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I RECEIVED yours with pleasure. It is quite agreeable to me to supply, as well as may be, the defect of personal intercourse by a free and friendly correspondence. Your thirst after truth is pleasing. Would to God we were all more of that temper which seeks for wisdom with the ardor of those who dig for hidden treasures! You need not take it as a compliment, if I say you have stated your objections to the doctrine of total depravity, in as plausible a manner as I ever recollect to have seen them. I will endeavor to give them all the weight they possess.

The point in dispute betwixt us, you will observe, is, Whether an unregenerate sinner can be said to perform any part of his duty, or to obtain in any measure the approbation of his Maker? And I hope you will consider that this is, for substance, the same thing as, Whether the carnal mind be wholly enmity against God, or whether it be in any measure subject to the law of God, or can be? You allow, I think, that whatever excellencies such characters possess, the love of God is not in them, no not in any degree. Their amiable qualities, therefore, be they what they may, must be something quite distinct from love, or any of its operations: but as love is the fulfilling of the law, it must comprehend the whole of moral excellence in the sight of God without it.

You first reason from the cases of Ahab, the Ninevites, the young man whom our Lord is said to have loved, and the scribe who was declared to be not far from the kingdom of heaven. In answer to which, I would observe, Though the great God knoweth the secrets of all hearts, yet, in the government of the world, he does not always proceed upon this principle. He has sometimes thought fit to reward men for actions, not because he approved of them as actions of theirs, but merely because they tended to subserve his great and wise designs. God rewarded Nebuchadnezzar for his long siege against Tyre, by giving him the land of Egypt; yet Nebuchadnezzar did nothing which in its own nature could approve itself to God. The only reason why he was thus rewarded was, that what he had done subserved the Divine purposes in punishing Tyre for her insulting treatment towards the people of God. Ezek. xxvi. 1-7; xxix. 17-20. God also rewarded Cyrus with the treasures of Babylon, the hidden riches of secret places, as they are called (Isa. xlv. 3.) not be cause Cyrus did any thing that was pleasing in his sight; his motive was the lust of dominion; but because what he did, effected the deliverance of Judah, and fulfilled the Divine predictions upon Babylon.

And as, in the great system of the Divine government, actions may be rewarded which have no appearance of innate goodness, so others may be rewarded. which have such an appearance, even though it be nothing but appearance. God does not always avail himself of his omniscience, if I may so speak, but proceeds upon the supposition, that men are what they profess and appear to be. The end of Jehovah in punishing the

person and the house of Ahab, was to make manifest his displeasure against their idolatries: but if, when Ahab humbled himself, and rent his garments, God had proceeded towards him on the ground of his omniscience, and knowing him to be destitute of sincerity, had made no difference in his treatment of him, that end would not have been answered. For whatever might be Ahab's motives, they were unknown to men: if God therefore had made no difference in his treatment, they would have concluded that it was vain to serve God. It seemed good therefore to him in the present life to treat Ahab upon the supposition of his being sincere; and as to his insincerity, he will call him to account for that another day. Much the same things might be observed concerning the Ninevites. There might be many true penitents amongst them, for aught we know; but whether holy love or slavish fear was their motive, they professed and appeared to be humbled, and discovered all the apparent fruits of repentance; and as such, it was manifestly an instance of Divine wisdom, as tending to do honor to his own government in the eyes of surrounding nations, to proceed with them upon the supposition of their repentance being sincere.

The young man who came to Christ, appears to have been a conceited Pharisee, who loved the present world, and not God; and is represented by our Lord as being as far from entering into the kingdom of heaven as a camel was from passing through the eye of a needle (Mat. xix. 16-24.) The only difficulty arises from its being said that the Lord beheld him, and loved him; which may seem to imply at least a partial approbation of his char

acter. But to this it may be answered, Our Lord was at this time acting in the character of a preacher, or instructor of men. His feelings towards the young man in question were much the same as ours would have been, had we been possessed of true benevolence, and in the same circumstances. Let the best man that ever existed be addressed in this manner; let him behold a poor self-deceived youth, flattered by all around him for his apparent virtue, and flattering himself with the hopes of heaven, while in reality he is a slave to the present world; and let him, if he can, forbear to feel towards him like our Lord, he would tell him the truth, though it should send him away sad and grieved; but his heart would at the same time melt in compassion to his poor deluded soul. All this would imply no more of an approbation of his spirit or conduct, than was included in our Lord's looking upon Jerusalem and weeping over it.

As to the scribe who answered our Lord discreetly, and was assured that he was not far from the kingdom of God, read the passage (Mark xii. 28-34) and you will perceive that it was not in relation to his spirit or conduct that our Lord spake, for not a word is recorded of either; but merely of his confession of faith: That the love of God and man was of more account than whole burnt offerings or sacrifices. This doctrine was so true, and contained so much of the spirit of the Gospel dispensation, that our Lord very properly assured this discreet inquirer that he was not far from the kingdom of God; that is, That the principles which he ad avowed, if truly imbibed and properly pursued, would lead him into the very heart of Christianity.

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The remainder of your objections I must take another

opportunity to answer, and at present subscribe myself Your affectionate friend,

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I TAKE UP my pen to answer some other of your objections, as stated in yours of July 3, 1794. You not only reason from the case of Ahab, the Ninevites, &c. but secondly, from the common sense of mankind, which attributes amiable qualities to persons whom nevertheless, on other accounts, we are obliged to consider as destitute of true religion. But let me intreat you to consider whether the common sense of one man can take cognizance of the motives which govern the actions of another; and whether therefore it can be any competent judge of the acceptableness of his actions in the sight of God, who sees things as they are? All the morality in the world consists in the love of God and our neighbor. There is not a virtue, nor a virtuous action in being, but what is an expression of love; yet, as there are numberless actions which bear a likeness to those which arise from love, and as it is beyond the province of man to take cognizance of the heart, it is common for us to call those actions amiable which appear to be so, and which are beneficial to human society. It is fit we should do so; otherwise we invade the province of the Supreme Being, who alone is able so to

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