benevolence instead of the faith which renews the heart. And upon the same leg of this outward morality he hops along in the ways of virtue, till a violent temptation pushes him into some gross immorality. His wounded conscience begins then to want ease and a cure; but he knows not where to seek it. Honestus seldom points him clearly to the Saviour's blood; and when Zelotes does it, he too often defiles the sacred fountain with unscriptural refinements, and immoral absurdities, artfully wrapped up in Scripture phrases. Hence it is that Lorenzo does not see the remedy, or that he turns from it with contempt. Nor should I wonder if, while each of you thus keeps from him one of the keys of Christian knowledge, he remained a stranger to the Gospel, and began to suspect that the Bible is a mere jumble of legends and inconsistencies-an apple of discord thrown among men by crafty priests, and artful politicians, to awe the vulgar, and divert the thoughts of the inquisitive. In these critical circumstances he meets with Hume and Voltaire, whom he prefers to you both; and, renouncing equally free grace and free will, he flees for shelter to open infidelity and avowed fatalism. Thither numbers follow him daily; and thither your refinements, O Zelotes, and your errors, O Honestus, will probably drive the next generation, if ye continue to sap the foundation of the Gospel axioms. For the Gospel can no more stand long upon one of its pillars, than you can stand long upon one of your legs. Christianity without faith, or without works, is like a sun without light, or without heal. Such Christianity is as different from primitive Christianity, as such a sun is different from the bright luminary at whose approach darkness flies and winters retire.

Nor are Lorenzo, and his Deistical friends, only hurt by your doc. trinal mistakes. Ye, yourselves, probably feel the bad effects of your parting the Gospel axioms. It is hardly possible that ye should take off the fore wheels, or the hind wheels of the Gospel chariot, without retarding your own progress toward the New Jerusalem. To say nothing of your spiritual experiences, may I not inquire if Honestus, after all his dis courses on morality and charity, might not, in some instances, be a little more moral, or more extensively charitable, if not to the bodies, at least to the souls of his neighbours? And may I not ask Zelotes, if after all his encomiums upon free grace, he might not be a little more averse to narrowness of spirit, unscriptural positiveness, and self-electing partiality; a little less inclined to rash judging, contempt of his opponents, and free wrath?

Should ye find, after close examination, that these are the mischievous consequences of your variance; and should ye desire to prevent them, ye need only go half way to meet and embrace each other. You, Zelotes, receive the important truth which Honestus defends, and, in subordination to Christ and free grace, preach free will, without which there can be no acceptable obedience. And you, Honestus, espouse the delightful truth recommended by Zelotes. Preach free grace, without which free will can never be productive of sincere morality. So shall you vindicate morality and free will with less offence to Zelotes, and with more success among your own admirers. In a word, instead of parting the two Gospel axioms, and filling the Church with Gnostics or formalists; with Antinomian believers, or faithless workers; instead of tearing our Priest asunder from our King, and making Christianity a laughing stock for

infidels by your perpetual divisions, admit the use of the Scripture Scales; contend for the faith once delivered to the saint and, dropping your unreasonable and unscriptural objections against each other, seek, hand in hand, "Fulsome," the gross Antinomian, and Lorenzo, the immoral moralist; earnestly seek these lost sheep, which ye have inadvertently driven from the good Shepherd, and which now wander upon the dark mountains of immorality and skepticism. They may be brought back; they are not yet devoured by the roaring lion. If you will reclaim them, you, Honestus, calm the agitated breast of Lorenzo, and strengthen his feeble knees, by all the reviving, exhilarating truths of the first Gospel axiom. And you, Zelotes, instead of frightening him from these truths by adulterating the genuine doctrine of free grace, with loose, Solifidian tenets; or by slyly dropping into the cup of salvation which you offer him, poisonous drops of free wrath, Calvinian reprobation, and necessary damnation; recommend yourself to his reason and conscience by all the moral truths which spring from the fitness of things and the second Gospel axiom. With regard to Fulsome, remember, O Zelotes, that you are commanded to "feed the fat with judgment," and that Christ himself fed the ancient Laodiceans with that convenient food. Give therefore to this modern Laodicean chiefly the Gospel truths which fill the second Gospel scale. But give them to him in full weight. Let him have a good measure, pressed down, and running over into his Antinomian bosom, till he "hold the truth in unrighteousness" no more. And that he may receive the "whole truth as it is in Jesus," be you persuaded, Honestus, to second Zelotes. Enforce your moral persuasions upon Fulsome, by all the weighty, evangelical arguments which the first axiom suggests. So shall you break the force of his prejudices. He will see that sincere obedience is inseparable from true faith; and, being taught by happy experience, he will soon acknowledge that the doctrine of free will is as consistent with the doctrine of free grace, as the free returning of our breath is consistent with the free drawing of it. Thus ye will both happily concur in converting those whom ye have inadvertently perverted.

While, like faithful dispensers of Gospel truths, ye weigh in this manner to every one his portion of physic or food in due season, and in proper scales; our Lord, by lifting upon you the light of his pleased countenance, will make you sensible, that, in spirituals as well as in temporals, "a false balance is an abomination to him; but a just weight is his delight." Your honesty may indeed offend many of your admirers, and make you lose your popularity; but prefer the testimony of a good conscience to popular applause; and the witness of God's Spirit to the praise of party men. Nor be afraid to share the fate of our great Prophet, and of his blunt forerunner, who, by firmly standing to the Gospel axioms, lost their immense congregations and their lives. Christ fell a sacrifice not only to Divine justice, but also to Caiaphas' Pharisaic rage against the truths contained in the first Scale; and John the Baptist had the honour of being beheaded, for bearing his bold testimony to those contained in the second Scale, and against the Antinomianism of a professing prince, who "observed him, heard him gladly, and did many things." O Honestus, O Zelotes, think it an honour to tread in the steps of these two martyred champions of truth. Let them revive, and

preach again in you. Shrink not at the thought of the Pharisaic con. tempt, and of the Anomian abuse which await you, if you are determined to preach both the anti-Pharisaic and the anti-Solifidian part of the Gospel. On the contrary, be ambitious to suffer something for him, who calls himself the truth: for him, who suffered so much for you, and who, for the joy of your salvation, which was set before him, despised the shame, endured the cross, and now sits at God's right hand, ready to reward your faithfulness with a crown of righteousness, life, and glory.

Ye should wade to that triple crown through floods of persecution, and rivers of blood, if it were necessary. But God may not call you to suffer for your faithfulness. And if he do, he will reward you, even in this life, with a double portion of peace and love. While the demon of discord sows the tares of division, and blows up the coals which bigotry has kindled, ye shall inherit the beatitude of peace makers. "The peace of God, which passes all understanding," shall rest upon you as it does upon all the sons of peace. And the delightful tranquillity restored to the Church, shall flow back into your own souls, and be extended as a river to your families and neighbourhood, which your opposite extremes have perhaps distracted.

What a glorious prospect rises before my exulting imagination! A holy, catholic Church! A Church, where the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, and the foretastes of eternal life, are constantly enjoyed; where swords are beat into reaping hooks; and where shouts for controversial engagements are turned into songs of brotherly love! To whom, next to God, are we obliged for this wonderful change? It is to you, Zelotes, whose intemperate zeal is now rectified by the judi cious solidity of Honestus; and to you, Honestus, whose phlegmatic religion is now corrected by the fervour of Zelotes. Henceforth, instead of contending with each other, ye amicably bear together the ark of the Lord. While ye triumphantly sustain the sacred load, and while Christian psalmists joyfully sing, "Behold how good and pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity; union is the refreshing dew which falls upon the hill of Sion, where the Lord has promised his blessing, and life for evermore :"-while they sing this, I see the thousands of Israel pass the "waters of strife," and take possession of the land of Canaan-the spiritual kingdom of God. Their happiness is almost paradisiacal! "The multitude of them that believe are of one heart and of one soul: they continue steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship-in breaking of bread, and in prayers. They eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart; neither says any of them that aught of the things which he possesses is his own: for they have all things common; they are perfected in one." Truth has cast them into the mould of love. Their hearts and their language are no more divided. They think and speak the same. In a word, Babel is no more, and the New Jerusalem comes down from heaven.

O Zelotes! O Honestus! shall this pleasing prospect vanish away as the colours of the rainbow? Will ye still make Lorenzo think that the Acts of the Apostles is a religious novel? And the Christian harmony there described a delusive dream? O God of peace, truth, and love, suffer it not. Bless the scriptures, bless the arguments which fill these pages.

Give, O give me favour in the sight of the two antagonists whom I address. Make me, unworthy as I am, the mean of their lasting reconciliation. Remove their prejudices; soften their hearts; humble their minds; and endue me with the strength of a spiritual Samson; that, taking these two pillars of our divisions in the arms of praying love, I may bend them toward each other, and press them, breast to breast, upon the line of moderation, till they become one with the truth, and one with each other. When thou hadst prospered the endeavours of Abraham's servant, to the bringing about the marriage of Isaac and Rebecca, thou wroughtest new miracles. Thou didst melt angry Esau in the arms of trembling Jacob, and injured Joseph over the neck of his relenting brethren. Repeat, good Lord, these ancient wonders; show thyself still the God of all consolation. Let me not only succeed in asserting the evangelical marriage of condescending free grace and humble free will; but also in reconciling the contentious divines, who rashly put asunder what thou hast so strongly joined together.

O Zelotes! O Honestus! my heart is enlarged toward you. It ar. dently desires the peace of Jerusalem and your own. If to-day ye do not despise the consistent testimonies of the fathers, and of our reformers; if to-day ye regard the whispers of reason, and the calls of conscience; if to-day ye reverence the suffrages of the prophets, the assertions of the apostles, and the declarations of Jesus Christ; if to-day "ye hear the voice of God" speaking to you by the Spirit of truth, and by the Prince of Peace; "harden not your hearts." You, Zelotes, harden it not against free will, sincere obedience, and your brother Honestus. And you, Honestus, humbly bow to free grace, and kindly embrace your brother Zelotes. All things are now ready. Come together to the marriage of free grace and free will. Come to the feast of reconciliation. Jesus himself will be there, to turn your bitter "waters of jea. lousy" into the generous wine of "brotherly kindness." Too long have you begged to be excused; saying, "I have married a wife; I have espoused a party, and therefore I cannot come !" Party spirit has seduced you; put away that strumpet. Espouse truth; embrace love; and you will soon give each other the right hand of fellowship.

I have gently drawn you both with the bands of a man-with rational arguments. I have morally compelled you with the Spirit's sword, "the word of God." By the numerous and heavy weights, which fill these Scripture Scales, I have endeavoured to turn the scale of the prejudices, which each of you has entertained against one of the Gospel axioms. But, alas! my labour will be lost, if you are determined still to rise against that part of the truth, which each of you has hitherto defended. Come, then, when reason invites, when revelation bids, when conscience urges, yield to my plea: nay, yield to the solicitations of thousands; for although I seem to mediate alone between you both, thousands of well wishers to Sion's peace, thousands of moderate men, who mourn for the desolations of Jerusalem, wish success to my mediation. Their good wishes support my pen; their ardent prayers warm my soul; my love for peace grows importunate, and constrains me to redouble my entreaties. O Zelotes, O Honestus, by the names of Christians, and Protestants, which ye bear; by your regard for the honour and peace of Sion; by the blessings promised to them that love

her prosperity; by the curses denounced against those who widen the breaches of her walls; by the scandalous joy, which your injudicious contentions give to all the classes of infidels; by the tears of undissembled sorrow, which God's dearest children shed in secret over the disputes which your mistaken zeal has raised, and which your opposition to a part of the truth continues to foment; by your professed regard for the sacred book, which your divisions lacerate, and render contemptible; by the worth of the souls, which you fill with prejudices against Christianity; by the danger of those whom you have already driven into the destructive errors of the Antinomians and of the Pharisees; by the Redeemer's seamless garment, which you rend from top to bottom; by the insults, the blows, the wounds which Christ personal received in the house of his Jewish friends; and by those which Christ doctrinal daily receives at your own hands; by the fear of being found proud despisers of one half of God's revealed decrees, and rebellious opposers of some of the Redeemer's most solemn proclamations; by all the woes pronounced against the enemies of his royal crown, or of his bloody cross; by the dreadful destruction which awaits antichrist; whether he transforms himself into an angel of light, artfully to set aside Christ's righteous law; or whether he appears as a man of God, slyly to supersede Christ's gracious promises; by the horrible curse which shall light on them, who, when they are properly informed, and lovingly warned, will nevertheless obstinately continue to weigh out, in false balances, the food of the poor to whom the Gospel is preached; and, above all, by the matchless love of him who "was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself," I entreat you, "suffer the word of reconciliation: be ye reconciled" to reason and conscience; to each other and to me; to all the Bible and to primitive Christianity; to Christ our King and to Christ our Priest, So shall all unprejudiced Christians meet and em. brace you both, upon the meridian of moderation and Protestantism, which stands at an equal distance from Antinomian dreams and Pharisaic delusions.

O Zelotes! O Honestus! mistaken servants of God; if there be any consolation in Christ; if any delight in truth; if any comfort in love; if any fellowship of the Spirit; if any bowels of mercies, fulfil ye my joy, and the joy of all moderate men in the Church militant; nay, fulfil ye the joy of saints and angels in the Church triumphant: "be ye like minded; having the same love; being of one accord; of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory; but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem the other better than himself. Look not each on his own things, [on the scriptures of his favourite scale;] but look also on the things of the other," on the passages which fill the scale defended by your brother. Remember, that if we "have all faith," and all external works, without "charity we are nothing." "Charity suffereth long, and is kind: charity envieth not: charity seeketh not her own: charity rejoiceth not in iniquity and discord, but rejoiceth in the truth," even when the truth bruiseth the head of our favourite serpent-our dar ing prejudice. Let then charity, never-failing charity, perfect you both in one. Hang on this golden beam, and it will make you a couple of impartial, complete divines, holding together as closely, and balancing one another as evenly as the concordant passages which form my Scripture Scales.