that he merits any :-And, therefore, can have no ground for considering any good bestowed on him as being of grace. If any one be finally and eternally saved, without evidence of his ill-desert in God's sight, we can have no just reason to conclude, that his salvation is by grace.

HENCE it must follow, that the visibility and evidence of grace, in the salvation of sinners, must be in proportion to the manifestations, which are made of God's anger with them, and of his abhorrence of them. If this be so, it must follow, that nothing ever took place, which so clearly and fully evinces the sinner's salvation to be by grace, as the atonement Christ has made for sin by his own blood. If Christ was truly a divine person, and the sufferings he endured, when he bore the sins of his people in his own body on the tree, were expressions and testimonies of the anger of the just God against sinners; the evidence that their salvation is by grace-free, rich grace and infinitely undeserved mercy, must be clear and incontrovertible.

On the other hand; if Christ be but a mere crea ture, no sufferings he endured were any, either expressions, or testimonies of the anger of God with sinners: On which hypothesis no atonement is made for sin; and, there will, of course, be no evidence that the salvation of sinners is by grace. This is but the natural and genuine consequence of denying, that atonement was made for sin by the death and sufferings of Christ And, that no atonement is, in fact, made, will be, on all hands admitted, if he be not a divine person, truly God as well as man.

It must further, appear that, if the doctrine of the Divinity of Christ, and of the atonement made by him be denied, no regard, that we can see, is had to God's holy law, or the righteousness of the law, in the par

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don and justification of believers-We can discover no way, in which the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in them; or, how that holy law, which they have ever been under-which they have awfully violatedand the curse and condemnation of which they have incurred, is magnified and made honorable. On this principle, the law of God, for aught we can see, is perfectly given up and set aside in every instance, wherein a sinner is pardoned and saved.

SHOULD it be said that, though the doctrine of the atonement be given up, it cannot properly be said, that the law of God is set aside by his bestowing a pardon on penitents; because the repentance of the sinner being made necessary to his pardon, and the condition of it, evidently proves a respect had to the law, and to the righteousness of it, in his salvation. In reply to this, it may be observed, that, as has been before suggested, this will suppose, that the holy law of God has no other demand on the sinner, than that he repent-That his repentance and return to obedience are a fulfilling of the righteousness of the law. And if this, in truth be the case, nothing can be more obvious than that his being received to favor and saved, is not, and cannot be, by grace. For every one will see, that, where the righteousness of the law is so fulfilled by any one, that he is not condemned by it, no grace can be exercised toward him in his being preserved from the execution of any penalty of it. But whether the sinner's repentance and return to obedience be all the righteousness, which the law of God, in strictness, require, or not; it is manifest, that, if no other righteousness of the law be fulfilled in the penitent, than what is implied in his return to obedience, the law of God, which requires perfect obedience, and that on pain of death, is exceedingly abated, and very greatly mitigated in his case. And, if his repentance and return to obedience are the consideration on which he is

restored to the divine favor, it is very obvious, that his salvation is not by grace. On whatever ground it be supposed, that a sinner is restored to the favor of God, if it be in a way wherein God's holy and righteous displeasure with him is, in no way rendered as visible, as it would have been in the execution of the penalty of the law upon him; it is very evident, that it cannot appear he is saved by grace.

BUT, to the justness of this conclusion, it may be objected, that "Though God spare and save the sin"ner, without any regard had to any honor done his "broken law, either by an atonement made for sin, "or by the penitence of the sinner; it must, never"theless, fully appear from his holy word, that the subject of this salvation has incurred the curse; "and, consequently, that he is saved by grace."

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To this it may be replied, that, if the government God administers do not accord, in the true spirit of it with the construction we may have put on his word, we shall feel ourselves compelled to interpret his mind by the former, rather than by what we may have apprehended to be the real meaning and import of the latter. God's actual administration of government over his creatures, is the best comment on the law he has given them: For he is of one mind, and none can turn him. It must, however, be most dishonorable to God, to suppose any the least disagreement between the administration of his government, and the true spirit and import of his writter. law. Still, it is difficult to see how the supposition can be avoided, if it be admitted, that God, in any instance, receive to favor a creature, whom his word condemns, without any regard had to any honor done his broken law, as the ground of it. If God do this, we, certainly, can see no evidence of such displeasure, in the divine mind, against sin in every instance, as we had

apprehended the threatenings and curses of his word import :-And how, in such a case, we can avoid supposing that we have improperly interpreted his word, is not seen. If indeed such displeasure does exist in the divine mind, it must be uncontrovertible, that, as far as the evidence and visibility of it fail, so far there is a defect of evidence, that any favors bestowed are of grace. We see not how the Deity himself can feel that he exercises grace in the bestowment, even of the highest favors on one, whom he does not view as deserving of endless perdition. Nor, unless he exhibit, in his government, such a view of the object of his favor, can we suppose, that he requires his creatures to consider any blessings, however great, to be fruits of unmerited mercy and grace.

Ir is objected again, (if indeed it be admitted by the rejecters of the doctrine of Christ's Divinity and atonement, that any of mankind will be finally sentenced to endless punishment,) that “the punishment of some, will be a public evidence, that all deserve it; and, therefore, that the divine mind holds the per❝sonal characters of the saved in no better light, than "it does those of the damned-That the punishment "of the damned will, therefore, be a public and stand"ing evidence and proof of the estimate, which infi"nite righteousness forms of men universally :-Con"sequently, that evidence cannot he wanted, that such as are saved, are saved by grace."

In reply, it may be asked, Where is the evidence, that infinite righteousness estimates the characters and deserts of the saved in no other light, than it does those of the damned? It cannot by the supposition arise from any atonement, either made or required, for their sins, any more than for the sins of the damned. Nor can we collect this evidence from any thing said in the word of God; because the actual treat

ment, which the saved receive at the hand of God, stands in the way of any inference we can make against their characters, from any other consideration what

ever.

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Ir it be, that God pardon and save sinners absolutely, without any regard had, either to their repentance, or any atonement made by Christ as a reason or consideration on which they are received to favor; it cannot be seen, that he makes his word the rule of his government. That, the character, which we should ap prehend, from the threatenings and denunciations of his word, really belonged and was essential to him, ever appears and is acted out in his administration. On the hypothesis before us it must be manifest, that, from the word of God, we cannot be authorised to conclude, either that all mankind, or a part will be finally saved, or eternally perish.

BUT you will still object, and say, "Even on your "own hypothesis of the real Divinity of Christ the "Saviour, and of an atonement made by him for sin ; "if any sinners of mankind are saved, (as all grant "there will be,) the word must cease to be a rule of "the divine government, or to afford evidence of the "estimate, which God forms, of the characters of men. "For, even on your own plan, there is as real a disa(6 greement between the word of God and the govern"ment he actually administers, as on ours."

1. THAT, admitting the Divinity and atonement of Christ, and the application of the benefits of his righteousness to believers, it will not appear, that the word of God ceases to be the rule, by which he estimates, and by which we are to estimate the characters of men universally. Christ came into the world to saye