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fundamental article of christian faith, can, and will, fairly answer the arguments contained in this chapter, he shall have my thanks, I will lay aside my objec tions to that doctrine, and quit the ground on which I now stand. Truth is the only object worth pursuing, and let it be followed, on whatever side it may appear, or to wherever it may lead. If the arguments I have constructed should alarm the ad-. vocates for the doctrine against which I plead, if they show themselves angry on the occasion, use what means they can to keep persons from attending to and examining what I have said, and load the person who has dared to attack one of their favorite tenets with censure and reproach, I shall considér this as a fresh proof of the vulnerableness of their cause, and conceive that I have made some impression on the lines of reputed orthodoxy.

On one point I would add a remark here. I know our opponents will cry out that they do not deny either the' mercy of God, or the doctrine of free grace, or the free forgiveness of sins, or the propriety of the prayers of the penitent; but that they steadily maintain these things. It is readily granted that they do not professedly deny, but maintain these things; yet it is contended that their favorite tenet of satisfaction is incompatible with them: this is all that is asserted in the preceding arguments; and, until this can be disproved, their system stands charged with many contradictions, and they with maintaining a doctrine inimical to the system of free grace displayed in the gospel I

CHAPTER THIRD.

An attempt to account for the rise of the Doctrine of Satisfaction among Christians, and its continuance to the present day.

IT may be asked, if the doctrine of satisfaction be without foundation in scripture, how are we to account for its rise and continuance? To answer this enquiry is the design of the present chapter. It is very evident that christianity has for ages been grossly corrupted, both in doctrine and worship: and, as the above doctrine is not only without foundation in the gospel, but opposed to the whole tenor of it, it must be reckoned among the corruptions of christianity. Its rise and continuance may be aecounted for on the same general principles.

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1. A dereliction of virtue and moral excellence has in all ages been too prevalent; and men have been desirous of finding some succedaneum for personal rectitude and obedience to the will of God. The man habituated to vicious courses, and hackneyed in the ways of sin, cannot easily be brought to think that the safety of his state wholly depends on an entire renovation of heart and life. To believe a dogma is more easy than to make a new heart. No

difficulty attends the exciting of sudden impulses, and warm feelings, in comparison of what attends the production of new principles and habits. For a person to work up his mind to a persuasion that he is constituted righteous, by the righteousness of another being imputed to him, is a less irksome mode of getting rid of the remonstrances, reproaches, and scruples of conscience than by sincere repentance and newness of life. For a man to be told that he has nothing to do but to believe that Christ hath done all things for him; or, that nothing is necessary to place him in a safe state, in the sight of God, but to believe that Christ died for him; or, that his disclaiming all pretention to personal righteousnes, and trusting entirely to the righteousness of Christ for his salvation, will make him a christian, and constitute him an heir of glory; will ever suit the indolent soul, and be to the taste of the slaves of vice, when they feel themselves goarded by conscience. It is like the road which an ancient king wished to find to geometry, it leads at once to the object sought, without any conflict, pains, or exertions; but then it leads to it only in imagination. Can we wonder that, among all the other corruptions of christianity, the doctrine of satisfaction should be introduced, which is so favorable to moral inactivity, and which teaches that men are made perfectly righteous, by the righteousness of another being imputed to them, even before they begin to do right. Men have ever been seeking an impunity in vice, and an exemption from the rigid prescriptions of un

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bending virtue in this doctrine they find such impunity and exemption; for it teaches that a substitute bore all their punishment, and that a substitute wrought out a perfect righteousness for them. From the known disposition of mankind to obtain peace of -conscience, while destitute of strict conformity to -the will of God, we may account for the rise and continuance of this doctrine.

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2. In all ages, men have greatly erred in their thoughts of the divine character; they have been too apt to think God, in some sense, such an one as themselves. Mistakes of this kind have tended much to promote the doctrine in question. The following short tale may serve both to illustrate the doctrine I oppose, and help us to account for its prevalence among the professors of the gospel. A certain man lives in a splendid mansion, he is possessed of a large estate, he has much property besides his estate, and is the most powerful man in his neighbourhood. On one corner of his estate stands la humble cottage, inhabited by a poor defenceless peasant, who is wholly dependant on him, and under his authority. The rich man has in his garden a tree laden with fruit: the poor man, happening to observe this tree, ventures to taste of the fruit the rich man sees him do this, and becomes very angry, threatens him with the utmost rigor of the law, de-` -clares his determination to turn him out of the cottage, and ruin both him and his family. The poor man laments his fate, he acknowledges that he did wrong in touching the fruit; but cannot appease the

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anger of his lord. Whilst he is deploring his hard case one of the servants reminds him that his lordship has a son, a very amiable, compassionate youth, that he has great influence with the old gentleman, and that he would sooner risk his fathers displeasure than omit a benevolent action. The poor man commits his cause to the son, who interposes in his favor, appeases his father's wrath, and the matter is amicably settled. In some such light have many conceived of the character of God and the mediation of Jesus Christ. Their ideas have been evidently borrowed from what they have observed to take place among men: from a wrong notion that the ways of God resemble those of men. Its being very general for persons to reason from men and their ways to God and his ways, accounts, in some measure, for the prevalence of the notion of satisfaction for sins: nor is it improbable that the transferring of human feelings to the Deity, and borrowing ideas of his government from what was observed to take place among man-kind, helped to give rise to that notion.

3. We know that opinions which have been long received, and have obtained a general currency in the world, do not soon lose their influence. Though those who have entertained them should become acquainted with new facts, and receive many new ideas, they would be in danger of intermingling with them, in whole or in part, some of their old opinions. It is probable this was the case with the Gentiles when they received the profession of the gospel. It is a clear fact that some of the errors of paganism, and

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