trust in the Lord, and censure them for placing it in an arm of flesh. Whether trusting in Christ for the salvation of our souls be distinguishable from believing in him or not, it certainly includes it. To trust in Christ is to believe in him. If, therefore, the one be required, the other must be. Those who loved vanity, and sought after lying, are admonished to offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and to put their trust in the Lord, Psa. iv. 5; and a trust connected with the sacrifices of righteousness must be spiritual. To rely on any other object is to trust in vanity, against which sinners are repeatedly warned. Trust not in oppression; become not vain in robbery. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.-Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. Psa. lxii. 10. Prov. xxviii. 26. Jer. xvii. 5.

It is allowed, that, if God had never sent his Son into the world to save sinners, or if the invitations of the Gospel were not addressed to sinners indefinitely, there would be no warrant for trust in the divine mercy; and as it is, there is no warrant for trust beyond what God has promised in his word. He has not promised to save sinners indiscriminately; and therefore it would be presumption in sinners indiscriminately to trust that they shall be saved. But he has promised, and that in great variety of language, that whosoever, relinquishing every false ground of hope, shall come to Jesus as a perishing sinner, and rely on him alone for salvation, shall not be disappointed. For such a reliance, therefore,

there is a complete warrant.

These promises

are true, and will be fulfilled, whether we trust in them or not; and whoso still continues to trust in his own righteousness, or in the general mercy of his Creator, without respect to the atonement, refusing to build upon the foundation which God has laid in Zion, is guilty of the greatest of all sins; and if God give him not repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth, the stone which he has refused will fall upon him, and grind him to powder.

But until a man, through the law, is dead to the law," says Mr. Brine, he hath no warrant to receive Christ as a Savior, or to hope for salvation through him.” * If, by receiving Christ, were meant the claiming an interest in the blessings of his salvation, this objection would be well founded. No man, while adhering to his own righteousness as the ground of acceptance with God, has any warrant to conclude himself interested in the righteousness of Jesus. The Scriptures every where assure him of the contrary. But the question is, Does he need any warrant to be dead to the law? or, which is the same thing, to relinquish his vain hopes of acceptance by the works of it, and to choose that Rock for his foundation which is chosen of God and precious? To "receive" Christ, in the sense of Scripture, stands opposed to rejecting him, or to such a non-reception of him as was practised by the body of the Jewish nation. John i. 11, 12. An interest in spiritual blessings, and,

* Motives to Love and Unity, pp. 38, 39.

of course, a persuasion of it, is represented as following the reception of Christ, and, consequently, is to be distinguished from it: To as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. The idea that is generally attached to the term, in various cases to which the reception of Christ bears an allusion, corresponds with the above statement. To receive a gift, is not to believe it to be my own, though, after I have received it, it is so, but to have my pride so far abased as not to be above it, and my heart so much attracted as to be willing to relinquish every thing that stands in competition with it. To receive a guest, is not to believe him to be my particular friend, though such he may be, but to open my doors to him, and make him heartily welcome. To receive an instructor, is not to believe him to be my instructor any more than another's, but to embrace his instruction, and follow his counsel. For a town or city, after a long siege, to receive a king, is not to believe him to be their special friend, though such he may be, and, in the end, they may see it, but to lay down their arms, throw open their gates, and come under his government. These remarks are easily applied; and it is no less easy to perceive that every sinner has not only a warrant thus to receive Christ, but that it is his great sin if he receive him not.

II. EVERY MAN IS BOUND CORDIALLY TO RECEIVE AND APPROVE WHATEVER GOD REVEALS. It may be presumed, that, if God reveal any

thing to men, it will be accompanied with such evidence of its being what it is, that no upright man can continue to doubt of it: He that is of God, heareth God's words.

It will be allowed, by those with whom I am now reasoning, that no man is justifiable in disbelieving the truth of the Gospel, or in positively rejecting it; but then it is supposed that a belief of the Gospel is not saving faith, and that, though a positive rejection of divine truth is sinful, yet a spiritual reception of it is not a duty. I hope it has been made to appear, in the former part of this piece, that a real belief of the doctrine of Christ is saving faith, and includes such a cordial acquiescence in the way of salvation as has the promise of eternal life. But, be this as it may, whether the belief of the Gospel be allowed to include a cordial acquiescence in God's way of salvation or not, such an acquiescence will be allowed to include saving faith. If, therefore, it can be proved that a cordial approbation of God's way of saving sinners is the duty of every one, it will amount to proving the same thing of saving faith.

I allow there is a difficulty in this part of the work; but it is that which attends the proof of a truth which is nearly self-evident. Ought we not, if we think of Christ at all, to think suitably of him? and are we justifiable in entertaining low and unsuitable thoughts of him? Is it not a matter of complaint that the ungodly Jews saw no form nor comeliness in him, nor beauty, that they should desire him? And with respect to a hearty choice of him, as God's appointed way of

salvation, if it be not the duty of sinners to choose him, it is their duty to refuse him, or to desire to be accepted of God by the works of their hands, in preference to him. But how can we complain of sinners for their not choosing Christ, if they be under no obligation to do so? Is there no sin in the invention of the various false schemes of religion with which the Christian world abounds, to the exclusion of Christ? Why, then, are heresies reckoned among the works of the flesh? Gal. v. 20. If we are not obliged to think suitably of Christ, and to choose him whom the Lord and all good men have chosen, there can be no evil in these things; for where no law is, there is no transgression.

A hearty choice of God's appointed way of salvation, is the same thing as falling in with its grand designs. Now, the grand designs of the salvation of Christ are, the glory of God, the abasement of the sinner, and the destruction of his sins. It is God's manifest purpose, in saving sinners, to save them in this way; and can any sinner be excused from cordially acquiescing in it? If any man properly regard the character of God, he must be willing that he should be glorified if he knew his own unworthiness as he ought to know it, he must also be willing to occupy that place which the Gospel way of salvation assigns him and if he be not wickedly wedded to his lusts, he must be willing to sacrifice them at the foot of the cross. He may be averse from each of these, and, while an unbeliever, is so; but he will not be able to acquit himself of guilt; and it is to be lamented that any