for sin, and opened a way for the honourable exercise of grace. By his obedience unto death he has wrought out an all-perfect righteousness, for the sake of which God is well pleased, and stands ready to justify every sinner who is willing to submit to this righteousness, and consents to forsake his sins and be saved in this way. And now he can say, and has actually said, " All things are ready :" "Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened." Past sins are no bar in the way; for there is "a fountain set open," not only " for Judah and Jerusalem," but for all the world "to wash in, from sin and from uncleanness." The greatest unworthiness is no objection; for the invitation is, "Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come buy and eat, yea, come buy wine and milk, without money and without price. Whosoever will, let him come, and take the water of life freely." Sinners, you have really as fair an opportunity for life, according to the gospel, as probationers can possibly have; as full a price in your hands, as your hearts can possibly desire. There is nothing on earth; there is nothing in all the decrees of heaven; there is nothing in all the malice and power of hell, that can hinder your salvation, if you do not hinder it yourselves. Nor need you be discouraged by reason of any bad disposition brought upon you by Adam, which you are heartily sorry for, and would be glad to get rid of, but cannot. For the second Adam is able to help you in this as well as in other respects; and will do it in a moment if you in the least degree really desire it. The very thing he came for was to save from

sin, the power as well as the guilt* of it; and to save whoever desires to be thus saved. Nor need you imagine, that you must lay out all your own strength first, and do all that can reasonably be required of one under your circumstances; and then may have just an encouragement of being saved by grace after a life of such perfection. This is the most reproachful idea of the God of all grace, that you can possibly entertain. No: If you do so well that it would be hard for God to refuse you salvation, he will consider himself as under obligation to save you, and will never desire you should pretend to think there is any grace in it. But he will receive you graciously and love you freely, if you desire it, though you have not done so very well. He means to exercise as much grace, as he would have the honour of, and not to be eternally praised for what is not his real due. He is willing to save you in as gracious a manner as ever you thought of, or can wish for. Only weigh the matter, and say whether you choose to be saved. Enter into the nature of gospel-salvation; attend to the character and laws of Christ. And then say, whether you will have him and be his; whether you are willing and would really choose to exchange the servitude of satan, for that liberty wherewith Christ makes his followers free; or whether you must plainly say, you love your old master and your lusts, and choose rather, to have your ear bored, and be a servant for ever. But however, "be sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you ;" and if you refuse to have any part or lot in it, be assured, that when the wicked are turned into hell, with all the nations that forget

The word "guilt" is used by the author as synonymous with punishment, as many respectable divines have done before him, but we think not happily.

N. Y. Publisher.

God, it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for you. But I must not enlarge farther, by way of particular inference.

On the whole; I am not able to conceive how any one who enters into the matter, can question the propriety of making the distinction insisted on in these discourses; or with what appearance of reason, any can pretend it is an useless distinction. As to the importance of it; it may easily be observed, in how many instances, upon the most leading points, and in the most material respects, by the help of this distinction, common sense will cross the common notions of sinners exactly where the Bible crosses them. It sets reason, and scripture, divine justice, and divine grace, in a quite consistent view; whereas without it, I apprehend they must for ever appear irreconcileable.— It leads good men to see that human infirmities and imperfections, are not such comfortable extenuations of guilt, as they are sometimes ready to make them. That all their moral infirmity, all their want of perfect holiness, is entirely their own fault; and what they ought to be deeply humbled for, and go mourning under all their days. It shows sinners, that their perdition. is really altogether of themselves that all ground of discouragement in their case, is their own wickedAnd not their unworthiness neither, but merely their unwillingness to be made clean. That this indeed makes their case desperate from every other. quarter but the uncovenanted grace of God. In themselves, or from any thing that man can say or do, "there is no hope. No, for they have loved strangers, and after them they will go." And as to changing the hearts of such, God has reserved it as the sovereign prerogative of the throne of his grace, to "have mer

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cy on whom he will have mercy, and compassion on whom he will have compassion.”—It administers not so much comfort, indeed, to sinners in their impenitence and unbelief, as they would be glad to have. But in this awful condition, they have generally comfort enough, such as it is, and too much in all reason. To kill their self-righteous hopes, and let them see their guilt and danger, their utter helplessness, and yet entire inexcusableness, is the kindest thing that can be done for them.*

This, however, is the grand objection; the grand reason why it is said, it does no good, it comes to the same thing when all is done and said. The sinner is as helpless, and as absolutely dependent on sovereign grace, if his inability lies in his disposition, as if any thing else was the matter with him. For a wicked heart will as infallibly shut a man out of heaven, if he is left to it, as any thing in the world could.-Hence very ingenious writers, even though, they make the distinction now insisted on, and by their first expressions one would think saw the difference, will yet suppose, after all, that the terms of salvation must be level to the hearts of men; or that something must be done, whereby sinners may be saved, notwithstanding their moral impotence. That things must not be left so, that even "his own iniquitiess hall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden in the cords of his sins."-To say, that "if salvation is offered to all who heartily desire and choose it, and so truly ask for it, it is offered on the lowest terms," is therefore treated with contempt; and it is replied, then we may well say, woe to the sinner whose confidence in his own sincerity fails him. If a man has not this hearty desire and cannot create it in himself, he is in a deplorable condition.' Accordingly the scriptures are ransacked for encouragement, if not promises, to something lower than asking for salvation or being willing to have it. And the totally depraved heart, is carefully sounded, to find ground for doingsthat are not unlawful, though altogether unholy. That upon these better sort of unholy doings, on one side, and those encourage

As to the foundation there is for the distinction; 1. We have seen the bible is as express and full in making the difference supposed, as it is in any one thing whatever. We have seen that all the heart, soul, mind and strength; that is, a perfectly willing and faithful exertion of all our faculties, however enfeebled they are, is all that God requires of us in his perfect law. Nor is there a single instance of natural impossibilities being required of any man, in all the sacred records. Nor is it once intimated, that natural impossibilities might justly be required of us, because our natural powers were impaired by the fall. But, on the other hand, we have seen that the most absolute moral impossibilities are required of all men, without the least scruple, as if there was no kind of difficulty in them. That a perfect heart and a perfect life, are as much required of men now, as if they were not fallen creatures; and required of the greatest sinner, as much as of the best saint. No peculiar provisos are made, in favour of even the most abandoned. Nor is it once intimated, any where in scripture, that the reason why men may be required to do that which is lawful and right, though it is contrary to their inclination, is because Adam did that which was unlawful and wrong, contrary to his inclination. Or that all the reason why a wicked heart is not entirely innocent, and a good excuse, is because man brought it upon himself, by his own folly and wickedness, before he had any thing of it. We have seen, that the way our Saviour took to convince men, that their rejection

ments on the other, a bridge may be built over all impossibilities of every kind, so that no sinner shall be in a deplorablecondition, by reason of his moral depravity. But every one may get to heaven in spite of his heart. This is making distinctions that are something to the purpose!