VII.

of men by a flood (except one upright man, whose name was DIA L. NOAH', together with his little family) as I hinted to you before.

By this good man and his family, the whole earth was again filled with people, as it is this day. And while his good instructions, and the memory of that dreadful judgment lasted, men lived in the fear of God; but too soon fell into wickedness again: and most of these, losing the knowledge of the true God, fell into idolatry, a sin which God principally abhors, tas most dishonourable to His nature, authority, and glory, and as leading men into all other wickedness2.

Ind. 'Pray what is that sin of idolatry, which God so hateth?'

Miss. It is the giving that honour and worship which is only due to the true God, to His creatures, to the sun and moon, and to evil spirits, and to the images representing these.

1 Gen. vii.

2 Rom.i.28.

17.

Notwithstanding this, God never left Himself without witness3, but gave continual proofs of His hatred against 3 Acts xiv. wickedness, and of His favour and protection of good men, in all ages, and amongst all nations, even unto this day. And thus it is, that calamities of all kinds are brought upon the earth; that one nation makes war upon another; these being only instruments in the hands of God, and by His wise and just appointment, for the punishment of their sins.

Ind. 'Pray, had any of these nations ever afterwards an opportunity of coming to the knowledge of the true God, and of the worship due to Him?'

4

Miss. Yes, indeed they had. For the Holy Scriptures inform us, that God made choice of a certain person, whose name was ABRAHAM*, and called him and his family from 1 Gen. xiii. the midst of a nation given to idolatry; that to this man He made Himself and His glorious perfections known; and for his encouragement to persevere in his duty, He promised, That out of his loins in due time the DELIVERER of the world from sin and death should proceed, and that in the mean while He would make his descendants a great and numerous people. All which was made good in a most wonderful manner. His posterity increased exceedingly; and wherever they travelled, t 66 as most glory, and" om.

PART they communicated the knowledge of the true God, and told I. men how He ought to be feared and worshipped; so that

many nations might have known these things, had it not been their own fault; for God caused them often to wander, that they might make Him known amongst men, and cure them of their wickedness and idolatry.

It was in the time of that good man, that God shewed His hatred of wickedness, and His displeasure against great and bold sinners, after a manner the most frightful and astonishing. There were several considerable cities, the chief of which were SODOм and GOMORRAH, the inhabitants of which, through pride, fulness of bread, and much idleness, fell into all manner of wickedness; which provoked God to make them an example of His displeasure against such sins: for 1 Gen. xix. He rained down fire and brimstone upon them', and utterly destroyed both them, their towns, and their whole land, the dreadful marks of which are to be seen at this day. At the same time, God, to shew His care for those that feared Him, sent His angels, and delivered one good man, "whose name 2 Gen. xix. was Lot, and his family, out of that fearful destruction'.

24.

After this the children of ABRAHAM, to whom the promise was made, multiplied exceedingly; to whose posterity God gave very particular laws and directions, how they might live 3 Exod. xx. so as to please their Maker, and not hurt one another3; and wrought most wonderful things before their eyes, when He delivered them out of a most cruel bondage; to convince them, and all other nations, that should hear of these things, that the idols and evil spirits, which they worshipped, were no gods, and that there was no God, but the God of this people. Ind. Pray what were the laws and directions that God gave this people and nation ?'

Miss. The chief of them were these that follow: that they should neither have nor worship any other God but Him who had done such wonders for them: that they should not make any visible image or representation of Him that they should not profane His holy name: that they should keep holy one day in seven, to preserve the remembrance of Him and His works: that they should love and honour their 4 Exod. xx. parents: that they should love one another, as being all "whose... Lot," om.

12.

u

VII.

the creatures of a good God; and neither hate nor murder DIAL. any one; that they should not commit adultery, or be guilty of any lewdness: that they should not steal, or lie, or bear false witness, or covet, or set their hearts upon what was another man's. And, remember what I tell you, the substance of these laws was given soon after the flood to NOAH and his family, from whom the present race of mankind is derived, though the greatest part of their posterity soon forgot them. Soon after God had given His peculiar people these laws, He settled them after a most wonderful manner, and in a fruitful land, which He had long before promised to ABRAHAM their great forefather, and blessed them exceedingly while they observed His laws. But even these people, through the corruption of nature, often transgressed His commands, and were as often punished, and upon their repentance pardoned; till, at last, they growing incurably wicked, He permitted their enemies to destroy most of them, their cities, their land, and their place of worship; and they are at this day dispersed over the face of the earth, without any sure settlement.

Now a few years before this happened, the time was come, when the GREAT GOD was pleased to send into the world 'that PERSON or PROPHET, whom He had promised to our first parents, and who had engaged to make satisfaction to the Divine justice for their great offence.' But a particular account of this PERSON and BLESSING will take up more time than I believe you now have to spare: I shall, therefore, defer it till you come next to me. In the meantime pray earnestly to God, that He may not suffer your heart to be hardened, but that you may ever believe His promises, and stand in awe of His judgments.

X

THE PRAYER.

I BELIEVE Lord increase my faith, and give me grace, that with a holy life I may adorn the religion I profess. Keep me stedfast in this faith, that no errors may separate me from Thee: but that Thy love, O merciful God, Thy grace, O blessed Jesus, Thy fellowship, O Holy Ghost, may

"now" om.

I.

PART defend and comfort me in all dangers and adversities, until I attain the end of my faith, even the salvation of my soul. Amen.

DIALOGUE VIII.

JESUS CHRIST, the MEDIATOR and SAVIOUR of the World, and the Head of all Christians.

Ind. 'You shewed me, Sir, when I waited on you last, how man came to fall from that upright and happy condition in which he was created; and how he, and all his posterity, became subject to sin, to misery, and to death: as also how their Maker spared the lives of our first parents, although they had deserved immediate death, on account of One who had engaged to satisfy the Divine justice for their transgression, and for the offences of all their posterity, upon the most merciful conditions. And I left you with a mosty earnest desire of knowing more of that SACRED PERSON, who was to come into the world for that end; and as you intimated to me, did come about that time, when God had, for their sins, cast off that people, whom He had so long and so remarkably favoured and protected above the other nations of the world.'

Miss. I told you before, that "this Divine Person, knowing into what a miserable condition the two first parents of mankind had brought themselves and their posterity, by their disobedience to their Maker; how dreadfully sad their punishment would be, and of what an invaluable happiness they would be deprived; He, by God's most gracious appointment, undertook to satisfy the Divine justice, by submitting to such sufferings as God was pleased to accept by of atonement for the sins of men.

way

Ind. 'Pray, Sir, how did Jesus Christ do this?'

Miss. As I told you before, He, out of love to His otherwise lost creatures, took the perfect nature of a man, both body and soul, into union with His Divine Nature, and was born of a pure Virgin, that He might be seen and converse

y more, Crutwell.

that Person

⚫ those two unhappy persons

the body of a man from a pure Virgin

with men, and in their nature be capable of suffering for DIAL. the sins of men.

с

Now, in that body here upon earth, in the first place He let mankind know God's wonderful goodness, and His readiness to forgive offenders, even the greatest offenders, upon their repentance, belief in Him and His undertaking, and return to their duty; as also, how they ought to live so as to please God, and be an honour to their Maker. And by His most wise and holy life, and doctrine, and example, He shewed what an excellent creature man was, before he lost his innocence, and fell into a state of sin and corruption; as also how hateful to God sin must be, since so divine a Person, which you will see hereafter was the Son of the MOST HIGH GOD, was obliged to come down from heaven, to satisfy God's justice, and to save men from the punishment it deserved. For His Divine Nature, though it could not suffer, yet being thus personally united to His humanity, gave such a virtue and value to the sacrifice, as rendered it a proper and sufficient atonement to the Divine justice for our sins.

After He had in His public ministry fully declared the design of His coming, and performed such miraculous things as were sufficient to convince all well-disposed people, that He was the Son of God, and sent by Him to declare His Father's will to men; after this, that, as Son of God, He might make full satisfaction to the Divine justice, since no less a sacrifice could do it, He willingly laid down His own life for His otherwise undone creatures.

Ind. 'I begin now to understand what before I was amazed at, why God would suffer His own Son to be put to death by wicked men; and why His Son would choose to be so dealt with, when He could have hindered it: I suppose it was because He had undertaken the cause of sinners, and suffered death to make an atonement for them, and to satisfy the justice of His offended Father, who therefore permitteds Him to be put to death.'

Miss. You understand it right. And the GREAT GOD, to convince the world that His justice was satisfied by this

"here upon earth," om. "belief... undertaking," om. • This sentence om.

had done this, enough to convince 8 suffered

VIII.