According to this scheme [viz. of acceptance with God on the footing of works in part], you make the glorious Redeemer undertake our ransom only to render our deficient duties meritorious, and our sins inoffensive. You make his sinless life, his meritorious death, and his mediatorial undertakings, serve no other purpose, than that of a mere pedestal, on which human worth may stand exalted, and appear what it is not. According to this scheme, the pardon of rebels against the Most High, and the reception of leprous sinners into the bosom of heaven, are owing to the works of our own hands, and to the virtues of our own character, in conjunction with Christ. Now, what greater affront can be offered to that divine goodness, which interposed to save us when we were lost, than thus to divide the cause of our [justification and salvation] between Christ and ourselves. ibid.

WORKS BEFORE GRACE.

We are apt to suppose, that God is such an one as ourselves. If we wish to enjoy the patronage of a great man, we very naturally think, we must say or do something that may acquire his esteem, and recommend us to his notice. Thus would we also treat with God: when, alas! the plain truth is, we can have, and say, and do, nothing that he approves, until he himself gives it of his free grace, and works it in us by his Spirit. Col. Gallatin, Oct. 19, 1769.

WORLD.

I could not help being affected with that noble passage in a Christian writer; "If all the enjoyments in the world were to be sold together in one lot, they would not be worth even the labour of a man's opening his mouth, to say, I will not buy them."

Arrowsmith.

Time was, when satan showed our Saviour all the kingdoms of this world, and the glory of them. Oh, Christian! if ever the world appear to thee temptingly glorious, suspect it for one of satan's discoveries. ibid.

As for those saints, whose wings are still somewhat clogged with the bird-lime of the world; let them consider, how ill it becomes the offspring of heaven to go licking up the dust of this earth; the woman's seed, to content itself with the food of the serpent.

ibid.

The creatures, like deceitful streams, frustrate the thirsty traveller's expectation. They delude us, (like the monument of Semiramis) with many a promising motto, as if they would give us peace and ease of heart but, when we come to look within, instead of contentment, they afford us nothing but conviction of our folly in expecting satisfaction from them, or from any thing short of God.

ibid.

As Jonah's gourd withered in the morning, when he hoped for most benefit by it against the ensuing heat of the day; so the blessings of this world frequently wither, when we expect to find most freshness in them, and to receive most refreshment from them.

ibid.

We must not expect more from any thing than God hath put into it. He never intended to put the virtue of soul-satisfying, into any mere creature: but hath reserved to himself, Son, and Spirit, the power of satisfying the souls of men, of contenting and making them happy, as a principal branch of his own divine prerogative. To such as expect it elsewhere, that person or thing they rely upon, may say to them, as Jacob to Rachel, Am I in God's stead. ibid.

When the worldly-wise have dived into the bottom of nature's sea, instead of coming up laden with pearls of price, they return with nothing but handfuls of shells and gravel.

ibid.

The two sons of the first man carried in their names a memorandum of what they and their posterity were to expect. Cain signifies possession: and Abel signifies vanity, or emptiness. All worldly possessions are, at once, empty and vanishing; unsatisfactory while they continue, and liable to a speedy decay. ibid.

As, when an army of men come to drink at some mighty river, there is no want, but all go satisfied away; whereas, had they come to a paltry brook, they would not have found water enough to quench the thirst of each so, created things are narrow brooks, or, rather, broken cisterns; from which immortal souls cannot but return empty, dissatisfied, and disappointed. But Christ hath a river of love and joy and peace, whereof he gives his followers to drink; and, drinking whereof, they are easy, safe, and happy.

ibid. See the vanity of the world, and the consumption that is upon all things; and love nothing but Christ. Wilcox.

The world will be burnt up, in the day of Christ's appearance. And why should night-dreams, and day-shadows, and water-froth, and May-flowers, run away with your heart in the mean while? When we come to the water side, and set our foot in the boat, and enter on the river of death, we shall wonder at our past folly. Rutherfoord. Earth, earth is what worldly men never think they have enough of, until death comes and stops their mouth with a shovelful of earth digged out of their own grave. Gurnall.

YOUNG CONVERTS.

Glowings of affection are usually wrought in young converts, who are, ordinarily, made to sing in the day

of their youth, Hos. ii. 14. While the fire-edge is upon the young convert, he looks upon others, reputed to be godly; and not finding in them such a [lively] temper and disposition, as in himself, he is ready to censure them, and to think that there is far less religion in the world than indeed there is. But, when his own cup comes to settle below the brim, and he finds that in himself, which made him question the state of others, he is more humbled, and feels more and more, the necessity of daily recourse to the blood of Christ for pardon, and to the Spirit of Christ for sanctification: and thus grows downwards in humiliation, self-lothing, and self-denial. Boston.

ZEAL.

Young zeal, and old knowledge, make that Christian both happy and useful, in whom they meet.

Mr. Russell, July 19, 1769.

CHRISTIANITY REVERSED:

OR,

A NEW OFFICE OF INITIATION, FOR ALL YOUTHS OF THE SUPERIOR CLASS.

BEING

A SUMMARY OF LORD CHESTERFIELD'S CREED.

I BELIEVE, that this world is the object of my hopes and morals; and that the little prettinesses of life will answer all the ends of human existence.

I believe, that we are to succeed in all things, by the graces of civility and attention; that there is no sin, but against good manners; and that all religion and virtue consist in outward appearance.

I believe, that all women are children, and all men fools; except a few cunning people, who see through the rest, and make their use of them.

I believe, that hypocrisy, fornication, and adultery, are within the lines of morality: that a woman may be honourable when she has lost her honour, and virtuous when she has lost her virtue.

This, and whatever else is necessary to obtain my own ends, and bring me into repute, I resolve to follow; and to avoid all moral offences: such as scratching my head before company, spitting upon the floor, and omitting to pick up a lady's fan. And in this persuasion I will persevere, without any regard to the resurrection of the body or the life everlasting. Amen.

Quest. Wilt thou be initiated into these principles?

Ans. That is my inclination.