gives us a title to salvation; and whence it is that this repentance and new obedience flows, by which we are qualified to partake of saving benefits. The Scriptures assure us, that this is the righteousness of Christ received by faith; and what you now offer, is no ways inconsistent with the many declarations of this kind, throughout the whole word of God. If it were granted that whatever are the requisites in them that shall be saved, and whatever qualifications have the promise of pardon and salvation annexed to them, are the conditions of our justification, it would then follow, that perseverance is a condition of our justification; and consequently, all dispute about being justified in this present life is at an end, as I have observed before. For the benefit is suspended, till the condition on which it depends is accomplished. Besides, I think, all men allow, that if repentance be the fruit and consequence of our justification, it cannot be the condition of it. There can be nothing more preposterous, than to suppose an effect to be a condition of the cause producing it. And the Scriptures assure us, that repentance is the fruit and consequence of our justification. Thus is it particularly represented to us, Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 28, 31. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings which were not good; and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and for your abominations." Thus, likewise, Zech. xii. 10. " And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they

shall look upon me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son; and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born." In which texts you see, there is first a new heart and a new spirit; they are first in a justified state, they are God's people, and he is their God; they are first renewed, and have a spirit of grace and supplication; they have first the exercise of faith; "they look upon him whom they have pierced:" and then follows their repentance, as an immediate and necessary consequence of their regenerate, justified state. This truth is most evident, not only from the scripture representation of this matter, but also from the nature of a true and sincere repentance. We must be united to Christ, and have a principle of life, before we can perform vital actions. We must have the dispositions of our souls renewed, before we can hate sin, and heartily mourn after a deliverance from what is naturally pleasant and delightful to us. We must first have faith in Christ's blood, before we can repair to it for cleansing from pollution and guilt. We must first have a principle of love to holiness, before we can live a life of new obedience. The legal terrors, resolutions, and endeavours, which precede our justification, are very far short of a true repentance, and therefore can have no promise of pardon or salvation made to them. It is therefore evident, that though an evangelical repentance does immediately succeed (and in its beginnings is even contemporary with) a true justifying faith; yet it is, in order of nature, an effect and fruit of it, and consequently, cannot be the condition of our justification,

And now I proceed to the consideration of your last argument, for the vindication of these principles. "It seems (you say) that our obedience must be the condition of our justification, because the process of the final judgment will be put upon that issue, and every man will be judged in that awful day according to his works."

To which I answer, that I can see no manner of consequence in this reasoning, because God, of his infinite grace and bounty, will be pleased to reward the obedience of believers at the eternal judgment, that therefore our obedience is the condition of our present justification. You yourself, Sir, have been so good to the young gentleman, your sister's son, as to take him out of prison, to pay his debts, to adopt him into your family, to call him by your own name, and to treat him as your own child; and I am told that you intend to reward his dutifulness to you, by giving him the preference to your daughters, and by making him the heir of your solid estate. If it should be so, would it from thence appear, that his dutiful behaviour was the condition of your taking him out of prison, and adopting him into your family? No, Sir; you know that this was an act of mere compassion and kindness. Apply this to the case before us, and will see the fate of your arguyou ment. You are, besides, to consider, that it is no where said in Scripture, that we are, at the last day, to be rewarded for good works, but according to them. The reward which believers shall receive, will be a reward of mere grace; and will, of God's infinite goodness, be proportioned to, but not merited by, their obedience. Let it also be considered, in

our justification in this life, Christ is considered in the special character of our Redeemer, our Propitiation, and High-Priest; and accordingly applies the benefits of his redemption to our souls, that we may be accepted in him: but in the great day of accounts he will appear in the special character of our Judge, publicly owning and rewarding those graces which he has enabled us to exercise, and that obedience which he has excited and strengthened us to perform. In our justification here, he is glorifying the riches of his redeeming mercy and love: in the day of judgment he will glorify his rectoral holiness and equity, as well as his infinite bounty; and let the intelligent world see that the Judge of all the earth will do right. Here, he "justifies the ungodly," by acquitting them from guilt, and imputing righteousness without works: there, he will reward the godly, by crowning their piety and holiness with eternal life. Here, our justification is the foundation and fountain of our new obedience, as I have before shown you: there, we are to receive the reward of our obedience already performed and finished. In our justification here, Christ acts from the motives only of his sovereign grace and love: in the final sentence he will proceed according to the rules of distributive remunerative justice, in adjusting and proportioning rewards. So that, from the nature of things, it is agreeable that we should here be justified by faith only, but there judged according to our works.

And now, Sir, will you indulge me the same freedom which you have hitherto borne with, and allow me to be your faithful monitor in an instance or two?

I would first put you in mind, that it is of much greater consequence to your highest interests, to make it evident to yourself that you are indeed justified in the sight of God, than to exercise your mind with this arbitrary distinction of a first and second justification. If you are indeed interested in Christ by faith-if you do indeed experience a change of heart and life, in consequence of your faith in him, and make a progress in the divine life, in the mortification of your corruptions, in love to God and your neighbour, and in heavenly-mindedness and spirituality, you will not be examined at the bar of your Judge about your acquaintance with these modern distinctions; or whether those qualifications which will then be gloriously rewarded, are the fruits of the first, or the conditions of a secondary justification.

I would again entreat you to consider, that the life of a Christian is a life of faith in the Son of God. We are not only "justified by faith," but we are "saved by faith;" and "the just must live by faith." Whatever becomes of this debate, you may be therefore certain that you can be no longer safe, than while you are humbly committing your soul to Christ as to the author of your eternal salvation, depending upon him as the Lord your righteousness, and expecting all supplies of grace from his fulness. And believe me, Sir, a lively exercise of faith in Christ will afford you more present comfort, will much more quicken you in devotion and true holiness, and more strengthen and establish you in every good work in your progress to the heavenly kingdom, than all your studies in these