LIBRARY 
 
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 Theological Seminary, 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 r'- 
 
 BT 751 .W75 c. 1 
 Wilson, James P. 1769-1830 [? 
 An essay, on the probation 
 of fallen men 
 
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AN 
 
 ESSAY, 
 
 ON 
 
 THE PROBATION OF FALLEN MEN 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE SCHEME OF SALVATION, 
 FOUNDED IN SOVEREIGNTY, 
 
 DEMONSTRATIVE OF JUSTICE. 
 
 ACTS, IV. 12. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM F. GEDDES. 
 
 1827. 
 
Hastern District of Pennsylvania, to wit .• 
 
 ■.E«. S>; BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the sixth day of March, in 
 ilic fifty-first year of the Independence of the United States of America, 
 A. D. 1827, The Reverend James P. Wilson, D. D,, of the said District, 
 hath deposited in this Office the title of a Book, the right whereof he 
 «laims as author, in the words following', to wit : " An Essay, on the 
 probation of fallen men, or, the scheme of salvation, founded in sove- 
 reignty, and demonstrative of justice. Acts iv. 12." In conformity to 
 the Act of the Congress of the United States, intituled " An Act for the 
 Encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and 
 Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times 
 therein mentioned,"— and also to the Act entitled " An Act supplementai-y 
 to an Act, entitled ' An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by se- 
 curing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and propri- 
 etors of stich copies during the times therein mentioned,' and extending 
 the benefit thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching his- 
 toiical and other prints." 
 
 D. CALDWELL, 
 Clerk of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 
 
THE MEMBERS 
 
 OF THE 
 FIRST PRESBYTERMN CHURCH, 
 
 IN THE 
 
 CITY OF PHILJWELPHM ,- 
 BRETHREN, 
 
 This essay has grown out of a sermon, com- 
 menced at your solicitation as a summary of 
 those doctrines, which though vanishing ivith 
 utterance must meet us at the bar of God. 
 
 To avoid interference with other churches, 
 copies will be withholden ; for it is neither to 
 he dissembled, that diversities on minor points 
 exist ; nor, that they have found no where, less 
 toleration, than at home; although the essen- 
 tials of the gospel be proclaimed from every 
 desk, and their fruits visible. Doctrines arc 
 in order to practice ; ivhere the heart is right, 
 
IV- 
 
 zml is tempered with knowledge, and a humble 
 peaceful frame is the sure effect of the love of 
 God and man. But our defect is of charity ^ 
 not of truth. 
 
 The memorial you require, of the things in 
 which we have walked together in perfect har- 
 mony, for more than twenty years, is necessa- 
 rily a skeleton, the more unsightly because un- 
 clothed. As none are more competent to dis- 
 criminate, the decision of things disputable has 
 been in the public discourses generally suhnitted; 
 the same cautio?i ive renew, and refer you to ar- 
 guments on many of the doctrines, still fresh in 
 your memories. Such judgment is your unali- 
 enable right ; and its exercise is secured to you 
 as individuals by public guarantee ; but as a 
 congregation there is not every security that is 
 desirable. 
 
 Exemption from err our is not our claim ; 
 and the condensation of so much variety can 
 scarcely fail to discover discrepancies ivith the 
 views of the reader ; but it is hoped only in 
 
tilings about ivhich ive may safely agree to dif- 
 fer. By you the mode of representation here 
 given will be recognised ; and better understood, 
 than by others. To preach I have been laid 
 under a necessity ; this scheme of doctrines, has 
 been adopted after much investigation ; for my- 
 self not for you ; from the word of God, not 
 the opinions of men ; I have known no other 
 way, and upon it cheerfully rest my own eter- 
 nal interest. 
 
 Your demand of this summary, confessedly 
 with a reference to the time of my departure, 
 is to me a very solemn memento of my approach- 
 ing change, of which I know neither the day 
 nor the hour. But come tvhen it will, the sep- 
 aration is, I trust, not final ; and we may en- 
 tertain the animating hope of meeting again, 
 and of living together forever, in climes more 
 congenial. 
 
 Your unworthy servant 
 
 in the gospel of peace, 
 
 JAMES P. WILS0.1S\ 
 
 Philadelphia, Feb: 8, 1827. 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 ACTS IV. 12. 
 
 ^'JSTeither is there salvation in any other, 
 for there is none other name under heaven, 
 given among men, whereby we must he 
 saved.^' 
 
 The transition of the speaker of this text, 
 from cowardice to dauntless fortitude, from 
 mean prevarication, to Apostolic magnanim- 
 ity ; and the change in the conduct of the 
 council, from violence cruelty and murder, 
 to caution timidity and silence under charges 
 of flagrant criminality, are not unaccountable. 
 Peter, animated by the recent visits and in- 
 stmctions of his triumphant Master, and new- 
 ly clothed with the power and authority of 
 the apostolic office, already experienced the 
 
 The ar- 
 raignment 
 of Peter and 
 John. 
 
8 
 
 promised sustentation of the heavenly Comfor- 
 ter : providentially, his pusillanimous judges 
 were appalled by the concealed, but irresisti- 
 ble evidence of the fact, that he, whom they 
 had crucified, had actually arisen from the 
 tomb. The consciousness of having bribed 
 and dismissed the soldiers, and of not hav- 
 ing dared to search for the body, which had 
 been rescued by supernatural intervention 
 from their possession, whilst they had every 
 advantage for retaining it, had damped their 
 mistaken zeal, and rendered them irreso- 
 lute. 
 
 The coun- 
 cil over aw- 
 td by their 
 knowledge 
 of the resur- 
 rcciion- 
 
 The unexpected intrepidity of the disci- 
 ples, and the manifest exertion of divine 
 power in the restoration of the lame man, 
 conspired also to confirm their convictions 
 and awaken apprehensions. To dismiss 
 the subject without inquiry ; and though 
 upbraided with the murder of the Messiah, 
 to dissemble resentment, and discharge the 
 Galileans with threats, which they feared 
 
'■^ 
 
 9 
 
 to execute, was wisdom ; but determined 
 opposition to truth. For neither their igno- 
 rance of the proximate cause, nor tlie nov- 
 elty of the occurrence, furnished a just rea- 
 son, either for the denial of the report of 
 their senses, or for the exclusion of the tes- 
 timony of others. The miracle was unde- 
 niable, to parry its influence, and extinguish 
 the light were their malicious aim ; and the 
 success would have been complete, had not 
 the disciples referred the restoration of the 
 lame man, to the efficiency of Jehovah ; for, 
 admit Jesus a malefactor, and the power 
 not of Grod, Peter and John were capital 
 offenders. To the demand, therefore ; ^*By 
 Avhat power, or by what name^ have ye done 
 this ?" Peter did not merely answer, ^^ by 
 the name of Jesus of Nazareth, whom ye 
 crucified ;" but wisely added, " whom God 
 raised from the dead, by him doth this 
 man stand here before you sound. This is 
 the stone which, rejected by you builders, 
 is become the head of the corner : and there 
 
 B 
 
 Christiani- 
 ty tolerated 
 only as Ju- 
 daism. 
 
of 
 
 10 
 
 is -relief in no other." Thus did he cauti- 
 ously escape the danger couched in their 
 insidious question, by referring the cure ul- 
 timately to the God of Israel ; and at the 
 same time attribute to the miracle its own 
 testimony, which it was designed to bear to 
 the resurrection, power and authority of 
 Christ. The God of nature is the Father 
 of our spirits ; if the name of Jesus can re- 
 store a cripple, it is to evince, that he can 
 save a soul. Passing to the subject of his 
 commission, Peter announces to the murder- 
 ers of Jesus, the possibility even of their 
 obtaining life through him : ^^for there is no 
 The nature I Qfjigj, name undev heaven 8:iven arnons; men 
 
 ,f the Sal- "-" ^ 
 
 chn".". ^ I whereby we must he saved ;^' not from bod- 
 ily, but spiritual maladies ; not from tempo- 
 ral, but eternal death ; not by controlling the 
 laws of nature, but by satisfying the demands 
 of justice, according to the eternal purposes 
 of sovereign mercy. 
 
 This transition was perfectly natural, for 
 
11 
 
 such afflictions were deemed, not in that age 
 only, to be the effects of sin ; " Master wlio 
 hath sinned — that this man was born blind ?" 
 But in every generation misery has been re- 
 ferred to guilt ; and deliverance from both 
 expected and sought in various modes from 
 supernatural aid. 
 
 The Creator being the proprietor of all 
 things, has erected governments, and distri- 
 butes gifts and talents, as a sovereign bound 
 to no equality in nature, grace, or glory. But 
 the bestowment of understanding will and 
 other faculties, constituting moral agency, 
 was the assumption of the correlative charac- 
 ter of a Moral Governor ; and a tacit pledge, 
 that he will administer in righteousness, sus- 
 tain the honour of his government, and never 
 exercise sovereignty to the disparagement of 
 justice. For all these, there is the utmost 
 security also in the eternity and immutability 
 of his purposes. Of such a government we 
 are subjects ; and though neither ignorant of 
 
 The difl'ei- 
 ent charac- 
 ters of Sov- 
 ereign and 
 Moral Gov- 
 ernor. 
 
Sovereign- 
 ty will never 
 change the 
 terms to res- 
 cue the fal- 
 len. 
 
 12 
 
 his rights, nor of our own correspondent obli- 
 gations, we have violated them, and become 
 obnoxious to his justice : the claims of which 
 cannot be waved, nor the honour of his gov- 
 ernment suffered to be tarnished by our escape. 
 Fallen angels have never found relief; nor 
 shall we be saved by any extension of mercy, 
 not provided for in his immutable purposes. 
 The despised apostle proposed as the only 
 door of hope, the very person whom this 
 council had lately unjustly condemned and 
 murdered, under the forms of justice ; the true 
 Messiah, whom their fathers had expected ; 
 and the sacrifice antl ransom eternally provid- 
 ed for the sins of the world. His language 
 being negative excludes direct proof; never- 
 theless the truth of the important position may 
 be established by an exhibition of man's state 
 of guilt, and of the scheme provided for his 
 salvation. 
 
 The degradation of our race is here, as 
 usual, assumed. Even the light of nature 
 
effect and 
 proof of sill- 
 
 13 
 
 discovers it, for although extraordinary suf 
 
 fering will not in this world always evince Misery, the 
 
 proportional guilt ; yet the glory of divine 
 
 justice requires the concomitance of happiness 
 
 with innocence, and that moral evil should 
 
 have been the precursor of the sufferings of 
 
 rational creatures. The pleasures and pains 
 
 of this life are of small importance, because 
 
 of short and uncertain duration ; but in the 
 
 next, the permanency of moral character, if 
 
 no other reason could be shown, must render 
 
 them extreme and ceaseless. Here we have 
 
 too much sorrow for a state of happiness ; too 
 
 much comfort for a state of punishment. 
 
 That this is a preparatory stage of existence 
 is testified by conscience, reason ; our fears, 
 hopes, and desires ; and by the voice of every 
 age, as well as by revelation . Moral corruption 
 is rendered less perceptible by its universality, 
 and a ruinous insensibility, in which the par- 
 ty perceives not his aggravated iniquity, nor 
 ventures to plead perfect innocence. Neither 
 
 A state of 
 trial, where 
 justification 
 l>y works is 
 impossihie. 
 
14 
 
 general moral characterj nor particular instan- 
 ces of good deeds, if they deserve the appel- 
 lation, can possibly have for any man, the 
 least Aveight in the question guilty or not guil- 
 ty ; a single infraction must forever exclude a 
 justification by law ; but where there is nei- 
 ther the love of God, nor of holiness, nothing 
 has been done at any period, from proper mo- 
 tives and to proper ends. 
 
 Mere mo- 
 rality is A- 
 iheisra or 
 Iilolatrv. 
 
 Though man may not have lost, in a com- 
 parative sense, and in the judgment of the 
 world, every good affection ; and may still be 
 qualified, in point of natural faculties, to 
 choose and obey, as well as to investigate the- 
 oretically religious truth ; yet is there a sense, 
 in which he has lost entirely all righteousness: 
 and acting without regard to God and holi- 
 ness, his morality, however praiseworthy, is 
 atheism or idolatry. 
 
 Every creature, even of the highest order, 
 is limited, and tends to decay. Such procliv- 
 
15 
 
 ity to native nothingness was foreknown, but 
 not created ; it is necessary dependance. In 
 like manner, privation of righteousness is nei- 
 ther a subject of creation, nor a physical con- 
 stituent, though moral, certain, and foreli^nown. 
 Also because such defect was neither de- 
 creed, except hypothetically, nor created, but 
 proceeds from the abuse of liberty, not 
 physical incompetency, it is chargea])le on 
 man only, and is moral evil : whilst every 
 thing physical in that which is called a trans- 
 gression, being from God is good. These 
 things are equally true Avith respect to the 
 first moral delinquency charged by tradition 
 and revelation on the parent of our race, and 
 that native corruption, or destitution of righte- 
 ousness, Avhich brings upon all, transgression 
 misery and death. '^ 
 
 Sin (listin 
 guishcdfroiii 
 every ibiiig; 
 physical. 
 
 Since indisposition to holiness is a univer- 
 sal character of our nature ; and infants inherit 
 disease and death, the wages of sin ; there 
 
 Ocatlis o: 
 infants 
 prove obli 
 gaiion 
 puni>luTietif 
 
 to 
 
 *Vide note A. 
 
16 
 
 must exist some connexion between us and our 
 first parent, whereby we are justly introduced, 
 into the world, in his image and lapsed state, 
 without our choice. This doctrine is plain- 
 ly asserted in the fifth chapter of the epistle to 
 the Romans and elsewhere ; nevertheless it 
 does not follow, that any dying in infancy are 
 lost ; since their salvation by Christ is more 
 than possible. 
 
 JCo ri' pro- 
 bation i'l'um 
 mere sove- 
 reignty, but 
 till- sill only. 
 
 Those Avho survive the period of infancy 
 and die impenitent adults, were non-elect. 
 Non-election is not a decree, unless it be a 
 decree not to decree, nor is it a positive idea. 
 To choose one of a thousand, implies nothing 
 positive as to those passed by. To say that 
 the consignment of men to eternal misery 
 without desert is founded in right, is to say 
 that Deity has a right to be unjust. But to 
 purpose to punish for sin is as proper, as to 
 pass the sentence. Both belong to the char- 
 acter of the righteous Governor. Neither 
 proceeds from the arbitrary pleasure of a 
 
17 
 
 Sovereign, who is such in his gifts only. 
 The case of those who die in infancy, is 
 wholly diiferent from that of those, who are 
 unwilling to accept the terms of mercy, sin- 
 cerely offered. To such no injustice is done, 
 even when the Sovereign confers his favours 
 on others, no worse than themselves ; because 
 injustice is the violation of a right, and all are 
 alike without claim. 
 
 Defection, whatever loss it brought, neither 
 deprived man of the physical powers neces- 
 sary to obedience, nor of his capability of en- 
 joying God, nor of his obligation to seek him. 
 But the antecedent provision of redemption, 
 in the eternal purposes of the Sovereign, evin- 
 ces, that his justice, as the rectoral Governor red^mUon"^ 
 
 counterparts. 
 
 of the universe, could not otherwise have 
 spared man. Thus our degradation in Adam, 
 and the redemption in Christ, are counter- 
 parts of the stupendous sclieme of the recon- 
 ciliation of sinners. 
 
Wby fallen 
 angels are ir- 
 reeoverable. 
 
 t8 
 
 AiJgels, vvlio are rational creatures, and 
 moral agents of a higher grade, and larger 
 powei's, were designedly put upon trial, as 
 well as the human race, but in a different 
 manner. Created holy, they stood each 
 for himself. Their liberty and dependance 
 as creatures, rendered them liable to defec- 
 tion. Some retained their innocence, and 
 others fell. A justification of angels, in the 
 forensic sense of the term, by the law which 
 they had broken, was and must ever remain 
 impossible ; for it implies the highest imputa- 
 tion on justice, since it w ould be no less, than 
 to pronounce the guilty innocent. Not only 
 is justice an insurmountable obstacle ; but the 
 tendency of sin to alienate the mind, and to 
 prevent the iniluence of moral motives, still 
 renders the damned more hostile, and Mill 
 effectually bar their return. 
 
 Angels and men were created for the same 
 iii.ai cause 1 end. That declarative glory of the Creator, 
 
 of creation. | 
 
 which may be supposed to have been the chief 
 
19 
 
 end, or final cause of creation, was not merely 
 display to creatures, but of his own designs 
 to himself.* His knowledge of future events 
 is not an effect, creation is the image of his 
 eternal purposes, and reflects himself to him- 
 self ; for it is what he had previously design- 
 ed, and can be neither an augmentation of his 
 knowledge, nor of his happiness. Had the 
 diffusion of good to creatures, been his highest 
 glory and pleasure, no degradation, no mis- 
 ery, had obtained. For man to prefer him- 
 self, is to mistake the chief good. For the 
 Supreme to postpone himself, would be 
 equally an errour. All his creatures rank, 
 in excellence, according to the degree, in wliich 
 they exhibit to himself his own perfections. 
 
 The natni-e 
 of the divine 
 kno\vltt1j;e. 
 
 His gifts are various ; angels were tested 
 by their perseverance in innocency ; the test 
 of the human race, was to be their return 
 from sin, by the acceptance of salvation 
 
 through a redeemer 
 
 To effect this, botli 
 
 vide note B. 
 
 Our state 
 of trial, un- 
 like those of 
 aMgeh,and of 
 Adaiu. 
 
Creation 
 and provi- 
 dence ancil- 
 lary to re- 
 demption. 
 
 20 
 
 the fall, and the ransom, were indispensably 
 necessary. A holy God would create no be- 
 ing in sin. Nor could the sin of any crea- 
 ture, be the effect of either decree, or causa- 
 tion ; for sin is nothing positive. But though 
 it could neither be created, nor absolutely 
 decreed, it might nevertheless be certain in 
 event, without laying the party under any 
 necessity. Man's degraded condition was 
 designed as the punishment of sin, but it is 
 incomparably better, than if every one had 
 stood for himself. Had each human agent 
 broken the law of his God, and no provision 
 existed for his recovery, the race must have 
 been like the fallen angels, without remedy. 
 But every event with respect to man, falls in 
 with the great design of redemption, which 
 was fully in the view of the Supreme, in all 
 eternity. 
 
 That such a scheme, or plan for the resto- 
 ration of men, was contemplated before the 
 creation, is clear from the subserviency to it 
 
21 
 
 of primitive innocence, the formation of the 
 woman, the paradise, sabbath ; the degrada- 
 tion, ejection, and curse of the first man : 
 and descent of the race from him ; from the 
 gradual progress made in its development ; 
 the harmony of its various parts ; the aston- 
 ishing wisdom of the things, which seem 
 most objectionable ; and above all, from the 
 perfections of the Creator. The distinct per- 
 ception of the prominent features of this stu- 
 pendous design, and of their relations to each 
 other, must greatly contribute to confirm our 
 faith, and fortify us against the seductions of 
 errour. Such an outline Timothy had obtained 
 from Paul ; " Hold fast the sketch of the pic- 
 ture of salutary doctrines which thou hast 
 heard from me." (a) The purpose to create 
 man intelligent moral and consequently under 
 law, discerning good and evil, and to place him 
 and his race in a state of forfeited happiness, 
 cut off from all possibility of restoration by the 
 merit of his obedience, were but parts of the 
 
 (a) 2 Tim. i. 13. wolvTcu^ti — vyixivovlm. 
 
 A previ- 
 ous, defined 
 plan. 
 
22 
 
 scheme of reconciliation ; which comprehend- 
 ed also the final judgment, to reveal the righte- 
 ousness of the administration, and vindicate 
 the Iionour of the divine government. 
 
 From the first exercise of reason, we have 
 
 !Man's trial 
 
 Tan thafof the whole of this precarious life in which 
 
 angels, 
 
 to escape from sin and its effects, and 
 ohtain a humble claim to that happiness, 
 which has been seasonably provided for us 
 through the great substitute ; for justice for- 
 bids, that we, more than fallen angels, should 
 be justified by a broken law. For Avant of 
 such provision, they are hopeless ; and from 
 us salvation is excluded in every way, but 
 that of the ^^ name" of Christ : " All we like 
 sheep have gone astray ; we have turned 
 every one to his own way, and the Lord hatli 
 laid on him the iniquity of us all." 
 
 The position in the text, that there was no 
 other name, or mean of salvation, was to the 
 priests a condemnation of their sacrifices daily 
 
23 
 
 offered in the temple, a rejection of the boasted 
 righteousness of the Pharisees, and the utter 
 abandonment of every hope of a messiah yet 
 to come. By it also we learn, that repentance 
 is no retribution ; that faith, love, and all other 
 duties are inadequate to that end. The debt, 
 which man has contracted, is infinite ; for the 
 obligation violated is commensurate with di- 
 vine excellency. In himself there is neither 
 help, nor hope ; nor even a disposition to re- 
 turn, except for advantage. To imagine, that 
 mere mercy or pardon, irrespective of the 
 demands of law and justice, can be extend- 
 ed to guilty man, is a mistake, springing 
 either from the substitution of a sovereign ^^^^^^ ^.^^_ 
 
 , don incon- 
 
 benefactor in the place of a just governor, "stem with 
 who never departs from strict rectitude ; or 
 from a comparison of the divine government, 
 with those which are human. The subjects 
 may be the same, and human laws may be 
 consistent with divine : but by reason of their 
 universality, they may produce injustice in 
 particular cases : or be found unreasonable 
 
 perfect gov- 
 ernment. 
 
24 
 
 and oppressive in their application. Judges 
 may be defective in jurisprudence ; or preju- 
 diced ; or even corrupt ; the evidence may be 
 false, or concealed, or misinterpreted ; or the 
 execution of a sentence might be incompati- 
 ble with the public weal. In such circum- 
 stances, justice, or sound policy, or both, 
 may require the discharge of a convict. But 
 these, and such reasons, have no place in the 
 perfect government of God ; nor can just 
 £:round for pardon, absolutely considered. 
 
 Pardon is i ~ * -^ "^ ' 
 
 "xiimied."" either exist under, or accord with the honour 
 of a divine administration. By the Supreme 
 Ruler of the universe, his laws are perfectly 
 understood, and seen to be conformed to his 
 own character, in moral excellence ; every 
 fact is known ; all effects are foreseen ; and 
 his judgments are always right. The possi- 
 bility of errour or impropriety in Him, being 
 utterly excluded, immutable justice is pledged 
 by the honour of the government, in every 
 sentence. To be justly accountable, men 
 have been created intelligent, the subjects of 
 
25 
 
 motives, able to distinguish ^'ood and evil, 
 informed of their duty, and vi^arned of the 
 danger consequent upon the neglect of it; 
 but if after all, the guilty might escape, the 
 strongest motives would lose their influence, 
 and the wisdom and the rectitude of the Kins 
 of heaven must be compromised ; the thought 
 of which is to be abhorred. When the scrip- 
 tures speak of pardon, they describe the an- 
 ticipation of our helpless condition in the 
 eternal purposes, the gratuitous provision of 
 the sacrifice of Christ, and the accomplish- 
 ment and promulgation of that redemption, 
 whereby God has made it just and honoura- 
 ble, to save the guilty. But if pardon could 
 have been extended, without regard to the 
 claims of justice, the Son of God has taken 
 our nature in vain. If it could have been 
 granted absolutely, why should fallen spirits 
 have been so long detained ])y justice ? Mere 
 mercy without a solid reason for pardon, is 
 not discretion but caprice, and would dispar- 
 age the character even of a mortal ruler. 
 
 D 
 
 Tlie scrip, 
 tiiral sense 
 of pardon. 
 
 Xo appeal 
 can be made 
 to the sove- 
 reignty of 
 God, when 
 he acts as a 
 moral gover- 
 nor. 
 
26 
 
 If threatened punishment is empty sound, and 
 judges are under no obligations to observe 
 and enforce laws, why are penalties inflicted 
 in any instance? Abraham would have spa- 
 red Sodom; was he more merciful than God? 
 But the honour of his government is in safe 
 hands, and will certainly be vindicated. His 
 laws must be executed, his purposes accom- 
 plished, nor shall his truth fail, though the 
 heavens and the earth should pass away. 
 
 1 he iiicar- 
 uation was 
 glory. 
 
 The descent of the Son of God to this 
 speck in creation, and his assumption of our 
 nature to save man, may appear to superficial 
 reflection, unworthy of so great a personage. 
 But the ideas of great and small are peculiar 
 to us, and have no place with Him, who is 
 infinite ; a sparrow, could it drop unnoticed, 
 would involve his character. In the field of 
 creation, not an insect escapes his view. 
 Should the philosopher forget the orb on 
 which he stands, it has nevertheless the at- 
 tention of infinite Avisdom, and the support of 
 
27 
 
 irresistible power. Let the superciliousness 
 of puny infidels abandon our race to despair ; 
 angels will not fail to celebrate in songs the 
 rescue of the redeemed ; whilst they behold 
 (lod himself, searching out and restoring 
 the lost sheep, and manifesting perfections, 
 which otherwise might have remained to his 
 creatures forever unknown. 
 
 His justice, unerringly exact, is limited by 
 rules which are eternal. Mercy, any more 
 than reprobation, can never be extended by 
 sovereignty to the disparagement of equity. 
 For though the universal proprietor may do 
 with his own as he pleases ; yet being immu- 
 tably good, he will never exercise such right, 
 except in conferring good, and that in perfect 
 consistency Avitli the uncompromising claims 
 of rectitude, and truth. 
 
 Justice and 
 mercy are 
 not ailiitrai-y 
 acta towards 
 man. 
 
 The only way by which, man, considered 
 as fallen, could escape, was by substitution ; 
 the thing announced by Peter to his guilty 
 
28 
 
 judges ; but this must be a part of the original 
 scheme, eternally purposed. No alteration 
 has obtained in the design ; redemption is the 
 most prominent feature, and glorious event, 
 in the government of the Father, and ^'ac- 
 cording to his own purpose and grace, which 
 was given us in Christ Jesus before the world 
 began. ^^ No injustice was offered, in his tre- 
 mendous suretiship, to the Son; 'Ho I come, 
 I delight to do thy will.^^ The trial of our 
 race w^as not to be by innocence, but deliver- 
 ance; law must exist, but it was posterior 
 unto, and enacted in compliance with the 
 eternal purpose, that *' Christ should be its 
 end,^' or scope, "for righteousness to every 
 one that believes. ^^ 
 
 Substitution 
 consistent 
 with justice 
 and law. 
 
 The substitute for liuman obedience was 
 the lawgiver himself; the Copartaker of the 
 nature of the Father, did, as man, submit to 
 his own law ; the highest honour possible to 
 be conferred upon it. Conceding that neither 
 our sins could be transferred to him, to make 
 
29 
 
 him unholy ; nor his righteousness to us, there- 
 by infusing moral purity into us ; neverthelesis 
 he might, by an original constitution, take our 
 place, be treated, as if guilty, and die, " the 
 just for the unjust, "^^ that we might be blessed 
 as if righteous. And if so, no reasonable 
 ground of complaint can be brought against 
 this vicarious sacrifice, either with respect to 
 its purpose, or accomplishment. Law was 
 made, and written on the heart of man, in 
 subserviency unto the scheme of redemption ; 
 and can no more contravene the eternal de- 
 sign, than by-laws can supersede a charter; 
 or the laws of a state repeal the constitution, 
 or bill of rights, upon which the government 
 is founded. 
 
 The pui' 
 poit of re- 
 tlemptiun was 
 paramount to 
 law. 
 
 The divine nature of the Son was neither 
 confined to, nor confounded with the human 
 soul and body of Christ ; but was after the 
 personal union every where present, as he 
 noAv is; being still in the Father and the 
 Father in him. The properties of either 
 
 'I'lie vica- 
 rious righte- 
 ouiiiiess was 
 human. 
 
The righte- 
 ousness of 
 Christ is not 
 transferred to 
 the believer. 
 
 30 
 
 nature are occasionally predicated of the pei- 
 son, yet the human nature only could suffer 
 and obey. His essential righteousness as 
 God, was not that by which we are saved ; 
 but his human righteousness, including the 
 sacrifice, was the purposed substitution. The 
 two natures constituted one divine person as 
 truly, and comprehensibly, as do soul and 
 body the person of a man. From his concep- 
 tion the union existed; though he hid his face 
 from us ; and his obedience was ever that of 
 a divine person, and of infinite value. Could 
 his righteousness have become the personal 
 righteousness of the believer, there would be 
 no need of sanctification. It served the high- 
 er and eternal design of justification; and to 
 satisfy law and justice, was necessarily per- 
 fect; but the saint feels his defects, so long 
 as he lives. The value of the sacrifice de- 
 pended not principally, upon the intensity of 
 the sufferings however great; but upon this, 
 that he was a divine person. Impartial in- 
 vestigation can put to silence, every objection 
 
31 
 
 against this salvation, drawn by reason from 
 the divine and human characters, if the repre- 
 sentations of the New Testament were con- 
 sidered merely as human testimony ; but tliey 
 bear the characteristics, in all respects, of a 
 revelation, which came from God. 
 
 Had a creature of the highest order under- 
 taken, he had had no right to lay down his 
 life, no power to resume it ; no dignity com- 
 mensurate with the guilt of men ; and no 
 authority from a substitution founded in the 
 eternal purposes providing a legal relief. 
 But Christ ''hath an unchangeable j/riesthood. 
 wherefore he is able also to save to the iit- 
 termostf all that come unto God by him, see- 
 ing he ever liveth to make intercession for 
 them.^^* 
 
 The iiiedi.i- 
 tor must be 
 divine. 
 
 If the inspired apostle Peter, directing him- 
 self immediately to the murderers of Christ, 
 could affirm their salvation to be only in liim. 
 
 *Vide note C 
 
Christ "tast- 
 ed death for 
 ►•Tfry man." 
 
 32 
 
 whom they had slain, and whom God had 
 raised from the dead ; to whom may not the 
 same offer be made? The value is enough 
 for all, the invitation sincerely tendered to 
 every one to whom it is brought, and the 
 commission to proclaim it, paramount to 
 the commandments of men. But though 
 Christ tasted death for every man ; the claims 
 of justice are not removed from those who 
 reject the mercy, or neglect to avail them- 
 selves of the only salvation, through the sin- 
 ful aversion of their own hearts. 
 
 Every event proceeding immediately from 
 God previously existed in his purposes, and 
 is therefore strictly conformed to his fore- 
 knowledge ; infinite wisdom and power, with 
 equal facility also, when using the instru- 
 mentality of voluntary agents, can and do 
 secure the same certainty of accomplishment, 
 in ways compatible with their liberty. Thu!!i 
 although the ransom be offered sincerely to 
 all, and being of infinite value is sufficient for 
 
33 
 
 the whole; yet all will not be found to have 
 partaken of the redemption; and this event 
 was equally founded in the eternal foreknow- 
 ledge. Christ bore the curse of the law, the 
 lost are not rejected for defect in him, but their 
 own ; they voluntarily reject the mercy, and 
 still remain under the curse. All may, but 
 they will not come; Avho shall and who shall 
 not be saved, is neither known to others, nor 
 always to themselves ; but God communicates 
 the blessing as a sovereign, doing Avith his 
 gifts as he pleases ; and because all are wholly 
 unworthy, and with one consent opposed to 
 salvation, none have any claim on justice, and 
 none any right to complain of injury. Those 
 who voluntarily receive and rest upon Christ 
 for salvation, use their own liberty, and save 
 themselves ; but as liberty never destroys de- 
 pendance, either in providence or grace, the 
 same are the called and justified ; and are so 
 united to Christ, as that by his satisfaction of 
 the demands of justice against them, they are 
 upon principles already mentioned, notwith- 
 
 The saci'i- 
 fice is imlef5- 
 nite, redemp- 
 tion is liniil- 
 fil. 
 
 Mercy flow* 
 from sove- 
 reignty.judg. 
 ment from 
 justice. 
 
Law btiiig 
 preJicateH on 
 t)ie scheme of 
 redemption, 
 can claim no 
 more. 
 
 64 
 
 standing their sins, treated as if they had been 
 righteous, and such they will be found, with 
 respect to their works 'wrought in faith, in the 
 the last account, compared with the lost. 
 Those who consider redemption as an amend- 
 ment of a broken scheme, and not the chief 
 design ; and the substitution as a repeal of 
 law ; and vindicate its propriety independently 
 of the antecedent provision in the eternal pur- 
 pose, deem the sacrifice of Christ necessary 
 to satisfy its penalty, and his obedience as 
 designed to perform its condition, and secure 
 a title to life. But if there has been no change 
 of scheme, there seems to be no necessity for 
 the distinction ; also in fact, he obeyed in suf- 
 fering, and suffered in obeying. It was the 
 eternal purpose, to put fallen man upon trial, 
 and treat him as a moral agent, to place before 
 him everlasting happiness, and demand his 
 escape ; when he believes, there is a removal 
 of his guilt, that is his obligation to punish- 
 ment; and by the Holy Spirit he is made 
 fit for heaven, that to God might belong all 
 the glory of salvation. 
 
35 
 
 Man was from the first a subject of divine 
 government ; and as such he is bound to obe- 
 dience, so long as he possesses his intellectual 
 and voluntary faculties, whether a glorified 
 saint, or a damned spirit ; his rule of action 
 must depend upon his relations, the will of 
 his maker prescribing what he ought to do, 
 or forbear.* Nevertheless, it was at no pe- 
 riod possible since the fall, that any one 
 should live by his obedience, but only by 
 him, who was promised in Eden, and cru- 
 cified on Calvary. 
 
 The good man may be justified, or adjudged 
 among men to be righteous, by his obedience 
 to law; but the heart being concealed, and 
 the law spiritual, such acquittal is no certain 
 proof of true rectitude. The purest holiness 
 of the believer, in the sight of him, who knows 
 the secret motives and desires, from which our 
 actions flow^, is defective; and justice forbids, 
 that we should be adjudged to be what we are 
 
 *Vlde note D. 
 
 Obl'igaliiiii 
 of law con- 
 tinues whilst 
 our relations 
 are the samo. 
 
 Justiii(.atioii 
 before men. 
 
36 
 
 Works re- 
 warded to be- 
 lievers. 
 
 not. The works of the redeemed will never- 
 theless, under all their imperfections, receive 
 a gracious reward, but if it be claimed as a 
 right, then are we not innocent ; and for the 
 impenitent to substitute the most plausible 
 morality in the room of the atonement, is open 
 rebellion. No doctrine is more plainly given 
 in the sacred word, than, that in the presence 
 of God, no fallen creature can be justified by 
 his own goodness ; and sovereignty will never 
 extend mercy, where justice is not satisfied, 
 for their provinces are perfectly defined. 
 
 The final 
 j udgment not 
 glorious un- 
 less just, and 
 if it will be 
 just, so was 
 the purpose, 
 which pro- 
 duced it. 
 
 In eternity, justification in Christ was in 
 purpose; in time, it is the act of God, and 
 known by its fruits ; and at the judgment, ita 
 righteousness will be revealed to the universe; 
 yet is it in the last day a comparative judg- 
 ment on works, to justify former judgments, 
 passed upon the same persons. It might be 
 incompatible with the present state of proba- 
 tion, to discover the justice of God, in his ad- 
 judications ; and since in the final account 
 
37 
 
 it must be seen, that all, that had been clone in 
 rejecting the wicketl, was perfectly just ; then 
 it will also appear, that it could not have been 
 unjust to have intended to do the same thing 
 from eternity. This thought may well put 
 to silence incautious objections to what are 
 called, in reference to human affairs, the 
 decrees of God. 
 
 To save from the guilt of sin, or remove 
 the obligation to punishment, is to justify ; 
 which is not to pronounce innocent, this is 
 the forensic sense, but to restore to justice, 
 her claim stipulated in Christ, and to treat 
 the offender, as if he were righteous. Of 
 course the justifier can be God only ; the blood 
 of Christ the appointed ground ; and his 
 resurrection from the dead, both the proof 
 of his own justification, and of all who be- 
 lieve ; for it evinced that this sacrifice was 
 accepted, and that he laid down his life, as 
 he said, for the sins of the world. 
 
 Justification 
 in the forenr 
 sic sense, im- 
 possible to 
 the guilty. 
 
A vicariuus 
 sacrifice sup- 
 poses a previ- 
 ous purpose 
 of substiiu- 
 
 To be justijied by his blood, or saved in 
 him, implies a previous, purpose, witliout 
 which his offering, sacrifice, or dying under 
 a curse, could not have been deemed a ran- 
 som or price, whereby men might receive re- 
 demption from the guilt and bondage of sin, 
 and salvation from its effects. And such pur- 
 pose of substitution, must not only have been, 
 of one qualified in the manner before men- 
 tioned ; but have existed prior to the creation, 
 and consequently before there was a law given 
 to man, or the threatening of death for its 
 infraction. A substitution after a forfeiture, 
 would have been a departure from justice, a re- 
 peal of the law, and equally irreconcilable with 
 the scheme of creation, as with the discrimi- 
 nations of the moral sense. But now there has 
 been no change of purpose, the justice of God 
 
 IS saiisiitu HI I , „ 
 
 behalf of the IS Safe; and the law being enacted and pro- 
 mulgated upon such terms, and interpreted 
 by them, retains no curse for the redeemed ; 
 but if taken by itself, and without such con- 
 stitution, it would bring them, as well as the 
 
 How tlie law 
 is satisfied in 
 
 saved. 
 
39 
 
 impenitent, into condemnation. Tlius the 
 honour of the government is maintained, as 
 originally designed ; the wisdom of God seen 
 to he perfect; and the whole universe will 
 approve the mercy, and the justice of God, in 
 the salvation of man. 
 
 This ^^«ame," or person, was the seed 
 promised in Eden; believed on by Abel, and 
 the worthies of all ancient times; the anti- 
 type of the sacriiices of every age; foretold 
 by Moses, and other prophets ; ushered in ai 
 the appointed time, accompanied by every 
 characteristic, which was suitable; confessed 
 in every baptism ; exhibited in every eucha- 
 rist; preached throughout the world; the me- 
 dium of access in all worship ; and ever pre- 
 sent with his church, till he shall come to 
 reveal the righteousness of God, and to take 
 his people to the kingdom prepared for them 
 before the foundation of the world. 
 
 "He citmc 
 unto his own, 
 and his own 
 received him 
 not." 
 
 A mischievous, but highly wrought theory 
 
'I'lie scheme 
 of antece- 
 dent,am' con- 
 sfqueiit bles- 
 
 Grtice, lutrt- 
 )y ol)jective, 
 transfers the 
 glory to man. 
 
 40 
 
 exists, which accounts the first advantages of 
 redemption, to be merely objective, in such 
 antecedent blessings, as an external call, a 
 church, and all the visible means of salvation; 
 and when by believing, repenting, and doing 
 good, we render them subjective, we are re- 
 warded with the consequent blessings of par- 
 don, adoption, and eternal happiness. Ac- 
 cording to this interpretation of spiritual, by 
 external and typical things, there is good in 
 creatures, Avhich is not the gift of God ; man 
 is not made willing, but renders God willing ; 
 has no need of a change by divine immediate 
 influence ; and may either defeat God's pur- 
 poses, or accomplish, what was to him un- 
 known : neither the scheme of providence, 
 nor redemption, being determinate and com- 
 plete, in the view of the creator, it must 
 result, that God is imperfect, we are idola- 
 ters, and atheism is truth. 
 
 If salvation be objective, and grace merely 
 suasive. not efficacious: then man's volitions 
 
41 
 
 are not means in God's hand, to effect his 
 designs, but contingent self-determinations, 
 foreseen by him, by the moral character of 
 which, he determined the destiny of every man 
 in eternity. But this, waving the contradic- 
 tion implied in tlie certain foreknowledge of 
 that, which is uncertain, is to suppose divine 
 knowledge to be of the same kind, with that 
 of creatures ; yet facts evince that man's is 
 derived from its objects; whilst all things 
 spring, and every event results, from purposes 
 and knowledge which are eternal. It is also 
 a rejection of the efficiency of the eternal wis- 
 dom and power of God, which accomplish 
 ^11 events, according to original designs ; and 
 an abandonment of salvation by Christ, ex- 
 cept in name, by supposing man to be inde- 
 pendent, meritorious, and his own saviour. 
 
 Others, whilst they acknowledge the divin- 
 ity of Christ, and the necessity of an atone- 
 ment; and inculcate with ardour the duties 
 of faith, repentance, and obedience; and speak 
 
 The saoii- 
 fice of Christ 
 13 more than 
 a mert-ly ii:n. 
 ral iiicaii. 
 
12 
 
 much of the grace of God ; do iieverthelesi* 
 consider, that the death of Christ, was only a 
 great moral mean, or powerful motive, to 
 bring guilty men to submission; and to pro- 
 duce that repentance, which they term a con- 
 dition, to the performance of Avliich they 
 imagine salvation promised. This scheme, 
 however pleasing to those, who take intellec- 
 tual and moral science as a guide, will ap- 
 pear, when tested by the word of truth, a 
 merely gratuitous hypothesis ; really frustra- 
 ting the grace of God ; removing the necessity 
 of an atonement ; and compromising the dig- 
 nity of the Rectoral Governor, by yielding 
 the inviolable demands of stern justice, and 
 listening to appeals made to sovereign mercy. 
 To prevent such abandonment of the rights of 
 his government, and the public guarantee he 
 had given to support its dignity, Christ died. 
 
 Tuitifiratidii 
 is mure than 
 pardon, it is 
 the sentence 
 of jiisiicp. 
 
 Others depart from the apostolic faith, by 
 strangely deeming salvation to be mere par- 
 don. Thus do they exclude, except in name, 
 
43 
 
 the doctrine of justification, and with it the 
 stupendous scheme of redemption, the aston- 
 ishment and song of the blessed, openly 
 avowing, that they do not pretend to afiBrm, 
 that the sacrifice of Christ could be a satis- 
 faction of the claims of justice against us. 
 Yet we learn, that God, is just^ ivhen he jus- 
 Hjies the guilty ; and certainly upon princi- 
 ples controlling the letter of that law, which 
 pronounces us guilty. Their mistake seems 
 to be the extension of sovereignty to the dis- 
 paragement of justice ; but the honour of the 
 moral government of Grod must not be tarnish- 
 ed. It is also not discernible, how Christ 
 should be to them, the object of a saving 
 faith, or more than a nominal sacrifice for sin. 
 
 Perfection excludes mutability, and conse- 
 quently affection, and passion; also internal 
 excitement, and external impulse, have no 
 place in God ; yet the source of every good 
 may well be denominated love; aijd his justice 
 
 •Vide note E, 
 
 In what sensfc 
 God is love. 
 
Salvjitimi is 
 not a final 
 cause^ 
 
 44 
 
 really goodness, guided by Avisdom. All 
 happiness is communicated by Him, but we 
 must not magnify his benevolence indiscreet- 
 ly, as if the good of the creature ought to 
 rise paramount to the glory of Grod. We 
 shall misinterpret his own revelation, if, in- 
 stead of referring the atonement of Christ to 
 the mercy of God, in providing for the satis- 
 faction of the claims of justice ; we should 
 lay justice out of the question, and attribute 
 our salvation to mere benevolence, issuing 
 forth pardon as an act of sovereignty, under 
 the broad seal of heaven ; and thus superse- 
 ding the necessity, and consequently the pro- 
 priety of that sacrifice, which takes away the 
 sins of the world. Salvation does flow from 
 God's benevolence, who is independent in his 
 love ; and his sovereignty is displayed in the 
 communication of good ; but he sustains ano- 
 ther character, that of a moral governor. 
 And as his justice can never be swerved to 
 the improper exercise of his power and wis- 
 dom; so cannot his glory be compromised, 
 
45 
 
 by the extrajudicial extension of mercy lo 
 the guilty. 
 
 Pride, connatural to man, renders him 
 righteous in his own eyes; and sometimes 
 prompts him either to arrogate the glory of 
 salvation; or to deny that the blame of his 
 destruction, is justly chargeable upon himself. 
 The multitude in every age, because con- 
 scious of liberty, secretly reject, what they 
 nominally confess, a dependance on the pro- 
 vidence and grace of God; and rest securely,, 
 in ignorance of themselves, upon their own 
 imaginary innocency. It is indeed true, 
 that man is subject, neither to a constraint, 
 nor restraint, incompatible with moral agen- 
 cy ; for then would he cease to be, responsible 
 to the claims of justice, and the \1ctim of 
 remorse, when arraigned at the bar of Iiis 
 own conscience. 
 
 Whom the Lord justifies, he renews by 
 changing the heart; which sanctified dispo- 
 
 Man's liber- 
 ty is not inde- 
 pendence. 
 
46 
 
 Moral ina- 
 bility is mere 
 indispositioD. 
 
 sition, has been improperly tlenoininated mo- 
 ral ability ; and the opposite^ because of cer- 
 tain figurative expressions used in the scrip- 
 tures, moral inability; but there is no want 
 of power, that can excuse, for there is no 
 other imputable inability, than indisposition. 
 He who formed and sustains the soul, and 
 knows the thoughts, has power; and through 
 the sacrifice of Christ, just right, at his sove- 
 reign pleasure to renew the dispositions of 
 the redeemed, and thus by accomplishing in 
 them, what they ought to effect, and had 
 no right to claim, fit them for his own 
 presence. 
 
 Spiritual in- 
 fluence dis- 
 tinguished 
 from facul- 
 ties, and o- 
 ther talents. 
 
 He gives to all, in different degrees, the 
 natural faculties of perceiving, and compa- 
 ring evidence, and eliciting truth; of distin- 
 guishing good and evil, and choosing either: 
 for these they are to account, as well as for 
 all other talents, in proportion to their extent, 
 but no farther. The influences of the Holy 
 Spirit, are denominated grace, because purely 
 
47 
 
 gratuitous ; they supply the want of a hearty 
 not a defect of power, of which there is 
 enough. These are not talents, and admit 
 no improvement. For the influences of the 
 Holy Spirit, no account will be demanded ; 
 they are God's work, and always eifectual 
 to the extent of the divine purpose; never 
 objects perceivable by him, who is the sub- 
 ject of them, except in their effects. The 
 natural abilities of men are as fit for good, 
 as evil ; and make them moral, because volun- 
 tary agents, bound to choose the duty, m hicli 
 God has assigned them, and justly punisha- 
 ble for their own delinquencies. When the 
 Lord makes us willing, it is not by destroy- 
 ing our liberty ; for we choose without com- 
 pulsion. The will of every one, operates 
 according to his nature, or disposition; if 
 this be good, the choice is good; if it be 
 evil, the will inclines to evil. When the 
 Lord makes man willing, it is not intended 
 of the providential support, of a dependant, 
 yet active creature, it is by cliansiins; his 
 
 How int-ii 
 are made wil- 
 ling withour 
 restraint. 
 
The holiness 
 of man is not 
 
 mrritorious. 
 
 disposition and removing his prejudices 
 against good. When the choice is evil, it 
 is from motives wliich accord with the alien- 
 ated heart. Holiness in man, viewed in its 
 origin, is ever the gift of God ; yet not in 
 His sight the exact contrast of sinfulness, in 
 point of merit and demerit; it is fit the rec- 
 titude of the saint should justify him before 
 men, for he acts freely ; but it can claim no 
 reward, except hy favour, in the sight of 
 Him, who gave the disposition; for man is 
 to be justified there, ivithout deeds of lata. 
 When treated as if righteous, upon the plan 
 of the Gospel, his obedience to law, or in- 
 herent righteousness, is not the cause. The 
 eternally purposed substitution of Christ, is 
 the sole ground of his legal acceptance; and 
 to declare it a valid justification, belongs to 
 God only ; consequently, the evidence of pre- 
 sent interest in redemption, can only be by its 
 concomitant blessings, faith, and other fruits. 
 
 Faith is used in various senses in the 
 
tion. 
 
 49 
 
 Grospel; when enjoined as a duty, it never 
 justifies as such. That which accompanies 
 salvation, includes the assent of the under- | wufcuacMm' 
 
 I panies salva- 
 
 standing to the evidence, or a conviction, of 
 revealed truth; the consent of the heart to 
 moral good, howsoever presented; and also 
 an affiance on, or at least an acquiescence in, 
 and cleaving unto the Saviour : and is not a 
 naked assent, a mere profession of Christian- 
 ity; not even a desire to be Christ's, flowing 
 from a regard to safety ; not baptism, and a 
 good life ; not the firm belief that Christ is 
 our redeemer, and his benefits secure to us ; 
 it being one thing to receive and rest upon 
 him, as offered to us, and quite another to be- 
 lieve that we do believe; to which the vilest 
 can sometimes attain. 
 
 As it was by descent from Adam, we in- 
 herited moral destitution, condemnation, and 
 death ; so is it by our union unto Christ, that 
 we obtain rectification of heart, salvation from 
 the guilt, and punishment of sin, and live for- 
 
 G 
 
50 
 
 rlie believ- 
 er has, in 
 Iiis change of 
 heart, the 
 credible evi- 
 dence of for- 
 gnveness. 
 
 ever, (a) The word, which testifies our dan- 
 ger and helplessness, also declares his ahility 
 and willingness to save us. He who accredits 
 this testimony, and receives, and rests upon 
 the Redeemerj has the evidence of his union 
 to and interest in him ; "as many as received 
 him^ to them gave he the privilege to become 
 the sons of God, even to them who believe on 
 his name.'' In the kingdoms of providence 
 and grace, the same Sovereign is the source 
 of all the good ; from him comes every good 
 gift in the former^ and every perfect in the 
 latter. We are debtors for every advantage 
 we possess, whilst to him belongs all the glo- 
 i-y. Although dependant at all times, and 
 never able to defeat his purposes ; yet are we, 
 not mere machines, but subjects of his moral 
 government, possessing the faculties suited to 
 his service, and responsible for their exercise. 
 Our native iudisposition to holiness, figura- 
 tively denominated moral inability, to distin- 
 ii;uis]i it from that which excuses, superin- 
 
 (a) Horn. V. 
 
51 
 
 duces both a slavery to sin, and an enmity 
 against God ; and if i^ersisted in througli our 
 period of trial, must eventuate in a final sepa- 
 ration from all good. 
 
 That faith is the gift of God, is a prover- 
 bial, not a scriptural expression,* often re- 
 hearsed as an excuse for unbelief, by those 
 who bear him no regard. The belief of the 
 divine testimony, and the proper use of the 
 means of salvation, unquestionably imply a 
 change of disposition, which an unrenewed 
 man will not, and moral suasion can not effect. 
 The Holy Spirit being under no obligation, 
 to confer that disposition, Avhich we ought to 
 possess ; such influence is wisely, and for our 
 admonition, called grace. But this is un- 
 happily considered an ability or power, whilst 
 all that is meant is no more than a disposition, 
 or heart to use those powers we already pos- 
 sess, in a right manner and to proper ends, 
 
 * Ephes. ii. 8. tovJo that thing, viz. your salvation. 
 Vide tamen, Col. ii. 12. 
 
 How faith 
 is the gift of 
 God. 
 
52 
 
 Prudence 
 requires an 
 anticipation 
 of our last 
 account. 
 
 The conse- 
 quences of 
 making sin a 
 ■want of pow- 
 
 If any man think to allege this moral defect 
 as his excuse at the final tribunal ; prudence 
 suggests, that he should try his defence, be- 
 fore he is placed at a bar from which there is 
 no appeal ; when the harvest will be past^ 
 and summer ended, and all the offers of mercy 
 clean gone forever. Should he now clothe 
 his plea, in language, the substance would 
 be; "Having been brought into existence 
 without my consent, I may hate my Creator, 
 his laws, and government, and prefer the gra- 
 tification of the appetites, he has given me: 
 and so strong is my indisposition toward him, 
 that I am determined of my own deliberate 
 choice, never to repent, believe, obey nor love 
 him till he change my heart, and make it my 
 pleasure to serve him ; and because I am such, 
 as he has made me, and he could change my 
 disposition if he would, I am not guilty of 
 the things laid to my charge.'' This popular 
 defence is a renunciation of the supreme au- 
 thority of the Creator, a denial of the obliga- 
 tion of his laws, an impeachment of his jus- 
 
53 
 
 tice, and an attempt to devolve man's guilt 
 upon a holy God. All this blasphemy springs 
 from confounding disposition^, or propensity^ 
 with faculty, or ability, and taking the Sa- 
 viour's figurative representation of our crim- 
 inal aversion to holiness, in a literal sense, as 
 a want of power. 
 
 A persuasion that we desire and strive, pray 
 and go the round of duties, is no proof of 
 these facts; for the heart may be wanting. 
 To complain, on the other hand, that we are 
 destitute of the power necessary to holiness, 
 is additional iniquity. For if by power, we 
 mean either the physical faculties, under- 
 standing, Avill, &c. or the ability to exercise 
 them at our pleasure, we have such power ; 
 or if we intend by that term, opportunity or 
 advantage for serving God ; the defect would 
 excuse ; but we possess this, since the motives 
 and inducements are abundant, and as strong, 
 as that liberty admits, which is essential to 
 moral agency. But if by power, inclination 
 
 Iniijortance 
 of a just idea 
 of power. 
 
54 
 
 be meant, and this is all the inability, it never 
 excuses. 
 
 TlieiL- is 
 ao religion, 
 ■whei*e the 
 heart is want- 
 ing. 
 
 'I'lie expres- 
 sions, special 
 and common 
 grace, never 
 occur in the 
 Scriptures, 
 
 The heart is that which fixes the moral 
 character, this is the man ; for what this is, 
 he is. It consequently follows, that his re- 
 luctant prayers, strivings, and duties, being 
 objects of his aversion, are the reverse of re- 
 ligion. When therefore the Lord, withhold- 
 ing his sanctifying influences, leaves such in 
 spiritual death, he conforms to their own real 
 wishes, and their complaints are unjust. The 
 supposition that to every man is given com- 
 mon grace, that is, faint and ineffectual influ- 
 ences subordinated to human caprice, which, 
 unless he resists them, cause him to believe 
 with his heart, seems to have arisen from a 
 misunderstanding of expressions used for ob- 
 jective strivings. Neither the word of God, 
 rightly understood, nor reason, nor matter of 
 fact, supports the distinction of special and 
 common influences of the spirit. This would 
 attribute to man the honor of his salvation, 
 
55 
 
 which is not his due, and turn favour into 
 debt. If man improves grace, then he is in- 
 dependent in such use of influences, and here 
 is a good which is not from God. But if such 
 improvement is also from him, the distinction 
 is useless. The truth seems to be, that on 
 this point christians differ because they are 
 not mutually understood. Liberty should be 
 predicated, not of the Avill, but of the man ; 
 and what more can any desire than that, 
 which we cheerfully yield, that if man were 
 either subjected to constraint or restraint, his 
 responsibility would be destroyed. 
 
 Liberty is 
 not of the 
 will, but of 
 the mail' 
 
 This imagined equality in the influences of 
 the Spirit, whereby men are supposed to be 
 treated justly ; and to be saved, when they 
 do not, and lost when they do resist the grace 
 of God, is a doctrine flattering to the carnal 
 mind ; but impeaches the divine sovereignty, 
 by imposing an obligation, and demanding 
 without right, that of the justice of God, 
 which is conferred, or witliholden at his plea- 
 
Different 
 senses of tlie 
 word grace. 
 
 56 
 
 sure. But if grace be taken for the offers of 
 mercy, and means of salvation by Christ, it 
 is resistible, and such resistance, persisted 
 in, must destroy. Thus Stephen observed, 
 '^Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost. ^' Also 
 grace and duty are often convertible terms. 
 The duties of the gospel, such as faith, hope, 
 and love, may be resisted, and such resistance 
 must prove fatal. But when performed with 
 the heart, they result from spiritual influence, 
 are God's gift, and accompany salvation. 
 Also the Holy Spirit may graciously restrain 
 without sanctifying a sinner, who sins in every 
 act and thought. But grace, taken to denote 
 the sanctifying influences of the Spirit of 
 God upon the soul, which are internal, and 
 imperceptible, not objects of choice, nor ta- 
 lents, either to be improved or accounted for, 
 in the final judgment, is neither the product 
 of human effort, nor the subject of previous 
 intimation ; but, making the party willing, 
 excludes resistance; and must be in every one, 
 to whom it is given, efficacious, to the extent 
 
51 
 
 of the divine purpose. Those, therefore, 
 who found the justice of the divine command 
 of holiness, upon the possession of a com- 
 mon spiritual influence, assume, what facts 
 do not support, and teach an independency, 
 exceedingly problematical. If grace be not 
 debt, then is it unnecessary to the vindication 
 of justice in the punishment of sin. The 
 Spirit's influence in calling us into a state of 
 salvation by a redeemer, and in opening the 
 heart, that we may discover by the word the 
 way of escape, is an act of distinguishing 
 mercy ; but when bestowed, until we know 
 it, it can lay us under no obligations to be- 
 lieve, and obey ; yet its direct tendency is to 
 produce these effects. When, nevertheless, 
 the possession of spiritual aids may be rea- 
 sonably inferred from their fruits, this ought 
 to become a strong incentive to gratitude, 
 praise, and other obedience.- 
 
 Conscious as the judges of Peter and John 
 
 *Vidc note F. 
 H 
 
 Grace not 
 necessary to 
 justice. 
 
58 
 
 The offers 
 of the gospel 
 are not to be 
 restrained to 
 select cha- 
 racters. 
 
 were, that tliey resisted the truth; ami con 
 viiiced as they ought to have been, that they 
 had murdered the true Messiah ; yet were 
 they not too vile to be permitted to hear the 
 offers of salvation. In the same strain were 
 the subsequent proclamations of the gospel 
 by the apostles, who required repentance and 
 faith; which were charges of guilt, and par- 
 ticularly of the rejection of evidence. They 
 demanded not preparatory qualifications of 
 sinners to recommend them ; nor did they 
 say, that their belief, that Christ is theirs, 
 would be a reception of him by faith, or al- 
 ways a proof of an interest in his sacrifice. 
 To counsel the discharge of other duties, 
 than of repentance and faith, to those, who 
 are impenitent, is to offer them an excuse, and 
 to misrepresent their condition, as if they 
 were not defective of a heart to believe, 
 whilst they are still enemies to God, and un- 
 der his curse. 
 
 In the ministrationsi of these heralds of 
 
59 
 
 peace, ilie want of grace is sometimes impu- 
 ted to the sinner as liis crime ; plainly because 
 his enmity, and hatred of holiness, which are 
 ( hargeable only on himself, are so inveterate, 
 as always to remain until God takes away 
 the heart of stone. This is the seat of the 
 malady, which is merely moral ; till the 
 heart is opened to attend, till the man is dis- 
 posed to receive the truth, objective light ad- 
 dresses the understanding to no saving pur- 
 pose. Some have alleged it to be in vain to 
 strive, till grace is given ; for if we arc to be 
 saved, Ave shall be born of tlie Spirit, do 
 what we will, and if we are to be lost, Ave 
 ■^ball never obtain tlie influence, do aa hat Ave 
 can. But this objection falsely supposes, 
 man to be the subject of an irresistible neces- 
 sity to l)e saved, or lost, let him choose as he 
 may. There can be no doubt, that if Ave are 
 to be saved, Ave shall become the subjects of 
 reneAving grace, for God is the efficient cause 
 of all things, and this is his course. Also, that 
 future events are certain, is a plain deduction 
 
 The reason 
 of the coiii- 
 iiinntl to have 
 
 An answtr 
 to an hack- 
 neyed objec- 
 tion against 
 ihe efficaey 
 of grace. 
 
Di\ iue furc- 
 knowledge 
 ilejiends not 
 uu future 
 ovtnts, but 
 they are 
 founded on 
 eternal pur- 
 noses. 
 
 60 
 
 from the perfections of the sovereign propri- 
 etor of the universe ; but they follow in the 
 succession of cause and effect ; salvation is 
 consequently not to be expected without holi- 
 ness, any more than reaping without sowing. 
 Accordingly if salvation be from sin, it cannot 
 obtain without repentance ; but if they w ho 
 have the offer, do not receive Christ by faith, 
 they remain inimical, and cannot escape ; for 
 all, who submit, are saved ; and those, who 
 do not, destroy themselves. But to affirm, 
 either that any shall perish, because they do 
 not, what they have no power to do ; or that 
 their unbelief is not their fault, is to blas- 
 pheme the justice of God. 
 
 To attribute foreknowledge to God, which 
 in the first cause of all things can never de- 
 pend on future events, but must identify itself 
 with his eternal purposes : and at the same 
 time to hold, that there is no certainty in the 
 events, which are the subjects of his fixed 
 designs, because they depend upon human 
 
61 
 
 volitions, and are contingent to ns, is absurdly 
 to suppose' the liberty, which is necessary to 
 moral agency, to be the same, with an en- 
 largement from the control of the infinite 
 wisdom and power, of the king of provi- 
 dence, and a virtual denial of that govern- 
 ment of God, which is acknowledged even 
 by the benighted heathen. The prophecies 
 recorded, and shown in the scriptures to have 
 been accomplished, very plainly discover, in 
 numerous instances, that the voluntary ac- 
 tions of men were known to God, and reveal- 
 ed to his prophets, long before they obtained ; 
 and were the means, which he was pleased 
 to adopt, for the accomplishment of his ante- 
 cedent purposes ; but had they been abso- 
 lutely contingent, it would be a contradiction 
 to say, they Avere the subjects of a foreknow- 
 ledge, which necessarily implies certainty. 
 I 
 
 Man's libf r- 
 ty is secured 
 as a mean ut' 
 accomplish- 
 ing God's Je. 
 siSHi. 
 
 A conviction of the truth of our opinions, 
 and a conscientious deportment, are too often 
 imagined both equivalent to every duty, and 
 
G2 
 
 of the au- 
 thority of 
 fonscitnce, 
 or mail's se- 
 cret judg- 
 ment of him- 
 self. 
 
 iiufficient for our safety. This is lo assume, 
 either that ample meaus of discrimiuation, 
 and the necessary evidence of truth, have not 
 been furnished, which is not the fact ; or that 
 the approbation of conscience, is a justifica- 
 tion where there is a charge of sin. But our 
 conscientiousness cannot remove the obligation 
 of the law, nor can we establish the authority 
 of our own judgment above the pure precepts, 
 and wise commandments of the eternal laAV- 
 giver. Such a defence, would warrant the 
 claim of the highest virtue, by the most hardy 
 oifenders. Nevertheless the resistance of an 
 erroneous conscience, is not innocence, it be- 
 ing a consent to act against our best subjec- 
 tive light. To us, who are honoured witii 
 the grade of intelligents ; constituted subjects 
 of a moral government ; knoAving our degra- 
 dation and the way of escape ; sensible of 
 the shortness, rapidity and precariousness of 
 life, Avhich terminates the period of our trial ; 
 delay is imputable defiance ; refusal, avowed 
 
6S 
 
 rebellion ; at Avhicli justice never can con- 
 nive without a stain. 
 
 Condemnation is the iirst state of every 
 heir of human degradation; but this being a 
 provision to open an effectual way of relief, 
 and a safer and more protracted trial, whilst 
 time continues, the harvest is not past, the 
 summer is not ended, nor the door of hope 
 closed. Really to desire life is to possess it, 
 for the heart is changed ; the acceptance or 
 refusal of the blessing is the trial assigned us, 
 the moral character of the disposition is the 
 criterion, and the bent of mind is as effectu- 
 ally tested by believing, as doing. But there 
 is no salvation for those who remain in 
 enmity and guilt ; no pardon contrary to 
 justice; no justification but by the blood of 
 Christ ; and no certainty of an interest in his 
 sacrifice, but by accrediting his testimony; 
 '• If ye beliei'e not that I am he, ye shall die 
 in your sins.'^ Such faith works by love, 
 and this will appear in the deportment. But 
 
 Tlie natiiiic 
 of our trial, 
 and llie dan- 
 ger oi' resting 
 iu a mere 
 prott'ssion. 
 
64 
 
 fthould we conform to every ordinance, with- 
 out such conviction and affection, we arc 
 asleep in carnal security; life passing away 
 in idolatrous attachments; motives becom- 
 ing weaker ; the heart more insensible ; 
 the calls of mercy more and more feeble, till 
 they die away on the ear ; our guilt accumu- 
 lating; the storm gathering ; and the tremen- 
 dous day of final account hastening with all 
 its horrors. 
 
 The faith of every professor is conformed 
 ihe hiflu- I to that scheme of doctrine, which he has^ 
 
 ence of doc- | 
 
 adopted. If the death of Christ appear to 
 any to have merely rendered man salvable ; 
 the faith of such is only historic, for their 
 trust is placed in their own holiness. In the 
 hypothesis of antecedent and consequent 
 blessings, Christ's death is no more than a 
 great moral motive to a nominal repentance, 
 and an unsanctified morality ; and faith a 
 vague and general persuasion of the favour 
 of God. But where eternal mercy is held to 
 
 trinea on 
 practice. 
 
65 
 
 be the source ; and the purposed sacrifice of 
 Christ, the originally appointed substitution 
 accepted by justice, and the only pleadable 
 ground of salvation, there should exist con- 
 fident affiance on the sufficiency of the atone- 
 ment, trust in the faithfulness of God, and 
 joy in the liope of future glory. ^^ In the 
 Lord have I righteousness and strength:''^ 
 "^ I knoiv whom I have believed:-^ '^ / tvill 
 joy in the Lordj I will rejoice in the God of 
 iuij salvation .'^ 
 
 The application, and exercise of reason, in 
 the investigation of religious truth, is a mat- 
 ter of choice, consequent upon a removal of 
 prejudices ; and generally indispensable to 
 the production of faith. This implies con- 
 viction of sin, and helplessness ; a persuasion 
 of the truth of the plan of reconciliation as re- 
 vealed ; and a willingness to accept the terms. 
 The affections of gratitude, love and filial 
 fear, with a ready submission to the cross, 
 
 are usual characteristics. These, and what- 
 I 
 
 A II ordinal'} 
 course of con- 
 viction anil 
 faitli. 
 
66 
 
 ever else carl firoVe the truth of a change of 
 disposition^ may he considered as evidence 
 of that faith, which implies spiritual, and is 
 a sure precursor of everlasting life. 
 
 Guilt mu!>t 
 be wholly re- 
 iiiovctl; moral 
 pulliition in 
 
 some il'grn". 
 
 Salvation from the guilt of sin, not the ex- 
 istence of it, must he complete in this world; 
 this is the change of state denominated justi- 
 fication ; its consequent change of nature, 
 commencing in regeneration, and advancing 
 in sanctification, is progressive. The influ- 
 ences of the Spirit, in whatever degree, are 
 perfect ; but man^s rectitude is partial, and 
 defective. Every creature is dependent ; and 
 as fresh sustentation is ever necessary, in the 
 kingdom of providence ; so is it also in that 
 of grace ; for even when a man is renewed 
 in his disposition, without the continuous 
 supplies of the Spirit, temptation will over- 
 come him ; but divine aid not being immedi- 
 ately perceptible, in the kingdom of grace, 
 any more than in the kingdom of providence, 
 our work is unintermitted watchfulness, and 
 
67 
 
 impoi'timate prayer. Were man absolutely 
 free from moral defect, this would cease to be 
 a state of probation, and all cause for Imrai- 
 iiation, and repentance, except for the ini- 
 quity of the unregenerate, Avould be removed. 
 But experience discovers, that the higher the 
 attainments of the saints, the more sensible 
 do they become of their remaining imperfec- 
 tions ; poverty of spirit is ever less, than the 
 causes of humiliation ; but perception of vile- 
 uess is proof of excellence ; a sense of igno- 
 rance, an indication of wisdom; thus their 
 weakness is strength ; and when nothing in 
 themselves, they " can do all things through 
 Christ, li'ho strengthenethf them." A lean- 
 ness, springing from an exquisite sensibility 
 to sin, sometimes produces an experience, 
 which may furnish, indirectly, a well ground- 
 ed hope, approximating assurance. But if 
 the liberty, necessary to moral agency, were 
 incompatible with absolute certainty, such 
 contingency would prevent, even divine 
 foreknowledge ; render salvation fiom sin 
 
 The holiest 
 see, and la- 
 iiiaiit impt-r- 
 ftctigns. 
 
 Christian 
 paradoxes^ 
 
 CeitaiiK), 
 liberty, assu- 
 rance, and 
 sill, strangely 
 cuiicontituut. 
 
68 
 
 iiiicertaiii ; and consequently, exclude human 
 
 Ti.e assur- I assuFancc. This has nevertheless been of- 
 
 anceof liopi-. j 
 
 ten enjoyed, hy the '^ saved/^ who are so 
 denominated in the new testament,* not 
 merely because members of the visible 
 church, but already, in this life, heirs of the 
 invisible kingdom of glory. Such, not con- 
 tented to contemplate divine truth by a lively 
 exercise of faith, aspire to the actual posses- 
 sion of the comfortable persuasion of divine 
 favour, founded on clear, and rational views 
 of his promises, and the characteristic traits 
 of those, to whom they are made. The pow- 
 
 Marks of ^ *^ ^ 
 
 ^"'"* ' er of godliness is best seen in its' influence 
 on practice. Thus ordinances are indispen- 
 sable, because christians experience their own 
 weaknesses ; their unworthiness renders them 
 poor in spirit, gentle and disposed to favour 
 others ; whilst their love of God moves them 
 to speak, and think, and act to all, as parta- 
 kers of his goodness. Such are among the 
 
 * 1 Cor. i. 18, (ru^oy.£Voii. Epli'"^. Ji- 8, 'j-iTMC-u-iyoi. 
 
 Titus iii. 5, eo-ai-iv. 
 
69 
 
 surest marks of a fitness for the heavenly 
 happiness, and far more credible proofs of true 
 religion, than those empassioned ecstasies, 
 and that furious zeal, which are rarely seen to 
 be the concomitants of real knowledge. Self- 
 examination is the regular mean for gaining 
 such acquaintance with ourselves, yet should 
 it be ever remembered, that true holiness must 
 be our principal, and immediate aim; assu- 
 rance a secondary, and less important object ; 
 otherwise a shadow will obtrude itself, and 
 be taken for the substance. 
 
 If ^^ there is no other name under heaven 
 given among men, whereby we must he sav- 
 ed^^ the false religions of the gentiles cannot 
 save them ; nor can the truth as it is in Jesus, 
 save those, who preferring ignorance of lioly 
 things, live without the knowledge they might 
 gain of its evidence; but if justice require, 
 that our guilt should be deemed proportional 
 to our superior advantages ; it must also de- 
 mand, that none should be held culpable 
 
 Guilt is in 
 proportion 
 unto ail van- 
 tagts. 
 
Sa\ ing bles- 
 ■lings may go 
 before the 
 seals of the 
 covenant. 
 
 70 
 
 for not believing on Mm^ of whom they have, 
 not heard. Infants may be saved, dying in 
 infancy, by the sacrifice of which tlicy have 
 no knowledge.* Pagans have the traditional 
 idea of that God, in whom they live and 
 move; are surrounded with the proofs of his 
 existence, and perfections, and consequently 
 may be justly condemned for their sins ; but 
 as often as they become the subjects of the 
 sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit, 
 they will '•^feel after and find Hlm.^^ (a) 
 Justifying righteousness was accounted unto 
 the father of the faithful, before he received 
 the seal of the covenant, for the encourage- 
 ment of the heathen, as well as of believers 
 among his descendants, {h) Whom Go^ Jus- 
 tifies he sanctifies, consequently they who 
 possess the change of heart, or nature, have 
 been received into a state of salvation, holi- 
 ness being the only credible proof of accep- 
 
 * Rom. V. 15, 01 7r«AAa.', and «? rovi TioXXovi, refer to 
 cTirt Tovi, &.C. in ver, 14. 
 
 (o) Acts xvii. 27. 
 
 (b) Rom. iv. 10— IC 
 
71 
 
 tance ; but works without faith ai*e dead, and 
 faith without works is a deception. Corne- 
 lius though a heathen, had become a subject 
 of grace before Peter's arrival ; and God 
 himself has warned us, that wliomsoever he 
 cleanses, we have no right to pronounce com- 
 mon or unsanctified. If those, to whom the 
 Gospel has not come, be without excuse, be 
 cause they neglect their scanty means of know- 
 ledge, and remain ignorant of the eternal 
 jjower and Godhead; (a) it is implied, that 
 if they be not thus ignorant, but have the 
 piety of their father Noah, they may be sav- 
 ed as he was. Yet are they without hope. 
 because the traditional revelation, which they 
 have, is now uncertain, and v, as at first not 
 clear. Sovereignty communicates good only, 
 the loss of the soul is the award of justice, 
 and cwidemnation can never be without guilt. 
 Th« untutored savage, though not innocent, 
 may yet put to blush the '' stall fed*' theo- 
 logian : and the anathematized infant, the 
 (a) Rom. i. 19, 20. 
 
 TIu ht allien 
 are without 
 excuse. 
 
;••> 
 
 72- 
 
 liard hearted bigot, who denies it an interest 
 in the blood of Him, who, Avhilst pouring it 
 from his veins, said, even of his murderers, 
 
 '^'' Father forgive them^ for they know not 
 rrhat they do.'* 
 
 There is no 
 othex' name 
 by whom the 
 he.ithen can 
 (»- saved. 
 
 The propitiation of Christ was /or the siris 
 of the whole world. This truth has been sent 
 unto, but has not reached every creature ; it 
 cannot be received, where it does not come. 
 To receive it by faith is life ; to reject it iu 
 unbelief is death ; where the talent has not 
 been confided, it has not been abused. To 
 possess the various advantages redounding 
 from a preached gospel, and to remain uncon- 
 victed of the truth ; and unapprehensive of 
 danger, is a condition vastly more dreadful, 
 than the worst we can imagine, of those, 
 who have oply the light of nature. Our su- 
 perior advantage lies, not in possessing rea- 
 son, the barbarous nations have this ; but 
 whilst they have only tradition, and the 
 works of God. Ave have also his word, and 
 
IB 
 
 the proofs iiecessary to evince, that it is such : 
 thus life and immortality, with us, are 
 brought to light; whilst they live in dark- 
 ness, and die without hope. Nevertheless 
 until it can be shown, that the heathen have 
 never the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, 
 we are not safe, in consigning them all to per- 
 dition : but should rather pity, and help them. 
 
 The scheme of redemption, whilst merely 
 in the purposes of God, bore the form of a 
 covenant, in its parties, promises, condition, 
 and blessings. Since the fall, it has been 
 proposed to man for his acceptance, as the 
 only means of life. Believers " took hold of 
 this covenant by sacrifice;'^ under the dispen- 
 sations of Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Mo- 
 ses. When Christ, who had in all of them 
 been the object of the faith, and substance of 
 th& hope of the saints, was offered up, animal 
 sacrifices were " taken aivay;^^ and the wine 
 under the " new covenant,''^ or gospel dispen- 
 sation, represented the same ^^blood^^ of Chiist. 
 
 The scheme 
 of redemp- 
 tion, though 
 eternal, ap- 
 peared as a 
 covenant. 
 
71 
 
 The dispen- 
 jatiuns of No- 
 ah, Abraham, 
 and Moses are 
 still in force, 
 where the 
 gospel has 
 jint come. 
 
 Consequently the plan of redemption, has 
 been the same in every age ; repentance, 
 faith, love, and obedience are duties under 
 every exhibition ; and justification, adoption, 
 sanctification, and glory, its permanent bles- 
 sings. The two first dispensations, after the 
 fall, made with Adam and Noah, were for 
 our race, and still are in force, where later 
 ones have not come. Those ratified with 
 Abraham, and Moses, were primarily for the 
 natural seed of Abraham ; and still exhibit 
 the only sacrifice, where they have not the 
 gospel. But all tliese covenants diifer only in 
 externals, which do not save, and were never 
 binding on any, but on those, to whom they 
 came. How far therefore the abominations of 
 the heathen can be excused in their dark and 
 hopeless alienation, God alone must decide, 
 nor does it become us, without a divine war- 
 rant, to say they can have no mercy in Christ.* 
 
 The moral corruption of man, under every 
 
 *Vide note G. 
 
75 
 
 dispensation^ is evinced by this ; that virtue 
 is self control, whilst vice resulting from a 
 defect of rectitude of disposition, is indul- 
 gence. A predominance of good can never 
 be fairly deduced, from the external conduct 
 of men; for the heart characterizes action. 
 Also the good intention must neither spring 
 from the restraints of society, nor be founded 
 in personal advantage ; nor can the existence, 
 much less the progress of true religion be 
 merely inferred, from the daily suppression 
 of propensities in the pursuit of w^orldly ad- 
 vantage ; nor by an attendance upon the or- 
 dinances of religion, for it presents motives 
 of the highest interest ; but a change of state 
 is seen by a cliange of nature. To be secure 
 of this salvation, supposes a holy disposition, 
 under every exhibition of redeeming grace ; 
 but especially under that of the Gospel, 
 whfere all those duties, to which love excites, 
 can be performed, under advantages vastly 
 superior. A renewed disposition, and not 
 mere moral conduct, and charitable deeds, 
 
 Corruption 
 evinced by 
 the arduous- 
 ness iif vir. 
 tue. 
 
76 
 
 A rightdispo- 
 sition is the 
 cllstiiiguisli- 
 iiig ti-ait. 
 
 should be that characteristic, to those Avho 
 live under the light of evangelical instruc- 
 tions, of wliich they should be ascertained by 
 credible proofs, before they should be satis- 
 fied of their acceptance. Yet the consola 
 tions and the hopes of the christian, directly 
 floAV from the word and promise of an un- 
 changeable God. To him, the best are never 
 profitable, the sensual are hateful. '^ The 
 ^ploughing of the ivicked is sin,^' their good 
 deeds establish not the prevalence of a right 
 disposition. Goodness, founded merely on 
 interest, will obtain no future reward ; men, 
 who repose their safety on it, are self de- 
 ceivers, and should they cast out devils^ they 
 must receive the sentence, depart from me. 
 ye that work iniquity. 
 
 Moral agen- 
 cy exists with 
 dependence, 
 liberty with 
 grace; but we 
 are conscious 
 of liberty ,not 
 grace. 
 
 True holiness is ascribed both in its birth 
 and groAvth, to the influence of the Spirit, 
 whom Christ hath sent. But moral rectitude 
 is ever man's duty, which it could not be, if 
 it were impossible to him. Nor are we to 
 
77 
 
 wait for grace, as if it were necessarj'* to the 
 discharge of duty; for then grace is a talent, 
 without which Ave should be innocent in non- 
 performance. God commands, and he, who 
 persists in refusal, perishes. The sinner has 
 alway the liberty to submit, and become holy ; 
 and when he pleases, he does it : but his li- 
 berty is not independence, any more in the 
 kingdom of grace, than in that of providence. 
 When he changed from sin to holiness, God 
 changed him ; henceforth lie will practise not 
 an occasional self denial, or an abandonment 
 of some grosser vices, whilst inward corrup- 
 tion remains in quiet possession of his heart; 
 but he has gained an ascendency and keeps 
 an anxious watch over his desires and 
 thoughts, maintaining an exterminating con- 
 flict with evil in every shape, and an abiding 
 devotedness to God, and dependence upon 
 Christ. Honour, pleasure, riches, and pow- 
 er, exclude from happiness the multitude, and 
 entangle and weaken the best. But judg- 
 
 *Vide note H. 
 
 Liberty is 
 a mean uf di- 
 vine govern- 
 raent. 
 
78 
 
 ment is not ours, fear and trembling become 
 us, in working out our own salvation. 
 Knowledge and practice have reciprocal in- 
 fluence, and must accompany each other ; 
 thus may they profit us, otherAvise they en- 
 hance our guilt. Zeal without knowledge, 
 deserves, and must receive the judgment of 
 iiypocrisy ; and knowledge without zeal, ar- 
 gues its possessor still in his native enmity. 
 
 The nature 
 ')f the final 
 judgment. 
 
 On that awful morning, every one will 
 come, already so far instructed in the scheme 
 of salvation, as to be prepared to compreliend 
 the work of the day ; for the final judgment 
 has been appointed, to reveal the righteous- 
 ness of God, in saving and condemning. Then 
 man's test will appear, not to have been per- 
 fect innocence, because among the myriads of 
 moral agents, then to pass on trial, not one 
 mere man will be found of such description. 
 The general, absolute mercy of God, will 
 produce not a single example of salvation; 
 for sovereignty will never disparage justice. 
 
are talents. 
 
 79 
 
 Reconciliation, in every instance, will appear 
 to have been by that name alone, which Peter 
 announced to his judges. And every soul 
 will know, that salvation had been brought 
 and tendered by the judge ; and that the test 
 of real, and cordial submission, lay in accep- 
 ting the favour, bowing to his government, and 
 returning to our allegiance. Every warning, i warnings 
 and every advantage for escape, must be com- 
 pared with their effects on us ; due allowance 
 being made for our infirmities. Every plau- 
 sible defence will be heard; every just ex- 
 cuse receive the attention, which it deserves ; 
 every good deed, however forgotten, or dis- 
 claimed by the humble, will be exhibited, 
 and approved; and the salvation of every 
 saint be fully shown to the whole assembly to 
 be just, to the glory of God. When the 
 Judge, turning to the right, shall say; ^^ Come 
 ye blessed of my Father, inherit the king- 
 dom, prepared for you, from the foundation 
 of the world." 
 
NOTES. 
 
 A. Page 15. 
 
 OF SIN. 
 
 W HKN mail first realized existence, he was mature in body 
 and soul, and adorned with a disposition bent to good. An in- 
 defectible sustentation would have contravened the designs of 
 his creator ; a state of confirmed rectitude, either of angels or 
 men, being consequent only upon a previous trial, and approba- 
 tion. Ha\ang the command of his own faculties,, he would not 
 choose against his inclinations ; yet might he have nourished hia 
 holiness, by the influence of motives ; for he possessed all the 
 liberty necessary to moral agency. His preference of subordi- 
 nate, to the chief good, had no excuse ; for neither did justice 
 require, nor was sovereignty bound to bestow, the effectual 
 support of spiritual aid. Sin, not being any thing positive, 
 did not germinate from man's degradation, into a constituent 
 of a fallen nature ; it was not accession, but defect ; and 
 every ordinary descendant of Adam, is now destitute of that 
 bent of disposition to moral rectitude, which was originally 
 possessed by the protoplast. 
 
82 
 
 If sin were a physical constituent, it must be, not the clefeci' 
 of a thing, but a thing ; not privation, but a something, existing 
 in nature ; and consequently, the effect of a cause. There can, 
 upon this supposition, be no alternative, but either to suppose 
 God its author, or to allow, that it owes its existence to a cause, 
 independent of the first cause. Some of the old definitions of 
 moral evil, justly allege sin to be, " when originah a privation 
 rather than a corruption :" " Actual^ a defect of an action, in 
 defiance of the law of God :" " A declension, or swerving from 
 the law, or Avill of God:" "Since moral evil is imperfection, 
 and thus defect ; it is therefore not real and positive, but merely 
 privation."* But because the defect of aright disposition lies 
 beyond human research, laws regard primarily actions j and 
 moral evil is taken complexly for a disposition defective of 
 righteousness ; for mental or bodily actions contrary to law j or 
 for their consequences. Sin in such latitude of meaning, admits 
 of variety, in kinds and degrees j the diversity exists not in the 
 
 * Peccatum originale — " noii ad Ueum, qu-i creator, sed qua judex est, 
 referri debet, et rectius privatio, quam corruptio vocatur." •' Jlctuale est 
 defedus actionis cum lege Dei pugr.ans." — Wendelin. "Defectus, declinatio, 
 seu aberratio a lege, seu voluntate Dei." — Bucan. "Cum malum morale 
 est imperfectio, adeoque defectus, ergo non reale et positivum, sed mere 
 privativum est." — Slapfer. These definitions are in strict accordance with 
 the language of scripture ; ^ uftetplicc e<rlty -^ avoi^ioc. 1 John iii. 4. ISin 
 is a want of conformity to law. Other divines, Rollock, Twisse, Sec, describe 
 sin as consisting of two things, an act or quality, and a non-conformity to the 
 divine law or will. The first of these, they referred to God as its author ; 
 tlie latter, being a judicial privation, or defect, and nothing positive, they 
 ^thought, did not admit of an efficient cause ; but was permitted in the vo- 
 lantary instrument, who acted, or possessed such quality. In trutli the latter 
 only was §in, and the former good. 
 
83 
 
 \noral privation Itself of rectitude, for this is the same, but arise^ 
 from the thoughts, words and actions of men, whose hearts, or 
 dispositions are destitute of such bent towards God, his law and 
 character. But if, as some imagine, sin consist in action ; and 
 be strictly and simply an act ; when it is past, the party is clear, 
 'tliere is no moral corruption, or pollution; and consequently 
 Avhen guilt, that is the obligation to punishment, has been re- 
 moved, the party is fit for heaven without a change. Thus, al- 
 though a transgressor may be denominated a sinner, because of 
 the act passed ; yet sinful he is not, except during the short 
 period of acting ; also omission is, obviously, innocence. But 
 sin is neither the act of the body, will, understanding, nor even 
 of the man ; for these, except the last, arc mere instruments, 
 and as such, not the subjects, either of praise, or blame. To 
 the man only are crimes imputable ; and he it is, Avho is odious, 
 because his heart, or disposition, is averse from God ; for what 
 iiis heart is, he is. If its bent be to the chief, good, the con- 
 duct is right, rect, straight by rule, or conformed to law ; the 
 man possesses moral purity; and such is his charactoi-. If the 
 tendency of the heart be to subordinate good, and especially to 
 that, which is interdicted by law, the man is evil. But if sin 
 had a positive ^existence, and were a physical constituent of any 
 creature, it would, by tliat circumstance, be exculpated. If 
 judges deemed sin to ccmsist in actions, these need not to be 
 l)ainfully investigated for the intention of the agents, by scruti- 
 nizing circumstances and conduct ; but acts are no more thaii 
 prima facie evidence of criminality, or even of guilt ; and the 
 presumption, which they furnish, is often destroyed. Sin is im- 
 
84 
 
 putable to man ', but, though an agent, he never acts, except in, 
 and by his faculties j nor is blame, when justly cast, confined 
 to his actions, to the party, merely in the time of acting, noj- 
 only after an action ; for if the fixed purpose exist, the man is 
 guilty, before him, who searches the heart. To denominate sin 
 a physical constituent of man's nature, is either to charge it 
 upon God, who made him ; or to account it a mere calamity, a 
 punishment, not an imputation ; but if man be defective of 
 rectitude in the bent of his heart, and consequently averse to 
 duty, and its motives, this is moral impurity, and he deserves 
 punishment, even before any overt act can be charged upon him. 
 
 B. Page 19. 
 
 OF THE FINAL CAUSE OF CREATION. 
 
 ■ An intelligent being would not accomplish a great work, 
 without a previous design, or having an end in view. The crea- 
 tor must therefore have designed to create, before he did so ; 
 and pursued an end, or ends, in all his works. Because he is 
 eternal, and immutable, he must always have had the same 
 views and purposes. Consequently the chief end, which he de- 
 signed in creation, was not a motive producing an effect on 
 him. That his benevolence must produce happiness, is certain ; 
 but that the happiness of creatures was the chief end, or final 
 cause in creation, when as yet there was no creature ; and never 
 had been, is not admissible ; especially also, since events show, 
 that a great portion of intelligent creatures have fallen ; and 
 
85 
 
 uiany of these are miserable forever, although, lie cuiild have 
 made them happy. The happiness of creatures bearing, in point 
 of importance, not the least proportion to his own ; to have pur- 
 sued it as a chief aim, would have been to have preferred subor- 
 dinate good. That he made all things for himself, means not a 
 creating for the augmentation of his pleasure ; but for its con- 
 tinuance, in the contemplation of his own glory, and not chiefly 
 for any extraneous good. His works exhibit himself to himself; 
 neither increasing his knowledge, nor happiness ; for creation is 
 in fact, what he had always seen it in purpose. A mere dis- 
 play of his perfections to his creatures, adds nothing to him, 
 would be an unworthy final cause, and could have been no more 
 than a subordinate end. No event, under any view, can pro- 
 duce the least change in a perfect being ; for this would argue 
 either antecedent or subsequent defect ; he is necessarily immu- 
 table. External operation has been accounted essential to infi- 
 nite benevolence ; were it so, it would follow ; that neither the 
 final cause of creation was in God ; nor has he been eternally 
 benevolent. But all his creatures are in comparison of him no- 
 thing ; nor are they, since the creation, either more, or less in 
 his view, than when he was alone. Neither mercy, powei*, jus- 
 tice, nor truth, could operate ad extra, before creation, any more 
 than goodness or benevolence ; yet Avas Deity then, neither less 
 perfect, nor less happy, than since. God is one, these divisions 
 of his perfections are made for our convenience ; but when we 
 speak of him as a man, and erect theories upon such figurative 
 language, they can be only hypothetical. By creation his excel- 
 lencies, wliich had never been latent to himself, were put into 
 
86 
 
 action ; ihej liail been alwaj's equally as iliej now are, and ever 
 must be, the objects of his regards, else his happiness has been 
 mutable. God is the chief good ; if he were to seek our ad- 
 vantage as a better object, we might also seek the same end : 
 and without profanity pursue our happiness to the subversion, 
 as far as in our power, of his truth, justice, and government. 
 vSelf-love, in man, prefers a subordinate good ; not so in God : 
 benevolence, in man, desires a greater good ? not so, in God, if 
 its object be external. But his own glory, the exhibition of 
 iumself to himself, is his last end in creation, and in all he 
 does ; and so should it be with us, by actively exercising the ta- 
 lents he has conferred on us, in promoting his designs, in a 
 strict compliance with his revealed pleasure. 
 
 C. Page 31. 
 
 OF THE UNITY AND PLURALITY IN DEITY. 
 
 Tradition must have handed down the idea of a self-existent 
 being. The subserviency of things to things, evinces an unity 
 of design in the creation, and leads reflection to one 
 cause. The necessary and absolute perfection of the creator, ex- 
 cludes the idea of division in Deity. That God is one, is also 
 the voice of revelation. Accordingly, there must be but one ob- 
 ject of worship, one source of legislative authority, and one 
 being, against whom sin is committed. The scriptures show, 
 nevertheless, a plurality of some kind in God, but no division 
 of essence ; they speak of it, as existing in an eternal commu- 
 
87 
 
 nication, or procession, which is thoughf to be not derivation. 
 Father, Son, and Spirit, are spoken of as distinct personal cha- 
 racters. Matt. iii. 16. xxviii. 19. 1 Cor. xii. 4, 5, 6. 2 Cor. 
 xiii. 14. Eph. ii. 18. iv. 4, 5, 6. Titus iii. 4, 5, 6. Rom. viii. 
 11. XV. 16, 17. The Father is spirit, the Son spirit, and the 
 Comforter spiiit ; but though each is spiritual, each is not a 
 spirit, for God is a spirit. The wisdom and power, which can 
 create a soul, and body ; and, though of diiFerent properties,- 
 unite them in one person j could create, and unite such human 
 nature with a divine person ; for this, and the soul, however 
 great tlieir disparity, are spiritual natures. 
 
 When " the Word was made flesh," John i. 14, neither the 
 Father, nor the Holy Spirit was incarnated. JVas made, does 
 not mean was flesh ; for the previous existence of the Word, 
 when creation began, is asserted in the former verses. None 
 deny the moral character of Jesus Christ, he ought therefore to 
 be believed, when he says ; that, he came down from heaven, 
 John iii. 13. vi. 38, 50, 62. xvii. 5. Creative power, which 
 can belong to no creature, is referred to him. " All things were 
 made by him," John i. 3. " By him were all things created, 
 that are in heaven, and that are in earth," Col. i. 16. See Heb. 
 i. 2, 8, 10. Eph. iii. 9. Psa. cii. 25. That he knoweth all 
 tilings; appears from John xxi. IT. Mark ii. 8. John ii. 25. 
 vi. 64, and is Almighty j from Phil. iii. 21. Rev. i. 8. John v. 
 21, immutable; from Heb. i. 10, 11, 12. xiii. 8, and is every 
 where, and always ; from Matt, xxviii. 20. When these, and 
 other divine perfections, are predicated of the Son, we must not 
 
88 
 
 suppose, that he is thus perfect, distinctly ; for Deity is one i 
 and the three, Father, Son, and Spirit, have the same indivi- 
 dual nature, the same divine essence ; and are by no means to 
 be understood, as if they \vere three beings, after the manner 
 of human persons. 
 
 There was but one person in Christ, and that in the unexam- 
 pled sense mentioned ; for the connexion of the natures began 
 at the conception, and his human soul and body never existed 
 alone. These natures were never mixed; but were, and still are. 
 distinct, not confused. The divine nature was ever ubiqui- 
 tary, and could not be confined to a human soul and body. Yet 
 was his person, like our own, characterized by the higher na- 
 ture ; and his words and actions, being those of a divine per- 
 son, are to be esteemed of the utmost importance. It was the 
 human righteousness of the Mediator, thus dignified by the di- 
 vinity, and not the essential righteousness of God, that com- 
 plied with his duties as a man ; and was the eternally pur- 
 posed substitution for us. Being as mediator inferiour, he 
 acknowledged, "my Father is greater than I." But he also 
 felt his union with the Father ; and when the exertion of his 
 divine power was referred to Beelzebub, he pointed out the dan- 
 gerous difference, that existed between obloquy spoken against 
 him as a man, and blaspheming his divine spiritual nature, (rev 
 Tfvevfi.xTei, Matt. xii. 31.) As man, he was not God; as God, he 
 was not man ; for the natures are distinct ; but the properties of 
 each being in the same person, it is probable his human conscious- 
 ness, always identified itself with his divinity in some way. 
 
89 
 
 That a great deliverer was to come, appears fiom Gen. iii. 15. 
 xii. 3. xxii. 18. xxvi. 4. xxviii. 14. xlix. 10. Deut. xviii. 18, 
 20. Isa. Hi., liii., &c. &c. The epistle to the Hebrews ex- 
 plains the ancient worship, and faith ; and points the prophetic 
 proofs to him. That to the Romans shows the impossibility of 
 salvation by any law, affirming the only way to be in him ; and, 
 more than any other portion of the sacred word, elucidates our 
 connexion, both with the first and second Adam j and exhibits 
 the scheme of redemption, as rising out of the eternal purposes ; 
 passing on in every age towards its accomplishment ; revealed, 
 with increased lustre, at the judgment ; and finally issuing into 
 the everlasting glory of God. 
 
 D. Fage 35. 
 
 OF THE FOUNDATION OF DUTY. 
 
 As God is the source of all existence, so is he of all excellencej 
 ids purposes, of which he gives no account, being the rule of his 
 own conduct, are conformed to his own moral purity ; and every 
 expression of his will towards his creatures, as a rule for their 
 conduct, being also the ground of their obligation to obey him, 
 pai-takes of the characteristic ethical excellence of his own 
 nature. Although he has connected advantage with our duty, 
 and made it a lawful motive ; yet must we never esteem the re- 
 ward, more higldy, than the virtue recompensed ', nor substitute 
 utility for moral excellence ; for his gifts bear no comparison 
 
 with himself. Intention, not action, is performance ; thus, 
 
 M 
 
90 
 
 uliere a creature possesses some portion ot iiitelligeiac, without 
 a moral sense, it is free from law ; and liable to no imputation 
 of defect of virtue .; its designs have no moral character, yet tlii- 
 injuriousness of its actions may be extreme. To search for a 
 foundation of the obligation to be virtuous, indepentlently of the 
 eternal God, seems to be an approximation unto tlie dangerous 
 A\ork of searching for a god, paramount to the true God. If the 
 chief good be happiness, and virtue mere advantage, vice may be- 
 come virtue ; provided utility can take the side of vice, and be 
 its reward. The rule of our conduct is law, and this is the ex- 
 pression of the divine will, which is tlie supreme authority, and 
 of tlie highest excellence ; for his moral as well as his natural 
 perfections are infinite, immutable, and eternal. An erroneous 
 conscience is our own mistaken judgment of our conduct, by 
 what we deem the law of God ; to resist such conscience is a 
 consent to disobey him : and therefore such consent, even where 
 we ignorantly conform to the law, is justly deemed sin ,• which 
 it could not be, if utility, imagined fitness, or any thing, ex- 
 cept his authority were the foundation of our obligation to be 
 virtuous ; nor would it be obedience. Yet a disposition to obey 
 God, though often accepted without the act, will not excuse 
 vincible ignorance 5 Saul after his apostlcship accounted himself 
 to have sinned, whilst persecuting the church according to the 
 guidance of his mistaken conscience, or judgment. If the rea- 
 son or nature of things, considered independently, or without 
 the will of God, were the foundation of duty ; it was no more 
 the duty of Abraham to offer up Isaac, after, than, before the 
 divine command, But if that positive precept could make it fit 
 
91 
 
 for a father to slay his son ; the divine prohibition of niauslaying. 
 must have been the cause, that it was previously unfit. If things 
 are no more fit in themselves, than they exist of themselves ; it 
 is absurd to ask, if God can make tliat fit to be done, which was 
 unfit in itself. If all perfection is essential to God, and thus 
 eternal, it is improper to speak of any thijig, as right or wrong, 
 fit or unfit, antecedently to Him ; or as a reason of his purposes. 
 To seek for a higher foundation of human obligation, than the 
 will of God, is to call in question his authority : and to imagine 
 an absolute fitness of things prior to their existence, to which 
 even God must conform, is to renounce his supremacy and deity. 
 
 E. Page 43. 
 
 OF JUSTICE IN THE JUSTIFICATION OF THE GUILTY. 
 
 Rom. iii. 25. Whom, that is Christ, God hath set forth, Trpaehle. 
 before appointed, or hatli openly exiiibited, a propitiation, 
 iXctT]>}i>tt)v, viz, Gvy-et^ a propitiatory sacrifice, through faith in his 
 bloody to all, who put their faith in the veracity of God's promise, 
 and the merit of Christ's sufterings and death ; to declare his 
 righteousness, for the manifestation of God's rectitude in his 
 dealings with man j or rather, his way of justifying, or accept- 
 ing man as if righteous; for the remission of sins, that are pant, 
 through the forbearance of God, by {^ix) not punishing sins, com- 
 mitted in (ev) the time, that he delayed sending the ransom ; 
 (v. 26,) to declare at this time his righteousness, I mean, that tlie 
 propitiatory sacrifice of Christ, exhibits, now under tlie Gospel. 
 
92 
 
 his way of justification, wliich was then the same ; or the righ- 
 teousness of his conduct in every age; that he might be just, and 
 thejuslifier of him, who belicveth in Jesus ; that his justice may 
 now at last have its demands, even when God is justifying, or 
 accepting as if righteous, him, whosoever he may be, who puts 
 his confidence for acceptance in the saviour. 
 
 God is immutably just and holy ; yet he, who will never jus- 
 tify a fallen angel, for a single transgression, did receive, and 
 bless with eternal life, the patriarchs, who sinned on many 
 points. Wherefore, to discover the verity of his righteousness, 
 which was still the same in the time of patience, £v«%>7, he has 
 now placed before the eyes of the universe, ^poeBtlo, the propi- 
 tiatory sacrifice of Christ. His objects were, both that he 
 might be just, en to eivxt xvlev S'tK.citev, even when justifying him» 
 who is of the faith of Jesus ; and that he might inanifest his 
 justice, Tpog ev^'ei^tv t^j? hx.xio(rviiJi, in this latter time. In what 
 sense God is said to be just, when justifying through Christ, is 
 a question of vast concern to the church in our age. This 
 word is used for God's distributive justice. Rev. xvi. 7, in both 
 its kinds ; remunerative, 2 Tim. iv. 8, and punitive, Rev. xvi. 
 5. It is taken generally for his righteousness in his dealings 
 with men. John xvii. 25. 2 Thes. i. 6, and for his own rectitude, 
 1 John ii. 29 and iii. 7. In the passage paraphrased, the blood 
 of Christ, appears to have been appointed and exhibited, not 
 merely, that God should show his mercy, or even his faithful- 
 ness to his promises ; but that he might be just ; the blood ol 
 Christ being, by virtue pf the purpose of substitution, demanded 
 
93 
 
 by justice. The innocence of Christ, though necessary to his 
 sacrifice, would have prevented his sufferings, had they not been 
 vicarious ; when he, God, made him to be a sin offering, who knew 
 no sin, 2 Cor. v. 21, there was no compulsion, for this would 
 iiave been injustice. But the government of this world, and 
 the divine laws were subsequent to the purpose of the substitu- 
 tion of Christ ; and every soul, that had been saved before his 
 death, was an additional demand of public justice upon the 
 surety, who had taken their place. It is in justifying the sin- 
 ner, that this propitiatory sacrifice, was the demand of justice. 
 The apostle does not refer the awful sacrifice of Christ, by 
 which believing sinners are redeemed from eternal miseries, to 
 the abounding mercy of God, as he might have done j for to 
 God, as a sovereign, must be referred ultimately every thing in 
 nature, grace, and glory ; but as Jesus Christ by becoming the 
 surety for sinners, placed himself at the bar of the righteous 
 governor, in a character, sovereignly determined in the councils 
 of eternity, to be assumed in time, and supported with inde- 
 fectible propriety, and the highest dignity ; it was called for by 
 the occasion, that the apostle should allege, that the sacrifice of 
 Christ was demanded by the justice of God. 
 
 The promulgation of law was a pledge, that its honour should 
 be supported ; that is, the establishment of a government was a 
 security, that public justice should have retribution, when the 
 laws should be broken. To pardon the guilty in a perfect go- 
 vernment, is a violation of public justice. But if the law was 
 made under the reservation, that a substitute of commensurate 
 
94 
 
 standing, who liad a right to offer his life, should be accepted i 
 the law could claim no more ; and justice to the rights of God is 
 satisfied. In such case, the sinner remains such, until sanctified ; 
 his sins are not transferred ; but his guilt, that is his obligation 
 to suffer for his iniquity, is laid upon his surety, and from 
 thenceforth there is no condemnation, for the principal. 
 
 To justify in the gospel, not the forensic sense, is a judicial 
 act, in which God does not pronounce a man to be in himself 
 righteous ; but merely delivers him from condemnation, for 
 Christ's sake, as if the sinner were righteous ; and afterwards, 
 in order of nature, but not always of time, he renews, sanctifies, 
 and prepares him for heaven. Man is justified by faith, wliich 
 is not the Lord's instrument in passing the sentence of justifica- 
 tion ; but every one, who is justified, that is changed with re- 
 spect to his condition, is also sanctified, that is transformed in 
 his nature, or bent of disposition, and will believe, as soon as 
 the evidence is seen. Then, but not before he believes, has 
 he a right to account himself justified. Thus he is said to be 
 justified by faith ; it being his first credible evidence, of a 
 anion unto Christ, or of sanctification by his spirit. 
 
 F. Page 57. 
 
 OF GRACE. 
 
 Common grace is a phrase, used to express divine influences 
 of the ordinary kind, which man is supposed to improve, or 
 
95 
 
 resist; and which, if opposed, or neglected, produce neither 
 faith, obedience, nor any other advantage. That all holiness, is 
 the effect of an immediate operation of the divine spirit, chang- 
 ing the heart, is a truth, plainly revealed. But until it can be 
 proved, that sanctifying influences had been immediately com- 
 municated to those, who have died in impenitency : or until it 
 can be shown, from the word of God ; that men, who remain in 
 an unregenerate state, are made holy, in some degree, by the 
 Spirit, and perform right actions, from pure motives ; it seems 
 to be too problematical to be admitted, that divine, immediate, 
 and imperceptible, influences may be repelled, and the gratui- 
 tous efforts of the Almighty defeated. Neither the expression, 
 common grace, nor any equivalent phrase, has been found in 
 the scripture ; and until the thing can be shown, the idea ought, 
 however necessary to an hypothesis, to be received with caution, 
 and its consequences duly weighed. As long as a man's dis- 
 position, is adverse to holiness, it is repugnant to imagine, that 
 he performs any holy obedience, or acceptable service. But if 
 such have, and improve, common grace : they are in this respect 
 independently good ; for this improvement is a species of moral 
 excellence in the unregenerate, superadded by themselves, and 
 comes not from God. But the scriptures show, that until man's 
 heart is rectified, he does and will misapply his faculties. He 
 is, by nature, subjected to a privation of the primitive rectitude 
 ot the first parent ; and although he might perform all his duty, 
 if he were disposed to yield to proper motives, and has, there- 
 fore, no excuse before God, or man ; yet such is the moral de- 
 fect of his heart, and consequent aversion from spiritual things, 
 
96 
 
 and propensity to earth -, that, for a right disposition, he is in 
 every instance of a change, debtor to the secret, gratuitous, 
 sanctifying operations of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 That spiritual influence, which is immediate, internal, imper- 
 ceptible, and which purifies tlie heart, is denominated grace. 
 So all the means of salvation, and the thing itself, are grace, 
 but being external, and perceivable, they have been called ob- 
 jective grace. This may be resisted, and frustrated ; and the 
 obstinate wills of men do oppose and reject good motives, im- 
 portant truths, and every other moral mean. The influences of 
 the spirit, are never objective, to him, who partakes of them, 
 and, consequently, not submitted to his choice, either for com- 
 pliance, or resistance j but the mind is, with respect to 
 them, always passive ; whilst they, being acts of sovereignty, 
 not of justice, are as much beyond man's control as the 
 winds. Being a faculty, the will follows, and sustains the cha- 
 lacter of, the disposition ; upon this the Holy Spirit operates 
 immediately, and motives mediately, through the understand 
 ing ; yet neither is the will, nor the understanding, more than 
 an instrument. No claim exists on sovereignty, for then divine 
 aid would be our right, and improperly termed grace. Justice 
 is never infringed, by gifts to the redeemed ; liberty in all is 
 safe, and the moral agent ever accountable for his choice. 
 
 If a previous gift of common grace, be necessary to vindicate 
 divine justice, in condemning the wicked; an hypothesis as 
 unsupported, as irreconcilable with the divine character, and 
 
9^ 
 
 government ; the graceless are innocent, the ground of obliga- 
 tion is changed ; moral depravity and inability are alleviations, 
 if not a valid excuse ; and the fullest possession of powers, ta- 
 lents, and advantages, can never lay a man under obligation, 
 either to believe or obey. 
 
 There is an old distinction, between grace operating, and co- 
 operating ; which, though not strictly correct, because man is 
 independent in no action, yet is wholly at variance, with the 
 supposition of common grace. Thus, Augustine says; — " ut 
 velimus opercUirr ; cum autem volumus, ut perficiamus, nobis- 
 cum co-operatur.'^ In effecting that change of disposition, which 
 is denominated regeneration, and which precedes the right ap- 
 plication of the physical faculties, the Spirit operates and man 
 is passive ; but in the exercise of the will, in applying the un»> 
 derstanding to the investigation of truth, and in consenting to 
 good, he co-operates with the human agent. But the co-opera- 
 tion, which is supposed by Augustine to be by an influence on 
 the faculties, is either a sustentation of providence ; or effected 
 mediately through the renewed disposition. Man sows, irrigates, 
 and reaps ; yet the success is from the secret influence of the 
 God of nature, who is alone self-existent. So when the Lord 
 sanctifies with the word of truth, there is a providential con- 
 currence ; but, widiout his immediate spiritual influence on the 
 disposition, the means would be unsuccessful. 
 
 Morus, the successor of Spanheim in the divinity chair at 
 
 Geneva, exemplified this doctrine in Patil. ** Solus Paulus 
 
 N 
 
98 
 
 ante vocatioiiem ; sola gratia in vocatioiie ipsa ; nee solus 
 Paulus, nee sola gratia post voeationem fuit. " Before regenera- 
 tion Paul was alone ; in the moment of regeneration, grace was 
 alone ; after regeneration, neither was Paul alone, nor grace 
 alone. When Paul is thus sard to have been alone, indepen- 
 dence is not meant, his soul was kept alive, and all his mental 
 faculties sustained by his creator ; and this was grace, for it 
 was gratuitous. So also his evil purposes may have been re- 
 strained, by that, which is denominated preventing grace ; for 
 the hearts of the wicked, are not beyond the confines of the 
 divine government. But restraint of evil, the production of ma- 
 terial good, and extraordinary gifts for the benefit of others, are 
 neither regenerating, nor sanctifying influences, nor pi-oductivc 
 of any change in the heart. The wicked are wholly such, their 
 carnal, inimical minds do nothing spiritually good, and justice 
 is clear in their condemnation, without the supposition of a 
 common inefl&cacious grace. But if spiritual aid were necessary 
 to the vindication of justice ; that, which is ineffectual, and in- 
 adequate, would not help the case, if man really wants power ; 
 nor justify his condemnation. If such gi-ace be improved by 
 the sinner, tlie improvement is. by the supposition, independent 
 of God ; man makes himself to differ, and is therefore intitled 
 to the glory. To the question ,: '• Is grace resistible?" The 
 answer is affirmative, if by grace be meant offers, motives, evi- 
 dence, or any other objective means of salvation ; also, if by 
 grace be intended any of the christian duties, as repentance, 
 faith, love, hope, joy, and prayer, it may be resisted. But the 
 answer must be negative, if grace mean, immediate, internal, 
 
99 
 
 unperceivetl, sanctifying operations of the Spirit on the minds oi 
 men. Immediate influence, is not proposed as an object, not 
 perceptible, and, consequently, neither resistible, nor improv- 
 able ; but, in every instance, efficacious, to the extent of the 
 purpose of the giver, in changing tlie disposition, or imparting to 
 it, that bent to moral rectitude, whicli, according to its degree, 
 will direct the voluntary powers of the man. Many passages 
 of sacred writ, have been unjustly deemed proofs of a common 
 influence. " Work out your own salvation — for it is God, that 
 worketh in you :" Phil. ii. 12, 13, was not spoken to the unre- 
 newed, but to those who " obeyed al way." "Quench not the 
 Spirit :"' 1 Thes. v. 19, was directed to those, who had received 
 extraordinary gifts ; which were sometimes bestowed, without 
 chan^ino; the heart. Also where rejjeneration has obtained, 
 faith, and otiier duties, are pursued with different degrees of 
 ardour ; and those, who relax their efforts, so fiir extinguish the 
 vitality they had received. In like nuauicr, 2 Tim. i. G — ^'^ stir 
 up the gift," may be understood either of the office of the evan- 
 gelist, or of his extraordinary powers. •• Receive not the grace 
 of God in vain," 'i Coi-. vi. 1, may be referred to the ministerial 
 office, the gospel message, or even to miraculous gifts. The 
 Comforter was to come, and reprove the world of sin, and of 
 I'ighteousness, and of judgment : John xvi. 8, this he has done 
 generally by the inspired apostles ; and personally in the saints. 
 "My Spirit shall not always strive with man," Gen. vi. 3, is 
 meant of an objective striving ; which is always resisted, "you 
 do always resist the Holy Ghost," except by those, who are the 
 subjects of l)is internal operations. Such general invitations as 
 
100 
 
 occur ill Isa. Iv. 1, Matt. xi. 28, John vii. S>7, Rev. xxii. IT, do 
 not prove an immediate common influence on the minds of all ; 
 but suppose men to be alike free from restraint, and constraint ; 
 except from the willing bondage of their own sinful disposi- 
 tions. To suppose the influences of the Spirit to be awarded 
 by justice, is a denial that they are grace, and that God, as a 
 sovereign, may do with his own as he pleases. Justice requires, 
 that man should have every physical advantage, for which he is 
 to account. But a right disposition is the accomplishment of 
 duty ; and constitutes an item to the credit of him, who has it ; 
 if this be also furnished, it is an aid, which is purely gratui- 
 tous ; not a talent, but the improvement. Also, because it is 
 precisely what man ought to effect, and is voluntary, he must 
 naturally deem his virtue to be moi-e peculiarly his own than 
 any tiling j and, like the ancient Stoics, think his happiness to 
 be self-originated, and man a divinity to himself. But to 
 imagine, that because men possess every necessary faculty, and 
 advantage, for the service of God, they will be changed by 
 mere moral suasion, is to mistake the human character ; it is the 
 Lord, that opens the heart ; it is God, who always causeih us to 
 triumph^ the gospel is a ministration of the spirit, which is 
 poured out from on high, and he that asketh this blessing, has it j 
 whilst he that never had it, never really sought it. Thus man's 
 guilt lies at his own door ; but when he sees, and feels it 
 aright, he escapes, and gives the glory to God. 
 
 But the Antinomian feels no sorrow for sin, ^\hilst he as- 
 cribes his salvation to distinguishing special grace : and the 
 
x\rininiari discovers no occasion for repentance ; further, than 
 he thinks he has resisted that common grace, wliich he might 
 have improved. These opposite schemes agree in this errour ; 
 that, without grace, tiiere is no duty, and consequently no sin, 
 and no cause for sorrow. But the very term speaks gratuitous- 
 ness, and the justice of final condemnation, if the influences of 
 the spirit were never bestowed. Yet this could not be, if man 
 %\'ere the subject of an excusable inability. 
 
 G. Page 74. 
 
 OF THE SALVATION OF THE HEATHEN. 
 
 A sentiment has been strongly expressed on tliis subject, 
 and again the reverse, with equal confidence, in numerous in- 
 stances, by different preachers, from the same desk. When a 
 presbytery ai'e of opinion, that the scriptures have not asserted 
 the doctrine of the unceremonious damnation of the heathen ; 
 they ought to allow this exception when required, either at li- 
 censure or ordination.* The difficulty lies in the answer to 
 
 * When the Westminster confession and catechisms, were received by 
 the presbyterian church in America, and adopted by a synodical act, in 
 1729, it was with this proviso ; " And in case any minister of the Synod, or 
 any candidate for the ministry, shall have any scruple, with respect to any 
 article, or articles of said confession ; he shall, in time of making said de- 
 claration, declare his scruples to the Synod, or Presbytery ; who shall not- 
 withstanding, admit him to the exercise of the ministry, within our bounds, 
 and to ministerial communion, if the Synod, or Presbytery, shall judge his 
 scruples not essential, or necessary in doctrine, worship, or government." 
 " The act of Synod in 1729, was the basis — of union," in 1758. But the dis- 
 
102 
 
 question 60, of the larger catechism. The correct answer to be 
 presented to it, must be in the negative, for it is certainly true, 
 that no obedience of ours to any law can save us. The assem- 
 bly's answer, in denying salvation to be in any other, but 
 Christ, is also true. But so far as it does, though indirectly, 
 affirm, that faith is required of those, who never have heard the 
 evidence, it is neither supported by the scriptures, nor by rea- 
 son. Rom. X. 14, 15, only proves, that the gospel should be 
 sent. 2 Thes. i. 8, 9, is written against troublers of the saints ; 
 and supposes a resistance of light. John viii. 24, was spoken 
 to those, wlu> rejected Christ. Mark xvi. 16, is pronounced 
 of all, who shall refuse the message of the apostles. Not one 
 of these supposed proofs was designed, originally, to touch the 
 subject. The other recited proofs, with the declaration of 
 Peter, which is the subject of this essay, all show the impor- 
 tant truth, that salvation is only through Christ. But during the 
 Mosaic dispensation, gentiles, who had not the law, might do by 
 the light of nature, the tilings contained in the law ; Rom. ii. 
 14, and the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law ; 
 ver. 26, yet was their righteousness not deemed a pleadable 
 sround of salvation, for such admission would have conflicted 
 with the argument of the apostle ; but if such righteousness 
 was supposed to be the effect of grace, his argument is safe : 
 and Jews and gentiles are alike driven to Christ for refuge. 
 The apostle probably alluded to such gentiles, as the Kenites, 
 
 cretionary powers of a presbytery, in trying those, whom they are to ordain, 
 are secured to them by the word of God, and can neither be taken away, 
 nor abandoned. 
 
103 
 
 who went up with the tribe of Judah ; vide Judges i. 16, iv. 11. 
 1 Sam. XV. 6. Of the same sort are the Rechabites to tliis daj, 
 who have descended from Hemath, who was also tlie father of 
 the Kenites, 1 Chron. ii. 55. These children of Rechab, 
 were not Jews, and did not go up with Israel into Canaan, but 
 then lived in Arabia, and still dwell in the mountainous tropical 
 country, to the north east of Medina. These gentiles, to this 
 hour, worship the true God, and enjoy the blessing pronounced 
 on them, Jer. xxxv. 19, '• Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God 
 of Israel, Jonadab, the son of Fechab, shall not want a man to 
 stand before me forever.^'' They are called the Beni Khiebar, 
 sons of Hebcr, probably as Abraham was, because lie had come 
 over the river, to Arabia, the western land 5 and are by mistake 
 accounted to be Jews. Neighbuhr says (Travels, 2 vol. p. 43,) 
 '•The most remarkable, and least known, of these highland 
 communities, is that which the Jews have formed upon the 
 mountains lying to the N. E. of Medina. That tract of coun- 
 try is called Khiebar, and the Jew?, inhabiting it, are known in 
 Arabia by the name of Beni Khiebar. They have independent 
 Schiecks of their own, and are divided into three tribes ; Beni 
 Missead, Beni Schahan, Beni Anaefte.'* 
 
 " It does not appear, that tlie Jews of Khiebar keep up anv 
 intercourse with their brethren, who arc dispersed over Asia. 
 When I asked the Jews in Syria, concerning them ; tlicy told 
 me, that those y«/se brethren durst not claim their fellowship, for 
 they did not observe the law." 
 
 " These Jews cannot accompany a caravan, because their re- 
 ligion permits them not to travel on the sabbath. Yet the 
 
104 
 
 country, which they inhabit, is surrounded with vast and sandy 
 deserts, that unless with a caravan, so sequestered a tract can- 
 not be safely, either left or entered." 
 
 Jonadab, the son of Rechab, lived B. C- 878, 2 Kings S. 15* 
 Nearly 300 years afterwards, when their country was invaded, 
 they fled to Jerusalem for safety j but they returned, and have 
 ever lived in the same manner, as shepherds in tents, wor- 
 shiping the true God, and observing the sabbath. The excel- 
 lent missionary, Joseph Wolfe, enquired for them, (Journal, p. 
 234.) " I have heard of Jews (in Neighbuhr's travels) who arc 
 M'andering about like Arabs, near Mecca ; do you know of them? 
 
 Rabbi Mose Secot. They are called the Beni Khaibr. I was 
 rejoiced to perceive, that they are known by the Jews at Jeru- 
 salem, under the very name, which Neighbuhr gave them ; and 
 I asked Rabbi Mose Secot, whether those Beni Khaibr ever 
 came to Jerusalem ? 
 
 liahbi Mose Secot. In the time of Jeremiah the prophet they 
 came hither. " ^ 
 
 Wolfe. " How do you know this ? 
 
 Babbi Mose Secot. Let us read the prophet Jeremiah. He 
 then read Jeremiah xxxv. 1 to 1 1." " The word, which came to 
 Jeremiah, from the Lord, in the days of Jehoiachim, the so7% of 
 Josiah, King of Judah, saying; Go unto the house of the Recha- 
 bites, and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the 
 Jjord, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink. 
 Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazi- 
 niah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of 
 
105 
 
 the Eechahitcs. And I brought them into the house of the Lord, 
 into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a 
 man of God, which tvas by the chamber of the princes, which 
 was above the chamber of Maaseiah, the son of Shallum, the 
 keeper of the door. And I set before the sons of the house of 
 the Eechabites, pots full of wine., and cups ; and I said unto 
 ihcm. Drink ye wine. But they said. We will drink no wine; 
 for Jo7iadab, the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, say- 
 ing: Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons forever. 
 Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, 
 nor have any; but all your days, ye shall dwell in tents; tlmt 
 ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers. 
 TTius have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab. the son of Rechab, 
 our father, in all, that he hath charged us, to drink no ivine all 
 our days, ice, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters; nor to 
 build houses for us to dwell in, neither have we vineyard, nor 
 field, nor seed; but we have divelt in tents, and have obeyed, 
 and done, according to all, that Jonadab, our father, comman- 
 ded us. But it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar, king of 
 Babylon, came up into the land, that we said ; come, and let 
 us go to Jerusalem, for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and 
 for fear of the army of the Syrians : so ive dwell at Jerusalem.''^ 
 "You see by this," says Wolfe, "that Rabbi Mose Secot is 
 quite certain, tliat the Beni Khiebar are descendants of the 
 Recliabitcs : to this present moment, they drink no wine, and 
 liave neither vineyard, nor field, nor seed : but dwell, like Arabs 
 in tents, and are wandering nomades. They believe, and ob- 
 
 o 
 
106 
 
 serve the law of Moses by tradition, for they are not iti posses- 
 sion of the written law. " 
 
 In this Mr. Wolfe is mistaken, their tradition is like tiiosc 
 of Melchisedec, and Job, and Jethro, who was cotemporary with 
 them, and of the same stock ; not like that of the Pharisees. 
 That Rechab was not a descendant of Israel ; and that the 
 Rechabites are not Jews, is established by 1 Chron. ii. 55. 
 These strictly pious people who are worshippers of the true God, 
 more than three thousand five hundred years, still under the 
 Noachic dispensation, and who were in the days of Jeremiali 
 approved, and blessed of God, in his temple, wliither they had 
 been invited by his command, have, according to his promise 
 '"'^ never wanted a man to stand before the Lord.^^ The question 
 is now a simple one ; are tliese heathenish pious worshippers 
 of tlie true God, who have no scriptures, and no knowledge of 
 Christ, all to be lost ; and debarred of an interest in liim, of 
 M-hom they have not heard .'^ 
 
 The greater portion of mankind have not yet had tl>e offer of 
 Christ, but they pass through their state of trial, and are to be 
 judged. Must they be all swept off to perdition, for not be- 
 lieving that, which, it has been impossible for them to believe.^ 
 Neither revelation, nor reason, unless we are greatly mistaken, 
 affirms this. 
 
107 
 
 H. Page 77. 
 
 OF UNREGENERATE DUTIES, SO CALLED. 
 
 The words, "as if it were necessary to the discharge of duty, 
 for then grace is a talent, without ivhich, we should be innocent in 
 nonperformance^''' may to some appear unwarrantable; on 
 which account, it first occurred, to remove them. But because 
 tlie admission that grace is necessary to the performance of 
 dt'.ly, as such, produces a bad effect, in hardening the impenitent, 
 by funii:-hing the plea of impotency, it seemed better to ex- 
 plain. The co-operation, or rather operation, of providence in 
 every act, mental, and bodily, few will deny. Also, since all 
 good comes from God, that, which man etiects, must be from 
 him ; no moral good, or duty, being at any time peiformed with- 
 out grace. IJut neither in natural, nor moral action, is the divine 
 concurrence, immediately perceptible : consequently, for man 
 to delay obedience, till he has obtained the spiritual aid, which 
 shall change his disposition, and produce a desire of compliance, 
 is to renounce obligation, and continue in sin, until something 
 has been done, which it is impossible he should know to have 
 been accomplished, except by performing such obedience, ^^hich 
 to admit, is also to confess, that no unrenewed man can be 
 guilty of the sin of omission ; since, by the supposition, non- 
 performance is innocence, so long as spiritual aid is withholden. 
 But tliat all men, as moral agents, are accountable, is the testi- 
 mony equally of reason, conscience, revelation, and mankind. 
 
10» 
 
 For the moral good, which obtains in man's discharge ot liis 
 duty, we are debtors ; but such spiritual aid, is derived imper- 
 ceptibly, that it may not remove liberty ; for then would it de- 
 sti'oy the morality of our actions. Such influence is neither in, 
 nor by the word ; but distinct, even when simultaneous with it ; 
 for the scriptures illuminate objectively, and are thus able to make 
 wise unto salvation. But if the word were imperfect, and such 
 co-operation of grace were necessary to discover our duty, it would 
 be an inspiration of suggestion ; and also cease to be gratuitous; 
 for if our ignorance were invincible, non-perfortnance ivould be 
 innocence. But such influence is probably neither an operation 
 of the Spirit on the understanding, nor will ; nor on any other 
 mental faculty ; for if it were, and were necessary to enable us 
 to accomplish what is required, then the previous want of pow- 
 er would have excused, and non-performance without it, must 
 have been innocence. The sanctifying operation of the Spirit, 
 is upon the heart, that is, the disposition of the moral agent : 
 and supplies the defect of a bent to moral rectitude. Without 
 such grace, no man ever does any good ; yet the want of a heart is 
 our fault; and because such aid, is to supply a defect of disposi- 
 tion, not of power, it is not necessary to be conferred on man, 
 either in order to his discharge of duty, or to place hin\ under a 
 moral obligation to do it ; but is purely gratuitous, and thus cob- 
 rectly denominated grace. Since man is moral, and accountable 
 without it ; and possesses all advantages qualifying him for the 
 accomplishment of every precept, by which his Creator has 
 bound him ; neglect incurs guilt ; and it will not lie in his 
 mouth to say, at the judgment, " grace was necessary to the dis- 
 
109 
 
 charge of the duties laid upon me, and that grace was nol: 
 given." Nevertheless, the necessity is acknowledged, cheerful- 
 ly, in respect of the divine efficiency, which produces every 
 good in the natural and moral world, according to sovereign 
 pleasure, and no more is intended, than to allege, that in every 
 duty, as such, for which man is to account, there is no defect, 
 but in himself. 
 
 It has been absurdly contended, that as God requires holi- 
 ness in heart, word, and life ; and the unregenerate are unholy 
 in all ; he requires not them to do any thing j *' for what can 
 they do, but sin and be damned !'* But if they be free from 
 obligation, as they must be, if destitute of every talent, they 
 are also clear of guilt, entirely innocent ; and do what they 
 will, neither transgression, nor defect, can ever be charged 
 upon them, nor they brought into danger. That no unregene- 
 rate duties are commanded, may be true, for the terms imply 
 a contradiction ; but certainly unregenerate men are required to 
 perform duties which are holy. Nor can their indisposition, or 
 want of a heart, furnish them the least excuse, however modifi- 
 ed, by the obtuse, and the perverse, into an inability ; in refu- 
 tation of which, there has been substituted the expression 
 moral inability, a phrase obviously self-contradictory, but which 
 means, in common acceptation, really no inability, or want of 
 power, but merely of inclination. The authority of the legis- 
 lator is rightful, the obligation of his laws upon his intelligent, 
 and lawful subjects, is not mediate, but immediate, and sus- 
 pended upon no conditions. If regeneration were a pre-requi- 
 
110 
 
 s-ite to duty, llie knowledge of tlie attiiiumcnt would also be 
 such ; this circumstance, and the defectiveness of the best men, 
 would soon drive the ordinances of religion out of the world. 
 In every duty the heart is required ; yet if obligation be not 
 immediate, but suspended upon an opinion to be formed of our 
 preparedness to yield spiritual obedience, there is a general 
 indulgence. Nevertheless unerring wisdom rightly demands 
 immediate, perfect obedience, whatever may be our moral cha- 
 racter, our desires, or views. 
 
 Still it may be alleged, that without newness of life, there 
 is no prayer, tor since every one who asketh, receiveth ; no an- 
 swer argues there has been no petition. Right prayer does 
 proceed from tiie heart, and nothing else is duty, or at all re- 
 quired ; and to no other, is an answer promised. But there is 
 neither real excellence, nor merit, in the best prayer 5 and when 
 it is granted, that which is received is of favour. If the holi- 
 est express nothing that deserves to be heard ; who has a right 
 to limit the Almighty as to others } Or to say, that his grace, 
 which, as often as conferred, is bestowed on the unworthy, 
 may not reach the unregenerate petitioner ? Prayer, in this re- 
 spect, stands upon the same ground, as every other duty. As 
 on the one hand no good is promised to the unrenewed, whilst 
 such ; so on the other, we have no right to bar the kingdom 
 against them j or discourage their applications for mercy. But 
 since both law and gospel require the service of the heart ; 
 and God accepts nothing less, that servant acts without au- 
 thority, and at his own peril, who lowers his master's terms. 
 
Ill 
 
 and encourages sin, in the name of duty ', or advises dehn 
 in oijcdience, under the unhallowed pretext of waiting for 
 grace. 
 
 Ki N I s. 
 
PRESIDING PRESBYTERS 
 
 of the, first presbyterian church, Philadelphia. 
 
 From 1701, The Rev. Jedediah Andrews, unto 1747. 
 
 The Rev. Samuel Hemphill, 1735. 
 
 1739, The Rev. Robert Cross, A. M. 1766. 
 
 1752, The Rev. Francis Alison, D. D. 1779. 
 
 1759, The Rev. John Ewing, D. D. 1802. 
 
 1801, The Rev. John B. Linn, D. D. 1804. 
 
 1806, James P. Wilson. 
 
 The Deacons for Elders) ivho have deceased. 
 
 William M'llvain, John Lisle, 
 
 Charles Thomson, Robert Bailey, 
 
 John FuUerton, James Stewart, 
 
 James Hunter, Hugh Henry, 
 
 Robert Smith, John Connelly, 
 
 Robert Tae;2:ert, And others unknown. 
 
 THE PRESENT DEACONS. 
 
 Alexander Fullerton, Ambrose White, 
 
 David Lapsley, James Moore, 
 
 Alexander Purves. George Morris. 
 
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 Ml'l'mi'i?iiii*'i''°''"' 5eminary-Speer Library 
 
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