tion]" of the nature of every man who naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam: whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is, of his own nature, inclined to evil; so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the spirit. And therefore, in every person born into this world, it" [namely, original, or birth-sin] "deserveth God's wrath and damnation." Now, what becomes of those plausible, sophistical similies, which compare the natural mind of man to a sheet of white paper? or, to a pliant ozier, which you may bend with ease, this way or that? Or, to a balance in æquilibrio, which you may incline to either side, according as you throw more or less weight into the scale? Or, to a wax tablet, on which you may stamp what impressions you please? Alas! the impression is already made. The thoughts and purposes of man's heart, previous to regeneration, are (spiritually considered) only evil, and that continually *. When converting grace lays hold of us, there is not only an heart of flesh to be given, but an heart of stone to be taken away t. God must not only write his own law on the minds of his people; but must obliterate the law of sin and death, which has a prior footing in every man that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam. So much, for the spiritual and moral rectitude of man, while unregenerate. What think you, III. Of conditional redemption? Another modish tenet; and no less contrary to reason and sound doctrine, than the preceding. We are gravely told by some, that "Christ did indeed die; but he did not die absolutely, nor purchase forgiveness and eternal life for us certainly: his death only puts us into a salvable state; making God placable, and pardon possible." The whole efficacy of his suffer+ Ezekiel xxxvi. 26. * Genesis vi. 5. * ings, according to these persons, depends on our being towardly and complying: which if we are, we then come in for a share in the subsidiary and supplementary merits of Christ; having first qualified ourselves for his aid, by a performance of certain conditions required on our part, and entitled ourselves to the favour and notice of God.-According to this scheme (which is only the religion of nature spoiled;-spoiled by an injudicious mixture of nominal Christianity), the adorable Mediator, instead of having actually obtained eternal redemption for his people, and secured the blessings of grace and glory to those for whom he died; is represented as bequeathing to them only a few spiritual lottery-tickets, which may come up, blanks or prizes, just as the wheel of chance and human caprice happens to turn. Our own righteousness and endeavours, must first make the scale of eternal life preponderate in our favour; and then, the merits of Christ are thrown in, to make up good weight. The Messiah's obedience and sufferings stand it seems, for mere cyphers; until our own freewill is so kind as to prefix the initial figure, and render them of value.-I tremble at the shocking consequences of a system, which (as one well observes) considers the whole mediation of Christ as no more than "a pedestal, on which human worth may stand exalted:" nay, (to use the language of another) which "sinks the Son of God-how shall I speak it ?-into a spiritual huckster, who, having purchased certain blessings of his Father, sells them out afterwards to men upon terms and conditions." But, my brethren, I hope better things concerning you; even the things that accompany salvation. We have not, I trust, so learned Christ; or, rather, so mis-learned him, and the work he came from *Heb. ix. 12. heaven to accomplish. God forbid, that we should be found in the number of those, who adopt a principle so highly derogatory from the glory of divine grace, and so deeply dishonourable to the great Saviour of sinners. To the law, and to the testimony. How speaks St. Paul? He avers, that Jesus, by the one offering of himself, hath perfected for ever the salvation of them that are sanctified *. And our Lord expressly declared, in the most solemn prayer that ever ascended from earth to heaven, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to dot. Who then art thou, O man, that darest to tack an imaginary supplement of thy own, to the finished work of Christ? Such a conduct were to charge incarnate truth with uttering a falsehood; and would be equivalent to saying, "No! Thou didst not finish the work of redemption which was given thee to do: thou didst indeed, a part of it; but I myself must add something to it, or the whole of thy performance will stand for nothing." He appeared once in the end of the world, or at the close of the Jewish dispensation,-to do what? To render sin barely pardonable, on the sinner's fulfilment of previous terms? No: but actually to put away sin by the sacrifice of himselft. The apostle's expression is, that Christ appeared, Eis aberno auaglias, unto the utter abolition of sin; so that, by virtue of ⚫his perfect oblation, sin should neither be charged upon, nor eventually mentioned to those, for whom he was offered up. The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve §. In a word, either the death of Christ was not a real and perfect satisfaction for sin; or, if it was, then upon every principle of reason and justice, all that sin must be actually forgiven and done away, which his death was a true .* Heb. x. 14. † John xvii. 4. Heb. ix. 26. § Jer. 1. 20. and plenary satisfaction for-on the supposition that his redemption was not absolute; it vanishes into no redemption at all. Go over therefore, fairly and squarely to the tents of Socinus; or believe that Christ is the Lamb of God who, in deed and in truth, beareth and taketh away the sin of the world *. How speaks the church of England concerning this important matter? I refer you to her Thirty-first article, "Of the one oblation of Christ finished upon the cross. "The offering of Christ, once made, is that perfect redemption, propitiation and satisfaction, for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual: and there is no other sacrifice for sin, but that alone." Do not let that expression, the whole world stumble you. You remember what our Te Deum says: "When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers." So in the above article ;-The oblation of Christ once made for all the sins of the whole world; i. e. the whole world of believers: for God's elect are a world within a world. The whole world is a scripture term, and the compilers of our articles did well in adopting it. But do you imagine that every individual of mankind is meant? surely, no; for, were redemption thus universal, salvation would and must be of equal extent: otherwise, either God the Father would be unjust, or the blood-shedding of Christ could not be (what our articles affirm it to have been) a perfect satisfaction for all sin. Let unlimited redemption be once proved, and I will take upon myself to prove unlimited salvation. There are many scripture passages, where the phrases world, and whole world, are and must be understood in a restricted sense. So, where St. * John i. 29. Paul thus addresses the Roman converts: Your faith is spoken of, or celebrated throughout the whole world, i. e. throughout the whole believing world, or Christian church: for none but believers would applaud and celebrate the Romans for their faith in Christ, Rom. i. 8.-We are of God, says the apostle John, and the whole world lieth in the wicked one, 1 John v. 19. Where, if the whole world denote every individual of mankind, it would follow, that both the apostle himself, and the Christians to whom he wrote, were, at that very time, in the wicked one; and, consequently, that he was guilty of a self contradiction, in saying, we are of God. In the Book of Revelations, satan is styled the deceiver of the whole world, chap. xii. 9. and the whole world are said to wonder after the beast, chap. xiii. 3. meaning, -a considerable part of the world. Nay, even in daily conversation, it is customary with us to make use of the word world, in a limited signification. So, when we speak of the learned world, the busy world, the gay world, the polite world, the religious world; we do not mean that every man in the world is learned, busy, gay, polite, or religious: we only mean those in the world who are so. To close this head. Upon the supposition of a random redemption, and a precarious salvation, St. Paul's inference, "Who shall condemn? it is Christ that died;" might be easily answered and overthrown since, if the Arminian hypothesis be true, millions of those for whom Christ died, will be condemned; and, what heightens the absurdity, condemned on account of those very sins for which Christ did die. A supposition, exploded by the apostle, as impossible.-Surely, Christ knew for what, and for whom, he paid the ransom-price of his infinitely precious blood! Nor would the Father purchase to himself a church of elect persons, for his |