to renounce it, and became a calvinist, and more than a calvinist. As the pendulum, when at the greatest distance from the perpendicular, does not on its return stop there, but vibrates as far to the opposite side, thus it often happens with those who have embraced what afterwards appears to them an error: they think they can never run to too great a distance from it, and the more remote they are from their former opinions, the nearer they are to the truth. This was unhappily the case with Dr. Crisp. His ideas of the grace of Christ had been exceedingly low, and he had imbibed sentiments which produced in him a legal and self-righteous spirit. Shocked at the recollection of his former views and conduct, he seems to have imagined that he could never go far enough away from them; and that he could never speak too highly of the grace and love of the Redeemer, nor in too degrading terms of legality and self-righteousness. But it was judged by many, that he went to such an excess in magnifying the grace of God as to turn it into wantonness: and that he was so severe against all legality and self-righteousness, that true holiness, and obedience to the divine will were in danger of being discarded as useless, or even condemned as hurtful. He was fond of expressions which alarm, and paradoxes which astonish. Many of these, a person skilled in theology will perceive to be capable of a good meaning; but readers less instructed, who compose the most numerous class, are in danger of misapprehending them, and of being led into pernicious errors. The good man, for such he appears really to have been, perplexed and puzzled his brains about the divine purposes. He did not distinguish as he ought between God's secret will in his decrees,

and his revealed will in his covenant and promises; and in his views of the decrees he frequently speaks as if he had forgotten that they have respect to the means, as well as the end. He was likewise deficient in accurate ideas of the substitution of Christ in the place of the redeemed, and of our Lord's mediatorial office, both in procuring and applying the blessings of redemption.

On his arrival in London, the divines of that city expressed their disapprobation of his doctrines, as not according to the faith which was once delivered to the saints. After his decease, three volumes of sermons were published from his notes. When they came from the press, it is said that the Westminster assembly talked of having them burnt, as a just punishment of the heresy which they contained. Mr. Flavel and others of the non-conformists exposed his errors, and expressed a lively sense of the dangerous opinions which the doctor held. The controversy, however, was at rest, when his son, just after the revolution, republished his sermons, with some additions, in a quarto volume; and procured to the work the attestation of several ministers, that the discourses were really the doctor's own productions, and copied from his manuscripts.

At this distance of time we are apt to think, that had no notice been taken of the book it would have been confined to a few: it would have been read without interest but by a small number of people, and would soon have died away as to its remembrance and its effects. Six or eight hundred copies might have been sold, and remained in the cabinets of his adherents, while the rest of the world knew not that such a man as Dr. Crisp, or his book, ever D d

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had existence and thus the injury done by them would have been confined within very narrow limits.

The judgment however of the men of that day was different. In most cases, to take no notice of such publications, and to observe a profound silence respecting them, is certainly the wisest way. But there are seasons when false sentiments of a certain kind are congenial to the dispositions and taste of the age; and when they spread with rapidity far and wide, and infect, like a pestilence, the public mind. In that state of things, to drag them forth to public view, and to expose them, however painful it may be, becomes an imperious duty. Such a time, some contemporary writers say, was that in which the works of Dr. Crisp appeared, as multitudes, both of the independents and baptists, were carried away with the flood of error. Deeply affected at the sight, men of judgment and piety invited Dr. Williams to enter the field of controversy against them, and to warn the religious public against the noxious poison.

Williams possessed talents for the undertaking. He had a clear logical head, he was well skilled in polemical theology, and he entered on his work of confutation with as much candour as can be well expected in a controversial writer. Having collected Dr. Crisp's opinions into certain heads, he states under each what is the truth; what is the error which Dr. Crisp maintains, and quotes passages from his writings in support of the charge; he takes pains to specify wherein the doctor does not differ from the common sentiments of divines, and after that, wherein the difference really lies; and he points out the way in which the doctor was led into the error. He then establishes the truth from the sacred Scriptures,

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from the confessions of the reformed churches, and public bodies, and from the writings of the most eminent divines, whose orthodoxy has been universally acknowledged. Whatever ideas may be entertained of the sentiments of Dr. Williams, the fairness of his manner is certainly entitled to general praise; and had those on the other side adopted the same method it must soon have appeared wherein the real difference between them did actually consist. His work, which is entitled, Gospel Truth stated and vindicated," was published in the year one thousand six hundred and ninety-two, and had the names of some of the most eminent of the London ministers affixed to it by way of recommendation. Not wishing to appear as partisans in the contest, they do not vouch for every expression or sentiment of Dr. Williams, but modestly say, that "in all that is material he had fully and rightly stated the truths and errors; and they hoped that the work would do considerable service to the church of Christ."

If in Dr. Williams's zeal against antinomianism he seemed to recede towards the opposite extreme, it

b A weekly lecture at Pinner's hall had for some time been carried on by six of the most eminent of the united ministers in London. Dr. Williams was one of them, having been chosen in the room of Mr. Baxter. But now the managers would no longer allow him to preach in his turn. His friends established a lecture at Salter's hall, to which he was accompanied by Dr. Bates, Mr. How, and Mr. Allsop, his fellow-labourers in the former; and two more were added to them. Two only remained at Pinner's hall, Mr. Cole and Mr. Mead, to whom an addition was made of four more of the independent denomination. For the men who could drive away Dr. Bates and John Howe from a lecture, it is a happiness that their names are unknown; for certainly to escape being enrolled in the annals of infamy was the highest felicity for which they could hope.

will not appear wonderful to those who have taken a comprehensive view of the effect of controversy upon the human mind. But considering the extent of doctrine which his book embraced, his antagonists were able to lay hold of but little, on which they could ground a successful attack. The outcry made on the appearance of Dr. Williams's publication was loud and fierce. By many of the independents and baptists he was represented as undermining the very foundation of the Gospel, and their pulpits rang with his heresy.

The press too exposed their enmity before the eyes of the public. In the year one thousand six hundred and ninety-three a large quarto volume came from the pen of Mr. Isaac Chauncy, an independent minister, entitled, "Neonomianism Unmasked;" for that was the name invented to designate, and to disgrace Dr. Williams's sentiments, and his book. Had this champion followed the method of the writer whom he attacked, by fairly stating what were the truths which he held, and the errors which he opposed, the controversy must have speedily been terminated; or, at least, every one, must have seen what was the subject in dispute. But his book, drawn up in the form of a dialogue, does not present those clear ideas, that accuracy of definition, nor that precision of argument, which are adapted to bring controversies to a close, or satisfy the minds of the persons engaged. His spirit was bad, and his accusations against Dr. Williams for heresy were numerous; but they were mostly as weak as they were bitter.

While many, by rushing into the fire, were involved in flame and smoke, some of a calmer and wiser mind, beholding the controversy with grief,