Asp. Depend upon the Redeemer! No, my dear friend; you rely upon your own pious acts and moral qualifications. They, they are your grand recommendation. The office consigned over to the divine Jesus, is nothing more than to be as it were master of the ceremonies. He may have the credit of introducing your fine accomplishments with a kind of graceful air. But is this an office suited to his incomparable dignity? Was it for this that he bowed the heavens and partook of our nature? Was it for this that he became subject to the law, and obedient unto death? Only for this, that he might usher in our own endowments with a plume and a scarf? Surely, Theron, yon can never entertain such low thoughts of the incarnate God, and of Christ's mediatorial undertaking.

Ther. Neither can I entertain such low and vilifying thoughts of our own virtuous attainments. They distinguish persons of eminence and worth from the sordid wretch and execrable villain, just as the noble faculty of reason distinguishes the man from the brute.

Asp. To deny good works the merit of justifying us, is very different from vilifying them. You are going to build a new house, Theron : Pray, do you intend to hew your timber from the flimsy tendrils of the vine? Ther. No, certainly.

Asp. Because you do not think its feeble shoots proper to form the beams, and support the roof, of your intended edifice; do you therefore affront them, depreciate them, or disallow their usefulness? By no means. They may beautify your walls with their ornamental spread, and enrich the desert with their delicious fruit. This is an office suitable to the nature of the plant; and from this it receives sufficient estimation, without pretending to the honours of the oak.

Virtuous attainments, I own, are a considerable distinction in the present state of things; and what is a higher encomium, (I shall now outshoot you in your own bow,) they will distinguish the true believer from the hypocritical professor, even at the great tribunal. But let them be content with their province, and not intrude upon the Saviour's prerogative. To effect justification be his, to discriminate the justified, theirs. Neither let them elate their possessors with a vain conceit of themselves, who, though they were meek as Moses, holy as Samuel, and wise as Daniel, must confide in nothing but the boundless mercies of the Lord, must plead nothing but the infinite merits of his Christ.

This is the theology both of the Psalmist and of St. Paul. They derive the blessedness promised in Scripture, not from the shallow stream of human accomplishments, but from the inexhaustible ocean of divine grace: "Blessed is he whose unrighteousnesses are forgiven, and whose sins are covered," Psalm xxxii. 1.

Ther. Will Aspasio then, like, many of our modern disputants, mutilate the holy word? industriously display what seems to strengthen his argument, but artfully secrete what tends to overthrow his scheme? How could you forget, or why should you suppress the following clause, "And in whose spirit there is no guile?" Was you afraid it would demolish your opinion, and point out an upright honest mind as the cause of this blessedness?

Asp. Far was I, my dear Theron, from any such groundless apprehensions, and equally far from all such delusory designs. "Shall I talk deceitfully for God?" Job xiii. 7. His sacred cause does not need it, and his exalted Majesty would disdain it. No, I would condemn my tongue

to eternal silence, rather than speak a syllable, either to conceal or disguise the truth,

Most readily we will admit the sentence you mention, "In whose spirit there is no guile." It is evident from the context, that these words are not descriptive of a person in whose heart and conversation there is no iniquity, but of a penitent sinner, whose mouth freely confesses the iniquity of them both, confesses without any reserve or the least attempt to palliate; which, instead of invalidating, corroborates my argument, since, according to your own allegation, the highest merit consists in a free acknowledgment of sin, or a total renunciation of all worthiness.

Ther. When, therefore, we join repentance to all our other works, lament our deficiencies, and implore forgiveness, surely this must be available with a merciful God, and cannot but entitle us to the happiness of heaven.

Asp. How strange does it sound, at least in my ears, for poor miserable guilty creatures, to talk of entitling themselves to the happiness of heaven by any deeds of their own! when it is owing wholly to God's rich forbearing mercy that they are not transmitted to hell; owing wholly to God's free preventing grace that they are enabled to think a good thought.

But not to enlarge upon this consideration, I would ask, whether those penitential exercises were attended with a hearty detestation of sin, and an utter abhorrence of the sinner? Ezek. xxxvi. 31. If they were, you would then renounce yourself universally. You would never think of placing the least dependence on any thing of your own, nay, you would even loathe yourself. If they were not, then your very repentance falls short, and is to be repented of. It is as if "one came to the press-fat for to draw out fifty vessels, and there were but twenty," Hag. ii. 16. It is, if I may continue the prophet's metaphor, and the prophet's language, "the scant measure, which," in this your spiritual traffic, as well as in the affairs of secular commerce, " is abominable,” Mic. vi. 10.

Or, should your repentance be without a failure and without a flaw, I must still say to my friend, as our Lord replied to the young ruler, “One thing thou lackest." In all these acts of humiliation you have only taken shame to yourself, whereas a righteousness is wanting, which may magnify the law and make it honourable. Should God, without insisting upon this, pardon and reward, he would not act according to his glorious character, nor be at once 66 a just God and a Saviour," Isa. xlv. 21. And if you can find this righteousness," either in the depth, or in the height above," in any person or any object, save only in the imputed obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ, I retract whatever I have advanced.

Ther. A preacher and an author has lately assured us, that we are to be "accepted of God, and saved by our own obedience." If so, I need not scruple to repeat my assertion, that our own duties, especially when accompanied with repentance, are a real and proper foundation for life eternal.

Asp. Then the apostle was under a great mistake, when, treating of Christ and his merits, he ventured to assert, "Other foundation can no man lay, save that which is laid, even Jesus Christ," 1 Cor. iii. 11.

Ther. If you will not credit a modern preacher, I can produce a decision, made by one of the most ancient and authoritative synods: "Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life," Acts xi. 18. Repentance unto life is their unanimous voice, and my unexceptionable voucher.

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Asp. I can easily guess the assembly to which you refer. But I can hardly grant it the venerable name of a synod. It consisted of some Judaizing converts, who adhered with a tenacious and bigoted zeal to the Mosaic rites. However, though I might scruple my Theron's appellation, I readily acquiesce in their determination.

It is not said, those Gentiles were penitent, and therefore God granted them life. This should have been the language of the assembly, in order to establish my friend's way of thinking. On the contrary, they were dead in sin. God, of his free goodness, granted them repentance, which is both the beginning, and a substantial part of true life, even of that life which is founded on justification, is carried on by sanctification, and completed in glory.

And

I would farther observe, that repentance is a turning of the heart. when it is repentance unto life, it is a turning of the heart from every other object to the great and sole fountain of good, Christ Jesus, Acts xix. 4.— Were men slaves to sensuality? When they repent, they are turned to Christ for refined and heavenly affections. Were they wont to confide in themselves and their own works? As soon as they truly repent, they turn to Christ for a better righteousness, and thereby, for everlasting acceptance with God. In short, they turn from every false stay, and fly only to Christ, depend only on Christ, looking not to their own tears or humiliation, not to their own duties or graces, but "looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life," Jude 21.

Ther. Suppose it should be wrong to expect such a vast reward, as the inconceivable glories of heaven, on account of our own duties; yet to set them wholly aside, to allow them no influence at all, not so much as the least co-operation, in turning the scale; this is an excess on the other hand. If the former is presumption, the latter is fanaticism.

Asp. I must confess I do not thoroughly understand what you mean by fanaticism. Neither is it of much significancy to enter upon the disquisition of an obnoxious term. I would only maintain, that on us unworthy sinners whatever is bestowed by the righteous God, is bestowed, not as a debt * to our works, but as the donation of pure grace.

Ther. I think it is sufficiently of grace, if we acknowledge good works to be wrought by the assistance of the divine Spirit; and then admitted, together with our Saviour's merits, as a recommendation to the divine favour.

Asp. The Pharisee could make his acknowledgments for the assistance of grace: "God, I thank thee," was his language. Yet this did not exempt him from the charge of pride, nor secure him from the sin of boasting. Besides, if good works are wrought by the operation of the divine Spirit, they draw a bill upon our gratitude, not upon the bank of heaven; they render us the obliged, not the deserving party. To think or teach otherwise, is errant Popery †, however it may lurk under a veil of Protestantism.

You bring to my mind a memorable story. Two persons were travelling through the deserts of Arabia; the one utterly unarmed, the other wore a sword and carried a musket. As the place was exceedingly dangerous, the

Bestowed as a debt, is, I must allow, somewhat like jargon. But perhaps jargon and inconsistency may not be without their propriety in this place, as they tend to show the genius of that doctrine which would connect such contradictory ideas.

Good works, says a champion for the church of Rome, are "mercatura regni coelestis, -the price we pay, or the commodity we barter, for the kingdom of heaven."

latter, solicitous for the safety of his companion, makes him a present of his fire-arms; which was no sooner done, than a lion espies them, and advances fiercely towards them. The foremost discharges his piece, and wounds their horrid aggressor. The wound neither killing nor disabling, only enrages the monster. He seizes the unfortunate marksman, and is upon the point to tear him limb from limb. His fellow-traveller flies to his succour, snatches up the carbine which dropped from the other's hand, and fells the ravenous beast to the ground; then, drawing his sword, stabs him to the heart, and rescues his friend. The lion thus slain, they take off the skin, which he who slew the lordly savage claims as his own. "No," says his grateful friend, "as you did part of the execution with my weapon, I insist upon half of the shaggy spoil. I expect satisfaction likewise for the loss of my piece, which you broke in the encounter.". To obtain both, he commences a lawsuit against that generous associate, who not only gave him the weapon, but saved the prosecutor from the very jaws of destruction.

Ther. If I had been judge, I should, without much hesitation, have determined such a cause. Instead of costs and damages for my plaintiff, I should have transmitted the wretch to the pillory.

Asp. I believe all the world would applaud your sentence. Only be pleased to remember, that the procedure, on which you so justly animadvert, is the very picture of our excessive unreasonableness, if we presume to write ourselves creditors, and the divine Being debtor; because he has delivered us from the bondage of corruption, and enabled us to perform the duties of godliness.

Theron paused, as somewhat struck by the representation. After a short interval, Aspasio resumed the discourse.

Believe me, my dear friend, salvation, both in the root and all its branches, is entirely of grace. Or else believe me, for the many cogent testimonies of Scripture, which most circumstantially ascertain this great truth. Election is of grace: "Having predestinated us into the adoption of children," not on account of human worthiness, but "according to the good pleasure of his will," Eph. i. 5. Equally gratuitous is our effectual vocation : "God hath called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his purpose and grace," 2 Tim. i. 9. Faith, with all its precious fruits, is owing to the same cause: "By grace ye are saved through faith,” Eph. ii. 8. From hence springs justification, together with all its attendant privileges: "Being justified freely by his grace." This is the origin of regeneration, and every living principle of godliness: "Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth," James i. 18. The consummation of bliss flows from the same all-supplying source: "The gift of God is eternal life," Rom. vi. 23. It is in every respect a gift, not only without, but contrary to, all desert of ours. So that the foundation is laid in the riches of grace; the superstructure is reared by the hand of grace; and when the top stone is brought forth, when our felicity is completed in the kingdom of heaven, the everlasting acclamation will be, "Grace, grace unto it!" Zech. iv. 7.

This is that glorious gospel, which human learning could never have discovered; which carnal reason cannot understand; which the wisdom of this • Rom. iii. 24. Δωρίαν τη αυτου χαρίτι One of these words might have served to convey the apostle's meaning. But he doubles his assertion, in order to give us the fullest conviction of the truth, and to impress us with a sense of its peculiar importance: "Freely, by his grace."

world accounteth foolishness; which the envy of the devil, and the pride of man, will always oppose.

Ther. What say you to the opinion which Ouranius so strenuously maintains, That we are justified, not by the merits of Christ imputed to us, but by Christ himself formed in our hearts? And Ouranius is none of your proud or carnal people. His writings are remarkable for their strict piety, and his life is as exemplary as his principles.

Asp. You know, Theron, I have nothing to do with the persons of men, but with the truths of the gospel. Ouranius, though eminently devout, may be mistaken: and, if this is his way of thinking, he quite misapprehends the doctrine of grace.

What is written in the oracles of Scripture? "The Lord justifieth the ungodly," Rom. iv. 5. What is implied in the maxim of Ouranius? He justifieth the holy, the heavenly, the Christ-like. "A man is justified by faith," Rom. v. 1., says the secretary of heaven. He is justified by works, says the pen of Ouranius: only let them be works of a superior order; such as are eternal, spiritual, and wrought by the operation of Christ on the soul. According to this notion, every one is justified by his own love, his own purity, his own zeal. Whereas, an unerring writer has most solemnly declared, "That by one man's obedience," many myriads of sinners, even all the redeemed world, " shall be made righteous," Rom. v. 19.

This notion, I think, is legalism in its greatest subtilty, or highest refinement. It disannuls the merit of Christ, it vacates all imputation, and makes our salvation to consist wholly in the work of sanctification. Against which, if you remember, I entered my protest in one of our first conferences*. And now, having ventured to animadvert on the tenets of others, it may reasonably be expected that I should give an account of my own faith. "I am justified; my soul is accepted; not because Christ has put his laws in my mind, but shed his blood for my sins; not because I myself am enabled to walk in all godly conversation, but because the Lord Jesus has fulfilled all righteousness as my surety."

Ther. I am for neither of the extremes. The middle way is most eligible. This is what sound sense approves, and the sacred system authorises. "Whoso believeth on me," says our Lord, "shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life," John iii. 15. "Blessed," adds the beloved disciple, "are they who do his commandments; that they may have a right to the tree of life; and may enter in, through the gates, into the city," Rev. xxii. 14.

Conformably to these texts of Scripture, I would neither reject our Redeemer's merits, nor repudiate good works. As this shady tree, and these cooling breezes, unite their properties to render our situation agreeable; so those two causes, acting in conjunction, exalt us to the favour of God, and constitute us heirs of heaven. God himself has joined them. And I must urge my remonstrance in our Lord's own words, "What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder."

Asp. Would you then make impotence itself a coadjutor with omnipotence? Does this humble the sinner? Does this exalt the Saviour? No: it is a most injurious infringement of his mediatorial dignity. Instead of excluding, it evidently introduces boasting. In consequence of such a scheme, it would be said by the inhabitants of the heavenly world, "Thanks to our blessed

• See Dialogue II., p. 20.