I shall consider them, at my

overwhelmed with confusion in his presence! leisure, with the attention they deserve. At present, I believe, opportunity is giving us the slip. Yonder coach seems to be moving this way, and the

livery looks like Philander's.

Aspasio, desirous to fix those convictions which are of the last consequence to our faith and salvation-very desirous to fix them on his friend's mind, replied:

Asp. As your visitants are at a distance, give me leave to observe, that the wisest of men, attending to the first of these particulars, has poured contempt upon all human excellency: "There is not a just man upon earth, that doth good and sinneth not," Eccl. vii. 20. The apostle of Christ takes shame to himself on the same account, and teaches all mankind to strike the sail of self-conceit: "In many things we offend all," James iii. 2. David, considering the latter of these points, prays with the utmost earnestness, “Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord!" and assigns this humbling reason for his petition, "for in thy sight shall no man living be justified," Psalm cxliii. 2. This induced Nehemiah, who had been so nobly zealous for the honour of his God, not to confide in his own valuable services, but make application to forgiving goodness: "Spare me, O Lord, according to thy great mercy," Neh. xiii. 22.

Had I set before you the example of the poor publican, who smote upon his breast, durst not lift up his eyes to heaven, but cried, from the bottom of a polluted heart, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" Luke xviii. 13; selflove might possibly have whispered, "Surely I am not to be ranked with that abominable wretch. I stand upon some better footing than such an infamous offender." With respect to the enjoyment of eternal life, we stand upon no better, upon no other. And when low as that obnoxious despised creature, we are upon the very same ground with the most exalted saints. They all appear before the Majesty of heaven in the same attitude of unfeigned humiliation, and with the same acknowledgments of utter unworthiness. For it is a certain truth, and admits of no exception, that to justify sinners is not the privilege of human obedience, but the sole prerogative of "the Lord our righteousness."

Ther. Is not the practice of Hezekiah an exception to your rule? These, if I recollect aright, are the words of that holy king: "I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight," 2 Kings xx. 3. You see,

he puts the issue of his trial before the everlasting God, upon his own integrity and his own obedience.

Asp. These are his words, but they are not used with this view. He humbly represents before the great Sovereign of the world how beneficial his former life had been, and how serviceable his prolonged life might be, to the best interests of the Jewish nation. He recurs to his obedience, not that he may establish his hope of eternal happiness in heaven, but that he may obtain a reprieve from the grave, and a lengthening of his tranquillity on earth. Neither is this obedience gloried in by way of merit, but only pleaded by way of argument; as though he had said, "Remember, gracious God, how I have exerted my royal authority to suppress idolatry, to extirpate vice, and to promote thy true religion. Consider how greatly thy people stand in need of such a vigilant and zealous governor; and to what a miserable condition both

church and state may be reduced, if thou takest away thy servant by this threatened but untimely stroke. And, for the welfare of Judah, for the honour of thy name, for the support of thy own worship, O spare me a little!” Aspasio paused, expecting a reply. As Theron continued silent and musing, Aspasio, with a smile of benevolence, proceeded-Come, my Theron! why so deep in thought? have you any objection to the evidences I have produced? They are some of the most dignified characters and illustrious personages that could be selected from all ages: kings, princes, and patriots; priests, saints, and martyrs. Should these be deemed insufficient, I can exhibit a larger and nobler cloud of witnesses :-larger, for they are a great multitude, which no man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues; nobler, for they stand before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands. Ask those shining armies, Who they are, and whence they came ? Their answer is comprised in one of my favourite portions of Scripture, one of those delightful texts, from which I hope to derive consolation, even in my last moments. For which reason, you will allow me to repeat it, though it may perhaps be mentioned in a former conversation: "We are they who came out of great tribulation; and have washed our robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; therefore are we before the throne," Rev. vii. 14, 15.

Some of them laid down their lives for the sake of Christ; many of them were eminent for works of righteousness; all of them were endued with real holiness. Yet none of these qualifications constituted their passport into the regions of endless felicity. They had "washed their robes,” had fled to the atonement, and pleaded the merits of Jesus their Saviour. Hereby they had "made them white;" this was the cause of their acquittance from guilt, and their complete justification: and therefore, on this account, their persons were accepted; they were presented without spot before the throne, and admitted to that fulness of joy which is at God's right hand for evermore.

Ther. I have no objection to your witnesses. trine is strangely debasing to human nature.

But, methinks, your doc

Asp. A sign, Theron, that it is agreeable to the genius of the gospel; which is calculated, as the eloquent Isaiah foretold, to humble the sinner and exalt the Saviour: "The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of man shall be made low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day," Isa. ii. 11. "Man, though naturally vain, shall be made sensible of his numberless offences; shall see the defects which attend his highest attainments; shall confess the impossibility of being justified by the deeds of the law; and place all his hope upon the propitiatory death, and meritorious obedience, of the Lord Jesus Christ."

• "That doctrine," said an eminent divine, "which tends

To humble the sinner,

To exalt the Saviour,
To promote holiness,

you may embrace as sound: that which is defective in its influence on any one of them, you should reject as corrupt."

DIALOGUE IX.

THERON, impressed with the last conversation, was very desirous to resume the subject, and renew the important debate. With this view he conducted his friend into a retirement commodious for the purpose.

They enter a spacious lawn, which lay opposite to the house, and stretched itself in the form of an expanded fan. The mounds on either side were dressed in verdure, and ran out in a slanting direction. The whole, to an eye placed at a distance, bore the resemblance of a magnificent vista; contracting by slow degrees its dimensions, and lessening at last into a point, which the regular and graceful seat with all imaginable dignity supplied.

Nature had sunk the lawn into a gentle decline, on whose ample sides were oxen browsing and lambs frisking. The lusty droves lowed as they passed, and the thriving flocks bleated welcome music in their master's ear. Along the midst of this verdant slope ran a spacious and extensive walk, which, coated with gravel and fenced with palisadoes, looked like a plain stripe of brown intersecting a carpet of the brightest green. At the bottom, two handsome canals, copiously stocked with fish, floated to the breeze; whose waters, beheld from every front room in the house, had a fine effect upon the sight, not without a refreshing influence on the imagination. the extremity of one stood a stately colonnade. The roof was elevated on pillars of the Ionic order, and the area slabbed with stones, neatly ranged in the diamond fashion. Several forest chairs accommodated the anglers with a seat, while the bending dome supplied them with a shade.

Corresponding, and on the margin of the other canal, was erected a summer-house, of a very singular kind.—The lower part had an opening towards the north. It was cool; it was gloomy; and had never seen the sun. It carried the romantic air of a grotto, or rather the pensive appearance of a hermit's cell. The outside was coarse and rugged with protuberant stones. Partly overspread with ivy, partly covered with moss, it seemed to be the work of ancient years. You descend, by steps of turf, through a low and narrow door. A scanty iron grate, instead of a large sweeping sash, transmits a glimmering light, just sufficient to discover the inner structure, which appeared like one continued piece of rock-work-a cavern cut, you would imagine, from the surrounding quarry. Above, hung an irregular arch, with an aspect rather threatening than inviting. Below, lay a paving of homely pebbles; in some places a little furrowed, as though it had been worn by the frequent tread of solitary feet. All around were rusticity and solemnity; solemnity never more visibly seen than through a gloom. The furniture of the same grotesque fashion with the apartment. A bench hewed, you would suspect, by Nature's chisel, out of the solid stone; a sort of couch, composed of swelling moss, and small fibrous roots. From one corner trickled a pure spring, which crept with a bubbling moan along the channelled floor, till its healthy current was collected into a basin, rudely scooped from the ground. On the edge of this little receptacle lay chained a rusty bowl, and over it stood an antique worm-eaten table. On the least obscure part of the wall you discern, dimly discern, a parchment scroll, inscribed with that sage, but mortifying admonition, "Vanity of vanities! all is vanity!"

Over this recess, so pleasingly horrid, and adapted to solemn musings, arose an open and airy belvidere. You ascend by winding stairs; and coming from the uncouth abode below, are sweetly surprised with an elegant hexagon. The ceiling lofty, and decorated with the softest, richest, almost flowing fret-work. The wainscot, in pannels of oak, retained its native auburn; so beautifully plain, that, like an amiable countenance, it would have been disfigured, rather than improved, by the most costly paint. On this were disposed, in gilded frames, and to great advantage, a variety of entertaining landscapes. But none surpassed, none equalled, all were a foil to, the noble lovely views which the windows commanded. The chimney-piece, of white shining marble, streaked with veins of vivid red: over it was carved a fine festoon of artificial, in it was ranged a choice collection of natural flowers. On a table of glossy walnut lay a portable telescope, attended with Thomson's Seasons, and Vanierii Prædium Rusticum*.

The whole was fitted up in the highest taste, and furnished with every pleasurable ornament, on purpose to harmonise with that lavish gaiety, which seemed to smile over all the face of nature; on purpose to correspond with that vernal delight, which came breathing on the wings of every fragrant gale: I may add, on purpose to remind the beholder of those immortal mansions, which are decorated with images infinitely more splendid, with objects unspeakably more glorious; where holy beings will spend, not a few vacant hours in refined amusement, but a boundless eternity in the consummation of joy. For, to a well-turned mind, nature is a preceptor; and these are her instructive lessons; to the pure in heart, even sense is edifying; and these are its delicate moralities.

The redundant waters of the canal rolled off in a spreading cascade; which, tumbling from many a little precipice, soothed the air with a symphony of soft and gurgling sounds, nor ever intermitted the obliging office,

"From morn to noon, from noon to dewy eve."

But when the fanning breezes dropped their wings, when the feathered choir were hushed in sleep, when not so much as a chirping grasshopper was heard throughout the meads, this liquid instrument still played its solo, still pursued its busy way, and warbled as it flowed melodious murmurs.

Asp. Such, Theron, so uniform, uninterrupted, and invariable, should be our conformity to the divine law. But, alas! those sacred precepts are so exceeding broad, that the most enlarged human obedience is far from being commensurate to their extent; so absolutely holy, that our highest attainments fall vastly short of their exalted perfection. How then can we expect justification from such a consummate rule? How dare we place our dependence upon such imperfect duties? especially before a God of unerring discernment and immaculate purity.

Ther. Because mankind are incapable of pleasing their Maker, by yielding an absolute and invariable obedience to the moral law; does it follow from thence, that they cannot render themselves acceptable to him, by an universal course of sincere obedience?

• "Vanierii Prædium Rusticum:" A most elegant Latin Poem; which treats of every remarkable peculiarity relating to the business of a country life, or the furniture of a country-seat. It entertains us with a description of the most agreeable objects, in an easy flow of the purest language, and most musical numbers.

L

Asp. I think it follows, from what has been already observed. If you desire new arguments, they are at hand.

The law, says the teacher of the Gentiles, is the ministration of condemnation, 2 Cor. iii. 7. How can this be truc, if it requires no more than a sincere obedience; such as is proportioned to our infirm state? If this be sufficient to justify, and entitle us to our Creator's favour, the law ceases to be the ministration of condemnation. It becomes (which is flatly contradictory to the apostle's doctrine) the ministration of righteousness.

The law is styled, by the same inspired teacher, "a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ*." How can it, upon your supposition, be qualified for such an office? If a sincere obedience be the whole of its demands, it can no longer direct us to Christ, it will no longer deliver us over to a Redeemer's merit; but must draw and attach us to itself, teaching us to look upon its precepts, and our own conscientious observance of them, as the tenure of eternal life.

Do you insist upon a third proof? A third presents itself; not so much founded on argumentation, as deduced from example. How was Abraham, the friend of God and father of the faithful, justified? By a course of sincere obedience? No; but by faith in the promised Messiah. "Abraham worked not," with a view to obtain justification; "but believed on him who justifieth the ungodly." How was David, the man after God's own heart, justified? By his zeal for the Lord, and by his eminent services? No; but by a righteousness imputed; even that righteousness of the blessed Redeemer, through which “iniquity is forgiven, and sin pardoned." And can we be said to walk humbly, or can we be thought to walk surely, if, refusing to tread in the steps of these exemplary saints, we diverge into a path of our own devising?

Ther. "Of our own devising!" No, my friend; there is a milder law introduced by the gospel, condescending and merciful to our infirmities, which accepts of sincerity instead of perfect obedience.

Asp. When was this milder law introduced, and the stricter abrogated? Not upon the entrance of sin, I presume. At this rate, the original law must be the creature of a few days, perhaps of a few hours only. But can we imagine, that the all-wise and unchangeable God would ordain a system of precepts to be disannulled as soon as enacted? Not in our Lord's time, I am very certain. That holy commandment, which requires supreme love to God, and perfect charity to men, he assures us, was still in force, Matth. xxii. 37, 38, 39. Nay it is evident, from the nature of the Deity, and from our relation to one another, that it always will be in force, that it never can cease, but is necessary and everlasting.

"A milder law, condescending to our infirmities!" What can be the purport of such an institution? It must be supposed to speak the following language: "Be it known unto you, O children of Adam, that you are no longer enjoined to love the Lord with all your strength, nor to love your neighbour as yourselves. Once, indeed, I insisted upon absolute purity of heart; now I can dispense with some degree of evil concupiscence. Since Christ is come, and his gospel preached, you need not always be clothed with

Gal. iii. 24. Пadaywys, "a schoolmaster;" who pretends not to finish the education of youth, but directs them to, and prepares them for, higher studies or nobler employs. The law, in like manner, aims not at furnishing us with a title to happiness; but fits, disposes, and disciplines us, for the all-sufficient Redeemer.