to us a son is given!' His incarnate state and human nature, together with all that he did and suffered in both, were for us: those assumed on our account, these referred to our advantage.

Let us consider this, and be amazed, and be charmed. The great universal Lord vouchsafes to pay universal obedience! What condescension was here! He vouchsafes to pay it for us men, and for our redemption! What goodness was this!

Ther. Before we indulge the devotional strain, we should take care that our devotion is founded on rational principles. Otherwise it may prove like the flash of a sky-rocket, transient and momentary.

Asp. For this, I think, there is a solid foundation in reason, as well as Scripture. As soon as the Man Christ Jesus was united to the second person of the. Trinity, he must have, by virtue of that union, an unquestionable right to everlasting life and glory. Therefore, he could be under no necessity of obeying, in order to procure either honour or happiness for himself. But all that he performed in conformity to the preceptive part of the law, he performed under the character of a public person, in the place, and for the benefit of his spiritual seed; that they might be interested in it, and justified by it.

Ther. Be it so; the believer is interested in Christ's righteousness. Pray, is he interested in all, or only in part? If in all, then every believer is equally righteous, and equally to be rewarded; which is contrary to an allowed maxim, that there will be different allotments of happiness in the heavenly world. If in part only, how will you ascertain the degree? What proportion belongs to this person, and what to the other? Either way, your scheme is inextricably embarrassed.

Asp. The reply to my Theron's inquiry is easy, and the embarrassment he mentions, is but imaginary. Every true believer is interested in all Christ's righteousness; in the whole merit of his spotless nature, of his perfect obedience, and expiatory death. Less than

Isa. ix. 6. Est præterea emphasis singularis in voce nobis. Significat id, quod omnes sentiunt, nostro bono et commodo natum esse hunc puerum imperatorem.'-Vitring, in loc.

the whole, would be unavailable. Whereas, the whole renders us completely justified.

You are a great admirer of anatomy, Theron, and must undoubtedly remember the very peculiar structure of the ear. Other parts of the body are progressive in their growth; their bulk is proportioned to the infantile, or manly age. But the organs of hearing, I have been informed, are precisely of the same size in the feeble infant, and the confirmed adult. Justification likewise, being absolutely necessary to a state of acceptance with God, is in every stage of the Christian course, and even in the first dawn of sincere faith, complete. With regard to the existence of the privilege, there is no difference in the babes, the young men, the fathers in Christ. The perception, the assurance, the comfortable enjoyment of the mercy, may increase; but the mercy itself is incapable of aug. mentation.

The various advances in sanctification account for the various degrees of future glory; and not account for them only, but render them entirely reasonable, and, according to our apprehension of things, unavoidable. As to settling the proportion, we may safely leave that to the supreme Arbitrator. He who meteth out the heavens with a span, and setteth a compass upon the face of the deep,' cannot be at a loss to adjust this particular.

Ther. The organs of hearing, though not precisely, are very nearly of the same bulk, in the babe and the man. They acquire from advancing years, scarce any thing more than an increase of solidity. So that I make no objection to your illustration, but to your doctrine.

If Christ has done all, and we are entitled to his whole merits only by believing, to be saved must be the easiest thing in the world. Whereas, the Bible

To the same purpose speaks one of our most celebrated divines, as great an adept in sacred literature as ages have produced: All are justified alike; the truth of faith justifying, not the measure. Justification therefore is the same in all that believe; though their belief be in different degrees. So, once in the wilderness, all gathered not manna in the same measure; yet when all came to measure, they had all alike, not one above an omer, none under.'-Lightfoot, vol. ii. p. 1052.

represents Christianity as a race and a warfare, a state of conflict and a course of striving. In good truth, Aspasio, you prophecy pleasing things. Divinity is not your profession, or else I should number you among the smooth, emollient, downy doctors.' For, according to the articles of your creed, there is no more difficulty in securing heaven than in rising from our seat.

Asp. A speculative assent to all the principles of religion, is, I acknowledge, a very easy matter. It may, it must exist, wherever there is a tolerable capacity for reasoning, and a due attention to evidence. This notional faith forced its way into the breast of Simon the sorcerer; and extorted a confession from the dying lips of Juliant the apostate. Irresistible as the stroke of lightning, terrible also as its fiery glare, it flashes conviction into the very devils. Even those execrable spirits' believe and tremble.'t

But the faith, which, far from resting in specula. tion, exalts the desires, regulates the passions, and refines the whole conversation-the faith which, according to the expressive language of Scripture, 'purifies the heart, overcomes the world, and sets the affections on things above,'-this truly noble and triumphant faith, is no such easy acquisition. This is the gift of an infinite Benefactor; the work of a divine Agent: called, therefore, by way of superemi. nent distinction, 'faith of the operation of God;' because God himself, by the effectual working of his mighty power, produces it in the human soul.

The exercise of this faith, I would not compare to an active gentleman rising from his seat, but rather to a Acts viii. 13.

+ It is related in ecclesiastical history, that when the emperor Julian was setting out upon his Parthian expedition, he threatened to persecute the Christians with the utmost severity, as soon as he returned victorious. Upon this occasion, Libanius, the rhetorician, asked one of them, with an insulting air: What the Carpenter's Son was doing, while such a storm hung over his followers! The Carpenter's Son,' replied the Christian, is making a coffin for your emperor. The event proved the answer to be prophetic; for in an engagement with the enemy, that royal but wretched apostate was mortally wounded, and cried with his expiring breath, Vicisti, O Galilee! I am vanquished, O Galilean! thy right hand hath the pre-eminence!" § Col. ii. 12.

Jam. ii. 19.

shipwrecked mariner, labouring to gain some place of safety. He espies a large rock, which rears its head above the boisterous flood. To this he bears away, and to this he approaches; but whirling winds, and dashing waves, drive him back to an unhappy distance. Exerting all his strength, he advances nearer still; and attempts to climb the desirable eminence, when a sweeping surge interposes, and drenches him again in the rolling deep. By determined efforts, he recovers the space he had lost. Now, he fastens on the cliff, and has almost escaped the danger. But there is such a numbness in his limbs, that he cannot maintain his hold; and such an impetuous swell in the ocean, that he is once more dislodged, and plunged afresh into the raging billows. What can he do? his life, his precious life, is at stake. He must renew, still renew, and never intermit his endeavours. Neither let him abandon himself to despair; the Master sees him, amidst all his fruitless toil. Let him cry earnestly, Lord save me! I perish! and he who commandeth the winds and the waves, will be sure to put forth his beneficent hand, and rescue him from the devouring sea.

Such, my friend, so painful, so assiduous are the struggles of faith, before it can rest in peaceful secu rity on the rock of ages, Christ Jesus. Of this you may, some time or other, be assured, not only from my lips, but from your own experience.

Ther. What may happen in some future period of time, is beyond my power to foresee; at present, I am apt to think, we must put a stop to the theological lecture. Don't you remember our engagement with Altinous? And you will own, that punctuality in performing our promises, is at least a moral virtue, if it be not a Christian grace.

167

DIALOGUE VI.

Gallery of Pictures-Library and its Furniture-A sordid Taste in Painting censured; a more graceful Manner displayedImputation of Christ's Righteousness resumed-Objections from Scripture urged and refuted.

ASPASIO's affairs called him to London; he staid in town a few days, but as soon as business was finished he quitted the city, and hastened to his friend's country seat. Upon his arrival, he found some agreeable company, that came on purpose to spend the evening with the family. This incident prevented the immediate prosecution of their subject; as the next morning proved misty and unfit for walking abroad, Theron invited Aspasio to pass an hour in his study.

It was situate at the extremity of a large gallery; which, while it conducted the feet to a repository of learning, interposed between the ear and all the dis. turbance of domestic affairs: so that you are accommodated with every thing that may regale a studious mind, and incommoded with nothing that may interrupt a sedate attention. Aspasio readily consented to the proposal; but desired first to take a turn in this beautiful oblong, and divert himself with the decora tions of the place.

Asp. A very short survey, Theron, is sufficient to discover the correctness of your judgment, and the true delicacy of your taste. Here are no impertinent and frivolous exhibitions of romantic tales or poetic stories. Here are no indecent pieces of imagery, that tend to corrupt a chaste, or inflame a wanton fancy : on the contrary, I am presented with a collection of maps, accurately drawn by the most able hands, and with several remarkable transactions of antiquity, most eloquently told in the language of the pencil. You have happily hit that grand point, which the gentleman of refinement, as well as the author of genius, should ever keep in view-the union of the beneficial with the delightful..

Ther. Indeed, my Aspasio, I have often been disap.

* Omne tulit punctum, qui miscuit utile dulci.-Hor.