authors speaks of its being right to "challenge an acquittance at the hand of God," and says, "He, who as the Judge of heaven and earth must always do right, is said to justify the ungodly-and that out of justice." Again, "God, as he is a just God, cannot condemn the believer, since Christ has satisfied for his sins." Now, it is plain, that if God cannot justly condemn, if he cannot justly punish, then he only does bare justice when he discharges; he exercises no grace in the

matter.

N. L. But there was grace in providing a Surety to make satisfaction for us.

Th. Yes. And it is a part of my system, as well as of yours, that the gift of a Saviour was an act of grace. But while that is all the grace your system acknowledges, mine makes every step of our salvation an act of grace. It was an act of grace to provide a Saviour; it is an act of grace to grant us a season of probation; it is an act of grace to change our hearts; it is an act of grace to pardon our sins; it is an act of grace to bear with us from day to day while committing new sins; and it will be an act of grace to receive us to heaven, where we shall be monuments of grace forever. But if your system is true, there is no grace but in the gift of a Saviour. For if Christ "has taken all our sins, and given us all his righteousness," we are no longer subjects of grace, any more than the angels in heaven. Your system, therefore, instead of exalting and magnifying the grace of the Gospel, takes away a great part of it, and it makes the act of justification to be by the law, a proper legal act, and not an act of grace.

N. L. How does your system make every step of the sinner's salvation an act of grace? I see not how it can be, but only as each step is a consequence of the gracious gift of a Saviour. And if that would make it an act of grace, my system would do it.

Th. Justice requires that each individual should be treated according to his deserts. Sin deserves punishment; righteousness deserves no punishment. If all our sins are given to Christ, and all his righteousness is given to us, we no longer deserve punishment. Grace is favor to the ill deserving. If all our sins are taken away, we have none left for which we can deserve any punishment; and therefore we cannot be subjects of grace. No favor shown to the angels in heaven can be an act of grace, because they deserve no punishment. It is only where justice requires punishment that grace can be exercised. I take these to be acknowledged principles, are they not?

N. L. I am not inclined to dispute them now.

Go on.

Th. My scheme is, that the moral law is the only rule of right, to which all intelligent beings are bound to conform, because it is right; and that this obligation cannot be fulfilled by any one for another, because the requirement is, "thou shalt love;" not thou or some other in thy room. Men have broken this law, and exposed themselves to its curse. Every sin deserves the Divine disapprobation now, and will forever, since no length of duration can change its nature. The punishment threatened to sinners is a proper token of that disapprobation. The penalty of the law, therefore, is endless punishment. This we all deserve for our sins, and must always deserve, whether it is inflicted or not, since it will always remain true that we have sinned. This punishment must be inflicted, unless some other way can be found out, by which the Divine disapprobation of sin can be as fully and as clearly expressed as it would be in the infliction of the punishment, in which case only it will be consistent for that punishment to be dispensed with by forgiveness. Such a way has been found out. God has provided a Saviour for those who deserve to perish forever. This was an act of grace. The Lord Jesus Christ made an atonement for sin by the shedding of his blood on the cross. His active obedience was rendered for himself, and could not in the nature of the thing be rendered for any but himself. He was as much bound to do right, as any other being can be. And it was necessary that he should be perfectly obedient for himself, in order to be qualified to make atonement by his blood, for otherwise he could not have been "a lamb without blemish." In suffering death, he did not suffer the penalty of the law, which is eternal punishment; but he suffered enough, considering the dignity of his person, to make as clear an expression of God's feelings towards sin, as would have been made by the infliction of that penalty upon sinners. The demands of the law upon us remain in their full force, not at all weakened, but rather made stronger by the death of Christ, that event having laid us under additional obligations. Its demand of punishment, however, though still perfectly just, can now be consistently remitted, in the case of those who consent unto the law, and perform the conditions of repentance and faith: because the ends to be answered by their punishment are secured in another way. In consequence of the death of Christ, the offer of pardon is freely made to all without discrimination, and is an act of grace, because all deserve to be cast off without any such offer. A period of probation is allowed, ir which men have opportunity to consider their ways, and secure the offered mercy, by a compliance with the prescribed

conditions. This is an act of grace, because all deserve instant destruction. All, however, with one consent, reject the offer, and would continue to reject it were nothing more done for them. But God sends his Holy Spirit, to make some willing in the day of his power, by changing their hearts. This is an act of grace, because the gift of the Holy Spirit is a favor which none deserve. When they are made willing, and become holy in the temper of their minds, that does not alter the fact that they have sinned before, and therefore does not take away their desert of punishment for their past sins. It is an act of grace, therefore, to exempt them from that punishment, by granting them remission of sins. And as those who are regenerated continue to be guilty of their old sins, though the punishment of them is remitted, and also to commit new sins, from day to day, it is an act of grace to spare them from day to day, under their increasing ill desert. And as in the great day it will still be true that they have sinned, it will be true then that they deserve punishment, and therefore it will be an act of grace then to acquit them from it in the presence of the assembled universe. And as it will continue to be true forever that they have committed the sins they have, it will continue to be true forever that they deserve to be punished for them; and therefore, while they reign forever in heaven, they will be everlasting monuments of grace, rich, free, distinguishing, and sovereign grace. And the most eminent saints on earth, on account of the continuance of their ill desert for past sins, and their increasing ill desert for their daily new sins, feel bound, and feel disposed, to humble themselves before God, and lie very low before him, to acknowledge themselves sinners, exceedingly vile, and to ask every favor at his hand as a free gift to the ill deserving. The language of the Scripture saints is highly expressive of such feelings; and such are the feelings of all on earth who resemble them.

N. L. You speak of believers becoming holy, as if you supposed they were to be holy in themselves. Here is the lurking legality of your scheme, which, though you talk so much about grace, leads you to mix your own works with the righteousness of Christ, as though his finished work needed helping out with some additions of ours.

Ard. Are not believers spoken of in the Scriptures as being partakers of the Divine nature," and " partakers of his holiAnd is it not plainly declared, that "without holiness no man shall see the Lord ?"

ness ?"

N. L. Yes. But one of the learned Doctors before referred to, informs us that in the last-mentioned passage, and I should think also in the others, holiness means separation to God, and

not any quality, or grace, or habit of mind;" or else it means "the holiness of Christ imputed to us, and so made ours in a judicial or legal respect." Believers are "chosen in Christ, to be holy in him, even in him; but not so as to be holy in themselves."

Th. If they are not holy in themselves, they are in themselves unholy and impure, and are not prepared for a holy heaven, where no unclean thing shall enter. None but "the pure in heart shall see God." I am aware that the word holiness sometimes means separation to God, as when applied to places, buildings, vessels, and the like, under the old dispensation. But this is not its only meaning. The holiness of God is not of this kind. It is an exercise of his heart. And when believers are said to be "partakers of his holiness," it means that they are holy in the same sense, with the same kind of holiness that he is. They have holy exercises of heart. They are of the same temper of mind that he is; so that they have "fellowship with the Father and with the Son." Without such holiness of heart, which is his own exercise, there is no communion, no oneness of feeling between the believer and the Father. Heaven itself would be no heaven to the man who does not feel as God feels. And this is a sufficient reason, if there were no other, why it is true that "without holiness no man shall see the Lord.' If all the holiness in the universe were imputed to him, it would do nothing towards qualifying him to enjoy heaven, till the temper of his heart was made to accord with the temper of heaven. If you have not the same mind that was in Christ, if you have not his Spirit abiding in you, and renewing you after his moral image, nothing is more certain than that you are none of his. It is absurd to suppose any to be his disciples who never do what he commands. But his commands require perfect conformity to the moral law. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and thy neighbor as thyself. Be ye, therefore, perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. As he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.' The promises to change the heart are promises to produce a conformity to the moral law. A new heart, also, will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." It is a plain and decisive declaration, Every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love." But it is also declared, "He that loveth another hath fulfilled the

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law; for love is the fulfilling of the law." And it is written, "He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil. If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him. Hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."

CHAPTER XIX.

Love-self. It seems to me that brother Thoughtful's notions of Christian character condemn every body. He would allow none to be Christians but such as exercise that love which is the fulfilling of the law. But, it is written, "there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not.”

Thoughtful. It would be of no use for us to attempt to justify those whom the great Judge condemns. And he certainly condemns all those who are destitute of holiness. Holiness is conformity to the moral law, which is the only rule of right and wrong. No man has any more holiness, than he has of conformity to the moral law.

L. S. But what I mean is, that your scheme seems to require perfection, and to condemn all who are not perfect; and since the best of men are imperfect, it condemns the best of men as well as the worst.

Th. Uninterrupted conformity to the moral law is required of all men as a duty; but this is not made the condition of pardon and salvation. If it were, there would be no hope for any. But, if a man is never conformed to that law, he never does any thing right, he never has the same mind that was in Christ, he never delights in the law of God after the inward man, he never walks after the Spirit, he always walks after the flesh, and shall die. If he never exercises that love which is the fulfilling of the law, he never possesses the temper of one that is "born of God, and knoweth God." If he never" doeth righteousness," but always "committeth sin," he is not a child of God, but is a child of the devil. Good men are those who are sometimes conformed to the moral law, who perform some right actions, who sometimes have the same mind that was in Christ, and sometimes delight in the law of God after the inward man. But