and are circumstanced, in the Dr's fcheme of redemption, instead of having any real tendency to render men, that are corrupt and wicked, penitent and obedient; have a strong and natural tendency to encourage and harden them in the practice of fin, and to render them more and more corrupt.

;

§. 13. BUT the Dr. is ftill of opinion, that the facrifice of the perfect obedience of Christ, as he is pleafed to call it, has a natural and ftrong tendency, in several refpects, to render men, who are corrupt and wicked, penitent and obedient; particularly, as being performed by a perfon dear to God, and of the highest dignity; as being a most aftonishing inftance of the great love of God, and of his beloved fon, to mankind and withal, as being, in itself, a perfect and admirable pattern of piety and goodness, an exhibition of the vaft worth and importance of them; and carried to the higheft pitch of perfection, through a courfe of deep humiliation, trials of all forts, the moft painful and ignominious fufferings, all iffuing, at laft, in a voluntary fubmiffion to the fhameful and violent death of the crofs, for the good of mankind".

§. 14. Now, that the perfect obedience and goodness of Jefus Chrift, as they stand

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in

See Scripture-doctrine of Atonement examined, Chap. X. §. 169, 170.

in the true Gofpel-fcheme of redemption, have, in all the respects here mentioned, a natural tendency to render finners penitent and obedient, is what the fcriptures of the New-Teftament exprefsly affirm; and, therefore, there can be no ground for any doubt or dispute about the truth of it among christians. But whether the perfect obedience and goodness of Jefus Chrift, as they ftand in the Dr's fcheme of redemption, (that is, as they are a facrifice, which is a reafon with God, for granting to finful men the hope and affurance of full and abfolute pardon, at what time foever they repent of their fins, whether it be fooner or later,) have any tendency, either in these, or in any other refpects, to render finful men penitent and obedient, is the query at prefent. I think, they have no tendency this way; because, in the circumstances mentioned, their influence upon the reformation of the hearts and lives of finners must always be defeated, over-ruled, and destroyed, by the hope they afford them, at the very time they are offending, of abfolute impunity, upon repentance, though ever fo late; which hope must always fupply a corrupt mind with encouragement to go on in the practice of fin, and to defer his repentance till fuch time as he becomes fenfible that his diffolution is at hand, and that the oppor

tunity

tunity for repentance may be forever loft, if it be not presently laid hold on.

§. 15. AGAIN, if the procurement of a full and abfolute pardon, to be granted unto finners, at what time foever they repent of their fins, whether it be sooner or later, was God's real defign in giving his dear fon to perform a perfect obedience to him, in a ftate of great humiliation, and through a courfe of the greatest trials and fufferings; and if the procurement of that pardon, was, likewife the intention of his well-beloved fon, in condescending to perform that perfect obedience, in the ftate and circumftances mentioned; then it is very evident, that the confideration of the great love of God and of Chrift, and of the dignity of the person of the latter, muft, in this affair, prove a very natural and efficacious mean, to remove from the minds of finners, at the very time they are offending, or about to offend, all fear of danger and punishment; and to ftrengthen their expectation of abfolute impunity; for it furnishes them with ground to hope that the former may be wholly avoided, and the latter effectually fecured, by a fubfequent repentance, at any time performed. This hope, thus raised, muft, of neceffity, fupply finners with reafon to think, that prefent finning is very confiftent with future fafety and happinefs; and that it will always be confiftent

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with

with them, as long as there is any time left for repentance: And about this last, they will have no fear, while their bodies remain in health and vigour, and death appears to be at a distance; confequently, it must, all that while, conduce to fix in them a light opinion of the malignity and danger of fin, and of God's abhorrence of it; and to ren der them eafy and undisturbed in the very commiffion of it. Thus it appears, that the love of God and of Chrift, and the dignity of the perfon of the latter, confidered in relation to the end to which they are made fubfervient in the Dr's fcheme of redemption, have a real tendency, not to render finners penitent and obedient, but to encourage and harden them in a wicked course of life, and to corrupt them more and more, at leaft, as long as they enjoy health of body, and are not apprehenfive of the near approach of death.

§. 16. 'Tis true, the life of Jefus exhi bits a moft confummate pattern of piety and goodness, and a view of the vast worth and importance of them. It gives us fuch a full, fair, and amiable view of thefe, as cannot but greatly affect, move, and influence all uncorrupted and ingenuous minds; yea, corrupted minds, in fome measure, if it is but placed in a due light, and has not its influence obftructed by interpofing objects, and improper circumftances.

But

if this very pattern of piety and goodnefs, and exhibition of the vaft worth and importance of them, are to be confidered, by men of corrupt and wicked minds, as a reafon with God for granting to them a full and abfolute pardon of their fins, at what time foever they repent of them, whether it be fooner or later; I cannot fee, that they can have any influence at all, to render them penitent and obedient, before they are alarmed with the fear of the near approach of death. The minds of corrupt men are blind to the beauty and importance, of piety and goodnefs; yea, have a real averfion and difrelifh towards them; and are carried, by ftrong, predominant affections and paffions, after contrary objects. The more perfect any pattern of this kind is in itself, the more difguftful is it to them: and if it fhould be fet by a being of fuperiour mental perfection and ability, this would only difcourage them from effaying to copy it over in their behaviour, as think ing it much too perfect for being imitated by creatures fo weak, and fo much inferior, as they are. In a word, fuch corrupt crea tures could not enter upon the imitation of fuch a perfect pattern of piety and goodness without great difficulty, and offering violence to their most prevailing appetites and paffions: nor, indeed, could they have any fufficient reafon, or motive, to determine

them