ourselves;' but, by grace,' by mere favour; through faith,' through such an entire confidence in our Physician, as makes us gladly take his powerful remedies, abstain from the pleasing poison of sin, and feed on those divine truths, which communicate angelical vigour and happiness to our souls. (Eph. ii. 8.)

VI, INFERENCE.

6

If our nature is so completely fallen and totally helpless, that in spiritual things' we are not sufficient of ourselves to think any thing' truly good as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God;' it is plain we stand in absolute need of his Spirit's assistance to enable us to pray, repent, believe, love, and obey aright. Consequently, those who ridicule the Holy Spirit, and his sacred influence, depise the great' Helper of our infirmities,' and act a most irrational, wicked, and desperate part. (Rom. viii. 26.)

VII. INFERENCE. If by nature we are really and truly born in sin, our regeneration cannot be a mere metaphor, or a vain ceremony; our spiritual birth must be real and positive. How fatal therefore is the mistake of those, who suppose that the new birth is only a figurative expression for a decent behaviour! How dreadful the error of those, who imagine that all whose faces have been typically washed with the material water in baptism, are now effectually born again of' living' water and the' Holy Spirit!' And how inexcusable the case of the multitudes, who, in the Church of England, are under this dangerous mistake, so prudently guarded against by our pious Reformers!

In our Catechism, they clearly distinguish between "the outward visible sign" or form in baptism, and "the inward spiritual grace :" And by defining the lat ter, "a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness," they declare that whosoever is not "dead" or dying "to sin," and "alive to righteousness," is not truly regenerate, and has nothing of baptism but the "outward and visible sign." In the 27th of our Articles they mention, that "baptism is not the new-birth

but a SIGN of regeneration or new-birth, whereby, as by an instrument, they who receive baptism rightly, are grafted into the church." And if our church returus thanks for the regeneration of the infants, whom she has admitted to baptism, it is chiefly* upon a charitable supposition, that they have received it rightly," and will," for their part, faithfully perform their promises, made for them by their sureties." If they refuse to do it when they come of age, far from treating them as her regenerate children, she denounces a general excommunication against them and charges them "not to come to" her "holy table, lest Satan brings them, as" he did "Judas, to destruction both of body and soul."

VIII. INFERENCE. does not consist in

If the fall of mankind in Adam capricious imputation of his personal guilt, but in a real, present participation of his depravity, impotence, aud misery; the salvation that believers have in Christ is rot a capricious imputation of his personal righteousness, but a real, present participation of his purity, power, and blessedness, together with pardon and acceptance.

Unspeakably dangerous then is the delusion of those whose brains and mouths are filled with the notions and expressions of "imputed righteousness;" while their poor, carnal, unregenerate hearts remain perfect strangers to the Lord our Righteousness.'

IX. INFERENCE. If the corrupt nature which sinners derive from Adam, spontaneously produces all the wickedness that overspreads the earth; the holy nature which believers receive from Christ, is also spontaneously productive of all the fruits of righteousness

* I say chiefly, because our church gives thanks also for Christ's general grace and mercy to children, declaring herself" persuaded of the good-will of our heavenly Father towards this (unbaptized) infant," through Christ, who said, that of little children is the kingdom of heaven.' The truth lies between the error of the Pelagians, who suppose that unbaptized infants are sinless like angels; and that of the Papists, who affirm that they are graceless as devils.

described in the oracles of God; "Good works springing out, necessarily,† of a true and lively faith." (Art. xii.)

Such ministers, therefore, as clearly preach our fall in Adam, and that faith in Christ which is productive of genuine holiness and active love, will infallibly promote good works and pure morality: When those who insist only upon works and moral duties, will neither be zealous of good works themselves, nor instrumental in turning sinners from their gross immoralities. The -reason is obvious: Evangelical preachers follow their Lord's wise direction: Make the tree good, and the fruit shall be good also:' But moralists will have 'corrupt trees bring forth good fruit,' which in the nature of things is impossible. (Matt. xii. 33; Luke vi. 43.) Therefore, as nothing but faith makes the tree good,' and as without faith it is impossible to please God ;' the Christian, that will come to him 'with good works, must' not only believe [as Heathens] that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him ;' but also that he was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself,' &c.

X. INFERENCE. If corruption and sin work so powerfully and sensibly in the hearts of the unregenerate, we may, without deserving the name of enthusiasts, affirm, that the regenerate are sensible of the powerful effects of Divine grace in their souls; or to use the words of our Seventeenth Article, we may say,

They feel in themselves the workings of the Spirit of Christ:" For where' the poison of 'sin hath abounded,' and has been of course abundantly felt; ' grace,' the powerful antidote that expels it, does 'much more abound,' and consequently may be much more perceived.

Therefore the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of sins,' the assurance of faith, and the

+ This is to be understood of a moral, and not of an absolute frresistible necessity; for faith never unmans the believer.

peace of God passing all understanding,' are the EXPERIENCED blessings of the converted; as certainly as a guilty conscience, the gnawing of worldly cares, the working of evil tempers, the tumults of unbridled appetites, and the uproars of rebellious passions, are the EXPERIENCED curses of the unconverted.

Reader, if these inferences are justly drawn, is it not evident that the principles are generally exploded among us as enthusiastical or Methodistical, which flow from the doctrine demonstrated in this Treatise, as naturally as light from the sun? These consequences lead you perhaps farther than you could wish; but let them not make you either afraid or ashamed of the gospel. Prejudices, like clouds, will vanish away; but truth, which they obscure for a time, like the sun, will shine for ever. A great man in the law said, Fiat justitia, ruat mundus. Improve the noble sentiment, and say with equal fortitude, "Stet veritas, ruat mundus: Let truth stand, though the universe should sink into ruins."

But, happily for us, the danger is all on the side of the opposite doctrine; and that you may be convinced of it, I present you next with a view of the

DREADFUL CONSEQUENCES

Necessarily resulting from the Ignorance of our Depravity and Danger.

1. As the tempter caused the fall of our first parents, by inducing them to believe that they 'should not surely die' if they broke the divine law: So, now we are fallen, he prevents our recovering by suggesting, 'the bitterness of death is past,' and "we are in a state of safety."-Hence it is that you sleep on in carnal security, O ye deluded sons of men, and even

Those doctrines, pointed out in the ten above-mentioned inferences, are--1. The alarming severity of the law. 2. The need of a deep, heartfelt repentance. 3. The divinity of Christ. 4. The infinite merit of his sacrifice. 5. Salvation by faith in him. 6. The influences of his Holy Spirit. 7. The reality of the new birth. 8. The necessity of a present salvation. 9. The zeal of believers for good works; And 10. The comfortable assurance which they have of their regeneration.

dream ye are safe and righteous. Nor can ye escape for your lives, till the veil of unbelief is taken away, and ye awake to a sight of your corrupt and lost estate : For there is no guarding against, nor flying from, an unseen, unsuspected evil: Here, as in a conspiracy, the danger continually increases, till it is happily discovered.

2. If we are not sensible of our natural corruption, and the justice of the curse entailed upon us on that account; can we help thinking God a tyrant, when he threatens unconverted moralists with the severest of his judgments, or causes the black storms of his Providence to overtake us and our dearest relatives?

Answer, ye self-righteous Pharisees, that so bitterly exclaim against the ministers, who declare by the authority of scripture, that except ye repent, ye shall all perish.' Answer, fond mother, whose tears of distraction mix with the cold sweat of the convnlsed, dying infant on thy lap. Dost thou not secretly impeach Divine Justice, and accuse Heaven of barbarity? Ah! if thou didst but know the evil nature, which thou and thy Isaac have brought into the world; if thou sawest the root of bitterness, which the hand of a gracious Providence even now extracts from his heart; far from being ready to 'curse God, and die' with thy child, thou wouldest patiently acquiesce in the kindly-severe dispensation; thou wouldest clear him when he is judged' by such as thyself, and even 'glorify him in the evil day of this painful visitation.'

3. Though man's heart is hardened as steel, it does not frequently emit the hellish sparks of such murmurings against God, because it can seldom be struck by the Aint of such severe afflictions; yet the mischief is there, and will break out, if not by blasphemous despair, at least by its contrary, presumptuous madness. Yes, reader, unless thou art happily made acquainted with the strength of thy in-bred depravity, thou wilt rashly venture among the sparks of temptation: With carnal confidence thou wilt ask, "What harm can they do me?" And thou wilt continue the hazardous sport, till sin and