necessary to salvation. Writing upon this subject, the apostle Paul expresses himself in the following manner, Rom. iii. 21, &c. "But now the righteousness of God, without the law, is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all that believe, for there is no difference. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God has set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness, for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay; but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law."

If we consider the whole of this passage, and the connection in which it stands, we shall be satisfied, that the apostle is here asserting that, in the gospel of Christ, which was confirmed by his death and resurrection, the Divine Being, as from a mercy seat, (which the word ought to be rendered, and not propitiation,) declares his goodness and mercy to mankind; and since the patriarchs, who believed and obeyed before the law, were justified without the works of the law, so God, acting still upon the same maxims, is just, and the Jews have no reason to complain of it, when

he

he justifies sinners who believe and obey, freely, and without the works of the law of Moses, under the gospel.

N. B. I do not pretend that this pamphlet contains an illustration of all the texts that have been urged in favour of the doctrines which are controverted in the Appeal; for then I must have written a commentary upon the whole Bible, as there is hardly a text in which some persons do not imagine that they see their own peculiar sentiments; but I think I have taken notice of all that can well be said to be of much consequence. If any considerable omission be pointed out to me, it shall be supplied in future editions.

A PRAYER,

RESPECTING THE PRESENT STATE OF CHRISTIANITY.

ALMIGHTY GOD, the giver of all good, and especially the Father of lights, and the fountain of all wisdom and knowledge; we thank thee that thou hast put a spirit in man, and that thine inspiration giveth · us understanding; that, being formed after thine own image, we find ourselves possessed of a nature superior to that of brute creatures; and, being endowed with the faculty of reason, are capable of investigating important truth, and of governing our conduct so as to attain to very distinguished degrees of excellence and happiness.

We thank thee that, in aid of this light of nature,

thou

thou hast superadded the gift of revelation; having, from time to time, communicated to mankind, by thy servants the prophets, the most useful information concerning thy nature, perfections and government, concerning our duty here, and our expectations hereafter. And we more especially rejoice that, upon every occasion of thy gracious intercourse with mankind, thou hast represented thyself to us as the proper object of our reverence, love, and confidence; as a being of boundless goodness, and the greatest compassion to those frailties and infirmities to which it has seemed good to thy infinite wisdom to subject us; as one who expectest no more of us than thou hast enabled us to perform; and who, upon our sincere return to our duty, art ever ready to extend the freest mercy and forgiveness towards us, even after our most aggravated and repeated offences.

We thank thee, more especially, for the last and most perfect revelation of thy will to mankind, in the gospel of Jesus Christ, in whom it hath pleased thee that all fulness should dwell; who has established upon the surest foundations, the great and important doctrines of the proper unity and mercifulness of thy nature, and thy unrivalled supremacy with respect to himself, as well as to all other beings, and all other things; and who has likewise given to us the most satisfactory assurance of a resurrection from the dead, confirmed to us by his own death and resurrection; whereby we are encouraged to expect, that, because he lives, we shall live also.

It

It has seemed good to thy unsearchable wisdom, (which permits the rise and continuance of evil, in order, we doubt not, to bring about the greatest good,) that this most excellent religion, so honourable to thee and so beneficial to mankind, should, by means of the base artifices of some, and the general ignorance which lately overspread the world, become grossly corrupted; whereby such opinions have prevailed among the professors of christianity, as greatly dishonour thy nature, imply the most unjust reflections on thy righteous moral government, and are highly injurious to the virtue and happiness of men. How has the gold become dim, how is the most fine gold changed!

The great and important doctrine of thy divine unity has been generally abandoned, and objects of supreme worship multiplied. Thy messenger and servant, the meek and humble Jesus, who upon all occasions referred his wisdom and mighty works to thee, his God and Father, speaking and acting by him, has been advanced to proper equality with thyself; and even his mother Mary, and innumerable saints. and angels, have likewise been addressed as if they were omnipresent beings. By thus dividing thy being, robbing thee of thy essential attributes and perfections, and distributing them among a multiplicity of inferior beings, depraved and unworthy notions of thy moral character have consequently prevailed, and many of the evils of idolatry have been introduced among the professors of that religion which acknowledges but one living and true God, even thee our Father in heaven, and one mediator, the man Christ Jesus.

Having divested thee, in their imaginations, of the most amiable of all thy attributes, even the essential placability of thy nature, they have represented thy free mercy to penitent sinners as purchased by the blood of thy innocent son. Forgetting that thou art good to all, and that thy tender mercies are over all thy works, and also that thou, the righteous Lord, lovest righteousness, they have ascribed to thee an arbitrary and unreasonable partiality in favour of some of the human race, and a most cruel and unjust severity towards others, as condemning them to everlasting torments for crimes of which they could not be guilty, and expecting of them that which thou hadst not enabled them to do. And having lost the idea of the purity of thy nature, and thy regard to moral righteousness as the only just ground of acceptance and favour with thee, they have had recourse to unmeaning and even base and mischievous superstitions, as compensations for their non-observance of thy holy 'commandments.

To confirm all these, and innumerable other corruptions of thy holy religion, supreme authority has been openly usurped, by men, over that church in which thou hast given all power to our Lord and Master Jesus Christ; and those of thy faithful servants who have justly refused to submit to their usurpations, have by them been subjected to the greatest hardships, and even persecuted unto death; so that these temporal anti-christian powers are drunk with the blood of thy holy martyrs.

We deeply lament this almost universal departure

from