⚫ing; and as well fatisfied with it, if it is above my reafon, as if it is otherwife. Yea, if wholly oppofite to my beft reasonings, I I only thence infer my own ignorance and weakness, and fully be lieve and obey my God: even as I would have my little children believe what I tell them, and do what I bid them. I am edified, ⚫ and comforted by every ferious, honeft man, that I hear talk upon ⚫his religion, whatever degrees of light God hath been pleased to 'give him, be they more or lefs. I am most edified where there is ⚫moft light; but truly the light is fweet, even in the leaft degrees of it. I find fomething from God given to every feet, and party; and that gives me delight.' I am quite willing God fhould make me holy and happy, for the glory of his own name, and all my fellow finners without exception, if he please.' When I have the deepest fenfe of thefe things, the world and creatures appear to me as nothing, yea, lefs than nothing and vanity, and God all in all.' 'The author,' mea ng himself, is quite beyond a doubt, in his ⚫ own mind, with regard to the folid truth of his leading princi ⚫ples and arguments. With refpe&t to the due time of advanc. ing this flep forward, and fo explicitly pouring in this addition. al light, he is not fopofitive. There are, however, feveral con. fiderations that have weight in my mind, to make the publica. ⚫tion without further delay; fuch as these. I have spent more than twenty years in the moft careful reading and attention to every thing relating to this fubject; and, I think, with a fingle eye, and ardent defire to know the truth, and to avoid all falfe reafoning, and every groundless conclufion. I have no intereft but in the truth."

6

.

How could the Doctor have given himself a better character? What words could he have used, more strongly to exprefs a deep fenfe of divine things, as well as unfeigned love to his neighbour, and supreme love to God? He is quite beyond a doubt' as to the truth of his own fcheme, and fo explicitly pouring into the world this additional light; provided the due time for it be al ready come. And the light of his own mind, with his fingleness of heart, are the reasons why his book fhould be published with out further delay. He is quite fatisfied with all God has faid in his word, whether it be wholly oppofite to his own best reafonings, or not. He fully believes and obeys his God, just as he would have his little children believe and obey him: He is edi fied by the religious converfation of all parties, and moft edified where there is moft light. The world is to him lefs than nothing, and God all in all. To complete the whole, he profeffes to have, emphatically, no intereft but in the truth. Thus when he comes P. 291. § P. 312. P. 19.

• P. 47.

+ P. 279.

to

with Judas, then with the proudeft of pharifees. And their good diftinctions of outward privileges, and means of grace, even of grace itself, only tend, he fays, to ftimulate them in pride, and to enclose themfelves in palaces of diftinction and honour;' and to look with fovereign contempt upon all the world befide. This the Doctor fays of all his opponents, making no exception, as was fhown in Letter V. and because they fo oppofe universal fal

vation.

Now fee the contraft. Speaking of himfelf, in the introduction of his book, the Doctor fays, Being much difpofed to a • ftudious life, and always delighting greatly in books, he spent much of his time in reading and enquiring; in the early periods ' of life. Amidft all the vanities and follies of youth, yet acquainting his heart with wifdom, even while he too much laid hold on folly. Being alfo much favored, by a kind providence, with regard to the beft means of inftruction, and a pious example from his parents in his early days, and afterwards with a more public education; the difpofition of his heart inclined him, in great preference to all other employments, to the study of divinity, and to become a preacher of the gofpel.'* The Doctor has chofen fome of the most decided words to denote true feat and love of God. Acquainting his heart with wifdom.' Solomon ufes the words in the fame manner, Eccl. ii. 3. and in another place fays, The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wifdom.' Therefore, amidst all the follies of youth, with which he was furrounded, Dr. H. fays he gave himself up to fear and love God. And being much difpofed to a ftudious life, and always delighting greatly in books; and being under the beft means of inftruction, and a pious example from his parents in his early days, he applied his heart to know, and to fearch, and to feek out wisdom.' In his early days, it would feem, he imitated if not exceeded, Solomon in his old age. This 'difpofition of his heart inclined him, in great preference to all 'other employments, to the ftudy of divinity, and to become a * preacher of the gofpel.' His mind was very ftrongly inclined, in great preference, and from the pureft motives, to the moft important, as well as felf-denying work, in the redeemer's kingdom. Is not this fomething more than being lefs wicked?

6

Though he says, while'in early life,' He too much laid hold onfolly,' yet he impliedly profeffes to have overcome, foon after, all the follies of youth, and all the vanities of human nature; and to have given himself up wholly to his God. Thus he folemnly declares: I am quite fatisfied with what God has faid in its plaineft meaning; + Prov. 9. 10. + Prov. 7. 25.

* P. 5.

pany,

which was entered into, as appears, before Dr. H. wrote his introduction; let them lay afide their periodical publications, and they could, free from the embarrafiment Dr. H. tells of, print for two, three, or more,fuch geniufes as Voltaire, with all their affiftants. But, the Doctor comes forward, with great fwelling words of vanity, and afferts that he could so“ fwell the volume, as to embarrass any printer in this country, for want of proper types, and practice. Mr. Thomas, before the year 1780, had Hebrew and Greek types, for the original languages of the facred oracles. But the true meaning is, Dr. H. would have the world believe, that he was able to ftudy and write, equal to two, three, or more of Voltaire, with their numerous attendants. It is grant ed, we have the fame reafon to credit this, as we have the reft of his book.

The chief thing to be remarked, in this place, Dr. H. fays be has done all this, he thinks, with a fingle eye, and ardent defire to know the truth, and to avoid all falfe reafoning, and every ⚫ groundless conclufion.' He unrefervedly declares, I have no intereft but in the truth,' He has ufed the pronoun I, or spo ken in the first perfon, nearly 400 times in 331 pages; and gen. erally with an air of great authority, as appears from the quotations already made. And his own affertions are more frequent than texts of feripture, or arguments drawn from the fcriptures. For the truth of these things, there need only be an appeal made to his book. Therefore, to lay nothing of that almost unbounded knowledge he would affumé to himfelf; when we compare that goodness of heart he profeffes to have, in fuch an eminent degree as to give weight and authority throughout his writings; to that vilenefs of heart he has afcribed to his opponents, and that diminitive or only negative goodness he has afcribed to all believers; when we compare these things together, we have the true fpirit and genius of the author. He has charged his opponents with monopolizing, with limiting, and their partial and much lim ⚫ited covenant of redemption,' as he is pleafed to call it. How much the Doctor has monopolized and limited to his own dear felf, the public will judge.

It is granted, when a man writes his own diary, or memoirs for Limfelf; fo in many other cafes, it is convenient and neceffary to fpeak in the firft perfon. But when a point of doctrine is to be fettled, where fcripture evidence alone can decide, for a man to fpeak in the first perfon, evidently withing to recommend his fcheme by his own authority, this betrays either the weakness of his fcheme, or his ignorance of the holy Scriptures. But the

latter

latter cannot be charged on the Doctor. Therefore, his frequent ufe of egotisms, or of the pronoun I in the room of fcripture evidence, only expofes the weakness and fallacy of his own fcheme.

Thinking to prove that believers have only negative virtue, or that they are only lefs wicked, Dr. H. has recourse to what Job, David, and Paul Tay concernning their remaining fin. But what they fay on this article proves against him. Job fays, ' I abhor myself, and repent in duft and afhes.* This was to hate fin in himself turn from it, reject it, or put it away. Every believer has this principle of hatred to fin, though not to fo great a degree as Job had at this time. But the lowest degree of this hatred to fin is right oppofite to every moral exercife of the unbeliever's heart. There cannot be a greater difference and oppofition, in the nature of things, than there is between hating fin and ftriving to be free from it, and, on the contrary, loving of it, and holding of it faft, with one's whole ftrength. There cannot be a greater difference, as to the nature of the case, than there is between dying daily unto fin and living unto righteousness, and on the other hand, living in fin, making fin one's element and life, and increasing in it. What greater odds in the nature of things, than between dying and living? Therefore, David and Paul fay, and right against the Doctor, My wounds ftink, and are corrupt: because of my foolishness.'t O wretched man that I am! Who fhall deliver me from the body of this death ?' Inftead of fin being loathfome and deadly to the impenitent finner, it is the very thing his foul lufteth after. He never had the leaft poffible perception that fin, in its own nature, was loathfome; but in every appearance of it, it is to him an amiable object; and more fo the longer he lives in it.

No

We have alfo the words of Chrift, directly to this point. man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and 'love the other; or elfe he will hold to the one,and despise the other. Ye cannot ferve God and mammon.' The difference, therefore, between the fervants of God and the fervants of mammon, is, the former love God and the latter love mammon. The love alfo in both thefe cafes ftands oppofed, one to the other; and Chrift here shows that it cannot be otherwife. Not as Dr. H. fays, that one has a lefs degree of love to mammon, fo a lefs degree of hatred to God, than the other. But one has love to God and hatred to mammon, while the other has love to mammon and ha.. tred to God. And Chrift plainly teaches that no man can be his difciple, unless he can freely give up all out of love to him; and even lay down his own life for Chrift's fake. But, of un belivers

* Job 42. 6. + Pfal. 38. 5.

P

6

believers Chrift fays, They have both feen and hated both me * and my Father.'* So the apoffle decides this difference, by showing charity to be the only thing which is morally excellent. Without charity there is nothing, nothing morally good. Here we again find a pofitive difference. To fay no more, the unbeliever, and every unbeliever is totally deftitute of moral goodness. So his moral state materially differs from the believer's. Base metal or drofs that has not one particle of gold in it, materially differs from gold, though this gold be mixed with drofs. So the believer, though fome fin remains in him, has fomething the unbe-. liever has not; he has charity, the only moral excellency in the univerfe. Hence, thefe two characters differ, as light differs from darkness. This is not all. The apoftle fhows the unbeliever to be wholly felfish, or to have a carnal mind which is enmity against God. This enmity, or this felfifhness is directly oppofed to that charity which feeketh not her own, but feeketh the glory of God and the best good of his kingdom. As every unbeliever is governed by this selfishness, and every believer by this charity, we of courfe have the difference between them; as great, in the nature of things, as can be imagined.

There is no need of dwelling on this point. The difference between faints and finners, is one of the moft plain and important doctrines, throughout the facred pages. It is one of the firft duties enjoined on God's minifters, under the ancient as well as the new covenant, to teach his people, the difference be tween the holy and profane, and cause them to difcern between 'the unclean and the clean :"+ that is, between the righteous and the wicked. In many places in his book, the Doctor allows this difference, juft as it is taught in the bible. He says, Where ⚫ this faith is, there certainly will be a bitter hatred and averfion to all ungodlinefs. The very difcovery of God which I am * fpeaking of, neceffarily involves in it a perception and fenfe of infinite amiablenefs, beauty and glory. The infinite lovelinefs of God, and falvation by grace through Jefus Chrift, are the effential objects of the faith I maintain. This wholly agrees ⚫ with the old calviniftic doctrine of faving faith. No acquaintance with God or divine truth, without a feeling impreffion of ⚫ the divine loveliness on our fouls, was ever thought to be faving faith by Calvin, Owen, or any eminent promoters of the proteftant caufe. Their object of faith is exactly the fame which I contend for; and the manner of communication and operation is the fame, as wrought by the power of God, working by 'love, and purifying the heart, even as God is pure.'‡ We do + Ezek. 44. 23. + P. 134, 135

* John 15. 24.

' not