nality in the very hearts of all God's people. We are fully persuaded, my dear brethren, that we should wrong you, if we did not acknowledge that many of you have a sincere desire to be saved by Christ into all purity of heart and life; and with regard to such imperfectionists, our chief complaint is, that their desire is "not according to knowledge."

If others of you, of a different stamp, should laugh at these pages; and (still producing banter instead of argument) should continue to say, "Where are your perfect Christians? Show us but one and we will believe your doctrine of perfection;" I shall just put them in mind of St. Peter's awful prophecy: "Know this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own [indwelling] lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his spiritual coming [to make an end of sin, thoroughly to purge his floor, and to burn the chaff with unquenchable fire?] For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning" all believers are still carnal and sold under sin as well as father Paul. And if such mockers continue to display their prejudice by such taunts, I shall take the liberty to show them their own picture, by pointing at those prejudiced professors of old, who said concerning the most perfect of all the perfect, "What sign showest thou, that we may receive thy doctrine? Come down from the cross, and we will believe." O the folly and danger of such scoffs! "Blessed is he that sitteth not in the seat of the scornful," and maketh much of them "that fear the Lord." Yea, he is blessed next to them "that are undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord, keep his testimonies, and seek him with their whole heart," Psa. cxix, 1, 2.

Should ye ask, "To what purpose do you make all this ado about Christian perfection? Do those who maintain this doctrine live more holy and useful lives than other believers?" I answer :

1. Every thing being equal, they undoubtedly do, if they hold not the truth in unrighteousness; for the best principles, when they are cordially embraced, will always produce the best practices. But alas! too many merely contend for Christian perfection in a speculative, systematical manner. They recommend it to others with their lips, as a point of doctrine which makes a part of their religious system; instead of following after it with their hearts, as a blessing which they must attain, if they will not be found as unprepared for judgment as the foolish virgins. These perfectionists are, so far, hypocrites; nor should their fatal inconsistency make us to despise the truth which they contend for, any more than the conduct of thousands, who contend for the truth of the Scriptures, while they live in full opposition to the Scriptures, ought to make us despise the Bible.

2. On the other hand, some gracious persons, (like the pious and inconsistent Antinomians, whom I have described in the preceding Checks,) speak against Christian perfection with their lips, but cannot help following hard after it with their hearts; and while they do so, they sometimes attain the thing, although they continue to quarrel with the name. These perfect imperfectionists undoubtedly adorn the Gospel of Christ far more than the imperfect, hypocritical perfectionists whom I have just described; and God, who looks at the simplicity of the heart more than at the consistency of the judgment, pities their mistakes and accepts their works.

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But, (3.) Some there are, who both maintain doctrinally and prac tically the necessity of a perfect devotedness of ourselves to God. They hold the truth, and they hold it in wisdom and righteousness; their tempers and conduct enforce it, as well as their words and profession. And, on this account, they have a great advantage over the two preceding classes of professors. Reason and revelation jointly crown the orthodoxy and faithfulness of these perfect perfectionists, who neither strengthen the hands of the wicked, nor excite the wonder of the judicious, by ab surdly pleading for indwelling sin with their lips, while they strive to work righteousness with their hands and hearts. If ye candidly weigh this threefold distinction, I doubt not but ye will blame the irrational inconsistency of holy imperfectionists, condemn the immoral inconsistency of unholy perfectionists, and agree with me, that the most excellent Christian is a consistent, holy perfectionist."

And now, my dear, mistaken brethren, take in good part these plain solutions, expostulations, and reproofs; and give glory to God, by believing that he can and will yet save you to the uttermost from your evil tempers, if ye humbly come to him by Christ. Day and night ask of him the new heart, which "keeps the commandments;" and when ye shall have received it, if you keep it with all diligence, sin shall no more pollute it, than it polluted our Lord's soul, when he said, "If yè keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." Burn, in the meantime, the unhallowed pens, and bridle the rash tongues, with which ye have pleaded for the continuance of sin till death. Honour us with the right hand of fellowship; and like reconciled brethren let us at every opportunity lovingly fall upon our knees together, to implore the help of Him, who "can do far exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." Nor let us give him any rest, till he has perfected all, our souls in "the charity which rejoiceth in the truth" without prejudice, in the obedience which keeps the commandments without reserve, and in the perseverance which finds that " in keeping of them there is great reward." Nothing but such a conduct as this can remove the stumbling blocks, which the contentions ye breed have laid in the way of a Deistical world. When the men, whom your mistakes have hardened, shall see that you listen to Scripture and reason, who knows but their prejudices may subside, and some of them may yet say, "See the good which arises from friendly controversy! See how these Christians desire to be perfected in one! They now understand one another. Babylonish confusion is at an end; evangelical truth prevails; and love, the most delicious fruit of truth, visibly grows to Christian perfection." God grant that, through the concurrence of your candour, this may soon be the language of all those whom the bigotry of professors has confirmed in their prejudices against Christianity.

Should this plain address so far influence you, my dear brethren, as to abate the force of your aversion to the doctrine of pure love, or to stagger your unaccountable faith in a death purgatory; and should you seriously ask which is the way to Christian perfection, I entreat you to pass on to the next section, where, I hope, you will find a Scriptural answer to some important questions, which, I trust, a few of you are by this time ready to propose.

SECTION XIX.

An address to imperfect believers, who cordially embrace the doctrine of Christian perfection.

YOUR regard for Scripture and reason, and your desire to answer the ends of God's predestination, " by being conformed to the image of his Son," have happily kept or reclaimed you from the Antinomianism exposed in these sheets.

Ye see the absolute necessity of personally "fulfilling the law of Christ;" your bosom glows with desire to "perfect holiness in the fear of God;" and, far from blushing to be called perfectionists, ye openly assert that a perfect faith, productive of perfect love to God and man, is the pearl of great price, for which you are determined to sell all, and which (next to Christ) you will seek early and late, as the one thing needful for your spiritual and eternal welfare. Some directions, therefore, about the manner of seeking this pearl, cannot but be acceptable to you, if they are Scriptural and rational; and such, I humbly trust, are those which follow :

1. First, if ye would attain an evangelically sinless perfection, let your full assent to the truth of that deep doctrine firmly stand upon the evangelical foundation of a precept and a promise. A precept without a promise would not sufficiently animate you; nor would a promise without a precept properly bind you; but a Divine precept and a Divine promise form an unshaken foundation. Let then your faith deliberately rest her right foot upon these precepts :

"Hear, O Israel-thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might, Deut. vi, 5. Thou shalt not hate thy neighbour in thy heart. Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people: but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. I am the Lord. Ye shall keep my statutes, Lev. xix, 17, 18. And now, Israel, what docs the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord God, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good, &e? Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff necked, Deut. x, 12, &c. Serve God with a perfect heart, and a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth the imaginations of the thoughts," 1 Chron. xxviii, 9.

Should unbelief suggest that these are only Old Testament injunctions, trample upon the false suggestion, and rest the same foot of your faith upon the following New Testament precepts:-"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I say unto you, Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; ao good to them that hate you, &c, that ye may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, &c. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect, Matt. v, 17, 44, &c. If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments, Matt. xix, 17. Bear ye one another's

burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ, Gal. vi, 2. This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you, John xv, 12. He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law: for this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, &c. Thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill, &c, therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law, Rom. xiii, 8, 10. This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God, love his brother also, 1 John iv, 21. If ye fulfil the royal law, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well. But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors, James ii, 8, 9. Circumcision is nothing, uncircumcision is nothing [comparatively speaking;] but [under Christ] the keeping of the commandments of God [is the one thing needful,] 1 Cor. vii, 19. For the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned, 1 Tim. i, 5. Though I have all faith, &c, and have not charity, I am nothing, 1 Cor. xiii, 2. Whosoever shall keep the whole law [of liberty] and yet offend in one point [in uncharitable respect of persons] he is guilty of all, &c. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty," [which requires perfect love, and therefore makes no allowance for the least degree of uncharitableness,] James ii, 10, 12. When the right foot of your faith stands on these evangelical precepts and proclamations, lest she should stagger for want of a promise every way adequate to such weighty commandments, let her place her left foot upon the following promises, which are extracted from the Old Testament: "The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, Deut. xxx, 6. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, [in a new and peculiar manner,] for they shall return unto me with their whole heart. This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people, Jer. xxiv, 7; xxxi, 33. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you: a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them,” Ezek. xxxvi, 25–27.

And let nobody suppose that the promises of the circumcision of the heart, the cleansing, the clean water, and the Spirit, which are mentioned in these scriptures, and by which the hearts of believers are to be made new, and God's law is to be so written therein, that they shall "keep his judgments and do them;" let none, I say, suppose that these glorious promises belong only to the Jews; for their full accomplishment peculiarly refers to the Christian dispensation. Beside, if sprinklings of the Spirit were sufficient, under the Jewish dispensation, to raise the plant of Jewish perfection in Jewish believers, how much more will the revelation of "the horn of our salvation," and the outpourings of the Spirit, raise the plant of Christian perfection in faithful, Christian believers!

And that this revelation of Christ in the Spirit as well as in the flesh, these effusions of the water of life, these baptisms of fire which burn up the chaff of sin, thoroughly purge God's spiritual floor, save us from all our uncleanness, and deliver us from all our enemies; that these blessings, I say, are peculiarly promised to Christians, is demonstrable by the following cloud of New Testament declarations and promises :

"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath raised up a horn of salvation for us, as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, -that we, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him without [unbelieving] fear, [that is, with perfect love,] in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life, Luke i, 68, 75. Blessed are the poor in spirit, who thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled, Matt. v, 3, 6. If thou knewest the gift of God, &c, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water: and the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life, John iv, 10, 14. Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. He that believeth on me, [when I shall have ascended up on high to receive gifts for men,] out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, [to cleanse his soul, and keep it clean.] But this he spake of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, [in such a manner as to raise the plant of Christian perfection,] because Jesus was not yet glorified," [and his spiritual dispensation was not yet fully opened,]. John vii, 37, &c. Mr. Wesley, in his Plain Account of Christian Perfection, has published some excellent queries, and proposed them to those who deny perfection to be attainable in this life. They are close to the point, and therefore the two first attack the imperfectionists from the very ground on which I want you to stand. They run thus: " (1.) Has there not been a larger measure of the Holy Spirit given under the Gospel than under the Jewish dispensation? If not, in what sense was the Spirit not given before Christ was glorified? John vii, 39. (2.) Was that glory which followed the sufferings of Christ, 1 Peter i, 11, an external glory, or an internal, viz. the glory of holiness?" Always rest the doctrine of Christian perfection on this Scriptural foundation, and it will stand as firm as revelation itself.

It is allowed on all sides that the dispensation of John the Baptist exceeded that of the other prophets, because it immediately introduced the Gospel of Christ, and because John was not only appointed to "preach the baptism of repentance," but also clearly to point out the very person of Christ, and to give knowledge of salvation to God's people by the remission of sins, Luke i, 77; and nevertheless, John only promised the blessing of the Spirit, which Christ bestowed when he had received gifts for men. "I indeed," said John, "baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I,-he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire," Matt. iii, 44. Such is the importance of this promise, that it is particularly recorded not only by the three other evangelists, see Mark i, 8; Luke iii, 16; and John i, 26, but also by our Lord himself, who said just before his ascension, "John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence," Acts i, 5.