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ten, there is none righteous, no not one.' 'Man is born as the wild asses colt, going astray from the womb.' Job. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; I the Lord search it.'. Having the understanding darkened, alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in us, because of the blindness of our hearts.' Ephesians iv. 18. • Dead in trespasses and sins' Chapter ii. 1. Presupposes, that this chapter may be addressed to you, Juliet, by name. "You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience ; among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh, and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he hath loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By Grace are ye saved through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast.' Works there are, my Juliet, most assuredly; every quickened soul will live, and bring forth fruits of righteousness.; but these works are not attainable but in God's way and order. It follows, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them.' My Juliet says, "To you then I look up to teach me." Let me then bring you to the great Teacher and Prophet of the Church, without whose teaching all human instruction will be ineffectual. We read of two amiable characters coming to Christ, professedly for instruction. The first you will find in Matthew xix. 16. The young man asks him, 'What good thing shall I do, that I may inherit eternal life?' Jesus answers him, by referring him to the moral law; the young man, not made acquainted, by the Spirit of God, either with the extent or spirituality of that law, or of the depravity of his own nature, answers, as many in like circumstances still do: All these things have I kept from my youth up.' I do not suppose any one could contradict him. It is added

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teacher.

that Jesus loved him, and he was a loveable character; but Jesus knew that the true principle was not there→→→→ supreme love to God, with all the heart, with all the soul, with all the strength, and with all the mind :' therefore he gave him a test which proved that the world was uppermost in his heart. He went away sorrowful, and we hear no more of him. The other character you will find in that remarkable chapter, the third of John's Gospel-Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, and also a Well knew he the law, as to the letter of it, both moral and ceremonial; he must also have been ac quainted with all the old Testament Scripture, types, and prophecies, it being his office to expound; and no doubt, among others, was looking for the promised Messiah. Jesus does not send him to either the law or the prophets. This ruler comes with a conviction and an acknowledgment, that Jesus himself was a teacher immediately from God; and Jesus immediately takes upon himself his great office, and begins with that which is a sinner's first business: to know himself,' what he is by nature, and the necessity of the new birth. Nicodemus, with all his learning, was a stranger to this doctrine : 'How can a man be born when he is old?' Jesus repeats his doctrine, He must be born of water and the Spirit;' baptized with water and the Holy Ghost. • That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Marvel not that I said unto you, ye must be born again.' Humble that proud reason that will believe nothing but what it can understand. < The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit'a mystery it is; nevertheless, it is true. Follow out the chapter, my dear. Jesus preaches his own Gospel, and brings in that beautiful type, the serpent, which He had commanded to be raised on a pole, that those who had been bitten with fiery serpents, whose bite was death, should look upon it and be healed. Read it my dear, in the 21st of Numbers: and in reference to this, He himself says, 'Look unto me all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved.' Except a man be born again, he can

not see the kingdom of God. Quickened, renewed in the spirit of his mind, old things pass away, and all things become new: new principles, new desires, new pleasures, new ends. The work is God's. The whole plan of Redemption is his, from first to last. It is clearly revealed in Scripture, and there is no dispute among Christians concerning it. The fall of man, his corruption and depravity; his state under the curse of a broken Covenant, and his exposure to eternal misery; his helplessness and total inability to return to God; his ignorance of his situation-dead in trespasses and sins, without God and without hope in the world:' this is his situation by nature. But there is good news proclaimed; ' God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, to become the Surety of lost sinners.' He took our nature upon him, our sins upon him, our duties upon him; he was placed in our law, room, and stead; sustained the penalty of the broken law; fulfilled its utmost demands ; redeemed us; gave us a new Covenant, of which himself is the Surety and there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. The merits of Christ, exclusive of any thing of ours, is the sole foundation of our hope. Christ is set forth, in Scripture, as the atonement, the propitiation for sins, the one Sacrifice for sin Christ is the end of the law for righteousness: all is made ours by free gift. 1 John v. 11. All is ready, justice satisfied, God reconciled, peace proclaimed. But what is all this, to a thoughtless world, insensible of their situation, danger, and need? It is an awful saying, but it is of the Holy Ghost- if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded their minds, and darkened their understandings, and hardened their hearts,' &c. Therefore the application of this grace is also of God; it is all within his plan-He has appointed means, and commanded our diligence in the use of them. We have his Bible in our hands, his ministers in our churches, who are also pas tors and teachers, if we apply for their aid in private we have a throne of grace to go to, and many great and precious promises held up in God's word for us to emZ

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brace and plead for Christ's sake: we have many prayers in the Scriptures which we may adopt.

I acknowledge we are still dependant for the effect ; that must be from God himself. But he does honour his own ordinances. He puts forth his power, and convinces of sin: this is his first work. The soul is awakened, aroused, convinced of sin and misery; sins of the heart, sins of the tongue, sins of the life, press upon the conscience, which never disturbed before; mispent time, wasted talents, lost opportunities, neglect of God's word and ordinances, so that the soul cannot rest. O, my Juliet, this is a hopeful case. I hope you have experienced something of this. It is one of the surest marks of the operation of the Spirit of God, and a prelude to the new birth. It never takes place without it, for the whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.' Only the weary and heavy laden will prize rest, and Christ is the rest they need only a convinced sinner will or can prize the Saviour, and now the Lord opens his mind to understand the scriptures. He sees the provision which God has made for ruined sinners, by providing a substitute to stand in his room; he perceives how God can be just and justify the sinner who takes shelter in Jesus; he falls in with God's gracious plan; receives the Lord Jesus as God's gift to sinners; trusts entirely in his merit for pardon, peace, reconciliation, and eternal life; resigns his soul into the hands of his Saviour, in the faith that he will save it, and devotes himself unreservedly to his service, in the faith that he will give him grace to live to him in all holy obedience. Now, and not till now, according to God's promise, he receives power to become his child; this is God's order. John i. 12. Now he receives life and begins to live; but there is yet a great work before him. It hath pleased God in his plan to finish at once a justifying righteousness; it is his own work, and was finished in that awful hour when he announced it in his last words on the cross. John xix. 30. To this nothing of ours is to be addedwith this nothing of ours mixt; it is for ever perfect--it is God's gift; it is made ours by imputation in the hour when we first believe, receive it, rest our souls upon it.'

But it hath not pleased God in this plan to deliver the believer at once from indwelling sin. This is the subject of the Christian warfare, the race, the good fight, &c. Now the believer receives life, and is called to work. 'Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do.' All the promises in this blessed Bible are his-they are yea and amen in Christ; Christ himself is his; his Spirit dwells in him. The believer is united to Jesus by as real an union as the branch to the vine, the members with the head, the building with the foundation. Yet sin dwelleth in him, and is to be expunged by constant applications to Christ in prayer by means of watching, striving, fighting; fighting under his banner. In his blessed word we are informed where our strength lies, what are our weapons. what our armour. But what can I say on those subjects? the whole word of God is on the subject of redemption the whole labours of Christ's ministers, and the whole dispensation of God's providence. Are these things so? My Juliet, this is not the doctrine of any one church. About these subjects there is no dispute. Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Baptists, Independents, all agree in these great things. And are these things so indeed? O, my Juliet, where is the time to be spared for plays, assemblies, and such numerous idle parties of various descriptions? I must stop; the subject is great, and we have many excellent treatises on the various parts of it by able pious men. It would be improper to crowd it thus into a letter, unless to instigate to further investigation.

Farewell! I ever am, my dear Juliet, yours affection. ately, I. GRAHAM.

1040

TO MISS VAN WYCK, New-York.

MY DEAR, MY BELOVED ELIZA,

Rockaway, 1810.

MR. and Mrs. B. are here on a visit for one night. I did not expect to see them so soon, or I would have had a letter ready. I expect another opportunity in the

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