If it had been inconfiftent with the divine juftice to pardon fin upon repentance only, without fome farther fatisfaction, we might have expected to have, found it expressly faid to be fo in the fcriptures; but no fuch declaration can be produced either from the Old or the New Teftament. All that can be pretended is, that it may be inferred from it. Though good works are recommended to us in the ftrongeft manner, it is never with any falvo or caution, as if they were not of themselves acceptable to God. The declarations of the divine mercy to the penitent are all abfolute, without the moft diftant hint of their having a reference to any confideration on which they. are made. Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive Pfalm lxxxiv. 5. To the Lord our God belong mercies. and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him, Dan. ix. 3. When David and other penitents confefs their fins, and entreat for pardon, they refer themfelves to the divine mercy only, without seeming to have the least idea of any thing farther. Remember not the fins of my youth, nor my tranfgreffions; according to thy mercy remember thou me, for thy goodness-fake, O Lord. Pfalm xxv. 6.

It is particularly remarkable, that when facrifices under the law are expressly faid not to be sufficient for the pardon of fin, we are never referred to any more. availing facrifice; but to good works only. Thou defireft not facrifice, elfe would I give it; thou delighteft not in burnt-offering. The facrifices of the Lord are a

any

broken fpirit. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not defpife. Pfalm li. 16, 17. If any of the jews had had the least notion of the neceffity of atonement for the fins of mankind, they could not but have expected a fuffering Meffiah; and yet it is plain that the very best of them had no fuch idea. And though our faviour frequently explains the reafon of his coming, and the neceffity of his fuffering, it is never on any fuch account. If he had done it any where, it might have been expected in thofe difcourses by which he endeavoured to reconcile his difciples to his death, in his folemn prayer before his fufferings, at the time of his agony in the garden, or when he was upon the crofs; yet nothing of this kind drops from him on any of thefe occafions.

When our Lord defcribes the proceedings of the day of judgment, he doth not represent the righteous as referring themselves to the fufferings or merit of their judge for their justification; and the judge himfelf expressly grounds it on their good works only. Though Peter, in his discourse to the jews on the day of Pentecoft, fpeaks of their fin in murdering Chrift as of a heinous nature, he says not a word of the neceffity of any atonement, or that an ample fatisfaction had just been made, by means of their very wickedness. How would a modern divine have harangued upon the occafion, and what advantage might he have taken of the cry of the jews; his blood be upon us, and upon our children? But Peter

only

only exhorts to repentance, and fpeaks of the death of Chrift as an event that took place according to the fore-knowledge of God.

ment.

All the difcourfes of Paul upon various occafions in the book of Acts are entirely moral. In his celebrated speech at Athens, he only urges his hearers to repentance, from the confideration of a future judgHe fays not a word of what is now called the true gospel of Jesus Christ. In short, it is only from the literal interpretation of a few figurative expreffions in the fcriptures that this doctrine of atonement, as well as that of transubstantiation, has been derived; and it is certainly a doctrine highly injurious to God: and if we, who are commanded to imitate God, fhould act upon the maxims of it, it would be fubverfive of the most amiable part of virtue in men. We fhould be implacable and unmerciful, infisting upon the uttermoft farthing.

Thefe, my brethren, are the principal heads on which I proposed to expoftulate with you, in the plain and free manner in which I have done. Do you yourselves, fearch the fcriptures and fee whether thefe things be fo. Pray to the God of truth to lead you into all truth, and may be give you understanding in all things.

VII. PRAC

VII. PRACTICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE ABOVE

DOCTRINES.

THE found knowledge of christianity is not of importance as a matter of speculation merely; though abstract truths, especially truths that relate to God, and the maxims of his moral government, are not without their utility and obligation: but the truths that I here contend for nearly affect the fentiments of our hearts, and our conduct in life; as, indeed, has been shewn in many respects already. Confidering God as poffeffed of the character in which some divines represent him, it is impoffible, while human nature is what it is, that he should appear in an amiable or refpectable light. Such a God may, indeed, be the object of dread and terror to his creatures; but by no means of their love or reverence. And what is obedience without love? It cannot be that of the heart, which, however, is the only thing that is. of any real value in religion. Alfo, how can a man love his fellow-creatures in general, when he confiders the greatest part of them as the objects of the divine abhorrence, and doomed by him to an everlafting deftruction, in which he believes that he himself must for ever rejoice? And what can remain of virtue, when these two great sources of it, the love of God and of mankind, are thus grofsly corrupted? Laftly, how muft the genuine fpirit of mercy and forgiveness, which fo eminently diftinguishes the gospel

of

of Chrift, be debased, when God himself (whose conduct in this very respect is particularly proposed to our imitation) is confidered as never forgiving fin without fome previous atonement, satisfaction, or interceffion?

On the other hand, loving God, as the compaffionate Father of all his offspring, as willing that all men fhould be faved, and come to the knowledge of his truth; and also loving all mankind as our brethren, as, together with ourselves, the children of the fame gracious Father, we cannot want the most generous and powerful motives to do the will of God, and to provoke one another to love and to good works; being in no fear of counteracting the fecret defigns of the Almighty, which we believe are aimed, not at the deftruction, but the happiness of all his creatures.

Think not, however, that I am so uncharitable as to fuppofe that all thofe who profefs to maintain the doctrines I have been arguing againft, are univerfally deftitute of the genuine love of God, or of their fellow-creatures. I am fenfible, and truly thankful, that it is not always the consequence; but it is because the hearts of fuch persons are really influenced by better principles than those which they avow. They by no means habitually regard the Divine Being in the light in which their principles represent him, but as the true Father of all the creatures that he has made, and, as such, fincerely defirous to promote their best interests.

Alfo,