forfeited your conditional election to the rewards of perfevering obedience, and perfonally made your conditional reprobation from thofe rewards, fure by your final difobedience.

From thefe evangelical defcriptions of the beep and the goats, mentioned in John x. and Matt. xxv. it appears to us indubitable: (1) That these sheep [i. c. obedient, perfevering believers] fhall never perifk, altho' they MIGHT perish, if they brought upon themJolves Swift deftruction by denying the Lord that bought them: (2) That they fhall all be eternally faved, altho' they MIGHT have miffed eternal falvation, if they had finally difregarded our Lord's declaration, He that endureih unto the end, the fame fhall be [finally] faved.

(3) That the Good Shepherd peculiarly laid down his life for the eternal redemption of obedient, perfevering believers; and that these believers are fome times eminently called God's elect, because they make their conditional calling to the rewards of perfeverance fure, by actually perfevering in the obedience of faith.

(4) That the peculiarity of the eternal redemption of Chrift's perfevering followers, far from being connected with the abfolute reprobation of the rest of mankind, flands in perfect agreement with the doctrines of a general temporary redemption; and a general, initial falvation; and with the doctrines of a gratuitous election to the blefings of one or another difpenfation of God's faving grace--and of a conditional election to the rewards of voluntary, unneceffitated obedience. (5) That our opponents give the truth as it is in Jefus two defperate tabs, when they fecure the peculiar eternal redemption of finally obedient believers, and comfort mourning backfliders in fo unhappy a manner, as to overthrow the general temporary redemption of all mankind and to encourage or countenance the present difobedience of Loadicean believers.---(6) That the calvinian doctrines of grace, which do this double

mifchief

mifchief under fuch fair pretences, are of all the tares which the enemy fows, thofe which come nearest to the wheat, and of confequence thofe by which he can best feed his immoral goats, deceive fimple fouls, fet Chrift's moral fheep at perpetual variance, turn the Fruitful field of the church into a barren field of controverfy, and make a deiftical world think that faith is enthufiaftical fancy; that orthodoxy is immoral nonfenfe; and that revelation is nothing but an apple of difcord.--(7) And laftly, that the doctrines of grace which we maintain, do equal juftice to all the divine attributes;-defend faith, without wounding obedience oppofe pharifaifm, without recommending antinomianifm affert the truth of God's promifes, without reprefenting his moft awful threatenings as words without meaning reconcile the Scriptures, without wounding confcience and reafon ;---exalt the gracious wonders of the day of atonement, without Tetting afide the righteous terrors of the great day of retribution ;---extol our heavenly Prieft, without pouring contempt upon our divine Prophet ;---and celebrate the honours of his crofs, without turning his fceptre of righteousness into a folifidian reed, his royal crown into a crown of thorns, and his law of liberty into a rule of life, by which his fubjects can no more ftand or fall in judgment, than an Englishman can ftand or fall by the rules of civility followed at the French court.

I

To the best of my knowledge, Reader, thou haft been led into the depth of cur doctrines of grace. have opened to thee the myfteries of the evangelical fyftem, which Mr. Hill attacks as the herefy of the Arminians. And now, let Impartiality hand thee up to the judgment-feat. Let Reafon and Revelation hold out to thee their confentaneous light. Pray that the Spirit of Truth may help thine infirmities: Turn Prejudice out of the court: And let Candour pronounce the fentence and fay, if it is our principles

or

-or thofe of Mr. Hill, which "inevitably" draw after them "bucking, not to fuy blafphemous" confequences.

I fhall close this anfwer to the Creed which that Gentleman has compofed for Arminians, by an obfervation which is not entirely foreign to our controverfy. In one of the three letters which introduce the the fictitious Creed, Mr. Hill fays, "Controverfy I am perfuaded has not done me any good ;" and he exhorts me to examine closely whether I cannot make the fame confeffion. I own that it would have done. me harm, if I had blindly contended for my opinions. Nay, if I had fhut my eyes against the light of truth; -if I had fet the plainelt feriptures afide, as if they were not worth my notice;-if I had overlooked the ftrongest arguments of my opponents;-if I had advanced groundless charges against them; if I had refufed to do juftice to their good meaning or piety;and, above all, if I had taken my leave of them by injuring their moral character, by publishing over and over again arguments, which they have properly anfwered, without taking the least notice of their anfwers;-if I had made a folemn promise not to read one of their books, tho' they fhould publish a thoufand volumes; if continuing to write against them, I had fixed upon them (as "unavoidable" confequenes) abfurd tenets, which have no more neceffary connexion with their principles, than the doctrine of general redemption has with calvinian reprobation: If I had done this, I fay, controverfy would have wounded my confcience or my reafon; and without adding any thing to my light it would have immoveably fixed me in my prejudices,. and perhaps branded me before the world for an Arminian bigot. But, as matters are, I hope I may make the following acknowledgement without betraying the impertinence of proud boasting.

Altho

Altho' I have often been forry that controverfy fhould take up fo much of the time, which I might with much more fatisfaction to myself have employed in devotional exercifes:-and altho' I have lamented, and do ftill lament my low attainments in the meekness of wisdom, which fhould conftantly guide the pen of every controverfial writer; yet I rejoice, that i have been enabled to perfift in my resolution either to wipe off, or to share the reproach of those, who have hazarded their reputation in defence of pure and undefiled religion. And, if I am not mistaken, my repeated attempts have been attended with thefe happy effects: In vindicating the moral doctrines of grace, I hope, that, as a man, I have learned to think more clofely, and to invefligate truth more ardently than I did before. There are rational powers in the dulleft fouls, which lie hid as fparks in a flint. Controverfial oppofition and exertion, like the ftroke of the fteel, have made me accidentally find out fome of thefe latent fparks of reason, for which I should never have thanked my Maker, if I had never discovered them. I have frequently been thankful to find that my horfe could travel in bad roads better than I expected; nor do I think that it is a piece of phari. faifm to fay, I am thankful to find that my mind can travel with more eafe than I thought he could, through theological roads, rendered almolt impaffa. ble by heaps of doctrinal rubbish, brought from all parts of Christendom, and by briars of contention which have kept growing for above a thousand years. -To return: As a divine, I fee more clearly the gaps and ftiles at which mistaken, good men, have turned out of the narrow way of truth, to the right-hand and to the left.-As a proteftant, I hope I have much more esteem for the feriptures in general, and in particular for thofe practical parts. of it which the Calvinilts had infenfibly taught me to overlook or defpife. And this increafing efteem is, I truly accompanied

with

with a deeper conviction of the truth of chriftianity, and with a greater readinefs to defend the gospel againft infidels, pharifees, and antinomians.---As a preacher, I hope I can now do more justice to a text, by reconciling it with feemingly contrary fcriptures. -As an anti-calvinist, I have learned to do the Calvinifts juftice in granting that there is an election of diftinguishing grace for God's peculiar people, and a particular redemption for all believers who are faithful unto death ;--And by that means, as a controvertist, I can more eafily excufe pious calvinifts, who thro' prejudice, mistake that feriptural election for their antinomian election; and who confider that particular redemption as the only redemption mentioned in the fcriptures. Nay, I can, without fcruple allow Mo Hill, that his doctrines of finibed falvation and irre fiftible grace, are TRUE with refpect to all those who die in their infancy.--As one who is called an Armi nian, I have found out fome flaws in Arminianism, and evidenced my impartiality in pointing them out, as well as the flaws of Calvinifm. [See the preface.] As a witnefs for the truth of the gofpel, I hope have learned to bear reproach from all forts of people with more undaunted courage. And I humbly truft, that were I called to feal with my blood the truth of the doctrines of grace and of juftice against the pharife and the antinomians, I could (divine grace fupporting me to the laft) do it more rationally, and of confe quence with greater fleadinefs.--Again, as a follower of Chrift, I hope I have learned to difregard my deareft friends for my heavenly Prophet: Or to speak the language of our Lord, I hope, I have learned to fors fake father, mother, and brothers for Chrifi's fake and the gofjes.As a difputant, I have learned that folid arguments and plain feriptures, make no more im preffion upon bigotry, than the charmer's voice does upon the deaf adder; and by that means, I hope, I depend less upon the powers of reafon, the letter of

the