TO THE

REV. JAMES HERVEY.

SIR,

WHEN Christ our Saviour was about to go to his Father, he told his disciples, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but be cause ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." I am persuaded that by this he did not only intend to forewarn twelve of the offence which that generation would take at the ignominy of the cross, but also to intimate that the case would be the same in all ages; that his doctrine would meet with great resistance and opposition; and that the temper and character of his real disciples would be very different from the spirit that would generally prevail in the world. This hath been continually verified in experience. For as many in the highest stations, and of highest repute for wisdom in the world, did set themselves against the Gospel at its first publication, so even where there is a nominal profession of it, there is still an opposition to its doctrines, in their simplicity and purity, by the world; that is to say, those who have most sway in it,

who are the most passionate admirers of its fashions, and the most assiduous prosecutors of its honours and pleasures.

It may be also observed, that there is sometimes, perhaps even generally, a sovereignty of divine providence in the choice of the instruments employed in spreading the Gospel. As at first twelve illiterate fishermen were chosen, so often since that time, the weakest and most unlikely have been pitched upon, "that our faith might not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Hence it frequently happens, that it is not only difficult to make men believe the gospel, but even to persuade them to hear it. They are apt to despise and deride the message, because of the meanness of the messenger, or the homeliness of the terms in which it is delivered. This is particularly the case with the present age. From a certain love of ease, and luxury of mind, they despise and trample upon all instructions which have not something pleasing and insinuating in their dress and form.

You, Sir, are one of those happy few, who have been willing to consecrate the finest natural talents to the service of Christ in the Gospel, and are not ashamed of his cross. You have been able to procure attention on some subjects, from many who would hard. ly have given it to any other writer. This hath made me observe, with particular attention, the effect of your last performance, Theron and Aspasio, the character given to it, and the objections raised against it.

And I have always found, that the most specious and plausible objection, and that most frequently made against the doctrine of justification by imputed righteousness, has been in this case, as indeed usually before, that it loosens the obligations to practice. This is what I have particularly applied myself to refute in the following essay, because I have rarely observed it done distinctly, and at full length, in any writer. And I have addressed it to you, as a testimony of my esteem of your excellent and useful writings, as a public declaration of my espousing the same sentiments as to the terms of our acceptance with God, and my ambition of contributing some small assistance to the support of the same glorious cause. It was also no small inducement to it, that thereby it might appear to all, that no external distinctions, or smaller differences, ought to be any hinderance to a cordial esteem and affection among the sincere servants of our common Master,

The greatest part of what follows was first delivered in two sermons, but it is now thrown into the form of an essay, lest the despised title of a sermon should offend some, and that it might the better admit of several additions, both in the body of the piece and in the notes, which could not have been so properly delivered from a pulpit. Some of these regard the philosophical principles which have of late been published among us, of which I propose, in a short time, a much fuller discussion; as there is no way in which the truths of the Gospel are more perverted, than by what

the apostle Paul calls "philosophy, and vain deceit, and oppositions of science falsely so called."

That your useful life may be prolonged, and that you may have the honour of contributing more and more to the conversion of sinners, and the edification and comfort of believers, is the earnest prayer of,

SIR,

Your most obedient humble Servant,

J. W.

AN

ESSAY

ON

JUSTIFICATION.

ALL the works and ways of God have something in them mysterious, above the comprehension of any finite understanding. As this is the case with his works of creation and providence, there is no reason to expect it should be otherwise in the astonishing method of the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ. From this their mysterious nature, or rather from the imperfect measure and degree in which they are revealed to us, they are admirably fitted for the trial of our ingenuity, humility, and subjection. They are all of them, when seriously and impartially inquired into, holy, just, and good; but at the same time, not beyond the cavils and objections of men of prejudiced, perverse, and corrupt minds.

The apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, among whom he had never been in person, at great length establishes the fundamental doctrine of the Gospel, That sinners are justified by the free grace of God, through the imputed righteousness of a Redeemer. To this doctrine men do by nature make the strongest opposition, and are, with the utmost difficulty, brought to receive and apply it. We may well say ofit in par