great Judge of the world will quickly appear, and his reward will be with him, to render unto every man according as his works have been; and then he will inflict on thofe who are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, Rom. ii. 8, 9.

As therefore it is not a fmall matter to inhabit the dreadful flames of hell, the feat of enraged juftice and burning vengeance, through eternal ages, it cannot but be of the greatest importance to take pains to escape it; to repent and obey the gospel, to watch and pray, to be active and diligent in all the ways of religion, if fo be we may be accounted worthy to escape that tremendous mifery, and made meet to ftand before the Son of Man.-We have no other choice before us but to be holy here, or unhappy for ever. We must obtain grace from God, and live to him in the exercise of grace, or be separated from his prefence for ever, as unmeet objects of his favour. And will not all readily acknowledge, that the former is infinitely to be preferred by every one, who has any just value for his prefent intereft, or for his eternal happiness !-How abfurd is it in the view of common reafon, to love death, or chufe an evident token of perdition, by being the fervants of fin, and obeying it in the lufts thereof!

I hope, Sir, I have now anfwered not only your queftion, but your expectation. And yet that I may obviate all mistakes, I will endeavour to give you a review of the whole, in fome plain familiar and practical directions.

If you fuppofe yourself in an unregenerate state, be found moft earnestly diligent in the duties of religion, in the use of the means of grace, and in endeavours of a conformity of life to the will of God, as the way in which God will be inquired of by you,

that

that he may bestow his converting and fanctifying grace upon you.-It is true, that God is the fovereign Author and Donor of his own special favours; but it is also true, that he has given you no encouragement to hope for them, in any other way but that of duty.In this way therefore do you be found; pleading with him for the influences of his holy Spirit, to draw you to Christ, and to work the work of faith with power in your foul. In this way you may hope in his mercy, not indeed for the fake of your duties, but for the fake of Chrift's infinite merits, and the boundless grace and goodness of the divine nature. But in the neglect of this way of duty, you have not the least encouragement from the word of God, to hope for the renewing influences of the bleffed Spirit; without which you are undone eternally.

However, though even an unregenerate man muft thus ftrive to enter in at the ftrait gate, you must yet confider and realize to yourself, that you are utterly incapable of that obedience which the gofpel requires, without faith in Chrift.-Faith is the first act of evangelical obedience, the root of all other graces, and the principle of all fuch religious duties as God will own and accept. For without faith it is impoffible to pleafe God, Heb. xi. 6. You muft live in the Spirit, before you can walk in the Spirit. Your firft business therefore is, not only earneftly to pray to God, that he would draw you to Chrift; but you must endeavour to look to this precious Saviour, as to a fufficient fountain of all grace, trufting your foul in his hands, with encouraging hope of juftification by his righteousness, and fanctification by his Spirit. If your faith be fincere, you thereby lay a foundation of fpiritual and acceptable obedience: But if not, the beft works that you can perform, will be only external, hypocriti

Ee 3

caly

cal, legal and flavish performances.-You must therefore be brought to act faith in Christ for holiness, as the beginning of that falvation which you hope to obtain from him. You are not to look upon a life of holiness and spiritual obedience as the condition of your falvation, but as the falvation itself, which you hope for, actually begun in your foul; and you have as much warrant from the invitations and promises of the gospel, to truft in the Lord Jefus Chrift for this renovation of your nature by his Spirit, as for the juftification of your perfon by his blood, or for an eternal inheritance with the faints in light. And you muft accordingly depend upon him for it, and afk it of him in faith, or never obtain it.

I have proposed these things to you, upon the fuppofition that you have not fatisfying evidences of a converted ftate.-Let us now then fuppofe the cafe to be otherwife; and you comfortably perfuaded, that you have experienced the happy change. An humble and cheerful dependence upon Chrift for new fupplies of grace, muft ftill be the fource of your perfevering obedience. Go on then to trust in him; and you will find that he will not fail your expectations. You will find that his grace is fufficient for you.

But do not deceive yourself with an imagination of your trufting in Chrift, amidst a course of finful negligence and inactivity. Remember, that good works are of indifpenfable obligation, and of abfolute neceffity in the refpects before mentioned. You must not only truft in Christ to fulfil his good pleasure in you; but you must live to him in the exercife of that grace and ftrength which you derive from him.-In an humble confidence in his fanctifying and quickening influences, you must take heed to yourself, and keep your foul with all diligence;

gence; you must fee to it, that your heart be right with God; that you delight in the law of the Lord after the inward man; that you maintain a strict watch over your affections as well as converfation; that you neglect no known duty toward God or man; that you carefully improve your time, and other talents committed to your truft; and endeavour, in a conftant course, to maintain a holy, humble, fruitful, thankful life. And remember,

that one inftance of good works, which God requires of you, is a daily repentance of your finful defects, and a daily mourning after a further progrefs in holiness. After an efpoufal to Chrift by faith, this is the way, and the only way of comfort here, and happiness hereafter.

That I might fet this important point in as clear a light as poffible, I have laboured to represent it in different views; and thereby have neceffarily run into fome repetitions, for which I depend upon your candour:-Now, That the Lord would blefs my endeavours for your best good, is the prayer of, Sir, Your, &c.

LETTER XVII.

Wherein the Nature of the Believer's Union to Chrift is briefly explained, and the Necessity of it afferted and defended.

SIR,

IF you mean no more by your « ignorance of the

"nature of that union to Chrift, which I fo of"ten mentioned," but that you cannot form any adequate idea of this incomprehenfible mystery, it is nothing wonderful. There are multitudes of things whose existence you are most intimately acquainted with, yet of whofe fpecial manner of existence you

can

can have no idea.-You have no reason therefore to 'doubt of the believer's union to Chrift, because you do not understand the mode of it, any more than you have to doubt of the union of your own foul and body, because you do not understand the mode of it. It is a fufficient confirmation of the truth of this doctrine, that it is revealed in the word of God. It is fufficient for our present imperfect state, to know fo much of the nature of this union as God has been pleased to reveal in the bleffed oracles of truth. It is your mistake to fuppofe that "our di"vines do but occafionally mention this doctrine; "but do not pretend to explain it." Numbers of divines have written well upon the delightful fubject; though, I confefs, it is too little confidered by many of our practical writers, (as it ought to be confidered), as being the foundation of both our practice and hope. Were it more diftinctly confidered, more particularly explained, and more frequently infifted upon, improved and applied, both from the pulpit and the prefs, than it is, it would be a probable means to check the growth of thefe dangerous errors which prevail among us; and to give men a deeper fenfe of the neceflity of experimental vital piety, in order to a well-grounded hope of the favour of God.-You have therefore reafon to defire a "juft, plain and familiar view of this doctrine.” And I fhall endeavour, according to your defire, in as plain and eafy a manner as I can, to give a brief and diftinct answer to your feveral queftions.

Your first question is, "What is the nature of "that union to Chrift, which the Scriptures fpeak "of; and what are we to understand by it?"

In answer to this question, it may be proper, in the first place, to give you a brief view of the various reprefentations of this union in the word of God; and from thence proceed to take fome no