pointed him to his beloved Son, faying, Go, kifs the Son; bleffed are all they that put their trust in him. Pfalm ii. 12. And to his own Son he faid, It is my will that not one of these [poor] little ones Should perish, Matt. xviii. 14, but that thou raise them up at the last day. John vi. 39. Thus poor Prodigalis, the self-condemned finner, was justified; and he that was far off by wicked works, was made nigh by the blood of Chrift. And the enemy was reconciled to God by the death of his dear Son.

Abimaaz. You have given me a fweet account of the arraignment and juftification of that poor finner; of his glorious deliverance; and of the rebuke that Satan met with. But Deftruction, the executioner, that ftood at his left hand, you fay nothing about; pray what became of him? for of all the enemies that poor fallen mortals are expofed to, he is none of the leaft; indeed he is one of the moft formidable; for if he receives a commiffion to execute his office on the felf-condemned criminal, he is gone for ever; he has no more part in any good thing that is done under the fun. The fatal die is caft, and the departed foul is expofed to every fhaft that flies beyond the tomb. Bleffed is that man that is delivered from the arrow that flieth by day; he jhall not be afraid of the terrors of [endlefs] night, being cleanfed from the spiritual peftilence that walketh in darkness; he is alfo delivered from the deftruction that wafteth at [the] noon [of gofpel] day. Pfalm xci. 5, 6.

Cubi. Why, the Mediator faid to Destruction, I came to deliver them who through the fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage, Heb. ii. 15; and as foon as he had faid this, Prodigalis was not in the least afraid of him, but rather wifhed him to do his office, being perfuaded that all things were bis, whether life or death. 1 Cor. iii. 22. For as the fting of death was gone out of his conscience, he was not afraid of a phantom; for death is no more without his fting than a ferpent is without his tooth. It is guilt that makes death formidable; without this he is a mere fhadow without a fubftance. Pfalm xxiii. 4. Indeed poor Prodigalis triumphed over him, faying, O death, where is thy fting! O grave, where is thy victory! The fting of death is fin, and the strength of fin is the law; but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jefus Chrift. 1 Cor. xv. 55, 56. This is no more than the fulfilment of a glorious promise made by the dear Redeemer. I will ranfom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be thy plague ! O grave, I will be thy deftruction! repentance shall be bid from mine eyes. Hofea xiii. 14.

Abimaaz. I am wonderfully inftructed; my very bowels yearn over the Father of all mercies, and the God of all comfort, for difcoveting fuch bowels of mercy to poor returning finners, who have wantonly abused his name, and ignorantly rebelled against the only friend they have in heaven or earth. Besides,

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my brother, we know God is felf-complete,-happy, and eternally happy in his own perfections. Our praises or our prefence in heaven can never add to divine felicity; nor can all the horrors of the damned difcompofe the Moft High, difquiet his happiness, or in the least diminish his pleasure.

This being the real cafe, God's endearing characters, and unexpected condefcenfion, when difplayed, is the most affecting scene that can be exhibited upon a human spirit.

Cushi. True, my brother; and if poor fouls who are brought to hope in the Saviour, did but confider the Almighty in those relative ties, and covenant characters, that (as a reconciled God and Father) he ftands in to them, there would not be that fervile difpofition, that slavish fear that is in too many of them; nor that mercenary fervice that is performed by them, which is not at all to the honour of their benign Parent, nor to the honour or happiness of themfelves; who are called a free and royal household; and their dignity, their liberty, their maintenance, their crown royal, and their enjoyment of it, is eternally fecured, and that by their own Father; whose wisdom none can baffle, whose schemes none can fruftrate, whose promise can never fail, and whofe power cannot be resisted.

Abimaaz. Very true; but the Almighty does not give to all his children fo confpicuous a deliverance as he did to Prodigalis: nor do I believe that all are justified in such a manner. I believe myself

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myfelf to be juftified by faith in the Saviour; but I was not tried like him, nor delivered with all that explicit form that you have described.

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Cui. But you was; and I will be bold to fay, that if you was to go to the weakest babe in faith, and afk him, If he was not awed by the fear of death before hope fprung up in his breast; he would tell you, Yes. Afk him, If evil thoughts were not fuggested to his mind; and he would tell you, They were: here is Satan the accufer, and Death the executioner. Afk him, further, If the corruptions Ask of his heart and his evil tempers were not difcovered, and firred up more than ufual;-here is the of God Whatsoever maketh manifeft is light. Eph. -v. 13. Ask him, If the law of God, when he read it, and his own confcience, when he examined it, did not accufe him: if fo, there is the clerk of the peace, the clerk of the crown, and Mofes the accufer. And I will be bold to affirm that he never got rid of one of thefe, accufers nor accufations but by faith in the name of Jefus. These are the fenfible effects of the trial, though they may not be able, for the want of light and judgment, to defcribe it.

Abimaaz... Indeed, my friend, I can go step by ftep with your account of the fenfations of Prodigalis; but to fave my life I could not defcribe my arraignment nor juftification in the manner that you have.

Cufbil I know that the poor finner is taken to tafk for all his tranfgreflions; they occur to his

mind, one after another, as he is able to ftand the indictments: nor are the thoughts of his heart neglected in the divine procefs; but when God maketh inquifition for blood, be remembereth them, be forgetteth not the cry of the bumble. Palm ix. 12.

And if any thing be not brought forth at the first arraignment, the poor finner, when he has tranfgreffed, goes to the bar again, and is rejudged and chaftened of the Lord, that he may not be condemned with the world. 1 Cor. xi. 32. How often is a real believer cited to the bar, or obliged to cite himself, for an evil thought, or an hafty expreffion, because his quickened foul is fufceptible of remorte; when the impenitent finner fhall hardly feel a check for all his abominable crimes, because he is dead: however, the former has an advocate, but the latter knows of none.

Abimaaz. I find that I agree with you in the feeling fenfe of the power, though I have not light enough to fee eye to eye; but the kingdom of God is not in word but in power. I am forry that I fo often break in upon your converfation, and efpecially in a contradictory way; but your candour will excufe my intrusion. I am obliged, when. I have raised all my objection, to go with the force of your arguments; for when you back your affertions with the word of God, both my confcience and experience carries me into your channel. I would wish to hear how the poor foul found himfelf after his juftification by faith, and reconciliation