fentations which the fcriptures gives us of the redemption by Chrift, and of the method in which our falvation is wrought out by him. He was made to be fin for us, who knew no fin, that we might be made the righteoufnefs of God in him, 2 Cor. v. 21. He his own felf bare our fins, in his own body on the tree, 1 Pet. ii. 24. Now how can it in any fense whatsoever be poffibly true, that our Lord Jefas Chrift was made fin for us, unlels it be understood in the imputative fenfe? Or, that he bare our fins in his own body, if he only undertook to purchafe for us a grant of pardon and reconciliation with God, upon the condition of our fincere obedience; and unless our fins were imputed to him? He is likewife faid to give his life a ranfam for us, Matth. xx. 28. And can prifoners be faid to be ranfomed out of their enemy's hands, who are only put under advantages to work out their own liberty and deliverance? Upon the payment of a ranfom, the confenting captive is immediately releafed; and as the prophet expreffes it, with refpect to the cafe before us, liberty is proclaimed to the captives. He is moreover reprefented as an atonement for our fins; and an atonement which believers have actually receiv ed. By whom we have received the atonement, Rom. V. II. And can divine juftice be atoned for our fins, and we not freely acquitted and justified? Can we have received the atonement by faith, when it yet depends upon our future conduct, and upon our fincere obedi ence, whether we fhall ever receive the benefit of it? He is alfo reprefented, as having redeemed us from the curfe of the law, being made a curfe for us, Gal. iii. 13. And how can it with any propriety be said, that believ. ers are actually redeemed from the curfe, when they are. ftill under the curfe, and must continue fo until by a courfe of fincere perfevering obedience, they get themfelves acquitted and juflified? Or how could our bleffed Saviour be made a curse for us, when neither our guilt was imputed to him; nor his fufferings were imputed to us? He might indeed upon this fuppofal be fard to fuffer for our advantage and benefit: but he could not be made a curfe for us, in our stead, when no curfe due to us was laid upon him; nor we freed from any curfe by his fufferings, without procuring our deliverance by

our own fincere perfevering obedience. He is likewife represented as our furety, a furety of a better teftament, Heb. vii. 22. And has the furety paid the debt; but the bond not cancelled, nor the debtor released from payment? Does divine juftice demand the payment of the debt in order to fatisfaction, and the performance of the conditions in order to our juftification, of both the furety and the principal debtor? He is moreover reprefented as the Lord our righteoufnefs, Jer. xxiii. 6. And is faid to be made of God unto us wifdom, and righteouf nefs, and fanctification, and redemption, 1 Cor. i. 31. He is our peace, Eph. ii. 14. But I know not how Chrift can be ours for any of thefe purposes, unless upon our receiving him by faith, thefe benefits are with him free. ly given us, actually imputed or imparted to us, and we confidered as vested with them, and partakers of them. For inftance, can Christ be our righteoutnefs; and we, notwithstanding, have no righteoufnefs that will justify us before God, till we have wrought out a righteousness of our own, by a perfevering courfe of fincere obedience? Can he be our peace; and we not be at peace with God upon our faith in him, until by a courfe of fincere obe dience we are juftified and interelled in the divine fa vour? The time would fail me, fhould I particularly infift upon all the various reprefentations of Chrift's redemption in fcripture; and fhew they are all directly repugnant to this fcheme of yours. I fhall therefore mention but an instance or two more; and then fubmit it to your own ferious reflection. We are faid to be juftified by his blood and reconciled to God by his death, Rom. v. 9, 10. But can we be juftified by his blood, and yet justified by our own obedience! Are we reconciled to God by the death of Chrift, and yet not reconciled to God, but by a continued progrefs of our own obedience! Dare you, Sir, adventure to attribute that to your own obedience, which is attributed by the Spirit of God to the blood and death of Chrift?

But perhaps you will make the fame remarks upon what I have now offered, as you did upon my last, and tell me, that Your author does indeed fuppofe fome conditions of our intereft in the benefits procured by Chrift for us and do not they who are of the other

fide of the question, also fuppofe our intereft therein to be conditional? Do not they fuppofe faith to be the • condition of our interest in Chrift, and all the benefits he has purchased for us? Where then is the dif ference? Why is a conditional intereft in the benefits • purchased by Christ so very offenfive in the one scheme, and fo innocent and inoffenfive in the other?

In answer to this, you must allow me the freedom to tell you, that this plea takes its rife from a very great inattion to the fubject before us. You know, Sir, that I have in my former letters, largely and particularly fhewn you, that faith is no otherwife a condition of our intereft in Chrift, and the benefits of his redemption, than a beggar's receiving an alms is a condition of his having the benefit of it; or than a condemned malefactor's accepting a free pardon is the condition of his reprieve from execution, and restoration to his prince's favour. And is there no difference between partaking of a free gift, on no other condition than a thankful acceptance; and having the offer of a favour on the condition of long continued fervices, of very difficult and uncertain performance? Is there no difference between expecting juftification from no righteousness of our own, but only from the righteoufness of Chrift received by faith: and our fuppofing this alone an infufficient foundation of confidence, and therefore looking to fome righteousness of ours as the condition of our acceptance with God? The difference is just as great, as between any other contradictory propofitions. Upon the one fuppofal, Chrift has performed all the proper conditions of our juftification, and freely beftows the benefit, on our acceptance: whereas upon the other fuppofal, Chrift has not performed the condition of our juftification, but only procured for us the privilege to perform them ourfelves. Upon the one fuppofal, we are juftified on account of Chrift's obedience; but on the other fuppofal, we are juftified on the account of our own obedience. Upon the one fuppofal, Chrift has merited juflification for us without works: but upon the other fuppofal, he has merited juftification for us by our works. And in fine, upon the one fuppofal, the first act of faving faith gives an immediate and continuing intereft in the favour of

God, but upon the other fuppofal, faith is but the introduction of that life of fincere obedience, which is pro perly the condition of our obtaining and enjoying the divine favour.

Sir, It belongs now to you, seriously and impartially ́ to reflect and confider, which opinion is moft likely to be true; Whether, that which renounces all confidence in the flesh, and propofes no condition of justification, but our hearty approbation and acceptance of, and dependance upon the Lord Jefus Chrift alone, as the way wherein the glory of the righteousness, wifdom, love and mercy of God is exalted, and finful man juftly debafed, and brought to the foot of an infinite fovereign: Or, that opinion, which denies this honour to the Redeemer's merits and to fovereign grace, and proposes our own performances and attainments, as conditions of our juftification and acceptance with God. I have now been fhewing you, that the former is the fcripture reprefen tation of the cafe, and methinks, any one that has had a just and fenfible difcovery of his own depravity and fpiritual impotence, muft know by experience that it is the only way, in which he can entertain comfortable expectations of fafety and happiness.

Another objection against this opinion is, that it is deftructive of practical religion, fubverfive to a life of true holiness. Whatever fentiments we entertain, and whatever principles we efpoufe, we must yet remember that without holiness no man shall fee the Lord: and he that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself as he is pure. The doctrine of Chrift is in all its parts, a doctrine according to godlinefs. If it therefore appears, upon an impartial examination of this cafe, that these principles of your author are inconfiftent with, and repugnant to that holiness, which is a neceffary qualification for the kingdom of heaven, there can no other argument be wanting againft this fcheme, to convince us, that it cannot be agreeable to him who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himfelf a peculiar people, zealous of good works. But left I be misunderstood, and expofed to your cenfure for uncharitableness, I would premife, that I cannot but hope that there are fome who adhere to thefe principles, whofe

hearts are founder than their heads; and who are truly holy in body and fpirit, by a dependance very different from their profeffion. This is what may be reasonably hoped, not only from the exemplary lives of fome who embrace these tenets, but from their prayers of a truly evangelical strain, which we ought to fuppofe the language of their hearts, and which we ought to hope will find audience with God, notwithstanding the error of their judgments.

I must nevertheless infist upon it, that such cannot be truly holy, whofe hearts and lives are conformable to the principles I am oppofing. Not all their religious purpo fes, promises, refolutions, reformations, not all their faftings, external mortifications, macerations of their bodies, vows, meditations, prayers, or other endeavours they may use can be productive of holiness, upon these principles. Men may by fuch means put fome restraint upon their corruptions, they may in a flavish manner perform fome hypocritical duties, and thereby may quiet their confciences, obtain a reputation among men, and entertain hopes of heaven: but they must yet remain ftrangers to any true love to God, delight in him, and conformity of heart and affections to him; wherein the effence of holinefs confifts. This will appear, from fuch confiderations as these. It is an inconteftable truth, that we cannot be holy, before we have a principle of holinefs: that we cannot perform vital actions, without a fource and principle of life. It is equally certain, that we naturally have not this principle of fpiritual life: but the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, only evil continually. It is alfo certain, that faith in Chrift is contemporary with (though in order of nature it flows from and is fucceffive to) the first principle of fpiritual life; and it is from our union to Chrift by faith, that we derive from him fupplies of grace and strength, and that the whole progrefs of holiness is carried on in the foul. It is therefore neceffary, that we be first united to Christ, the head of all influences and fountain of all holiness, and fo be habitually alive to God, before we can actually live to God, as I have obferved before. All our attainments in religion without a vital principle within, will be but as carcafe without breath; or as

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