Despair, which is a capital part of the sufferings of the damned, is no part of the law's demand; it demands perfect obedience, not despair; despair springs from the dreadful arrest of vindictive justice, when the sentence of the law begins to be executed for disobedience; and although the elect, when the commandment comes with its utmost demands, may well despair of paying the sum, yet the surety who is able to answer the demands of an infinite creditor in behalf of his own brethren, so dearly beloved by him, has no ground of despair. He that is able to save to the uttermost, being equal with God, has no ground to despair of ability to answer the demands of an equal, when himself has equal property. An omnipotent surety, equal to the creditor in deity, perfection, and personal property, can never despair; so far from that, the Saviour had a joy set before him, for which he endured the cross and despised the shame.

The Saviour needed not feel the stings of a guilty conscience that I know of; it was impossible that any bitter reflection could recoil with guilt on the mind of him that never sinned. The debt exacted of us is perfect obedience to the law; in case of failure the curse is incurred, the sword of justice awakened, the wrath of God revealed, sins detained, and a final separation from God threatened. The surety gave to the law a perfect obedience, he was made a curse for the sword of justice was awakened against him,

us,

our sins were borne in his own body on the tree, and God departed from him; "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" He was made sin for us, who knew no sin; he was numbered with the transgressors, though he never transgressed; he made his grave with the wicked, though he had done no violence; and with the rich in his death, being buried in the sepulchre of a rich man, and being heir of all things when he had overcome the world and redeemed the people; as he declares at his resurrection, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." But our author goes on.

The sufferings of Christ were something by way of satisfaction, rather than a payment of 'the proper debt; for otherwise the pardon of 'sin would be superseded.' Take notice of this paragraph; the sufferings of Christ were something by way of satisfaction, not a proper payment of the debt; it was a compound, not a proper payment; a compromise between the creditor and the surety; the creditor gave, and the surety took a little, which argues unfaithfulness in the lawgiver, and inability in the law-fulfiller; God did not exact the law's demand, nor did the Saviour pay the proper sum; the just creditor compounded, and the surety paid a part; so that God may demand payment of the redeemed should they get into the business of free-thinking; and the surety may lose his ransomed flock if the creditor should make a second demand on the debtors; and all this, lest the death of Christ should be superseded; lest the death of

Christ should be made void, set aside, or made of no force, by superior authority.

Who could have thought that an imperfect satisfaction, short of proper payment, could set aside the demands of a creditor, or secure the debtor from a second arrest? If without an imperfect satisfaction, short of payment, a creditor cannot be satisfied, and without which imperfect satisfaction, a surety's discharge may be made void, set aside, or superseded, then it follows that God must be unfaithful to his law, Justice must warp from his infinite and immutable demands, Truth must yield to a dissembled compoundage, and the surety who came to do the will of a just God, as revealed in the law and the prophets, only compromises the debt; heaven and earth must stand for ever, and many jots and tittles of the law must fail of their demands, and go unfulfilled, before the poor imprisoned debtor can be finally discharged with honour; for without the above-mentioned yielding terms the death of Christ may be superseded, set aside, or made void by superior power.

I will suppose that Mr. Skinner when he comes to London calls upon me and offers to lend me fifteen guineas; I take it without a word to the contrary; he informs me that in three months he shall call upon me again and insist upon his own without fail; I understand him, and, in the language of his own doctrine, tell him that he does not demand impossibilities, I can pay him. At the end of three months he calls, and as a just man

demands his own without fail. I tell him I cannot pay it; he orders me to get a surety to stand in the gap; I reply, I have not a friend on earth that can or that will do it; he sticks to his demand, sends me to the sponging house, and threatens me with a gaol; after this Mr. Skinner, according to his love to all mankind, pities me among the rest, and sets his free thoughts to work on my behalf, and provides me a surety among his own friends, who undertakes to pay my debt and procure my enlargement, which Mr. Skinner approves of. On the day of accounts the surety pays fifteen green peas instead of fifteen guineas, and insists upon my enlargement according to agreement; Mr. Skinner storms, and insists upon the cash; I William Huntington fly to Mr. Skinner's code of laws, called the Statutes of Free Thoughts, published in the reign of George the Third, entitled Some acts for the ease of sureties and release of debtors; according to which something by way of satisfaction is to be given; and so the peas are given, by way of satisfaction, fifteen for fifteen; that is, fifteen green peas instead of fifteen guineas; for should it be otherwise, my final release could not be procured; something must be given by way of satisfaction, not a payment of the proper debt, lest the surety's undertaking for me should be superseded, made void, or set aside, by superior authority, and I be apprehended again and imprisoned for life.

Here is a doctrine! These free thoughts or sen

timents are made public to detect and confute error; these are to level and destroy systems established by men. Poor deluded man! If ever Mr. Skinner or any soul living enters the kingdom of God by such a doctrine as this, God's faithfulness and truth must fail for evermore.

When God created Adam he impressed his soul with his own image, which was accompanied with a demand of perfect obedience; and in case of failure in the latter, the former was forfeited, being rather lent than given. Man sinned, the image left him, and he died. God holds his power still to command, though man cannot obey; he insists upon receiving his own with usury whenever he comes; he will demand his own image on the soul, and a perfect obedience to his law. Hence he commands the free-thinker to make him a new heart and a new spirit, such as that in which God's image consisted, and to do that which is lawful and right, which is obedience to the law, which our author says, every man may do if he will; and if God cannot be unjust in demanding it, he that becomes surety for the elect must obey the law perfectly, satisfy justice fully, clear truth honourably, and discharge the debtor eternally, to the infinite satisfaction both of law and justice, and present the debtor before God created anew and renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him at first, Col. iii. 10; which is the new man, that after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. In this image, and in a