but every loathsome and digustful property: yet these (mark the passage, my dear friend, mark well the encouraging circumstance), these are not only not for. bidden, but intreated, importuned, and by all the arts of persuasion, by every weighty or winning motive, compelled to come in. And after all this, surely it cannot be an act of presumption to accept, but must be a breach of duty to refuse the invitation.

Ther. You take no notice of the man who was found without a wedding-garment; which is by far the most alarming incident, and that which gives me no small uneasiness.

Asp. And does my Theron take proper notice of the divine declaration? I have prepared my dinner,' says the King eternal; all things are ready." "Whatever is necessary for the justification, the holiness, the complete salvation of sinners, is provided in the merit and the grace of my Son. Let them come therefore as to a nuptial banquet, and freely enjoy my munificence, and feast their souls with the royal provision.'

The man without a wedding-garment denotes the specious superficial professor, who is called by Christ's name, but has never put on Christ Jesus by faith. Shall I tell you more plainly whom this character represents? You yourself, my dear Theron, was some months ago in the state of this unhappy creature; when you trusted in yourself, and thought highly of your own, though meanly of your Saviour's righteousness.

I congratulate my friend on his happy deliverance from so dangerous a condition. You and I are now like the returning prodigal. Let us remember that he came with no recommendation, either of dress, of person, or of character; none but his nakedness, his misery, aud an acknowledgment of vileness, which had every aggravating, not one extenuating circumstance: yet he was received, received with inexpressible indulgence, and clothed with that first, that best,' that divinest robe,' the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Let us accustom ourselves to consider this incomparable robe under its evangelical character. It is not a

Matt. xxii. 4. + Luke xv. 22. Την στολήν την πρώτην.

matter of bargain, nor the subject of sale, but a deed of gift: The gift of righteousness,' says the apostle; and gifts, we all know, are not to be purchased, but received.

Ther. Is nothing then, nothing to be done on our part? No heavenly-mindedness to be exercised? No victory over lusts gained? No fruits of sanctification produced?

Asp. These legal apprehensions, how closely they cleave to my Theron's mind! But I hope the word of God, which pierceth to the dividing asunder the soul and spirit, will give the severing blow. And what says that sacred word? It describes the gospel as a will or testament, and all its glorious blessings as legacies bequeathed by the dying Jesus. When your old acquaintance Charicles left you a handsome legacy, what did you do to establish your title and make it your own?

Ther. My title was pre-established by my friend's donation. I had nothing to do but to claim, to accept, and to possess.

Asp. Do the very same in the present case. They who believe are heirs, undoubted 'heirs of the righteousness which is by faith.'t Sure you cannot suppose that Christ's kindness is less sincere, or that Christ's donations are less valid, than those of an earthly tes

tator.

Ther. This illustration hardly reaches the point. I speak not of doing any thing by way of merit, but by way of qualification.

Asp. If there be any qualification, I think it is our

Heb. ix. 16, 17. This notion not only runs through the Scriptures, but stands conspicuous even in their title-page. What are they called? The Old and the New Testament.' What is a testament? An authentic deed in which estates are transmitted and legacies bequeathed. In other testaments, some earthly possession; in this, the heavenly patrimony, even all the riches of grace, and the everlasting inheritance of glory. Did we consider the Scriptures in this light, it would be a most engaging invitation to search them with assiduity and pleasure. What child is willing to continue ignorant of a deceased parent's last will and testament! Who does not covet to know what honours, hereditaments, and wealth, devolve to his enjoyment by such au interesting and venerable conveyance? + Heb, xi. 7.

extreme indigence. This, indeed, it will be proper to have; and this, I presume, you are not without: other qualification neither reason prescribes, nor scripture requires.

Reason prescribes no other.-The gifts of the great eternal Sovereign are intended, not to recognize our imaginary worth, but to aggrandize our views of his mercy and grace. To answer such a design, the unworthy and the sinners are duly qualified; nay, are the only qualified persons.

Scripture requires no other.-The ever-merciful Saviour says not, They are unqualified for my merits; they have no valuable or noble acquirements; but this is his tender complaint, They will not come unto me,' just as they are, with all their sins about them, with all their guilt upon them, that they may have life." Pray take notice of this text, and you will see things placed in a new light, ranged in a new order; sanctifi cation, heavenly-mindedness, and a victory over our lusts, are not so much the qualities which he requires, as the blessings which he will confer.

Ther. The unworthy and sinners the only quali fied!' Of this expression I cannot but take particular notice. Then Judas should stand in the first rank of qualified persons; and the devout centurion, whose prayers and alms had come up as a memorial before God,' was thereby unqualified for the favour of heaven.

Asp. If you observed my expression, I spoke in the hypothetical manner; made a supposition rather than advanced an assertion. If there be any qualification, this is the only one. But, strictly speaking, there is no such thing. The impulsive or inclining cause of all God's favour shewn, of all God's goodness exercised, is-from the creature? No, but from himself, himself alone. He has mercy, not because this or that person is amiable, is meet, or qualified, but ‘because he will have mercy. And as for our need of mercy and reconciliation, arising from our sinfulness, this can no more constitute a real qualification for the blessings, than an act of rebellion can qualify for the first honours of the state.

#John v. 40.

But this we must allow, that such need, such misery, such sinfulness, illustrate the freeness, and manifest the riches of grace: and this we should never forget, that God's first and leading purpose, in all his favourable dispensations to fallen man, is to demonstrate the sovereignty, and advance the glory of his grace. The Lord, promising a very extraordinary deliverance to Israel says, Not for your sakes, be it known unto you, do I this" sigual act of kindness. What then is the inducement? We find it in the following declaration: 'I, even I am He, that blotteth out your transgressions for my own sake,' and 'according to the good pleasure of my will.' What is the end of all? It is for the praise of the glory of his grace.'t A proper motto this for all the displays of divine goodness to sinful men. It has been inscribed by the hand of truth and inspiration: time and eternity, instead of erasing the lines, will only stamp them deeper and open them wider.

Ther. This is such a gift!. To be interested in the merits of Christ! to have his immaculate righteousness imputed to my soul! So that from henceforth there shall be no fear of condemnation, but a comfortable enjoy. ment of freest love, and a delightful expectation of completest glory!

Asp. If this rich donation surpass your very thoughts, and fill you with grateful astonishment, it is so much the better adapted to display what the Scripture very emphatically styles the abundant,' the superabun dant,' the exceeding abundant,'s grace of our God. God hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servants: he is a boundless ocean of love; ever flowing, yet absolutely inexhaustible. See, what an innumerable variety of benefits are transmitted from yonder sun, to gladden all the regions of nature! Yet the sun is but a

Ezek. xxxvi. 32.

+ Isa. xliii. 25. y, for my own sake;' which teaches us that God, and nothing in the creature, is the original, entire, sole cause of all grace and every gracious vouchsafement. It is not only by him, and through him, but to him, for the honour of his benign perfections, that we are pardoned, accepted, saved. 1 Eph. i. 6.

§ Υπερβάλλουσα χαρις. 2 Cor. ix. 14.-Υπερεπερίσσευ σεν η χαρις, Rom. v. 20. Υπερεπλεονασεν η χαρις. 2 Tim. i. 14.

spark; its higliest splendour no more than a shade; its uninterrupted and most profuse communications of light a poor diminutive scantling, compared with the riches of divine benignity.

The servant in the parable, who owed ten thousand talents, craved only some merciful forbearance: whereas his generous lord remitted the whole sum, and gave him an acquittance in full; I forgave thee all that debt." You wonder, and very deservedly, at such vast generosity. But what had been your admiration to see the noble master admitting this obnoxious slave to a share in his dignity? What if he had made so worthless a wretch the chief of his family, and the heir of his estate? This perhaps, you would say, exceeds the bounds of credibility; yet God Almighty's stupendous benefi. cence exceeds all this: he not only spares guilty creatures, but makes them his children; makes them inheritors of his kingdom; and as an introduction to all, or rather as the crown of all, makes them partakers+ of his Son.

Ther. The gift is inestimable, of more value than all worlds; it will render me blessed and happy now and for ever. And may so unworthy a creature look for a blessing thus superlatively excellent?

Asp. Unworthy! My dear friend, dwell no longer upon that obsolete topic. The greatest unworthiness is no objection in Christ's account, when the soul is convinced of sin, and the heart desirous of a Saviour: and as for worthiness, this is as much disavowed by the gospel, as equivocal generationt is exploded by the discoveries of our improved philosophy: nay, farther, this notion is diametrically contrary to the gospel, and totally subversive of the covenant of grace,

Ther. In what respect?

Asp. Because it would make our own duty and obedience the terms: whereas the terms were Christ's suffering and Christ's obedience: these are the hinge on + Heb. iil. 14.

Matt. xviii. 32.

The ancients imagined, that many vegetables and insects were produced by I know not what plastic power in the sun and other elements: this is called equivocal generation. Whereas the mo dern philosophers maintain, that every individual of this kind de rives its being from some parent vegetable or parent animal: this is styled univocal generation.