he not in the darkness of our nature, even when the darkness comprehends him not? And is not this light the life, the spiritual life of men? Can this be denied, if the light is Christ, and if Christ is the resurrection and the life," who came that we might have life, and that we might have it more abundantly?"

In this scriptural view of free grace, what room is there for the ridiculous cavil, that "Mr. W. wants the dead to work for life?" God of his infinite mercy in Jesus Christ, gives to poor sinners naturally dead in sin, a talent of free, preventing, quickening grace, which reproves them of sin; and when it is followed, of righteousness and judgment. This, which some Calvinists call common grace, is granted to all without any respect of persons; so that even the poor Jew Herod, if he had not preferred the smiles of his Herodias to the convincing light of Christ, which shone in his conscience, would have been saved as well as John the Baptist; and that poor Heathen Felix, if he had not hardened his heart in the day of his visitation, would have sweetly experienced that Christ had as much tasted death for him as he did for St. Paul. The living light visited them; but they not working while it was day, or refusing to cut off the right hand which the Lord called for, fell at last into that night wherein no man can work ; "their candlestick was removed, their lamp went out." They quenched their smoking flax, or in other words their talent unimproved was justly taken from them. Thus, though once through grace they could work, they died while they lived; and so were, as says St. Jude, "twice dead," dead in Adam by that sentence, "in the day that thou eatest thou shalt surely die ;" and dead in themselves, by personally renouncing Christ the life, or rejecting the light of his convincing Spirit.

This being premised, I ask, where is the heresy in this paragraph of the Minutes? Does it consist in quoting a plain passage out of one of our Lord's sermons? Or in daring to produce in the` original, under the horrible form of the decagrammaton, 'Egya Zepoɛ that dreadful tetragammaton work? Surely, Sir, you have too much piety to maintain the former, and too much good sense to assert the latter Does it consist in saying that believers work from life? (for of such only Mr. W. here speaks) Do not all grant that he who believeth hath life, yea, everlasting life, and therefore can work? And have not I proved from scripture, that the very Heathens are not without some light and grace to work suitably to their dispensation?

The heresy, say you, does not consist in asserting that the believer works from, but for life. Does it indeed? Then the Lord Jesus is the heretic; for Mr. W. only re

peats what he spoke above 1700 years ago; Labour, says he, ('Egyaleo0e) work for the meat that endureth, to everlasting life. Enter therefore your protest against St. John's gospel, if Christ will not formally recant it, and not against the Minutes of his servant who dares not take away from his Lord's words, for fear God should take away his part out of the book of life!

But if the Son of God is an heretic for putting the unbelieving Jews upon working by that dreadful word (Egyalo0e) St. Paul is undoubtedly an arch heretic, for corrobo. rating it by a strong preposition: (Karεpy®. eo0) says he to the Philippians, work outand what is most astonishing, work out your own salvation. Your own salvation! Why, Paul, this is even worse than working for life! for salvation implies a deliverance from all guilt, sin, and misery; together with obtaining the life of grace here, and the life of glory hereafter. Ah! poor legal apostle, what a pity is it, thou didst not live in our evangelical age! Some by explaining to thee the mystery of finished salvation, or by protesting in a body against thy dreadful heresy, might have saved the fundamental doctrines of Christianity; and the John Goodwin of the age would not have had thee to bear him out in his pharisaical, and papistical delusions!

Here you reply, that "St. Paul gives God all the glory by maintaining that "it is he who works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure." And does not Mr. W. do the same? Has he not for near forty years steadily asserted, that all power to think a good thought, much more to will or do a good work, is from God, by mere 'grace, through the merits of Jesus Christ, and the agency of the Holy Spirit? If any dares to deny it, myriads of witnesses who have heard him preach, and thousands of printed sermons, hymns, and tracts, dispersed through the three kingdoms, will prove it grossly.

But let us come closer to the point. Is not Christ "the bread that came down from heaven to give life to the world?" Is he not "the meat that endureth to everlasting life!" The meat which he directs even the poor Capernaites to work for? Must we not come to him for that meat? Is not coming to Christ, a work of the heart? Yea, the work of God? The work that God peculiarly calls for? John vi. 28, 29. Does not our Lord complain of those who do not work for life? That is, "come unto him that they might have life, or that they might have it more abun. dantly?" And must not every believer do this work-come to Christ for life, yea and live upon him every day and every hour?

Again, Sir, consider these Scriptures, "He that believeth hath everlasting life; He that hath the Son hath life; Compare them

with the following complaint, "None stirreth up himself to lay hold on God;" and with the charge of St. Paul to Timothy, Lay hold on eternal life ;" and let us know, whether stirring up oneself to lay hold on the God of our life, and actually laying hold on eternal life, are not works, and works for, as well as from life? And whe ther believers are dispensed from these works till they come to glory?

Once more; please to tell us, if praying, using ordinances, running a race, taking up the cross, keeping under the body, wrest ling, fighting a good fight, are not works; and if all believers are not to do them, till death brings them a discharge? If you say, that they do them from life and not for life," you still point blank oppose our Lord's express declaration.

A similar instance will make you sensible of it. Lot flies out of Sodom. How many works does he do at once! He hearkens to God's messengers, obeys their voice, sacrifi ces his property, forsakes all, prays, runs, and escapes for his life. No, says one, wiser than seven men who can render a reason, "You should not say, that he escapes for life, but from life: do not hint, that he runs "to preserve his life;" you should say that he does it "because he is alive." What an, admirable distinction is this! Again; my friend is consumptive. I send for a Physician who prescribes 66 'he must ride out every day for his life." Some other Physicians see the prescription, and by printed letters raise all the gentlemen of the faculty, to insist in a body on a formal recantation of this dreadful prescription; declaring the health of thousands is at stake, if we say that consumptive people are to ride for life, as well as from life. Risum teneatis amici?

But they who protest, against Mr. W. for maintaining that we ought to work for as well as from life, must protest also against a body of Puritan Divines, who in the last century being shocked at Dr. Crisp's doc-, trine, thus bore their testimony against it. "To say salvation is not the end of any good work we do, or, we are to act from life and not for life, were to abandon the human na ture; it were to teach us to violate the great precepts of the gospel; it supposes one bound. to do more for the salvation of others, than our own; 'twere to make all the threatenings of eternal death, and promises of eternal life. in the gospel, useless, as motives to shun the one, or obtain the others and it makes the scripture-characters and commendation of the most eminent saints, a fault:" for they all escaped out of Sodom.or Babylon for their lives; they all wrestled for, and " laid hold on eternal life." Preface to Mr. Flavel's book against Antinomianism.. Thus, Sir, the very Calvinists were ashamed a hundred

years ago, of the grand Crispian tenet that we ought not to work for life.

And I am glad to find, you are as far from this error as they were; for you tell us in your sermons, page 69. that "The gracious end of Christ's coming into the world was to give eternal life to those who were dead in sins, and that eternal life does consist in knowing the true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent:" you assure us next, that this life begins by 66 an exploring desire," and that God by giving it, "only means to be earnestly sought, that he may be more successfully and more happily found."

Perhaps some suppose the expression of working for life, implies the working in order to merit or purchase life. But, as our Lord's words convey no such idea, so Mr. W. takes care positively to exclude it, by those words, Not by the merit of works for he knows that eternal life is the gift of God; and yet with St. Paul he says, "Labour to enter into rest, lest ye fall after the example of Israel's unbelief:" and with the great anticrispian Divine Jesus Christ, he cries aloud, Strive to walk in the narrow way:-agonize to enter in at the strait gale that leads to life.

I pass to the third instance which he produces of his having leaned too much towards. Calvinism.

III." We have received it as a maxim, that "a man is to do nothing in order to justification :" nothing can be more false. Whoever desires to find favour with God should cease from evil and learn to do well. Whoever repents, should do works meet for repentance. And if this is not in order to find favour, what does he do them for?"

To do Mr. W. justice, it is necessary to consider what he means by Justification. And first, he does not mean, that general benevolence of our merciful God towards sinful mankind, whereby, through the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, he casts a propitious look upon them, and freely makes them partakers of the light that enlightens every man that cometh into the world. This general loving-kindness is certainly previous to any thing we can do to find it; for it always prevents us, saying to us in our very infancy, live, and when we turn from the paths of life, still crying, Why will ye die? In consequence of this general mercy our Lord says, " Let little children come unto me for of such is the kingdom of heaven" Much less does Mir W. understand what Dr, Crisp calls, eternal justification, which, because I do not see it in the Scripture, I shali say nothing of.

But the Justification he speaks of, as something that we must find, and in order to which something must be done, is either that public and final Justification which our Lord mentions in the gospel, By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou

shalt be condemned;" and in this sense no man in his wits will find fault with Mr. W's assertion; as it is evident that we must absolutely do something, that is, speak good words, in order to be justified by our words. Or he means forgiveness, and the witness of it; that wonderful transaction of the Spirit of God, in a returning prodigal's conscience, by which the forgivness of his sin is proclaimed to him through the blood of sprinkling.-This is what Mr. W. and St. Paul generally mean. It is thus, that "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ."

And now do not Scripture, common sense, and experience, shew, that something must be done in order to attain or find, though not to merit and purchase, this Justification?

Please to answer the following questions founded upon the express declaration of God's word. "To him that ordereth his conversation aright, will I show the salvation of God." Is ordering our conversation aright, doing nothing?" Repent ye, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." Are repentance and conversion nothing? "Come unto me, all ye that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," "I will justify you." Is coming doing nothing? "Cease to do evil, learn to do well: Come now, let us reason together, and though your sins be red as crimson they shall be white as snow," you shall be justified, Is ceasing to do evil, and learning to do well, doing nothing?" Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrigh teous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Is seeking, calling, forsaking one's way, and returning to the Lord, a mere nothing?" Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. Yea, take the kingdom of heaven by force." Is secking, asking, knocking and taking by force, doing absolutely nothing? Please to answer these questions, and when you have done, I'll throw one or two hundred more of the like-kind in your

way.

Let us now see whether Reason is not for Mr. W. as well as Scripture. Do you not maintain that "believing is necessary in order to our Justification?" If you do, you subscribe to Mr. W's heresy; for believing is not only doing something, but necessarily supposes a variety of things. Faith cometh by hearing, and sometimes by reading, which implies at. tending the ministry of the word, and searching the Scriptures, as the Bereans did. It likewise pre-supposes at least the attention of the mind, and consent of the heart, to a revealed truth; or the consideration, approbation, and receiving of an object proposed to us; nay, it implies renouncing worldly, and seeking divine honour: for, says our Lord, "How can you believe, who receive honour

one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only." And if none can believe in Christ unto salvation, but those who give up seeking worldly honours, by a parity of reason, they must give up following fleshly lusts, and putting their trust in uncertain riches; in a word, they must own themselves sick, and renounce their Physcians of no value, before they can make one true application to the invaluable Physician. What a variety of things is therefore implied in believing, which we cannot but acknowledge previous to Justification! Who can then consistently with reason, blame Mr. W. for saying something must be done in order to Justification?

Again, if nothing is required of us in order to Justification, who can find fault with those that die in a state of condemnation ? They were born in sin and children of wrath, and nothing was required of them in order to find favour: it remains therefore, that they are-damned, through an absolute decree, made thousands of years before they bad any existence! If some can swallow this camel with the greatest ease, I doubt, Sir, it will not go down with you, without bearing very hard upon the knowlege you have of the God of Love, and the gospel of Jesus.

Once more: Mr. W. concludes his proposition by a very pertinent question: "When a man, that is not justified, does works meet for repentance, what does he do them for ?" Permit me to answer it according to Scripture and common sense. If he does them in order to purchase the divine favour, he is under a self-righteous delusion; but if he does them, as Mr. W. says in order to find what Christ hath purchased for him, he acts the part of a wise Protestant.

Should you say that such a penitent does works meet for repentance, from a sense of gratitude for redeeming love, I answer, this is impossible; for that love must be shed abroad in his heart, by the Holy Ghost given unto him, in consequence of his justification, before he can act from the sense of that love and the gratitude which it excites. I hope, it is no heresy to maintain, that the cause must go before the effect. I conclude then, those who have not yet found the pardoning love of God, do works meet for repentance, in order to find it. They abstain from those outward evils which once they pursued; they do the outward good which the convincing spirit promotes them to; they use the means of grace, confess their sins, and ask pardon for them; in short, they seek the Lord, encouraged by that promise, "They that seek me early shall find me." And Mr. W. supposes they seek in order to find; in the name of candour where is the harm of that supposition?

When the poor woman has lost her piece of silver, she lights a candle, says our Lord, she sweeps the house and searches diligently till she find it. Mr. W. asks, If she does not do all this in order to find it, what does she do it