all his happiness. If it be inquired, what was the language of nature then, as to the concerns of man with God? we must say, that God was very profuse in his gifts, and no less peremptory in his commands; that he was very kind to the obedient, and no less severe to the transgressor: we must say, that man could have no hope of any further friendly correspondence with him, if once his righteousness was stained with one act of disobedience. And the condemnation that has since followed, of all mankind to death, for one single transgression, and that not of what is called moral, but of a positive precept, as a standing proof of the extent of the divine displeasure against sin.

When man became a sinner, nature could point out no way of relief for him. Every attempt now to become righteous before God, and much more every imagination that God would assist him in any such attempt, behooved to be criminal in man, and to carry in it a dishonourable reflection against his Creator and Judge, as if he could be pleased with an imperfect righteousness, or a righteousness stained with sin.* Yet, as by his original constitution, he was framed to live by his own righteousness, and to enjoy an happy earthly life as its reward; and as he knows no other supports against despair, he still retains the strongest propensity toward both these. And though disappointment has hitherto attended all his attempts this way; yet his pride still flatters him with the prospect of better success, by means of new improvements in his attempts.

This propensity, this common principle in all men, must now be considered as nature corrupted; and it is from this source that we find the Scripture deducing all the corrup tion that is in the world.

Every scheme of religion devised by men, has been contrived for the gratifying of this principle: and from hence every corruption of that religion which came from heaven takes its rise. But when I reflect to whom I am writing, I find myself eased of the trouble of insisting on the manifold proofs that might be adduced for this: for every one who agrees with the Apostle in saying, Far be it ! that I should

* Notwithstanding what is above said, I am far from thinking that any honest or sincere attempt to please God, ever failed of success. Yea, I am ready to show, that all objections and impediments have been, by a particular divine edict for that purpose, removed and dise pensed with in favour of all who are sincerely well disposed, whenever they shall be found.

+ Mn yavoro. As this Greek phrase is commonly used by Paul; to

glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world, must see how opposite the gospel is to this universal bias, this corruption of nature.

Every doctrine, then, which teaches us to do or endeavour any thing toward our acceptance with God, stands opposed to the doctrine of the Apostles; which, instead of directing us what to do, sets before us all that the most disquieted conscience can require, in order to acceptance with God, as already done and finished by Jesus Christ. What Christ hath done, is that which pleases God; what he hath done, is that which quiets the guilty conscience of man as soon as he knows it so that whenever he hears of it, he has no occasion for any other question but this, Is it true or not? If he finds it true, he is happy, if not, he can reap no comfort by it. If then we slight the comfort arising from the bare persuasion of this, it must be owing, at bottom, to our slighting this bare truth, to our slighting the bare work of Christ, and our considering it as too narrow a foundation whereon to rest the whole weight of our acceptance with God. Whereas all Christians of the same stamp with Paul, can never see it in too bare a light, and are ready to say, Far be it! that we should glory, save in the cross, where that work was finished.

On the other hand, if the sinner finds his first glimpse of comfort, his first ray of hope, from any other source; if he finds any good motions already begun in his heart, and finds reason to consider God as seconding and forwarding such motions; then his friendly correspondence with God is already begun: for he finds he has already begun to move in a course wherein he is favoured and assisted by God. And it may well be affirmed, that by whatever means his friendly correspondence with God is begun, much more may it be carried on and perfected by the same or the like means. For as he improves in goodness, he has still more reason to look for fresh supplies of assistance from God, than in his first feeble and doubtful attempts. Even as all who glory only in the cross, and have got their first taste of peace with God from the bare work finished there, may well reason in this manner,

repel with abhorrence some reflection against the divine character, there is a manifest impropriety in applying the phrase given by our translators to such cases; as when the reflection is signified thus, Is God unrighte ous? to repel it by saying, God forbid. And all the cases wherein Paul uses the Greek phrase, will be found to be nearly a kin to this.

Much more then being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

Whatever doctrine then teaches us to think, that our friendly correspondence or acceptance with God is begun by our own good endeavours, seconded by the divine aid, or even first prompted by the divine influence, leads us to look for acceptance with God by our own righteousness: for whatever I do, however assisted or prompted, is still my own work; otherwise the most common actions of life could not be called our own, seeing in all these we must still acknowledge our dependence on God, in whom we live, move, and have our being. Agreeably to what is now said, we may find philosophers and Pharisees, both ancient and modern, in the height of their self-applause, acknowledging divine assistance, and ready to agree in using language like this, God, I thank thee for my excellency above other men.

We must begin our religion then as we would end it. Our acceptance with God, first and last, must rest entirely on the work finished by Jesus Christ on the cross: or we must betake ourselves to what many call the religion of nature, and what God warrants us to call the religion of pride, as being no less opposite to the law of nature, than to the gospel.

But it is now time that we should hear Aspasio. He tells us, Faith is a real persuasion that Christ died for me."

This account of faith given us by Aspasio, seems to me somewhat to resemble the arch of a bridge thrown over a river, having the one end settled on a rock, and the other on sand or mud, so needing a great many subsidiary props to support its own weight; and which after all is liable to be undermined by every land-flood or swell of the river; and therefore, the traveller had need to be cautious how he ventures upon it.

That Christ died, that he gave his life a ransom for many, is indeed a truth fully ascertained in the Scriptures, and established there, firm as a rock, for the relief of the shipwrecked and the desperate; yea, many finding rest here, have been determined to follow Christ, at all hazards, having no other reason to give for their attachment, but, Thou hast the words of eternal life.

That Christ died for me, is a point not so easily settled: and, therefore, I am not surprised to find Aspasio labouring hard, with much eloquence and skill, to establish it by a variety of props; and after all very ready, not only to pardon,

but also to sympathize with his friend upon his remissness and inactivity to come up to it.

This is a point which the Scripture no where ascertains; so far from it, that it often affirms the final perdition of many, not merely hearers of the gospel, but who have heard and received it with joy; yea, of those who have made such progress, that their only deficiency is, that their fruit came not to perfection. It affirms, that such as have been enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, may yet fall away irrecoverably. Yea, it declares, in passages plainly pointing to zealous professors of Christianity, that wide is the gate and broad is the way which leadeth unto destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; that straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it that many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able; yea, that notwithstanding their great confidence about their acquaintance with Christ, and their interest in him, and their experience of his presence with them, he will at last say unto them, I never knew you, depart from me.

When

they are condemned then as hypocrites and unbelievers, they are not condemned for want of Aspasio's faith; and that for these two reasons. The first is, It was never true that Christ died for them; the second is, They were not faulty in this respect; for the sacred text describes them as rather too confident about their interest in Christ.

The gospel proposes nothing to be believed by us, but what is infallibly true, whether we believe it or not. For shall our own unbelief make the faith or veracity of God of none effect? Far be it! Heaven and earth shall pass away, but not one of his words shall fall to the ground. The gospel, which foretells the final perdition of so many of its hearers, so many seriously and zealously exercised about it, can never warrant us to persuade every one who hears it, to believe that Christ died for him; unless we shall say that Christ died for every individual of mankind, and consequently, that none of mankind owe their salvation wholly to his death.

Though I do not see how Aspasio's account of faith can be maintained without saying this, yet I would be far from charging a consequence of my drawing, upon Aspasio, as his doctrine. Though in his beginning to persuade the young Eugenio to be a Christian, he directly affirms to him, that Christ died for him, vol. 1, p. 237. I would rather

choose to look on this as spoken by way of ingratiating address to gain the young gentleman's favourable attention, or on account of some amiable disposition he had observed about him, than to conclude from thence that Aspasio would affirm the same thing to every individual of the human

race.

Aspasio's favourite poet seems to me to be more consistent with himself on this point; for he roundly maintains, that Christ died, as well for infidels as for believers, as well for the damned as for the saved. Addressing infidels, he says,

Mistaken Caiaphas! ah! which blasphem'd,
Thou or thy pris'ner? which shall be condemn'd?
Well mightst thou rend thy garments, well exclaim,
Deep are the horrors of eternal flame!

But God is good! 'tis wondrous all! ev'n he
Thou gav'st to death, shame, torture, died for thee."

Describing the horrors of the damned,

Night 4.

Last Day, book 2.

"Ah! mercy! mercy! art thou dead above?
Is love extinguish'd in the source of love?
Bold that I am, did heav'n stoop down to hell?
Th' expiring Lord of life my ransom seal?
Have I not been industrious to provoke;
From his embraces obstinately broke?"

Ibid. book 3.

According to him, then, the damned are originally as much interested in the death of Christ as the saved; and if we inquire what constitutes the difference, or to what the happy state of the latter is originally owing, we may gather it from such lines as these.

"Nature delights in progress, in advance

From worse to better: but when minds advance,
Progress in part depends upon themselves.

* I presume that the emphatic you, so often repeated in an address to the wicked in the close of the sermon, entitled, The Cross of Christ the Christian's glory, is not to be understood in the like extent as in the Nightthoughts. Look unto the crucified Jesus, why does he hang "on that bloody tree? why is his flesh rent with irons? It is for you, sinners for you. That blood is poured out to cleanse you from guilt. Those wounds are sustained to heal your consciences."

Here I beg leave to make one obvious reflection, that when one imitates the style of his favourite author, on a point about which they think differently, some care ought to be taken to note the difference of senti

ments.