the object of God's abhorrence; the other, how much true goodness is the object of his complacency: the one lets us see, what the hardened sinner may justly fear; the other what the really pious and good man may reasonably look for. Nor is it easy for us to think of any other method, that the divine Being could have taken (at least consistently with that mercy, which he was disposed to shew to sinners) which would have given us a more striking idea of the evil of sin, than his thus appointing his own Son to die as a sacrifice for sin. For what could have shewed it to be more odious in his sight; or how could he have given us a more conspicuous mark of his displeasure against it, and of his resolution finally to punish impenitent sinners, than by giving his own Son, a person of such dignity, and so dear to himself, to suffer and die as he did, for the expiation of sin, or as that, without which he did not think it expedient to pardon even returning offenders ?* Whereas upon your scheme, the

* See Hallet's notes and discourses, vol. 2, p. 307, 308. To what is said above I would just add here, that the death of Christ, as an appointment of the Father, and as what was willingly and cheerfully submitted to by the

death of Christ, though, when taken in connexion with its consequences, it points out to us the value and importance of obedience, yet does not (I will venture to say) shew us the malignity and desert of sin; at least in such a manner as it is done by the scheme you oppose: and, indeed, sir, herein your scheme seems to me to be defective; that though it represents rightcousness, virtue, or goodness, as highly pleasing to God, and as, under his government, the only road to true honour and

Son, for our redemption from death, has an obvious and powerful tendency to promote our sanctification in this view; as it gives us the most convincing proofs of the Father's kindness and readiness to be reconciled to us, Rom. viii. 32, and of the Son's love, John xv. 13, and, of consequence, presents us with some of the most encouraging, as well as ingenuous motives to repentance and obedience. See again Hallet's Notes, &c. p. 308, 309. Though, I must confess, there is one sentence in this last page, which seems not so just. It is this; 'If Christ had died only as a martyr, we could have

· seen no more of God's love in his death than in the ' death of St. Paul.' This, I say, seems not so just : because, supposing our Lord had died only as a martyr,` yet God's appointing a person of so much greater dignity and so much dearer to himself to die for us (though in such a way) would surely have been an evi. dence of greater love, than his appointing the apostle Paul, or, indeed, any other person, to die in the same, way would have been.

everlasting happiness; it yet does not directly, if indeed at all, point out to us, how great an evil sin is, how offensive to God, and to what dreadful consequences it exposes the sinner. It is true, sir, you' allow, that our Lord died as a sacrifice for sin; and moreover contend, No. 170, that

whoever attentively fixes his thoughts

upon the death of Christ, must there see, ' in the strongest light, how odious and ' detestable all sin is to God;-how dreadfully pernicious in its consequences, when 'the infinite wisdom of God judged nothing less than the sacrifice of his well beloved and only begotten Son, that great, that glorious, and most excellent personage, a ' proper mean to deliver us both from the

guilt and from the power of it,' &c. But though you are pleased to say this; whoever attentively considers, that, according to you, our Lord made atonement for us, not by suffering and dying in our stead, but by that piety and goodness, which he so eminently displayed in dying for us, will, I believe, find it hard to conceive, how his death, upon your principles, is fitted to shew us, that sin is odious in the sight of God, and much harder,

that

it deserves death. As to the former; 1 believe, if we examine the subject carefully, we shall find, that nothing can shew us, that sin is odious in the sight of God, but what is an indication of his displeasure against it but how can his placing his Son in such circumstancés, in which he has manifested extraordinary goodness, and pardoning the offences of men for the sake of that goodness, discover his displeasure against sin? It shews, it must be owned, very evidently his regard to goodness; but how it shews his displeasure against sin, it is not easy to see. If it should be said, that it does this, as God thought it expedient that his Son should suffer death, before he would pardon those offences; I answer, that this is in reality to grant the thing I contend for; viz. that it is our Lord's suffering death, and not the virtue or goodness he displayed in dying, which shews the divine displeasure against sin. And, indeed, for my own part, I must freely confess, notwithstanding what you have said, No. 160, that I cannot see (at present however) that any sacrifice for sin can be an indication of the divine displeasure against it, any otherwise than as it im

plies, in one respect or another, some suffering or loss upon account of it; which suffering or loss therefore must be the thing, which shews that displeasure against it.*

* What is said above it may not be amiss, in this place, - to endeavour to explain some what farther; and the less so, as it will give an opportunity of considering some things you have said in relation to the subject before us. I readily allow then with you, sir, No. 162, that the 'obedience of Abraham was a reason for bestowing blessings upon his posterity,' and that Moses, and * other good men, averted the judgments of God by their 'prayers and righteousness; i.e. that by these they made atonement for the people of Israel, or so far procur ed for them the remission of their sins. I must confess also, that this way of proceeding had a very obvious tendency to give the Israelites an high opinion of the value and acceptableness of obedience, piety, and righteousness in the sight of God: but then, I must observe at the same time, that it does not seem to have had any (at least direct) tendency to shew them the evil of sin; had Moses indeed, or any of the other good men referred to, been appointed by God to suffer, in any degree, for the sins of that people; such suffering would evidently have shewed his dipleasure against those sins: and, perhaps, a great deal more than his inflicting the same degree of evil by way of punishment upon the offenders, would have done but as that was not the case; the regard shewed to the obedience of Abraham, the prayers of Moses, &c. seems to be less fitted to demonstrate God's abhorrence of sin (how much soever it shewed his love of obedience, &c.) than the smallest or least valuable piacular sacrifices under the law: because these, as they were required at the hands of the offenders, as the condition of their being forgiven, and the parting with them