IT is commonly observed, (and perhaps justly) that young Authors are impatient to hear, what Opinion the World entertains of their first Performance. I hope therefore, that you will take it in good Part, that I let you know what Esteem I have of your first Piece, intitled, A Vindica­tion of Gospel-Truth, &c. — Perhaps you might have been better pleas'd, if the Doctor to whom you directed it, had undertaken this Work himself. And the only Apology that I can make for his seeming Neglect, is this; that as St. Paul directed the Corinthians, 1 Cor. vi. 4. when they had any Controversy about temporal Affairs, to set them to judge and determine them who were least esteemed in the Church, because it was an Office too mean for those of the highest Form: so it is our Method in the Church of England, to appoint Men of the smallest Talents to repulse the feeblest Assaults, while those of the Doctor's Abilities are better employ'd. — However, though I can't afford you that Honour, which a Reply from the Doctor would have done you; yet this I dare engage, that no Man can treat you with greater Integrity and Openness of Heart than I shall do. And to begin, without Flattery I can assure you, that I esteem your Performance as to the Substance of it to be perfect­ly unanswerable; and that you have demonstrated the main Proposition you undertook to prove beyond all Possibility of a Contradiction. And I don't think, that ever any Body to the [Page 6]End of Time will be found so unreasonable, as to attempt to disprove it; and that because no Man yet since the Creation ever denied it. For you tell us, that you ‘grant, there are conditional Promises in the Scriptures to Sinners.’ P. 10. Now this is the utmost that those whom you call Arminians pre­tend to.

But what you contend for, you say, is this, That there are no Promises of the Bestowment of special Grace, made in the Scripture to unregenerate Sinners, on Condition of any Endeavours, Strivings, or Doings of theirs whatsoever. P. 10. Now, fair Disputants who fear not the Light because their Tenets are evil, always take Care, when they state their Question, to explain their Terms.— But you have left yours in the utmost Ambiguity: By which Means you began, continued, and ended the Dispute in the Clouds. And though I have read over your Letter se­veral Times, with the utmost Attention I am capable of; yet I am really at a Loss to know what you would have us believe in the Affair. For,

I. By special Grace the Calvinists mean those Operations of the Holy Spirit upon our Souls which will irresistably and un­frustrably bring them to Heaven. Now if you use the Words special Grace in this Sense (as no Doubt you do) then you mean, that GOD has no where promised to bestow irresistable Grace upon unconverted Men, whatever Pains they may take for it.

And I dare be Surety for every Arminian in the Nation, that he will join with you. For they are so far from believing that GOD has promised special Grace in this Sense to Sinners for any Endeavours of theirs, that they believe he has not pro­mised it all, either conditionally, or unconditionally, either to Saints or Sinners. But,

2dly, The Terms Special Grace do properly signify those pe­culiar Favours and Privileges which belong only to good Men; such as the Pardon of Sin, the peculiar Guidance and Comforts of the Holy Ghost, and a Right to eternal Happiness. Now if your Proposition be understood in this Sense, you must mean, that there are no Promises in the holy Bible, declaring that GOD will give Pardon and eternal Life, to wicked Men, while they remain such, notwithstanding any Endeavours of theirs which come short of a sincere Compliance with the Terms of Salvation. And I am persuaded there is no Man living, but who will join with you in this. I am therefore humbly of the [Page 7]Opinion, that you had no more Occasion to write so largely to prove it, than to spend Two Years in proving that Light is not Darkness. Indeed Brother, if instead of proving that GOD has not promised special, i.e. irresistable Grace to the Unregene­rate for any Doings of theirs, you had proved that he has promised such Grace at all; or that it is necessary to Conversion; or that com­mon and preventing Grace rightly improved will never end in sa­ving Grace; this would have been to the Purpose; this would have been a Refutation of the Doctor's Errors, whom you pretend to ans­wer, and a Confirmation of Mr. Cook's Sermon, which you profess to defend. But instead of this, you have feigned such an Adver­sary, as never existed but in your own Imagination; And this chimerical Antagonist you have manfully attack'd, irresistably conquered, and most unmercifully triumph'd over and expos'd to Shame. You have taken much Pains to refute dangerous Errors, and answer weak Objections, which never had any being, before you dream'd of them; and I dare say would have lain in their Non-Entity to Eternity, had it not been for the creative Power of your Fancy.

By an unregenerate Man, you mean, one who does not consent to the Terms of Salvation. And by special Grace, you mean, Salvation begun and secured, so that it cannot be lost. Therefore to say, that an unregenerate Man has a Promise of special Grace for some Doings of his, while he remains unregenerate, is the same as to say, that a wicked Man has the Promise of Salvation, while he remains wicked, for some wicked Doings of his; or at least, for some Endeavours of his, which have not the least Degree of moral Goodness in them. It is the same, as to say, that a Man has GOD's Promise for Salvation, although he does not comply with the Condition of the Promise. That it was your great Design to disprove this Error, not only your stating the Question, but the whole Strain of your Reasoning shews. — And can you, Sir, in earnest believe, that the Doctor, or any Man living entertains such an Opinion as this? For this is to believe, that both Parts of a Con­tradiction are true; that a Man may be regenerate, and unregenerate at the same Time and in the same Sense; and that he may have a Covenant-Right to Salvation; and yet never consent to the Terms of Salvation propounded in the Covenant of Grace.

You tell us in your Preface, that this is a Covenant of Man's own devising; and I heartily join with you, and give you the [Page 8]Honour of this new [...] Covenant, for I profess, I believe no Man ever hit upon this new Device, but only Mr. Mills. And to be serious with you, with what Conscience could you charge such wretched Whims upon the Doctor? And pray with what Honesty could you feign yourself so horribly affrighted at him, as to make that hideous Outcry P. 32, where you express yourself thus: Here, Sir, being struck with the utmost Surprize, I must beg leave to pause a [...], as not able suddenly to resolve what is best to [...], &c. If one of the infernal Spirits had ap­pear'd to you, could you have exprest your Amazement in stronger Terms? I may venture to appeal to all who know the Force of Language, whether the obvious Meaning of your Words be not this? the Doctor is such a Prodigy for Heresy or Villainy, that to read a few of his Lines is enough to strike one's Soul with Amazement. Whatever you may think of it, Sir, this is but a very mean, tho' an effectual Method of slander­ing.

I am sorry to observe the like Instance of your Uncharitable­ness towards the Doctor in Page 3 [...]. where you undertake to acquaint the World what was the Occasion of the Doctor's writ­ing upon this Subject, which according to you was this, there has lately been a wonderful Season for the Conversion of Souls from Satan to Christ, and vast Numbers have in a short Time experienced a blessed Change of their Hearts from Sin to Holiness, by the Grace of GOD. This nettled the Doctor to see Religion flourish so wonderfully, he thought it was high Time to bestir himself; and try to put a Stop to the Growth of Christ's Kingdom, as it is said of the Devil, Rev. xii. 12. He had great Wrath because he knew, that he had but a short Time. I will appeal to any Person who can discover a Man's Meaning by his Words if this be not the genuine Sense of that Page.

And if your so much boasted Conversions produce no bet­ter Fruits among your People, than this horrible Censorious­ness in their Minister, I'll venture to say of all such as Jacob said of Simon and Levi; O my Soul come not thou into their Secret, unto their Assembly mine Honour be not thou united. Cursed be their Uncharitableness for it is fierce, and their Censorious­ness for it is cruel.

The Doctor had told you his Motive to write, but you pretend to know his Heart, better than he himself did. And you won't allow GOD alone to know the Hearts of the Children [Page 9]of Men.—I am conscious to my self of great Guilt towards GOD. and my Neighbour; but I solemnly profess, I would not be guilty of such a venemous Piece of Reviling, especially against one so remarkable for a benevolent and catholic Spirit as the Doctor is, for all the Applause your Performance has gained you among People of your own Humour.

Besides, there was no manner of Occasion for this virulent and ill-natur'd Stroke: For the late Confusion in this Country, since Mr. Whitefield's Journey through it, called a wonderful Revival of Religion, has occasioned ten Persons coming over to our Side of the Question, to one who has deserted it for yours. But I'm afraid this censuring and judging Men's Hearts, is no new Practice with you: because you are so very ready to drag it in Head and Shoulders, without the least Occasion. — Because I intend not to be tedious. I shall say no more of your Censorious­ness, and only mention one Instance out of many of your In­consistencies. You tell us, P. 10. that the Gospel gives great and precious Encouragements to unconverted Men to endeavour, strive, and do: and that these Encouragements rise in Proportion to their Diligence and Painfulness in doing good Works; this is certainly your Meaning, or you have no Meaning at all. And yet you tell us P. 56. and in many other Places, that it is utterly impossible for these unconverted Sinners by the best Improvement of common Grace, to do one Work that has any moral Good­ness in it, or that GOD can approve of. This too is evidently your Meaning. Now, Brother, pray tell me for the sake of common Sense, how those Works which have no moral Good in them; but are sinful, disapproved and abhorred by GOD, can be supposed to intitle the Doer of them to great and precious Encouragements from GOD? Nay, that the Encouragements should rise in Proportion, as the Sinner abounds in doing these im­moral and sinful Deeds? This is a Paradox, which surpasses my Comprehension. — Your Brethren, who were the chief Pro­moters of the late glorious Work in this Land, of which you boast so much, were not of your Mind, when they told distressed People, that their Prayers and Cries for Mercy were as disagreeable to GOD as the Howlings of the Devils. And that he who lives in all kinds of Wickedness, stands a better Chance for Salvation than he who complies with the whole of his Duty sincerely. I have heard one of the most sober and modest of these Reformers declare to his Hearers, that there were many good and honest Men among them, who know nothing of GOD and Jesus Christ. These Men are [Page 10]throughout of a Piece: but you can blow both hot and cold in such a strange Manner, that I profess I know not what your Faith really is. But this I am sure of, that since you hold, that both the Works of the unconverted are very valuable and have great and precious Encouragements annext to them; and yet are so vile and contemptible that there is not any moral Goodness in the best of them, you are certainly mistaken on one Side or the other: because both Parts of a Contradiction can't be true.

But to return, Though as you have laid down your chief Pro­position, every one will agree in the Truth of it; yet when you have made some Progress in your Discourse, you attempt to prove much more than is contained in your first Assertion: viz. That there is no Certainty from the holy Scripture, that GOD will enable the striving Sinner to comply with the Terms of Salvation. For whereas our blessed Saviour says, Matth. xxv. 29. Unto every on that hath shall be given, and he shall have Abundance. By this Expression, you say is meant the final Re­ward of Glory is the future World. P. 26. Hence you infer, that it is no Promise that a weary and heavy laden Sinner, striving ever so earnestly shall be enabled to come to Christ. — To which I answer, though it be the Design of the Parable of the Talents to represent the Manner of the final Judgment; yet it is corrupting the Word of GOD, to confine this Aphorism to that, and to say, that it does not import our receiving further Degree of Grace in this World, according to the Improvement we make of what we have received already. For it is a general Proposition, and is fulfill'd in ten thousand Instances besides the final Judgment. Thus he who hath Reason, and improves it well, shall have more and shall grow in Understanding. He who hath a Memory, and uses it well shall have it enlarged. What ever Talent a Man hath, if he improves it well, he shall have it inlarged and rewarded. So he who hath the common pre­venting Grace of the Holy Spirit, and improves it by complying with GOD's Will as far as he is able, and who cannot do what he is able to do?) this Man has Christ's express Declaration, that his Grace shall be increased into an Abundance. And if a Man [...]ued with an Abundance of Grace cannot perform one gra­cious Action, or do one single Thing pleasing to GOD, it must be a very strange Sort of Grace indeed, not worth a having. — It is agreed on both Sides, that there is such a Thing as common Grace, or the [...]luences of the Holy Spirit upon all Men under the Gospel, [...]ch only excepted as for their Obstinacy are [Page 11]abandoned, having finally quench'd the Spirit.) And this Grace is given antecedently to any Seekings, Endeavours or Doings of ours. Now this Grace must be allowed to be a Talent im­proveable; otherwise it is no Grace, or Favour. And if it be a Talent, he who improves it, is expresly intitled by a Promise to Abundance of Grace. And he who has a Abundance of Grace, I humbly conceive, is in a State of Acceptance with GOD; and has what we mean by the Terms special Grace; though not irresistible. Now to have Abundance of Grace, and yet be a wicked Man, is something like the Thing called a Bull.

Again, when our blessed Saviour says Matth. 7.7. ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; And GOD will give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him. You will not allow this Promise, to belong to any, but such as have already complied with the Terms of Salvation; No others however desirous to please GOD, have any Right to it. And your Reason is, because this asking must be in unfeigned Faith, and none but converted Persons have this Faith, P. 29. But, pray, how do you prove, that a Man who has not as yet sincerely devoted himself to Christ, may not have this true Faith the next Moment, and be able to ask aright; provided he will exert all that Strength which common and preventing Grace supplies him with? And if this be the Case, the Promise be­longs to him. And that it is so, is very evident; for to say, that he who is now unconverted cannot by GOD's preventing Grace, while he asks, seeks, and knocks in the best Manner (to him possible,) become a good Man, is to affirm, that Men who remain wicked continue such, not through any Default of their own, but because GOD will not give them sufficient As­sistance; which is to charge their Impenitency on GOD. For who can blame the Man that does the utmost that he can? And indeed, this is all that GOD requires of us, that we should love and serve him with all our Strength. And verily, If a Man has no more than our common Grace, and improves it as well as he possibly can, I do not see why he should not be as acceptable to GOD, who is no Respecter of Persons, as if he had your special Grace. For he who has your special Grace can do no more than he can, which he that has common Grace is supposed to do. And when Christ says, ask, and ye shall re­ceive; seek, and ye shall find; it is a Command, and Promise to every one, good and bad, who hears the Gospel. And it is your Presumption to limit it, and confine it to godly Persons. [Page 12]By which Device you make our gracious Redeemer speak in this insincere and dissembling Manner. Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you; and GOD will give his Spirit to them that ask. ‘But while I utter these gracious Words, I have this mental Reservation, provided you ask in Faith unfeigned, which alas poor Wretches, you can no more do, than create a World. You imagine now my Hearers that I direct you, how to become good Men, and obtain eternal Life; but there is nothing farther from my real Intentions. I only put you upon doing Im­possibilities.’ Now is it not a soul Imputation upon the holy Jesus, in whose Mouth was no Guile, to suppose he would set Men to do Impossibilities, in order to obtain Salvation, under the Pretence of pointing out to them the right Way to eternal Life? No Man of common Honesty would endure such a Re­proach to be cast upon himself.

Again you tell us, P. 41. That the Supposition of any true moral Excellency and solid Goodness in the best possible Doings of the Unregenerate while such, is but a meer Dream and vain Imagina­tion. This is your grand Argument, and runs through the whole, I shall therefore give it a short, but full Answer.

1. If by this you mean, that all which a wicked Man does, while he refuses to comply with the Terms of Salvation, will not intitle him to the special Favour of GOD; this is what no body denies, or needs to be taught. But,

2. If by this you mean, that a Man who is not thoroughly good, never does what in any Degree is pleasing to GOD, and morally good; you are mistaken: For Ahab was a very wicked Man; yet some of his Actions had a Degree of moral Goodness in them; and were in some Measure pleasing to God. 1 Kings xxi. 29. Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the Evil in his Days: But in his Sons Days I will bring the Evil upon his House. If Ahab's Behaviour had had no moral Good­ness in it, GOD would not have taken such Notice of it; nor have so rewarded it. The like is evident in Jehu, 2 Kings x. 30, 31. And the Lord said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which was right in mine Eyes, and hast done unto the House of Ahab according to all that was in mine Heart, thy Children of the fourth Generation shall sit upon the Throne of Israel. But Jehu took no heed to walk in the Law of the Lord GOD of Israel with all his Heart. If Jehu's Conduct [Page 13]had not been in some Degree morally good and pleasing to GOD, the Judge of all the Earth who will do right would not have requited it with such a Reward. Christ said to one, Thou art not far from the Kingdom of GOD. Now if no unconverted Man has any moral Goodness at all, then one is not nearer to the Kingdom of GOD than another; all being equally destitute of Goodness, and in the State of the Devils. It is therefore your Mistake to say that all the best Endeavours of every one who hath not yet come up to the Terms of Salvation, have no moral Goodness in them. For as good Men are not in this Life perfectly good, and free from all moral Evil; so every wicked Man is not perfectly wicked and void of all moral Good­ness, that is, all wicked Men are not arrant Devils while in this Life. Well, but suppose, it were granted, that while we come short of a sincere Compliance with the Terms of Salvation, all we do is Sin; yet how does it follow, that we may not de­pend upon it, that if we do the best we can, GOD will help us to do some Thing that is not Sin? Without Faith we cannot please GOD: But how does it follow from thence, that if we strive with all our Strength GOD's Spirit will not help us to a right Faith? Though we should grant, that while Men remain wicked they do nothing but Sin, yet that is no Proof, that they can not do better; or that GOD is not ready to afford them that gracious Assistance by which they could cease to do Evil and learn to do well. All GOD's Commands, Calls, and Invitations to Sinners to believe, repent, to turn and live, imply that GOD will afford them sufficient Grace to do what he requires. For his Commands are Indications of his Will. And GOD cannot will that which is impossible: It being a Weakness that the Almighty cannot be subject to. And he who commands what he knows is impossible, does not desire or intend to be obeyed, And who dare say, that when GOD by the Gospel commands all Men every where to repent; that he does not will, or desire, or intend to be obeyed? And if he does desire to be obeyed, then he leaves none under an Impossibility to believe, and obey the Gospel. And when GOD commands us to believe in Christ, it not only denotes, that we should do so, but that we can believe. As when Christ commanded a dead Man to arise, and said, Lazarus come forth; he at the same Time enabled him to obey, and come forth; orherwise he would not have laid such a Command upon him; or given such a Call. So when he commanded the Man who had a withered Hand, to [Page 14]stretch it out, it was equivalent to a Promise, that he should be able to do so, provided he would try to obey. So GOD never commands Men to repent, and come to Christ, but he likewise puts it in their Power to do it. The Spirit accom­panies the Word, till Men by their obstinacy have quenched it. And to say, that GOD commands Men to believe and repent and yet don't enable them to obey him, is to charge GOD with Folly and Cruelty. Folly, in that it supposes GOD Wills and desires Impossibilities: and Cruelty, in that it supposes he requires that Service, which he gives no Strength to perform; like a Master who requires Work to be done by his Servant, but will afford him neither Maintenance nor Tools.

Besides, all baptised Persons have a Covenant-Right to all the Assistance of the Holy Ghost that is necessary in order to their obtaining Salvation. As Baptism is a Seal of the Covenant between the blessed Trinity and us; so when we are baptised into the Name of the Holy Ghost, he engages to be our Sanc­tifier, i. e. to do all that is necessary on his Part for our Sanc­tification. If you deny that by Baptism we have a Covenant-Right to sufficient Grace to sanctify us, you thereby declare, that Baptism is an insignificant Ceremony, a Sign without any Thing signified, a Seal without any Thing sealed or engaged on the Part of the Holy Ghost.

If you say, tho' God does give us Power to believe and re­pent, yet he does not give it as a Reward for any Strivings, Endeavours, or Doings of ears, while we are unregenerate. I reply, no Body imagines that he does so. We grant, that the Grace of GOD prevents us. GOD begins with us; not we with him. The Spirit moves us before ever we move in Re­ligion. The first Grace is bestowed upon us before ever we ask, seek, or knock. If GOD should not give us Grace be­fore we did something pleasing to him, or some morally good Action, to qualify us for Grace, or to merit Grace in the lowest Sense; we never should receive any Grace at all. And there­fore your citing Texts, and Bishop Hopkins, to prove this Point, was perfectly needless: And the Boasting you mention about an Hundred Times, we readily acknowledge is excluded by Grace. And no Man can truly say, I sought GOD be­fore I had his Grace, and by my own Endeavours I gain'd a Right to the first Grace. This is so obvious a Truth, so constantly inculcated in our Liturgy as well as in the Holy Bible, that I never knew any Professor of the Church of England doubt [Page 15]of it, and the Doctor himself asserts and inculcates it. For you therefore to represent it as tho' this was the Point in Contest, if it be not Slandering, yet it must be accounted an inexcusable Blunder.

Another Thing I would observe, you insist upon is, that it is very wrong to pray for converting Grace under the Notion of its being a promised Favour. But in this I must differ from you, and can't help thinking, that to pray for it under the Notion of a promised Mercy is the only right Method. For when we ask for converting Grace we should pray for it with full Assu­rance of Faith as knowing that what we ask for is agreeable to the Will of GOD, because as the Apostle tells us this is the Will of GOD even our Sanctification. But it is a sinful Presumption to ask absolutely for any Thing which GOD has not promised. And we must pray for nothing but what we can ask in Faith. For whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin: and St. James says, Let him ask in Faith nothing wavering, James i. 6. Now where there is no divine Promise, there can be no divine Faith. GOD's Word and Promise is the only solid Foundation of Faith and Hope. So that if there were no other Argument against your Hypothesis, yet this alone is sufficient to overthrow it.

I'll now take Notice of the ill Consequences which you ima­gine, flow from our Doctrine, which is that GOD affords all Men sufficient Grace to become good Men. This, say you, is likely is bear down and keep under the Sinner's rising Fears from Time to Time, to sooth and hush his accusing Conscience, and while in Heart really pursuing the World as his chief Good, yet to flatter him with the Hopes of his finally obtaining Heaven too; as having the Grace of GOD well secured to him by a conditional Promise, and brought hereby as it were within the Command of his own Endeavours and Improvements. — And this you call a Self-pleasing Opinion, P. 62. To which I reply; If by the Grace of GOD's being brought as it were within the Command of our Endeavours and Improvements, you mean, that as we improve or neglect the Grace of GOD, so it is either increased, or with­drawn from us, this is a most evident Truth. When Men re­ceive the Grace of GOD in vain, when they grieve and quench the Spirit and resist the Holy Ghost, (as the Scripture expresses it) GOD's Spirit will not always strive with them; but will withdraw his Influences, and leave them to Hardness of Heart. But on the other Hand, when Men concur with the blessed In­fluences [Page 16]of the Spirit he gives more Grace, James iv. 6. When they cherish the kind Motions of Grace, this blessed Guest pays their Souls more frequent Visits, and operates more power­fully upon them, till they are changed into the Image of the Lord, from Glory to Glory, by the Spirit of the Lord, 2 Cor. iii. 18.

But now, how this Scripture-Doctrine should be likely to in­courage Sinners to delay Repentance, as you say, is past my Comprehension. We teach, that the longer a Sinner delays his Repentance, the less Reason there is to hope, that he will ever repent; for the more the Spirit will be grieved, and he hardened through the Deceitfulness of Sin; and after a while the blessed Comforter may finally abandon him, so that he shall never have any Inclination to repent. And tho' this should not happen to be his Case, yet he is sure of no Opportunity but the present to repent in; because Life is uncertain, and we know not what a Day may bring forth. So that the delay­ing Sinner may die before the Season comes, in which he pur­posed to repent, and then he is lost forever. So that he who repents not to Day has no Command of either Grace or Op­portunity to repent to Morrow. Where then lies the Danger of our Doctrine's soothing and hushing Sinners Consciences in De­laying Repentance? But your Doctrine has a real Tendency to this. For according to you Men must delay their Repentance whether they will, or no, till GOD's Time comes to give them Repentance; which indeed may never come. For you teach, that Conversion is the Work of GOD alone, an Effect of Al­mighty Power, as much as raising the Dead; and therefore does not depend upon any Thing we can do, any more than our Resurrection when we are Dead. And as all dead Men must rest in their Graves, till GOD's Time to raise them comes, so must the wicked patiently wait till GOD sees fit to convert them. And if they Strive to be converted, yet all their Strivings, Endeavours, and Doings are nothing but sin­ning, offending GOD and making bad worse. So that if it were possible for me to believe your Doctrine, and at the same Time to have one Spark of Reason remain in me, it would effect­tually hush and sooth my Conscience in delaying my Repentance, till special Grace was granted, and that being irresistible tho' it came but at the last Breath of a most wicked Life yet would it secure my Admission into Heaven; and my antecedent Strivings would not hasten my Conversion one Moment, nor my Carelesness and Laziness in the least Degree retard it— [Page 17]Now let common Sense determine which of these Hypothesis does most encourage Sinners to delay Repentance.

You tell us, that ours is a self pleasing Opinion. And I heartily agree with you: For it is agreeable to the moral Sense of all Mankind, and their natural Notions of the Deity; but your's is an Affront to common Reason, repugnant to the na­tural Notions which Mankind have of GOD, and is contra­dicted by every Man's Experience, who feels, and is consci­ous to himself that GOD gives him Power to refuse the Evil, and Chuse the Good. And the Mind must be strangely de­bauch'd before it can receive your Scheme without great Strug­glings and Reluctance: Tho' Education and Custom will make any Thing easy, however abhorrent to Reason.

Another evil Fruit of our Doctrine in your Opinion is, that it cherishes Pride and sinful Boasting, whereas yours is a Soul-humbling Doctrine. But wherein I beseech you lies the Pride and Arrogance of saying as we do, I am not sufficient of myself so much as to think one good Tho't, but yet I have so honourable an Opinion of GOD's Mercy, that I make no Doubt but that his Grace will be sufficient for me, so that I can do what he commands me to his Acceptance, and if I fail of Salvation, it will not be thro' any Defect of GOD's Grace towards me, but it will be purely owing to my not doing what he would have enabled me to do? Was it Pride in St. Paul to say, I can do all Things thro' Christ strengthening me? Is it Arrogance to say, I am under no Necessity to be wicked, for GOD don't suffer me to be tempted above what I am able? It appears to me, a much more humbling Thought, when I have done wickedly in any Instance, to reflect that it was not for Want of divine Assistance, but for want of using it, that I am now plunged in Guilt. And if I had done my best Endeavour I might have been a Child of GOD; whereas now I am a Child of the Devil. This, I say, is a more aba­sing Reflection than to say according to your Scheme, I am wicked because GOD never put it in my Power to be any other than wicked; nor to do one morally good Deed: the sovereign Will of GOD, and Adam's first Sin is the necessi­tating Cause of all my Sin. Which is the most abasing Doc­trine, that which charges our Impenitency and Wickedness upon GOD and our first Parents: or that which lays it at our own Door? This is a just stating of the Question, If I can't pos­sibly do any Thing but Sin, (as you teach) then I have no more Reason to be humbled and troubled in Conscience for it, [Page 18]than for any Distemper or natural Blemish in my Body. If I am born to [...], as the Sparks fly upward, and GOD puts it not in my Power to do otherwise, I have then no more Reason to be ashamed of my Wickedness, than that I have a mortal Nature and must die. The more Power we have to do well, the more Reason we have to be ashamed and [...] with Remorse when we do Evil.—And I verily believe, no Tenet was ever advanced among Christians which has a greater Tendency to cherish Pride and Arrogance, than your Doctrine of the Saints Perseverance; when you tell People, as one of you did in my hearing, that you may as well [...] of [...] GOD, as if a converted Person's [...] of Salvation. And as another not far from me, who in his Sermon told them, that if they were but ever converted, they might commit [...] Sins they would, and run as far from GOD as they [...] but he would bring them back again, and have them in [...] of their [...].

Now as Dr. H [...] observes, ‘He that is once possessed with this Persuasion that all the Sins which he can possibly commit, were they as many as have been committed by all Mankind since the Beginning of the World, are not able to frustrate his Election, or separate him from the Love and Favour of Almighty GOD, will be too apt to swell with pharisaical Pride, and despise all other Men as Heathens and Publicans, when such poor Publicans as have their Minds humble and relying on GOD, will stand a-loof, not during to approach too near the divine Majesty, but crying out with, GOD be merciful unto me a Sinner. For this we need produce no Proof, we find it in the supercilious Looks and haughty Car­riage of those who are so well assured of their own Election; who cannot so disguise themselves, as not to undervalue and despise all those who are not of the same Party with them: A Race of Men whose Insolence and Pride there is no avoiding.’ And scarce a Pamphlet do they publish, without boasting of the Piety of their Party, as if all true Piety was confined to them, and nothing but the Form belonged to us.

Two or three Things more I shall take Notice of, and con­clude. Mr. Cooke in the Sermon which you undertook to vin­dicate, in proving that there are no Promises to the Unregene­rate, advanced this Argument, viz. If GOD hate bound himself by his Promise to his Creatures, he is no more at perfect Liberty either to grant or withhold the promised Blessing, as may please him: Which Argument carries this Sense, or none at all to the Pur­pose, and when drawn out into proper Form stands thus:

[Page 19] If GOD has bound himself by his Promise to his Creatures, he is no more at [...] Liberty either to grant or with-hold the pro­mised Blessing as may please him. But GOD being absolutely sovereign, is at [...] Liberty either to grant or with-hold his Blessing as pleaseth him;

Therefore God hath not bound himself to his Creatures by his Promise.

Now, says the Doctor, ‘Surely if this Argument proves any Thing, it proves that no Promise at all, to good or bad is consistent with the divine Sovereignty; and then where is there any Place for any New Covenant, or indeed old either? And if the Case be so, away with the Bible sure enough.’ Which is as just a Remark as ever was made, and as well grounded. And yet for this you spend Page after Page in loading the Doctor with your Obloquies and Revilings, charg­ing him with Untruths, Mistakes, grand Mistakes, Censoriousness, Unchristian Reflections. Thus foul and abusive Language sup­plies the Place of solid Reasoning.

And then P. 15. you gravely ask, If these Words of Mr. Cooke's be not most evidently true? To which I answer, that as a Cypher standing alone is no Number, so this Sentence when it stands singly and by it self, is true and harmless, but as it stands in Mr. Cooke's Sermon, and is used by him as a Medium, or Argument to prove, that there are no Promises to the Unregenerate, it is a most gross and pernicious Un­truth, and if admitted, as the Doctor observes, it will follow, there are no Promises of GOD to any Creature, because they would be inconsistent with that Notion of Sovereignty which he was preaching up. And your not perceiving this must certainly be owing to some Defect either in your Head, or Heart, but in which, GOD, and I believe, your own Conscience knows.

Again, the Doctor had observed, ‘that nothing can so ef­fectually tend to tempt us to entertain hard Thoughts of GOD, and cut the Sinews of all Endeavours to do our Duty as even the most distant Surmize, that possibly all our Labour may be in vain, since for ought we know, we may be ab­solutely excluded from all Possibility of succeeding by an in­exorable Decree of Reprobation.’ In remarking upon this, you make the best Show of Reasoning of any Part of your Performance. For, say you, Doth not the Husbandman plow in Hope without the least Certainty of Success? &c.

I answer, that is because the Husbandman believes nothing of your Doctrine; but whatever idle Speculations of Fate and [Page 20]absolute Predestination may swim in his Brain, yet in his hearty and predominant Belief he is an Arminian. For did the Hus­bandman heartily believe, that it was absolutely decreed, that he should, or should not have a Crop, and that without Re­gard to his Plowing, as you pretend to believe, that Men are elected, or reprobated without Foresight of their Faith or Works, and did he believe that Plowing and Sowing were the sole Work of GOD alone, and done by an irresistable Power, as you believe Conversion is; I care say, he would neither plow, sow, nor reap, until Experience had taught him a more or­thodox Faith. But Men are not so easily cheated with false Schemes in their temporal, as in their spiritual Concerns; as Christ has observed, The Children of this World are wiser in their Generation than the Children of Light. And the Doctor's Observation is very just, for what Madness is it to strive to alter an absolute Decree of Heaven, in the making of which there was no Regard to what we would or could do in Time?

Let us now hear the Conclusion of the whole Matter. The Question between us is this, whether there be any Certainty, that a Sinner, with the Assistance of common Grace, continuing to strive as earnstly and as regularly as he possibly can, will ever find Mercy at the Hands of GOD? You hold the Negative, and we the Affirmative. That Party (as you say who) [...] right Side of the Question, have the true Gospel; but they who are in the wrong Side of it, have only a Gospel of Man's De­vising. To which I say, AMEN.

Your Evidence when summed up, is this, the best that an unconverted Sinner can do while such, has [...] true moral Goodness in it; therefore it is unreasonable to supose that GOD should ascertain special Grace to the Performance of such defective and sinful Doings. To which we answer; this is nothing at all to the Purpose. For tho' it be granted—that while a Man does not give up himself sincerely and intirely to GOD in Christ, he does no Duty to GOD's final Accep­tance; yet it does not from thence follow, that he cannot by GOD's preventing Grace so sincerely watch and pray and strive as thereby to be so far accepted as to become certainly qua­lified for further and effectually saving Grace. And though they who are in the Flesh cannot please GOD, yet it does not from thence follow that they cannot by the Help of GOD's Grace come out of that wretched State, and then please him.

The grand Sophism and Fallacy which runs through the whole of your Reasoning is this, Unregenerate Men whilst they [Page 21]remain such can do nothing in a special Sense pleasing to GOD; therefore you conclude, that they can't by all the divine Grace afforded to them, come out of that State, and become sincere Christians. Which is a poor begging the Question, and prov­ing nothing as to the Point in Contest. You prove that wicked Men whilst wicked, can do no good Works, whereas you should prove, that wicked Men must remain wicked, and that all the Grace that GOD affords them while they are wicked is in­sufficient to enable them to become sincere. And for as much as you have not done this, though you have done much, yet have you done nothing to the Purpose. In a Word, those Points which are in Contest, as whether Grace be irresistable, whether sufficient Grace be afforded to such as never repent, whether GOD does all in our Conversion, these you take for granted: And a Point about which no Body doubts, you have prov'd most laboriously: this is the true Character of your Piece.

As to your Discourse of Original Sin, though I will not say as the Quaker did to Whitefield, that it is nothing but ori­ginal Non-sense: yet I am sure, I can't find the Sense of a great Part of it. But it seems to be summed up in this Ques­tion. Did GOD's Perfections [...] him to make Provision in our Case? P. 73. I suppose, you mean, was GOD obliged to send his Son into the World to redeem us, upon Adam's Fall? I answer, No. Had it not been for GOD's sovereign Good­ness, his Threatning would have been put into Execution, In the Day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die: and then Adam would have had no Posterity to suffer for his Sin. Your Discourse therefore proceeds upon a Mistake, viz. That if GOD had not seen fit to shew Mercy to Man after the Fall, yet our first Parents would have continued in this World, and have propagated their Kind; and we after Death should have risen to an immortal State in another World, i. e. to lie in the Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels. Which Notion is not only without Foundation in holy Scripture, but is directly contrary to it. For the Death threatned to Adam was as GOD himself explained it to return to Dust out of which he was taken, not to go to Hell.—Besides, the Scrip­ture informs us, that had there been no Saviour provided, there would have been no Resurrection. As by Man came Death, so by Man came the Resurrection. And Christ says, I am the Re­surrection and the Life. So that had not GOD provided a Re­medy upon the Fall, we should not have been liable to be damned for Adam's Sin, as the Devils were for their own. Which observation demolishes your Hypothesis.

[Page 22]One thought more I would hint to you, and I have done, which is, that your great Labour in this Affair was perfectly needless: Because you teach the same Doctrine that you write against. ‘You say, GOD has given great and precious En­couragements for Sinners to Strive, and the more they Strive, the more Reason the Gospel gives them, to hope for Salvation. Thus you begin: And in your Conlusion you tell us, it is your full Persuasion, that in the Day of Judgment, not one single Soul will be found, who did his best Endeavour, and yet mist of Salvation.’ This is exactly our Opinion too. The worst that we teach in this Affair is, that it is certain by GOD's Word, that no Sinner who does his best, shall miss of Salvation, where then is the mighty Differ­ence, which could justify you in accusing us of holding ano­ther Covenant, another Gospel, of dangerous Errors, Heresies, Pe­lagianism, and I know not what; When you yourself pretend to believe just the same Thing?—If you still insist upon it, that we do differ widely, because we hold, that GOD has given a Promise to assist the weary and heavy laden Sinner in coming to Christ; while you believe he has only given great and precious Encouragements to do it, such as never did, and ne­ver will fail any who trust to them; Still I say, here is no real Difference. For by these great Encouragements, you must mean GOD's having called and invited Sinners to accept of his Mercy, and commanded them to turn and live, &c. And it is inconsist­ent with the Sincerity of our heavenly Father, to invite Men to accept of that which he never intends they shall have, or to command them to do, what he is not disposed to ena­ble them to do. This I say, must be your Meaning. And this is all that we pretend to, so that in spight of all your Endeavours to differ and quarrel, you still agree with us. And is it not unmanly and unchristian, to contend so fiercely, and clamor so loudly for a Word, and propagate a Spirit of Bitterness and Uncharitableness for only a Phrase, when we are agreed in the Sense? If you say, who began this silly Fray and Squabble about Words? I answer you with your Company, who made a Business thro' the Country to preach to serious People in the greatest Distress to please GOD, and tell them, though they strove and cried Day and Night for Mercy, yet there was but a meer Perhaps, and a meer MAY-BE for them. And when by this Craft you had driven a poor Soul into Dis­traction then you boasted, that you had got the Spirit to work in them; and insulted over us, because we had no such [Page 23] Seals of our Ministry calling us Arminians, Pharisees, and almost an infinite Number of reproachful Epithets. And he was ac­counted the most excellent Preacher who could hit upon the most extravagant and out of the Way Phrase to reproach human Nature and Gospel-Obedience with. I write no Calumny, but Facts to which there are Thousands of Witnesses. And yet if for this you don't call me a Blasphemer, you have altered your Language.

And notwithstanding all this Load of Reproaches cast upon us, yet whenever you are pleased to discourse soberly, you make the Difference betwixt us and you, no greater than between great and precious Encouragements, which never did or will fail any, and Promises. And for my Part rather than contend for a Word, I will part with Promises, for such great and precious En­couragements, if that will content you. For I am sure, that a [...] of Honour, much more a GOD of Mercy and Truth, will no more fail or disappoint a poor Beggar who trusts to his great Encouragements, than if he had had an express Promise. The plain Truth is, that whatever Distance there is between you and us in this Point, there is the self-same Distance and Disagreement between you, and yourself. And if you ever are so happy as to agree with yourself, at the same Instant you will agree with us. But I never knew any one on your Side of the Question, who did not pull down with one Hand, what he had built up with the other. This I confess is not peculiar to you, for I have heard that late eminent Writer Mr. Dickinson on your Side, affirm both in his Preaching and in private Conversation, That there is a Promise, or at least equivalent to a Promise, that they who improve common Grace shall have special Grace. That these were his Words I can freely make Oath. And yet this same Gentleman has endeavoured to represent me as an Heretick, a Contradicter of Scripture, and all the Protestant Churches on Earth, for the same Doctrine▪ But however you disa­gree among your selves, and even the same Man is at Variance with himself; and all the while sure to be in the Right, yet there is one Thing you are all agreed in, and constant to, that is, to contradict, and reproach the Church of England: so Pontius Pilate, and Herod, though at Enmity between themselves, yet both agreed to set our blessed Saviour at Nought.

Thus Sir, I have told you my Opinion of your Performance uprightly, and I think, without Reviling on the one Hand, or Flattery on the other. Treat me in the same frank and candid Manner; and it will be very agreeable to, Sir,