fond hope of being raised? Apply this simile to the case in hand, and you will see, dear Sir, how frivolous, and injurious to our Lord, is your intimation, that one of his most awful royal proclamations is nothing but an empty description. O Calvinism! is this thy reverence for Jesus Christ? Hast thou no way of supporting thyself, but by turning the Lord of glory into a Virgil? The supreme Lawgiver of men and angels, into a maker of descriptions?

II. Much of the same nature is the observation which you make (p. 37) upon these words of our Lord,

They that have done good, shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil, into everlasting punishment.' You say "What does this text prove more than has been granted before? What does it more than characterize those that shall be saved?" Nay, Sir, it undoubtedly characterizes all those that shall be damned; and this too by as essential a character, as that according to which the king would appoint some of his servants for a gracious reward, and others for a capital punishment, if he said to them, "They that serve me faithfully, shall be richly provided for And they that rob me, shall be hanged." If such characterizing as this passes at Geneva for a bare description of persons, whom royal humour irrespectively singles out for reward, I hope the time is coming, when at Cambridge, it will pass for a clear declaration of the reason why some are rewarded, or punished, rather than others; and for a proof that the king is no more a capricious dispenser of rewards, than a tyrannical inflicter of punishments.

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III. P. 33. After mentioning these words of St. Paul, Without holiness no man shall see the Lord;' and those words which St. James wrote to believers, 'Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves' You say, "What is this to the purpose, respecting a second justification? Just about as much as, Now an omer is the teuth part of an ephah.' Now, Sir, although I do not immediately rest the cause upon such scriptures, I maintain, that

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they are much more to the purpose of our second justification by works, than Moses's definition of au

omer.

Will you dare to say, dear Sir, that impious Jezebel, and unconverted Manasses, were persons 66 just about as" properly qualified for justification in the great day, because they had an omer in their palace, as pious Deborah, and holy Samuel, who had holiness in their hearts, and were doers of the word in their lives? And when the apostle declares that Christ is the author of eternal salvation to them that obey him,' does he mean, that to obey is a thing just about as important to eternal salvation, as to know that a bushel holds four pecks, and an ephah ten omers? Were ever holiness and obedience inadvertently set in a more contemptible light? For my part, if by our words we shall be justified in the day of judginent,' I believe it shall be by our words springing from holiness of heart: And therefore I cannot but think that holiness will be more to the purpose of our justification by works in the great day, than all the omers and ephahs, with all the notions about imputed righteousness and finished salvation, în the world.

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IV. P. 33. After quoting that capital passage, 'Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers shall be justified,' (Rom. ii. 13,) you say, “This certainly proves that the doers of the law shall be justified." Well, then, it directly proves a justification by works. But you immediately insinuate, the "impossibility of salvation by the law." I readily grant, that in the day of conversion, we are justified by faith,' not only without the deeds of the ceremonial law,' but even without a previous observance of the law of love: But the case is widely different in the day of judgment; for then, by thy words shalt thou be justified.' Now, Sir, it remains for you to prove, that the apostle did not speak of the text under consideration, with an eye to our final justification by works.

In order to this, p. 33, you appeal to "the place

which this text stands in, and the connexion in which the words are found." I answer,

1. This text stands in the Epistle to the Romans, to whom the apostle says, 'Love is the fulfilling of the

law: He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.' (Rom. xiii. 8, 10.) Now, if he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law,' you must show, that it is impossible to love another;' or acknowledge that there are persons who fulfil the law' And consequently persons, who can be justified as 'doers of the law.' Nay, in the very chapter, such persons are thus mentioned, If the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, and fulfil the law, shall it not judge thee who dost transgress the law?' That is, shall not a Cornelius, an honest Heathen, that fears God and works righteousness,' rise in judgment against thee who 'committest adultery;' vainly supposing that Abraham's chastity is imputed to thee? (Rom. ii. 22, 27.) But,

2. Going back to the beginning of the chapter where our controverted text stands, I affirm that "the connexion in which it is found" establishes also justification by works in the great day: And to prove it I only lay the apostle's words before my judicious readers. 'Thou art inexcusable, O Jew, whosoever thou art. that judgest, or condemnest the Heathens who do such things, and doest them thyself. The judgment of God is according to truth,' and not according to thy Antinomian notions, that thou wast unconditionally elected in Abraham; that thou standest complete in his righteousness; and that thy salvation was finished when he had offered up Isaac. Be not deceived,' God will render to every man according to his deeds: [and not according to his notions:] To them who by patient continuance in well doing, seek for immortality, he will render eternal life: Anguish to every man that doeth evil; but glory to every man that worketh good : -For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified,-in the day

when he shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.' (Rom. ii. 1, 16.)

Now, Sir, is it not evident from "the connexion' to which you appeal, that Mr. Henry did not pervert the text, when he had the courage to say upon it, "It is not hearing but doing that will save us" in the great day? Hearing, mixt with faith, saves us indeed instrumentally in the day of conversion; but in the day of judgment, neither hearing uor faith will do it; but 'patient continuance in well-doing,' from the principle of a living faith in Christ, will have that honour.

V. P. 34. After criticising in the same frivolous manner as your brother, on Rev. xxii. 14, Blessed are they that keep his commandments,' &c., you add, "This is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ," and omitting what follows, aud love one another, as he gave us commandment;' you ask, "What then is the conclusion? To believe is the great New Testament command of God." No, Sir; according to 1 John iii, 23, the text you have quoted by halves, that commandment is to believe and to love, or to believe with a 'faith working by love.' Our Lord informs us, that on the grand commandment of love, hang all the law and the prophets.' St. Paul says, "Though I have all faith, yet if I have not love, I am nothing. Devils believe,' says St. James. To believe then, without loving, is not doing God's commandments,' but doing the devil's work. Because the word commandments, being in the plural number, denotes more than one, and therefore is incompatible with Solifidianism.

To add, as you do, "They that believe will and must obey," as if they could not help it, is supporting one mistake by another. That they may, can, and should obey, we grant: But that they will and must, are two articles of Calvin's creed, to which we cannot subscribe; for, to say nothing of daily experience, we read in the scripture dismal accounts of those fallen believers, who, instead of " adding to their faith virtue,' &c., proceeded so far in wilful disobe

dieuce,' as to worship the abomination of the Zidonians, shed innocent blood,' forswear themselves, and defile their father's bed.

It follows then still from Rev. xxii. 14, that although upon believing, not for obeying, we are initiated into all the new-covenant blessings" in the day of conver sion; yet in the great day, only upon persevering in faith and obedience, shall we have right, or, if you please, privilege, power, and authority, through our Surety, to partake of the tree of life." For 'he that endureth unto the end, the same shall be saved;' and 'Christ is the author of eternal salvation to none but them that obey him.'

VI. P. 36. You quote, against yourself, Rev. xiv. 13, "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.' Their blessedness arises from their dying in the Lord." Granted. But how shall it be known they died in the Lord? The Spirit says, 'Their works [not their faith] do follow them,' namely, in order to their final justification. To this you reply, "Their works do not go before them but follow after, to prove that they were in the Lord, whose prerogative alone is to 'justify the ungodly.'" I answer,

1. When you grant, that works prove that we are in the Lord, if they are good, or in the wicked one, if they are evil, you give up the point.

2. Do you not confound truth and error? Because in the day of conversion, God justifies the ungodly,' who renounces his ungodliness to believe in Jesus, does it follow, that Jesus will justify the ungodly in the day of judgment? Is not the insinuation as unscriptural as it is dangerous? Does not our Lord himself say, that, far from justifying them, he will bid them, Depart from him into everlasting fire?'

3. Your observation, that works follow the righteous, and "do not go before them," is frivolous: For what matters it, whether the witnesses, by whose evidence a prisoner is to be acquitted, follow him to the bar, or are there before him? Is their following him a proof that he is not justified by their instrumentality? To