Lov. But Sir, were there not certain terms and conditions required of man, whereby he might qualify himself for the merits of our Savior! And [Lovegood interrupts.]

Loveg. Before you proceed any further, I beg to i ask, which will require most, to qualify ourselves for heaven, or for Christ?

Lov. Really Sir, this is a new question to me; 1 wish you to explain yourself.

Loveg. Which is of greater importance, the man who builds the house, or the house itself? I suppose? yon immediately answer, the man who builds the house. If so, without qualifying ourselves for the merits of Christ, we can as well at once, qualify ourselves for heaven itself, and this will put Christ and his great salvation completely out of the question; ! for if we can merit the greater, we can certainly merit the less.

Lov. But Sir, the worthy Doctor as much disclaims the term merit, as you yourself; he gave me one of his sermons to read, which he composed on purpose, against the merit of works.

Mr. Consid. I have no doubt but what the worthy Doctor's mind would rise with indignation and dis- 11 gust against such an idea. All that we do before God can never be made suitable to that term. What merit can there be in repentance, which is nothing but an acknowledgment that we are vile, and whereby we confess that we deserve nothing at the hand of God but death. And as to prayer, that only proves we ought to esteem ourselves nothing but beggars, from our very birth. And what is our love to God, but love to a Being who infinitely deserves our love. And as to love to our fellow creatures, a man is little better than an unnatural monster, who is found without it.

Loveg. Yes Sir, and I am persuaded the worthy Doctor has too much humility and goodness to admit the conclusion, which must necessarily be drawn from his mistaken notions of conditional justification. But if on certain terms and conditions I perform the task

proposed, for the sake of a reward, however low those terms may be, I then can claim what the promiser has no longer a right to deny. And this brings matters as near to the point of merit, as one point can be brought to another; and while the Doctor has too much decided humility, to admit the conclusion of his own doctrine, yet thousands and tens of thousands, by the same doetrine, have fallen into the like snare, and the merit of righteousness is the common claim of all, even very frequently of the most unrighteous, throughout all the world.

Lov. L wish the Doctor were here to answer for himself.

Wor. I wish he were; for we all respect him very highly.

Consid. I am sure I do,-though I never saw him but once or twice, as he passed by our house in Mapleton; yet he wrote me such a kind and tender letter on behalf of a poor woman who was a parishioner with us, requesting me that I would interest myself with the corporation, to put her into one of our alms houses; and after I had succeeded, the poor woman told me what a many shillings and half-crowns the Doctor had given her, so that I have loved him ever since.

8

Lov. Then allow me to plead a little further for the Doctor's religion, since you all acknowledge he is so good a man. He does not say that we can merit heaven, as I have before observed; but that faith and repentance, are only the mild and moderate terms required by the new law of the Gospel, whereby we, through grace, avail ourselves of the merits of Christ, provided we properly perform them.

Loveg. I believe Sir, you will discover that the mixture you are now attempting will be found equally as difficult, as a mixture between oil and water. For It beg leave to ask first, can the Bible give us the character of a more exalted Christian, than what is comprehended in that of a penitent believer? Is not this the character of the real penitent, that he hates

all sin, and renounces it? And who is the believer? Why one who has Christ dwelling in his heart by faith, who lives in holy friendship with God, through the redemption that is in Him, and consequently pants to be dedicated to his glory. Then is a man, who thus repents and believes, a good man, and in a state of salvation, or a bad man, and in a state of condemnation ?

Lov. O Sir! penitent believers are certainly in a state of salvation.

Loveg. Then how can faith and repentance be the conditions of our salvation, when all that have these graces are saved already?

Lov. Is it not possible for a person to have these graces, in order to his salvation?

Loveg. Sir, it is utterly impossible, unless you turn all things up-side down; and unless you can make the effect produce the cause. Now these graces are the effect of our salvation, they cannot therefore be the cause of it; any more than motion, which is the effect of life, can be said to be the cause why we live or move and so Bishop Beveridge settles the matter: "How can I do good works in order to my justification, when I can do no good works. till after I am justified?"* To make out all these strange contradic tory suppositions, we must conclude that a man must have grace and yet no grace; and that he must be a believer and an unbeliever at the same time. "For he that believeth hath everlasting life. While he alone that believeth not, is condemned already, and the wrath of God abideth on him." Suppose a physician should say, "I will come and heal you on this condition, provided you first heal yourself."-Now Christ is the physician of souls, and penitent believers are actually and completely healed: and if faith and repentance were the terms and conditions on theit parts, they first heal themselves, and then come to Christ to be healed. And if this doctrine be true,

This quotation is from his private thoughts; I wish them to be made more public to all the world.

the need of salvation by Christ is entirely put out of the question. [Mr. Lovely hesitates exceedingly.]

Mrs. Lov. My dear George, I am sorry to see you so perplexed for an answer: but you cannot tell what I felt while the Doctor was explaining what you and I were to do, that we might obtain the mercies of our Savior. I thought if that doctrine were consistent with the Bible, I had a task before me, which independent of the grace of God, I should never be able to perform. But then I thought of these words in our Common Prayer Book: "Because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing without thee, grant us the help of thy grace, that in keeping thy commandments we may please thee." [Lovely still continues silent.] lo wsl

Loveg. But Sir, with your leave, I have some other questions to ask. What are your views concerning human depravity?

Lov. Oh Sir! from the general bent of the habits and inclinations of mankind, we are certainly very depraved.

Loveg. Dear Sir, allow me to press the point a little further. Do you conceive that we are totally, or only partially depraved?

Lov. Sir, it evidently appears that some men are naturally less vicious than others.

Loveg. Then allow me next to ask, how are we to make out these queries, "Who maketh thee to differ?" and again, "What is there which thou hast not received?" and if received, "Why yet boasteth thou?" for the same apostle says, "By the grace of God I am what I am :" and yet you have attempted to make it out, that there is something in man, (that fallen creature,) which makes the difference. Dear Sir, what are we to think of ourselves when we pretend to go by the Bible, and yet so grossly contradict it.

Lov. Why Sir, I am quite astonished that you should controvert the point, that it is divine grace working with our good desires.

Loveg. But from whence are we to get those good desires, but from divine grace?

Lov. Sir, Dr. Orderly supposes there is universal grace given to all, and that they who improve it, will entitle themselves to the merits of our Savior; and that others, who reject this universal grace, will be punished for their unbelief.

Loveg. Then you admit that mankind are not totally, but partially fallen; and according to this principle, the less corrupted will accept this universal grace, and the more corrupted will reject it; so that none but a few of the best-hearted of our bad race will ever be saved; and then another of the Apostle's queries is at an end. "Where is boasting then? it is excluded. By what law? Of works, nay, but by the law of faith." For according to your doctrine dear Sir, the law of works must be the first turning hinge of our salvation: for all depends upon how we will and what we do, before the grace of God can have any efficacy upon the heart: so that the salvation of a single soul is a matter of mere chance, as it rests entirely on the creature's will; and the sovereignty and fore-knowledge of God, are totally at an end. Sir, this is strange doctrine.

Lov. Sir, I confess it is not in my power to follow you through such a labyrinth of abstruse arguments: I have not accustomed myself to such metaphysical discussions. But as you are so fond of quoting Scripture, I think I can venture to meet you on that ground. I remember the Doctor observed to me that there was a little word of great importance, which stood wonderfully in the way of your notions in religion, the word was IF. And I recollect he brought forward these words-" If thou canst believe, all these things are possible to him that believeth" and "If ye be lieve not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins:" and then again Sir, about repentance, is it not said, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" In short Sir, are not faith and repentance universally set forth as the terms whereby we are accepted? and were not VOL. II.

K