sure is to pardon all, who shall trust in us for a pardon, and in testimony thereof, shall hereunto subscribe their names. Here is an offer or promise to all.

The greatest rebel is warranted to trust in his merciful sovereign for a pardon. It is not sufficient that he knows or believes that there is a pardon offered. No: He must embrace that offer for himself in particular. It is not enough that he knows there is an act of indemnity published. He must take the benefit of that act, by trusting and subscribing. He may, and he ought to believe that he shall be pardoned, and in testimony of his trust, subscribe his name to the royal grant. And while he subscribes, he believes that he shall be pardoned, otherwise he writes a lie. In believing that he shall obtain mercy, he believes nothing but the truth. He was included in the general promise, and by believing and subscribing he comes to have a particular interest in it, of which he had otherwise been destitute. His pardon turns upon the hinge of his trust. If he believe that he shall be pardoned, he shall: and if not, he shall not. In believing, he believes the truth; and in not believing, he gives his sovereign the lie. The application of this is obvious to the meanest capacity, only our believing in the king of glory for pardon, is the same as subscribing our name, or setting to our seal that God is true, John iii. 33. He discerns the disposition of the heart, prior to all outward evidence. His royal promise runs, "If thou trust in the Lord that thou shalt be saved, thou surely shalt." To this the believer echoes back, "I trust:" and now the word and the heart are met, God's pro mise and the believing soul. And as the Lord liveth nothing shall part them, no not death itself.

8thly and Lastly. It is objected, that if every sinner is bound to believe that he shall be saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, this in effect sets the sinner on a level with the saint, for what can he believe more? It would appear that at this rate the one can assure himself as much of salvation as the other. According to scripture, the promises are made to the overcomer

only, witness the eight made in the book of the Revelation. But if every sinner ought to believe that through grace he shall be saved, then also that, he shall sit with the Redeemer on his throne, Rev. iii. 21. And hence the promise is no more peculiar to the conqueror, but common unto all.

In answer to this, we observe that the sinner by believing in Christ for salvation, or by trusting in him that he shall be saved, becomes a saint: faith uniting him to the king of saints, he must necessarily be a saint; as certainly so, as he is a member of Christ's mystical body. Let it therefore, be ever kept in view, that a sinner, by believing becomes a saint. Meanwhile, we are far from asserting as the objection states it, that the sinner can in his first believing assure himself as much of his salvation, as when far advanced in a holy life. In the one case he has only the assurance of faith, unsupported by inward evidence. In the other he has evidences many, and can adopt the language of the apostle, 1 John iii. 19. Hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before God."

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With respect to the third part of the objection, we notice that it takes that for granted, which we positively deny. It supposes the believing sinner to be one, and the overcomer to whom the eightfold promise is made to be another which is by no means the case. They are not two, but one. The believing sinner is an overcomer. His faith is the first stroke in the spiritual warfare, called the good fight of faith, 1 Tim. vi. 12. Faith is the victory that overcometh the world, 1 John v. 4. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? verse 5th. Did we teach that the sinner is warranted to believe that he shall be saved, whatever he does, or does not, the objection would be unanswerable. But this is not our doctrine. What we teach is, that he is to believe that he shall be saved by grace, and therefore in a way consistent with it, that is, that after having fought the good fight, he shall re

ceive the reward of grace. Therefore, in believing that he shall be saved, he also believes that he shall overcome all his enemies, yea, be more than a conqueror through Christ. This belief makes him gird on his armour, and go forth to fight the battles of the Lord. Thus it is evident that he who trusteth in Christ for salvation, is one and the same with him that overcometh, and to whom so many great and precious promises are expressly made. At the same time it is equally obvious, that these promises are not to all without restriction, but to the overcomer only, as their tenour fairly bears, always running, "To him that overcometh;" and therefore surely not unto him who is overcome, 2 Pet. ii. 19. And when we say the promise of the hidden manna, the white stone, and other blessings, is not unto all, but to the overcomer only; instead of excluding, we include the man who trusts in Christ for salvation, as he, and he only can overcome, according to the apostle, 1 John v. 4, 5. When we say that the promises are made to the overcomer only, we exclude none but the unbelieving. For to such there is no promise of salvation, but an awful threatening, which in its time shall be fulfilled, "He that believeth not, shall be damned," Mark xvi. 16.

Thus I have answered the most plausible objections raised against our doctrine. One important question however, still remains, to which we shall, by the grace of God, give a satisfactory solution.

The question is this,

Has a sinner no warrant to believe that he shall be saved by Christ, till he see the evidences of grace in himself? or, Is it only when he has seen these, that he is warranted to believe that?

To pave the way for a direct answer, we shall first make some concessions. And in the

1st. Place. A sinner has no warrant to believe that he shall be saved in his present state: that he shall be saved in his sins. That would be to believe a contradiction. Jesus saves from sin; none in it, Matt. i. 21. Salvation imports a change both of the sinner's naturę

and state. A change from death to life, from enmity to love, from bondage to liberty, from condemnation to justification. This being the case, the sinner cannot possibly be warranted to believe that he shall be saved in continuing such.

2dly. A sinner has no warrant to believe that he shall be admitted into heaven's happiness, without being sanctified in this life. That would be believing to obtain the end without the beginning; that he should reach the blessed city without walking in the road leading to it. It is a part of the testimony, that without holiness no man shall see the Lord, Heb. xii. 14. And therefore none can be warranted to believe the contrary.

3dly. We grant that the evidences of grace, though they do not strengthen the warrant to believe, yet they strengthen the act of believing. The man seeing that he has already got a part, can trust more strongly for the whole, than he who has only a word of promise. To have the first-fruits, the earnest, and seal of the Spirit, to have these sensibly, cannot but be a mighty encouragement to believe in him who has given us all these things, Rom. viii. 23. 2 Cor. i. 22.; to believe that he who hath begun the good work, will also finish it, Phil. i. 6.

4thly. We cheerfully grant that it is therefore our duty, our indispensable duty, to examine ourselves, whether we be in the faith, to prove our own selves, to know our ownselves, if Christ be in us, 2 Cor. xiii. 5. To give all diligence to make our calling and election sure, 2 Pet. i. 10. Since it is our duty to increase in faith, and since the inward evidence of grace contributes not a little to its increase, surely we are bound to search for that evidence. And therefore,

5thly. If any man be habitually careless in searching after the evidences of his grace, this we grant is itself an evidence that he has no grace. Not a gracious person, but is generally solicitous to know his state. Such as pretend that they can live very happily on pure trust, without the addition of pawns or

For unfeigned trust,

pledges, bewray themselves. though not founded upon inward evidence, is productive of it. Though not the child, it is the fruitful mother.

6thly. We grant that none but the quickened sinner can truly believe that he shall be saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Believing being a spiritual act, necessarily presupposes spiritual life; as an animal or intellectual act implies a similar life. The dead sinner cannot believe. He is under a moral incapacity for such an act: just as he cannot love God till his enmity be taken away. Meanwhile his inability to believe, does not at all affect his warrant to believe. Great is the difference betwixt what I may do, in point of right, and what I can do in point of fact. Though none but the quickened sinner can take Christ, it will not follow that none but he may, or ought to take him. At that rate we must bid none believe, but such as have got the spirit of faith. Nor will it follow that it is unjust in God to command those to believe who cannot; or mockery, to offer Christ to such as cannot take him. Sinners cannot take Christ, because their enmity will not allow them: just as Joseph's brethren, could not speak peaceably to him, because they hated him, Gen. xxxvii. 4. Neither will it follow that because none but such as have spiritual life can believe in Christ, therefore none should attempt to believe till they know that they have that life. This inference is unjust, because we cannot know our spiritual life, before its operation, but only by it. We cannot discern our spiritual life in itself, but only by its acts, operations, and defects. If we will not attempt spiritual actions, till first we know that we have spiritual life, we never will: that life being discernible by its actions only. When Christ bade the man with the withered hand stretch it out, Mark iii. 5. it would have been arrogance in him to have answered, I know not if I can. This he could not know before, but in, attempting to stretch it forth.