PnEFACË. 61 up towards perfectiontherein.-7. When such persons die, their souls are conveyed to a state of peace and rest, in the presence of God, till the great day ofthe resurrection, when their bodies shall,rise again from the dead, and the whole person, body and soul, be made happy for ever, in the favour and presence of God their Maker. These doctrines were generally professed at the time of the reformation, by protestants abroad and at home, and Ibeso are the set of principles, which have beenusually called orthodoxy, or right sentiments. Now, it has unhappily fallen out, that many of those who have re- ceived and professed these important doctrines, have differed also in many lesser points, such as the logical relations of some of these doctrines to one another, that is, " Whether faith or works be conditions or conse- quests of their justification and acceptance; what isthe essential difference between the covenant of morks, and the covenant of grace, or the law and the gospel." &c. as well as hr several particular practices of divine wor- ship, such as ceremonies, vestures, imposed forms of prayer, &c. and they have so far quarrelled about these things, as too much toneglect and abandon that christian love and charity they ought to have maintained, accord- ing.to their general aeknowledgnlent of the great and necessary truths and rules of christianity, and, hereby, they have, in many instances, lost that duty and character of good christians, viz. to love one another. Now since these unhappy and uncharitable practices, even amongst some good men, bave prevailed even to this day, it is the design of these essays, to endeavour the recovery of these persons, who 'unite in these principles, to charitable sentiments and practices towards one another. Here it will be very natural to enquire, Where isthere found amongst all these essays, any attempt to reconcile those to the christian love and charity ofothers, who, while they profess the christian religion, yet oppose, renounce or deny, thegreat doctrines of the atoning sacrifice of Christ, or his propitia- tion for sin by his death? All the answer that can be given, is this t The author would gladly bave done it, that thewhole book might be of a piece, and every page might over- flow with love, if he could, after the turning over his New Testament, have met withany evident instances, or examples, any plain rulesor requirements, of such christian charity expressed towards persons of this character, in all the sacred writings. But the languageof scripture givesno encouragement to sucha charity; forthis doctrine is not any wherenumbered, among the doubtful disputables of our religion, the lesser things of christianity, such as meats and drinks, and observation of days, and outward forms. of worship; but it is spoken of, as a matter of far higher importance, and, I think, seems to benecessary to constitute christianity itself. This doctrine contains in it, the highest and the kindest design toward men, for which our blessed 'Saviour came down from heaven; it was for this very reason he came into this world, viz. to give his life a ransom for sinners; Mat. xx, 28. and it is repeated in Mark x. 45. So that those who depart from, and renounce this article, renounce the kindest design of the coming and the death of Christ, and they seem, by the wordsof the holy writings, to be exposed to another sort of sentence, from which may the grace of God recover and preserve them ! In themean time,
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