its account? Thus it is faid in the prophetic writings, "They fhall look on me whom

they have pierced, and they fhall mourn for "him, as one mourneth for his only fon, and "fhall be in bitternefs for him, as one that is "in bitterness for his firft-born." And must not a repetition of the fame views ftill ftrengthen the impreffion, fo that, as the apostle Paul tells us of himfelf," The world will be crucified unto "him, and he unto the world.”

I am fenfible, that thefe things will have no fuch cffect upon the enemies of the gofpel, who difbelieve them, or upon thofe Chriftians, if they deferve the name, who difguife, explain away, or give up the fatisfaction of Chrift; or even those who have a ftrong tincture of a legal fpirit, and are for contributing fomewhat toward their acceptance with God, by their own merit, and defective obedience. Such cannot relish these fentiments; and therefore it may feem improper, in reasoning against enemies to bring them at all in view. But let it be remembred, that however little many believe fuch things, they may yet perceive, if they will attend to it, their natural operation upon thofe who do believe them. And let any modern adept in the fcience of morals fhew in his account of the foundation of morality, and the nature of obligation, any thing that hath a force or influence * Gal. vi. 14:

+ Zech. xii. 10.

equal

equal to this or, will the nominal felf-righteous Christian, who thinks Chrift only made up fome little wants which he finds in himfelf, or that his death had only fome general expediency in it, ever be equally tender in his practice, with him who fees so much of the purity of the law of God, and his deteftation of fin, as to esteem all his own own righteousneffes but as filthy rags, and bot-. toms his hope of acceptance wholly upon the perfect righteousness of his Redeemer ?

In the third place, He who expects juflification only through the imputed righteousness of Chrift, has the most awful views of the danger of fin. He not only fees the obligation and purity of the law, but the feverity of its fanction. It is a fear of wrath from the avenger of blood, that perfuades him to fly to the city of refuge. And if we compare the fentiments of others with his, either the generality of a careless and blinded world, or those who act upon contrary principles, and a different fyftem from that which we are now defending, we shall find, that not one of them hath fuch apprehenfions of the wrath and vengeance of God due on the account of fin, as the convinced finner, who flies to the propitiation of Chrift for deliverance and refcue.

I am very fenfible, that many readers will be ready to challenge this argument as preffed into the fervice, and wholly improper upon my fcheme:

they will fuppofe, that every believer, in confequence of his faith in Chrift, is fcreened from the penalty of the law, and fheltered from the ftroke of divine juftice; he is therefore no more under this fear; and its being no more a motive of action, in the future part of his conduct, is the very ground of the objection I am attempting to remove. This is no doubt plaufible; but let it be remembred, in what way it is that believers. are freed from their apprehenfions of the wrath of God; it is by their acceptance of his mercy thro' faith in Chrift. Before the application of this remedy, they faw themselves the children of wrath, and heirs of hell; and they ftill believe, that every fin deferves the wrath of God, both in this life, and that which is to come. Will they therefore re-incur the danger from which they have fo lately escaped, and of which they had so terrible a view? will they do fo voluntarily, even although they know the remedy to be still at hand, still ready to be applied, and certainly effectual? Suppose any perfon had been upon the very point of perishing in a violent and rapid ftream, and faved when his ftrength was well nigh exhaufted, by the happy intervention of a tender-hearted paffenger, would he voluntarily plunge himself again into the flood, even although he knew his deliverer were standing by, ready for his relief? The fuppofition is quite unnatural; and it is equally fo,

to

to imagine, that one faved from divine wrath will immediately repeat the provocation, even whilft he trembles at the thoughts of the mifery of that ftate from which he had been fo lately delivered.

Let us only confider the strong fenfe whicha believer ufually fhews of the danger of others in an unconverted ftate, from a perfuafion of their being under the wrath of God. He warns them, intreats them, pities them, and prays for them. He would not exchange with any one of them, a prifon for a palace, or a fcaffold for a throne. How then fhould he be fuppofed to. follow them in their practice, and thereby to return to their state?

But perhaps, here again it will be urged, that this is improper; because, according to the prin'ciples of the affertors of imputed righteousness, a believer, being once in a juflified ftate, can- not fall from grace; and therefore his fins do. not deferve wrath; and he himself must have,, from this perfuafion, a frong confidence that, be what they will, they cannot have fuch an effect and accordingly, fome have expressly affirmed, that the future fins of the elect are forgiven, as well as their paft, at their converfion; nay, fome, that they are juftified from all eternity, that God doth not fee fin in a believer, that his afflictions are not punishments, and other

things of the like nature. Now, tho' I must confefs I look upon thefe expreffions, and many more to be found in certain writers, whatever gloffes they may put upon them, as unguarded and anti-fcriptural; yet not to enter into the controverfy at all, I fuppofe it will be acknowledged by all without exception, that a believer's fecurity, and the impoffibility of his falling from grace, is a fecurity of not finning, that is, of not being under the dominion of fin, as much as, or rather in order to his fecurity of deliverance from the wrath of God. His pardon is fure; but this fecurity is only hypothetical, because his faith and holinefs are fecured by the promife of God: fo that, to suppose a person to fin without reftraint, by means of this persuasion, that his falvation is fecured by his firft acceptance of Chrift, is a fuppofition felf contradictory. How ever strongly any man may affert that a believer's faluation is fecure, he will not fcruple, at the fame time to acknowledge, that if fuch believer fhould fin wilfully and habitually, and continue to do fo, he would be damned; but he will deny, that any fuch cafe ever did, or ever can poffibly happen*.

The

Indeed there can be nothing more unfair, than to take one part of a man's belief, and thence argue against another part, upon which the first is exprefsly founded. If I fhould fay, I am confident I shall never be drowned in a certain river, becaufe I

am