You fay, p. 40, "that the utmost I will allow CHRIST to have done for finners, is, that he has obtained for them a poffibility of falvation; but their being made partakers of that falvation, and being brought into poffeffion of it, muft depend on themselves."

Upon this fubject I fay, what has been already faid under the foregoing comment on the ninth and tenth articles, that CHRIST in his mediatorial character took off the condemnation laying upon our fpecies, redeeming fallen man from the curfe of the law, and placing him in a state of grace and acceptance with GOD; in which state he vouchfafes to him the affistance of his Holy Spirit, to enable him, by working out his falvation, to make his calling and election fure. JESUS CHRIST, in his character of Saviour, has done two things for fallen man-he has removed an incapacity, and furnished a capacity for falvation. He has not only taken away the hand-writing that was against us, but has moreover provided means for the renewal of our fallen nature, on the proper ufe of which our final falvation depends. From whence it follows, that though the salvation of fallen man, wherever it takes place, is an act of free grace on the part of GOD; yet the certainty of that falvation depends, in fome degree, on the use which man

makes of those means of grace, which have been vouchfafed for the purpose of securing it. "Every man (fays Bishop TAYLOR) walks upon two legs; one is firm, invariable, conftant, and eternal, but the other is his own. GOD's promises are the object of our faith; but the events and final conditions of our fouls, which is confequent to our duty, can, at best, be but objects of our hope. And either there must in this be a lefs certainty, or else faith and hope are not two distinct graces. God's gifts and vocation

are without repentance;

meaning on God's part: but the very people, concerning whom ST. PAUL ufed the expreffion, were reprobate and cut off, and in good time shall be called again; in the mean time, many fingle perfons perifh. "There is no condemnation to them that are in CHRIST JESUS:" GOD will look to that, and it will never fail; but then they must secure the following period, and "not walk after the flesh, but after the spirit." "Behold the goodness of GOD towards thee (faith ST. PAUL to the Gentile, in having called thee out of thy ftate of nature into a state of grace under the Gospel;) if thou continue in his goodness, (by walking worthy of thy Christian calling;) otherwise thou shalt be cut off." And if this be true, concerning the whole

church of the Gentiles, to whom the Apostles then made the address, and concerning whofe election the decree was public and manifeft, that they might be cut off; and their abode in God's favour was upon condition of their perfeverance in the faith; much more is it true in fingle perfons, whofe election in particular is fhut up in the abyfs, and permitted to the condition of our faith, and the revelations of doomsday." TAYLOR's Life of CHRIST, p. 400.

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Every one (you fay, in page 40) who is taught of GOD, by the illumination of the spirit, that in the fefb dwelleth no good thing; (in other words, that fallen man is naturally inclined to evil, and has in himself no power to do good works;) is thoroughly convinced that fuch a poffibility of falvation must end in an impoffibility of falvation; by putting man in a much worse state under the new covenant of grace, than he was when under the old covenant of works. As faith and repentance are more out of the reach of men fallen, than perfect unfinning obedience was of man in innocence,

I may not, perhaps, rightly understand you; fhould I therefore, Sir, mifinterpret your meaning in the foregoing paffage, you will give me credit, I truft, for no wilful defign in fo doing,

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The "old covenant of works," and the "new covenant of grace," is common language, and as fuch generally received. But on examination it will be found not strictly correct. If by the "covenant of works" is to be understood (as from the contrast here drawn between that and the "new covenant of grace,” the reader is led to conclude) a covenant, in confequence of which man had it in his power by his own works to acquire a right to immortality, it does not appear that any fuch covenant ever existed. "The wages of fin was death, but eternal life was the gift of GOD" from the beginning, and fo has continued to be under every difpenfation. By this free gift being originally fufpended on the condition of man's not eating of the forbidden tree, it became, on the part of GOD, a covenant of grace. Man under this covenant was man in innocence invested with powers, which doubtlefs rendered him capable of acting up to the condition required for the fecurity of the ftipulated reward.* In the experiment,

* That fuch was the light in which this subject was seen in the primitive church, the reader will fee abundantly proved in a learned discourse "concerning the firft Covenant," by Bishop BULL. For my own reference to which, and my consequent more perfect information on this fubject, I confider myself much indebted to the able Reviewer of the "Appendix to the Guide," in the British Critic for March 1800; to whom I thus publicly make my acknowledgment.

however, man fell; and with that fall this first covenant, or rather difpenfation of grace, expired. A different plan of falvation was then revealed, and man in a fallen ftate placed under a new covenant Under this covenant man as a fallen

of grace.

creature, no longer poffeffed of thofe fupernatural powers which originally distinguished him as "created after the image of GOD," is become, ftrictly fpeaking, incapable of performing any thing available to falvation. Should he, therefore, depend upon himself, faith, repentance, and obedience, which are required of him under the new covenant, will be entirely out of his reach. But as faith, repentance, and obedience are the work of the Spirit in the human heart, they are therefore within the reach of fallen redeemed man, provided he do not refift the work of the Spirit. The grace of GoD, which bringeth falvation, will be fufficient to prepare man for it, if man be not wanting to himself on the occafion.

In what you fay, refpecting the old covenant being all of works, and the fecond all of grace, though the language, as it has been juft obferved, is incorrect, yet so far as it refpects the new covenant of grace, our fentiments, I flatter myself, will not be found widely different. The new covenant in CHRIST is