question is, whether Christ spake more favourably of those who depended upon their morality and forms of piety, that is, the scribes and Pharisees: let his own words decide it: "Ye are of your father the devil." "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damna. tion of hell?" "Publicans and harlots shall enter into the kingdom of heaven before you," John viii, 44; Matt. xxiii, 33; xxi, 31. Thus, in our Lord's account, both those who are seemingly virtuous, and those who are openly vicious, till they "are in him new creatures," travel, though by different roads, to the same mansions of horror: and if the one way is more apt to deceive the traveller than the other, it is that of the Pharisee.

Par.-Shocking! At this rate the notorious sinner hath an advantage over persons of a reputable character. How do you account for this strange paradox in our Lord's doctrine?

Min.-You must not suppose that gross sinners can be saved without conversion, or that we must be guilty of enormities to be proper subjects for converting grace. Far be these wild notions from us, as they were from our Saviour. His meaning is, that those who depend on the imaginary rectitude of their nature, and the chimerical merit of their works, look at him with as much indifference as a healthy man looks at the physician; while those who have no seeming merit to cover their guilt and depravity with, see them without a veil, and stoop more readily to the Saviour of the lost.

Par.-I do not blame you for affirming that all are sinners, and stand in need of Divine mercy: but what you say of our misery and danger in a state of nature, is enough to provoke any one.

Min.-What the Scriptures say of it is enough to provoke any one, -not to anger, but to repentance. O that it had that happy effect upon us! "the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt," Isaiah Ivii, 20. They paint him as either "weaving the spider's web," working out a useless and filthy righteousness, or "hatching cockatrice eggs, till the viper break out," contriving vanity or mischief in his heart, till it break out in his conversation, Isa. lix, 5.

as They represent the unrenewed man

Par.-How can the natural man be always sinning, as you suppose he is?

Min. He is not always doing what is evil, but the uninterrupted depravity of his heart corrupts those actions which otherwise are good or indifferent in themselves: therefore all that he does is sin. (1.) His natural actions are sin, "whether he eats or drinks, or does any thing else," he sins, by not doing it to the glory of God, 1 Cor. x, 31, compared with Zechariah vii, 6. (2dly.) His civil actions, having no higher principle or end than self interest or his own glory, are sinful: "The ploughing of the wicked is sin," Prov. xxi, 4. (3dly.) His religious duties are sin, because he performs them not "in spirit and in truth," John iv, 24. "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: therefore, if he offers an oblation, it is as if he offered swine's blood; because he hath chosen his own ways," Prov. xv, 8; Isaiah lxvi, 3; and if he receives the Lord's Supper, "he eats and drinks his own condemnation, not discerning the Lord's body," 1 Cor. xi, 29. In short, he is lost; for, says St. Paul, "If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to

them that are lost, in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine unto them," 2 Cor. iv, 3, 4. Whence you see, that previous to our being savingly acquainted with the Gospel, we are all, without exception, in a lost estate, and blinded by Satan, the god of this world. And as blind Samson did grind for the Philistines, so we work for our spiritual enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil: "We are the servants of sin, and yield our members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin," Rom. vi, 19, 20: "Making provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof:" "Yea, the lusts of our father the devil we do," Rom. xiii, 14; John viii, 44.

Par. If the natural man sins in all that he does, he is not bound either to pray or work, for no one is bound to sin.

Min.-He is bound to pray and work, though he is not bound to sin in doing either. As it is a less offence to do one's duty badly than to omit it entirely, of two evils he is to choose the least. Or rather he ought, with the next breath, to apply to the Saviour of the lost for pardon and strength; and "He that justifies the ungodly" will forgive and help him "for his own name's sake."

Par. Notwithstanding all that you say of the natural man's misery, he often thrives in the world better than those who make much ado about their souls.

Min.-This thriving proves an addition to his misery; "his eyes may swell out with fatness, and he may do even what he lusts; but how suddenly will he perish, and come to a fearful end," if he become not a new creature! Psalm lxxiii, 7, 18. So long as he remains "an enemy in his mind by wicked works," Col. i, 21, "the curse of the Lord is in his house," Prov. iii, 33. "I have cursed his blessings," says the Lord, Mal. ii, 2: "his basket and store are cursed," Deut. xxviii, 17: "his table is a snare to him," Rom. xi, 9: he abuses alike the rod and staff of the Lord, adversity and prosperity: as on one hand temporal chastisements harden him, as they did Pharaoh; so, on the other, "the good things he receives in this life" make him venture upon the next, thoughtless as the wealthy farmer, and unprepared as the rich glutton, Luke xii, 20; xvi, 25. Thus he fearfully evidences the truth of Solomon's saying, "The prosperity of fools shall destroy them," Prov. i, 43.

Par.-If the unconverted man hath the fatal art of extracting poison out of every dealing of Providence, he can also extract a remedy out of every dispensation of Divine grace.

Min.-Just the contrary: he hath the wretched skill to turn every spiritual blessing into a curse. (1.) Does the Lord send his "law as a school master to bring him to Christ?" Gal. iii, 24. It is to him a dead letter. Ignorant of its spiritual meaning, he contents himself with performing the outward duties it requires, and like the Pharisees, whose leaven has infected his soul, Mark viii, 15, "he goes about to establish his own righteousness," by the law, instead of fleeing, before it, to "Christ who is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth," Rom. x, 2. (2.) Does Jesus bless him with a written or preached Gospel? He "rejects the counsel of God against himself;" and what should be "a savour of life unto life" unto him, proves a "savour of death unto death," Luke vii, 30; 2 Cor. ii, 16. (3.) Christ

himself, "the precious corner stone laid in Sion," for lost sinners to build their hopes upon, becomes to him "a stumbling stone, and a rock of offence," 1 Pet. ii, 8; Rom. viii, 33. He sins on without fear, be cause "God is merciful" to those who forsake their sin; and he "blesses himself in his iniquity," because Christ died to redeem him from all iniquity, Tit. ii, 14.

Is it any wonder then if "God is angry with him every day," and declares that "if he will not turn, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, made it ready, and prepared for him the instruments of death; even the worm that dieth not, and the fire which is not quenched," Mark ix, 44; Psalm vii, 12.

Par.-You are very forward in sentencing people to eternal death. God is more merciful than you; and I hope none of us shall go into everlasting burnings. It is barbarous to doom to unquenchable fire peo. ple who never were guilty of any notorious crimes.

Min.-If there be any barbarity in the case, I am not chargeable with it. I simply tell you what I see in the Scriptures, and quote the chapter and verse that you may not think I impose my sentiments upon you. With regard to your objection, I make no doubt but the righteous Judge will punish those sinners, whose iniquities have peculiar aggravations, with torments peculiarly aggravated: but though the unconverted man's sins should not have been of the scandalous sort, his doom will be most fearful.

Par. This requires a solid proof, and you produce only a bare assertion.

Min.-Every wilful sin (and the natural man commits some such daily) hath in it the principle of all iniquity; viz. the contempt of that sovereign authority which is equally stamped upon all the commandments of God. You know that, even according to the civil law, he who gen. teelly robs a traveller of one piece of silver, forfeits his life, as well as he who barbarously murders him and carries off a thousand pieces of gold; because both equally break the law which forbids robbery, though one does it with less horrible circumstances than the other.

Par.-But shall we say the law of God is upon the same plan as the law of the land, in this respect?

Min.-Yes, exactly, as to the tenor of it, it is: "The soul that sinneth," and not the soul that committeth a crime of such or such a blackness, "it shall die," Ezek. viii, 3. "The wages of sin," whether it be scandalous or fashionable, "is death,” Rom. vi, 23; "for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven, against all unrighteousness of men," and not only against offences of the grosser kind, as you fondly suppose, Rom. i, 18. The Scriptures agree that "they are cursed who do err,” more or less, "from God's commandments,” Psalm cxix, 21; that "cursed is every one who continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them," Gal. iii, 10; and that "whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all," James ii, 10.

Par.-The passages you quote are very express; but I hope the curse which they mention is not so terrible as you imagine.

Min.--“ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," Heb. x, 31. "Our God is a consuming fire," to unbelievers, Heb. xii,

29: he declares, by his servants, that "they all shall be damned that believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness;" that "the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the people that forget God;" that "the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those that know him not, and obey not his Gospel ;" that "they shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;" and lastly, that the fearful curse will be fixed, for ever, by Christ the Judge of all, who will say to the unconverted, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," 2 Thess. ii, 12; Psalm ix, 17; 2 Thess. i, 8; Matt. xxv, 41.

Thus you see that it is not ministers who condemn impenitent sinners to eternal death, but God's unchangeable law, which passes sentence upon them in this world, and the loving Jesus himself, who will ratify and execute it in the world to come. Nor is there any other place of refuge from this dreadful curse, but the shadow of the Saviour's wings, who vouchsafes to "redeem us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us," Gal. iii, 13.

Here the minister ceased to speak, and his opponent, instead of making a quick reply, sat pensive some moments, as if he were at a loss to find new objections; but soon recovering himself, he began the third part, in which the fall and misery of man are proved from reason.

PART III.

In which the apostasy and misery of man are proved from reason.

Par. I confess you have silenced me by Scripture: but does reason agree here with revelation? Many say that the doctrine of original sin is "original nonsense."

Min.-It is easy to cavil against, but difficult to overturn the truth. If the oracles of God maintain this doctrine, reason is not against it. Sound reason is for it, as I hope to prove by a variety of rational argu

ments.

FIRST ARGUMENT.--Reason tells us that some mystery of iniquity lies hid under the shocking circumstances of the labour of women and birth of children; and that if our nature were not sinful, the gracious God could not, in justice, suffer millions of infants, who never actually sinned, to go through the miseries of a lingering life, and the agonies of an untimely death.

Par. Your argument would seem to me unanswerable if it did not prove too much; but it unhappily proves that beasts also are sinful, for they are brought forth with sorrow, and end a toilsome life by a painful death, as well as the children of men.

Min.-Your objection, far from overturning my argument, gives me an opportunity of strengthening it by three considerations.

1. Search the whole earth, and you will not find in it one species of creatures that brings forth its young ones, in general, with half the pangs and dangers wherewith women bring forth their children; and is not this a call to look for the cause of this evil where it is most sensibly felt?

2. The curse of fallen man having seized upon the whole creation,

caused a general degeneracy in every species of living creatures. The majesty of the lion sunk into cruelty, and the courage of the tiger into fierceness. All the ranks of milder animals were stamped with dulness, wildness, or untractableness, and this fatal change made them hasten to their dissolution. Remember, therefore, that it is only in consequence of our curse rebounding upon beasts, and causing them to degenerate from their original perfection, that toil follows, and death overtakes them.

3. Though this degeneracy cannot be called sinfulness in beasts, it can in man, not only because it came from him, and is much stronger in him; but also because he is naturally a moral agent; whereas beasts Therefore, the degeneracy, sufferings, and death of beasts prove the depravity and misery of man, as strongly as the effect proves the existence of its cause.

• Par.-You surprise me in affirming that the death of beasts is a consequence of their degeneracy, and their degeneracy a consequence of our curse and sinfulness: I thought that beasts would have died even in paradise.

Min.—This thought seems to want both the sanction of reason and that of revelation: reason dictates that as a wise artist will never make a watch to get it bruised in pieces under the smith's hammer; so the wise God never originally made an animal for the stroke of death: and revelation informs us, that "by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin;" and that "by one man's offence, death reigned by one," Romans v, 12, 16. As therefore no creature would have died, if man had not brought sin and death into the world, so the death of every creature proves the sinfulness of man; and if even the death of an insect proves this, how much more man's own death!

Par. The force of your argument depends, in great measure, on a pretended degeneracy of beasts, which I am not bound to admit upon your bare assertion.

Min.-You may safely admit it upon the following proofs:

1. Reason tells us that the bad properties of beasts never came from a good God: and as beasts were not created with them, it necessarily follows that they have degenerated.

2. Moses confirms this, when he says, that "God saw every thing that he had made, and behold it was VERY GOOD:" but the cruelty of tigers, and the poison of serpents, are not good at all: therefore tigers were not cruel, nor asps venomous, when they came out of their Creator's hands.

3. We read that God "gave Adam dominion over every living thing that moveth upon the earth; and brought every beast of the field to him, to see what he would call them," Genesis i, 26; ii, 19. But had they been wild, untractable, and ravenous as they are now, far from governing them, or staying to give them names, he would have wished for the swiftness of the hind to run out of paradise, before they had torn him in pieces.

4. Isaiah, describing the paradisiacal state of the earth, after the restitution of all things, informs us that "the wolf shall [again] dwell with the lamb, the leopard lie down with the kid, and the calf with the lion, which shall eat straw [or grass] like the ox." He adds, that "the