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hold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying," Isaiah lxv. 18, 19. Now, as the voice of weeping and crying is never to be heard in the heavenly Jerusalem above, these dying prayers and hopeful cries of Onesimus must come from some other quarter; but from what quarter he knows not. What he understands of that text he got from popish authors, who pervert it, as he does, and make it a pillar to support purgatory.

When Zechariah was stoned to death, in the court of the Lord's house, for prophesying against the king and people of the Jews, his last words were, "Let the Lord look upon it, and require it," 2 Chron. xxiv. 22. This prayer lay at the foot of the altar unanswered for many years: but it was not forgotten by the Lord God of recompenses; for he told the Jews that all the righteous blood shed, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias, should be required of that generation; and in the destruction of Jerusalem that prayer was answered; and in the same sense we are to understand the text which our seer has perverted: for these dying prayers and hopeful cries were not offered up in heaven, nor yet in purgatory, but upon earth, and that in suffering and dying circumstances. "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the

testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge, and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given to every one of them," Rev. vi. 9-11. These put up their dying cries and prayers in faith and hope, and are ordered to rest until their companions were slain, as they were; and, when the wicked had filled up their measure, and the church had emptied her bitter cup, then their enemies should be judged, and their blood avenged. Zechariah, in his cry, waited till Christ and many of his disciples were slain by the Jews, and until they had filled up the measure of their fathers; then he obtained judgment in answer to his cry: and so these are represented as still crying, because their prayers as yet are not fully answered. Just as Moses, by giving the law and writing of Christ, is called, one that accuseth, in the present tense, and he does accuse all who reject his testimony for Christ; because it is left upon record by him. And so the blood of Abel cries, of whom it is said, "He being dead, yet speaketh." Our great prophet should have looked to the end of these crying souls; they are bid to rest, and white robes are given to every one of them. They finished their warfare, and left their cries with a just God, and then entered into rest; and though condemned and slain, as sinners and heretics, yet they were justified by God, and found, as Paul wished to be, namely, in Christ,

and in his righteousness, which is their wedding garment. Onesimus should learn to distinguish between peace in heaven, and war on earth; between dying cries, and heavenly joys; between the songs of paradise, and the groans of purgatory; between wedding robes, and mourning weeds. And let him not forget, that these white robes are called the garments of praise, Isai. lxi. 3. and not a girding of sackcloth, Isai. iii. 24. These are all the scriptures he has quoted to support his ethereal visions; all the rest of this letter are bold, daring, arrogant, and insolent assertions, uttered in pride and banter, by way of a challenge; ascribing faith and hope to angels and glorified saints, without the least shadow of proof; all of which I shall consider and refute, for I defy him to build half so fast as I can throw down.

1. If faith and hope are to abide with the saints in glory, I wish to know what their exercise is to be, or what they are to be employed about? God does nothing in vain: if faith and hope abide with us in heaven, no doubt but they are for some use, and to be exercised in some labour, for faith and hope are never idle; hence we read of the work of faith, the labour of love, and the patience of hope.

Faith always works, and works by love, and hope works by patience; so that Onesimus should not separate hope from patience: if I err in excluding faith and hope from heaven, he errs more in excluding patience from hope. What!

Can

'one grace destroy another?' Certainly you make it so to do, if you kill patience, and keep hope alive. I do not like this chopping the scriptures; he should bring in not only patience, but meekness, contrition, quickening operations, self-abasement, godly sorrow, evangelical repentance, and brokenness of heart; for all these are graces of the Spirit, or they are of grace, or from grace. What! does one grace destroy another? Patience is sent to Dalmatia, meekness is left at Miletum sick, only faith and hope are with Onesimus.

Once more, I ask what is to be the work, the exercise, or the employ, of faith in heaven? Here we are engaged in the fight of faith: here we run in faith and walk by faith; but, when the good fight of faith is fought, and the race finished, there will be an end to all wars, and to all running; so that faith will have no more labour in these things.

Faith now attends our supplications, and brings in all answers to prayer; but then there will be no praying in heaven, nothing but shouts, hallelujahs, songs and praises; we shall return with songs, and everlasting joy upon our heads.

But again, the just are to live by faith. We receive the promise of the Spirit through faith, and it is the Spirit that quickens us. By faith we obtain promises, which are the promises of life Christ, who is our life, is received into the heart by faith; so that we live by the faith of the Son of God, as Paul says; by faith we maintain our profession; and by faith we receive all promised and

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needful supplies of spiritual bread, and spiritual drink, from the fulness that is in Christ. But then this work of faith, this life of faith, cannot be carried on in heaven; for in heaven, "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more,' Rev. vii. 16; so that this work of faith must fail in the world to come. And I know of no other living by faith, or works of faith, than these, though no doubt but Onesimus does, for he is wiser in his own eyes, than seven men that can render a reason; yet the feeblest saint who can reason in faith is, in God's eyes, ten times wiser than he.

I shall now take notice of what the scriptures say in support of what I believe, and what I advance to others. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," ," Heb. xi. 1. The things hoped for are the resurrection of the just, the happy enjoyment of Christ in the world to come, and eternal life and glory in him, and with him. Now faith is the

substance of all these.

1. Upon our believing in Christ we rise from the dead; "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light," Ephes. v. 14. Thus we rise from a death in sin and in law to a life of faith, which Christ calls our passing from death to life,, so as not to come any more into condemnation: this is our spiritual

resurrection.

2. The next thing hoped for is the enjoyment

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