fuffer me to be carried about with every wind of doctrine by the flight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. And whatsoever my hand findeth to do, help me to do it with all my might; not only left I lose my reward, but also left I have not a full reward; left I lose a beam of the light of thy countenance, or a degree of that peculiar likeness and nearness to thee, with which thou wilt recompenfe thofe, who excel in virtue. So fhall I equally avoid the delufion of the pharifees, who expect heaven thro' their faithless works; and the error of the antinomians, who hope to enter into thy glory without the paffport of the works of faith."

And now, Lord, if thy fervant has found favour in thy fight, permit him to urge another request : fo far as thy wisdom, and the laws, by which thy free grace works upon free agents, will permit ; incline the minds of papifts and proteftants to receive the truth as it is in Jefus. Let not especially this plain teftimony borne to the many great promijes which thou haft made, and to the astonishing REWARDS which thou offereft them that work righte⚫oufness, be rejected by my Calvinift brethren. Keep them from fighting against thy goodness, and defpifing their own mercies, under pretence of fighting against "Arminian errors," and defpifing " Pelagian Checks to the gospel." And make them fenfible, that it is abfurd, to decry in word the Pope's pretenfions to infallibility, if by an obftinate refufal to "review the whole affair," and to weigh their fuppofed orthodoxy in the balances of reafon and revelation, they in fact pretend to be infallible themfelves; and thus, instead of one catholic pontiff, fet up ten thousand proteftant popes.'

Thou knoweft, Lord, that many of them love thee; and that, tho' they difgrace thy gofpel by their doctrinal peculiarities, they adorn it by their godly converfation, O endue them with more love to their remonftrant brethren! Give them and me that charity which behaveth not itself unfeemly, which rejoiceth

rejoiceth not in a favourite error, but rejoiceth in the truth, even when it is advanced by our opponents. Thou feeft, that if they decry true holiness and good works as "dung and drofs," it is chiefly for fear thy glory fhould be obfcured by our obedience. Error

transformed into an angel of light has deceived them and they think to do thee fervice by propagating the deception. O gracious God, pardon them this wrong. They do it ignorantly in unbelief; • therefore feal not up their mistake with the feal of thy wrath Let them yet know the truth, and let the truth enlarge their hearts, and make them free from the notion, that thou art not loving to every man during the day of Salvation; and that there is neither mercy nor Saviour for most of their neighbours, even during the accepted time.

Above all, Lord, if they cannot defend their miftakes, either by argument or by fcripture quoted according to the context, and the obvious tenour of thy facred oracles; give them more wisdom, than to expofe any longer the proteftant religion, which they think to defend; and more piety, than to make the men of the world abhor thy gofpel, and blaspheme thy name, as free-thinkers are daily tempted to do, when they fee, that thofe, who pretend to "exalt thee" moft, are of all proteftants the most ready to difarm thy gospel of its fanctions; to turn thy judicial fentences into frivolous defcriptions; to overlook the dictates of reafon, and good nature; and to make the prefs groan under illogical affertions, and perfonal abufe!'

Let thy fervant speak once more: Thou knoweft, O Lord, that, thy power being my helper, I would chufe to die rather than wilfully to depreciate that grace, that free grace of thine, which has fo long kept me out of hell, and daily gives me fweet fore• tastes of heaven. And now, Lord, let not readers of a pharifaic turn, mistake what I have advanced in honour of the works of faith, and by that means ⚫ build themselves up in their felf-righteous delufion,

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and destructive contempt of thy merits: Help them to confider, that if our works are rewardable, it is because thy free grace makes them fo; thy Father having mercifully accepted our perfons for thy fake, thy holy spirit having gently helped our infirmities, thy precious blood having fully atoned for our fins and imperfections, thy inceffant interceffion ftill keeping the way to the throne of grace open for us, and our poor performances. Suffer not one of the fons of virtuous pride, into whofe hands these sheets may fall, to forget that thou haft annexed the reward of the inheritance to the assemblage of the works of faith, or to patient continuance in well doing, and not to one or two fplendid works of hypocrisy, done just to ferve a worldly turn, or to bribe a disturbed clamorous confcience: And enable them fo to feel the need of thy pardon for paft tranfgreffions, and of thy power for future obedience, that, as the chafed hart panteth after the water-brooks, fo their awakened fouls may long after Chrift, in whom the penitent find inexhauftible fprings of righteoufnefs and ftrength; and to whom, with thee, and thy eternal Spirit, be for ever afcribed praise, honour, and glory both in heaven and upon earth-PRAISE, for the wonders of general redemption, and for the innumerable difplays of thy Free-grace unftained by Free-wrath HONOUR, for bestowing the gracious reward of an heavenly falvation upon all believers, that make their election fure by patient continuance ⚫ in well-DOING and GLORY for inflicting the just punishment of infernal damnation upon all that neglect fo great falvation, and to the end of the accepted time dare thy vengeance by obstinate conti" nxance in ill-pOING.'

END OF THE SCRIPTURAL ESSAY,

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APPEN

APPENDIX.

Madeley, March 11, 1774.

ESTERDAY a friend lent me Mr. Baxter's Confeffion of Faith, printed in London 1655. The third part of this valuable book extends thro' above 140 large pages, and the title of that long section runs thus: The teftimony of reformed divines afcribing as much to WORKS as Ĩ: and many of them delivering the fame doctrine. He produces an hundred witneffes, fome of whom are collective bodies, fuch as the AsSembly-divines, the compilers of the Homilies of the Church of England, and even the Synod of Dort. Aș the antinomian fpirit which flamed against Baxter's works in the last century, will probably fparkle against the preceding Effay, I beg leave to fhelter behind that great man, and a few of his numerous quotations. I fhall cite only Baxter's page, to which 1 refer those who defire to fee the original of his Latin quotations, together with the books, chapters, and pages of the various authors.

Page 322, he quotes the following words from Bishop Davenant, As no man receiveth that general juftification which difchargeth from the guilt of all foregoing fins, but on the concurrence of repentance, faith, a purpofe of a new life, and other actions of the fame kind; fo no man retaineth a state free from guilt in refpect of following fins, but by means of the fame actions of believing in God, calling on God, mortifying the flesh, daily repenting and forrowing for fins daily committed. The reafon why all these are required on our part, is this: Because these cannot be fill abfent, but their oppofites will be prefent, which are contrary to the nature of a juftified man. As therefore to the confervation

confervation of natural life it is neceffarily requir ed, that a man carefully avoid fire, water, precipices, poifons, and other things deftructive to the health of the body; fo to the conferving of fpiritual life, it is neceffarily required that a man avoid incredulity, impenitency, and other things that are ' deftructive and contrary to the falvation of fouls; ' which cannot be avoided unless the oppofite and contrary actions be exercised. And these actions do not conferve the life of grace properly and of them. felves, by touching the very effect of confervation; but improperly and by accident, by excluding and removing the caufe of deftruction,'

Page 324, Baxter produces thefe words of the fame pious Bishop, We do therefore fight againft, not the bare name of merit, in a harmless fenfe frequently ⚫ufed of old by the fathers, but the proud and falle opinion of merit of condignity, brought lately by the Papifts into the church of God.'

And again, page 325, The works of the regenerate have an ordination to the rewards of this life and that to come. 1. Because God hath freely promifed (according to the good pleafure of his will) the rewards of this life and that to come, to the good works of the faithful and regenerate, 1 Tim. iv. 8. Gal. vi. 8. Mat. xx. 8.'

Page 328 he quotes the following paffage from Dr. Twifs, It lieth on all elect to feek falvation, not only by faith, but by works alfo, in that without doubt falvation is to be given by way of reward, whereby God will reward not only our faith, but alfo all our good works.'

Page 330 and 331 he quotes Melanthon thus: New obedience is neceffary by neceffity of order of the cause and effect, alfo by neceffity of duty or command, alfo by neceffity of retaining faith, and avoiding punishments temporal and eternal.'"Cordatus ftirreth up against me the city, and alfo the neighbor countries, and alfo the court itself, because in explaining the controverfie of juftifica

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• tion.