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own view of the atonement, as that which constitutes the very basis of his system. However important the controversy about faith and universal invitations may be, it sinks into insignificance when compared with that of the atonement. He who is unsound in this, cannot

be sound in any other doctrine of grace. But when the death of Christ is known in its vicarious nature, its certain efficacy, and its discriminating character, it affords the surest defence of sovereign grace against all the attacks of Neonomian, Arminian, and Semi-pelagian errors. To this important point our conversation was principally directed, when, in our friendly interview, you defended and I opposed Mr. Fuller's sentiments; and to this fundamental point would I again solicit your attention in an epistolary form. I am desirous of doing this, not only because his views almost universally prevail in the churches, but also because in all the replies to Mr. Fuller, that I have seen,* this subject has been almost neglected; whereas, it is his fundamental and most vulnerable point. I do not intend to touch upon the other subjects in dispute, but shall confine myself entirely to the doctrine chiefly treated of in the third part of the "Dialogues," that is, the doctrine of the ATONEMENT. In doing this, I shall carefully inquire what are Mr. Fuller's views on the subject. I shall take care not to misunderstand them. I shall closely analyze them, and compare them with the Scriptures of eternal truth.-It

* I except Mr. Booth's Sermon on "Divine Justice," &c. which, with the Appendix, may be considered a kind of caveat against Mr. Fuller's notions; but this work does not profess to be a full confutation of them, nor is Mr. Fuller's name so much as mentioned either in the Sermon or the Appendix.

placed on the walls of Zion so imitate this great Apostle, that the blood of souls may not be found on their skirts, and that the souls of God's dear children may not be made sad by the uncertain sound which is too often given to the Gospel Trumpet. But, it is to be feared that some of them may feel no interest in this work, they "do not like doctrinal discussions;" but may it not be said of such, "When for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need of being taught, and fed with milk, and not strong meat." Shall we say with the Man of Sin “Ignorance is the mother of devo tion?" No! says the Christian, it is our duty and privilege to "search the Scriptures, and giving all diligence, add to our faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity, and if these things be in us and abound, we shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." To conclude, many may have no love for the doctrinal, practical, experimental, or evangelical truth contained in this book, and, we have some reason to fear, no love to God, to his word, to his ways, to his ordinances, or to his people. To such persons we would most affectionately point out the words of the great Head of the church, "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God," and to any poor, sensibly helpless, perishing sinner, we would say, "The blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanseth from all sin;" and if we are thus quickened by the Holy Spirit, and brought to feel our wretched condition by nature and practice, the Scripture warrants us to believe that he ever liveth to make intercession for us.

INTRODUCTION

TO THE FIRST EDITION.

I THINK it right to inform the reader, that, some time ago, I was accidentally engaged in a verbal controversy on the nature and extent of the atonement of Christ, with a Baptist minister of some celebrity, residing in Northamptonshire. At parting, he earnestly entreated me to read Mr. Fuller's "Dialogues, Letters, and Essays," which I promised to do. No sooner had I read and pondered that work, than the fallacy of Mr. Fuller's doctrine, which my friend had espoused, appeared to me in a more striking manner than it had ever done before; and I felt assured that, with a little labour, the speciousness and deceitfulness of Mr. Fuller's views might be fully made manifest. With this conviction, I determined to attempt a refutation of them, and to publish it in the following Letters.

It is more than possible that some weak and

will be necessary, then, in the first place, to attend to what Mr. Fuller has advanced on this great article of Christian doctrine, by quoting his own words :

"If God required less than the real demerit of sin for an atonement, then there could be no satisfaction made to divine justice by such an atonement. And though it would be improper to represent the great work of redemption as a kind of commercial transaction betwixt a creditor and his debtor, yet the satisfaction of justice, in all cases of offence, requires that there be an expression of the displeasure of the offended, against the conduct of the offender, equal to what the nature of the offence is in reality. The end of punishment is not the misery of the offender, but the general good. Its design is to express displeasure against disobedience; and where punishment is inflicted according to the desert of the offence, there justice is satisfied. In other words, such an expression of displeasure is uttered by the lawgiver, that in it every subject of his empire may read what are his views of the evil which he forbids, and what are his determinations in regard to its punishment. If sinners had received in their own persons the reward of their iniquity, justice would in that way have been satisfied; and if the infinitely blessed God hath devised an expedient for our salvation, though he may not confine himself to a literal conformity to those rules of justice which he hath marked out for us, yet he will certainly not depart from the spirit of them. Justice must be satisfied even in that way. An atonement made by a substitute, in any case, requires that the same end be answered by it, as if the guilty party had actually suf fered. It is necessary that the displeasure of the offend

ed should be expressed in as strong terms, or in a way adapted to make as strong an impression upon all concerned, as if the law had taken its course: otherwise atonement is not made, and mercy triumphs at the expense of righteousness."*

The following quotations are taken from the third part, wherein Mr. Fuller has introduced his views in the form of a dialogue between Peter, James, and John. James is introduced as expressing Mr. Fuller's sentiments. When asked by Peter his views of imputation, he replies:

"To impute, signifies in general to charge, reckon, or place to account, according to the different objects to which it is applied. This word, like many others, has a proper and an improper, or figurative, meaning. First, it is applied to the charging, reckoning, or placing to the account of persons and things, THAT WHICH PROPERLY BELONGS TO THEM. This I consider as its proper meaning. In this sense the word is used in the following passages:-'Eli thought she (Hannah) had been drunken,' &c. &c. Secondly, it is applied to the charging, reckoning, or placing to the account of sons and things THAT WHICH DOES NOT PROPERLY BELONG TO THEM, AS THOUGH IT DID. This I consider as its improper or figurative meaning.

per

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*

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It is in this latter sense that I understand the term when

* * * *

It is thus also that

applied to justification. I understand the imputation of sin to Christ. He was accounted, in the divine adminstration, as if he were, or had been, the sinner, that those who believe in him

* Dialogues, &c. page 162-164.

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