of Calvinism, I cannot well avoid the epithet rigid, while I believe them for there seems to be no medium between holding them and not holding them; between ascribing salvation to the will of man, or the power of God; between grace and works, Rom. xi. 6. ; between being found in the righteousness of Christ, or in my own, Phil. iii. 9. Did the harsh consequences often charged upon the doctrine called Calvinistic really belong to it, I should have much to answer for if I had invented it myself, or taken it upon trust from Calvin; but as I find it in the Scripture, I cheertully embrace it, and leave it to the Lord to vindicate his own truth and his own ways, from all the imputations which have been cast upon them.

I am, dear Sir,

Your affectionate and obliged.

LETTER XIV.

Dear Sir,

September 1, 1779.

of

METHINKS my late publication comes in good time to terminate our friendly debate. As you approve the Hymns, which, taken altogether, contain a full declaration of my religious sentiments, it should seem we are nearly of a mind. If we agree in rhime, our apparent differences in prose must, I think, be merely verbal, and cannot be very important. And as to Mr. Law, if you can read bis books to your edification and comfort, (which I own, with respect to some important points in his scheme, I cannot,) why should I wish to tear them from you? I have formerly been a great admirer

in me.

of Mr. Law myself, and still think that he is a first-rate genius, and that there are many striking passages in his writings deserving attention and admiration. But I feel myself a transgressor, a sinner: I feel the need of an atonement of something to be done for me, as well as If I was this moment filled by the mighty power of God with the Spirit of sanctification in a higher degree than Mr. Law ever conceived; if I was this moment as perfectly holy as the angels before the throne, still I should want security with respect to what is past. Hitherto I have been a sinner, a transgressor of that holy law which says, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Therefore I need an atonement in the proper sense of the word; some consideration of sufficient importance to satisfy me that the holy and just Governor of the world can, consistently with the perfections of his nature, the honour of his truth, and the righteous tenour of his moral government, pardon and receive such a sinner as I am and without some persuasion of this sort, I believe the supposition I have made to be utterly impossible, and the least degree of true holiness utterly unattainable. The essence of that holiness I thirst after, I conceive to be love and devotedness to God: but how can I love him till I have a hope that his anger is turned away from me, or at least till I can see a solid foundation for that hope? Here Mr. Law's scheme fails me, but the Gospel gives me relief. When I think of the obedience unto death of Jesus Christ in my nature, as a public person, and in behalf of sinners, then I see the law, which I could not obey, completely fulfilled by him, and the penalty which I had incurred sustained by him. I see him in proportion to the degree of faith in him, bearing my sins in his own body upon the tree; I see God

well pleased in him, and for his sake freely justifying the ungodly. This sight saves me from guilt and fear, removes the obstacles which stood in my way, my way, emboldens my access to the throne of grace, for the influences of his holy Spirit to subdue my sins, and to make me conformable to my Saviour. But my hope is built, not upon what I feel in myself, but upon what he felt for me; not upon what I can ever do for him, but upon what has been done by him upon my account. It appears to me becoming the wisdom of God to take such a method of showing his mercy to sinners as should convince the world, the universe, angels, and men, that his inflexible displeasure against sin, and his regard to the demands of his truth and holiness, must at the same time be equally displayed. This was effected by bruising his own Son, filling him with agonies, and delivering him up to death and the curse of the law, when he appeared as a surety for sinners.

It appears to me, therefore, that though the blessings of justification and sanctification are coincident, and cannot be separated in the same subject, a believing şinner, yet they are in themselves as distinct and different as any two things can well be. The one, like life itself, is instantaneous and perfect at once, and takes place the moment the soul is born of God; the other, like the effects of life, growth, and strength, is imperfect and gradual. The child born to day, though weak, and very different from what it will be when its faculties open and its stature increases, is as truly, and as much, alive as it will ever be; and if an heir to an estate or a kingdom, has the same right now as it will have when it becomes of age, because this right is derived not from its abilities or stature, but from its birth and

parents. The weakest believer is born of God, and an heir of glory; the strongest and most advanced can be

no more.

I remain, my dear Sir,

Your most obedient, &c.

VOL. VI.

2 K

FOUR LETTERS

TO

MISS W****

Dear Miss,

YOUR

LETTER I.

March 3, 1772.

OUR obliging request to hear from me has not been forgotten; and if my leisure were equal to my inclination, I should write very often.

And now, what shall I say? May the Lord direct me to send you a profitable word. It rejoices my heart to think, that at a time of life when you might have been plunging into the vanities of the world you are seeking Jesus. The Lord who appointed the hour of your birth, and the bounds of your habitation, was pleased in his good providence to withdraw you early from the giddy circle of dissipation in which you might have lived, and to favour you with the advantages of example, instruction, and ordinances. You live at a distance from those ensnaring temptations by which the minds of young persons are blinded and stupified. Yet this alone would not have secured you. His providence has been subservient to his grace; otherwise, by this time, you would have been weary and impatient of restraint; you would have accounted the means of grace burthensome, and

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