influence from the Deity." This infvence sur Currit calls inspiration (-Cleanse the toonents of our vas je de nspiration of thy Holy Soint:" and S. Put cals & gVL SITE DE sume sometimes to the fountain of Divine goodness, and wEELLES 91 DE INumerable stream which flow from that eternal Sentin. A min most then be darker that a thoughtful heathen, and as tend as an Atheist, if he absolutely denie the existence of Divine grace. And on the other and if we deny tha there is in man a power to r or to choose the words I rill, I choose, will not, I refurr, which are in every body's month, prove us per verse. Now, if there is such a thing is part n God, and rill or powe of choosing in man; both that grace and that wii are free. The natur of the thing, and the well known meaning of the words, mply as much a bounty, winch we are conged to best . andy deserving the name o grace or favour; and a coace, to which we are forced—a choic which is not accompanied with an alternative.—deserving the name o necessity or compulsum better than that of wil, cheer, or liberty.

Again: are not God's grace and man's real perpetually mentioned, alluded to by the sacred writers! Nay, does not Honestus himse sometimes indirectly set his seal to the doctrine of free grace, when b impiores Divine mercy at the foot of the time of grace! And warm as Zelotes exclaims against the doctrine of free will, does he not fr quently grant that there is such a thing as choice, liberty, or free will, the world? And if there be, is not this choice, liberty, or free will, t reverse of necessity, as well as of unwillingness? If I freely choose blow my brains out, is it not evident that I have a liberty not to comm that crime, as well as a willingness to do it? Would not Zelotes expo his good sense by seriously asserting that if he were in prison, a w lingness to continue there would make him free; unless, together w that willingness, he had a power to go out if he pleased? And is it rig in him to impose the doctrine of necessity upon the simple, by play upon the double meaning of the word free? I beg leave to explain t

a little more.

According to the full meaning of the word free, can it be said w any propriety that Judas went freely to hell, if he never had power go to heaven? Or that David went freely to heaven, if he was alwa hindered by an absolute, irresistible decree from going to hell? And, all ing to mechanical freedom, I ask, Was the motion of those scales e free, which never were as free to ascend as to descend? Does not perience convince us, that, when one scale is kept from freely desce ing, the opposite scale is by the same means kept from ascending free Is it not evident, from the same rational principles, that no sinner freely "choose death in the error of his ways," who has not powe "choose life;" a free choice of death necessarily implying a free r sal of life, and a free choice of life necessarily supposing a free ref of death, in a state of temptation and probation? And is not this trine perfectly agreeable to such scriptures as these: "He shall k to refuse the evil and choose the good. Choose whom you will se Because ye refused, &c, and did not choose the fear of the Lord, therefore shall they eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with own devices ?"

Upon the preceding observations, seconded by the arguments w

shall follow-upon the consent of all judicious and good men, who, sooner or later, grant that there are such things as God's grace and man's unnecessitated choice; and consequently such things as free grace and free will in the moral world;-upon the repeated testimonies of the most pious Christians of all denominations, who agree that we ought to "give God the glory" of our salvation, and to keep to ourselves the blame of our damnation; and upon almost numberless declarations of the Scriptures, I rest these two propositions, which, if I mistake not, deserve the name of GOSPEL AXIOMS: (1.) Our salvation is ORIGINALLY of God's FREE GRACE. (2.) Our damnation is ORIGINALLY of our own

FREE WILL.

HONESTUS, who believes in general that the Bible is true, cannot decently oppose the first axiom; for according to the Scriptures, God's free grace gave Christ freely for us, and to us: for us, that he might “be a propitiation for the sins of the whole world:" and to us, that by "the light which enlightens every man that comes into the world," the strong propensity to evil which we had contracted by the fall of Adam might be counterbalanced; and that, by "the saving grace of God, which has appeared to all men," we might, while the day of salvation lasts, be blessed with a gentle bias to good, to counteract our native bias to evil; and be excited by internal helps, external calls, and gracious opportunities, to resist our evil inclinations, to follow the bias of Divine grace, and to "work out our own salvation with fear and trembling," in due subordination to the Saviour and his grace.

Nor can ZELOTES, who professes a peculiar regard for God's glory, reject the second Gospel axiom with any decency: for if our own free will makes us freely and unnecessarily "neglect so great salvation" as Christ initially imparts to us, and offers eternally to bestow upon us on the gracious terms of the Gospel; is it not ridiculous to exculpate us, by charging either God or Adam, or both together, with our damnation? And do we not cast the most horrible reflection upon "the Judge of all the earth, and the Father of mercies," if we suppose that he “has appointed a day to judge the world in righteousness," and sentence to the gnaw. ings of a worm that dieth not, and to the preyings of a fire that is not quenched, numberless myriads of his poor creatures, merely for wanting a faith which he determined they should never have; or for doing what they could no more help to do, than a pound can help weighing sixteen ounces?

Impartially read any one book in the Bible, and you will find that it establishes the truth of the two following propositions :

I.

God hath freely done great things for man; and the still greater things which he freely does for believers, and the mercy with which he daily crowns them, justly entitle him to all the honour of their salvation; so far as that honour is worthy of the PRIMITIVE Parent of good, and FIRST CAUSE of all our blessings.

II.

He wisely looks for some return from man; and the little things which obstinate unbelievers refuse to do, and which God's preventing grace gives them ability to perform, justly entitle them to all the shame of their damnation. Therefore, although their temporal misery is originally from Adam, yet their eternal ruin is originally from themselves.

THREE PAIR OF GOSPEL AXIOMS,

Which may be considered as GOLDEN CHAINS, by which the Scriptur Scales hang on their beam.

I.

of righteousness" as a righteous Jodge, and to make them "walk with Christ in white, because they are worthy," (in a gracious and evangelical sense.)

II.

world? Thou art righteous, O Lord, &c, because thou hast judged thus. Thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy," (in a strict and legal sense.)

Hence it appears, that God's design in the three grand economies of man's creation, redemption, and sanctification, is to display the riches of his FREE GRACE AND DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE, by showing himself the bounteous Author of every good gift, and by graciously rewarding the worthy: while he justly punishes the unworthy according to their works, agreeably to these awful words of Christ and his prophets: "For judg went I am come into this world. The Lord hath made all things for hamself; yea, even the [men who to the last will remain] wicked, for the day of evil. Because he hath appointed a day in which he will Judge the world in righteousness;" and to all the wicked that day will be evil, and terrible: "For behold, the day cometh," says the Lord, → that shall burn as an oven; and all that do wickedly shall be as stubbie; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts. But the righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: so that a man shall say, Verily there is a REWARD for the righteous! Doubtless there is a God that JUDGETH THE EARTH!"

Upon this rational and Scriptural plan, may we not solve a difficulty that has perplexed all the philosophers in the world? How can you,' say they, "reasonably account for the origin of evil, without bearing hard upon God's infinite goodness, power, or knowledge? How can you make appear, not only that a good God could create a world, where evil now exists in ten thousand forms; but also, that it was highly expedient he should create such a world rather than any other?"

ANSWER.-When it pleased God to create a world, his wisdom obliged him to create upon the plan that was most worthy of him. Such a plan was undoubtedly that which agreed best with all the Divine perfections taken together. Wisdom and power absolutely required that it should be a world of rational, as well as of irrational creatures; of free, as well as of necessary agents; such a world displaying far better what St. Paul calls woλuroixidos dogia, "the multifarious, variegated wisdom of God," as well as his infinite power in making, ruling, and overruling various orders of beings.

It could not be expected that myriads of free agents, who necessarily fell short of absolute perfection, would all behave alike. Here God's goodness demanded that those who behaved well should be rewarded; has sovereignty insisted that those who behaved ill should be punished; and his distributive justice and equity required that those who made the best use of their talents should be entitled to the highest rewards; while those who abused Divine favours most should have the severest punishments; mercy reserving to itself the right of raising rewards and of alleviating punishments, in a way suited to the honour of all the other Divine attributes.

This being granted, (and I do not see how any man of reason and piety can deny it,) it evidently follows, (1.) That a world, in which vanous orders of free, as well as of necessary agents are admitted, is most VOL. II.

3

perfect. (2.) That this world, having been formed upon such a w plan, was the most perfect that could possibly be created. (3.) Th in the very nature of things, evil may, although there is no necessity should, enter into such a world; else it could not be a world of f agents who are candidates for rewards offered by distributive justi (4.) That the blemishes and disorders of the natural world are only pe consequences of the disobedience of free agents. And (5.) That, fr such penal disorders we may indeed conclude that man has abused f will, but not that God deals in free wrath. Only admit, therefore, free will of rationals, and you cannot but fall in love with our Creat plan; dark and horrid as it appears when it is viewed through smoked glass of the fatalist, the Manichee, or the rigid Predestinaria

SECTION IV.

Containing, (1.) An observation upon the terms of the covenants; and, A balanced specimen of the anti-Pharisaic Gospel, displaying Chr glory in the first scale; and of the anti-Solifidian Gospel, setting the glory of evangelical obedience in the second scale.

To reconcile the opposite parts of the Scriptures, let us reme that God has made two covenants with man; the covenant of justice, the covenant of grace. The first requires uninterrupted obedience to law of paradisiacal innocence. The second enjoins repentance, and humble obedience to all those Gospel precepts, which form David calls the law of the Lord; St. Paul, the law of Christ; St. Ja the law of liberty; and what our Lord calls my sayings,—my com ments, &c.

Being conceived in sin since the fall, and having all our power feebled, we cannot personally keep the first covenant: therefore a first Adam broke it for us, Christ, "the second Adam, the Lord heaven," graciously came to make the law of innocence honourab keeping it for us, and to give us "power" to keep his own "law berty," that is, to repent, believe, and obey for ourselves. Ther with respect to the law of the first covenant, Christ alone is, and be, our foundation, our righteousness, our way, our door, our glory all our salvation.

But with respect to the second covenant, the case is very diff for this covenant, and its law of liberty, requiring of us personal r ance and its fruits,-personal faith and its works,—all which to make up evangelical obedience, or "the obedience of faith ;" it dent, that, according to the requirements of the covenant of grad "obedience of faith" is (in due subordination to Christ) our righ ness, our narrow way, our strait gate, our glory, and our salvation as a farmer's care, labour, and industry are, in due subordina the blessings of Divine Providence, the causes of his plentiful cr

If you do not lose sight of this distinction ;-if you consider th salvation or damnation have each two causes, the second of which operates but in subordination to the first ;-if you observe, that the cause of our eternal salvation is God's free grace in making, and