your last friendly Letter, and the fearching Expedient it recommended, I am now in a different Way of Thinking. It is ftrange to recollect, and indeed it is shameful to confefs, the many Artifices which I have used, to put a Cheat upon myfelf.-Sometimes, I have fanfied, that the divine Law could never be fo ftrict, as to condemn Us inexorably, only becaufe We continue not in all its Precepts. Sometimes, I have pleaded the Infirmity of our Nature, and endeavoured to make the Works of Darkness appear only as pitiable Failings. Sometimes I have taken Refuge in the Excellency of our Church, and plumed myself with the borrowed Feathers of a religious Profeffion.At other Times, I have foothed my Confcience to Reft, by a Punctuality of Attendance on Places, or a zealous Attachment to Forms. And all this, to feduce, cajole, and betray myfelf-betray myself, firft into a vain Conceit of my own Endowments; then into a contemptuous Difregard of CHRIST; and at laft into eternal Deftruction.-But now I fee my Guilt; I apprehend my Danger; and feel my helpless Condition. Indeed, my Afpafto, I am now convinced, that the darkest Colours cannot be too dark, for the Pourtrait of my fpiritual State. I fee myself overfpread with an habitual Depravity, and cannot forbear crying out, with the abashed Leper; Unclean! Unclean* ! -The facred Oracles in no wife mifreprefent fallen Man, when they defcribe Him as altogether become abominable t. They are far from under-rating human Works, when they denominate them filthy Rags. Levit. xiii. 45. + Job xv. 16. Rags. Rags they are, if We confider their great Imperfection; filthy Rags, if We advert to their manifold 66 * Ifai. Ixiv. 6. Does not Theron mifapply this Text? Can it be intended to difcredit the Qualifications of the Upright? Is it not rather a Brand set upon the Works of the Wicked; whose very "Sacrifices are an Abomination to the LORD?" Or, a Rebuke given to the fpecious Performances of the Hypocrite; who is precife in the Form, but deftitute of the Power of Godliness? Or, may it not refer to ritual Obfervances; in Contradiftinction to moral Duties, and spiritual Endowments ? The difparaging Character muft not, I think, be confined to ritual Obfervances; because it is exprefly said, ALL our Righteoufneffes; of every Kind; be what they will; no Exception is made.-Neither can it be appropriated to the formal Hypocrite, much lefs to the notoriously Wicked; becaufe, thofe very Perfons, who are the Subject of this Affertion, declare in the Context; LORD, We are thy People; Thou art our FATHER; We shall be faved. So that it seems intended, not so much to ftigmatize any particular Behaviour, as to ftain the Pride of all human Glory. Befides; the Prophet fpeaks of himself; We all are as an unclean Thing. Which, however ftrange or unreasonable it may appear, is the very fame Charge, to which He pleads guilty in another Place; Wo is me! I am undane! For I am a Man of unclean Lips! Not that He was defiled with any grofs Pollutions; nay, He was a Saint of the moft diftinguished Luftre; but his Eyes had feen the KING, the LORD of Hofts. He was under the clear Manifeftations of a GOD, glorious in Holiness, inflexible in Juftice, and infinite in all Perfections. Amidst thefe Manifestations, the Impurity of his Heart and Na ture, were not only apparent, but glaring; fuch as overwhelmed Him with Abafhment, and, till CHRIST was applied in a Type (Ifai. vi. 7.) filled Him with Terror. AMAH In fuch Circumstances, and under fuch Views, all our moral Virtues and evangelical Graces, all our Exercises of Devotion and Acts of Charity, moft neceffarily appear both defective and polluted. By no means proportioned to manifold Defilements. And, fince the Nature of GOD is irreconcileably averse to all Contamination; fince the Law of GOD requires unfpotted Perfection; O! Who can fand before this holy LORD GOD, in any Accomplishments of his own? J 10 When I farther reflect, that I have only a very obfcure Glimpse of the divine Purity, and am a mere Novice in the Knowledge of my own Heart; how am I amazed at the lofty Apprehenfions which I once formed, concerning the Dignity of my Nature, and the Integrity of my Conduct! All owing to Ignorance, the groffeft Ignorance of myfelf and the Scriptures. How do I fhudder to think, that, in expecting Juftification from the Law, I was refting the Welfare e of my immortal Soul, not on the Strength of a Rock, but on the Point of a Dagger.-I was going to the decifive Tribunal, flufhed with the falfeft Hopes, and charged with a Set of glittering Sins: going, like poor deluded Uriah t, not v any valid Credentials, but with the Miniftration of Death in my Hand.) gow arts sa galega, pomoc dlos Though with to the Demands of the Law, nor fufficient for our Recommendation to the Supreme LAW GIVER no more than a few tattered Rags, can claim the Character, or perform the Services, of a complete Suit--no more than a few filthy Rags are fit, to dress the Bride for her Nuptials, or the Courtier for a Birth-night. But there is a Righteoufnefs-bleffed be divine Grace! -fpotlefly pure and confummately excellent: a Righte oufnefs, which answers all that the CREATOR requires, and fupplies all that the Creature needs: to prove this momentous Point, and to difplay this unfpeakable Gift, is the Defign of the following Sheets. * 1 Sam. vi. 201 ↑ 2 Cor. iii. 9. † 2 Sam. xi. 14, 15. Though I cannot but acknowledge the Arrogance of these Pretenfions, yet loth, very loth is my Pride, to renounce the pleafing Abfurdity, Self-love and Self-importance has searched, and searched again, for fomething excellent. They can hardly brook the Humiliation, of imploring all fub Formâ Paupris *. With what Reluctance is a Sinner brought to confefs Himfelf, finful in every, Duty, finful in every Capacity! Strange Perverfenefs!--But the Charge is undeniable. However unwilling, I muft plead guilty. THOU ART WEIGHED IN THE BALANCES †, AND FOUND WANTING ‡, is written on all I am, all I have, all I do. If I am thus defective, even in my own Eftimation; if I am utterly condemned, at the Bar of my own Confcience; What then shall I do, when GOD rifeth up? * That is, under the Character of a poor Deftitute, or as a Beggar fues for his Alms. + Weighed in the Balance-As the following Story may ferve to illuftrate this fine Expreffion, and enforce the momentous Sentiment, the Reader will permit me to relate it. In the Reign of King Charles I. the Goldfmiths of London had a Cuftom, to weigh feveral Sorts of their precious Metal, before the Privy Council. On this Occafion they made ufe of Scales, poifed with fuch exquifite Nicety, that the Beam would turn (the Master of the Company affirmed) at the two hundredth Part of a Grain. Noy, the famous Attorney General, ftanding by and hearing this, replied; I fhould be loth then to have all my Actions weighed in thofe Scales. With whom I heartily I concur, in relation to myfelf. And fince the Balances of the Sanctuary, the Balances in GOD's Hand, are infinitely more exact; O! what Need have We of the Merits and Righteoufnefs of CHRIST to make Us acceptable in his Sight, and paffable in his Efteem! + Dan. v. 17. mp? And when HE vifiteth, what shall I answer Him? I now fee the Neceffity of an imputed Righteoufnefs. Without fome fuch Object for my Truft, I am undone. I long therefore to hear your Arguments in its Behalf. And I muft dclare to You, if it can be fatisfactorily proved from the Scriptures, it is the most comfortable Doctrine in the World, and worthy of all Acceptation. A Letter upon this Subject, would be a fingular Favour, and, I hope, an equal Bleffing to Your obliged, and affectionate, THERON. 29 LETTER IIL ASPASIO to THERON. Dear THERON, THOUGH all all your Letters give me Pleafure, none was ever fo highly pleafing, as your last. I look upon it with the fame secret Joy, as a compaffionate Physician obferves fome very favourable Symptoms, in the Crifis of a beloved Patient's Diftemper. What You afk, I fhall, without any farther Preface, attempt to execute. If my Attempt proves Latisfactory 1 Job xxxi. 14. |