clouted shoes, mouldy bread, rent bottles, and old garments; when there was not one word of truth in all they said. But no wonder, for they asked not counsel of God.

The second scheme of the devil is, setting a simple soul to compare notes with an uninspired preacher. When such a seer draws his portrait of a child of God, the simple soul, that is under the first dawning of day, shines like a saint of the first magnitude. But, let such a soul go under one that handles the sword of the Spirit, by the Spirit, and he appears plainly to be shut out of the camp. And, if grace prevent not, the devil fixes a bar of prejudice against the latter preacher, as one who makes the hearts of those sad whom God would not have made sad: not considering that it is by lies, not by truth, and by false prophets, not by true ones, that the hearts of the righteous are said to be made sad. And if Satan can get such a deluded soul back again to the blind watchman, the wound that truth has given him is healed slightly, crying, Peace, peace! when conscience has received no answer of God. This is measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves; and such are not wise, 2 Cor. x. 12.

The third scheme is, by setting a false teacher to hold forth the law, not in its spiritual meaning, but glossed over by an appearance of the truth of the gospel, and delivered with a prodigious zeal and outcry for negative holiness. Those false

teachers who traduced the apostles, and stuck to the law in heart, varnished all their discourses over with the doctrines of Jesus. They preached Christ out of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to the apostle's bonds. This method serves to establish the strong man in his possession of the palace, while it keeps the wild olive branch cleaving to the old stock.

The fourth trap of the devil is, settling a soul in false evidences; which Satan accomplishes by setting preachers to counterfeit a divine power which they never felt; and by throwing out a jumble of phrases which they cannot explain, such as grace, convictions, experience, temptation, the Spirit, the influences of the Spirit, divine operations, the old man, the new man, self, repentance, Christ, regeneration, corruption, a work of grace, faith; together with a multitude of the saints' complaints under a sense of their native depravity, under the rod, under temptation, and in times of spiritual desertion. Let the vilest impostor scrape a collection of these fragments together, and then take a glass of brandy to warm his heart, and get up and scatter them at random, under the warm operation of the aforenamed glass, and he shall pass, with many simple souls, at first hearing, for a warm, zealous, experimental preacher of the everlasting gospel.

I once heard a young man preach in my own pulpit at Providence Chapel, about six or seven years ago; and I heard him with all the attention

possible; and he never so much as touched upon or described one sensation that an awakened soul feels, either under the guilt of sin, the buffetings of Satan, the fears of wrath, or the spirit of grace. And, when he had done, two or three persons, who I believe are neither blind nor dead, came to me, and said, that he was a very experimental preacher. To which I made no reply: for, in one sense, what they said was true; for he mentioned the word, experience, almost at every breath. And as to Timothy Priestley's two volumes of the Lookingglass, they are nothing else but a collection of false evidences. The title of the book is the most singular, and the most pregnant with presumption, any that I ever saw.

of

The book is called 'The Christian's Lookingglass; which signifies transparency itself, the everlasting gospel being called a sea of transparent glass mingled with fire.

Secondly, It is called 'The timorous soul's guide;' which shews the affinity that it hath with the third person of the Trinity, who is to guide us into all truth.

Thirdly, It is called 'A description of the work of the Holy Spirit upon the heart;' which is to shew us the impulse and influence of the Spirit, under which these volumes were manufactured.

Lastly, It is called 'The relief of the disconsolate;' which is to raise our expectations of superabounding love, comfort, joy, peace, and felicity, that are to be found in these performances;

whereas there is not one description of the illuminations of the Spirit; nor one mystery, discovery, or view, that he presents to the awakened sinner, either of himself, of his sin, of the law, the gospel, of Christ, or of God, in it; not one branch of the Spirit's convincing or convicting power; not one account of his awakening, alarming, or quickening energy; not one particular of his friendly assistance against despair, against unbelief, and in the exercise of faith, or in fervent prayer, to be found in the whole book. No account of a real sense of sin, or view of Christ; no promise, or promised blessing, applied; not one description of the Spirit's power, of his revelations, consolations, applications, or operations. Here is nothing of his love, of his witness, of his seal, of his firstfruits, of his earnests, or of his foretastes. And sure I am, that it would be an everlasting puzzle to me, to ascertain how any natural man could attempt such a work, and affix such a title to it, were it not for the account that the scriptures give of a breast-plate of jacinth and iron, Rev. ix. 9, 17; a seared conscience, 1 Tim. iv. 2; and a brow of brass, Isai. xlviii. 4; in which panoply a hypocrite has sometimes run upon the thick bosses of God's buckler, Job xv. 26.

If any preacher or professor thinks that I bear too hard on the work, or on the workman, let him pray God for wisdom, understanding, and direction; let him read both volumes

VOL. X.

carefully through; and let him collect any one branch of the Spirit's work on the heart that is consistent with the oracles of God, or the experience of the saints; and then let him publish it: and, if God permit, I will answer him, and prove by the scriptures that it is not.

In pursuing and discovering the works of this Timothy, I shall endeavour to point out to the reader the false evidences that the poor sinner is here encouraged to trust in; and likewise the deep craft that is made use of in order to unsettle a weak believer, who really stands on a scriptural evidence. In which work we shall see the rough garment, the instruments of a foolish shepherd, and the mingled seed: which will serve as a caution to us; for we are not to sow our vineyard with diverse seeds, nor plow with an ox and an ass together, Deut. xxii. 10.

I must leave the reader to judge of what I say, and compare it with the scriptures of truth; for if I speak not according to that word, you are to pay no more regard to William Huntington than to Timothy Priestley.

I should have answered this book before, but it crept into the world unknown to me. I shall likewise publish a second edition of the first part of the Barber; and give Timothy's first glass a second sifting; in which a few more secrets will be brought forth, laid open, and exposed to view, that others, as well as myself, may see