The deepest repentance and profoundest humility become us: to neglect them, is to stumble at the very threshold of true religion; and to ridicule them, is to pour contempt upon reason, revelation, and the first operations of divine grace on a sinner's heart.

III. If the corruption of mankind is universal, inveterate, and amazingly powerful, no mere creature can deliver them from it. They must remain unrestored, or they must have an almighty, omniscient, omnipresent, unwearied, infinitely patient Saviour; willing day and night to attend to the wants, and public or secret applications of millions of wretched souis; and able to give them immediate assistance throughout the world, in all their various trials, temptations, and conflicts, both in life and in death. Is the most exalted creature sufficient for these things?

When such a vast body as mankind spread over all the earth for thousands of years, made up of numerous nations, all of which consist of Bultitudes of individuals, each of whom has the springs of all his faculties and powers enfeebled, disordered, or broken;-when such an immense body as this is to be restored to the image of the infinitely holy, glorious, and blessed God, common sense dictates, that the amazing task can be performed by no other than the original artist, the great searcher of hearts, the omnipotent Creator of mankind.

Hence it appears, that notwithstanding the cavils of Arius, the Saviour is, "GOD OVER ALL, blessed for ever;' "all things were made by him, and he upholds all things by the word of his power;" and every believer may adore him, and say, with the wondering apostle, when the light of faith shone into his benighted soul, "MY LORD, AND MY GOD!"

IV. If our guilt is immense it cannot be expiated without a sacrifice of an infinite dignity; hence we discover the mistake of heathens and carnal Jews, who trusted in the sacrifice of beasts; the crror of deists, mahometans, and socinians, who see no need of any expiatory sacrifice; and the amazing presumption of too many Christians, who repose a considerable part of their confidence in the proper merit of their works; instead of placing it entirely in the infinitely meritorious sacrifice of the immaculate Lamb of God, humbly acknowledging that all the gracious rewardableness of the best works of faith, is derived from his precious blood and original merit.

V. If our spiritual maladies are both numerous and mortal, it is evident, we cannot recover the spiritual health that we enjoyed in our first parents, but by the powerful help of our heavenly physician, the second Adam. How absurd is it then to say, thut we are saved or recovered by doing good works, without the quickening grace of a Saviour!

A wretched beggar is lame both in his hands and feet; an officious man, instead of taking him to a person famous for his skill in relieving such objects of distress, assures him, that the only way of getting well is to run on errands for his prince, and work for his fellow-beggars. You justly wonder at the cruelty and folly of such a director; but you have much more reason to be astonished at the conduct of those miserable empirics, who direct poor, blind, lame sinners, labouring under a complication of spiritual disorders, and sick even unto eternal death, to save themselves merely by serving God, and doing good to their neighbours, as if they needed neither repentance towards God, nor faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, nor yet free grace to enable them to repent, believe, and serve God acceptably.

How much more rational is the evangelical method of salvation? IVe are saved, says the apostle, we are restored to saving health, and a spiritual activity to serve God and our neighbour, not by works, not of burselves; but by grace, by mere favour; through faith, through such au cutire confidence in our physician, as makes us gladly take his powerful remedies abstain from the pleasing poison of sin, and feed

on those divine truths, which communicate angelical vigour and happiness to our souls, Eph. ii. 8.

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VI. If our nature is so completely fallen and totally helpless, that in spiritual things we are not sufficient of ourselves to think any thing [truly good] as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God;" it is plain, we stand in absolute need of his Spirit's assistance, to enable us to pray, repent, believe, love, and obey aright. Consequently, those who ridicule the Holy Spirit, and his sacred influence, despise the great helper of our infirmities, and act a most irrational, wicked, and desperate part. Rom. viii. 26.

VII. If by nature we are really and truly born in sin, our regeneration cannot be a mere metaphor, or a vain ceremony; our spiritual birth must be real and positive. How fatal therefore is the mistake of those who suppose that the new birth is only a figurative expression for a decent behaviour!

How dreadful the error of those, who imagine that all, whose faces have been typically washed with the material water in baptism, are now effectually born again of living water and the Holy Spirit! And how inexcusable the case of the multitudes, who, in the Church of England, are under this dangerous mistake, so prudently guarded against by our pious reformers!

In our catechism they clearly distinguish between "the outward visible sign or form in baptism, "and "the inward spiritual grace," and by defining the latter, a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness," they declare, that whosoever is not dead, or dying to sin, and alive to righteousness, is not truly regenerate, and has nothing of baptisin, but the outward and visible sign. In the 27th of our articles they mention, that baptism is not the new wirth, but a "Sign of regeneration or new birth, whereby, as by an instrument, they who receive baptism rightly, are grafted into the church." And if our Church returns thanks for the regeneration of the infants, whom she has admitted to baptism, it is chiefly* upon a charitable supposition, that they have "received it rightly, and will, for their part, faithfully perform the promises made for them by their sureties." If they refuse to do it when they come of age, far from treating them as her regenerate children, she denounces a general excommunication against them, and charges them " not to come to her holy table, lest Satan bring them, as he did Judas, to destruction both of body and soul."

VIII. If the fall of mankind in Adam, does not consist in a capricious imputation of his personal guilt, but in a real, present participation of his depravity, impotence, and misery; the salvation that believers have in Christ, is not a capricious imputation of his personal righteousness; but a real, present participation of his purity, power, and blessedness, together with pardon and acceptance.

Unspeakably dangerous then is the delusion of those, whose brains and mouths are filled with the motions and expressions of imputed righteous ness; while their poor, carnal, unregenerate hearts, remain perfect strangers to the Lord our righteousness.

XI. If the corrupt nature, which sinners derive from Adam, spontaneously produces all the wickedness that overspreads the earth; the

* I say chiefly, because our Church gives thanks also for Christ's general grace and mercy to children, declaring herself" persuaded of the good-will of our heavenly Father towards this (unbaptized) infant, through Christ, who said, that of little children is the kingdom of heaThe truth lies between the error of the Pelagians, who suppose that unbaptized infants, are sinless like angels; and that of the Papists, who affirm that they are graceless as devils.

ven.

FIFTH PARÇ,

holy nature which believers receive from Christ, is also spontaneously productive of all the fruits of righteousness described in the oracles of God: "Good works springing out*, necessarily, of a true and lively faith." Acts. xii.

Such ministers therefore, as clearly preach our fall in Adam, and that faith in Christ, which is productive of genuine holiness and active love, will infallibly promote good works and pure morality: when those who insist only upon works and moral duties, will neither be zealous of good works themselves, nor instrumental in turning sinners from their gross immoralities. The reason is obvious: evangelical preachers follow their Lord's wise direction; "Make the tree good, and the fruit shall be good also:" but moralists will have corrupt trees bring forth good fruit, which, in the nature of things, is impossible, Matt. xii. 33, Luke vi. 43. Therefore, as nothing but faith makes the tree good, and as without faith it is impossible to please God; the Christian, that will come to him with good works, must not only believe (as heathens)" that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him;" but also that he was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself," &c.

X. If corruption and sin work so powerfully and sensibly, in the hearts of the unregenerate, we may, without deserving the name of enthusiasts affirm, that the regenerate are sensible of the powerful effects of divine grace in their sculs; or, to use the words of the 17th article, we may say, "They feel in themselves the workings of the Spirit of Christ :" for where the poison of sin hath abounded, and has been of course abundantly felt; grace, the powerful antidote that expels it, does much more abound, and consequently may be much more perceived.

Therefore the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of sins, the assurance of faith, and the peace of God passing all understanding, are the experienced blessings of the converted; as certainly as a guilty con. science, the gnawing of worldly cares, the working of evil tempers, the tumults of unbridled appetites, and the uproars of rebellious passions, are the experienced curses of the unconverted.

Reader, if these inferences are justly drawn, is it not evident, that the principlest generally exploded among us, as enthusiastical or me thodistical, flow from the doctrine demonstrated in this treatise, as naturally as light from the sun? These consequences lead you perhaps farther than you could wish; but let them not make you either afraid or ashamed of the gospel. Prejudices, like clouds, will vanish away; but truth, which they obscure for a time, like the sun, will shine for ever. A great man in the law said, Fiat justitia, ruat mundus. Improve the noble sentiment, and say with equal fortitude, Stet veritas, ruat mundus; let truth stand, though the universe should sink into ruins.

But happily for us, the danger is all on the side of the opposite doctrine; and that you may be convinced of it, I present you next with a view of the

*This is to be understood of a moral, and not of an absolute, irresistible necessity; for faith never unmans the believer.

† Those doctrines, pointed out in the ten above-mentioned inferences, are 1. The alarming severity of the law. 2. The need of a deep, heart-felt repentance. 3. The divinity of Christ. 4. The in finite merit of his sacrifice. 5. Salvation by faith in him. 6. The influences of the Holy Spirit. 7. The reality of the new birth. The necessity of a present salvation. 9. The zeal of believers for good works, and 10. The comfortable assurance which they have of their regeneration.

8.

Dreadful Consequences, necessarily resulting from the Ignorance of our Depravity and Danger.

1. As the tempter caused the fall of our first parents, by inducing them to believe, that they "should not surely die," if they broke the divine law so now we are fallen, he prevents our recovery by suggesting, "the bitterness of death is past," and " we are in a state of safety."-Hence it is, that you sleep on in carnal security, O ye deluded sons of men, and even dream, ye are safe and righteous. Nor can ye escape for your lives, till the veil of unbelief is taken away, and ye awake to a sight of your corrupt and lost estate; for there is no guarding against, nor flying from, an unseen, unsuspected evil; here, as in a conspiracy, the danger continually increases, till it is happily discovered.

2. If we are not sensible of our natural corruption, and the justice of the curse entailed upon us on that account; can we help thinking God a tyrant, when he threatens unconverted moralists with the severest of his judgments, or causes the black storm of his Providence to overtake us and our dearest relatives?

Answer, ye self-righteous Pharisees, that so bitterly exclaim against the ministers, who declare by the authority of scripture, that " except ye repent, ye shall all perish." Answer, fond mother, whose tears of distraction mix with the cold sweat of the convulsed, dying infant, on thy lap. Dost thou not secretly impeach divine justice, and accuse heaven of barbarity? Ah! if thou didst but know the evil nature which thou and thy Isaac have brought into the world; if thou sawest the root of bitterness, which the hand of a gracious Providence even now extracts from his heart; far from being ready to curse God, and die with thy child, thou wouldest patiently acquiesce in the kindly-severe dispensation: thou wouldest "clear him when he is judged" by such as thyself, and even glorify him in the evil day of this painful visitation.

3. Though man's heart is as hard as steel, it does not frequently emit the hellish sparks of such murmurings against God, because it can seldom be struck by the flint of such severe afflictions; yet the mischief is there, and will break out, if not by blasphemous despair, at least by its contrary, presumptuous madness. Yes, reader, unless thou art happily made acquainted with the strength of thy inbred depravity, thou wilt rashly venture among the sparks of temptation; with carnal confidence thou wilt ask, "What harm can they do me?" And thou wilt continue the hazardous sport, till sin and wrath consume thee together. Nor will this be more surprising, than that one, who carries a bag of gunpowder, and knows not the dangerous nature of his load, should fearlessly rush through the midst of flames or sparks, till he is blown up and destroyed.

4. This fatal rashness is generally accompanied with a glaring inconsistency. Do not you make the assertion good, ye saints of the present age, who pretend to have found the secret of loving both God and the world? Do not we hear you deny to men, that ye are condemned; and yet cry to God to have mercy upon you? But if ye are not condemned, what need have you of mercy? And if ye are, why do ye deny your lost estate? Thou too, reader, wilt fall into this absurdity, unless thou knowest thy just condemnation. But the mischief will not stop here; for,

5. Ignorance of the mystery of iniquity within you, must, in the nature of things, cause you to neglect prayer or to pray out of character. As unhumbled moralists, instead of approaching the throne of grace, with the self-abasement of the penitent publican, saying, " God be merciful unto me a sinner:" ye will provoke the Most High, by the open

prophaneness of the Sadducee; or insult him by the self-conceited services of the Pharisee, boasting, ye" do no harm," and "thanking God, ye are not as other men." On these rocks your formal devotion will split, till ye know, that, as the impenitent and prayerless shall perish, so the Lord accepts no penitential prayer, but that of the man who knows the plague of his own heart; because he alone prays m his own character, and without hypocrisy, 1 Pet. v. 5. 1 Kings viii. 3. 6. And as ye cannot approach the throne of grace aright, while ye remain insensible of your corruption; so the reading or preaching of God's word, till it answers the end of conviction, is of no service to you, but rather proves, to use St. Paul's nervous expression, "the savour of death unto death." For when the terrors of the law only suit your case, ye vainly catch at the comforts of the gospel; or rather ye remain as unaffected under the threatenings of the one, as under the promises of the other: ye look on Mount Sinai and Mount Sion, with equal indifference, and the warmth of the preacher, who invites you to " fly from the wrath to come," appears to you an instance of religious madness. Nor is it a wonder it should, while ye continue unacquainted with your danger; when a mortal disease is neither felt nor suspected, a pathetic address upon its consequences and cure, must be received by any reasonable man with the greatest unconcern; and the person that makes it in earnest, must appear exceedingly ridiculous. Again,

7. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge," says the Lord. This is true, particularly with regard to the knowledge of our depravity. Reader, if thou remainest a stranger to it, thou wilt look upon slight confessions of outward sins, as true repentance; and the "godly sorrow, that worketh repentance to salvation," will appear to thee a symptom of melancholy. Taking an external reformation of manners, or a change of ceremonies and opinions for true conversion, thou wilt think thyself in a safe state, while thy heart continues habitually wandering from God, and under the dominion of a worldly spirit. In a word, some of the branches of the tree of corruption thou mayest possibly lop off, but the root will still remain and gather strength. For it is plain, that a bad root, supposed not to exist, can neither be heartily lamented, nor earnestly struck at with the axe of self-denial.

Even a heathen could say, "The knowledge of sin is the first step towards salvation from it for he, who knows not that he sins, will not submit to be set right; thou must find out what thou art, before thou canst mend thyself.- -Therefore when thou discoverest thy vices, to which thou wast before a stranger, it is a sign that thy soul is in a better state*."

8. It is owing to the want of this discovery, O ye pretended sons of reason, that thinking yourselves born pure, or supposing the disease of your nature to be inconsiderable, ye imagine it possible to be your own physicians, when ye are only your own destroyers. Hence it is, that while ye give to Jesus the titular honour of Saviour; ye speak perpetually of being "saved merely by your own duties, and best endeavours." Hear him warning you against this common delusion: "O Israel, (says he,) thou hast destroyed thyself, but in ME is thy help found. The whole need not a physician, but they that are sick," beyond all hopes of recovering

themselves.

* Initium est salutis notitia peccati, nam qui peccare se nescit corrigi non vult: deprehendas te opportet antequam emendes. Sen. Ep. xxviii. -Et hoc ipsum argumentum est in melius translati animi, quod vitia sua, quæ adhuc ignorabat, videt. Ep. vi.

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