incommunicable names with adamant and gold! If you are 'saviours of the world,' and 'mediators between God and man;' if you are 'Emmanuels' and 'Gods over all, blessed for ever,' wear them; they fit you, and they are your right. But if 'ye all shall die like men,' who cannot atone for one sin; and if the flesh of every one of you shall see corruption,' touch them not, unless it be with the reverential faith of the Syro-Phenician woman: Like her you may indeed steal a cure through them: But O! do not steal them, as those who 'come' in the Redeemer's dress, and say, 'I am Christ,' or those who tell you, I am carnal, sold under sin,' but, no matter! I am safe: In the robes of Christ's righteousness, I am as righteous as Christ himself. If nevertheless you are bent upon putting them on by selfimputation, at the peril of your souls throw them not over the shoulders of impenitent sinners; lest you ⚫ turn the truth of God into a flagrant lie;' lest professing yourselves wise to salvation, you 'become fools, and change the glory [the glorious robe] of the incorruptible God'-man, into the infamous cloak of an incestuous adulterer.

2. Suppose that still despising the white robes, that is, the evangelical righteousness of the saints, you aspire at being clothed with the Redeemer's vesture dipt in blood; permit me to oppose to your error the testimony of one of the twenty-four elders who stand nearest the throne, and therefore know best in what robes the saints can stand before it with safety and honour.

I beheld, (says the beloved disciple,) and lo, a great multitude which no man can number, of all nations, people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with WHITE ROBES.' (Rev. vii. 9.) By comparing this verse with Rev. xix. 7, 8, it is evident, that great multitude was the church triumphant, the wife of the Lamb, who has made her.. self ready. She is composed of souls, who have fulfilled those awful commands, O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from iniquity, that thou mayest be saved :-Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings

from before my eyes: Come, and let us reason together; though your sins be as red as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.' They continued instant in prayer, that God would wash them thoroughly from their iniquity, and cleanse them from their sins:' Nor did they give over pleading his gracious promises, till the living water, the cleansing blood, the fuller's soap, and the refiner's fire, bad had their full effect upon them. Therefore, to them it was granted, that they should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.'

Now the question between us is, whether the 'fine linen, clean and white,' and the white robes' mentioned by St. John, are the evangelical, personal righteousness of the saints, or the mediatorial, personal righteousness of their Lord: But who shall help us to decide it ? One of the elders before the throne, who advances and says unto John, These, who are arrayed in white robes, are they who came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.' (Rev. vii. 14.) Does not this information, given by one to whom the beloved disciple had just said, "Sir, thou knowest,' make it indubitable that the righteousness which the saints appear in before God, is a righteousness which was once defiled, and therefore stood in need of washing? Now, what Christian will assert, that the personal righteousness of the immaculate Lamb of God, had ever one spot of defilement ?

Again, those robes were washed, and made white by the saints: THEY have washed their robes.' It is evident, therefore, that if these robes were the personal righteousness of Christ, the saints had washed it. And who is the good man that, upon second thoughts, will dare to countenance a preposterous doctrine, which supposes, that the saints have washed the defiled righteousness of the Lord, and made it white?

Once more: These robes are washed in the blood of the Lamb,' that is, in the fountain opened for sin, and for uncleanness.' Now, if they were the robes of

Christ's personal righteousness, does it not necessarily follow, that Christ opened a fountain to wash his own spotted and sinful righteousness? Is it not strange, that those who pretend to a peculiar regard for the Redeemer's glory should be such great sticklers for an opinion, which pours such contempt upon him, and his glorious apparel ?

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3. If the testimony of St. John, and that of one of the twenty-four elders, be not regarded; let our Lord's repeated declaration, at least, be thought worthy of consideration. All our righteousness flows from him, as all the sap of the branch flows from the vine. Therefore, speaking of righteousness, he says, Buy of me white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear.' (Rev. iii. 18.) But that this white raiment cannot be his personal righteousness, we prove, first, from his own words mentioned in the same chapter, Thou hast a few names in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments.' (Rev. iii. 4.) Now, if these garments were the robes of Christ's personal obedience, which neither man nor devil can defile, how came our Lord to make it matter of praise to a few names, that they had not defiled them ? If David could not in the least bespatter them by all his crimes, was it a wonder that some persons should have kept them clean? Is it not rather surprising, that any names in Sardis should have had defiled garments, which remain undefiled, and without spot,' even while those who wear them welter in the mire of adultery, murder, and incest ?

Once more: Our Lord says, 'Behold I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments; lest he walk naked and they see his shame.' (Rev. xvi. 5.) Who does not see here, that the garments, which we are to keep with watchfulness, are garments which may be spotted or stolen? Garments of which we may be so totally stript, as to be seen walking naked? Two particulars, that perfectly suit our personal righteousness of faith, but can never suit the personal righteousness of Christ; that best robe,'

which neither man nor devil can steal, neither adultery nor murder defile.

Having spent so much time with my Objector, I beg leave to turn to you, honoured Sir, and to conclude this Essay upon imputed righteousness, by summing up the difference which subsists between us on that important subject; and inviting men of candour to determine who of us have reason, conscience and scripture on their side.

You believe, that the uninterrupted good works and the atoning sufferings of Christ, which made up his personal righteousness while he was upon earth, are imputed to the elect for complete and eternal righteousness, be their own personal righteousness what it will : Insomuch that, as you express it, (Five Letters, p. 27, and 29,) "All debts and claims against them, be they more or be they less, be they small or be they great, be they before or be they after conversion, are for ever and for ever cancelled: They always stand absolved always complete, in the everlasting righteousness of the Redeemer." And you think, that this imputed righteousness composes the robes of righteousness, in which they stand before God, both in the day of conversion and in the day of judgment.

On the other hand, we believe, that, for the alone sake of Christ's atoning blood and personal righteousness, our personal faith, working by obedient love, is imputed to us for righteousness. And we assert, that this living faith, working by obedient love, together with the privileges annexed to it, (such as pardon through, and acceptance in, the Beloved,) makes up the robe of righteousness washed in the blood of the Lamb,' in which true believers now walk humbly with their God, and will one day triumphantly enter into the glory of their Lord.

I hope, honoured Sir, that when we speak of personal faith, love, and righteousness, you will do us the justice to believe, we do not mean that we can have either faith, love, or righteousness, of ourselves or from ourselves. No They all as much flow to us from

it.

Christ, the true Vine, and the Sun of Righteousness; as the sap and fruit of a branch come from the tree that bears it, and from the sun that freely shines upon 'Without him' we have nothing but helplessness; " we can do nothing' but sin: But with him we can do all things.' If we call any graces personal or inherent, it is not then to take the honour of them to ourselves; but merely to distinguish them from imputed righteousness,' which is nothing but the imputed assem-blage of all the graces that were in our Lord's breast 1750 years ago.

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As some of my readers may desire to know exactly, wherein the difference between personal and imputed graces consists; I shall just help their conception by three or four scriptural examples. Joseph, struggling out of the arms of his tempting mistress, has personal chastity, a considerable branch of personal righteousness: And David sparing his own flock, and taking the ewe lamb that lay in Uriah's bosom, is complete in imputed chastity, which is a considerable part of imputed righteousness. Solomon choosing wisdom, and dedicating the temple, has inherent wisdom and piety: But when he chooses Pagan wives, and with them worships deformed idols, he has imputed wisdom and piety. Again, when Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, he personally wears the girdle of truth: But when he denies his Lord with oaths and curses, saying, "I know not the man,' he wears it only by imputation. Once more: When David killed proud Goliah with his own sword, he stood complete in the personal righteousness we plead for: But when he killed brave Uriah with the sword of the children of Ammon, he stood complete in what our opponents extol as the "best robe."

And now, ye unprejudiced servants of the most high God, ye men of candour and piety, scattered through the three kingdoms, to you, under God, we submit our cause. Impartially weigh the arguments on both sides; and judge whether the robe recommended by our