and Greeks, a ftumbling block and foolish"ness."

To enter into the field of controverfy upon this fubject belongs not to my defign: Nor is it neceflary: Ability and learning and eloquence have been employed in its defence, at least in an equal measure to any which have been oppofed to it, and with this fingular advantage, that in the plain fenfe and common acceptation of words, the uniform language of fcripture is decidedly in its favour. So much, indeed, is this the cafe, that great ingenuity and fkill in criticifm alone can torture them into a different meaning. "That Chrift fuffered and died as an a

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tonement for the fins of mankind," fays a late polite and ingenious lay-writer *, "is a doctrine fo ftrongly and fo con"ftantly enforced, through every part of "the New Testament, that whoever wi!! fericufly perufe thefe writings, and de

*Soame Jenyns.

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ny that it is there, may with as much "reafon and truth, after reading the "works of Thucydides and Livy affert, "that in them no mention is made of

any facts relative to the hiftories of "Greece and Rome."

In behalf of this most interesting doctrine, I would appeal, not merely to found criticism and fair interpretation of fcripture; I wish it to be tried not by the understanding and the reafoning powers of the mind only, but alfo by the feelings of the heart, and particularly by the confcience of a finner awakened to a sense of guilt, and alarmed by the thoughts of a judgment to come.-Defcribe to a man of reflection, in that state of mind, the plan of the gospel when stripped of this doctrine; tell him of the fublimity of its doctrines, the purity and excellence of its precepts, and the awfulness of its fanctions; delineate to him the unexampled innocence and beneficence of the life of

its bleffed Author, the aftonishing magnanimity and fortitude of his death, not as a facrifice for fin, but as a teftimony to the truth of his doctrine and mission: Explain to him, if he will liften to you, the laboured and ingenious criticisms by which you remove the common acceptation of words, and prove that the doctrine of the atonement has no place in the facred page. But what, may not the alarmed finner justly reply, does all this contribute to the cafe and comfort of my troubled mind? The purity and extent of the fyftem of duty enjoined by the gospel, its dreadful fanctions, and the sublime character of its Author as an example, only tend to exhibit in more glaring colours, the imperfection of my obedience, the greatness of my fins, my just defert of punishment, and my total incapacity of making any fatisfaction to divine juftice. You tell me, that even upon your plan, the gofpel contains the

ftrongcft affurances of mercy and pardon to the fincerely penitent. But does not the fame gofpel, in folemn terms, declare "That God is of purer eyes than to be"hold iniquity, that he will not acquit "the guilty; that the unrighteous fhall

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not inherit the kingdom of God; that he will render to every man according to his deeds, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguifh upon every "foul of man that doth evil." Some way there must be, if the gofpel be indeed from God, of reconciling thofe conYour hypothefis

tradictory affertions.

does it not. From it I derive no folid fatisfaction to my mind. In it I perceive no foundation upon which I can build my hopes of pardon and acceptance with God in any confiftency with his truth and juftice, with the harmony of his per fections, and the equity of his government. On the contrary, by pointing out the purity and extent of the divine con

mandments, and the terrible punishments prepared for tranfgreffors, it only ferves my condition more hopeless and

to render

desperate.

To a perfon in this ftate of mind, what founds can be fo cheering, fo full of confolation and peace, as thofe which convey the true and diftinguifhing doctrine of the gofpel? "God fo loved the world, "that he gave his only begotten Son, that whofoever believeth on him fhould not perish, but have everlasting life.Herein is love, not that we loved God, "but that he loved us, and fent his Son

to be the propitiation for our fins. "There is now therefore no condem"nation to them that are in Christ Je"fus. It is God that juftifieth, and who can condemn ?”

Where was there ever a doctrine or an idea conceived or propofed, fo wonderfully calculated to give eafe to the foul trembling under a confcioufnefs of guilt,