low that heaven is the gracious REWARD of our works of faith.

An illustration may help the reader to see the justness of this distinction :-A charitable nobleman discharges the debts of ten insolvent prisoners, sets them up in great or little farms, according to their respective abilities: and laying down a thousand pounds before them, he says: "I have already done much for you, but I will do more still. I freely give you this purse, to encourage your industry. You shall share this gold among you, if you manage your farm according to my directions: but if you let your fields be over-run with thorns, you shall not only lose the bounty I design for the industrious, but forfeit all my preceding favours." Now, who does not see, that the thousand pounds thus laid down, are a free gift of the noble man; that nevertheless, upon the performance of the condition he has fixed, they become a gracious reward of industry; and that consequently, the obtaining of this reward turns now entirely upon the works of industry performed by the farmers.

Just so, eternal salvation is the free gift of God through Jesus Christ; and yet the ob taining of it (by adults) turns entirely upon their works of faith; that is, upon their works as well as upon their faith. Hence the Scripture says indifferently, "He that believeth is not condemned;" and, "If thou doest well shalt not thou be accepted?" "All that be lieve are justified;" and, "He that worketh righteousness is accepted;"Our Lord, speaking of a weeping penitent, says equally "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much:" and, "Thy sins are forgiven, thy Faith hath saved thee." As for St. Paul, though he always justly excludes the works of unbelief, and merely ceremonial works, yet he so joins faith and works of faith, as to shew us, that they are equally necessary to eternal salvation: "There is no condemnation, says he, to them that are in Christ" by faith; [here is the Pharisee's portion : "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" [here is the Antinomian's por tion.] Hence it appears, that living faith, now and always, works righteousness; and that the works of righteousness now and always accompany faith, so long as it remains living.

"I know this is the doctrine, says judicious Mr. Baxter, that will have the, loudest outcries raised against it: and will make some cry out, Heresy, Popery, Socinianism! and what not? For my own part, the Search er of hearts knoweth, that not singularity, or any good-will to Fopery, provoketh me to entertain it; but that I have earnestly sought the Lord's direction upon my knees, before I durst adventure on it: and that I resisted the light of this conclusion as long as I was able." May this bright testimony make way

for an illuminated cloud of prophets and apostles! and may the Sun of Righteousness rising behind it, so scatter the shades of error, that we may awake out of our Antinomian dreams, and see a glorious, unclouded gospel-day.

That in subordination to Christ, our eternal salvation depends upon good works, i. e. upon the works of faith, will appear indubitable to them that believe the Bible, and candidly consider the following Scriptures, in which HEAVEN and eternal life IN GLORY are suspended upon works, if they spring from a sincere belief in the light of our dispensation: I say, if they spring from true faith, it being absolutely impossible for an Heathen, and much more for a Christian, to work righteousness without believing in some degree, "that God is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him,” as well as the punisher of them that presump tuously sin against him : "For without faith it is impossible to please God;" all faithless works springing merely from superstition, like those of Baal's priests, or from bypocrisy like those of the Pharisees. Having thus guarded again the doctrine of FAITH, I produce some of the many Scriptures that directly or indirectly annex the above mentioned reward to Works. And,

1. To consideration, conversion, and exercis ing ourselves to godliness" Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his trans gressions, &c. he shall surely live, he shall not die."-"When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness, &c. he shall save his soul alive."-Wherefore turn yourselves and live ye."-" Exercise thyself unto godliness, for it is profitable unto all things: hav ing the promise of the life that now is, and that which is to come.”

2. To doing the will of God.-" He that does the will of my Father, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven." "He that does the will of God, abideth for ever."-"Whoso. ever shall do the will of God, the same is my my brother and sister;" i, e. the same is an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Christ.

3. To diligent labour, and earnest endeavours." man of God, lay hold on eternal life."-"Work out your own salvation.""Labour for the meat that endureth to everlasting life."-In so doing thou shaltsave thy、 self." Narrow is the gate that leads to life -Strive to enter in-The violent press into the kingdom of God and take it by force.

4. To keeping the commandments." Blessed are they that do keep his commandments, &c. that they may enter through the gates into the city, i. e. into heaven,-" If thon wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."

"Thou hast answered right: This do and thou shalt live."-"There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and destroy:" (some of whose laws run thus:) "Forgive, and ye

shall be forgiven.-Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.-Blessed are the peace makers, for they shall be called the children of God," (and, of course, the heirs of the kingdom.) "The king shall say unto then, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you; for I was hungry and ye gave me meat, &c.-Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance. But he that does wrong, shall receive for the wrong which he hath done, and there is no respect of persons."

5. To running, fighting, faithfully laying up treasure in heaven, and feeding the flock of God. "They who run in a race, run all : but one receiveth the prize : So run that you may obtain. Now they are temperate in all things to obtain a corruptible crown; but we, an incorruptible. I therefore so run, -fight, and bring my body into subjection, (that I may obtain:) lest I myself should be a cast away," i. e. should not be approved of, should be rejected, and lose my incorruptible crown." Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life."-"Lay up treasure in heaven."-" Make yourselves friends with the mammon of unrighteousness, that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations."-" Charge them who are rich, that they do good, that they be rich in good works, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." "Feed the flock of God, &c, being examples to the flock, and when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive the crown of glory, that fadeth not away."

6. To a godly walk. "There is no condemnation to them &c. that walk not after the flesh."-" As many as walk according to this rule, mercy (be, or will be) on them.""The Lord will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly."

7. To persevering watchfulness, faithfulness, prayer, &c. "He that endureth unto the end, the same shall be saved."-"Be faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."-" Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life."-"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne. To him that keepeth my words unto the end, &c. will I give the morning star.""Take heed to yourselves, watch and pray always, that ye may be counted worthy to escape, &c. and to stand before the Son of "In a word,

man.

8. To patient continuance in mortifying the deeds of the body, and in well doing. "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For she that soweth to

his flesh, shall of the flesh reap perdition: but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap (not, if we faint, but,) if we faint not." "He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal." "Ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life."—" God, at the revelation of his righteous judgment, will render to every man according to his deeds: eternal life to them, who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory. Anguish upon every soul of man that does evil, &c. but glory to every man that worketh good, &c. for there is no respect of persons with God."

Is it not astonishing, that, in sight of so many plain scriptures, the Solifidians should still ridicule the passport of good works, and give it to the winds as "a paper-kite ?" However, if the preceding texts do not ap pear sufficient, I can send another volley of gospel-truths, to show that the initial salvation of believers themselves may be lost through bad works.

"I know thy works, &c. so then because thou art lukewarm, I will spue thee out of my mouth."-"Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be damned" (in the original it is the same word, which is rendered damned, Mark xvi. 16.) "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we (believers) deny him, he will also deny us."-" Add to your faith, virtue, &c. charity, &c. if ye do these things ye shall never fall; for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord.""It had been better for them, that have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of our Saviour, (i. e. for believers) not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them."-" Every tree, that bringeth not forth good fruit, is cut down, and cast into the fire.-Every branch IN ME, that beareth not fruit, my Father taketh away.-Abide in me, &c. If a man abide not in me, (by keeping my commandments in faith) he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and (he shall share the fate of the branches that have really belonged to the natural vine, and now bear no more fruit,) men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." -The fig tree in the Lord's moral vineyard is cut down, for not bearing fruit." Him that sinneth I will blot out of my book." "Some having put away a good conscience, concerning faith have made shipwreck.""Such as turn back to their own wickedness, the Lord shall lead them forth with the evil doers."-"Towards thee, goodness, (if by continuing in obedience) thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou shalt be cut off."

Again. "For the wickedness of their doings, I will drive them out of my house, I will love them no more."-Some are already turned aside after Satan,-having damnation. because they have cast off their first faith," (the faith that works by love,)—the mystery of faith kept in a pure conscience," the faith unfeigned," (that the apostle couples with) 66 a good conscience;"-the faith that cries like Rachel, Give me children; give me good works, or else I die ;-the faith that faints without obedience, and actually dies by bad works. The following scriptures abundantly proving that faith, and consequently the just who live by faith, can die by bad works.

"When a righteous man* doth turn from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, &c. he shall DIE in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done, shall not be remembered," Ezek. iii. 20. Again, "When the righ teous, &c. does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All his righteousness, that he has done, shall not be mentioned; in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he DIE," Fzek. xviii. 24. Once more: "The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression, &c. When I say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his righteousness, and commit iniquity, he shall die for it," Ezek. xxxiii. 13.

It seems, that God forseeing the Solifidians would be hard of belief, notwithstanding the great ado they make about faith, condescended to their infirmity, and kindly spoke the same thing over and over; for setting again the broad seal of heaven to the truth that

That this is spoken of a truly-righteous man, i. e. of a believer, appears from the following reasons: (1) The righteous here inentioned, is opposed to the wicked mentioned in the context: As surely then as the word wicked means there, one really-wicked, so does the word righteous mean here, one truly-righteous. (2) The righteous man's turning from his righteousness, is opposed to the wicked man's turning from his iniquity; If therefore the righteous man's righteousness is to be understood of feigned goodness, so the wicked man's iniquity must be understood of feigned iniquity: (3) The crime of the righteous man here spoken of is turning from his righteousness; but if his righteousness were only an hypocritical righteousness, he would rather deserve to be commended for renouncing it a wicked, sly pharisee, being more odious to God than a barefaced sinner, who has honesty enough not to put on the mask of religion, Rev. iii. 15.-(4) Part of this apostate's punishment will consist in Nor having the righteousness that he has done, remembered: but if his righteousness is a false righteousness, or mere hypocrisy, the divine threatening proves a precious promise for you cannot please an hypocrite better, than by assuring him, that his hypocrisy shall never be remembered. What a pity it is, that, to defend our mistakes, we should fix egregious nonsense, and gross Contradiction upon the only wise God?

:

These words are another indubitable proof, that the righteous here mentioned is a truly-righteous person as the holy and true God would never say to a wicked pharisee, that he shall surely live.

chiefly guards the second gospel-axiom, he says for the the fourth time, "When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall even DIE thereby: But if the wicked turns from his wickedness, and DOTH that which is lawful and right, he shall LIVE thereby," Ezek. xxxiii. 18, 19.

If Ezekiel is not allowed to be a competent judge, let Christ himself be heard : Then his lord said unto him: O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, &c. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors," Matt. xviii. 26, &c.

All the preceding Scriptures are thus summed up by our Lord, Matt. xxv. 46, "These [the persons who have not finally done the works of faith] shall go into everlasting punishment; but the righteous [those who have done them to the end, at least from the time of their re-conversion, if they were backsliders] shall go into eternal life." This doctrine agrees perfectly with the conclusion of the sermon on the mount: "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them: I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house upon a rock; and every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand."-Nay, This is Christ's explicit doctrine: No words can be plainer than these: "They that are in the graves shall hear his voice and come forth: they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of condemnation," John v. 29. All creeds therefore, like that of St. Athanasius, and all faith, must end in practice. This is a grand article of what might, with peculiar propriety be called the Catholic Faith, the faith that is common to, and essential under all the dispensations of the everlasting gospel, in all countries and lieves faithfully," i. e. so as to work righte ages; "the faith, which except a man beousness like the good and faithful servant, he cannot be saved."

As some difficulties probably rise in the Reader's mind against the preceding doc trine, it may not be amiss to produce them in the form of objections, and to answer them more fully than I have yet done.

I. OBJECTION. "You confound our title to, with our meetness for heaven, two things which we carefully distinguish. Our title to heaven being solely what Christ has done and suffered for his people, has nothing to do with either our holiness or good works; but, our meetness for heaven supposes holiness, if not good works. Therefore, God's uncon

verted sinful people who have in Christ, a complete title to heaven by right of a finished salvation,' shall all be made meet for heaven in the day of his power."

ANS. 1. I understand you, and so does Mr. Fulsome. You insinuate, that till the day you speak of comes, unconverted sinners, and backsliders, may indulge themselves like the servant mentioned in the gospel, who said, "My master delayeth his coming, and began to drink with the drunken;" but alas, instead of " a day of power," he saw a day of vengeance, and his "finished salvation" (so called) ended in weeping, wailing, and gnash ing of teeth.

their fruit ye shall know them, is absolutely wrong, if you are right for your distinction abolishes the grand characteristic of the children of God, and those of the devil, which con. sists in not committing or committing iniquity, in doing or not doing righteousness, according to these plain words of St. John," He that committeth sin is of the devil," in this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil; whosoever does not righ, teousness, is not of God, neither he that loveth not (much less he that murders) his brother," 1 John iii. 8, 10. Thus the Lord's sacred enclosure is broken down, his sheepfold becomes a fold for goats, a dog-kennel, a swine-sty. Nay, for what you know, all bloody adulter

3. It is contrary to Reason; for reason dictates that whosoever has a full Title to a punishment or to a reward, is fully meet for it. Where is the difference between saying a murderer is fully meet for, or that he has a full title to the gallows? If a palace richly fur. nished was bestowed upon the most righteous man in the kingdom, and you were the person: would it not be absurd to distinguish between your title to, and your meetness for that RECOMPENCE? Or, if the king, in consequence of a valuable consideration received from the prince, had promised a coronet to every swift runner in England, next to the prince's interposition and his majesty's promise, would not your running well be at once your title to, and meetness for that honour? And is not this the case, with respect to the incorruptible crowns reserved in heaven, for those, who so run that they may obtain?

4. Your distinction draws after it the most horrid consequences; for if a full title to heayen may be separated from a meetness for the lowest place in heaven, it necessarily follows, that Solomon had a full title to heaven when he worshipped Ashtaroth; and the incestuous Corinthian, when he defiled his father's bed; in flat opposition to the dictates of every man's conscience. [if you except Mr. Fulsome and his fraternity.] It follows, that St. Paul told a gross untruth, when he said, "This ye, know, that No idolater, and NO unclean person, hath ANY inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God."-In a word it follows, that believers sanctified with the blood of the covenant, who draw back to perdition, [such as the apostates mentioned, Heb. x. 29.] may have no title to heaven in all their sanctify ing faith; while some impenitent murderers, like David and Manasses, have a perfect title to it in all their crimes and unbelief!

5. This is not all; Our Lord's mark, By

all those that have escaped the pollution that is in the world, may only be wolves in sheep's clothing; it mattering not, with regard to the goodness of our title to heaven, whether filthiness to Belial, or holiness to the Loid, be written upon our foreheads. O Sir, how much more dangerous is your scheme, than that of the primitive Babel-builders! They only brought on a confusion of the ori ginal language; but your doctrine confounds light and darkness, promises and threatenings, the heirs of heaven and those of hell, the seed of the woman and that of the serpent!

As to your intimation, that holiness is secured by teaching, that God's people shall absolutely be made willing to forsake their sins, and to become righteous in the day of God's power, that so they may have a meetness for, as well as a title to heaven; it drags after it this horrid consequence: The devil's people "in the day of God's power," shall absolutely be made willing to forsake their righteousness, that they may have a meetness for, as well as a title to hell: a bitter reverse this of your "sweet Gospel !"

To conclude: If by your distinction you only want to insinuate, that Christ is the grand, and properly meritorious procurer of our salvation from first to last: and that the works of faith are only a secondary, instru mental, evidencing cause of our final salva. tion, you mean just as I do. But if you give the world to understand, that election to eternal glory is unconditional, or, which comes all to one, that no sin can invalidate our title to heaven; from the preceding observations it appears, that you deceive the simple, make Christ the minister of sin, and inadvertently poison the Church with the rankest Antinomianism.

II. OBJ. "You call the works of Christ the primary, and properly meritorious cause, and our works of faith the secondary and instru mental cause of our eternal salvation. But according to your doctrine, our works should be called the first cause, and Christ's work the second; for you make the final success of Christ's work, to depend upon our work;

which is manifestly setting our performances above those of the Redeemer."

* ANSWER: 1. When a gardener affirms, f hat he shall have no crop unless he digs and sets his garden, does he manifestly set his work above that of the God of Nature? And when we say, "that we shall not reap final salvation, if we do not work out our salvation," do we exalt ourselves above the God of Grace?

2. Whether our free agency turns the scale for life or death, to all eternity Christ will have the honour of having died to bestow an initial life of grace even upon those, who choose death in the error of their ways, and to have made them gracious and sincere offers of an eternal life of glory. In this sense then, Christ's work cannot be rendered ineffectual: it being his absolute decree, that the word of his grace shall be the savour of life to obe dient free agents, and the savour of death to the disobedient. Therefore if we will not have the eternal benefit of his redeeming work, we cannot take from him the eternal honour of having shed his blood even for those, who tread it under foot, and who "bring upon themselves swift Destruction by denying the Lord that bought them."

3. Christ is not dishonoured by the doctrine that represents the effect of the greater wheel, as being thus in part suspended upon the turning of the less. The light of the sun shines in vain for me, if I shut my eyes. Life is a far nobler gift than food; I can give my starving neighbour bread, but I cannot give him life: Nevertheless, the higher wheel stops, if the inferior is quite at a stand; he must die if he has no nourishment. Thus, by God's appointment, the preservation of all the first born of the Israelites in Egypt, depended upon the sprinkling of a Lamb's blood; the life of all them that were bitten by the fiery serpents, was suspended on a look towards the brazen serpent; and that of Rahab and her friends hung, if I may so speak, on a scarlet thread. Now, if God did not dishon our his wisdom, when he made the life of so many people to depend upon those seemingly insignificant works; and if he continues to make the life of all mankind depend upon breathing; is it reasonable to say, that he is dishonoured by his own doctrine, which sus pends our eternal salvation upon the works of faith?

4. To conclude: Mr. Madan, in the abovequoted sermon, p. 16. says with great truth; "Christ and faith are not one and the same thing; how then can we reconcile the apostle with himself, when he says in one place, We are justified by Christ; and in another we are justified by faith? This can only be done by having recourse to the plain distince tion, which the Scriptures afford us, in considering Christ as the meritorious cause, and faith as the instrumental cause, or that by

which the meritorious cause is applied unte us, so that we are benefitted thereby." Now all our heresy consists in applying Mr. M's judicious reasoning to all the scriptures, that guard the second gospel-axiom, thus: "How can we reconcile the apostle with himself, when he says in one place, We are saved by Christ, and in other places, We are saved by faith, we are saved by hope: -Work out your own salvation : Confession is made to salvation, &c. For Christ and faith, Christ and hope, Christ and works, Christ and making confessión, are not one and the same thing? This seeming inconsistency in St. Paul's doctrine vanishes by admitting a plain distinction, which the scriptures afford us: that is, 1. By considering Christ, from first to last, as the properly-meritorious cause of our present and eternal salvation : 2 By considering faith as the instrumental cause of our salvation from the guilt and pollution of sin on earth: And 3. by considering the works of faith, not only as the evidencing cause of our justification in the great day, but also as an instrumental cause of our continuing in the life of faith just as eating, drinking, breathing, and such works, that spring from natural life, are instrumental causes of our continuing in natural life. Thus faith, and its works, are two inferior causes, whereby the properly meritorious cause is so pletely applied to obedient, persevering believers, that they are now, and for ever shall be, benefitted by it.

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III. OBS. "Though you assert, that, from first to last, the works and sufferings of Christ are the grand, and properly-meritorious cause of our salvation; yet, according to your scheme, man having a life of glory upon his choice, and heaven upon working out his salvation, the honour of free-grace is not secured. For, after all, free-will and human faithfulness, or unfaithfulness, turn the scale for eternal salvation or damnation."

*ANS. 1. In the very nature of things we are free-agents, or the wise and righteous God would act inconsistently with his wisdom and equity in dispensing rewards and punishments. If, through the saving grace of God which has appeared to all men, we were not again endued with an awful power to choose life, and to be faithful, it would be as injudicious to punish or recompense mankind, as to whip a dead horse for not moving, damn fire for burning, or grant water an eternal reward for its fluidity. 2. Were I ashamed of my moral free-agency, I should be ashamed of the noble power that distinguishes me from the brute creation; I should be ashamed of the Old Testament, and of Moses, who says: "Behold, I call heaven and earth to record, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life :"I should be ashamed of the New

Testament, and of Christ who complains,