thought of; to be accufed unjustly; to be fingularly afflicted; to fuffer by the hand of the magiftrate, by the unkind judgment of other men, or by the deed of providence.

SINCERE. Not pretended: pure, not adulterated or alloyed: that will ftand the light; that will bear to be fifted and examined; unftained, unblemished; clear, unobscured, truly good, excellent. Make my heart fincere; fuch petitions do not contain in them a charge of the worshipper against himself, as at that time playing the hypocrite, and a request that God would make him fincere in that act of worships they exprefs his defire that every wrong thing may be removed from him, that he may be delivered from every thing that corrupts, debafes,, or depreciates his character.

SION. Literally a hill in Jerufalem: figurativeby the scene where God reveals himself in grace and mercy; as oppofed to SINAI, a mountain from which he delivered the law to Ifrael in circumstances of great terror and amazement : the Chriflian church: the future habitation of all God's faithful fervants: the city of the living God.

SON

SON OF GOD. An appellation by which Jefus of Nazareth was particularly diftinguished : according to the general opinion, as on other accounts, fo alfo on account of his miraculous birth; LARDNER'S LETTER ON THE LOGOS, p.31. or LARDNER'S SERMONS, VOL. II. SERMON 7. according to the opinion of fome, not fo much on account of any thing peculiar to him, as on account of fome things by which he was eminently distinguished. This appellation is given to other individuals alfo, on account of fome fingularly favorable diftinction; to bodies of men too, as, to the people of Ifrael firft, on account of their distinction from the Gentiles; and afterwards to Chriftians, for a fimilar reafon. Sons of God, Children of God, in the Jewish language, imitators of God, like God: obedient and fubmiffive to him: heirs of his promifes. Angels, magiftrates, men in authority are called Sons of God: All good men are Sons of God: Christians, in particular, are often called fo; and they are faid to be born of God, to be begotten by him, to be begotten by him by the word of truth. In the language of fcripture, reformers, teachers, and instructors are called fathers; they are faid to beget the converts and difciples which they make; who, in correfpon

dence

dence with this phrafeology, are called their fons, their children. The first converts to the gospel are faid alfo to be born again, to be begotten again, in confideration of the great change which their reception of the gofpel made in their minds and in their condition: whether this change be referred to a previous: ftate of judaifm; of idolatry and fuperftition; or of ignorance, vicious habits, doubts and fears. The Jews first, and afterwards Chriftians being, on the fore-mentioned accounts, called children, or, begotten of God, by a figure of the like kind, though lefs bold and energetic, are faid to be adopted by God; to have the adoption pertaining to them; to have received the adoption, &c.

SPIRIT, and SOUL, are fometimes equivalent to felf. The spirit of God is God; the Spirit of a man is man. My fpirit or my foul is I thine is thou his is he. The Spirit of wisdom, and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord, are real wisdom and piety. Spirit also fignifies that which is not flesh; that which is not weak and frail: the Spirit of God fometimes fignifies the power of God, either in its ordinary or extraordinary exertions. These terms fpirit, and foul, fometimes denote that part of the human conftitution,

as

which is the feat of life, confcioufnefs, underftanding, and affection. In this fenfe they are ufed, in a variety of forms, to express fincerity, real internal feelings, in contradiftinction from the outward expreffions of them. In this laft, well as in the firft-mentioned import of fpirit and of foul, the word heart is often ufed; that is, it is ufed in the fenfe of felf, and alfo to denote the percipient and active principles of human nature; and thus it is fometimes contradistinguished from flesh. When it is faid that the Spirit of God has done any thing, the fenfe is that God did it, and it may have been either by natural or by extraordinary means, in a natural or extraordinary manner. When God is faid to have done any thing by his fpirit, by the spirit, it frequently fignifies that he did it in or through the miracles which he wrought, in behalf of the gofpel, or by its minifters, or upon its converts. When it is afked of God to fend, to fend down, to fend forth his fpirit for this or the other purpofe, or that his spirit may do this or that; the fenfe is neither more nor less than that God would employ his power for thefe purposes, that he would do what is afked of him, in any manner whatfoever, or by any means that he ufes or has inftituted for the attainment of fuch ends. Spirit alfo fometimes fignifies

fignifies the gospel and its fpiritual worship, as distinguished from the law of Mofes and its carnal ordinances.

TESTIMONY. Deposition, evidence, proof, token, indication. Teftimony of, depofition, or report concerning. Teftimonies of God, extraordinary declarations, or discoveries of his mind and will, whether precepts or promises; the word of God.

TIME. Some fmall portion of duration as distinguished from eternity: the present life of man as distinguished from the immortality that he looks for the duration of any being or system of beings that has or is supposed to have an end.

TRUTH, in the language of scripture, fignifies fidelity, rectitude, integrity: fometimes all the moral attributes of God: fometimes every thing good in the human character: fometimes the law of God: fometimes the gospel. True, is, fometimes, genuine, perfect, excellent.

VAIN. Empty, flattering, deceitful; groundless, unstable, unsteady, precarious, evanid, tranfitory,