warded which have such an appearance, even though it be nothing but appearance. God does not always avail himself of his omniscience, if I may so speak; but proceeds upon the supposition that men are what they profess and appear to be. The end of Jehovah in punishing the person and the house of Ahab was to make manifest his displeasure against their idolatries: But if, when Ahab humbled himself, and rent his garments, God had proceeded towards him on the ground of his omniscience; and knowing him to be destitute of sincerity, had made no difference in his treatment of him, that end would not have been answered. For whatever might be Ahab's motives, they were unknown to men: and, if no difference had appeared in the divine treatment, they would have concluded that it was vain to serve God. It seemed good therefore to him, in the present life, to treat Ahab upon the supposition of his being sincere and as to his insincerity, he will call him to account for that another day. : There is a case much resembling this of Ahab, in the history of Abijah, the son of Rehoboam. In 2 Chron. xiii. we read of his wars with Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, king of Israel, and how he addressed the apostate Israelites previous to the battle. Having reproached them with forsaking the God of their fathers, and turning to idolatry, he adds: But as for us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken him : and the priests which minister unto Jehovah are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business; and they bring unto Jehovah every morning and every evening, burnt sacrifices and sweet incense, the shew-bread also, set they in order upon the pure table, and the candlestick of gold, with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of Jeho vah our God; but ye have forsaken him. And behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. ye children of Israel, fight ye not against Jehovah, God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper! To all appearance this prince was zealous for Jehovah, God of Israel; and one might suppose that the signal victory given him over Jeroboam, was an expression of divine approbation: but if we turn to the account given of the same reign, in 1 Kings xv. we shall find that this Abijah, (or Abijam, as he is there called,) was a wicked prince; that notwithstanding his boasting language when addressing Israel, he walked in all the sins of his father; and that although God gave him a signal victory over the idolatrous Israelites, yet it was not for his sake, or out of regard to any thing he did; but for David's sake, and for the establishment of Jerusalem. His attachment to Jehoval was nothing better than pharisaical formality; and his boastings of the state of things in Judah were no better than the swellings of spiritual pride: but God proceeded with him, not according to his principles, but according to his professions. His hypocrisy was known to God; and he will appear to take cognizance of it in the day when he shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. Much the same things might be observed concerning the Ninevites. There might be many true penitents amongst them, for aught we know; but whether holy love or slavish fear was their motive, they professed and appeared to be humbled, and discovered all the apparent fruits of repentance; and as such it was manifestly an instance of divine wisdom, as tending to do honour to his own government in the eyes of surrounding nations, to proceed with them upon the supposition of their repentance being sincere. The confessions and humiliations of Pharaoh likewise were repeatedly followed by the removal of those judgments which appalled his proud spirit, and so occasioned them; yet few will attribute goodness to Pharaoh. Not only the Divine Being, but Moses himself, saw his insincerity, and bid him glory over him. God, however, would remove the judgment when he made confession, let his motives be what they might; and even though he might laugh to himself for having imposed upon Moses so far as to gain his point 1 The young man who came to Christ, appears to have been a conceited pharisee, who loved the present world, and not God; and is represented by our Lord as being as far from entering into the kingdom of heaven, as a camel was from passing through the eye of a needle †. The only difficulty arises from its being said, that the Lord beheld him and loved him; which may seem to imply at least a partial approbation of his character. But to this it may be answered: Our Lord was at this time acting in the character of a preacher, or an instructor of men. His feelings towards the young man in question, were much the same as ours would have been, had we been possessed of true benevolence, and in the same circumstances. Let the best man that ever existed, be addressed in this manner; let him behold a poor, self-deceived youth, flattered by all around him for his seeming virtue, and flattering himself with the hopes of heaven, while in reality he is a slave to the present world; and let him, if he can, forbear to feel towards him like our Lord. He would tell him the truth, though it should send him away sad and grieved; but his *Exod. viii. 8-10. Matt. xix. 16-24. F heart would at the same time melt in compassion to his poor deluded soul. But this would imply no more of an approbation of his spirit or conduct than was included in our Lord's looking upon Jerusalem and weeping over it. As to the scribe, who answered our Lord discreetly, and was assured, that he was not far from the kingdom of God; read the passage*, and you will perceive that it was not in relation to his spirit, or cònduct that our Lord spake, for not a word is recorded of either; but merely of his confession of faith: That the love of God and man was of more account than whole burnt offerings or sacrifices. This doctrine was so true, and contained so much of the spirit of the gospel-dispensation, that our Lord very properly assured this discreet inquirer, that he was not far from the kingdom of God; that is, that the principles which he had avowed, if truly imbibed, and properly pursued, would lead him into the very heart of Christianity. The remainder of your objections I must take another opportunity to answer; and at present, sub.scribe myself, Your affectionate friend, LETTER THE THIRD. On the Total Depravity of Human Nature. 1040 [In reply to the Objections of CRISPUS.] My dear Friend, K, Feb. 9, 1795. I TAKE up my pen to answer some other of your objections, as stated in yours of July 3, 1794. You * Mark xii. 28-34. not only reason from the case of Ahab, the Ninevites, &c.; but secondly, from the common sense of mankind, which attributes amiable qualities to persons whom nevertheless, on other accounts, we are obliged to consider as destitute of true religion. But let me intreat you to consider whether the common sense of one man can take cognizance of the motives which govern the actions of another; and whether therefore it can be any competent judge of the acceptableness of his actions in the sight of God, who sees things as they are? All the morality in the world consists in the love of God and our neighbour. There is not a virtue, nor a virtuous action in being, but what is an expression of love; yet, as there are numberless actions which bear a likeness to those which arise from love, and as it is beyond the province of man to take cognizance of the heart, it is common for us to call those actions amiable which appear to be so, and which are beneficial to human society.-It is fit we should do so; otherwise we invade the province of the Supreme Being, who alone is able so to judge of actions as perfectly to ascertain their motives. He is the God of knowledge, by whom actions are weighed. It is right, no doubt, that children should be duti ful to their parents, parents affectionate to their children, and that every relation of life should be filled up with fidelity and honour. But these duties require to be discharged in the love of God, not without it: nor is there any duty performed, strictly speaking, where the love of God is wanting. Read those parts of Paul's epistles, where he exhorts to relative duties, and you will find that he admonishes children to obey their parents in the Lord; parents to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; servants to obey their masters in singleness of heart, as |