him and the gofpel, we cannot be fruitful in holiness or good works; and are very thankful for the provifion he hath made, and the affiftances he hath afforded us by his word, that we may bring forth much fruit.

Philip. ii. 13. For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleafure.

In this paffage ne apostle exhorts the Philippians to work out their own falvation with fear and trembling, from a grateful fenfe of the goodness of God in granting them, for that purpose, the inftructions and motives of the gofpel, by which fuch convictions had already been awakened in them, as had excited them both to choose and perform what God required. The energy, or operation of God here: fpoken of, seems to be the energy of inftruction and perfuafion. No doubt it is a very reasonable and powerful motive to us all to work out our falvation, that God, in unfpeakable love and good-will, is continually working in us, by the truths and motives of the gospel, to choose and perform what he hath required of us.

I Cor. xv. 10. But by the grace of God I am what I am.

Let any one carefully attend to the whole cafe of Paul's converfion, from being a perfecutor to become a preacher and an apoftle of Jefus Chrift, and then say whether it is reasonable to draw general `conclufions refpecting all men from fuch a cafe. However we will all readily adopt his words, and fay, through

the grace of God, and his favours freely bestowed upon us by the gospel, we are what we are.

Eph. ii. 8. For by grace are ye faved through faith ; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.

The word that doth not refer to faith, as is evident from the original, but to the preceding clause of the fentence. That ye are faved by grace through faith, this is not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. He is the fole author of this method of falvation.

Ezekiel xxxvi. 25, 26, 27. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye fhall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart alfo will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the ftony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my fpirit within you, and cause you to walk in my ftatutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.

Look into the prophet himself, and I think it will appear, that this is a prediction of the reftoration of the people of the jews to their own country at the end of the babylonish captivity, and that afterwards they should no more return to the practice of idolatry, to which their fathers had been fo prone. Now, the history of that people informs us that this prediction was verified in fact. When God promifes to give them a new heart, and to put a new fpirit within them, it relates to the particular fubje&t spoken of, viz. idolatry: and, in reality, there was a wonderful

change

change wrought in the difpofitions and practice of that people in this refpect. This was effected by the deep impreffions made upon them by the righteous judgments of God for the idolatries of their forefathers and of themselves. But the new heart and new fpirit must not be understood of an univerfal, or general change from evil to good, because the whole subsequent hiftory of the jews, and particularly in the gofpel-times, contradicts it. It may, however, refer to fome greater change to be produced in the moral character of the jewish nation, on their return from their prefent difperfion, produced by the confideration of the hand of God in it, as the juft punishment of their former vices. But it seems a ftrange perverfion, to make this particular prediction to the returning captives, a general promise to mankind, at least to chriftians, of producing in them a thorough change of heart and life by the immediate operation of the fpirit of God. This may be called accommodat→ ing fcripture-paffages, but it seems taking very bold liberties of making what we please out of them, very inconfiftent with a fincere belief in them, as con taining the word of God.

Pfalm li. 10. Create in me a clean heart, O Goa, and renew a right spirit within me.

We ought not to interpret the figurative expreffions of Hebrew poetry too literally, or to expect in it the rigid accuracy of expreffion of our weftern profe. The pfalmift feems to mean no more by create, than produce, or caufe; which does not ex

clude

clude the inftrumentality of ordinary means, any more than the word renew. Nay, the pfalmift feems to expect that the clean heart must be created and the right spirit renewed, not by an immediate operation of fovereign and almighty grace, but by the inftrumentality of thofe ordinary and ufual means of grace which he had long enjoyed, and experienced the good effects of; and therefore he adds in the following words, v. 11. Cast me not away from thy prefence, i. e. deprive me not of the ordinances of thy worship in the tabernacle, where thou manifefteft thy presence in a glorious manner, and take not thy holy fpirit from me, i. e. that holy fpirit with the illuminations of which he had, as a prophet, been fo often favoured, and from which he had reaped great fpiritual improvement.

Luke xxiii. 43. To-day fhalt thou be with me in Paradife.

Although certain writers and teachers of religion profess not to mention the cafe of the penitent thief to encourage prefumption and careleffness in any one, yet they mention it so often, and insist on it fo much, as an inftance of a great and fudden change taking place at the laft hour of a poor finner's life, at the fame time infinuating that the fame change may take place in others (for the Lord's hand is not hortened, that it cannot fave, neither his ear heavy, that it cannot bear) that I fear they do, in fact, unhappily encourage prefumption

and

and careleffnefs in many. Let us therefore confider this cafe with a little attention.

The abovementioned writers, &c. take for granted what is by no means certain, that the penitent thief's knowledge of Chrift, and repentance of his own fins, commenced only at the time of his crucifixion along with Jefus. But is it not poffible, that the crime for which he suffered might have been committed a long time before, though he had been apprehended for it only very lately; when, whatever change might in the mean time have been wrought in his character and conversation, the law muft take its course, and he muft fuffer the punishment due to his mifdeeds, though he had repented of them very fincerely, and become a new man? The evangelist has said nothing that precludes this fuppofition, and therefore we are at liberty to make it, especially if it will contribute to render the circumftances of the narrative more confiftent and accountable. Let us fee then what thofe circumftances are.

First, obferve that this penitent, in the reproof which he gave to his fellow-criminal, makes a candid and ingenuous confeffion of his crimes, and the juftice of his punishment, and that grounded upon a just and proper principle, the fear of God. Doft not thou fear God, fecing that thou also art in the fame condemnation. And we indeed jufly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. This feems

much