ling sin." But happily for the honour of Christianity, this Antinomian, this impure gospel has not the least countenance from St. Peter; and he cuts up the very root of it where he says: "Who shall harm you, if you be followers of that which is good? Commit the keeping of your souls unto God in well-doing. [The very reverse of sinning.] -You are his daughters [the daughters of him to whom God said, Walk before me and be thou perfect,] so long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement," i e. so long as your conduct and tempers become the gospel. And every body knows, that a man's tempers are always as his heart; and that if his heart is full of evil, his tempers cannot be full of goodness, Rom. xv. 14.

"Let pa

II. If St. Peter, the first of Mr. Hill's witnesses, does not say one word to counte nance Antinomianism, and to recommend Christian imperfection; let us see if St. James pleads for Baal in the heart, any more than for Bual in the life of perfect believers. Turn to his epistle, O ye that thirst after holiness, and to your comfort you will find, that in the first chapter he shews himself a bold assertor of Christian perfection. tience (says he) have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect, and entire, wanting nothing." He speaks the same language in other places. "Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, he, being a doer of the work, shall be blessed in his deed." And again :-" If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man.' Nor is it difficult to demonstrate from his second chapter, that established believers or perfect Christians, "keep the royal, perfect law of liberty;" and that those who break it in one point are in a deplorable case.

the state of christian perfection, will be condemned for one sin; St. James properly instances in the sin of uncharitableness, because it is directly contrary to our Lord's "new commandment of loving one another as he has loved us, and because charity is the fulfilling of the royal law, and the bond of perfection. Can faith save him" (the uncharitable believer, says St. James ?) If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you [believers] say, Be ye warned and filled, notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit? Even so, faith if it hath not works (and of consequence, the fallen believer, if he has sin unrepented of) is dead."-Such a one is of the devil, for he committeth sin, and sin is the transgression of the law of liberty, by which he shall be judged," yea, by which "he shall have judgment without mercy, that has (thus) shewed no mercy;" whether he sinned negatively by not relieving his poor brother in deed, though he gave him good words: or whether he did it positively, by having respect to persons, or by grudging against his brother. Compare James ii. 13, &c. with 1 John iii. 17, &c. to the end of both chapters, which are two strong batteries raised on purpose to defend the doctrine of christian perfection, and to demolish the doctrine of christian imperfection, which is all one with Antinomianism.

If Mr. Wesley had written an epistle to Antinomian believers, to make them go on to christian perfection, could he have expressed himself in a stronger manner than St. James does in the following passages? "Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned [or damned.] James v. 9. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that judgeth his brother judgeth the law. But if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge There is one Lawgiv. who is able to save and to destroy [those believers, who keep or break his royal law.] James iv. 11, 12.-Again: If ye fulfil the royal law, according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well; but [if ye do not full it ;] if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend [i. e. commit sin] in one point, he is guilty of all &c. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty," James ii. 8, &c.

er,

What follows demonstrates, that fallen believers, if they do not repent and rise to

Should it be objected, that, "at this rate, no christian believer is, safe, till he has attain. ed christian perfection;" We reply, that all christian believers are safe, who either stand in it, or press after it. And if they do neither, we are ready to prove, that they rank among fallen believers, and are in as imminent a danger of being spued out of Christ's mouth as the Laodiceans were. Let Mr. Hill candidly read the Epistle to the Hebrews, the second Epistle of St. Peter, and the first of St. John, and let him doubt of it if he can.

Should Mr. Hill object, that "St. James himself says, "In many things we offend all;" and that this one saying abundantly proves that he was a strong Imperfectionist: I beg leave to involve my honoured opponent in the following dilemma. Are the offences, of which St. James speaks, involuntary? Or, are they voluntary? If Mr. Hill says, They are involuntary, I answer, Then they are not proper breaches of the law of liberty, which St. James preached; because that law curses us for no involuntary offences; and therefore, such offences [like St. Paul reproving of the High Priest more sharply than he would have done, had he known what high dignity his unjust judge was invested with] such offences, I say, are not sins according to the royal and evangelical law of our Melchisedec; and therefore they do not prove,

that all believers remain full of indwelling-sin till death. If Mr. Hill replies that, "The many offences, of which St. James speaks, are voluntary offences, and therefore real breaches of the law of liberty;" I answer, that this genuine sense of the words taken in connexion with the context, confirms our doctrine of Christian perfection, and our opposition to Antinomianism; and I prove it thus:

The text and context run thus: "My brethren, be not many masters; [i. e. lord it not one over another:] knowing that we [who do so] shall receive the greater coademnation (or damnation) if we do not learn humility." I say we, because I would not have you to think that God our judge is a respecter of persons, and will spare an Apostle, who breaks the law of liberty and does not repent, any more than he would spare you. For if I represented God as a partial judge, Judas's greater condemnation would prove me mistaken. And I insist the more upon this awful doctrine, because in many things we offend all, especially in word till we are made perfect in love, in that love which is the fulfilling of the law, and enables us to keep our tongue as it were with a bridle all the day long.-If Mr. Hill asks, by what means I can shew, that this is really St. James's meaning: I reply, by the plain rule of Divinity and Criticism, which bids us take the beginning of a verse in connexion with the end. And if we do this here, we find the doctrine of Christian perfection in this very text thus: We shall receive the greater damnation if we do not repent and cease to be many masters; for in many things we [from time to time] offend all, [especially by our words till we are perfected in love.] "If any man offend not in word, the same is [what each of us should be] a perfect man, and able also to bridle his whole body;" James iii. 1, 2.-So certain therefore, as there are men able to bridle their tongue, and their whole body, there are men perfect in the body-perfect before death, according to the doctrine contained in the controverted passages of St. James.

"But St. James says also, "The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy," James iv. 5.

I reply: 1. It is usual for modest teachers o rank themselves with the persons of whom they say something disagreeable and this they do to take away the harshness of their doctrine, and to make way for the severity of their charges. Thus Peter writes, "The time past of our life may suffice us, to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries" though it is evident that Peter, a poor, industrious, godly Jew, never

walked in abominable idolatries, working the will of the Gentiles. Now the same delicacy of charity, which made St. Peter rank himself with heathens, who walked in drunkenness, whoredom, and gross idolatry, makes St James rank himself with the carnal Christians, who are possessed by an envious spirit.

2. Nay, St. James himself using the same figure of speech, says, "The tongue is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison, &c, therewith curse we men, who are made after the similitude of God." But would it be reasonable to infer from these words, that his tongue was still full of deadly poison, and that he therewith continued to curse his neighbour? Therefore all that is implied in his words about envy, is, that till we are made perfect in the charity which "envieth not, and is not puffed up," the spirit that is in us lusteth to envy and pride? And that we, who have not yet attained Christian perfection, need not be always envious and proud, is evident from the very next words, "But he giveth more grace," wherefore he says, "God resisteth the proud, [envious man] but giveth grace to the humble :-Resist the devil and he will flee from you :-purify your hearts, ye double-minded : Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness :" so severe was St. James to those adulterers and adulteresses, those genteel believers, who stopped short of Christian perfection, loved the world, and envied one another! Therefore, to press him into the service of solifidianism, is as rash an attempt, as to call his Epistle an Epistle of straw, worthy of being committed to the flames : and (if the preceding remarks are just) Mr. Hill is as much mistaken, when he appeals to St. James, as when he quotes St. Peter, in defence of Christian imperfection.

SECTION VI.

St. Paul preached Christian perfection, and professed to have attained it.-A view of the different sorts of Perfection which belong to the different dispensations of grace and glory.-How St. Paul could profess a Christian Perfection of faith and love, and yet assert that he had not yet attained his perfection of Sufferings; much less his perfection of Knowledge and glory.-The holy Child Jesus's imperfection in knowledge and sufferings, and his growing in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man, were entirely consistent with his perfection of humble love.

St. Paul's name appears upon Mr. Hill's list of witnesses against Christian perfection; but it is without the Apostle's consent; for Peter and James did not plead more strenuously for the glorious liberty of God's children

a woman under any preceding dispensation.By the same rule, he that is perfect under the Jewish dispensation, is more perfect than he that is only perfect according to the dispensation of the Gentiles.

The standard of these different perfections is fixed in the Scriptures. To fear God and work righteousness, i. e. to do to others as we would be done by, from the principle of God's fear, is the standard of a Gentile's perfection. The standard of a Jew's perfection with respect to morality may be seen in Deut. xxvii. 14-26, and Ps. xv. And with respect to devotion, it is fixed in Ps. cxix. The whole of this perfection is thus summed up by Micah: "O Israel, what does the Lord thy God require of thee, but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God."

The perfection of infant-christianity, which is called in the Scriptures, the baptism of John, is thus described by John and by Christ :"He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none, &c. If thou wilt be perfect sell what thou hast, give to the poor, and follow me.-If any man come to me and hate not [i. e. is not willing for my sake to leave] his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

With respect to adult, perfect Christianity, which is consequent upon the baptism of the Holy Ghost administered by Christ himself, its perfection is described in the Sermon upon the Mount, in 1 Cor. xiii. and in all those parts of the Epistles, where the Apostles exhort believers to walk agreeably to the glorious liberty of God's children.

The perfection of disembodied spirits, is thus described by a voice from heaven."Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord: even so, saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labours, [not from their sins; this they did before death] and their works follow them."-And the complete perfection of glorified saints is thus described by St. John and St. Paul;-"They shall live and reign with Christ in a city wherein there is no temple, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it, and the city hath no need of the sun to shine in it, for the glory of God enlightens it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And there shall be no curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face: and his name shall be on their foreheads, and they shall reign for ever and ever in glorified bodies.-For this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality.-It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual

Persons, whose orthodoxy consists in obstinately refusing to peep over the wall of prejudice; and who think it is a crime to read the Scriptures without borrowing green spectacles, will probably say, that these observations upon the different sorts and degrees of perfection, are "novel chimeras ;" and that I multiply perfections as I do justifications: "inventing them by the dozen." To this I answer, that we advance nothing but what, we hope, recommends itself to the candour of those who have a regard for reason and revelation.

1. Reason tells us, that all God's works are perfect in their places; and that some having a higher place than others upon the scale of beings, they are of consequence more perfect. If Mr. Hill will not believe it, we appeal to his banker, and ask, if there is not an essential difference between the metallic perfection of brass, that of silver, and that of gold?-We appeal to his jeweller, and ask, if the perfection of an agate is not inferior to that of an emerald,-the perfection of a ruby, to that of a diamond; and if some diamonds cannot be said to be more perfect than others?

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We appeal to his gardener, and ask, if a blackberry, is not inferior to a strawberry, a strawberry to a nectarine, and a nectarine to a pine-apple ? and if nevertheless those various fruits have not each their perfection?Nay, we will venture to ask his under-gardener, if the perfection of the fruit does not imply the perfection of the blossom; if the perfection of the blossom does not pre-suppose that of the bud; and if a bud, whose perfec tion is destroyed by the frost in March, is likely to produce perfect blossoms in May, and perfect fruit in October?

Should the fear of becoming a perfectionist make Mr. Hill refuse his assent to these obvious truths: we will address him as a master of arts, a gentleman, who is versed in Natural Philosophy, as well as in Calvinism. Is it absurd to say, that some just men rise progressively from the perfection of a lower, to the perfection of a higher dispensation in the spiritual world? Do we not see a simi. lar promotion, even among the basest classes of animals in the natural world? Consider that beautiful insect, which exults to display its crown, andto expand its wings in the sun. Will you say that it is not a perfect butterfly? Nevertheless three weeks ago it was a perfect aurelia, quietly sleeping in its silken tomb. Some months before, it was a perfect silkworm, busily preparing itself for another state of existence, by spinning and weaving its

shroud. And had you seen it a year ago, you would have seen nothing but a perfect egg. Thus in one year it has experienced three grand changes, which may be called metamorphoses, births, or conversions. Each change was perfect in its kind; and nevertheless, the last is as far superior to the first, as a beautiful, flying butterfly exceeds a black crawling worm; and such a worm, the invisible seed of life, that lies dormant in the dim inutive egg of an insect

2. Scripture and experience do not support our doctrine of the difference of perfections, less than Reason Philosophy. We read, Gen. vi. 9, that "Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generation." We read also, Job i. 1, that "There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job, and that man was perfect." Now whatever the perfection of Noah and Job consisted in, it is evident that it was not Jewish perfection: for the perfection of Judaism requires the sacrament of circumcision, and Mr. Hill will hardly say, that men were circumcised in the land of Uz, and before the flood. Hence I conclude that Noahand Job had attained the perfection of Gentilism, and not that of Judaism. Again: Mark the perfect man, says David, for his end is peace. No doubt he spake this of the perfect Jew; and such were, I think, Moses, Samuel, and Daniel; if Mr. Hill will not allow it, I produce Simeon and Anna, or Zacharias and Elizabeth," who were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of God blameless," Luke i. 16. Now these excellent Jews were not perfect according to the dispensation of John the Baptist; for water-baptism was not less essential to a perfect disciple of John, than circumcision was to a perfect disciple of Moses, and they, or some of them, probably died long before John opened his dispensation by preaching the baptism of repen

tance.

Once more: John the Baptist was undoubtedly perfect according to his own dispeusation; his penitential severity, his great reputation for holiness, and the high encomium which our Lord passed upon him, naturally lead us to conclude it. But that he was not a perfect Christian is evident from the following considerations: 1. Our Lord said, that the least in the [Christian] kingdom of God," should be greater than John.-2. John himself confessed the imperfection of his baptism, or dispensation, in comparison of the perfection of Christ's baptism and spiritual dispensation. "I have need to be baptized of thee," said he to Christ, "and comest thou to me?" And to his disciples he said, "I indeed baptize you with water, but he [the Lamb of God] shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."-3. John was beheaded before Christ was crucified: and the out-pouring of the Spirit, the baptism of

the Holy Ghost, did not begin til after Christ's ascension: the Apostle St. John having particularly mentioned, that the Holy Ghost was not yet given, or that the full dispensation of the Spirit was not yet opened, because Jesus was not yet glorified, John vii. 39: an important observation this, which is confirmed by Christ's own words to his disciples, John xvi. 7; "I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto yon: [the full dispensation of the Holy Ghost shall not be opened:] but if I depart, I will send him to you." Agreeably to this, "he commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, [i. e. the promised Spirit] which, says he, Ye have heard of me: for John truly baptized with water; but ye shail be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." And when they had been thus baptized, they began to preach the full baptism of Christ, which has two branches, the baptism of water, and the baptism of the Spirit, or of celestial fire. Therefore, when the penitent Jews asked, "Men and brethren what hall we do?" Peter answered," Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; for the promise of it is unto you, and unto your children, and to all that are afar off; even as many as the Lord our God shall call,"-[to the perfection of the Christian dispensation :]-" And we are witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God [since the day of Pentecost] hath given to them that obey him," i. e. to obedient believers. Compare Acts ii. 38, and v. 32, with John vii. 39

From the preceding reasons we conclude, that the case of John the Baptist was as singular as that of Moses. Moses knew Joshua and pointed him out as the man who was to lead the Israelites into the Land of Promise: but Moses died before Joshua opened the way. Thus Moses saw the good land: he was not far from the typical kingdom of God; but he did not enter into it. In like manner the Baptist knew Christ, and pointed him out as the wonderful person, who was to introduce believers into the spiritual kingdom of God. But John was beheaded before Christ glorified opened his peculiar kingdom. Thus John saw the kingdom of heaven: he was not far from it. But yet he did not enter into it. He died a just man made perfect according to his own incomplete dispensation, but not according to the dispensation of Christ and his Spirit. This was the Baptist's grief, not his guilt: for he earnestly desired to be baptized of Christ with the Holy Ghost; but the Holy Ghost was not yet given in the Christian measure. The gift of the Spirit was rather distilled as a dew than poured out as a shower, because Jesus