several parts, we now proceed to the consideration of the system itself.

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PART I.

ON THE EQUITABLE AND BENEFICENT, BUT PROBATIONARY GOVERNMENT OF GOD; OR, A VIEW OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT OF MAN, AS DESIGNED FOR A TESTIMONY BETWEEN GOD AND MAN, AND THEREFORE NECESSARILY PROBATIONARY AND CONDITIONAL IN ITS ADMI

NISTRATION.

[It is earnestly requested that the foregoing Dissertations be read, prior to the consideration of the scheme proposed in the following pages, since they not only throw a light upon the subject, but it cannot be rightly understood without them.]

IT

It may throw light on the subject to state, first, the BASIS and BEARINGS of such a view of the Divine government.

BASIS.

It rests upon three propositions.

1. That it was fit and proper that the great Jehovah, since of Him and through Him are all things, should "make all things for himself," for his own glory.

2. That it is but equity, doing justice to himself, giving himself the glory due unto his name, that he should manifest to his intelligent creation, angels and men, the following things, viz.: the infinite disparity that subsists between Him and the creature-the creature's absolute dependence upon the Creator for his being and well-being that, while the former is necessarily mutable and corruptible, the latter alone is necessarily immutable, He being "the incorruptible God"-and that there is "but one good, that is, God."

3. That this TESTIMONY would not have been borne to Himself without suffering His creatures, though under all possible advantages, to show themselves; which could be done in no other way than by a system of PROBATION; which also necessarily required that the creature should be dealt with conditionally, and be left" in the hand of his own counsel."

These three considerations being admitted, it is deduced-

That the government of God over man, whether without or with a written revelation, whether by a "law of works" or a "law of faith," was designed for a TESTIMONY; that, in order that it might be for a testimony, it was made probationary; and that it might be probationary, it was conditional.

EXPLANATION.

1. When we say--that God designed his government of man for a testimony, we mean, that, whether man regard or disregard, "hear or forbear," God intended to bear witness to himself of the equity and benevolence of that government; so that at least he might have his due, "the glory due to his name;" as when it is said, in reference to Israel's unbelief and unfaithfulness, "Let God be true, but every man a liar ;" and with regard to their unrighteousness, "That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and condemn when thou art judged." As also when he appeals thus, "What could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done in it ?" as if he had said, "What could have been done in a way of means and motives suited to a probationary system, and designed to bear

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