follow him fo, to fall down at his feet, and fink into nothing, under the feelings of our own vileness. They, who are enabled thus to fall, fhall be raised in due time. Im I know not why, but I could no longer forbear writing to you. May the fpirit of the living God write his confolations on your heart, and caufe your triumphs in Chrift to abound more and more. pute this liberty to refpect and efteem: and beHeve me to be, with a great (hare of both, Madam, your obliged and obedient fervant, Auguftus Toplady. I LETTER X. To Mr. SAMUEL NAYLOR, [Extract.] Broad-Hembury, Nov. 27, 1772, A M informed, that inveterate troubler in Ifrael, Mr. J. W, has lately published a fourth fquib against Mr. Hill, I fhould be glad to fee it. What a mercy it is, that the enemies of the gofpel, amidst all their plenitude of malice, have little fkill, and lefs power! Mr. W, confidered as a reafoner, is one of the moft contemptible writers, that ever fet pen to paper. O, that he, in whofe hand the hearts of all men are, may make even this oppofer of grace a monument of its almighty power to fave! God is witnefs, how earneftly I wish it may confift with the divine will, to touch the heart and open the eyes of that unhappy man. I hold it as much my duty, to pray for his converfion, as to expofe the futility of his railings against the truths of the gospel. Auguftus Toplady. LETTER LETTER XI. To Mr. B. E [Extract.] Broad-Hembury, Dec. 4, 1772. AGREE with you, that the expreffion [viz. That one drop of Chrift's blood would have fufficed to the redemption of finners] has been used by fome very pious and well-meaning perfons. Yet, I can by no means look upon the idea itself as true, or on the expreffion as warrantable. If an individual drop had been fufficient, we might indeed well ask, Why all this wafte of fufferings and of love? The overplus was, according to this fuppofition, abfolutely fhed in vain. But I cannot bring myself to believe, that any part of Chrift's most precious humiliation was fuperfluous and unneceffary. His ineffable dignity as God, and his abfolute innocence as man, forbid me to imagine, that the Father would inflict a fingle grain of punishment, on his co-equal and immaculate Son, beyond what was abfolutely requifite to the plenary payment of our infinite debt. If it be a rule even in the operations of nature, fruftra fit per plura, quod fieri poteft per pauciora; much more ftrongly will it hold, in the present argument. What idea fhould we have of that man's wifdom, who should lavish a million of guineas, to procure what a fhilling might purchase? As to the fecond queftion, "Whether finners might not have been faved in fome other way, than by the incarnation, righteoufnefs, and death of Chrift?" I make no fcruple to give it as my judg ment, that there was no other poffible way of falva. tion for the loft fons of Adam. If there had, Infinite Wisdom and Goodnefs would certainly have fixed upon it, in preference to the forrows and agonies, the wounds and death, of him who had done no fin, neither was guile found in his mouth. His own prayer, prayer, If it be poffible, let this cup (the cup of pain and death) pafs from me; would moft infallibly have been granted (for the Father heareth him always,) and Chrift could no more pray, than he could bleed, in vain, if any thing fhort of the oblation of himself could have obtained eternal redemption. for the people of his love.-Ought not Chrift to have fufered there things ? Ουχι ταύτα εδει παθειν ; was there not a muft be, a neceffity for it? Yes: there was. And, upon any other hypothefis, I fee not how it could please the Father to bruife the finlefs Meffiah and and put him to grief; without forfeiting every claim to justice, wisdom, and goodness. Neither is this, "fettering and limiting the omnipotence of God." It is a received maxim in metaphyfics, and no maxim can be more juft and reafonable, that an effential contradiction is no object of power. Now, the pardon of fin, without an adequate expiation; the juftification of finners, without a perfect righteousness; and, in a word, the salvation of the guilty, without a complete redemption; would have effentially contradicted every attribute of God, and every declaration of his will. It is, therefore, putting no more limitation on the divine power, to believe that fallen men could not poffibly be restored, but by the intervention of Chrift's obedience, atonement, and interceffion; than to believe, that God cannot poffibly cease to be wife and holy, juft and true. Infinite exemption from all poffible imperfection, is a proof, not of defective power, but of fuch inconceivable greatness, as more than dazzles the keenest view of man, and utterly abforbs the most extended comprehenfion of all created intellect. I feel the overwhelming glory of the fubject, too forcibly to proceed.-May the adorable, the ever bleffed God, who only hath independent immortality, dwelling in the light which no man, in the prefent ftate of unfpiritualized nature, can approach unto; may may he, my dear fir, fhine into our hearts, and infpire us with "wonder, love, and praife!" Soon will mortality be fwallowed up of life: and then, with what holy contempt fhall we look back, and look down, on the littlenefs, the comparative nothingnefs, of our puny reasonings when below! An angel of light is not more fuperior, in knowledge, dignity, and bliss, to an infant in the cradle; than the fouls of the elect, when death tranfmits them to the throne of God, differ from what they are while plunged, I had almost faid, while buried, in the living fepulchre of a mortal body. Minors of yesterday we are; Nor into manhood rife, 'Till death pronounces us of age, And crowns us for the fkies. Auguflus Toplady. LETTER XII. TO RICHARD HILL, Efq. [Extract.] THE Broad-Hembury, Dec. 11, 1772.. HE farther my thread of life is extended, the more clearly I fee, and the more deeply I feel, the infinite importance of thofe ineftimable doctrines, of which God has made you fo able an affertor. Go on, fir, in the ftrength of him, who hath placed you foremost in this bleffed warfare; and doubt not, that he will enable you to be more than conqueror, through his love. Certainly, this is not a time, for any, who have his caufe at heart, to hold their peace. Fond as, I fuppofe, moft men naturally are, of cafe and quiet; there is, ftill, a bleffing, incomparably fuperior: even the honest and and indefatigable avowal of thofe truths, which lie at the foundation of all that can render us happy in time and eternity; truths, in which, the glory of God, the confolation of his faints, and the interefts of holiness, are fo eminently and effentially involved. I pray God, that you may never (as Dr. Young expreffes it) "unbuckle your armour, until you put on your fhrowd." I have never feen Mr. W's Remarks on the Farrago, nor Mr. F's Logica Genevenfis. But, if I may conjecture of thofe, by what I have already feen in time paft, you have abundantly more, than even the goodnefs of your caufe, in your favour. May your fmooth ftones of the brook, flung by the hand of faith, continue to pierce those foreheads of brafs, which oppofe themselves to the living God. I admire and blefs his providence, which has put you on entering the lifts, not only against the declared adverfaries of the gofpel, but-allo against its pretended friends: who, under the mafk of fpirituality, affect to promote the religion of Jefus; while, in very deed, they are labouring to cut it up by the roots. Two or three years ago, you feemed to think, that I was rather exceffive, in forming fuch a judgment of them. Themfelves have, fince, given you ample reason to be of my mind. May the Holy Spirit keep you lively, and humble, and richly comfortable in your own foul; while you wield the fpiritual fword, which, as matters now ftand, you cannot fheath without fin. And let me prefume to drop an hint, which, by the way, I need to have impreffed on myfelf; namely, confult not your own eafe, at the expence of God's caufe. Be not weary of, and God will keep you from being weary, in well-doing. Forgive my freedon, and know, that, if I had not the highest opinion of your candour, I fhould not exprefs my with with fo little ceremony. Dr. Dodderidge was ftrengthened and comforted, |