My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity." "Thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity." "I am afraid of all my sorrows; I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent."

Quot. Though there be few who have travelled any considerable time in the way to Zion, but have adopted Job's language; yet they have an advantage Job was not favoured with: he had not the experience of a man set before him, who had been in a situation similar to his own.

Answ. Elihu filled almost three chapters in setting the experience of other men before the eyes of Job. Man, says he, "is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain; so that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat. His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen; and his bones, that were not seen, stick out. Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers. If there be a messenger with him, [a good guide to the timorous soul] an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness, then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than a child's; he shall return to the days of his youth; he shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him; and he shall see his face with joy, for he will render unto man his righteousness. He looketh upon men; and if any say, I have sin

ned, and perverted that which was right, and it profiteth me not, he will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. Lo! all these things worketh God oftentimes with man.” All this is the experience of other men, which was set before Job.

Quot. But now, he that once mounted up as on eagles' wings, is sunk in the mire of sloth and worldly affections: a change he once thought impossible. It is in this frame, that the believer can say, “In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing."

Answ. That text is badly matched. Paul was not sunk in the mire of sloth when he said it; for he was always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus: and, so far from being sunk in worldly affections, he declared that the world was crucified to him, and he to the world. And who can suppose, that two creatures, so dead to each other's charms as Paul and the world, could be so sick of love to each other, or so sunk in affection? A professor, thus fallen, may say with a witness, In my flesh dwells nothing good, nor in my soul either.

Quot. This is winter season to the soul, cold and dark is it then any matter of surprise to hear one, in such a situation, cry out, Oh! that I were as in months past!

Answ. This is winter, indeed, friend Timothy; and such a season as, I hope, no child of God will ever get into. "To be carnally minded, is death;"

but, to be sunk in the mire of sloth and worldly affections, is death and damnation too. He that loveth the world, or the things of the world, the love of the Father is not in him, 1 John 2, 15. It is an infallible mark of an apostate; "Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world." It is the criterion of an enemy to God; "Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God."

Quot. This complaint is not confined to the closet; it is like the plague, every part is affected by it.

Answ. If this plague of being sunk in sloth and worldly-mindedness, was confined to the closet, the Christian might run away from it without being infected either in body or soul. But Timothy says, every part is affected by it: that is, every other part of the body, as well as the closet, is affected, or in love, with this plague of sinking into sloth and worldly lusts. This quotation calls for Timothy's note, or evangelical explanation, much more than the bible does.

Quot. How great the change! Now all arguments with his lukewarm heart lose their force; all relish for the word seems gone; the service, that once was far too short, is now intolerably tedious.

Answ. A professor's heart thus lukewarm, that has lost all relish for the word of God, and that finds the service of God intolerably tedious, is in a Laodicean church state, and among the

number of them that Christ hath vomited up from the bowels of his mercy. "So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth," Rev. iii. 16.

Quot. It is a wonder that such, when they are not wholly left to an obdurate and insensible frame, to hear such an one cry out, Oh! that I were as in months past!

Answ. That pious lamentation of Job is by no means to be unlawfully joined together in unholy matrimony with the heart of Tim's Christian, who is sunk in sloth and worldly affections, who has lost all relish for the gospel of Christ, and finds his divine service intolerable; for Job had by no means lost all relish for the word of God, but asks his friends, "Cannot my taste discern perverse things?" And again; "Can that which is unsavoury be eaten? or is there any taste in the white of an egg? How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove?” And again, “I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food." Which shews plain enough, that Job had not lost all relish for God's word. Nor was he slunk in sloth, for his spirit made diligent search after his God: "Oh! that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat." And so far was Job from being sunk in worldly affections, that he never sinned with his lips, nor charged God foolishly, when he had stripped him of all that he had in the world; but says; "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath

taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." If our friend Timothy goes on to publish a similarity between the ancient saints of God, and his imagined Christian, which never had any existence but in his own head, I must, however unpolite, be under the necessity of forbidding the bans.

Quot. Though the Christian, at such seasons, cannot pray or read, and hear the word, with that satisfaction he wishes, yet he retains a high esteem for divine ordinances.

Answ. If this be true, that Timothy's Christian retains a high esteem for divine ordinances, he cannot be wholly sunk in worldly affections; and I think it is impossible that he should lose all relish for the word of God, and yet have so high an esteem for the preaching. What I highly esteem, I must have some affection for; and, if I have any spiritual love to it, I cannot have lost all relish for it.

Quot. Good and bad fruit cannot be more easily distinguished, than religious and carnal affections, when properly tried by the word of God.

Answ. All believers will not set their seal to this assertion; especially when they are in a situation similar to that of David, who was so reduced to humiliation at the pious counsel and prophecies of Abigail, that he loved her as a saint, blessed her in the name of the Lord, and blessed her ad