I RECEIVED yours with pleasure. It is quite agreeable to me to supply, as well as may be, the defect of personal intercourse by a free and friendly correspondence. Your thirst after truth is pleasing. Would to God we were all more of that temper which seeks for wisdom with the ardour of those who dig for hidden treasures! I intend it not as a mere compliment, when I say, that you have stated your objections to the doctrine of total depravity, in as plausible a manner as I ever recollect to have seen them. I will endeavour to give them all the weight they possess.

The point in dispute between us, you will observe, is, Whether an unregenerate sinner can be said to perform any part of his duty, or to obtain in any measure the approbation of his Maker? And I hope you will consider that this is, for substance, the same thing as, Whether the carnal mind be wholly enmity against God, or whether it be in any measure subject to the law of God, or indeed can be? You allow, I think, that whatever excellencies such characters possess, the love of God is not in them, no, not in any degree. Their amiable qualities therefore, be they what they may, must be something quite distinct from love, or any of its operations. But, as love is the fulfilling of the law, it must comprehend the whole of moral excellence; and consequently there can be po moral excellence in the sight of God without it.

You first reason from the cases of Ahab, the Ninevites, the young man whom our Lord is said to have loved, and the scribe who was declared to be not far from the kingdom of heaven. In answer to which I would observe. Though the great God knoweth the secrets of all hearts, yet in the government of the world he does not always proceed upon this principle. He has sometimes thought fit to reward men for their actions, not because he approved of them as actions of theirs, but merely because they tended to subserve his own great and wise designs. God rewarded Nebuchadnezzar for his long siege against Tyre, by giving him the land of Egypt; yet Nebuchadnezzar did nothing in this undertaking which in its own nature could approve itself to God. The only reason why he was thus rewarded was, that what he had done subserved the divine purposes in punishing Tyre for her insulting treatment towards the people of God.* God also rewarded Cyrus with the treasures of Babylon, the hidden riches of secret places, as they are called ;† not because Cyrus did any thing that was pleasing in his sight; his motive was the lust of dominion: but because what he did, effected the deliverance of Judah, and fulfilled the divine predictions upon Babylon.

And as, in the great system of the divine government, actions may be rewarded which have no appearance of innate goodness; so others may be rewarded which have such an appearance, even though it be nothing but appearance. God does not always avail himself of his omniscience, if I may so speak; but proceeds upon the supposition that men are what they profess and appear to be. The end of Jehovah in punishing the person and the house of Ahab, was to make manifest his displeasure against their idolatries. But if, when Ahab humbled himself, and rent his garments, God had proceeded towards him on the ground of his omniscience; and, knowing him to be destitute of sincerity, had made no difference in his treatment of him, that end would not have been answered. For, whatever might be Ahab's motives, they were unknown to men and if no difference had appeared in the divine treatment, they would have concluded that it was vain to + Isaiah xlv. 3.

* Ezek. xxvi. 1-7. xxix. 17-20.

serve God. It seemed good therefore to him, in the present life, to treat Ahab upon the supposition of his being sincere and as to his insincerity, he will call him to account for that another day. There is a case much resembling this of Ahab, in the history of Abijah; the son of Rehoboam. In 2 Chron. xiii. we read of his

wars with Jeroboam the son of Nebat, king of Israel, and how he addressed the apostate Israelites previously to the battle. Having reproached them with forsaking the God of their fathers, and turning to idolatry, he adds, But as for us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken him: and the priests which minister unto Jehovah are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business: and they bring unto Jehovah, every morning and every evening, burnt sacrifices and sweet incense: the shew-bread also set they in order upon the pure table, and the candlestick of gold, with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of Jehovah our God; but ye have forsaken him. And behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O ye children of Israel, fight ye not against Jehovah, God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper! To all appearance this prince was zealous for Jehovah, God of Israel; and one might suppose that the signal victory given him over Jeroboam was an expression of divine approbation: but if we turn to the account given of the same reign, in 1 Kings xv. we shall find that this Abijah, (or bijam, as he is there called,) was a wicked prince ; that, notwithstanding his boasting language when addressing Israel, he walked in all the sins of his father; and that although God gave him a signal victory over the idolatrous Israelites, yet it was not for his sake, or out of regard to any thing he did; but for David's sake, and for the establishment of Jerusalem. His attachment to Jehovah was nothing better than pharisaical formality; and his boastings of the state of things in Judah were no better than the swellings of spiritual pride: but God proceeded with him, not according to his principles, but according to his professions. His hypocrisy was known to God; and he will appear to take cognizance of it in the day when he shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ.

Much the same things might be observed concerning the Ninevites. There might be many true penitents among them, for ought we know; but whether holy love or slavish fear was their motive, they professed and appeared to be humbled, and discovered all the apparent fruits of repentance; and as such it was manifestly an instance of divine wisdom, as tending to do honour to his own government in the eyes of surrounding nations, to proceed with them upon the supposition of their repentance being sincere. The confessions and humiliations of Pharaoh likewise were repeatedly followed by the removal of those judgments which appalled his proud spirit, and so occasioned them; yet few will attribute goodness to Pharaoh. Not only the Divine Being, but Moses himself saw his insincerity, and bid him glory over him. God however would remove the judgment when he made confession, let his motives be what they might, and even though he might laugh to himself for having imposed upon Moses so far as to gain his point.

The young man who came to Christ, appears to have been a conceited pharisee, who loved the present world, and not God; and is represented by our Lord as being as far from entering into the kingdom of heaven, as a camel was from passing through the eye of a needle. The only difficulty arises from its being said, that the Lord beheld him, and loved him; which may seem to imply at least a partial approbation of his character. But to this it may be answered: Our Lord was at this time acting in the character of a preacher, or instructor of men. His feelings towards the young man in question were much the same as ours would have been, had we been possessed of true benevolence, and in the same circumstances. Let the best man that ever existed be addressed in this manner; let him behold a poor self-deceived youth, flattered by all around him for his seeming virtue, and flattering himself with the hopes of heaven, while in reality he is a slave to the present world; and let him, if he can, forbear to feel towards him like our Lord. He would tell him the truth, though it should send him away sad and grieved; but his heart would at the same time melt in compassion to his poor deluded soul. But this would imply no more of an approbation of his spirit or conduct than was

included in our Lord's looking upon Jerusalem and weeping over

it.

As to the scribe, who answered our Lord discreetly, and was assured that he was not far from the kingdom of God, read the pas sage, (Mark xii. 28-34.) and you will perceive that it was not in relation to his spirit or conduct that our Lord spake, for not a word is recorded of either; but merely of his confession of faith: That the love of God and man was of more account than whole burnt-offerings or sacrifices. This doctrine was so true, and contained so much of the spirit of the gospel dispensation, that our Lord very properly assured this discreet inquirer, that he was not far from the kingdom of God; that is, that the principles which he had avowed, if truly imbibed and properly pursued, would lead him into the very heart of Christianity.

The remainder of your objections I must take another opportunity to answer; and at present subscribe myself Your affectionate friend,

GAIUS.