CONCLUSION.

I SHALL now close this discourse with some practical improvement of these important truths. Several reflections have indeed already been interwoven with the particular branches of this subject, and the light which they throw on other parts of religion pointed out. I shall, therefore, at this time, only make a few observations upon the whole, and proceed to a serious address to all my readers on this most interesting subject. And,

1. From the various truths above established, and the order in which they have been opened, we may see the indissoluble connection between salvation by the grace of God, and holiness in heart and conversation. We may see their equal importance and their influence upon one another. There are many who attempt to divide those things which God hath inseparably joined. Many insist only on the duties of the law of God, and our natural obligations to obedience; and are hardly brought to any mention of the righteousness of Christ, as the ground of a sinner's acceptance before God. Nay, some scruple not to affirm, that the doctrine of justification by free grace, or a sinner's being found in Christ, not having his own righteousness, weakens the obligation to holiness, and tends to introduce licentiousness of practice. But from what hath been said in the above discourse, we may learn, not only in general the absolute necessity of a change, but how this stands connected with the purchase and gift of salvation, the

character and work of a Redeemer. It will plainly appear, that a change in some respects is necessary to bring us to, and in others is the necessary effect and consequence of, the acceptance of salvation.

agreed?"

Can

I have endeavoured in the preceding pages to show, that a discovery of the nature and glory of God, and of the infinite evil of sin, is absolutely necessary in order to our either understanding or relishing the doctrine of the cross. What is this then but a change begun? Must not the dominion of sin in every such person have received a mortal blow? Doth any thing more directly tend to holiness, than to see the power and glory of a holy God, and how "evil and bitter a thing" it is to depart from him? On the other hand, is it not necessary, to complete the change, that there be a sense of reconciliation and peace? "Can two walk together except they be live in the love and serany person vice of God, while he conceives him to be his enemy, and supposes himself still the object of his wrath and displeasure? But supposing this reconciliation obtained, let me boldly ask, What motive to holiness in all manner of conversation equal to the force of redeeming love? Judge, O Christian! will any cold reasoning on the nature and beauty of virtue have such an effect in mortifying corruptions, as a believing view of a pierced Saviour? Where shall we find so faithful, so active, so cheerful, a servant of God, as one who joins with the apostle Paul in saying: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for

me."

Faith in Christ Jesus never can take place in any heart, unless there has been an internal work of the Spirit of God testifying of him; and there is no effectual principle of new obedience, but faith which worketh by love.

2. What has been said above will serve to explain some controversies with which the truths of the gospel have been often darkened and perplexed; particularly those relating to the priority or right of precedency, so to speak, between faith and repentance. Some make repentance, that is, as they explain it, sorrow for sin, serious resolutions of forsaking it, and begun reformation, the joint grounds of our acceptance with the merit of a Saviour. These, with great plausibility, state the matter thus: That our sincerity is accepted through the satisfaction of Christ, instead of that perfect obedience to which we cannot now attain; and, when taken in a certain light, this assertion is undoubtedly true. Others, discerning the falsehood that may lurk under this representation, and fearing the consequences of every self-righteous plan, are tempted to go to the opposite extreme. That they might show salvation to be wholly of grace, some have even presumed to use this harsh and unscriptural expression, that it is not necessary to forsake sin in order to come to Christ. I could show a sense in which this also is true, even as it is not necessary to forsake your disease in order to apply to the physician. But if it is not necessary to forsake it, I am sure it is necessary, in both cases, to hate it, and desire deliverance from it.

This difficulty will be easily solved from what has been said in the preceding parts of this treatise, and

we may learn to preserve the truth, without exposing it to the scorn or resentment of its enemies. The reader may observe, then, that none can see the form or comeliness of a Saviour standing in the room of sinners, and purchasing forgiveness from a holy God, till the glory of this God is discovered, till the guilt of sin lays hold of the conscience, and its power is both felt and lamented. This may perhaps be called repentance, and I believe it is called so sometimes in the holy Scriptures, particularly in the following passage: "Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." But the sinner does not so properly forsake sin in order to come to Christ, as he flies to him for deliverance from its condemning guilt and enslaving power. He is so far from coming to God with a gift in his hand, even of his own prayers and penitential tears, that his convictions continue to follow him, if I may speak so, through every lurking place, till he is entirely subjected, till he is stripped naked and bare, and deprived of every shadow of excuse. Then it is that salvation through a despised crucified Saviour becomes unspeakably amiable in all its parts, sin becomes more perfectly hateful, and an assured prospect is obtained of its immediate mortification; and, in due time, of its entire and complete destruction. Thus faith and repentance are involved in one another; they produce, and are produced by one another. They may be treated of distinctly, but they cannot exist separately. So that whenever any of them is found alone, or stands independent of the other, that very thing is a sufficient evidence that it is false and spurious.

3. From what has been said on this subject, we may be enabled to judge what are the fundamental and essential doctrines of the gospel, to which all others are but subordinate and subservient. Regen

eration, or the new birth, we are warranted to say, after the example of our Saviour, is absolutely necessary to salvation: "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." If any man, therefore, depart from this truth, he makes shipwreck of the faith, and will at last be found to fight against God. It is also plain, that the reconciliation of a sinner to God must be through the blood of the atonement: "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus." If any man hold by, and build upon this great foundation, he shall be finally accepted, though many things may be found in him justly blame-worthy. Nor is it easy, indeed, to say what degree of error and misapprehension concerning these truths themselves, may be consistent with abiding by the substance. But certainly all who directly and openly oppose them, may be said "to bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and to bring upon themselves swift destruction.”

This may teach us what judgment Christians ought to form of the many parties and factions which divide the visible church. There may be smaller differences which keep them asunder on earth, while in faith and in love to an unseen Saviour they are perfectly united. We are told that God shall gather his elect from the four winds, and that "many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of