nister and a witness, both of those things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee. To the Gentiles I send thee; to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me," Acts xxvi. 16

-18. So God began at the first appearing of Christ: "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; and those that sat in the regions of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." And perhaps this is one reason why Christ is called the day-spring from on high that visits us.

But Mr. Britton says life, and not light, comes first to the sinner. It was not so at the conversion of Isaiah; light came first to him; he saw before he felt. "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Wo is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean

ps; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts," Isa. vi. 1-5. All these things Isaiah saw first; the live coal, or coal of life, came afterwards. And so Paul; he first saw that Just One, and then heard the voice of his mouth, Acts xxii. 14. The light shone round about him; this collected his thoughts, and raised his attention; and afterwards he heard the voice of the Son of God; "And they that hear shall live," John v. 25.

But you avow that what I have said of Adam has established Mr. Fuller's doctrine; for you say, 'If Adam was a spiritual man, then it is the duty of all Adam's posterity to believe; if Adam had faith before he fell, then all his children ought to believe afterwards.' I shall not labour to dis

prove the wisdom, nor the justice, that appear in this inference. But I have at times thought that there were scarcely any rational creatures without a faith of some sort or other.

Milton says there

was faith in angels, and in Adam too

I made him just and right;

Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.

Such I created all th' ethereal powers

And spirits, both them who stood and them who failed.

Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.

Not free, what proof could they have giv'n sincere

Of true allegiance, constant faith, or love,

Where only what they needs must do appear'd,

Not what they would?

And he represents one believing angel reproving all

the unbelieving ones that fell:

So spake the seraph Abdiel, faithful found
Among the faithless, faithful only he;

Among innumerable false unmov'd,
Unshaken, unseduc'd, unterrified,

His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal;

Nor number nor example, with him wrought

To swerve from truth, or change hisconstant mind,
Though single.

Nor can I believe that God created Adam an infidel. God is faithful, and there must be something like faith in his image.

The worst creatures in all the world are devils; and James says that they believe and tremble, James ii. 19. Next to devils in sin are hypocrites; and these have some sort of faith; for surely they would never cry out, "Who shall dwell with devouring fire? Who shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" if they believed there were no such things. And even the worst of heretics have a faith; for, Paul says, God sends them strong delusions that they may believe a lie, 2 Thess. ii. 11. And though I never mentioned a word in my life, to my knowledge, about Adam's having faith, yet I have no doubt but he had, because the Spirit of all grace was in him. He must believe that there was a God, because he had communion with him; and I think he believed the word of God. And what would be the effects of his transgression before he ate the fruit? for Paul says, "Adam was not deceived;" therefore he did it not ignorantly and in unbelief, but went voluntarily into it, with open eyes, against both faith and conscience. So did not Eve; the serpent beguiled her; she fell in

unbelief, disbelieving the positive denunciation of God, and giving credence to Satan's lie: "Ye shall not surely die.". Eve's heart was the first womb that conceived seed by the devil: and by this act Satan obtained the title of the Father of lies, and of a murderer from the beginning. Annanias and his wife both died in child-bearing by the same father. Why have ye conceived this thing in your heart? Why hath Satan filled your heart?" They lusted or coveted after Mammon, and this brought them to a conjunction with Satan ; then Sin was conceived, Satan filled their hearts; and, when lust had conceived, it brought forth sin; they lied, not unto men, but unto God: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death; they were both struck dead upon the spot.

I shall take no notice of Robert Skilleter's poetry; that has its answer in itself. The author with respect to faith, is as lame as his performance for neither the poet nor the poem have a foot to stand upon. Even in an empty profession he is but a novice, and in nature nothing but an idiot.

Nov. 1801.

W. H. S. S.

END OF THE NINETEENTH VOLUME.

T. Bensley, Printer.

Bolt Court, Fleet Street. London.