ing the doctrines which follow No. II, proves that he is a Pharisee; but preaching them in such a manner as directly or indirectly attacks, opposes, or explains away the doctrines in the other scale; in open defiance of one half of the scriptures, which represent free grace and holy free will as the flux and reflux of Divine grace, by which alone the city of God flourishes, and through which only her commerce with heaven can be profitably carried on. If, therefore, you hear a man say, "I was by nature a child of wrath, and by practice the chief of sinners: not by works of righteousness which I have done, but by grace I am saved," &c, set him not down for a son of voluntary humility. And if he cries out, "I have lived in all good conscience unto this day,-touching the righteousness which is in the law, I am blameless: be followers of me: work out your own salvation: in so doing you shall save yourself," &c, do not rank him with the barefaced sons of pride: but look into both scales; and if you find that he honestly uses ALL the weights of the sanctuary, and does the two Gospel axioms justice, as St. Paul, acknowledge him a workman who needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

3. Consider times, persons, places, circumstances, and subjects; nor imitate the unreasonable scrupulosity of the man who will make no more allowance for the fair wear of a good old guinea, than for the felonious diminishing of the coin that was delivered last week at the mint. Do not make a man an offender for a word, or a phrase; no, not for such unscriptural phrases as "the imputed righteousness of Christ," and "sinless perfection." Nor forget, that, although error is never to be propagated, yet all the branches of truth can never be displayed at once; and grant a man time to unfold his sentiments before you accuse him of countenancing Pharisaic or Antinomian dotages: otherwise you might charge St. Paul with Solifidianism, and Christ himself with Pharisaical

errors.

4. Above all, remember that, although you have all orthodoxy and all faith, you are nothing without humility and love: therefore, when you weigh a preacher's doctrine, throw into his scale two or three grains of the charity that is not puffed up, thinketh no evil, and hopeth all things consistently with Scripture and reason. If you neglect this caution, you will slide into the severity of a lordly inquisitor; or at least into the implicit faith of a tame Papist: and the moment this is the case, throwing one scale away, and casting all your weights into the other, you will become a blind follower of the first warm preacher that shall hit your fancy, work upon your passions, foment your prejudices, tickle your itching ears, or encourage your party spirit; whether he be Honestus or Gallio, Elymas or Zelotes.

SECTION II.

Containing some general observations upon God's free grace and our personal free will, which are represented as the original causes of salvation and damnation.

CICERO, heathen as he was, asserted "that there is no great," and consequently no good "man," (sine aliquo afflatu divino,) “without some

influence from the Deity." This influence our Church calls inspiration: ("Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit:") and St. Paul calls it grace, giving that name sometimes to the fountain of Divine goodness, and sometimes to the innumerable streams which flow from that eternal fountain. A man must then be darker than a thoughtful heathen, and as blind as an Atheist, if he absolutely denies the existence of Divine grace. And, on the other hand, if we deny that there is in man a power to will or to choose, the words I will, I choose, I will not, I refuse, which are in every body's mouth, will prove us perverse. Now, if there is such a thing as grace in God, and will or power of choosing in man; both that grace and that will are free. The nature of the thing, and the well known meaning of the words, imply as much; a bounty, which we are obliged to bestow, hardly deserving the name of grace or favour; and a choice, to which we are forced, a choice, which is not accompanied with an alternative,-deserving the name of necessity or compulsion better than that of will, choice, or liberty.

Again: are not God's grace and man's will perpetually mentioned, or alluded to by the sacred writers? Nay, does not Honestus himself sometimes indirectly set his seal to the doctrine of free grace, when he implores Divine mercy at the foot of the throne of grace? And warmly as Zelotes exclaims against the doctrine of free will, does he not fre quently grant that there is such a thing as choice, liberty, or free will, in the world? And if there be, is not this choice, liberty, or free will, the reverse of necessity, as well as of unwillingness? If I freely choose to blow my brains out, is it not evident that I have a liberty not to commit that crime, as well as a willingness to do it? Would not Zelotes expose his good sense by seriously asserting that if he were in prison, a wil. lingness to continue there would make him free; unless, together with that willingness, he had a power to go out if he pleased? And is it right in him to impose the doctrine of necessity upon the simple, by playing upon the double meaning of the word free? I beg leave to explain this a little more.

According to the full meaning of the word free, can it be said with any propriety that Judas went freely to hell, if he never had power to go to heaven? Or that David went freely to heaven, if he was always hindered by an absolute, irresistible decree from going to hell? And, alluding to mechanical freedom, I ask, Was the motion of those scales ever free, which never were as free to ascend as to descend? Does not experience convince us, that, when one scale is kept from freely descend. ing, the opposite scale is by the same means kept from ascending freely? Is it not evident, from the same rational principles, that no sinner can freely "choose death in the error of his ways," who has not power to "choose life;" a free choice of death necessarily implying a free refu. sal of life, and a free choice of life necessarily supposing a free refusal of death, in a state of temptation and probation? And is not this doctrine perfectly agreeable to such scriptures as these: "He shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good. Choose whom you will serve. Because ye refused, &c, and did not choose the fear of the Lord, &c; therefore shall they eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices?"

Upon the preceding observations, seconded by the arguments which

shall follow-upon the consent of all judicious and good men, who, sooner or later, grant that there are such things as God's grace and man's unnecessitated choice; and consequently such things as free grace and free will in the moral world;-upon the repeated testimonies of the most pious Christians of all denominations, who agree that we ought to "give God the glory" of our salvation, and to keep to ourselves the blame of our damnation; and upon almost numberless declarations of the Scriptures, I rest these two propositions, which, if I mistake not, deserve the name of GOSPEL AXIOMS: (1.) Our salvation is ORIGINALLY of God's FREE GRACE. (2.) Our damnation is ORIGINALLY of our own

FREE WILL.

HONESTUS, who believes in general that the Bible is true, cannot decently oppose the first axiom; for according to the Scriptures, God's free grace gave Christ freely for us, and to us: for us, that he might "be a propitiation for the sins of the whole world:" and to us, that by "the light which enlightens every man that comes into the world," the strong propensity to evil which we had contracted by the fall of Adam might be counterbalanced; and that, by "the saving grace of God, which has appeared to all men," we might, while the day of salvation lasts, be blessed with a gentle bias to good, to counteract our native bias to evil; and be excited by internal helps, external calls, and gracious opportunities, to resist our evil inclinations, to follow the bias of Divine grace, and to "work out our own salvation with fear and trembling," in due subordination to the Saviour and his grace.

Nor can ZELOTES, who professes a peculiar regard for God's glory, reject the second Gospel axiom with any decency: for if our own free will makes us freely and unnecessarily "neglect so great salvation" as Christ initially imparts to us, and offers eternally to bestow upon us on the gracious terms of the Gospel; is it not ridiculous to exculpate us, by charging either God or Adam, or both together, with our damnation? And do we not cast the most horrible reflection upon "the Judge of all the earth, and the Father of mercies," if we suppose that he " has appointed a day to judge the world in righteousness," and sentence to the gnawings of a worm that dieth not, and to the preyings of a fire that is not quenched, numberless myriads of his poor creatures, merely for wanting a faith which he determined they should never have; or for doing what they could no more help to do, than a pound can help weighing sixteen ounces?

Impartially read any one book in the Bible, and you will find that it establishes the truth of the two following propositions:

I.

God hath freely done great things for man; and the still greater things which he freely does for believers, and the mercy with which he daily crowns them, justly entitle him to all the honour of their salvation; so far as that honour is worthy of the PRIMITIVE Parent of good, and FIRST CAUSE of all our blessings.

II.

He wisely looks for some return from man; and the little things which obstinate unbelievers refuse to do, and which God's preventing grace gives them ability to perform, justly entitle them to all the shame of their damnation. Therefore, although their temporal misery is originally from Adam, yet their eternal ruin is originally from themselves.

The first of these propositions extols God's mercy, and the second clears his justice; while both together display his truth and holiness. According to the doctrine of free grace, Christ is a compassionate Saviour; according to that of free will, he is a righteous Judge. By the first his rewards are gracious; by the second his punishments are just. By the first the mouths of the blessed in heaven are opened to sing deserved hallelujahs to God and the Lamb; and by the second the mouths of the damned in hell are kept from uttering deserved blasphemies against God and his Christ. According to the first, God remains the genuine Parent of good; and according to the second, devils and apostate men are still the genuine authors of evil. If you explode the first of those propositions, you admit Pharisaic dotages and self-exalting pride; if you reject the second, you set up Antinomian delusions, and voluntary humility: but if you receive them both, you avoid the contrary mistakes of Honestus and Zelotes, and consistently hold the Scriptural doctrines of faith and works,-free grace and free will,-Divine mercy and Divine justice,—a sinner's impotence and a saint's faithfulness.

Read the Scriptures in the light which beams forth from those two capital truths; and that precious book will in some places appear to you almost new. You will at least see a beautiful agreement between a variety of texts that are irreconcilable upon the narrow, partial schemes of the Pharisees and of the Antinomians. Permit me to give you a specimen of it by presenting you with my Scales; that is, by placing in one point of view a number of opposite truths which make one beautiful whole, according to the doctrine of the two Gospel axioms. And may the Father of lights so bless the primary truths to Honestus, that he may receive the doctrine of free grace; and the secondary ones to Zelotes, that he may espouse the doctrine of free will! So shall those inveterate contenders be happily reconciled to moderation, to the whole Gospel, and to one another.

*I do not mean that any blasphemy against God is deserved; but that, according to all our ideas of justice, this would be the case, if the doctrine of free will were false. For supposing men and angels are not endued with free agency, is it not evident that they are mere instruments in the hand of a superior, irresistible Agent, who works wickedness in and by them, agreeable to this unguarded proposi tion of Elisha Coles: "All things were present with God from eternity; and his decree the cause of their after existence?" And does not reason cry aloud, that such an almighty Agent is more culpable than his overpowered, or passive tools? Can Zelotes himself say that a highwayman does not deserve hanging more than the pistol which he fires, and the horse which he rides when he commits murder? What an immense field does the doctrine of bound will open in hell for the most execrable blasphemies! The Lord forgive its supporters, for they know not what they do! The Gospel leaves even heathen unbelievers without excuse, Rom. i, 20; but the modern "doctrines of grace" funish all sorts of infidels with the best excuses in the world. "God's predestination caused Adam's sin and his own; and God's decree kept Christ from dying for, and his Spirit from sincerely striv ing with them." As these necessary consequences of Calvinism encourage "Mr. Fulsome" to sin here; so (if his doctrines of grace were true) they would comfort him in hell hereafter.

SECTION III.

Containing, (1.) The golden beam of the Scripture Scales. (2.) The chains by which they are suspended. And, (3.) A rational account of the origin of evil.

SCRIPTURAL PRINCIPLES,

MAKING THE BEAM OF THE SCRIPTURAL SCALES.