CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 LIBRARY 
 
BX9771 .YsTlSSe"'"" ""''" 
 
 ^^^'iMmKiiiriii'iiiilTitiiH**^ Second Appearing, 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 029 477 092 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://archive.org/details/cu31924029477092 
 
TESTIMOITY 
 
 OF 
 
 CHRIST'S SECOND APPEARING, 
 
 EXEMPLiriED BY THE 
 
 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 TEUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 PROaRESSrVE WORK OF GOD, EXTENDING FROM THE CREATION OF 
 
 MAN TO THE " HARVEST,"— COMPRISING THE FOUR 
 
 GREAT DISPENSATIONS NOW CONSUMMATING IN THE 
 
 MILLEMUL CHURCH. 
 
 'Now has come Salvation, and Strength, and the Kingdom of our G-od, and 
 the Power of his Christ. "---Rev. xii. 10. 
 
 ANTICHKIST'S KINGDOM, 
 
 OE 
 
 OHITEOHES, 
 
 CONTRASTED "WITH THE 
 
 CHUEOH OF CHRIST^S FIRST AND 
 SECOND APPEARING, 
 
 THE KINfiDOM OF THE fiOD OE HEIVEN. 
 
 ** m THE DATS OF THESE KINGS SHALL THE GoD OF HeAVEN SET UP A KINGDOM, 
 "WHICH SHALL NEVEK BE DESTEOTED." Dan. ii. 44. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE UNITED SOCIETY, 
 
 CALLED 
 
 SHAKERS. 
 
 FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 Ft! 
 
VAN BENTHUYSEN, PRINTER, ALBANY, 1856 
 
PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 The first edition of this work was printed in the year 1808, at 
 Lebanon, Warren county, Ohio. But, it heing too small to answer 
 the demand, a second edition was printed in 1810. at Albany, 
 New-York, with such improvements as were found expedient for 
 the better understanding of the matters therein contained. Also, 
 a third edition was printed in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the year 1823. 
 
 2. This work was written and sent forth, as declaring that 
 spiritual light and wisdom sent down from the heavenly orders 
 above, by the inspired teachings of the Holy Spirit, of which all see i Cor. 
 the faithful members of this society are living witnesses, by "• '^' ^^• 
 practical experience of the power and efficacy of the principles 
 
 thus revealed. 
 
 3. The idea which so extensively prevails, that all inspired 
 revelation ceased with the canon of Scripture, is inconsistent with 
 both reason and Scripture. It is not unreasonable to suppose, 
 that the spiritual work of God should alone remain stationary, 
 whilst all the natural arts and sciences among men, are continually 
 improving and increasing, by newly manifested principles of 
 natural light, and are constantly progressing more and more, by 
 the knowledge and further application of the original principles 
 from whence all these are derived 1 
 
 4. It may be seen by every attentive observer, that these 
 natural revealments and improvements are now more frequent 
 and rapidly developing and increasing, in the present age and 
 time, than in any preceding age of the world. Therefore we 
 may consistently conclude, that the spiritual work of God must 
 be increasing and improving in a corresponding progression, or 
 the things of by far the greatest importance will be left behind ; 
 for, in comparison with the spiritual work of redemption and sal- 
 vation, all earthly knowledge, and all natural improvements, 
 sink into insignificance. 
 
 5. For, though man should gain all the natural knowledge in 
 the universe, he could not thereby gain either the knowledge or 
 power of salvation from sin, nor redemption from a sinful nature ; 
 because the world, by natural wisdom, never did, and never can, SeeiCor. 
 knovj God. Hence we see the indispensable necessity of a con- '■ ^^' 
 tinual influx and application of Divine principles, in order to 
 
 know the things that concern the eternal welfare of the soul, and 
 to enable man " to work the works of God ; " and these can only 
 
17 PEEFACE TO THE 
 
 icor iiii ^e received by the revelation of the Spirit of God; " for the things 
 'of God, knoweth no man, hut the Spirit of God." 
 
 6. In no part of the Scriptures can the least intimation be found 
 that the revelations of the Divine and Holy Spirit to man will 
 ever cease ; but many declarations to the contrary. Our Saviour 
 
 See Luke, gayg, "If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your 
 children : how much more shall your heavenly Father give the 
 Holy Spirit to them that ask him ? " Such as deny those heavenly 
 Seejas. iv. gifts, have not, because they ask not." And if they ask, they 
 ^'^' "receive not, because they ask amiss, that they may consume 
 
 (those good things) upon their lusts : " that is apply them to 
 support their own natural desires. Thus the Saviour and his 
 Apostles show the reason of that general barrenness of spiritual 
 gifts among all denominations. But ancient prophecy foretells a 
 wonderful influx of spiritual manifestations "in the last days." 
 
 7. Thus, by the Prophet Joel, it was expressly declared, that 
 See Joel, ii. God would pour Out his Spirit upon all flesh; and that a wonder- 
 ^' ^^' ful diffusion of spiritual gifts, and great signs and wonders should 
 
 be manifested. This prophecy was quoted by the Apostle Peter, 
 See Acts, as particularly applying to " the last days." He indeed refers it 
 to the outpouring of the Spirit at the day of Pentecost. But, as 
 Seel Cor. ^^^ Apostle testifled that they "knew in part, and prophesied in 
 xiii. 9, 10. part, this prophecy could be but in part fulfilled under that dis- 
 pensation. Besides this, the Spirit was far from being poured 
 out upon allflksh in that day. 
 
 8. But Peter foretells a much greater work, "in the times of 
 refreshing which should come from the presence of the Lord," 
 in a future dispensation, which he calls "the times of restitution 
 of all things," when Jesus (i.e. the Anointed Saviour,) should 
 
 See Rev. again be sent forth; for the ^^restitution of all things" could 
 end^*'" not take place until the second appearing of Christ, which is 
 
 the greatest and last dispensation that will be ushered into the 
 
 world. 
 
 9. This dispensation evidently contains those last days fore- 
 told in the prophecy aforesaid. In these days, God will judge 
 the world in righteousness, and appoint all things and beings to 
 their proper order and state, which will be justly meted out. 
 This work being the ultimate of all the works of God from the 
 creation of the world, cannot be efifeoted without the manifesta- 
 tions of Divine light and power, greater than has ever before 
 
 See Mat. taken place from the beginning ; otherwise "the harvest of the 
 xiii. 30. world," and the restitution of all things, cannot be accomplished 
 thereby. 
 
 10. According to all the movements of Providence, in the 
 civil, political, and ecclesiastical orders of the world, and from 
 the general and earnest expectation of all classes among the 
 human race, of the near approach of some great and marvelous 
 
FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 displays of Divine power, which will bring the world to its con- 
 summation, it is evident that the " great day of God Almighty," 
 has commenced in the world. 
 
 11. Therefore, in the display of his Divine Providence, He 
 has opened the avenues of correspondence from the spirit-world 
 to mortals on earth, and poured out his Spirit, in various degrees, 
 by which the many wonderful events, both natural and spiritual, 
 have been brought forth in the natural world. And these dis- 
 plays will doubtless continue to increase, in the orders of both 
 Providence and grace, in greater and more spiritual degrees, of 
 higher and higher orders, until the prophecy will be fulfilled, 
 that the Spirit and Divine influence will be "poured out upon 
 all flesh." 
 
 12. And we testify, that all true members of this Society are 
 living witnesses that the great and last dispensation has com- 
 menced; and that the marvelous revelations, spiritual gifts, 
 signs, and wonders, predicted to take place "in the last days," 
 have been, and are being, fulfilled iu so plain and evident a 
 manner as cannot be disputed by any rational and candid mind. 
 
 13. This order of people originated in spiritual and Divine 
 revelation from the heavenly orders above ; and they have been 
 continually supported, and have advanced in various degrees, by 
 an influx of Divine revelations and heavenly ministrations with 
 increasing light, adapted to their state, up to the present time. 
 
 14. But it was foretold by the spirit of prophecy, years before 
 the event began, that a wonderful work of Divine revelation and 
 heavenly gifts, light, and power, would take place in and among 
 this people, in the fiftieth year after the gathering together of 
 their United Society commenced, which would be as an antetype 
 of the ancient Jewish jubilee. Accordingly, during the year 
 1838, a most wonderful manifestation of Divine revelation and 
 heavenly light and power, simultaneously commenced in the two 
 central societies, and in a few months visited every branch and 
 family of the people called Shakers, throughout the land. 
 
 15. This work was attended with all those operations of Di- 
 vine light, gifts, and power, enumerated by the Apostle in 1 Cor. 
 xii. ; particularly verses seven to eleven, inclusive. These 
 heavenly gifts being adapted to all states and circumstances, 
 much new light was revealed by them on many important sub- 
 jects. But this subject is more fully treated of in Book viii. 
 chap. xi. 
 
 16. But we will here just state, that it was foretold, in these 
 manifestations, that when the general and extraordinary difiTusion 
 of' those spiritual gifts should, in some measure, cease among 
 the Believers in the present dispensation of Christ's second 
 appearing, that then similar manifestations would go forth into 
 the world, and operate among them in various manners according . 
 
^^ PREFACE. 
 
 to their state.* Aooordingly, this prophecy has been evidently 
 fulfilled, and is fulfilling, in such manner as to demonstrate its 
 certain truth. 
 
 17. By the means of these manifestations, so great a degree 
 of important light has been received into the minds of many of 
 our fellow men, upon spiritual subjects, and those things vphich 
 concern their present and eternal welfare, that they appear to be 
 better prepared than heretofore, more fully to understand and 
 appreciate the doctrines of this Society. From the aforesaid 
 manifestations, together with our own experience and travel for 
 many years, in the principles and practice of this community, 
 as in the subsequent pages set forth, much increasing light has 
 been gained upon many important subjects. 
 
 18. Therefore it has been judged expedient to issue the 
 present edition, with such further illustrations and improvements 
 as to us appear adapted to the present order of the work of God, 
 both within and without this Society ; it therefore has been pre- 
 pared in accordance with the increasing Divine light brought forht 
 among us by those inspired manifestations and our experience. 
 
 19. For this purpose, the work throughout has been critically 
 examined and carefully revised by the primary author, with such 
 approved and experienced assistance as appeared proper and 
 necessary, in order to render the subjects treated of, clear to the 
 understanding of the reader. It may therefore be considered 
 as A GENERAL EXPOSITION of the rudimental principles, faith, 
 and manner of life, maintained by the United Society of people 
 called Shakers ; yet it is not intended as a creed or standard of 
 orthodoxy, to bind the faith and conscience of any from improve- 
 ment ; but is simply a manifestation of the travel and light of 
 the Church ; leaving the door still open as heretofore, for any 
 further increase that may be made manifest by heavenly light. 
 
 Seelsa. ix. For it is according to our faith, "that of the increase of 
 7,^& Luke, Christ's kingdom, to order and establish it, there shall be no 
 end." 
 
 20. And now, with the sincerest desires for the good of all 
 mankind, this volume is most earnestly and affectionately pre- 
 sented for the information and benefit of all candid inquirers 
 after truth, of every nation, sect, and denomination, by 
 
 BENJAMIN S. YOUNGS, 
 CALVIN GREEN. 
 
 Watervleit, (PFisdom's Valley') ^ 
 near Albany, State of New- > 
 York, Dec. 1854. ) 
 
 * It should be distinctly understood, that special inspired gifts have not ceased, 
 hut still continue among this people. 
 
 i.33. 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 Many have undertaken to write and publish concerning the 
 principles and practices of a people, who are called Shakers, 
 and either through ignorance or prejudice have misrepresented 
 loth; so that no true information, from this quarter, could be 
 obtained by those who desired it. Hence many have become 
 solicitous of having, from the people themselves, a correct state- 
 ment of their faith. It is, therefore, in answer to the repeated 
 requests of the unprejudiced and candid part of mankind, that 
 the following work has been written. 
 
 2. The greatest part that has been published abroad in the 
 world, by common fame, or through such preachers or writers as 
 were either unacquainted with the people, or actuated by a spirit 
 of prejudice, is too ridiculous, absurd, and contradictory, to merit 
 the least attention ; nor has any thing been published that meets 
 our approbation, except a small pamphlet, entitled, " A concise 
 Statement of the Principles of the only True Church," written 
 to a deaf man, by particular request, and printed at Bennington, 
 Vermont, in the year 1790 : and a pamphlet published last year, 
 under the title of The Kentucky Revival. 
 
 3. Some things, however, have been published from a spirit of 
 detraction and slander, which are not altogether unworthy of 
 notice, inasmuch as they have some appearance of authority, and 
 cl*m for their foundation, certain well known facts; from which 
 undue advantage has been taken, not only of stating facts in an 
 imperfect light, but also of adding the most groundless falsities. 
 
 4. These remarks will justly apply to most of the assumed ac- 
 counts of this people, which have been and are circulated in mag- 
 azines, pamphlets, newspapers, &c., [even to the present time, 
 1856,] with some honorable exceptions, which, though they exhibit 
 good intentions, are more or less deficient of competent knowledge. 
 It is not our design, however, to notice and counterplead particu- 
 lar scandals and deceptions of this sort, sent forth from evident 
 malice, envy, or ignorance. On the contrary, we prefer that 
 such should die the natural death of falsehood and deception. 
 For we are fully assured that truth yfi'iW stand; and the fabric 
 built thereon will appear more and more glorious, and, with all 
 honest souls that trust therein, will stand for ever. While false- 
 hood and deception will/a«7; and every fabric built, or attempted 
 
VUl • PREFACE TO THE 
 
 to he supported tliereon, will more and more appear in all its 
 hideous deformity, and, with all that continue to trust therein, 
 will ultimately /"aZZ, to rise no more forever. 
 
 5. Long experience and ohservation, however, have afforded 
 sufficient evidence, that the most eminently virtuous and useful 
 characters on earth, have been the most scandalized and traduced 
 by the tongue of common fame ; insomuch that men of prudence 
 and candor, in many cases, are able to see through the deception, 
 and reasonably expect the best where the worst is said. 
 
 6. Probably no work of God, in any dispensation, has been 
 more misrepresented than the present, nor any people more 
 wrongly reported ; yet it is no unpleasing reflection to us, that, 
 from the beginning of the work to the present day, we have never 
 published any reply to any of those reports, (however evil and 
 false we knew them to be,) either in defence of our character, or 
 the cause we have espoused; but have peaceably passed on, 
 without regarding them any more than if they had not been ; and 
 that for the following reasons : 
 
 7. First. Because the testimony which we gladly received, 
 pointed out to us a very straight and narrow way of self-denial 
 and mortification to all that natural men call good and great, 
 and opened to us that hidden treasure which we esteemed so far 
 beyond any thing we possessed, or wished to possess, on earth, 
 that we were willing cheerfully to sacrifice our character and our 
 all, to obtain it; so that the world could take nothing from us 
 that we were unwilling to part with for Christ's sake and the 
 G-ospel. 
 
 8. Therefore, whatever evil was reported, being conscious of 
 our innocence, it only served to increase our consolation in Christ, 
 and afforded an increasing evidence to the candid and judicious, 
 that we were following the despised footsteps of him who said, 
 Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute fou, 
 and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my 
 sake. 
 
 9. Secondly. With regard to the defence of the cause in which 
 we were engaged. "We had long been weary of those human 
 creeds and confessions, and subtle arguments, written in defence 
 of divided and subdivided parties, which for many ages had per- 
 plexed the human race, and, in the end, left their abettors (and 
 us with the rest) totally destitute of the real power of salvation 
 from all sin. 
 
 10. When, therefore, we were called by the Gospel, and 
 received that anointing po\^er which bringeth salvation, we were 
 led and influenced by the spirit of the work, (and found it to be 
 a point of wisdom,) first to prove for ourselves, the faith we had 
 received, and to manifest it by our works, as the greatest con- 
 firmation, both to ourselves and others, that the work was verily 
 
FIRST EDITION. . ix 
 
 of Grod, before we could feel justified in giving that full and per- 
 fect information which the weight and importance of the subject 
 demands. For, until it was sufficiently proved, that the G-ospel 
 which we had received, was, in its owu nature, productive of the 
 work.-t and fruits of righteousness, justice, mercy and peace, and 
 that it was planted by the finger of God, and nourished and sup- 
 ported by his wisdom and power, separate from, and wholly 
 independent of, all human laws and creeds of men, we never could 
 with a just confidence and propriety say. Thus has God wrought. 
 
 11. The Third, and most weighty reason why we have never 
 made any reply to those clamorous reports, and given a public 
 statement of our faith and practice, was, that we could not have 
 done it without acting contrary to the order of God in every dis- 
 pensation of his work. It was the gift of God to Moses, long 
 after the flood, to record the lives and transactions of the 
 Patriarchs ; and the character and works of all the servants of 
 God. always remained to be published by their successors, or 
 those who enjoyed the fruits of their labors ; for no testament is 
 of force while the testator liveth. 
 
 12. Christ Jesus, while engaged in the work of his ministry, 
 strictly charged his disciples to tell no man that he was the Christ. 
 And many things were said and done, which were known only to 
 his disciples, and kept closely concealed, to prevent the vain specu- 
 lations of the world. He well knew the inveterate malice of 
 his enemies, who were continually watching for something 
 whereby they might condemn him ; and at last they accused and 
 condemned him as a blasphemer, and worthy of death, for inti- 
 mating that he was sent of God, although his works plainly de- 
 clared it. 
 
 13. It is also evident, that the testimony of the Apostles was 
 verbal for years, and nothing was written for the information of 
 those who were unacquainted with the work of Jesus Christ, or 
 at a distance from where the first scene was transacted, until the 
 work of that day was fully established; and even then, their 
 writings and sayings were far from being common ; but were 
 kept close, and spread no farther than the operation of the Spirit 
 of God had prepared the way for them to be received by faith. 
 Therefore it need not seem strange, if the circumstances prece- 
 ding the public opening of Christ's second appearing, should 
 be similar to those of his_^r.sf appearing. 
 
 14. The second appearing of Christ, commonly called the 
 Millennium, or latter day of glory, has ever been considered 
 as a period of the greatest importance to mankind universally, 
 inasmuch as all the prophecies of the holy Scriptures were then 
 to have their final accomplishment; and every threatening of 
 God to be fully executed upon the ungodly and sinners, in the 
 
 .final overthrow of their unjust and oppressive governments, their 
 
PREFACE TO THE 
 
 false and pernicious superstitions, and all their unrighteous works. 
 On the other hand, all the promises of God to his people, were 
 then to he fulfilled, in their final redemption from all the sorrow- 
 ful effects of the fall; in building them up in holiness, 
 righteousness, everlasting peace, and true felicity ; and en- 
 riching them with all the fulness of temporal and eternal 
 goodness. 
 
 15. But it never was intended, nor could it be expected, upon 
 any principle of reason or truth, that all those things should be 
 accomplished at once, but, according to the usual manner of 
 God's working, they must gradually proceed from small begin- 
 nings, and continue to operate in a progressive manner, from one 
 degree to another, as a small seed planted in its proper season, 
 springs up, and grows into a tree. The beginning of this great 
 event we have stated, according to the degree and measure of 
 what has already taken place. And although it may appear to 
 some as a day of small things, we are, nevertheless, persuaded 
 beyond a doubt, that the same who has begun the good work, 
 will carry it on until the whole be accomplished. 
 
 16. It is reasonable to suppose that mankind, so long im- 
 posed upon by false systems, said to be of Divine authority, 
 will be very cautious, at this day, of receiving any thing that 
 bears such an appearance. And therefore, through the tender- 
 ness and mercy of God, the truth and revelation of Christ is 
 opened answerable to the weak and prejudiced state of the 
 world, for the gain and edification of the candid seekers after 
 truth. 
 
 17. And, as the special call of God to all who are seeking 
 eternal life, is to free themselves from the pernicious superstitions 
 and false doctrines of antichrist, before they can receive the ever- 
 lasting Gospel, of Christ's kingdom, therefore it is, that so much 
 of the following work is taken up in exposing the works of 
 antichrist, during his dark and deplorable reign of twelve hun- 
 dred and sixty years, in order that souls who are groaning under 
 bondage, may discover the cause, and be released. And truly, 
 when the whole depth of that antichristian delusion is exposed, 
 that saying will be fully verified: "And they that dwell on the 
 
 Rev. x^, earth shall wonder, when they behold the beast that was, and is 
 not, and yet is." 
 
 18. This subject might have been comprised in much less 
 room than it now occupies, were it not that mankind have been 
 so long deceived and led astray by a false influence, instead of 
 being guided by the light of truth. A particular account of the 
 transactions of antichrist, during his reign, must be soucht for 
 in the history of those who, some time after the days of Jesus 
 Christ, and his Apostles, took the dominion in the affairs of the 
 Church, and established a false religion, under the pretence of 
 
 8. 
 
FIEST EDITION. • xi 
 
 being their successors. Therefore, in order to fully expose the 
 dark reign of that power, which has so long triumphed in dis- 
 guise, under the sacred name of Jesus Christ, it appeared neces- 
 sary to make large extracts from some of the most noted eccle- 
 siastical writers, that when facts are established by the testimony 
 of these writers, in their own words, they may not be disputed. 
 
 19. In treating on this dark period, we have extracted some 
 of the most interesting facts from Mosheim's Ecclesiastical 
 History, Robinson's Ecclesiastical Researches, and from The 
 Works of Lardnbr. And on various occasions we have quoted 
 from Newton, Robertson, Edwards. Boston, Sev;ell, Wesley, 
 Wilberforce, and others. Most of the historical writers whom 
 we have quoted, are well known, and highly esteemed ; nor 
 have we any knpwledge that their veracity was ever called in 
 question by the learned.* 
 
 20. The work which God purposed to do in the latter days, 
 was not to be according to the systems of human invention 
 known and understood among men; but was to be a strange 
 luork ; and the act which he intended to bring to pass, was to 
 be a strange act, even "A marvelous work and a won- 
 der." Neither was Christ to come in order to establish any of 
 those systems of man's building that should be found on earth 
 at his appearing ; but in the progress of his strange work he will 
 most certainly consume them all. Therefore said the Prophet, 
 " Be ye not m.ockers, lest your bands be made strong : for I have 
 heard from the Lord Grod of hosts a consumption even deter- 
 mined upon the whole earth." And hence the warning of the 
 Apostle : " Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish ; for I 
 work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in nowise be- 
 lieve, though a man declare it unto you." 
 
 21. In the time of Christ's first appearing, the Jews, who 
 called themselves Grod's chosen people, were looking for a Sa- 
 viour to appear in royal splendor, surpassing all temporal 
 monarchs; but behold, he appeared in a man, and took on him 
 the form of a servant. Again, those who called themselves 
 Christians, expected him, in the second advent, to appear in the 
 form of a man, far surpassing all earthly beings in pomp, gran- 
 
 * The largest extracts are made from the three first mentioned writers, whoso 
 works are supported from the best authorities of ancient and modem history. John 
 Lawrence Mosheim was a Lutheran priest, and Chancellor of the University 
 of Gottingen, in Germany, the seat of the Reformation. His Ecclesiastical 
 History was translated from the original Latin by Archibald Maclaine, D.D. 
 The extracts are from the Philadelphia edition, printed in 1797, in six octavo 
 volumes. Those from RoMnson^s Ecclesiastical Researches, are from a Euro- 
 pean edition, printed at Cambridge, in 1792, a very valuable production, of one 
 quarto volume. The writings of Dr. Lardner are held in high estimation by 
 modern historians in general ; the extracts are from the London edition of his 
 works, printed in 1788, eleven octavo volumes. 
 
 In this [fourth] edition, large extracts are made from the Ecclesiastical His- 
 tories of Milner, Jones, and others. 
 
XU PREFACE TO THE 
 
 deur, and warlike power, and behold, tLe humble Savinur was 
 manifested in the form and likeness of a woman, and assumed 
 the appearance of a handmaid. 
 
 22. Thus, as the heavens are high above the earth, so are the 
 thoughts and imaginations of man above all that is called God ; 
 and as far as virtue is below vice in the carnal sense of the 
 wicked, so far is the way of God below all the ways that ever 
 man contrived, by which all the carnal works and inventions of 
 man will be supplanted; and therefore, in the eyes of man, 
 the real work of Grod will ever appear strange and unaccountable. 
 
 23. Sixty years have now passed since the beginning of this 
 work in England; twenty-eight years since it began in America ; 
 twenty years since the gathering of the Church ; and sixteen 
 years since the Church was established in her present order and 
 spirit of government. And in all this time of sixty years, the 
 testimony has been verbal, and those who were faithful in it 
 increased in further light and understanding, and in power and 
 harmony, from time to time, without any written creed, relating 
 to themselves, or any written testimony in defence of their cause, 
 or for the public information of others. 
 
 24. Nor is this present publication to be considered as any 
 creed to bind or influence the faith or practice of the Church, 
 to prevent a further increase ; but as the first public testimony 
 in writing, containing a true statement of the fundamental 
 principles and reasons of our faith and practice, according to 
 the measure of our present light and understanding. 
 
 25. Whatever is written on any subject, must have respect to 
 some foundation or first principles ; and, as the living power of 
 God was first ministered, in this latter day, for the purpose of 
 destroying the false foundation and pernicious principles of 
 antichrist ; so the work itself appeared like madness and folly 
 to such as stood on that foftndation. And in no better light 
 would any written account of it have appeared, nor in truth, 
 could any thing satisfactory be written, until this necessary 
 work of preparation was accomplished, and the substance of 
 what was to follow had come to a sufficient degree of maturity. 
 
 26. But since the subjects of the work have been broken oif 
 from their false foundation, and built upon the foundation of the 
 present revelation of Christ, and are raised up in the order of a 
 spiritual house, to that degree of righteousness, peace, and 
 union, which they visibly manifest, every thing has assumed 
 a different apppearance; so that time and circumstances have 
 rendered it proper to state' those difi'erent operations and 
 degrees of the work in their true nature and character. 
 
 27. And, as those first operations of the power of God, in 
 destroying the foundation of error and vice, exhibited many o'ut- 
 waxd appearances which looked' like confusion and wild disorder 
 
FIRST EDITION. xili 
 
 owing to the mixture of human depravity and false ideas, both 
 in the subjects of the work, and in spectators, and gave occa- 
 sion to innumerable false conjectures, and groundless reports, 
 which may have obtained some degree of credit at a distance ; 
 it therefore seems necessary, at this time, to give this public 
 testimony of facts, that the truth of things may be estab- 
 lished, and every necessary satisfaction be aflbrded ito mankind 
 upon the authority of those who have had a perfect under- 
 standing of the work, from its earliest rise, either from their 
 own certain knowledge, or from their most intimate acquaint- 
 ance and near relation to those who were eye and ear 
 witnesses of all the most important matters from the beginning. 
 
 28. The present publication may serve to convey general infor- 
 mation to the unprejudiced mind, and enlighten the understand- 
 ing ; yet certain it is, that the true knowledge and internal 
 power by which we are saved from the torrent of human deprav- 
 ity, cannot be conveyed by letters, so as to be comprehended by 
 the wisdom of man; nor can any attain that treasure through 
 any other medium than that which is given of God in the order 
 of his grace. 
 
 29. Although we do not despise the rules of rhetoric estab- 
 lished among the learned, yet we have taken no pains to adapt 
 either our manner or style to the refined taste of the present 
 age. If any choose to criticise or find fault on this account, 
 they are at liberty, we intend neither vindication nor defence 
 on this ground ; nor do we suppose that any but vain cavillers 
 will be carried away with empty speculations of that nature, so 
 long as the matter is clear, and the language such as sufBeiently 
 conveys our ideas. 
 
 30. As the unlearned cannot comprehend the learning of the 
 learned, unless they are taught by those who are learned; so 
 neither can the learned nor unlearned comprehend the work of 
 God, unless they are taught by those who are in it. Our princi- 
 pal aim has been to open matters so as to be understood, and 
 we believe we have succeeded sufficient to, satisfy every candid 
 inquiring mind. 
 
 31. The statements set forth in the following works, are con- 
 firmed by three kinds of evidence: First, the Holy Scriptures; 
 seco?i.d, the general consent of ecclesiastical history; and third, 
 the testimony of living witnesses, in the present day. And, as 
 all that took place from the beginning, had respect to the latter 
 day ; so it is a matter of the highest importance to know what 
 God has actually accomplished in the present day ; and there- 
 fore the testimony of living witnesses, is considered of the highest 
 authority, and superior to any written record whatever. 
 
 32. We are far from expecting, or even wishing, any of our 
 writing to supersede the necessity of a living testimony, or in 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 anywise to prevent a further increase of light and understanding 
 in the things of God. As far as the builder is superior to the 
 thing which he builds, so far the living subjects of the work ot 
 G-od, stand forever superior to any thing that they can possibly 
 comprise in letters. The living testimony of God is not of the 
 letter, but of the Spirit : fo? the letter killeth, but the Spirit 
 giveth life. 
 
 33. And as it is certain that the work of the latter day, spoken 
 of by all the Prophets, has verily commenced ; therefore we are 
 fully persuaded, that the true knowledge of God will increase, 
 from one degree to another, until the full manifestation of his 
 glory. And for this purpose God will continue to raise up 
 chosen witnesses, to give the knowledge of salvation to those who 
 sit in darkness, until the whole of his work be accomplished. 
 Therefore, for the more clear and perfect understanding of many 
 things which are here but briefly stated, we respectfully refer 
 the candid reader to those who keep the commandments of God 
 and have the Testimony of Jesus Christ. 
 
 DAVID DARROW, 
 
 JOHN MEACHAM, 
 BENJAMIN S. YOUNGS. 
 
 Lebanon, Miami Country, State ] 
 of Ohio, 1st of Dec. 1808. ; 
 
 Note. David Dakrow, now in the 59th year of his age, was 
 among the first in America who received the testimony of the 
 Gospel, in the year 1780. John Meacham (being then a youth, 
 under the care of his father Joseph Meacham, in union with 
 the family) received the testimony the same year, 1780, and is 
 now in the 39th year of his age. Benjamin S. Yoitngs 
 received the testimony in the year 1794, and is now in the 35th 
 year of his age. It is proper to remark, that the two first-named, 
 were co-laborers in forming, and also leading Elders in support- 
 ing, the several societies of this community in the Western States, 
 and signed their names not as authors, but as counsellors, and as 
 sanctioning the work. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Preface to the Fourth Edition, iii 
 
 Preface to the First Edition, vii 
 
 Introduction, xxi 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 The Patriarchal Dispensation. — The State of Man from his First 
 
 Creation until Christ. 
 Chap. 
 
 I. The Order of the Visible Creation, 1 
 
 II. The State of Man in his Primitive Creation, - - . 5 
 
 III. The Nature and Effects of the Fall of Man from his first 
 
 Eectitude, 10 
 
 IV. The Mystery of Iniquity ; or the Man of Sin Kevealed : His 
 
 Rise in the Fall of Man, by the Subversion of the original 
 
 Order and Law of Grod --.... jg 
 
 V. Further Illustrations of the Mystery of Iniquity, - - 23 
 
 VI. The Mystery of Iniquity further Eevealed, - - . 27 
 
 VII. The Deceptive Operations of the Man of Sin, - - - 32 
 
 VIII. The Principal Seat of Human Depravity, ... 37 
 
 IX. The Cause of the Destruction of the Old WorU, - . 42 
 
 X. The Call of God to Abraham: What it signified, - - 47 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 I. The Figurative Import of the Mosaic Dispensation, - - 53 
 II. The. Mosaic Law: Wherein it was fulfilled by the Law of 
 
 Grace, through Jesus Christ, ..... 53 
 III. The State of all Mankind before the First Appearing of 
 
 Christ, by which Salvation is revealed, - - - . 63 
 
 BOOK IIL 
 
 The Dispensation of the First Appearing of Christ. — The Beginning 
 and Work of a New Creation. 
 
 I. Jesus Christ preceded and introduced by John the Baptist, 73 
 
 II. The Ministry of Jesus Christ, the Anointed, ... 78 
 
 III. The Institution of the Primitive Church, - - - . 83 
 
 IV. The Cross maintained by the Primitive Church, - - 89 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 Chap. 
 
 V. Permissions and Instructions to those who choose a Married 
 
 Life, - - 95 
 
 VI. The Attainments of the Primitive Church, . - - 102 
 
 VII. The Order and Power of the Primitive Church, - - 108 
 
 VIII. The Rise and Dominion of An,tichrist predicted, - - H^ 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 The Rise and. Progress of Antichrist's Kingdom. 
 
 I. The Work of Antichrist, by False Teachers, - - - 119 
 II. The Work of Antichrist, by Egyptian Philosophers, in the 
 
 Second Century, 126 
 
 III. The Difference of Faith and Practice between the Orthodox 
 
 and the Heretics, in the Second Century, . - - 131 
 
 IV. The First Distinction between Catholics and Heretics in the 
 
 Second Century, _ - _ 133 
 
 V. Charges brought against the Christians, called Heretics, in 
 
 the Second and Third Centuries, 138 
 
 VI. Particular Distinction between the Characters of Catholics 
 
 and Heretics in the Second and Third Centuries, - 144 
 VII. The Church of Antichrist, established by Roman Emperors, 
 
 in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries, .... 148 
 VIII. The true Character of Constantine and his Successors, - 154 
 IX. General Character of the Catholic Church, in the Second, 
 
 Third, and Fourth Centuries, - - - - ' - 160 
 X. The Persecuting Spirit of the Catholic Church, in the Third 
 
 and Fourth Centuries, 168 
 
 XI. Progress and Doctrines of the Catholic Church, in the 
 
 Fourth Century, 172 
 
 XII. The Doctrines and Order of the Catholic Church, Estab- 
 lished in the Fifth Century, 178 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 The Reign and Dominion of Antichrist. 
 
 I. The Beginning ofthe Reign of Antichrist, in the Fifth Century, 187 
 II. The Catholic Gospel propagated under the Reign of Anti- 
 christ, from the Fifth to the Eighth Century, - - 192 
 
 III. Viol^Bt Means of spreading the Catholic Gospel, by Char- 
 
 Ifemagne and his Successors, in the Ninth and Tenth 
 Centuries, - 197 
 
 IV. Continuation of the Means of Propagating the Catholic 
 
 Gospel, in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries. - - 200 
 V. The Crusades, or Holy Wars, 205 
 
 VI. The Abominations and Persecutions of the Mother of 
 
 Harlots, 210 
 
CONTENTS. XVU 
 
 Chap. Page. 
 
 VII. The Bloody Cruelties of the Beastly Power of Antichrist, 215 
 VIII. The Increasing Cruelties and Persecuting Wars of the Anti- 
 
 christian Beast, 219 
 
 IX. The Proximate Causes of the Eeformation, . - - 227 
 
 BOOK VI. ' 
 
 The Grand Division in the Kingdom of Antichrist, called the 
 Reformation. 
 
 I. The Cause and First Means of Reforming the Catholic 
 
 Church, 233 
 
 II. The Pinal Division between Papists and Protestants, - 241 
 
 III. Fruits and Effects of the Protestant Gospel, ... 247 
 
 IV. Reformed Churches established by the Works of Antichrist, 253 
 V. Vehement Controversies between the First Reformers, - 259 
 
 VI. Particular Changes effected by the Reformation, - - 265 
 VII. The Cross of Christ rejected by the Protestant Reformers, 270 
 
 VIII. Protestant Doctrines concerning Marriage and Continence, 275 
 
 IX. Protestant Changes, concerning Discipline, Rites, and Titles, 283 
 
 X. The Persecuting Spirit of the Protestant Reformers, - 291 
 XI. The Persecuting Spirit of John Calvin and his Followers, and 
 
 other Reformers, 299 
 
 XII. The Persecution of the Quakers, in England and America, in 
 
 the Seventeenth Century, 308 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 The Extent and Duration of what is called the Christian World. 
 
 I. Worldly Christians contrasted with Virtuous Believers in 
 
 Christ, .... - - - - 317 
 
 II. Virtuous Believers, in every Age of the Christian Era, com. 
 
 pared with Worldly Christian Professors, - - - 322 
 
 III. Remarks on the Present State of the Christian World, - 328 
 
 IV. Protestantism, the System of the Second Beast, "which came 
 
 up out of the Earth," 336 
 
 V. Remarks on the Past and Present State of the Witnesses of 
 
 Truth, - 341 
 
 VII. Remarks concerning Quakers, French Prophets, and other 
 
 Modern Sects, 351 
 
 BOOK VIII. 
 
 The Dispensation of the Second Appearing of Christ: The Finishin" 
 Work of the New Creation. 
 
 I. Remarks on the Spirit of Prophecy, respecting the Time of 
 
 Christ's Second Appearing, 359 
 
 2* 
 
XVUl CONTENTS. 
 
 Chap. Fags 
 
 II. The Place of Christ's Kingdom, and Manner of his Work, 365 
 
 III. The Manner of Christ's Second Appearing, - - ■ 370 
 
 IV. The True Character of the Church of Christ, - - - 375 
 V. The Foundation Pillars of the Church of Christ, - " 379 
 
 VI. The Parentage of the Church of Christ, - - - 385 
 
 VII. Types and Prophecies fulfilled in the Two Foundation Pillars, 890 
 VIII. Prophecies and Promises fulfilled in the Parentage of the New 
 
 Creation, 399 
 
 IX. Visions and Revelations relating to the Mother of the New 
 
 Creation, -408 
 
 X. Evidences accompanying the Second Appearing of Christ, 414 
 
 XI. Remarks on the Evidence of Christ's Second Appearing, - 426 
 
 XII. Progress of the Church in Gospel Order, - - - 438 
 
 XIII. The Church established in Gospel Order, - - - - 441 
 
 XIV. Prophecies and Promises fulfilling in the present increasing 
 
 Work of Christ's Kingdom, 450 
 
 XV. A Short Calculation of the Principal Prophecies relating to 
 
 the Latter Day, 459 
 
 BOOK IX.— Paet I. 
 
 The Order of Deity, and, the Corresponding Order of Christ, 
 
 Revealed. 
 
 I. The Revelation of the Eternal and Divine Spirit, - - 467 
 II. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, the Beginning of the New 
 
 Creation of God, 475 
 
 III. An Illustration of the Production of Preternatural Births ; 
 
 that is, Births by Direction of Supernatural Agency; or 
 
 those in the chosen Line of Promise. — Section 1. - 480 
 
 Section 2. — The Subject further Illustrated, ... 487 
 
 IV. The Coming of Christ, a Spiritual Work, - - - 495 
 
 Part II. 
 
 A Compendious View of the Order in Deity as revealed in the 
 Second Appearing of Christ. 
 
 I. The Order of Deity, Male and Female, in whose Image Man 
 
 was created, 503 
 
 II. Christ Manifested in the Order of Male and Female, - 512 
 
 III. Revelations concerning the Appearing of Christ in the Line 
 
 of the Female, 521 
 
 IV. Inconsistency of the Doctrine of the Trinity with all the 
 
 Manifestations of God, 528 
 
 V. Summary Remarks on the Order in Deity and consequent 
 
 Manner of Man's Redemption in Christ, - - - 533 
 
CONTENTS. xix 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 Practical Principles of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing. 
 
 Chap. Page. 
 
 I. The Order of Grod in the Confession and Forgiveness of Sins, 539 
 
 II. The Sufferings of Jesus Christ, in the Work of Regeneration, 548 
 
 III. The New and Spiritual Birth, 555 
 
 IV. The Eesurrection, not of the Body, but of the Soul ; not 
 
 Carnal, but Spiritual, 562 
 
 V. The inconsistency of a Carnal Eesurrection, - - - 567 
 YI. Rational and Scriptural Evidences of the Gospel being 
 Preached, and a Probationary State in the World of 
 
 Spirits. — Section 1. 572 
 
 Section 2. — The Subject further illustrated, - - - 578 
 
 VII. The Worship of God, 584 
 
 VIII. The Holy Scriptures, 588 
 
 IX. The Gospel Testimony; or. The "Sharp Sickle," - - 596 
 
 X. The Conclusion, addressed to Young Believers, - - 607 
 Appendix. — Brief History of the Rise and Progress of the 
 
 United Society, 615 
 
 Location of the different Societies. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Whatkter degree of natural wisdom may be attained by those 
 who are without Christ and without God in the world, certain it 
 is, that the only true saviug knowledge of God that ever was, 
 or ever will be, communicated to man, is by and through the 
 revelation of Jesits Christ j and therefore, such as reject Christ, 
 and take their own wisdom for their guide, never were, and 
 never can be, saved in that state. 
 
 '2. And in no better situation are those who profess faith in 
 an absent Saviour, — who believe that Christ was once upon earth, 
 but is now departed to some remote and unknown heaven, where 
 it is impossible for the weak capacities of mortals to reach him ; 
 when, in truth, nothing but the real and abiding presence of 
 Christ, by the indwelling of his Spirit, ever did, or ever can save 
 one soul. 
 
 3. And, as Ch?-ist is the only real Saricncr — the only true 
 light of the world, to lead souls into the knowledge and enjoy- 
 ment of G^)d ; and as there is no other name or substance under 
 heaven given among men, whereby any can be saved ; it follows, 
 beyond all contradiction, that, untU Christ made his appearance 
 in the world, the world was in darkness, without the saving 
 knowledge of G^d, without a Saviour, and consequently without 
 salvation. 
 
 II. 1. Man was at first created in a true natural state and 
 pronounced good, for he was under the law and government of 
 God, according to that state. But having violated that law, he 
 never cotdd again be brought into his true order and line of sub- 
 jection, until God sent forth his own Son into the world for the See i Cor. 
 purpose of raising him, not only from his fall, but into a spiritual Jf.' ' ^ 
 state and order, far superior to the natural. 
 
 '1. It is true, a law was given to one particular nation, by 
 which great restrictions were laid upon that lawless disposition 
 which governs man in his fallen st^te; but it availed notiing as 
 to the redemption of the soul from the influence of that disposition ; 
 nor could it bring any into that perfect obedience with which God 
 was well pleased ; for the Law having a shadow of good things 
 to come, and not the art/ image, could never make the comers Heh. x. t. 
 thereunto perfect. 
 
 3. But, when Christ Jesiis made his appearance, as a wise 
 Legislator, his first work was to form a law by which man should 
 
XXU INTRODUCTION. 
 
 he ruled and governed; and this he did, by hia exemplary life 
 and doctrine. And, having passed through the world, and uvea 
 such a life as was in all points acceptable to God, he receivea 
 that power and authority, as the Head and Kuler of the human 
 race, by which he could righteously demand their subjection, 
 convince them of the evil nature of sin, and justly dispense 
 rewards and punishments, according to their obedience or diso- 
 
 D6Q1GI1C6 
 
 III. 1. The law and government which Christ established in 
 his first appearing, did not so immediately and extensively 
 respect this present world, as it did the world of spirits. Yet, 
 before he could extend his kingdom to, and establish his power 
 and authority in, the spiritual world, it was necessary that he 
 should first pass through the present outward world, and experi- 
 ence a feeling of all the trials that ever had been experienced by 
 those over whom he was appointed Ruler, that he might open 
 
 Heb.u. 11, the way for them to enjoy with Him, an inheritance in the 
 
 ^^- heavenly kingdom, of which he was the first-bom. Hence he 
 
 said to his disciples, / go to prepare a place for you; which 
 implied that his law, and the order of his government, were not 
 yet established in the world of spirits. 
 
 2. It was also necessary that Christ should open, in the 
 present worldj such a measure of the nature and order of his 
 government, and the rudimental laws of his kingdom, as should 
 subserve his future purpose, when mankind in the earthly stage 
 of existence in his second appearing, should become the more 
 immediate objects of his labor. Hence his parable of a man 
 
 See Luke, going into a far country to receive a kingdom, and to return ; 
 
 ^'^•'^' and giving to each of his servants a certain sum, according to 
 their several abilities, saying. Occupy till I come. 
 
 TV. 1. During the time of this preparatory work of Jems 
 Christ, in establishing his law and order in the spiritual world, this 
 earth was a seat of the most perfect confusion, injustice, decep- 
 tion and cruelty ; which was properly the period of antichrist's 
 reign and dominion. And, indeed, that corrupt hierarchy called 
 the Church, which pretended to have the power of salvation, 
 and assumed all the authority of Christ on earth, was, in reality, 
 
 ReT.xviii. „ j^g habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and 
 a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." And such extrava- 
 gant superstitions prevailed, during this period, (as through the 
 invisible operations of God's Providence,) have become objects of 
 just contempt to the enlightened part of mankind. 
 
 2. We have endeavored to state with satisfactory clearness, 
 the origin and progress of that system of iniquity, under the 
 reign of antichrist, which, after the decline and final apostasy of 
 the primitive Church, became predominant, and, under the false 
 profession of Christianity perverted all Christendom ; and for 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXIU 
 
 many "dark ages," filled the world ■with bitter animosities, 
 strifes, confusion, tyranny and blood. 
 
 V. 1 . Our aim has been , to show that, during that whole deplor- 
 able reign of apostasy and false dominion, there neither was, nor 
 could possibly exist, the true Church of Christ upon earth. No 
 personal opposition to any particular sect or denomination, is in 
 the least intended. 
 
 2. During the "dark ages," among the Catholics, and after- 
 Wards among the various divisions of Protestants, there have 
 been many noble and sincere souls, who have groaned under the 
 oppression of the prevailing iniquities of their times, and who 
 have labored, according to their best light and power, to uphold 
 virtue, and to work ^'■righteousness in the earth; " and such will 
 in nowise lose their reward from the righteous "Judge of all." 
 
 VI. 1. As Christ did actually go to prepare a place, and to 
 receive a kingdom, and promised to return, and establish his law 
 of righteousness and order on this earth ; so his promise is 
 actually fulfilling ; and the most striking evidence in this latter 
 day, that he has gained the kingdom, and begun to set it up on 
 earth, is the manifest change in civil government, and that 
 spirit of toleration and liberty in matters of religion, which 
 began to take place about the close of the seventeenth century. 
 
 2. This work of toleration and liberty was directed in the order 
 of Divine Providence, and gradually increased, until liberty of 
 conscience, and the rights of man, were permanently established, 
 by the liberal, national and state constitutions of these United 
 States of America. 
 
 3. Thus, by the immediate Providence of God, the way was 
 prepared for the everlasting Gospel to be preached, which has 
 been received by many; and "the kingdom of the saints of the 
 Most High; " so long predicted, has been gradually rising, until 
 it is permanently established in this favored land. 
 
 4. Therefore, for the sake of candid inquirers after truth, and 
 especially those who are looking for that work of full salvation 
 which Grod promised to accomplish in the latter days, and who 
 have not the opportunity of obtaining personal information, we 
 shall consider the various operations of the work of God, in its 
 progressive stages, or degrees, both providential and spiritual, 
 from the first creation of man in relation to this important event : 
 and "let him that readeth understand." 
 
 5. By an attentive review of the Scriptures, as well as the 
 general history of the world, it is evident, that the whole mani- 
 festation of the work of God, from "the beginning," has been dis- 
 played in Four general Dispensations of Divine Providence and 
 Grace, successively brought forth in various eras and orders, each 
 progressively rising into higher and higher degrees of greater 
 and increasing perfection. 
 
XXIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 6. All these Dispensations and degrees of development and 
 growth of order, as planned in Divine wisdom, are now ulti- 
 mately perfectmg in the present Dispensation of Christ s becond 
 Appearing, which is the Fourth and last; and in which the waters 
 of life and salvation will become an impassable river, as shown to 
 the Prophet in his vision of the holy waters: these, after tour 
 
 See Ezek. sucoessive measures, each rising higher and higher upon man, 
 xivii. 1-12. became " a river that could not be passed over." 
 
 7. Thus will it be in the work of this Dispensation: all souls 
 will have to swim in the waters of spiritual life, clear of all attrac- 
 tions from the corrupt earthly nature, or be borne down by them 
 
 Seel John, and sink to destruction with the world. But, if they swim 
 
 ii. 15, 17. clear of the attractions of the world, by stripping off all its 
 corrupt weights and the defiled clothing of nature, the holy 
 waters will waft them to the heavenly land op eternal 
 LIFE. For in the manifestations of this " great and last day of 
 
 lylfr' God Almighty," the work of God will be consummated to the 
 human race; as it is written, "In the days of the voice of the 
 
 Eev. X. 7. seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God 
 will be finished." Each of the aforesaid " days " doubtless signi- 
 fies a new era of increase in the manifestations of God's work, 
 before the present Dispensation is completed. 
 
 8. Therefore this Dispensation is ushered in and brought forth, 
 by the voices and conjunctive powers of the seventh trumpet. 
 This is the final work, and brings " the time of the end," fore- 
 told to the Prophet Daniel, which will decide the destiny of aU 
 
 xii. 7-13, & things, and the ultimate lot of all souls and spirits. For these 
 aUo'jude'' T^asons, the present volume is illustrated according to the re- 
 T. 6. ' speetive orders of the aforesaid FOUR great dispensations. 
 
THE TESTIMONY 
 
 OF 
 
 CHRIST'S SECOID APPEARIIG. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 THE PATKIARCHAL DISPENSATION. 
 
 THE STATE OF MAN FROM HIS PIEST CREATION UNTIL CHRIST. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ORDER OF THE VISIBLE CREATION. 
 
 In all the works of Grod throughout the order of the visible chap. i. 
 creation, there is an evident relation of one thing to another, as 
 the effect is related to its cause; and we may every whore 
 see one thing springing out of another, and progressing on 
 to still higher degrees of perfection. 
 
 2. This is manifest, not only in the works of nature, hut of 
 art; and upon this principle, the new is granted to be superior 
 to the old, inasmuch as it contains all the useful properties of the 
 old with additional increase. 
 
 3. It is not, however, our design to reason on the works of 
 nature or of art, any further than as they serve to illustrate the 
 things of eternal duration. It belongs more properly to men of 
 natural wisdom, to search out the properties and progress of that 
 creation, of which they are a part. 
 
 4. But, as God promised to create new heavens, and a new 
 earth, wherein should dwell righteousness, and as the new 
 creation stands in a certain sense related to the old, being formed 
 out of it; therefore, the children of God are not immediately 
 
 1 
 
THE ORDER OF THE VISIBLE CREATION. 
 
 B.I. 
 
 ^HAP. I. created in that character, but have first a certain relation to the 
 children of men, until by the spirit and power of Christ, in the 
 fulfilment of the promise pertaining to the new creation, they 
 arise out of the old, in a gradual increase, to higher degrees of 
 perfection. 
 
 5. Man, in his natural creation, was designed for a higher 
 purpose than merely to fill up the momentary scenes of the 
 present life. An evidence of this truth is implanted in the 
 breast of every individual possessed of common rationality. 
 
 6. The immortality of the soul, and a future state of existence, 
 is a sentiment that requires no other argument for its establish- 
 ment than the hopes and prospects of every rational mind. 
 
 7. Hence it is, that natural death, or the departing out of the 
 active scenes of this world, is, of all objects the most frightful, 
 inasmuch as it appears to put an end to man's existence, and is 
 the strongest argument against the immortality of his present 
 state of being. 
 
 8. On the other hand, nothing is so productive of joy and 
 triumph, as those sensible manifestations from a world of spirits, 
 which at times operate in the mind of man, and promise a durable 
 felicity in a future state of existence. 
 
 9. Had man even continued in the order in which he was at 
 first created, he could never have been established in any precise 
 measure of that order, because the very order itself was change- 
 able, and he must of necessity advance to some higher order, or 
 sink into an inferior state ; much less could his natural creation 
 be supposed to stand in the highest degree of perfection when he 
 had fallen from Grod into a state of sin and misery. 
 
 10. Eternal life was but an object of hope to man in his highest 
 state of innocence ; for if he had possessed eternal life, he m.ust 
 have been eternally out of the reach of death : but his being 
 subject to fall into a state of death, was an evidence that he was 
 only as yet, in a state of probation, and of course, that the whole 
 creation of man was unfinished, and had not yet progressed to 
 the ultimate end for which it was created. 
 
 11. When God promised to create another heaven and earth 
 1™ ^^- at some future period, saying, "Behold I create new heavens, 
 
 and a new earth;" and when the Apostle said, " We according 
 2Put. iii. to his promise, look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein 
 dwelleth righteoicsness ;" it is evident that this new heaven and 
 earth spoken of in different ages, was something yet to be created, 
 therefore none could possibly reach it, but through those revolu- 
 tions which should lead to that period. 
 
 12. It is certain that the matter which composed the body of 
 man, existed before the human body was formed; and that 
 matter was incapable of comprehending its intermediate stnte, 
 before it was organized into human form. 
 
B. I. THE OUDEB. OF THE VISIBLE CREATION. 3 
 
 13. No better able is the most penetrating mortal to conceive chap, i. 
 the real nature of tbe intermediate state of man between the old 
 
 and new creations, any further than he is created anew accord- John iii- 3, 
 ing to the work and progress of the new creation. And what lies 
 beyond, belongs to God to make manifest through Christ, by the 
 Gospel, in the order of the times appointed. 
 
 14. Nothing can be created without a creator, and He that 
 formed all things is God: He is before all t/mzgs, and by Him coi.i. 17 
 all things consist; but every thing in its own order has a is- 
 secondary cause. 
 
 16. God always works by means that are adapted to the end. 
 He did not form man by or out of nothing, but out of the dust ; 
 nor are the human species created or propogated by or out of 
 any other than the living substance of man. 
 
 16. Therefore, before a thing can be created, the means of its 
 creation must exist. And as Jesus Christ was promised to be 
 
 the immediate Creator, or secondary cause of the nejv heavens Rev. iii. 14. 
 and earth, or the beginning of the 7iew creation; so the future coi, iii. is 
 destiny of the human race was suspended on the coming of i"- 
 Christ. 
 
 17. The coming of Christ was not to destroy the order of the 
 visible heavens and earth, that were created very good at the 
 beginning ; but to create out of them a new world, or order of 
 things, that should be of eternal duration, beyond the present. 
 
 18. And therefore He came into this world, and passed „ ... 
 through it, and did the work his Father gave him to do, intro- 
 ductory to his future coming; and having laid the foundation of 
 
 that order of eternal duration, his message by his servants, in . . 
 his second appearing, is, " Come; for all things are now ready.''' 17. 
 It never was intended by the Creator that any part of his 
 creation should be redeemed or governed by a power foreign 
 from his spirit; for that would have laid a foundation for 
 confusion, and showed a lack of wisdom in the whole order 
 of things; which may be observed from things that are 
 natural. 
 
 19. But God, in his wisdom, proportioned to every part of 
 creation its own internal government, without dependence on 
 foreign aid, or the fear of foreign invasion, so long as it kept the 
 primitive rectitude of its creation. 
 
 20. And therefore, when Jesus came into the world, in whom 
 Christ was revealed, as the Redeemer and Ruler of his dominion, 
 he did not come descending through the air from some remote 
 part of space ; but, being born into the old creation, he was com- 
 missioned and sent from God, while dwelling in the midst of those 
 'whom he came to redeem, and over whom he was appointed Ruler. 
 
 21. And thus was fulfilled the words of the prophet : " Out of Micah v. 
 thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be Ruler in Israel" *' 
 
CHAP. I 
 
 THE ORDER OF THE VISIBLE CEEATION. B. I. 
 
 Plainly showing, that, in the order of things, the power of 
 redemption would arise out of that creation which needed a 
 Kedeemer. 
 
 22. Seeing, then, that the whole of God's work is connected 
 like the links of a chain, and that one thing rises out of another 
 hy the operations of His spirit, in an increasing line, from begin- 
 ning to end ; it will be proper to treat of things in their true and 
 natural order as they arise, from age to age ; from which the 
 appearing of Christ, first and last, may be understood in its true 
 nature and design. 
 
B. I. THE STATE OF MAN IN HIS PEIMITIVE CREATION. 
 
 CHAPTEK ir. 
 
 THE STATE OP MAN IN HIS PRIMITIVE CREATION. 
 
 All tUngs were made and created for the honor and glory of chap, ii. 
 the invisible First Cause, whom we call God- — the Father of 
 angels and men ; a Being of infinite perfections ; eternal and un- 
 changeable in his nature and purpose ; from everlasting to ever- 
 lasting ; possessing almighty power and wisdom ; the centre of 
 infinite goodness ; the true Spring of eternal life, and the only 
 Source of true happiness. 
 
 2. In the beginning, God set in order the creation of the 
 visible heavens and earth; and "made every plant of the Gen,ii. 4 
 field before it ivas in the earth, and every herb of the field s- 
 before it grew ; for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon 
 
 the earth." 
 
 3. By which it may be understood, that God reserved the 
 times and seasons in his own power ; for, although it was said, 
 
 "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and chap. i. ii. 
 the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in 
 itself, upon the earth: and it was so;" yet it was not 
 INSTANTLY. so. The earth could not bring forth grass, nor the 
 herb yield seed, nor the fruit tree yield fruit, any otherwise than 
 according to the laws of creation established in each particular 
 thing, whose seed was in itself after its own kind; and accord- 
 ing to the order of times and seasons appointed by the Creator, 
 in the law of nature. 
 
 4. This was the law and order established in the vegetable 
 creation ; and every thing was beautiful after its kind, and in its 
 times and seasons. " And^ God saw that it ivas good." 
 
 5. Therefore no inferior law could be given to any superior 
 part of the creation; but each part of the creation must be 
 regulated by a law equal to its own inferior or superior dignity, 
 that the whole might operate in one harmonious concert with the 
 first moving cause. 
 
 6. "And God created every living creature which the waters Gen. i. 21, 
 brought forth abundantly, after their kind; and every winged ' 
 fowl after his kind; and God blessed them, saying, " Be fruit- 
 ful and viulti'ply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl 
 multiply in the earth." 
 
 7. "Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind : Oen. i. 24. 
 cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his 
 
6 THE STATE OF MAN IN HIS PRIMITIVE CREATION. Si- i- 
 
 "^^^P"- kind; and it was so." "And out of the ground the Lord 
 God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air. 
 
 Gbn. ii. 10. 8. Thus God made the animal part of the creation, which was 
 superior to the vegetable, from the great whales in the sea, to 
 the least insect of the earth, and the smallest bird of the air ; 
 and He created every particular part, with a natural •l^'^; ^^ 
 instinct, to be fruitful and multiply, each after its own order, 
 and after its own kind, and in the times and seasons appointed 
 by the Creator, and established in the law of nature. 
 
 9. And thus the animal creation was set in order ; and each 
 part after its own kind, and in its own place, showed forth the 
 
 Gen i 25 gl°ry and power of the Creator. ''And God saw that it was good. ' ' 
 
 ii. 7.' ' ■ 10. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the 
 ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and 
 man became a living soul." That is, he became endowed with 
 spiritual sensations and the faculties of reason. Thus MAN was 
 created the head and most noble part of all the visible creation. 
 
 11. Also the animal parts of the creation, which were formed 
 out of the ground, were endowed with animal faculties, or bodily 
 sensations, such as seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and 
 Reeling, which made them noble in their order. 
 
 12. And although man was formed of the ground (or natural 
 elements), yet as he was made the most noble animal of the creation, 
 distinct from his living soul, he could not be deficient of such 
 animal sensations as pertained to any of the inferior part of the 
 creation. 
 
 13. Therefore, by his living soul, he was likewise endowed 
 with those natural, or bodily sensations of seeing, hearing, 
 lasting, smelling and feeling, which are called the five senses. 
 And thus his living soul gave him the pre-eminence over the 
 animal part of the creation, and constituted him a human and 
 rational creature, more noble than the rest. 
 
 14. Again, the living soul of man, being superior to his 
 animal body, could not therefore be deficient in any one part or 
 sense which pertained to the body ; consequently, in the union 
 of soul and body, every part or sensation of the body must be 
 occupied by a corresponding part, or sensation of the soul. 
 
 15. And hence, there was also a spiritual seeing, hearing, 
 feeling, and so on, which being superior to all those natural 
 sensations, were capable of dictating and ordering every faculty 
 and sensation of his natural body ario-ht. 
 
 16. And thus man was created with a most noble capacity, 
 to know how to please and serve his Creator, and how to order 
 and govern every part of his natural capacity and bodily sensa- 
 tions for the honor and glory of the great eirst cause. 
 
 17. And, as this noble and superior capacity of the livinf 
 soul, had the pre-eminence over all the inferior senses of his own 
 
B. I. THE STATE OF MAN IN HIS PRIMITIVE CREATION. 7 
 
 natural frame ; therefore man was capable of having the sole chap, ii. 
 dominion over all the inferior creation, and of preserving its 
 order and harmony, for his own happiness, as well as for the 
 honor and glory of the Creator. 
 
 18. But, as man was formed of the ground, like the rest of 
 the animal parts of the creation, so, like those, his natural body 
 was of the eai'th, earthy, and was created for time. And, 
 because God breathed into him the breath of life, and man 
 became a living soul, therefore his living soul was the image 
 ani likeness of Him who is eternal, and was created for 
 eternity. 
 
 19. "And the Lord God said. It is not good that the man 
 should be alone; I mill make him an help meet for liivi," * i. e. * Heb. an 
 according to the order before him. For among all other living f„e inm. 
 creatures that had yet been formed, for Adam there was not found S'^u,'^'^''' 
 an help, according to that order of which he was the image and Gl-u. ii. is. 
 likeness. 
 
 20. And out of the man, the Lord God made him an helper, 
 who was called woman, because she was taken out of ma72. 
 Thus inan was formed of two parts, 7nale and female. These 
 two, as to their local situation, were different ; but, in point of 
 nature and union, they were one, and formed but the one entire 
 MAN, complete in his manhood. 
 
 21. Therefore, as the woman was formed out of the man, who 
 was the most noble and superior part of all the creation, by 
 reason of his living soul ; so the woman also was endowed with 
 those same rational faculties and governing powers, as a suitable 
 help in the dominion and government of all the inferior 
 creation. 
 
 22. But, as the man was first formed, and afterwards the 
 woman, to be a helper with the man, therefore she was depend- 
 ent on him for counsel and instruction, and was not first, but 
 second in the headship of man, and second in the order and 
 government of all the inferior creation. Thus the order in the 
 first creation of man was finished. 
 
 23. " And God blessed them, and said unto them, Be /rM?7/«,Z, Gen i. 28. 
 and Tnultiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it ; and have 
 dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fotol of the air, 
 
 and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." 
 
 21. Also, "God made man upright, in his own image S."''™- 
 created he him;" and therefore he was without blemish, as he 
 proceeded from the Fountain of all wisdom and perfection : made *''^"- '• ^''■ 
 hut a little lower than the angels: having; dominio?i over the Psai.viii.s, 
 terrestrial creatures, and was crowned with glory and honor. jjei, y, ^ 
 
 25. Thus man, in his first rectitude, stood as sole lord of the 
 earth, and the most noble part of all tlie visible creation. And, 
 being endowed with a capacity to receive the law of God in his 
 
THE STATE OP MAN IN HIS PMMITIVE CREATION. B. I. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 living soul, for the right ordering of all things under his dominion, 
 he was properly the centre of order and union to all, and, (com- 
 paratively) stood as a living and most noble tree in the midst of 
 the trees of the garden. 
 
 26. And while this was his standing, being the head and 
 centre of union to the creation, every particular part, having a 
 law peculiar to itself, served to increase the glory and beauty of 
 each other, and operate, and move in one general and harmonious 
 concert, to show forth the glory and power of the great and first 
 
 Gen. i. 31. moving Cause. " And God saw every thing that he had made, 
 and behold it was very good." 
 
 27. But the living soul of man was united to a material and 
 natural body, which was of the earth, earthy, and which was pos- 
 sessive of its own animal and earthly instinct; and this consti- 
 tuted his state of trial, and placed him as it were between two 
 worlds — between life and death. 
 
 28. And therefore it is said, that the Lord God put him into 
 the garden, '■'■to dress it, and to keep it," and commanded him, 
 saying, " Of every tree of the garde?i thorn mayest freely eat; 
 
 17. ■ '■ ' but of the tree of the k-nowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not 
 eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt 
 surely die." 
 
 29. From which it appears evident, that man was created with 
 an inferior nature adapted to his earthly state which was good in 
 its order, but was to be kept in subjection by a superior law, in 
 order to his becoming a just and rightful heir to any inheritance 
 of promise, and more especially that of eternal life, which was 
 the ultimate end of his creation. 
 
 30. It would have been contrary to the order that was estab- 
 lished in the creation, for the Lord God immediately to exercise 
 his governing power over any object which he had placed under 
 the dominion of man. On man therefore it depended, rightly to 
 use the power with which he was invested by the Father of his 
 living soul, with whom he stood united. 
 
 31. Consider, then, the state and order in which the man was 
 placed. His livvag soul, endowed with the power of reason, 
 stood in connexion with the Father of Spirits, and was superior 
 to the instincts of his earthly nature, or the animal sensations 
 and natural desires which might arise therefrom ; and therefore 
 he could not be influenced and governed by them without the 
 most pointed breach of the law and order of God, and the for- 
 feiture of his dominion. 
 
 32. He could not be influenced and governed by the female, 
 although "bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh,''' without the 
 violation of the same law and order; because he was the first, 
 and she the second in the order of the creation. 
 
 33. Neither could the male or the female, torrether or 
 
B. I. THE STATE OF MAN IN HIS PRIMITIVE CREATION. 9 
 
 separately, be influenced and governed by any inferior part of the chap. ii. 
 creation, whether beast, or fowl, or creeping thing, without the 
 subversion of the order and harmony of the creation, as well as 
 the most direct and presumptuous transgression of the law of 
 God. 
 
 34. For, God by his righteous law, had endowed them with 
 wisdom and power, to subdue and have the immediate dominion 
 over all the inferior creation; therefore it was not the law of 
 nature in any part of the inferior creation, but the law of God 
 in the living soul, by which the conduct of both male and 
 female was to be directed, and all their actions disposed. This 
 law was constituted as the ruling power of man, and because it 
 was given of God, the source of their existence, it laid them 
 under the strictest obligations to the most punctual obedience. 
 
 35. And, while man stood in his rectitude, and the line 
 of order which God had placed in the creation remained entire, 
 every part was in a condition to be regulated by a principle of 
 justice and equity, to produce the fruits of harmony and peace ; 
 and through obedience to answer, without obstruction, the 
 ultimate end of its creation. 
 
 36. For " God saw every thing that he had made, and behold it 
 was very good." No evil could flow from a good cause, nor could 
 
 evil ensue while that cause was regarded. " And they were both Gen. ii. 25. 
 naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." Such 
 was their peace and innocence. 
 
 37. It was but the beginning of man's work of self-denial, to 
 abstain from one particular tree. In the progress of his govern- 
 ment, he was to subdue the earth, and have dominion over all, 
 and prove that his living soul had not its equal among all the 
 beauties of nature, nor in all the temporal glory of the universe. 
 
 38. But '■'■man who being in honor, and abode not, is like Psai.iiix. 
 the beasts that perish." vi,io- 
 
T? I 
 
 10 THE NATURE AND EFFECTS OF 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE NATURE AND EFFECTS OF THE FALL OF MAN, FROM HIS 
 FIRST RECTITUDE. 
 
 CHAP.iiL By the fall of man, is not meant any change in the position of 
 
 his body, but of his soul. His body retained its natural relation 
 
 to the earth, was possessed of its usual gravity, subject to the 
 laws of attraction, cohesion, and repulsion, and endowed with all 
 its former natural instincts, sensations, and faculties. 
 
 2. But his soul fell from God by disobedience. By yielding 
 to the influence of an inferior attraction, he was deceived, and 
 drawn out of that proper order in which he was placed by the 
 Fountain of truth. 
 
 3. And, being drawn out of his proper order, he loosed the 
 bond of his union and relation to heaven ; and being loosed, he 
 fell into that which attracted him; and in that he is a. fallen 
 spirit ; but still proves his supernatural descent, by a life and 
 power which the most perfect law of nature never was given him 
 to inspire. 
 
 4. According to the law which Grod prescribed to man at the 
 beginning, he was to subdue, and have dominion over all inferior 
 things ; this was his distinguished standing in his first rectitude ; 
 of course, to be subdued and overcome must be his fall. 
 
 5. The living soul of man was united to a natural body, and 
 occupied all its natural faculties and senses, which were as a 
 medium of conveyance, through which the law of God that was 
 implanted in his soul, might be put into action, according to the 
 directions of the Lawgiver. 
 
 6. And hence, no object inferior to the perfect will of God, 
 could find any access to his living soul, so as to bring it into 
 captivity and rival God's claim to man's affections, except 
 through the medium of those animal passions and appetites 
 arising from his inferior nature, and which were appointed to be 
 under the government of a superior law. 
 
 7. And therefore, any object on which his obedience could 
 first be proved, must be that which addressed those natural and 
 earthly appetites, or the propensities of his inferior nature ; and 
 these could not operate without the previous consent of his soul 
 to cast off his Superior, even God, who claimed the first and 
 principal right to all his affections. 
 
 8. Here was the state of his trial ; and it now remained with 
 him, whether he would obey his superior or inferior; and his 
 servant he must be, to whom he yielded obedience. 
 
B. I. man's fall from his first rectitude. 11 
 
 9. Therefore, in obeying his inferior, he became servant to chap.iii. 
 that over which he was appointed ruler, and committed sin and 
 transgression in breaking tlie law and order of God, by going 
 
 over the bounds prescribed by the Lawgiver. 
 
 10. It is evident that the law and order of God, appointed 
 for man, was good, not only from the thing considered in itself, 
 but frem the consideration that God is good, and that no evil 
 effect can flow from a good cause. 
 
 11. But, as man was created in a probationary state, in order 
 to subserve a higher purpose, it rendered the creation of man in 
 its nature susceptible of either good or evil : the good to ensue 
 as the effects of obedience to those laws which God gave for its 
 regulation, or the evil would ensue in consequence of neglect 
 and disobedience. • 
 
 12. Therefore, as man was not obedient to the law of God, 
 his superior, but yielded to be influenced, through an inferior 
 nature, by that serpent called the devil, who in his nature is 
 directly opposite to all good, hence ensued the evil. And the 
 devil could have no influence in the creation, otherwise than by 
 a subversion of that true order which God had placed between 
 soul and body, male and female, man and beast. 
 
 13. And as the man was the head, and first principal agent in 
 the order and dominion of the creation, and the woman was the 
 second and weaker part of man in the same agency ; hence, that 
 deceiver the serpent, came forth with a lie, and tempted the 
 woman to counteract the law and order of heaven; that is, to be 
 led by the influence of the serpent, her inferior instead of being 
 led by the counsel of her superior, the man. 
 
 14. " Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the Gen. iii. i. 
 field," (a striking emblem of man's nature!) and therefore the 
 
 most suitable to allure and deceive. "And he said unto the 
 woman. Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the 
 garden? " 
 
 15. And the woman said unto the serpent, "We may eat of the 
 fruit of the trees of the garden ; but of the fruit of the tree which 
 is in the midst of the garden, God hath said. Ye shall not eat of 
 it, Tvor touch it, lest ye die.'''' Thus far she exercised the rational 
 faculties of her soul, and while she stood stedfast here, no evil 
 could ensue. 
 
 16. But "the serpent said unto the woman. Ye shall not surely 
 
 die: For God dMh know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then ^en. ni. 4, 
 your eyes shall be opened; and ye shall be as gods, knowing 
 good and exil." 
 
 17. Here the woman was allured, and being allured, she was 
 deceived, and being deceived, she was excited by a passion, which 
 prevailed over her reason, to listen to the voice of the serpent. 
 
 18. Thus the serpent beguiled her; and being beguiled, she 
 
13 THE NATURE AND EFFECTS OF 
 
 CHAP. Ill, distrusted the order of God, which was placed in the man, as it 
 respected her immediate safety and protection ; a contrary view 
 of the order of things began to take root in her animal nature, 
 and to promise something more delightful than what she appre- 
 hended from the order and counsel of God. 
 
 19. Here the nature and disposition of the woman, which 
 before was innocent, and lovely, became transformed jpto a 
 nature and disposition which is unclean, wicked, and deceittul._ 
 
 20. The nature and quality of that disposition with which 
 God created man at the beginning, being pure, innocent and 
 lovely, is figuratively compared to a natural tree of pleasant fruit, 
 " a tree to he desired to make one wise." 
 
 21. And had man regarded the law of God, and punctually 
 obeyed the directions of th(^ Lawgiver, the fruit would have been 
 good, pure, innocent and lovely. The fruit of the tree was good 
 only in its right use, and evil only in its wrong use. 
 
 22. But, to the perpetual torment and condemnation of men, 
 and a heavy woe to women, they delight to choose the knowledge 
 of the evil ! Therefore the tree was called. The tree of the know- 
 ledge of good and evil.* 
 
 23. Thus it was an undue, unseasonable, and inordinate desire 
 of the knowledge of that nature, infused through the subtilty of 
 the serpent, by which the woman was allured and led away out 
 of her proper order, instead of being led by the righteous law of 
 God, in her living soul, which required her to act in union with 
 the protecting counsel vested in the man, who was her proper head. 
 
 1 c»r. xi. a 24. " But I would have you know, that the head of every man is 
 Christ ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head 
 of Christ is God." What was Christ? The unity of divine male 
 Rev. xxii. and female ; and man was created in the same unity in the like- 
 ' ■ ness of God. This was that line of order, which the God of all 
 
 wisdom and goodness placed in the most noble part of the visible 
 creation. In this unity they were a complete head of the 
 natural world. 
 
 25. And therefore the woman's obedience to the serpent, was 
 not only contrary to the dictates of her reason, and inconsistent 
 
 • Many opinions have teen entertained respecting the primitive garden of Eden 
 and the transactions in it. But to us it is evident, from Scripture, and from reason- 
 able views of the nature of thirgs, that there was a delightful temporal garden, 
 in which the first man vfas placed, and, in which grew all kinds of trees and 
 plants, every way adapted to the subsistence and earthly happiness of man; i. e. 
 it wag the world in miniature. Hence it appears plain, that all the transactions 
 tha/t are related to have taken place in this garden, were first effected in the out- 
 ward and temporal order ; yet, these were only figurative, like the figure of the 
 Law.^ Bmi the substance, and ultimate operations and effects of all these things, 
 wore in .tiie farthly human nature of man ; this was the real garden in which the 
 rational ,soui was placed, " to dress " (i. e. to cultivate) " and to keep it; " which 
 was the first duty appointed by the Creator. See Gen. ii. 15. Thus it was his 
 duty to keep it torn an enemy, against which he was in this manner plainly 
 warned. 
 
B. I. man's fall from his first rectitude. 13 
 
 in the nature of things, but directly contrary to the true order of chap. in. 
 God., And, having now eaten of the forbidden fruit, that is, 
 having received the nature of the serpent to rule in her, she gave 
 also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. 
 
 26. Thus the foul and deceitful nature of the serpent set up its 
 growing influence in the first part of man through the second ; 
 and, by obedience to the serpent, their nature became corrupted 
 at the root, figuratively compared to an evil tree, all the fruit of 
 which must consequently be corrupt, until that evil influence 
 should be overcome by obedience to Christ the seed of promise. 
 
 For, "who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? " Not one. JoIJ) »t. 4. 
 
 27. And thus the devil placed his seat of influence and 
 dominion in the very instinct or seed of nature, and the nature 
 
 of man, like a noble vine, wholly a right seed, became corrupted, Jt- "• 21. 
 and turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine, nourished 
 according to the corrupt and deceitful law of the serpent, bring- 
 ing ioTih. fruit unto death. 
 
 28. And, as the soul was united to a natural body, man must Rmn. viii. 
 either groan under the oppression of his wicked master to whom ig^^^'"' 
 he yielded obedience, until his redemption should appear, or 
 resign up the body, and every inferior part of the creation to the 
 
 sole dominion of evil. 
 
 29. But the law of God was in itself eternal, and his purpose 
 in the creation of man unchangeable, and therefore the devil 
 could not annihilate the law of God, nor destroy the creation. 
 Nevertheless the whole creation became corrupted, and its 
 beautiful order and harmony lost in sin and confusion by dis- 
 obedience, as it is written, "for we know that the whole creation Rnm. viii. 
 groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." ^^• 
 
 30. No sacred laws of influence, nor ruling power, had any 
 longer a free course through the governing parts of the natural 
 creation, to govern from the superior to the inferior ; but an un- 
 clean, deceitful, and rebellious law, seated in the nature of man, 
 was now the principal motive and leading object of his afi'ections. 
 
 ' 31. The soul was no longer led and governed by the pure and 
 original law of God, but by the now corrupted and growing 
 passions of an inferior and earthly nature : the male no longer 
 led by the law of God, but by the law of the devil, through the 
 female : the female no longer led by the law of God through the 
 male, but by the law of the devil through the serpent. 
 
 32. Thus, although man was created a free agent, as through 
 that free agency he chose to obey tJie serpent, rebellion and 
 confusion spread its baneful influence through the universe, and 
 man could rise up against man, who was made in the image and 
 after the likeness of God, and shed each other's blood. 
 
 33. The beasts of the field, and the reptiles of the ground, 
 over which man in his state of innocence had the dominion, could 
 
14 
 
 THE NATURE AND EFFECTS OF 
 
 B.I. 
 
 CilAP.III. 
 
 Gal. V. 
 20, 21. 
 
 19, 
 
 Rom. VI, 
 IS. 
 
 Jus. ill. 15. 
 
 Mat. xiiii. 
 3-3. 
 Jude, 10. 
 
 Isa. T. 1, 6. 
 
 now rise up against the most noble part of the creation, while 
 man against man, and beast against beast, are dreading and 
 devouring one another. 
 
 34. Thus man by his' disobedience, was wholly excluded and 
 shut out from tfLe way of the tree of life, and ingrafted into an 
 evil tree ; and all the fruit it could produce must be like itself, 
 the fruits of a fleshly, earthly, sensual, cruel, and corrupt 
 nature; ''adultery, fornication, unclcanness, lasciviousness, 
 idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, lurath, strife, 
 seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, 
 and such like." 
 
 35. Instead of purity and holiness, he brings forth sin and un- 
 cleanness : instead of pure and heavenly affection, lust and wan- 
 tonness: instead of condescension and obedience, pride and self- 
 will : instead of tenderness and mercy, oppression and cruelty : 
 instead of justice and equity, partiality and fraud: instead of 
 peace and harmony, wars and tumults, seditions and bloodshed, 
 and all manner of sin and confusion. 
 
 36. Such are the dire consequences of man's fall. And, as 
 man was tempted and overcome by the serpent, who was below 
 him in the order of the creation, he of course fell below the 
 order of the brutes, being servant to that to which he yielded 
 himself servant to obey. 
 
 37. And hence it is, that the human species are become 
 devilish, beastly, and unclean, in their nature and disposition. 
 And therefore it is said of them, " Ye serjjents, ye generation of 
 vipers'.''' And again, ''What' they know naturally, as brute 
 beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.''' 
 
 38. Unto whatever this subversion of the true order of God 
 may be likened — whether to a beautiful garden that is laid waste 
 and grown over with thorns, or to a tree that becomes degenerate 
 and corrupt, by being neglected, or transplanted into a bad soil- 
 it is certain that the knowledge of good and evil does exist in 
 the mind of man. 
 
 39. For the creation remaining united in that which is corrupt, 
 the soul of man, though a lost captive, cannot but know the 
 difference between the good, which the dignity of his order 
 requires him to do, and the evil to which he is enslaved by the 
 low and beastly appetites of an inferior nature. 
 
 40. That which cannot bear the light of men, how shall it 
 bear the light of a perfectly pure and holy God? The soul of 
 every rational creature must therefore ascribe to the asencv and 
 influence of the devil, as well as to the insatiable propensities of 
 his own corrupted nature, every act that will not bear the inspec- 
 tion 01 a fellow creature. ^ 
 
 41. The soul cannot but know that a just, righteous and holy 
 God, never was the original cause of that law or instinct which 
 
B. I. man's fall from his first rectitude. 15 
 
 would destroy the dignity and superiority of man, and lead him chap, hi. 
 to corrupt himself, or to corrupt others, below the order of the 
 brutal creation. 
 
 42. And therefore the creation groaneth in pain, under all 
 these things that are unclean and abominable in the sight of the 
 Creator. The works of men have become the " unfruitful works 
 
 of darkness; " so that, as it is written, " it is a shame to speak ^ . ^ j^ 
 of those things vjhick are done of them in secret." How then 
 will every secret action appear openly in judgment? 
 
 43. It was LUST, even the lust op the flesh, that was 
 imbibed by obedience to the serpent, which corrupted the nature 
 and disposition, and degraded the dignity of man. Here was 
 the fountain head, from which all manner of sin and iniquity, 
 like a mighty torrent, came rolling along down through the fallen 
 race, corrupting the earth, and teeming with ten thousand evils. 
 
 44. From hence have proceeded the greatest of all evils, as 
 well as the least ; and what still remains as the most striking 
 evidence of man's fall and depravity, is the shedding of each 
 other's blood. As it is written, " From whence come wars and . 
 
 fightings among you ? come they not hence, exen of your lusts 
 that ivar in your members? 
 
 45. All fleshy, sensual, carnal, and wanton thoughts and 
 desires, which captivate the mind, and place it upon any other 
 object than the perfect will of God, proceeded, through the 
 serpent, from the source of all evil, and are the effects of the 
 fall, destructive to the soul, and a fatal lar to man's eternal 
 peace and happiness. 
 
 46. All selfish and fleshly gratifications, and works of un- 
 cleanness, and all actions, of whatever shape or kind, that 
 require to be performed secretly and in the dark, to prevent 
 their being seen and judged by the eye of God or man, originated 
 with the prince of darkness, are influenced by a base and foul 
 spirit, are the cause of guilt, and degrade the dignity of man 
 below the order of the brutes of the field. 
 
 47. And that all the hidden works of darkness are of such a 
 base nature, would immediately appear, were all the secret 
 actions of the human species to be performed openly and in the 
 sight of all men. Surely then, the sins of the present generation 
 would be found to exceed those of Sodom ; and their cry surely 
 ascends up to heaven ! 
 
 48. And, as God is a God of perfect light and purity, and in Uoim.i.s. 
 Him is no sin nor darkness at all, therefore, every work or action 
 
 that requires to be performed secretly and in the dark, as well as 
 every sin that men commit, whether secretly or openly, are all 
 directly contrary to his purity and holiness, are condemned by 
 the light of his presence as evil, and exposed to his righteous 
 indignation. 
 
16 
 
 THE NATURE AND EFFECTS OF 
 
 B. I. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 IMat. xii. 
 33,34. 
 
 Mark, vii, 
 21-23. 
 
 Jas. i. 17. 
 
 Isa. TTJY. 
 
 15. 
 
 Four-fold 
 State, pp- 
 40, 41, &c. 
 
 Pha. iii. 19. 
 
 Isa. i. 3. 
 
 49. All tyranny and oppre.ssion. of whatever name or kind 
 under heaven; all wars and fightings ; all slavery and involuntary 
 servitude, of whatever sex, trade, or color, barbarous or civilized, 
 proceeded from the devil, that old enemy to the peace and 
 happiness of mankind, and entered by the fall, and are a 
 present and direct violation of the just and righteous laws of 
 heaven. 
 
 50. And also all treachery, or breach of faith in point of office 
 or trust, relating to the benefit of society; all negligence of 
 moral duty in parents to children, and of disobedience in children 
 to pareots ; all unjust and unfair dealing with friend or foe ; aU 
 civil fraud, and hypocrisy in sacred things ; all indolence and 
 sloth, deceit and lying. 
 
 51. All these, and every other evil, are the effects of the fall, 
 through the violation of the righteous laws of God, are degrad- 
 ing to the dignity of man, and are the fruits of an evil and 
 corrupt tree, implanted by the serpent in man's very heart and 
 disposition. As it is written. 
 
 52. "Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else 
 make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt : for the tree is 
 known hy his fruit. O generation of vipers ! how can ye, 
 being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the 
 heart the mouth speaketh." 
 
 53. "■For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil 
 thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, 
 wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, 
 foolishness. All these come from within, and defile the man." 
 
 54. Although the root and fountain of all sin and iniquity, 
 which entered in to nature, and captivated the soul of man by 
 the fall, could not be fully revealed until Christ should make his 
 second appearing ; yet (more or less) in every age, since his first 
 appearing, there have been those who have borne a testimony 
 against the root of sin, according to that measure of light which 
 they possessed. 
 
 55. For every degree of light that goes to discover sin, be it 
 more or less, is of God ; and every spirit, that goes to conceal it, 
 is a spirit of darkness, and arises from a contrary source. And 
 here it may not be improper to add a few sentences from the 
 writings of Thomas Boston. 
 
 56. "Man certainly is sunk very low now, in comparison of 
 what he once was, God made him but a little lower than the 
 angels ; but now we find him likened to the beasts that perish : 
 he hearkened to a brute ; and is now become like one of them — 
 minding only earthly things. Nay, brutes, in some sort, have 
 the advantage of the natural man, who is sunk a degree below 
 them : He is more witless in what concerns him most — He is 
 more stupid than the ox or ass." 
 
B. I. man's fall from his first rectitude. 17 
 
 57. "Nay more than all this, the Scriptures hold out the chap.iii. 
 natural man, not only as wanting the good qualities of those ' 
 creatures ; hut as a compound of the evil qualities of the worst 
 
 of the creatures — the, fierceness of the lion, the filthiness of the 
 dog and swine, the poison of the asp, and such like. Truth Mat. xxiii. 
 itself calls them serpents, a generation of vipers; yea, more, j^-j^^j ^^^^ 
 even children of the devil. Surely then man's nature is 44. 
 miserably corrupted." 
 
 58. " Cast your eye upon those terrible convulsions the world 
 is thrown into by the lusts of men : Lions make not a prey of 
 lions, nor wolves of wolves; but men are turned wolves to one 
 another, biting and devouring one another ! Upon how slight 
 occasions will men sheath their swords in one another's bowels ! 
 These violent heats among Adam's sons, speak the whole body 
 
 to be distempered — They surely proceed from an inward cause, Jm. iv. lo. 
 Lusts that war in the members. 
 
 59. " Laws are often made to yield to men's lusts — And 
 seldom is there a time wherein there are not some persons so 
 great and daring, that the laws dare not look their impetuous 
 lusts in the face. 
 
 60. "Men live as if they were nothing but a lump of flesh. E"re-viii. 
 They are flesh, they 'mind the things of the flesh, and they live ' 
 after the flesh. If the consent of the flesh be got to an action, 
 
 the consent of the conscience is rarely waited for; yea, the 
 body is often served when the conscience has entered a dissent. 
 
 61. "The mind of man has a natural dexterity to devise 
 mischief; none are so simple as to want skill to contrive ways to 
 gratify their lusts, and ruin their souls — None need be taught 
 this black art ; but as weeds grow up of their own accord in the 
 neglected ground, so doth this wisdom, {ichich is earthly, 
 sensual, devlish,) grow up in the minds of men, by virtue of the 
 corruption of their nature. 
 
 62. "Doth not the carnal mind naturally strive to grasp 
 spiritual things in imagination, as if the soul were quite immersed 
 
 in flesh and blood, and would turn every thing into its own Boston's 
 shape ? And hence are horrible, monstrous and misshapen |,ate"p°40- 
 thoughts of God, Christ, the glory above, and all spiritual 58. 
 things." 
 
 63. Such, then, are the evil, and deplor^ible effects of man's 
 fall from his first rectitude, to which the heavens and earth bear 
 witness. 
 
18 THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY, OK B. I. 
 
 CHAPTER lY. • 
 
 TnE Mystery or Iniqoty, or the 3Iax of 8tn, Eevealed : 
 His Rise in the Fall of Man; by the Sibveksion op 
 THE Original Order and La^v of God. 
 
 criAP. n'. Man being created male and female, with a living soul, in 
 which was implanted the image and law of an all-wise, and per- 
 fectly holy Grod ; and being united to a terrestrial body, endowed 
 with animal faculties, sensations and affections, which all origina- 
 ted from the Fountain of true happiness and everlasting life, he 
 stood in a noble capacity to honor and glorify his Creator. 
 
 2. Thus man in his state of innocence, stood as the temple of 
 1 Cor. iii. God. As it is written, " Ye are the temple of the living God." 
 •2 Cor. VI. Here were deposited his righteous laws and commands, relating 
 i"- to the order and government of the creation. 
 
 3. While as yet the man stood alone, before the woman was 
 formed, the Lord God brought imto Adam every beast of the 
 
 Gen. ii. ID, field, and every fowl of the air, and whatsoever he called every 
 living creature, that was the name thereof. But among all those 
 for Adam there was not found an help to be with him. 
 
 4. Now, upon the supposition that it might stiU have continued 
 so, the deficiency in the order and glory of the creation of man 
 would as sensibly appear, as it would for the natural body of a 
 rational man, to be divided into two equal parts, the one part 
 made extinct, and the other left destitute of those co-operating 
 parts, without which his body could not be complete, nor his 
 glory axigmented. 
 
 ch.ii. 21, 5. But the Lord God, seeing that it was not good for the man 
 "■ to be alone, formed him in two parts, maie and female ; and 
 
 these two parts constituted o7ie entire and complete viaii as has 
 
 been observed. 
 
 6. And in this capacity, they were endowed with co-operating 
 faculties, sensations, and affections, which arising from the true 
 Source of all goodness, were pure, innocent, and lovely; thus 
 they were capable of bemg influenced by proper objects, to 
 augment their happiness, as well as the honor and visible glory 
 of the Creator. 
 
 7. Consider then, as the living soul of man, with all its 
 rational faculties, in which the perfect law of God was implanted, 
 was superior to all the animal sensations, faculties, or affections 
 of his natural body ; therefore sin could not have entered into 
 man, but by a willing sacrifice of his reason, and a direct viola- 
 tion of God's law. 
 
B. I. THE MAN OF SIN, REVEALED. 19 
 
 8. And, when man had once sacrificed his reason, and violated chap. iv. 
 God's express command, by obeying the voice of the serpent 
 through the woman; then the true order of God in the obedience 
 
 of the inferior to the superior, was not only subverted, but an 
 opposite spirit found an easy entrance into man, who stood as 
 God's temple, claiming the sole right to man's obedience, '■^shew- 
 ing himself that he is God." 
 
 9. So that it was by the first man's disobedience, that sin Rom. v. 12. 
 entered the world, and death by sin, forasmuch as death is the 
 
 wages of sin. And so death passed upon all men, in that all 
 Adam's posterity have sinned. And therefore sin is not imputed 
 to any, merely on account of Adam's original sin and transgres- „ . .. 
 sion, but their own sins are imputed to them. " The soul that 20. 
 sinneth it shall die." 
 
 10. And as, by a subversion of the true order of God, and the 
 express violation of this law, a sinful nature entered into the 
 world, so it took the possession and government of all those 
 faculties and affections of body and mind, which had constituted 
 man in his state of innocence, a noble creature. 
 
 11. And thus, that wicked taking possession of all that con- 
 stituted man in his innocent state, constituted himself the vian of 
 sin, and placed himself as God, in the highest and most noble 
 seat of man's affections; and there he sat, ever ready to oppose 
 and exalt himself above and against every work and dispensation t, 4"? 
 of God's grace. 
 
 12. And this he did particularly in the days of Christ's first 
 appearing, because he was essentially disturbed. As saith St. 
 Paul, " the Tnystery of iniquity doth already viork." 
 
 13. Here then, even in the fall of man from his first rectitude, 
 was the rise of the man of sin, that son of perdition ; and not in 
 some certain man, or set of men called popes, four or five thou- 
 sand years after man had received the very nature and disposition 
 of the serpent. Nay, when a sinful nature first entered into 
 man, there was the beginning of the man of sin. 
 
 14. Love is the fulfilling of God's pure and perfect law. Rnm xUL 
 The highest, and most noble of all those affections which {"iohn.iv. 
 God placed in man, and the chief and leading motive of all ^-21. 
 his actions, was love. While this remained as his ruling 
 principle, there could be no transgression, nor any cause of fear 
 
 or shame. 
 
 15. But, when man rebelled against his Creator, and his sweet 
 and noble disposition and affections were drawn into the foul and 
 rebellious nature of the serpent, then was his love converted 
 into LUST, and it became the principal seat, and fountain head of 
 the whole serpent's nature and influence ; the leading cause of 
 every vile affection, and of every evil work ; and its gratifications 
 the primary object of man's desires. 
 
 2Thcs.ii. 
 
20 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY, OR 
 
 B.I. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 xxiu. 
 
 Mat. 
 
 33. 
 
 John, viii 
 
 44. 
 
 Concord. 
 
 Article 
 
 JLust. 
 
 Gen. iv. 1 
 
 Isai. XXV. 7. 
 
 Gal. vi. 7, 
 
 8. 
 
 1 Cor. vi. 
 
 9,10. 
 
 16. And hence it is, that Christ not only calls the fallen race 
 of Adam, serpents, and a generation of vipers, but further says, 
 " Ye are of your father the devil; and the lusts of your father 
 ye will do." And hence Cruden, also, among many others, calls 
 lust, "that original corruption which inclines men to sm and 
 
 17. And thenceforth, even from man's first rebellion, the 
 fallen posterity of Adam and Eve, could call LUST by the name 
 of LOVE, with the same propriety, and through the same old 
 deceitful and foul spirit, by which the first deceived woman could 
 call a murderer, the fruit of her rebellion, "a man from the 
 Lord!" 
 
 18. And herein lies the deceitfulness of sin, and the very 
 mystery of iniquity, in believing that to be LOVE, which in 
 truth is nothing but LUST, and thus pretending to claim a just 
 and innocent right to the original law and order of God, as 
 though it had never been violated. This is verily " the face of the 
 covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over 
 all 7iations." 
 
 19. Doubtless it will be granted, that a violation of the good 
 and wholesome laws of a nation, in a case of treason, is a 
 political iniquity ; and that the man who, either directly or in- 
 directly violates the laws that are calculated to promote the 
 peace and welfare of the nation, excludes himself from any active 
 part in the administration of those laws. 
 
 20. And further, that neither he, nor his confederates, nor any 
 of their descendants in the same line of treachery and rebellion, 
 could ever claim any benefits arising from those laws, under any 
 pretext whatever; but on the contrary, the whole law must 
 stand as a pointed testimony, to judge and condemn the delin- 
 quents, and to show them the foulness of their crime. 
 
 21. And, should these traitors, after the most notorious viola- 
 tion of the laws by high treason, be able to insinuate themselves 
 into the government, and finally supplant the nation by foreign 
 oppression, under the pretence of supporting its original rights 
 of freedom, here indeed would be a political mystery of 
 iniquity. 
 
 22. Such is the case of which we are speaking; and such is 
 the nature of the laws of men, which have arisen from second 
 causes. Then, shall it be supposed, that the original and 
 perfectly pure and just laws of the Most High God, are of less 
 consequence than those of men? Shall they be violated with 
 impunity, and that too under a pretext of obedience, without 
 God's notice? 
 
 23. Nay verily, let it never be thought. " God is not mocked: 
 whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. He that 
 soioeth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption. The 
 
B. I. THE MAN OF SIN, REVEALED. 21 
 
 unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. And chap. iv. 
 though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not he un- pi^^^TIi^ 
 'punished." 21. 
 
 24. The very laws of nature, being given of God in their pure 
 and original state, were in themselves immutable in their order, 
 and laid man under the most solemn obligations to obedience, and 
 that precisely according to the directions of the Lawgiver. 
 
 25. And as the law was in itself perfectly consistent with 
 the light and reason of his living soul, therefore every part 
 of it must be punctually obeyed according to this light, and 
 not according to the dictates of the serpent, nor the animal pas- 
 sions of an inferior nature. 
 
 26. The violation of the law of God, which included the 
 violation of the law of nature by Adam the first, was of the most 
 potent and universal kind, as is afcundantly acknowledged lay 
 many sensible writers. Concerning which, Bosion has the 
 following : 
 
 27. " Their sin was a complication of evils, a total apostasy from Four-fold 
 God, a violation of the whole law. By it they broke all the ten ^^^\^^ ^^ 
 commandments at once. They chose new gods. They made ' 
 their belly their god, by their sensuality; self their god, by 
 
 their ambition ; yea, and the devil their god, by believing him, 
 and disbelieving their Maker. 
 
 28. "Though they received, yet they observed not that 
 ordinance of God, about the forbidden fruit. They contemned 
 that ordinance so plainly enjoined them, and would needs carve 
 out to themselves how to serve the Lord. " 
 
 29. Again, says Cruden, " The honor and majesty of the concord, 
 whole law, was violated in the breach of that symbolical precept : ;^^",^'' 
 [by eating of the forbidden fruit:] many sins were combined in 
 
 that single act. 
 
 30. ^^ Infidelity : This was the first step to ruin. When he 
 distrusted the Fountain of truth, he gave credit to the father of 
 lies. This sin included in it prodigious pride. No sooner created, 
 than he aspired to be as God. 
 
 31. "Horrid ingratitude: Now in the midst of such variety 
 and plenty, to be inflamed with the intemperate appetite for the 
 forbidden fruit, and to break a command so equal and easy, what 
 was it but a despising the rich goodness of his great Benefactor? 
 
 32. "TJnaccountable and amazing folly : What a despicable 
 acquisition tempted him out of his happiness ! That the pleasures 
 of taste and curiosity should outvie the favor of God, is the 
 reproach of his reason, and makes the choice so criminal. 
 
 .33. ".4 bloody cruelty to himself, and to all his posterity: 
 Giving a ready ear to the tempter, he betrayed his trust, and 
 at once breaks both the tables of the law, and becomes guilty of 
 the highest impiety and cruelty." 
 
22 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY, OR 
 
 B.I. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 2 Thcs. ii. 
 3. 
 
 Eph. ii. 3. 
 Rom. V. 12. 
 
 Job, XIV. 4. ~^ 
 
 Concord. 
 
 Article 
 
 Sin. 
 
 See also 
 
 Article 
 
 Corruption. 
 
 Sermons, 
 vol. iii. Ser. 
 48. 
 
 Hist, of Re- 
 ilemp. p. 48. 
 
 Oen. iii. 6, 
 7. 
 
 34. Then certainly it must be evident, that the sin of Adam, 
 including his posterity, who still continue in the same line of sin 
 and rebellion, is in a spiritual sense, at least equal, if not far 
 superior in magnitude to what might be called the highest 
 treason in a political sense. 
 
 35. And therefore the fallen and still sinning posterity of 
 Adam, could never, after the fall, claim any more right to those 
 once violated laws of heaven, under any pretence whatever of 
 keeping them, than Benedict Arnold and his confederates, could 
 have claimed an active part in the free government of America, 
 after the most pointed violation and breach of national trust, by 
 his notoriously treacherous conduct at West Point. 
 
 36. What the sin of Adam and Eve was, and how that sin 
 has been propagated by their posterity, has been very pointedly 
 hinted at by many candid aftd sensible men ; but how that sin 
 has been kept concealed under a veil, has not been brought to 
 light; nor could it be, until the time appointed of God. 
 
 37. At present, the strict demands of light and truth require 
 the veil to be removed, and the mystery of sin to be revealed. 
 Of what some have written particularly on this subject, a few 
 things may here be noticed. 
 
 88. " The Scriptures," says Cruden, "prove in many places, 
 that the sin" [sinful nature] " of Adam was communicated to all his 
 posterity," [by ordinary generation] "and that it has infected and 
 corrupted it. We are by nature the children of wrath; that is, 
 liable to punishment, and that hath relation to guilt. "5y "«« 
 Tnan sin entered, into the world, and death by sin, and so death 
 passed upon all men," as a just sentence upon the guilty, "for 
 that all have sinned." Job describes this sin, " Who can bring 
 a clean thing out of an unclean? rmt oner 
 
 39. "It is the universal law of nature, that every thing pro- 
 duces its like, not only in regard of the same nature that is 
 propagated from one individual to another, without a change of 
 the species, but in respect of the qualities with which that 
 nature is eminently affected." 
 
 40. Again says jyavies; "Flesh of flesh, and spirit of spirit. 
 This is according to the established laws of generation, by which 
 every thing begets its like." And therefore, by the works of 
 generation, a sinful nature is communicated, and nourished by the 
 industry of its propagators, otherwise sin could not be in the 
 world. Hence the words o? Edwards are very true ; when speaking 
 of Adam and Eve, he says: "All their posterity, by ordinary 
 generation, are partakers of the fall, and of the corruption of 
 nature that followed from it." 
 
 41. A.ga!m, Ba,^sOstenvald: "Adam and Eve sinned freely and 
 voluntarily, being deceived by the devil and their own lust. 
 That the" [acting] " cause of sin is to be found in man, is evident, 
 
B.I. 
 
 THE MAN OF SIN, REVEALED. 
 
 23 
 
 Ch. Then. 
 P. I. ch. iii. 
 pp. 147, 
 148, 155. 
 
 not only from the history of Adam's fall, but likewise from our chap.iv. 
 own experience. For we sin in the same manner as Adam did, 
 viz : against the divine law, voluntarily, and heing seduced by 
 our own lusts." 
 
 42. Again, says Boston, " The corruption of nature is the 
 river-head, which has many particular lusts in which it, runs. 
 What doth it avail to reform in other sins, while tlie great reign- 
 ing sin remains in its full power ? What though some particular 
 lust be broken; if that" sin," [namely, the lust of the flesh,] 
 " the sin of our nature, keep the throne, it will set up another in 
 its stead ; and, while it stands entire, there is no victory. 
 
 43. "It is an hereditary evil: propagated in nature, [or con- 
 veyed by natural generation.] Consider the confession of 
 David, '■'■Behold I loas shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my 
 mother conceive me." Here he ascends from his actual sin to 
 the fountain of it. 
 
 44. " By this sin," [of Adam and Eve] says the Westminster 
 Assembly, "they fell from their original righteousness, and com- 
 munion with God, and so became dead in sin and wholly defiled 
 in all the faculties and parts of soul and body. They being the 
 root of all mankind, the same death, in sin and corrupted nature, 
 was conveyed to all their posterity, descending from them by 
 ordinary generation. From which original corruption, do pro- 
 ceed all actual transgressions." 
 
 Four-fold 
 Stale, pp. 
 39, 40, 107, 
 108. 
 
 Confession 
 of Faith. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FURTHER ILLrSTRATIONS OP THE NATURE OP THE MYSTERY 
 OP INIQUITY. 
 
 All the foregoing testimonies are strictly true, as they have chap.y. 
 abundantly proved, not only from matters of fact, but from the ' 
 most pointed testimony of the sacred writings ; such as the 
 following : 
 
 2. ^^And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew Gen. iii. 7. 
 that they were naked : and they sewed Jig leaves together, and made 
 themselves aprons." " That which is born of the flesh is flesh." John, iii. 6. 
 And, " Every man is tetnpied when he is drawn away of his 
 own lust and enticed. Then, when lust hath conceived, it -^^ j j^ 
 bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth is. 
 death." And many more proofs to the same purpose. 
 
24 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY, OR 
 
 B.I. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 History of 
 Redemp. p. 
 70. 
 
 3. Certainly, then, were it not that some misguided and 
 sanctimonious priesthood had invented a scheme to gratify LrsT, 
 under the alluring and specious pretext of fulfilling an original, 
 and afterwards basely violated, law of nature, which God gave to 
 Adam in his state of innocence, it would verily seem, that the 
 very seat and fountain head of all sin and corruption, might 
 have been discovered at once, to open view, by no more than the 
 bare removal of &fig leaf. 
 
 4. For they have pointedly proved, that the sin of Adam and 
 Eve was conveyed to their posterity by the works of natural 
 generation ; that all their posterity are shapen in iniquity, and 
 conceived in sin; that the original corruption of Adam and 
 Eve, which conceived and brought forth sin was Lust; and 
 that when i«si had conceived and brought forth sin, "the eyes 
 of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked." 
 
 5. What could the aforesaid authors have said plainer, un- 
 less they had pointedly said, that their eating the forbidden fruit, 
 was the very act by which Adam knew Eve his wife, when 
 (whatever transgression had been before) she conceived and 
 brought forth a murderer ? 
 
 6. Here then is the mystery of the iniquity ; first pointedly 
 and clearly showing what the very root of all sin is, and how sin 
 is propagated ; and then again concealing the whole matter under 
 the specious pretext of a command or an ordinance of God, so 
 abundantly acknowledged to have been most basely violated. 
 What! is God the author of sin? Nay, in nowise; the same 
 writers have justly proved that he is not ! 
 
 7. It is certain that the law of nature which forms a cloud 
 and spreads it over the earth, creates it for the purpose of water- 
 ing the earth, and causing it to be fruitful. 
 
 8. And it is equally certain, that the law of the eternal 
 WORD, which created man soul and body, male and female, 
 intended by the very law of their creation, that they should 
 be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue 
 it. 
 
 9. For this very purpose, they were endowed with those 
 animal faculties and sensations, which in due subordination to the 
 law and command of God, would have innocently constituted 
 them one flesh, in the work of generation. 
 
 _ 10. But it is as certain and positive a truth, that those 
 instincts of nature, or animal properties, never were in- 
 tended to lead and govern the soul, or even to act without 
 the soul's decided approbation. And therefore, while the soul 
 kept its first rectitude, and subdued every inferior passion, 
 which might arise in consequence of his state of probation, 
 there never could have been the least cause or foundation for 
 shame. 
 
B. I. THE MAN OP SIN, REVEALED. 25 
 
 11. And thus, while the man and the woman stood in uprio-ht- chap. v. 
 ness and innocence, they were both naked, and were not ashamed, 
 "which certainly implies," says a judicious author, "not only 
 
 that their nakedness was no just cause of shame, but that 
 they never could have known it, had their innocence continued. 
 
 12. "Before the fall, they doubtless knew that they had no 
 clothing ; but now their eyes were opened, and they had 
 acquired a criminal knowledge, and became sensible of a passion 
 to which they had ever before been strangers, namely, shame. 
 
 13. "The origin of this will be easier to account for, if we 
 supposed with some,* that the juice of this tree was inebriatino- 
 [z.e. intoxicating] ; since we know from common observation, 
 that juices of such a quality will excite debauchery, produce 
 strange commotions in the animal frame, and give a strong pre- 
 dominancy to the animal appetites. 
 
 14. " Under these circumstances we need not wonder at the 
 subterfuges [tricks or evasions] to which they ran, since it is 
 never expected that the conduct of persons under the power of 
 intoxication, or the oppression of guilt, should be perfectly con- 
 sistent with the rules of cool reflection." 
 
 15. According to the above, shame was the effect of a crimi- 
 nal knowledge, which is most strictly true. By eating the for- 
 bidden fruit, they knew that they were naked ; and hence that 
 shameful act is so commonly expressed by the term knowing. 
 
 16. Adam knew Eve his wife. Doubtless he was well ac- 
 quainted with her before; but now he knew her in a shameful 
 and criminal manner, in consequence of which they walked 
 naked, and their shame appeared. And from hence the above 
 author makes the following plain observation : 
 
 17. " It is remarkable, that the custom of covering the pri- Hist, of 
 vate parts should so generally obtain, even among barbarous ^j'"*'="'p- p- 
 nations ; an entire disuse of clothing in both sexes is, perhaps, 
 nowhere practised, except where promiscuous intercourse is also 
 allowed, and men and women couple like the brutes." 
 
 18. Therefore, as shame is the effect of a criminal knowledge, 
 and as the seat of that criminal knowledge is manifest by the 
 universal practice of all nations in hiding it, hence it is evident 
 that the criminality of that knowledge arose from an unseason- 
 able and untimely use of those bodily organs and animal faculties, 
 which were created to be under the government and direction of 
 a superior law. 
 
 • Milton gives a striking description of the effects of the forbidden fruit on 
 Adam and Eve, in the following lines : 
 
 " But that false fruit 
 
 Carnal desire inflaming : he on Eve 
 Began to cast lascivious eyes ; she him 
 As wantonly repaid ; in lust they bum." 
 
 Paradise Lost, Book IX. 
 
 3 
 
26 THE IITSTERT OP INIQUITY, OB, B. I. 
 
 CHAP V. 19. And as the first transgressors of the human race covered 
 the parts through which they had violated the command of God, 
 with fig-leaves, so, under a specious pretext, sin has reigned 
 since the fall, and deceived the nations of the earth. And this 
 is hrought to light that the words of God might be fulfilled, 
 
 liai. iii.17. " The Lord will discover their secret parts." 
 
 20. And yet that lawless and unruly passion of lust, in 
 polluting and corrupting the order of creation, has claimed 
 either the law of nature, or the express command of God for its 
 authority ; although it is so evident that by the very first act of 
 that kind in which man went forth, he violated not only the law 
 of nature, but God's express command ! 
 
 21. It is also generally acknowledged, (as we have shown 
 from eminent authorities,) that shame is the efl'ect of sin, and 
 that the sinful nature of Adam and Eve is conveyed to their 
 posterity by the very act of natural generation. 
 
 22. How then is it, that the fallen posterity of Adam have, 
 under the sacred pretext of a command or ordinance of God, 
 pretended to solemnize that which in itself is profane, and to 
 sanctify that unclean thing, out of which they Lave proved to a 
 demonstration that they can bring nothing clean?* 
 
 Four-fold 2.3. Well, therefore, said Boston: "Adam confesseth his 
 State, p. 49, nakedness, which he could not get denied, but not one word he 
 says of his sins ; here was the reason of it, he would fain have 
 hid it if he could. Adam's children need not be taught this 
 hellish policy, for before they can well speak, (if they cannot 
 get the fact denied,) they will cunningly lisp out something to 
 lessen their fault, and lay the blame upon another. 
 
 24. " Nay, so natural is this to men, that in the greatest of 
 sins they will lay the fault upon God himself. And was not this 
 one of Adam's tricks after his fall ? The man said, ' The woman 
 whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I 
 did eat.'' He makes his apology in the first place, and then 
 comes to his confession ! His apology is long, but his confession 
 is very short, as if he was afraid his meaning should have been 
 mistaken ! 
 
 25. '■'■ '■The woman,^ says he, or that woman] as if he would 
 have pointed the judge to his own work. There was but one 
 woman then in the world, yet she is as carefully marked out in 
 his defence as if there had been ten thousand ! 
 
 26. '■''■ The woman whom thou, gavest me!' Here he speaks 
 as if he had been ruined with God's gifts ! and to make the shift 
 
 * NotwithstandiDg those plain demonstrations, some affect to believe that the 
 corruptions of the fallen nature of man are not propagated by generation ; but that 
 the offspring of man now come into the world as pure ng when first created. But 
 this 13 a contradiction of every known principle of existence, for no fact is better 
 known than that every corrupt plant propagates its corruptions by its seed. 
 
B. I. THE MAN OP SIN, REVEALED. 27 
 
 look the blacker, it is added to all this, Thou gavest to be with chap, vi . 
 me, to stand by me as a helper, as if he would have fathered an 
 ill design upon the Lord, in giving him this gift ! 
 
 27. "He says not, the woman gave me, but ' The woman she 
 gave me'.' emphatically, as if he had said, she, even she, gave 
 me of the tree. This much for his apology; but his confession, 
 is quickly over : ' And I did eat,'' And there is nothing here 
 to point to himself, and as little to shew what he had eaten. 
 How natural is this black art to Adam's posterity ! He that 
 runs may read it." 
 
 28. So plainly have discerning men pointed out the very root 
 and foundation of all iniquity, and proved their remarks, not 
 only from the sacred writings, but from common observation, 
 drawn from the most noted and universal facts. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE MTSTERT OP INIQUITY FURTHER REVEALED. 
 
 Apter all that has been said concerning the root of human 
 depravity, yet such is the deceitfulness of that lawless and cor- 
 rupt nature of the serpent which man imbibed by the fall, and 
 such is the depth of that "'mystery of iniquity," as to claim its 
 right of indulgence, under the covert of the original law of God 
 — an ordinance of heaven ! 
 
 2. And not only so, but whenever it is molested by God's 
 claim to the principal seat of man's affections, it has the imper- 
 tinence to question : — How could Adam violate the law of 
 nature in knowing his wife, when she was designedly made for 
 
 And ifc is also well known, that all the corruptions of blood and foul disorders with 
 which parents are affected, are infused into their offspring by natural generation. 
 It is equally certain that the children are affected, more or less, according to cir- 
 cumstances, by all the mental propensities of their parents. It is in this manner 
 that the " iniquities of the father are visited upon the children," and not by any 
 arbitrary decree. (Ex. xxxiv, 7.) 
 
 Therefore, parents who seek to justify the carnal works "f the flesh, under the 
 pretext of a command of God to "be fruitful and multiply," assume a Eolemn 
 and weighty responsibility. Let them first examine whether they are in a state 
 to propagate such fruit as God required, by the original order of nature ; and, if 
 they are in a state to propagate either physical or mental corruption and misery 
 in their offspring, let them know that, in thus doing for their own gratification, 
 they sin against every principle of God's creation, and they will surely have to 
 meet a righteous and just reward. 
 
28 THE MTSTEEY OF INIQUITY, OR B. I. 
 
 CHAP. VI. -hiin^ and nature had furnished them with those faculties hy 
 which they came together in that order ? 
 
 3. Those who have light and reason enough to know what the 
 perfect law of nature requires, will not ask this question, know- 
 ino- that God is not the author of sin, nor of that lawless instinct 
 which gives the predominancy to the animal appetites, and de- 
 bases the dignity of man helow the order of the brutes. 
 
 4. But to such as (according to what is written) '■'■know noth- 
 Jude, 10. i-ng but what they know naturally and in those things corrupt 
 
 themselves" under a pretended cloak of obeying God's command, 
 if they will exercise their reason, the answer is plain and evident 
 from the following natural similitudes. 
 
 5. Would it not be just and right in a wise and prudent 
 parent, who should plant an apple tree among the trees of his 
 garden, more excellent than the rest, for the express use of his 
 children, to lay them under an entire prohibition from eating or 
 touching that tree, until the fruit was fully ripe ? And would it 
 not be time enough for that prohibition to be taken off when the 
 fruit was ready for use ? 
 
 6. And should the children, through some disorderly influence 
 upon their youthful appetites, be so deceived by the appearance 
 of the blossoms or green fruit, as to pluck and eat them, would 
 not this be an express violation of the law of nature in that case, 
 as well as of the express command of their parent ? 
 
 7. Here, then, would be the deceitfulness of the transgression, 
 in corrupting their blood, and continually abusing the tree and 
 themselves, under the pretence that their father gave it to them; 
 and neither suffering their tree to bring forth ripe fruit, nor 
 themselves to enjoy that benefit from it which their father 
 intended. 
 
 8. The smallest capacity may apply this to the original and 
 present state of man. The law of nature established in the 
 creation of man, could not be inferior to the law established in 
 the tree yielding fruit, whose seed is in itself, and being regula- 
 ted by the times and seasons of God's appointment, must bring 
 forth fruit according to that appointment. 
 
 9. Thus in the creation of man, by the very law of his exist- 
 ence his seed was in himself; and, had his conduct been regulated 
 according to God's appointment, he would have propagated his 
 own species agreeable to the will of the Creator, and also accord- 
 ing to the law of nature, in the times and seasons which He 
 appointed. 
 
 10. Therefore, by the very existence of the laws of creation, 
 Adam and Eve were forbidden to come to the knowledge of 
 generation until the time appointed by the Creator. But, as 
 
 , they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, and were 
 influenced by the serpent to counteract his law^, they were 
 
B. I. THE MAN OF SIN, KEVEALED. 29 
 
 unseasonably led by the devil into the knowledge of generation, chap.vi. 
 instead of being led or directed by the law of God. ' 
 
 11. And hence all the motives and actions of man, in the 
 works of nature, are corrupt, and contrary to the pure law of the 
 Creator, yet deceitfully covered under the pretence of fulfilling 
 the original law of nature, or more deceitfully and shamefully 
 cloaked under the plausible but hypocritical pretence of obeying 
 the commands of God, so basely violated. 
 
 12. Again, take the following similitude. In the year 1802, 
 the convention of the state of Ohio formed a constitution, in 
 which is the following sentence: "But no alteration of this Art vxi. 
 constitution shall ever take place, so as to introduce slavery or ^'"=-^- 
 involuntary servitude into this state." 
 
 13. Then, in consequence of this article, the citizens of Ohio 
 are forever secured in the possession of their rights of liberty 
 and freedom. 
 
 14. But should a foreign slaveholder infuse his principles into 
 the Governor of Ohio, and he should publish his sentiments in 
 favor of slavery, must he not, upon the very principles of the 
 constitution, be deposed from his office ? And should he himself 
 be determined to hold slaves, must he not go entirely out of the 
 state ? And when he is out of the state, can he have anything 
 more to do with the constitution or laws of Ohio, or they with 
 him ? 
 
 15. The case is plain to a demonstration ; and although he 
 may do many things which appear like what the laws of Ohio 
 enjoin, yet, while he holds slaves, and lives in a slave country, 
 these laws can have no influence upon him, because he is not 
 under their jurisdiction. 
 
 16. And should he even take a copy of the laws with him into 
 a slave country, yet he could not enjoy the common privileges 
 of a citizen of Ohio, for the constitution expressly declares that 
 "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in Art. viii. 
 this state." And he is neither in the state of Ohio, nor subject ®'°' ''■ 
 to its laws. 
 
 17. Again, it is declared by the same constitution, " That all 
 men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty 
 God according to the dictates of conscience; that no human j^^ 
 authority can, in any case whatever, control or interfere with Sec. s 
 the rights of conscience ; and that no preference shall ever be 
 given by law, to any religious society or mode of worship." 
 
 18. Here again the word tver, fo'rever secures to the citizens 
 of Ohio free liberty of conscience in matters of religion. 
 
 19. But should any society remove out of the bounds of the 
 state, and form a new settlement, where they could establish 
 their religion by law, and institute the most cruel modes of 
 persecution — could they claim any relation to the laws of Ohio, 
 
30 
 
 THE IITSTERY OF INIQUITY, OR 
 
 B. I. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Gen. iii. 
 23, 24. 
 
 Ezek. i., J 
 xlvii. 
 
 Domestic 
 Medicine, 
 D. 27. Phil. 
 Ed. 1797. 
 
 because they liad once lived in that state, and removed out of it? 
 The deceitfulness of such a pretence would be at once manifest. 
 
 20. Then, what higher pretence can fallen man have to the 
 original constitution and commands of Grod which he was under 
 before his disobedience ? Did he not violate them, and become 
 guilty of the highest impiety ? 
 
 21. Nay, more: was he not condemned as a traitor? Yea, 
 verily, and actually banished from any right to the tree of life. 
 As it is written, " Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from 
 the garden of Eden. So he drove out the man. And he placed 
 cherubims and a flaming sword, which turned every way, to keep 
 the way of the tree of life." 
 
 22. These represented the four dispensations through which 
 man had necessarily to pass before he could partake of the spiritual 
 tree of life, and thereby rise from the death (caused by his fall) into 
 the superior life of his true order. Thus the way to the tree of 
 life was protected from corruption by the flaming sword of the 
 guardian angels. 
 
 23. And shall fallen man, being banished from his primitive 
 abode take with him a copy of the law he has basely violated, 
 together with the corrupt and deceitful spirit of the serpent which 
 he had obeyed ? and shall he, in that same corrupt and deceitful 
 spirit, go forth and " be fruitful," under pretence of obeying the 
 command of God given in his state of innocence, and so fill the 
 earth with corruption and violence — blood crying unto blood — 
 while the beasts of the field, more orderly than he, set him an 
 example of "times and seasons?" 
 
 24. And shall Cain also claim a right to that original and 
 pure law of nature, and obey the command of God, to "multiply 
 and replenish the earth " and at the same time abstract one from 
 the number, by imbruing his hands in his brother's blood ? 
 
 25. Oh, how inconsistent, cruel, devilish, and supremely deceit- 
 ful are the demands of lust ! ! 
 
 26. And yet both ancient and modern divines, and their 
 followers, have indulged and recommended, and do indulge and 
 recommend, the gratification thereof, under that specious pretext 
 they call "a holy ordinance of God; " concealing its defiling 
 properties under the fig leaf of " the sin of our nature." 
 
 27. Again take the following similitude : Dr. Buchan observes, 
 that "The Jews, by their laws, were, in certain cases, forbid to 
 have any manner of commerce with the diseased ; and indeed to 
 this all wise legislators ought to have a regard. In some 
 countries, diseased persons have actually been forbidden to marry. 
 This is an evil of a complicated kind, a natural deformity, and 
 political mischief." 
 
 28. Then, admitting such a law to exist, as only permitted the 
 healthy and firm to propagate the species, and some one, after 
 
B. I. THE MAN 0¥ SIN, KEVEALED. 31 
 
 obtaining license by law, should fall under a mortal consumption, chap. vr. 
 would he be actuated by a just regard to the law, in going forth 
 and begetting a son in his own likeness — a partaker of his con- 
 sumptive blood ? Surely not. He would be actuated by some 
 other motive than to fulfil the law. 
 
 29. Yet if he chose, he might cover his base motive with the 
 license which he had received while in a state of health, until he 
 was actually brought into judgment, and his condition made 
 manifest, that he is not now the proper person to whom the 
 license was given. 
 
 30. Or, should his deplorable offspring keep his. license, and 
 try to prove that the court had licensed them, by licensing their 
 once healthy father ; the deoeitfulness of their pretext would still 
 be worse. And, although they might say their license was given 
 according to law, and therefore what they did was lawful ; yet 
 the law could never notice them, unless to reject, aijd cut them 
 off from the communion of the healthy. 
 
 31. The weakest capacity may apply this case to the fall of 
 man, and see at once the deceitfulness of si?i, and the subtle 
 m«ans by which, like a strong man armed, the man of sin has 
 kept his palace, and his goods in peace. 
 
 32. And such, verily, are the deceitful means by which SIN 
 has been concealed in a mystery, and kept the whole creation 
 under death and bondage; servants to sin, and those secret 
 works of darkness which are far beneath the perfect law of nature, 
 and infinitely beneath every law and attribute that can possibly 
 endure the light or presence of that God who is a consuming eire. 
 
 33. It must be granted by all, that God formed the woman 
 for the man, and gave her to him, and commanded them to be 
 fruitful : at least, it was a natural law established in them by the 
 order of their creation. But how were they fruitful ? Did God 
 own that for proper fruit which they brought forth ? 
 
 34. The effect must be like its cause. "A good tree cannot 
 bring forth evil fruit." Theiy first fruit (of which we have an ac- 
 count) was a murderer, which proved that the cause from which he 
 sprang, was something wholly different from the original and 
 
 pure law of nature; as it is written, '• Cain teas of that wicked Uohn, m. 
 one, and slew his brother." Hence it is certain that he was not '^' 
 begotten according to the will of God, but through the lusts of the 
 wicked one. * 
 
 35. Therefore, as the first fruit was corrupt, and proved itself 
 the fruit of a corrupt tree, it follows, beyond all contradiction, 
 
 that the whole lump of the fruit which that tree ever after l Cor. v. 6. 
 brought forth, was also corrupt. Flesh of flesh, foul spirit of 
 foul spirit, and corruption of corruption, according to the now 
 established, corrupted, and perpetually violated laws of natural 
 generation. Hence it is, that Christ told the seed of Abraham, 
 
THE DECEPTIVE OPEKATXONS 
 
 B. I. 
 
 .23, 
 
 " Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father 
 ye will do." 
 
 36. Nevertheless, the lavr and commandment -which God gave 
 to man, was in itself good, and although corrupted and changed, 
 as they " changed the truth of God into a lie,'' yet it could not be 
 destroyed, but still remained as a witness against the transgres- 
 sor. Hence it is written, the law is holy, and the command- 
 inent holy, and just, and good. 
 
 37. It was a just, holy, and good Q-od, that commanded man 
 to multiply and replenish the earth. And man was also 
 created pure and innocent. Of course, the commandment 
 was like Him that gave it, and him to whom it was given, 
 and therefore required as the fruit, a just and good seed, 
 without which the demands of that law could never be 
 answered. 
 
 38. But, when man was seduced, by the nature of the serpent 
 in the woman, he became " carnal, and soU under sin," and 
 was led captive by a laiu in his members, which was contrary to 
 the original law of his mind. 
 
 89. Therefore, the commandment, which was in itself good, 
 and given to one who was made upright, and which called for the 
 same kind of fruit, could by no means apply to one who was 
 fallen from his primitive rectitude, and whose very nature was 
 corrupt. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE DECEPTIVE OPERATIONS OF THE MAN OF SIN. 
 
 Nevertheless, as the law of nature stood, being the 
 essence of natural life, and the commandment was intended to 
 stand until the true spiritual seed should appear, it gave occasion 
 to the greatest possible deception; as says St. Paul conoerning 
 the law of Grod : " Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, 
 wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For sin, taking 
 occasion by the commandmeiit, deceived me, and by it slew 
 me." 
 
 2. ''Was then, that which is good made death unto me? 
 By no means : But sin, that it might appear sin, working death 
 in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment 
 
B. I. OF THE MAN OF SIN. 33 
 
 miglit become exceeding sinful. For I delight in the law of '^™^ 
 
 God after the inward man. But 1 see another law in my mein- ■ 
 
 hers warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me 
 into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." This 
 he evidently spake personating the natural man. 
 
 3. And thus, while the original law required upright man to 
 he fruitful, it could only work iu fallen man all manner of con- 
 cupiscence. 
 
 4. And so long as he imagined, by that deceitful and corrupt 
 nature of the serpent, that the command was to him, he was 
 essentially deceived, and the very fruit of his protended obedience 
 stood as a witness to condemn him, and to prove that he was not 
 the one who could answer the demands of a holy and just laiv. 
 
 5. The very design of sin, through the instigation of the 
 
 devil, was to bring death, and destroy the creation ; and had not 
 
 God retained in his own power the eternal law and nature of „, . 
 
 11 11 ■ 1/17 - ^^' ^^-J"^- 
 
 man, the human race must have become extinct, and no flesh sa- 
 
 could have been saved. 
 
 6. For the strictest laws that were ever given among men, 
 for the punishment of evil doers, come far short of the original 
 brightness of that pure and inflexible nature of God, which, like 
 a flaming sword, stood pointedly against every sensation of a 
 carnal mind. 
 
 7. Hence it is written, " The ivrath of God is revealed from Rom. i is. 
 heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who 
 
 hold the truth in unrighteousness." 
 
 8. And how could they hold the truth in unrighteousness ? 
 Manifestly in holding that the commands of God, which were 
 true and righteous in themselves, and given to upright man in a 
 state of innocence, were still extended (for propagation) to them, 
 though in a fallen state, and in that corrupt nature of the ser- 
 pent, which is unrighteousness in the very abstract. 
 
 9. Thus, they could hold the truth that man and woman 
 were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth, and use 
 this as a sacred covering for the life of all their most hidden 
 abominations, and "freely," says Boston, "do that in secret 
 which they would be ashamed to do in the presence of a child ; 
 as if darkness could hide from an all-seeing God !" 
 
 10. Well, therefore said God, by the Prophets, "Wo unto laixix.is. 
 them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and ^"' "■ ^' 
 their works are in the dark?" "Shall I not visit for these 
 things? Shall not my soul be avenged on such u, nation as 
 
 this ?" 
 
 11. It is certain that God, from time to time, destroyed the 
 nations of the earth for their acts of abomination, committed 
 through the lust of concupiscence ; and if so many thousands 
 and millions were actually destroyed, according to the measure 
 
THE DECEPTIVE OPERATIONS 
 
 B.I. 
 
 of G-od's righteous law, revealed from time to time, for such acts 
 • as were openly committed, what must have become of the world, 
 if all the secret actions of every individual had heen brought 
 naked into judgment, and laid open to view, and received their 
 full reward ? How truly was it said, that smj wrought death ly 
 that which is good ! 
 
 12. Surely then, had God openly denounced and executed his 
 wrath and just displeasure against corrupt and fallen man, per- 
 sonally, to the extent of his deserts, his punishment and weight 
 of condemnation must have been more than he could have borne. 
 
 13. But the purpose of God in the creation of man being in 
 itself eternal and unchangeable, could not be frustrated, although 
 the pure law of nature iteelf was violated and corrupted by the 
 agency of man. 
 
 14. It was therefore in mercy to fallen man, whose life was 
 intended for wise purposes to be prolonged, that God denounced 
 the curse upon the serpent above all creatures, as an emblem or 
 figure of that miserable race which he had infected with his 
 poison. 
 
 15. The pure law of nature, which God placed in man, as 
 well as in the animal or brute creation, when he directed them 
 to " be fruitful a?id multi'ply" was at the beginning, holy, just, 
 and good, being given by a perfectly just and holy God, as hath 
 been observed. 
 
 16. So that before man hearkened to the serpent, and fell 
 below the rest of the animal creation, in the order of nature 
 there could be no unclean, lascivious, or inordinate desire of the 
 flesh, to rule his animal faculties; nothing but motives pure and 
 consistent with the law of God, in his mind. 
 
 17. A pure and simple desire of planting seed and raising a 
 crop, is entirely different and distinct from the curious researches 
 of the naturalist, who searches out all the properties and quali- 
 ties of the ground in which the seed is planted. An honest 
 farmer may discharge his duty without searching into vain phi- 
 losophy merely to please his curiosity and gratify a vain feeling. 
 
 18. But Adam knew his wife, and she conceived and bare 
 Cain. The sacred text does not say he begat Cain, or that he 
 knew her for the purpose of begetting ;■ that was not his motive, 
 for " Cain was of that wicked one." But he knexo his wife, and 
 she conceived ; and what was the fruit of that conception ? A 
 murderer ! 
 
 19. " The plowing of the wicked is sin." " God causeth his 
 sun to rise upon the evil, and sendeth rain upon the unjust." 
 Yet He saith unto such, " I never knew you." 
 
 _ 20. Then, might not Adam have fulfilled, in God's appointed 
 time and season, the pure and innocent law of nature, without 
 intruding into that beastly and forbidden knowledge, which 
 
 Sodie, 
 
 tarda 
 
B. I. 01' THE MAN OF SIN. 35 
 
 destroyed his dignity, and degraded him below the order of the chap 
 beasts of the field ? . ' 
 
 21. But when LUST had conceived, it brought forth SIN. Then 
 "the EYES of them, both were opened, and they knew that iheij 
 were naked." And he "knew his wife, and she conceived." 
 
 And then, and not till then, he could say, " I see another law!" 23?'"' '"' 
 
 22. Then the pure law of nature was perverted into this other 
 
 law — A LAW OP SIN ! A MAN OF SIN ! A STRONG MAN ARMED ! 
 
 " A law of sin, warring against the law of his mind, and bring- 
 ing into captivity" his noblest affections, his reason, his judg- 
 ment, and every sensation and faculty of his mind and body, to 
 this law of sin in his members. 
 
 23. Then did the MAN op sin set himself in the temple of 
 God, ordering the faculties, and claiming the highest affections 
 
 of man to that which is highly esteemed among men, which is -^^^^ ^^.^ 
 the lust of the flesh, the root of all evil, an abomination in the is. 
 sight of God. 
 
 24. And thus did the man op sin, that corrupt nature of the 
 serpent, set himself in the place of the pure law of G-od, and 
 under a sacred cloak of pretended love and obedience to the 
 only true Grod, concealed the fountain of iniquitt in a mys- 
 tery, shewing himself that he is God, by alluring through the 
 lusts of the flesh, and pretending that God ought to be so wor- 
 shipped. 
 
 25. Therefore we say, if there be a man and woman now 
 existing on the earth, honestly united in a covenant of promise 
 to each other, who have so much of the fear of God as neither 
 to touch, taste, nor handle the unclean thing, who never gratify 
 the desires of the flesh and of the mind, in any manner whatever, 
 except barely and conscientiously to propagate offspring, and 
 that with the motive to obey the will of God, they are verily an 
 honor to the original law of nature, a blessing to themselves and 
 posterity, and an example to the human race. 
 
 26. And therefore, even with regard to the law of nature, 
 which is inferior to the law of grace, such, and none but such, 
 under any pretext, however sacred, need ever expect to answer 
 a clear conscience, before that just and perfect Law-giver, who 
 
 will " render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of la ' ^'"' 
 fire." 
 
 27. But we say, moreover, that none, under the covenant of 
 the flesh since the fall of man — no, not one — ever did before 
 God keep that law in its purity ; nay, even those who profess to 
 be under a covenant of grace, and make the most sanctified out- 
 ward appearance before men, do (more or less) violate the perfect 
 law and order of nature, and, by a contrary law of evil concu- 
 piscence, do that which their light and conviction forbid. For 
 the truth of this we appeal to the consciences of all men. 
 
36 
 
 THE DECEPTIVE OPERATIONS &C. 
 
 B.I. 
 
 Rom xi. 
 16. 
 
 CHAP. 28. Here vfe «hall make one remark, which is worthy the 
 ^"' observation of all good men; or such aa desire to be so, and that 
 is, that God is light, and in Mm is no darkness at all. And 
 I John, i. 5. ^yj.g -J. pointedly declared by an angel commissioned from 
 heaven, that every secret action which is now performed under 
 the cloak of an ordinance of Grod, should be openly and publicly 
 performed, it would be detested by the wickedest men on earth.* 
 
 29. Then, from what has been said, let not any of the sons 
 and daughters of fallen Adam think to escape the severity of 
 God's righteous law, by imputing the blame of their own sins to 
 the transgression of their original father and mother, while they 
 themselves are guilty of the same sin, and violate the same law: 
 "for as is the root, so are the branches." 
 
 30. Neither let any one be guilty of such horrid impiety as to 
 imagine that a just and righteous God will impute Adam's ori- 
 ginal sin to his posterity, nor punish them, unless they in lik« 
 manner violate the law of their creation by committing actual 
 transgression. For " the son shall not hear the iniquity of the 
 father, neither shall the father hear the iniquity of the son. As 
 
 I live, saith the Lord God, the soiil that si7ineth it shall die." 
 
 31. It therefore remains with all those who make a sacred 
 profession of God's law, and do not live up to it, either to re- 
 move the fig leaf, the veil of their sin, and the sacred cloak of a 
 profession, and candidly acknowledge their loss from God and 
 ignorance of his law, or otherwise perfectly to keep that law in 
 every jot and tittle. Honesty is the best policy, in the sight of 
 God, angels, and just men. 
 
 32. For certain it is, that God will require his own " with 
 usury," and not with abuse, and that, according to his unchange- 
 
 isa. xxv. 7. able purpose, ■' He luill destroy in this mountain the face of the 
 covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all 
 nations." 
 
 33. For although man has become a captive to that " law 
 OF SIN," and fallen entirely under its dominion, and notwith- 
 standing it works in him all manner of concupiscence, and, con- 
 trary to the law of light, leads him into the most secret and 
 abominable actions, which cannot bear the presence of even an 
 innocent child, or a fellow creature, and much less the inflexible 
 light and purity of a just and holy God. 
 
 34. Yet the supporters of this very " law of sin" have the 
 eifrontery to call it the original and pure law of nature, and to 
 
 * Lost as mankind are in the last of the flesh, yet even their little remaining 
 sense of purity must teach them that a God who is worshipped by such acts as 
 cannot endure the light of the sun, or the sight of men, must be a God of dark- 
 ness, and not of light. By this let every candid person discriminate between 
 those acts which are acceptable to that God who is light, in whom is no darkness, 
 and those which are congenial to darkness itself; and by this criterion let all men 
 judge what kind of a god they worship. 
 
B. I. THE PRINCIPAL SEAT OF HUMAN DEPRAVITY. 37 
 
 vindicate its existence and lawless actions, by specious reason- ^^^' 
 
 ings, from a claim to the original command or ordinance of God, — 
 
 " Be fruitful." The deepest deception ! A very mystery! 
 
 35. For "unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do P"^'"' i. 
 
 IG 18 21 
 
 to declare my statiites, or that thou shoulde.st take my covenant as! ' ' 
 into thy mouth? seeing thou hatest histruction, and castest my 
 words hehind thee. When thou sawest a thief, then thou con- 
 sentedst with him, and hast been a partaker tvith adulterers." 
 
 36. " These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou 
 thoughtest that I ivas altogether such an one as thyself: but I 
 ivill reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now 
 consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and 
 there be none to deliver." » 
 
 37. " I planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed; how Jer. ii. si, 
 then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine 
 
 unto me? For though thou wash thee with ?iitre, and take thee 
 much soap, yet is thine iniquity marked before 'me, saith the 
 Lord God." 
 
 38. Thus far concerning that mystery, which, as a veil, has 
 covered the iniquity of all nations. 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 THE PRINCIPAL SEAT OF HUMAN DEPRAVITY. 
 
 It is granted that sin is the first cause of shame; for, when 
 Adam and Eve stood in a state of innocence, they were both 
 naked, and were not ashamed. But no sooner had they trans- 
 gressed, than they felt shame, and made themselves aprons of fig 
 leaves, to cover and hide something from each other. 
 
 2. And as they begat children in their own likeness ; from 
 thence it is decided, by the practice of all nations, what part that 
 was which they covered, and, of course, where the seat of sin is. 
 
 3. But what was the matter with that part ? Why did the 
 shame occasioned by sin, fall particularly there ? If their trans- 
 gression is to be considered in a literal sense only, and not as 
 represented in a figure, why did not the shame fall upon the 
 hand that took the fruit, and the mouth that ate it ? 
 
 4. But it does not appear that God took any notice of the 
 hand, or the mouth, in pronouncing the curse which they had 
 
THE PEINCIPAL SEAT OF HUMAN DEPKAVITT. B. I- 
 
 CHAP. 
 VIi[. 
 
 Gen. iii. 16 
 
 * See 
 EplL ii. 3. 
 
 Also, 
 Crudeu, 
 Aniele 
 Desire. 
 
 Num xi. 
 33, 34. 
 
 Psalm 
 Ixxviii. 29, 
 30. 
 
 Gen iii. 14, 
 15. 
 
 1 John, iii. 
 
 «. 
 
 Rev. XX. 3 
 
 merited ; but laid it on the same part which they covered, and o 
 which they were ashamed. 
 
 5. And God said unto the woman, " I will greatly multiply 
 thy sorrow, and thy conception; thy desire (*or lust) shall be 
 to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.'''' 
 
 6. Why multiply her sorrow and her conception ? Why not 
 punish her some other way ? God distributes punishments accord- 
 ing to the nature of the crime. 
 
 7. The Israelites lusted for flesh, and their punishment was to 
 have their fill of it, till it turned into a great plague, and they 
 died with it between their teeth. As it is written, " he gave 
 thtm their own desire ; they were not estranged from their lust." 
 
 8. Hence, from the very nature ef the curse denounced upon 
 the woman, it is easy to see wherein the offence lay; a curse of 
 which all her daughters, especially those of her child-bearing 
 daughters, have had more or less sorrowful experience even to 
 this day; and this curse is augmented in proportion to their 
 violation of the order of nature and inordinate gratifications of 
 lust. 
 
 9. "And unto the serpent the Lord God said, Because than 
 hast done this, thau art cursed above all cattle — And I will put 
 enmity betiveen thee and the woman, and between thy seed and 
 her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his 
 heel." 
 
 10. Now, if this serpent is to be understood literally, only as 
 a natural serpent or snake, and the seed of the woman be Jesus 
 Christ ; when, or how, was ever the thing literally fulfilled ? 
 
 11. The truth is, the words of God to the serpent, are to he 
 understood in a figurative sense. And the serpent here meant, 
 (what ever might be the figure) is that old serpent the devil, and 
 Satan, who deceiveth the nations ; for he it is whose works 
 Christ came to destroy. 
 
 12. But when we say the serpent, whose head Christ was to 
 bruise, was not a natural serpent, or snake, this is not saying, 
 that there was no natural animal in the case. To say the figure 
 of a thing is not the substance, is not saying there was no figure. 
 The word here improperly rendered serpent, does not signify a 
 snake according to the original, but a creature nearest in know- 
 ledge toman, and maybe called a serpent, because of the crooked 
 and poisonous qualities infused thereby into man through the 
 medium of his animal nature. 
 
 13. And if the " garden " and its " tree of life," its "tree of 
 the knowledge of good and evil," and its " serpent," are to be 
 vmderstood wholly in a literal sense, as natural things, then 
 where are those things at this time ? 
 
 14. It is evident from the Scriptures, that the tree of life, in a 
 spiritual sense, was not destroyed, but still remains. As it 
 
B. I. THE PRINCIPAL SEAT OF HUMAN DEPRAVITY. 39 
 
 is written, ^^ Blessed are they that do his commandments, that ^YirF' 
 they may have right to the tree of life." The tree of life is that 
 
 spiritual agency which ministers the way of life. Kc"- ^™i' 
 
 15. Then, as life is represented by a tree, so is the knovjledge 
 of good and evil ; and so also the serpent has his head, and the 
 woman her seed, in a figure. 
 
 16. It is certain that the nature and image of the serpent is 
 formed in fallen man, that is, a poisonous and destructive nature, 
 from whence Christ said, " Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers'." 
 And as it is by means of certain passions or affections that man 
 is formed, it must be among these that this serpent's head is to 
 be found. 
 
 17. The head of any thing is the highest or uppermost part : 
 that which is superior to any other part. And that which 
 forms or produces a thing must be its superior and proper 
 head. 
 
 18. Therefore, as man is not literally a serpent or a snake, it 
 cannot bo literally his head that is to be bruised. But as the 
 body is made up of different members or parts, so in these is 
 represented that system, or body of affections, desires and pro- 
 pensities, by which man is led and governed. 
 
 19. And if the affections and desires of fallen man are low, 
 mean and base, resembling the subtilty and poison of the ser- 
 pent, then it must be among these that we are to look for the 
 serpent's head; and this must be his highest affection, that in 
 which he finds supreme delight. 
 
 20. By the fall, the whole body of the serpentine nature was 
 formed in man; but the head of this body is not the inferior, but 
 the superior part ; and every part of the body, though of one 
 nature, must be distinguished from the head, and all are dependent 
 on and subject to it. 
 
 21. Hence it is written, "Mortify your memhers vihich are Col. iii. 5, 
 upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, '"'■ 
 evil concupiscence, and covetousness, vihich is idolatry. But 
 
 now ye put off all these : anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, 
 filthy commurdcation out of your mouth, seeing ye have put 
 off the old man with his deeds, in putting off the body of the chap. ii. n. 
 sins of the flesh." 
 
 22. Every one knows that anger, wrath, malice, covetousness, 
 uncleanness, and such like, are not members of the human body, 
 yet they are members of that body which is called " the body of 
 the sins of the flesh." And as every body must have a head, 
 and as these members or affections are of a low, base, serpentine 
 nature, of course their head must be in the substance, that head 
 of the serpent which Christ was to bruise. 
 
 23. Then, as the leading part of the serpent's image which 
 was formed in man, can exist only in the principal or leading 
 
40 THE PRINCIPAL SEAT OP HUMAN DEPRAVITY. B. I. 
 
 CHAP, part of man's affections, of course it may easily be determined 
 ^"' where it is that the head of the serpent lies. 
 
 24. Every part of man is possessed of some sensitive quality, 
 yet his affections are not inherent in him, but are created by 
 means of certain objects presented to him. 
 
 25. Thus he has a sense of seeing, hearing and feeling; but 
 he cannot see where there is no light, he cannot hear where 
 there is no sound, nor feel where there is nothing to feel ; so 
 neither can he love where there is nothing lovely, nor be pleased 
 where there is nothing pleasing. 
 
 26. And although man is composed of so many capacities and 
 organs of sense, yet they cannot be all equal ; there must be a 
 ruline sense, some one that is counted more noble, that is quicker 
 in itsmotion, and affords superior enjoyment in its gratification. 
 Thus, as this ruling sense is capable of being moved only by 
 some other object, so that which creates, or gives life to this 
 sense, must also be the supreme object. 
 
 27. Then what is there in the universe, within the compre- 
 hension of man, that has so sensible, so quick and ravishing an 
 operation, as a corresponding desire of the flesh in the different 
 sexes ? xVnd in proportion as that desire is manifested by words 
 or actions in either, so much the more is that head, or chief pas- 
 sion, quickened and inflamed. 
 
 28. For that desire for carnal enjoyment, that mutually 
 operates between male and female, is far more powerful than 
 any other passion in human nature. 3Ian, under its influence, 
 bears everything before him with impetuosity. 
 
 29. Surely, then, that which shuts the eyes, stops the ears, 
 and stupefies the sense to all other objects of time or eternity, 
 and swallows up the whole man in its own peculiar enjoyment, 
 must be the fountain head and the governing power. 
 
 30. And such is that feeling and affection which is formed by 
 the near relation and tie between the male and female, that being 
 corrupted by the subversion of the original law of God, it 
 changes that which in the beginning was pure and lovely, into 
 the poison of the serpent, and the noblest affection of man into 
 the seat of human corruption. To which the following words of 
 Boston will justly apply : 
 
 Four-fold 31. " A disease affecting any particular member of the body 
 lool'io'r '^ ^11 ' ^^* ^^^^ which affects the whole, is worse. The corrup- 
 tion of nature is the poison of the old serpent, cast into the 
 fountain of action, and so affects every action, every breathing 
 of the soul. 
 
 32. " It is the cause of all particular lusts and actual sins in 
 our hearts and lives. It is the spawn which the great leviathan 
 has left in the souls of men, from whence comes all the fry of 
 actual sins and abominations. It is the bitter fountain; parti- 
 
 10 
 
B. I. THE PRINCIPAL S:S!AT OP HUMAN DEPRAVITY. 41 
 
 oular lusts are but rivulets running from it, which bring forth chap. 
 into the life a part only, and not the whole of what is within. _ 
 
 33. "Now the fountain is still above the streams; so, where 
 the water is good, it is best in the fountain ; where it is ill, it Ls 
 worst there. The corruption of nature being that which defiles 
 all, itself must needs be the most abominable thing. 
 
 34. " It is virtually all sin, for it is the seed of all sins, which 
 want but the occasion to set up their heads, being in the cor- 
 ruption of nature, as the effect in the virtue of its cause. It is 
 the cursed ground fit to bring forth all manner of noxious 
 weeds. 
 
 35. " As the whole nest of venomous creatures must be more 
 dreadful than any few of them that come creeping forth, so the 
 sin of thy nature, that mother of abominations, must be worse 
 than any particular lusts that appear stirring in thy heart and life. 
 
 36. Look thou into thy corrupt nature, and there thou mayest 
 see all and every sin in the seed and root thereof. There is a 
 fullness of all unrighteousness. There is atheism, idolatry, 
 blasphemy, murder, adultery, and whatsoever is vile. The sin 
 of our nature is of all sins the most fixed and abiding : it remains 
 with men in its full power by night and by day, at all times, 
 fixed as with bands of iron and brass. 
 
 37. " Pride, envy, covetousness, and the like, are not always 
 stirring in thee. But the proud, envious, carnal nature is still 
 with thee ; even as the clock that is wrong is not always striking 
 wrong, but the wrong set continues with it. It is the great 
 reigning sin, (like Saul among the people,) higher by far than 
 the rest, commonly called one's predominant sin, which never 
 loseth its superiority over particular lusts, that live and die with 
 it and by it. 
 
 38. " Surely then, the word should be given against this sin, as 
 against the king of Israel, ' Fight neither with small nor great 
 save only with this.' For" (as the writer justly concludes) 
 " while it stands entire there is no victory." 
 
Gen. ill. 6. 
 
 42 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE OLD WOELD. B. I. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE CAUSE OP THE ^DESTRUCTION OF THE OLD WOELD. 
 
 CHAP. IX An account of the destruction of the old world is very particu- 
 larly stated in the sacred writings ; from whence also the cause 
 may be very clearly understood. 
 Gen. vi. 1, 2. " And it came to pass, when men began to multiply" that 
 ^' is, according to the agreeable sense of modern divines, so called, 
 
 when men began to fulfil the command or ordinance of God, Be 
 fruitful, ^^ and daughters were born unto them, that the sons 
 of God " (who had not been corrupted by a mixed generation) 
 "«(2i« the daughters of men, that they loere fair ; and they took 
 them wives of all ivhich they chose." Eor the daughters of men 
 were under no control, either to the law of nature or of God, for 
 their first mother had violated both. 
 
 3. And as the first deceived woman, " saw that the tree was 
 good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eye;" so these 
 sons of God, " saw the daughters of men, that they were fair; " 
 and according to their own corrupt will, they took them wives, 
 
 chap.vi. 2, not of some particular tribe or family, but "of all which they 
 6, 8, 1.3. chose, and went in unto them, and they bare them children ; the 
 same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown." 
 
 4. " And the earth was corrupt before God, and filled with 
 violence through them, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon 
 the earth. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great 
 in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his 
 heart vms only evil continually; "that is, he was absolutely 
 governed by evil propensities." And it repented the Lord that 
 he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 
 And the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have created." 
 
 5. "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And God 
 said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me ; for the 
 earth is filled with violence through them; and behold I will 
 destroy them with the earth." 
 
 6. Then as there must be an evident distinction between the' 
 works of these mighty men of renown, who corrupted the earth 
 and filled it with violence, and the works of Noah, who found 
 grace in the eyes of the Lord; it may be proper to observe 
 wherein that distinction lay. 
 
 7. The old natural creation was, from the beginning, set in 
 order .to subserve the purpose of God, in relation to a new and 
 spiritual creation ; and the old was to continue no longer than to 
 subserve that purpose. The state of man on this earth was by 
 
2G, 27. 
 
 B. I. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE OLD WOKLD. 43 
 
 no means to be Us final state. Man was created from the begin- chap. rx. 
 ning, for a more glorious and eternal purpose. 
 
 8. And therefore a line was drawn, from the beginning, of the 
 old Creation, to the beginning of the new ; which, for the time 
 then present, pointed out two manners of people, and, in things 
 of 'a temporal nature, distinguished between the disobedient and 
 obedient, the wicked and the righteous ; showing the nature of 
 that creation which must finally pass away, and of that which 
 would be eternal. 
 
 9. This line may properly be called, a line of promise, per- 
 taining to such as were counted righteous or perfect in their 
 generations, and through whom, as pertaining to the flesh, Jesus 
 Christ came. 
 
 10. And in this line were exhibited promises, types, and figures, 
 which pointed to the spirit and substance of the new creation ; 
 at least, to the adjusting or setting in order a new age or 
 spiritual seed, of which Christ Jesus was, in the fulness of time, 
 the true and real beginning. 
 
 11. But, until Christ appeared, there could be no real diifer- 
 
 ence in the nature and disposition of any. For of " one blood, Acts, xvii 
 were made all nations of men, to dwell on all the face of the 
 earth; and God determined the times before appointed, and the 
 bounds of their habitation ; that they should seek the Lord, if 
 haply they might feel after him and find him, though he be not 
 far from every one of us." 
 
 12. Then, as all nations of men, on the face of the whole 
 earth, were made of one blood, that they might seek the Lord 
 and find him, it is evident that in their natural state there is no 
 diiference ; they are all equally out of the way, and equally 
 distant from G-od. 
 
 13. To speak plainly : in their natural state, there was no 
 difference between Cain and Abel ; both were conceived in the 
 same corrupt nature of opposition to God, and both descended 
 from the same parents who had corrupted their blood, and basely 
 violated the law of nature, by their obedience to the serpent. 
 
 14. In their natural state, and in their conception and birth, 
 there was no difference between Noah, and those who were 
 destroyed by the flood ; between Abraham, and his father's 
 house ; between Lot, and the men of Sodom ; between Moses, 
 and Pharaoh ; between the Israelites, and Canaanites. 
 
 15. All nations of men were of one Hood, and that was cor- 
 rupted by the fall; nor could it be cleansed until the times 
 determined were accomplished. As it is written, '■'■I will cleanse 
 their hlood that I have not cleansed." And again, " I loill call 
 them my people, which were not my people." 
 
 16. But here was the difference, in all ages. While the 
 generality of the world gave themselves up to luxury and 
 
 •Joel, iii. 21. 
 Rom. ix. 
 
44 
 
 THE DESTRUCTION OP THE OLD WORLD. 
 
 B. I. 
 
 Deut. 
 
 xxxii. 32. 
 Isa. i. 10. 
 Jer. xxiii. 
 14. 
 
 Heb. xi. 7. 
 2 Pet. ii. 5- 
 9. 
 Jude, 11. 
 
 CHAP. IX. sensuality, and according to the deceitful law in their members, 
 were corrupting themselves through the lust of uncleanness, and 
 filling the earth with violence, through ambition and the love 
 of dominion; there were those who, in order to subserve his 
 wise purpose, and keep up the distinction between good and 
 evil, were chosen to maintain the belief of one true God, until the 
 true foundation of final and eternal redemption should be laid. 
 
 Heb. i. 1. 17. Therefore, God " at sundry times and in divers manners," 
 delivered special commands and ordinances to certain individuals, 
 which related to their temporal economy, and were productive 
 of temporal good to such as were thereunto obedient. And such 
 as were obedient to whatever was, in any way or manner, or at any 
 time, revealed to them in this respect, were, in every age, a 
 repository for the faith and worship of " the living and true God." 
 
 18. And by their obedience they found justification according 
 to the nature of what they were taught ; by which they condemned 
 the world, who lived in corruption and injustice. These became 
 heirs of that righteousness which is by faith and obedience ; 
 while the wicked and rebellious were ever counted as the seed of 
 Cain, and as the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, whether 
 Jews or Gentiles. 
 
 19. According to the scriptures, the difference between the 
 works of Noah, and of those who corrupted the earth, was just 
 this : Noah was five hundred years old, before he begat his three 
 sons ; which was not till, twenty years after he was called to 
 preach repentance to the world. 
 
 20. This particularly shows the time and manner of Noah's 
 life, in regard to the works of the flesh. And his walking in 
 obedience to what he was commanded, shows that what he did 
 was by special order from God. As it is written, " Noah was a 
 just man, and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked 
 with God. And Noah begat three sons." 
 
 21. He was " perfect in his generations." His generations 
 were, " Shem, Ham, and Japheth." And unto them were sons 
 born after the flood, but not before, nor even then did they 
 attempt to multiply until they were, at least, permitted so to do. 
 
 chap. ix. 1, 22. " And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them. 
 Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth." Also the 
 Lord said : " Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his 
 blood be shed : for in the image of God made he man." But 
 how soon a,fter they again corrupted the earth, and filled it with 
 violence, till the cry of their sins reached up to heaven, is 
 another thing. 
 
 23. Noah was obedient to the law of Revelation, which is 
 positive, whether mediate or immediate ; * whether given to an 
 
 _ * Mediate revelation, is that which is given through one to another, such as was 
 given through Moses to the nation of the Jews. Ex. iii. 15—18. And such was the 
 
 Gen. vi. 9. 
 10. 
 
 chap. 
 XL 10, 
 
 X. 1. 
 
B. I. 
 
 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE OLD WORLD. 
 
 45 
 
 chap. Ti. 1, 
 2,4. 
 
 individual only, or through an individual to a nation ; and is to chap. ix. 
 bo obeyed precisely according to the directions of the Lawgiver, 
 by those unto whom it is given, and is binding on no other 
 nation, people or individual under heaven. 
 
 '24. The revelation which God gave to Noah was immediate. 
 " The end ot all flesh i.s come before me; for the earth is filled G™-fi.i3, 
 with violence through them : and behold, I will destroy them 
 with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood, &e. Thus 
 did Noah according to all that God commanded him, so did 
 he." 
 
 '2b. "And the Lord said unto Noah, Thee have I found chap.Tii. i. 
 righteous before me in this generation." And in all this, both 
 with regard to the law of nature and revelation, was Noah 
 pointedly distinguished from the mighty men of renown, who 
 regarded neither the law of nature nor revelation, but took 
 them wives of all which they chose, and ca;ne in unto the 
 daughters of -men, and they hare children to them: which is 
 the primary sin that is charged upon the old world, in the sacred 
 writings. 
 
 26. And this they did, not by any command or direction from 
 God, but according to their own lusts of uncleanness, through 
 which they corrupted the earth. This was the root of their 
 wickedness, and the source of all their depravity, and from 
 which, as from an overflowing fountain of corruption, they filled 
 the earth with violence, tyranny, and oppression. 
 
 27. It is therefore justly observed by Osterwald: "The first 
 and principal sin, which introduced that general depravity ; was 
 impure lust. Murder and injustice were other sins which they 
 were guilty of. Concerning this, let Josephus* be consulted. 
 Since impure lusts and fraud carry along with them innumerable 
 vices, it is easy to conceive how great the perversity of men 
 must have been in those times." 
 
 28. The expressions of Robinson, concerning the revolutions Ecelesias- 
 of the earth, are to the purpose : " How wonderfully wise is the searches,"p. 
 construction of this world ! How instructive the history of the ^^s. 
 
 rise and the ruin of great empires ! Jlany are the opinions of 
 learned men on the origin of civil society. 
 
 29. " If this subject be investigated, as it ought to be, in true 
 historical facts, it will appear very probable that it originated 
 with bad men, who being strong, subdued the weak for the sake 
 of living idly on the plunder. 
 
 30. " Cam, stained with his brother's blood, was the first who 
 
 Ch. Theo. 
 p. 1S5. 
 
 * B. L Ch. 
 3. 
 
 Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him ; and he gent and signified ifc 
 by hia angel unto his servant John. And John to the seven churches of Asia. 
 Rev. i. 1 — 4. Immediate rewc/oKon is such as was given to Abraham, "Sarah 
 thy wife, shall bear thee a son indeed ; and thou shall call his name Isaac ; and I 
 will establish my covenant with him, and with his seed after him." Gen. xvii. 19. 
 
46 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE OLD WOELD. B. I. 
 
 CHAP. IX. ijTiiit a city. The mighty men before the flood were tyrants, 
 oppressors, thieves, and robbers, who filled the earth with 
 violence." 
 
 31. And after the flood, " Nimrod, as his name implies, was 
 an insolent captain of a band of robbers ; and most nations 
 
 Ecci. Re. jjiake their flrst appearance as a banditti, sallying out under a 
 ^ leader, to pillage and destroy. 
 
 32. "Abraham and the patriarchs affected no empire, but 
 were strangers in a strange land, confederating with one another 
 for purposes of piety, and with their neighbors for their own 
 defence." 
 
 33. Besides the corruptions, tyranny, and oppression of the 
 1. Pet. iii. mighty men before the flood, they were disobedient to the preach- 
 *"■ ing of righteous Noah, when the long suffering of G-od waited 
 
 for them to repent, while the ark was preparing. As also says 
 Hist, of Re- a modern writer: "One hundred and twenty years had the 
 io™Note divine patience waited — one hundred and twenty years had the 
 ™- holy prophet warned that perverse generation ; but in vain." 
 
 34. Here was the reason why God preserved Noah by his 
 Gen. chap, raercy. He feared God; he was righteous in his generation; 
 
 according to all that God commanded him, so did he. And, as 
 the Lord found the fruits of righteousness in Noah, so Noah 
 found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And therefore the justice 
 
 2Pet. ii. 5. of God "spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth 
 person, and brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly, and 
 destroyed them all." 
 
 iw^'iis"'^' ^^' -^'^'^ hence the solemn warning of Christ: '■'■For as in 
 the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drink' 
 ing, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe 
 entered into the ark, and knew not till the flood came and took 
 them all away ; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" 
 
 38,39. 
 
B. I. THE CALL OF GOD TO ABKAHAM. 47 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE CALL OF GOD TO ABEAHAM, WHAT IT SIGNIFIED. 
 
 God destroyed the world of the ungodly out of the earth by a chap.x. 
 flood of water ; but the flood of water did not destroy the root 
 of ungodliness out of the heart of man. 
 
 2. Every imagination and purpose of man's heart, after the Gen. vii. 
 flood as before, was evil, (that is, it was corrupted,) and that 
 continually, from his youth ; through which the earth was soon 
 again corrupted, and filled with idolatry and wickedness ; and 
 
 the cry of their sin became grievous before G-od. 
 
 3. This is evident from the sin of Sodom. And the wicked- xyiii. 20. 
 ness of the nations was still increasing, as it was said of them ^'^'ij^' 
 after the calling of Abraham, " The iniquity of the Amorites is 
 
 not yet fuU." 
 
 4. Hence the observation of Edwards: "So prone is the cor- Hist.ofRe- 
 rupt heart of man to depart from God, and sink into the depths \™^' ^ 
 of wickedness ; and so prone to darkness, delusion, and error, 
 
 that the world, soon after the flood, fell into gross idolatry; so 
 that before Abraham, the distemper was become almost univer- 
 sal. The earth was become very corrupt at the time of the 
 building of Babel." 
 
 5. Which is Well expressed in the words of Esdras: "That lEsdras. 
 when they that dwelt on the earth began to multiply, they began g^/^' ^^' 
 again to be more ungodly than the first. For the first Adam 
 bearing a wicked heart, transgressed, and was overcome ; and so 
 
 be all they that are born of him. Thus infirmity was made per- 
 manent; and the law (also) in the heart of the people with the 
 malignity of the root ; so that the good departed away, and the 
 evil abode still." 
 
 6. And what is still more, the very line of the patriarchs, 
 through whom Jesus Christ, " according to the flesh," descended, 
 was corrupted with idolatry before Abraham was called from 
 among them. 
 
 7. This is evident from the words of Joshua to the children 
 
 of Israel: "Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood Josh.xxiv. 
 [Jordan] in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and 
 the father of Nahor, and they served other gods." 
 
 8. While the generality of the world were thus perpetually 
 sinking inta idolatry and wickedness, God in his wisdom, from 
 time to time, separated from among them such as were willing 
 to maintain the faith and worship of the one only living and true 
 
48 
 
 THE CALL OF GOD TO ABRAHAM. 
 
 B.I. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Gen. xU. 1- 
 3. 
 
 Rom. iv. 
 12. 
 
 Heb. xi. 8. 
 
 Jas. ii. 20- 
 24. 
 
 Gen, xiii. 
 14, 15, 16. 
 
 chap. XV. 
 5,6. 
 
 chap. xvi. 
 2, 4, 12. 
 
 Gen. xii. 4. 
 
 Gen. xxi. 
 
 13. 
 
 Rom. ii. 4. 
 
 John, viiL 
 
 37. 
 
 God. These, for benevolent purposes, were called to stand as 
 witnesses of the truth, until the true seed of promise should 
 appear, and accomplish the work of final redemption. 
 
 9. And therefore it was that God said unto Abraham, " Get 
 thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy 
 father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee ; and I will 
 make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy 
 name great, and thou shalt he a blessing. And I will bless them 
 that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee : and in thee 
 shall all the families of the earth be blessed." 
 
 10. And Abraham obeyed God ; and, as an example of that 
 faith and obedience, through which all the families of the earth 
 should be blessed, he left his country, his kindred, and his father's 
 house, and went out by faith, Twt knowing whither he went. 
 And in obedience to his faith he was justified ; and by works 
 was faith made perfect. 
 
 11. Again the Lord said unto Abraham, " Lift up now thine 
 eyes, and look from the place where thou art; for all the land 
 which thou seest, to thee will 1 give it, and to thy seed forever . 
 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth," for number. 
 
 12. Again the Lord said unto Abraham : " Look now towards 
 heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them : so 
 shall thy seed be." And he believed in the Lord; and his 
 faith was counted to him for righteousness. 
 
 13. Bat before the time of the promise came for the one to 
 be begotten, in whom the true spiritual seed should be called, 
 Sarah, Abraham's helper, deceived him, and gave him her hand- 
 maid Hagar, who was a bond woman. 
 
 14. " And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived." And 
 the angel of the Lord said of him that was thus conceived, "-He 
 will be a wild man: his hand will be against every man, and 
 every man's hand against him." Thus was Abraham deceived 
 through Sarah, as Adam was deceived through Eve. 
 
 15. For although God had expres'sly said to Abraham, that 
 " He that shall come forth out of thine own bov>els shall he 
 thine heir," yet no fleshly or carnal gratification could fulfil the 
 promise (not even in a figure) concerning a spiritual seed, in 
 whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed. 
 
 16. And truly this first born was his heir, and properly his 
 seed, after the covenant of the flesh, as all his natural posterity 
 were through Isaac, of whom Christ said, " / know that ye 
 are Abraham's seed." These descended in the line of promise. 
 
 17. But in reality, the second-hoi-n as well as the first-born 
 of Abraham were both one seed, and in a natural sense there 
 was no difference between the posterity of Ishmael and Isaac : 
 both were, strictly speaking, the seed of Abraham. 
 
 18. But as it respected the promise which God made to 
 
B.I. 
 
 THE CALL OF GOD TO ABRAHAM. 
 
 49 
 
 Gal. iv. 24. 
 
 1 Cor. XV. 
 46. 
 
 Abraham, the order and manner of their birth, and other con- citap.x. 
 comitant circumstances, it served as an allegory, or figure, by 
 ■which to represent the difference between the old and iLew 
 creation. 
 
 19. In the order of God's work, in the creation and redemp- 
 tion of man, " that was not first which is spiritual, but that 
 which is natural, and afterwards that which is spiritual." So in 
 regard to the allegory which represents both the natural and 
 spiritual seed. 
 
 20. The first covenant that God made with man was a natural 
 covenant. This was broken at the fountain-head, which was 
 man's fall from his first rectitude. 
 
 21. But a promise followed: " The seed of the woman shall Gen iii. is. 
 bruise the serpent's head;" which intimated a recovery. Yet 
 
 this promise was not to be fulfilled according to the order of the 
 first, or old covenant, but according to a new covenant. And to 
 signify the state of the old creation under the first covenant, 
 Abraham, through the influence of Sarah, begat a son by a bond 
 woman, which is counted his seed after the flesh. 
 
 22. Then, after this, concerning another seed, God said unto 
 Abram, " Thy name shall he called Abraham : (i. e. the father Gen. xvii. 
 of a multitude,) for a father of many nations have I made thee ; ' 
 
 and kings shall come out of thee." And of Sarai he said, 
 " Sarah (i. e. the princess of a multitude) shall her iiame be ; 
 and she shall be a mother of natiojis ; kings of people shall be 
 of her," 
 
 23. The first promise was made to Abraham many years 
 before the true heir could be bom in whom his seed should be 
 called. But at the time appointed it was expressly said, "I will 
 certainly return unto thee according to the time of life ; and 
 lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son." 
 
 24. Yet, to show plainly that the true seed could not be 
 begotten after the will of the flesh, Abraham and Sarah were Gen. xviii. 
 old, when the time for the fulfilling of the promise came, " a7id Y' ^ ■'^' 
 it ceased to be with Sarah after the Tnanner of women. And 
 
 the Lord did u7ito Sarah as he had spoken." 
 
 25. When nature in her had finished its course, and the mere 
 desire of carnal gratification could claim no share in the promise ; 
 
 then it was " through faith that Sarah received strength to con- piebxi. ii. 
 ceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age." 
 
 26. "For it is written, that Abraham had two sons; the one 
 by a bond maid, the other by a free woman. But he who was 
 of the bond woman was born after the flesh ; but he of the free 
 woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for 
 these are the two cove7iants." The first answering to the old 
 covenant of the flesh, or old creation, which gendereth to bond- 
 age ; the second, to the new covenant or new creation, which is free. 
 
 cliap. xviii. 
 10. 
 
 Gal. iv. 
 23, 24. 
 
50 
 
 THE CALL OF GOD TO ABRAHAM. 
 
 B.I. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Gen. xxi. 
 10-14, & 
 XXV. 6. 
 
 John, iii. 6. 
 7. 
 
 Gen. xvii. 
 7. 11, 23, 
 24. 
 
 Lu. xvi. 1.5. 
 
 Col. li. 1], 
 
 Gen xvii. 
 19,21 
 xxi. 12. 
 Rom ix. 7, 
 8. 
 
 Qal. iii. 16. 
 
 27. All the natural posterity of fallen Adam are, by nature 
 and birth, strangers and aliens to God, and are the children of 
 the bond woman, being servants to sin. 
 
 28. The seed of Hagar (i. e. a stranger) was cast out of the 
 inheritance ; also, all the rest of the seed of Abraham, except 
 Isaac, were sent away with small gifts, that might serve for the 
 present. 
 
 29. In this was prefigured the state and portion of all the 
 natural seed or posterity of man born after the flesh, both before 
 and after the true seed appeared. Abraham gave all that he 
 had unto Isaac. But the bond woman, who was given to be 
 his wife, and her son, were sent away with bread and water; 
 which was a figure of the best portion possessed by the children 
 of this world. 
 
 30. There was another heir, born of a free woman, who claimed 
 the inheritance by promise — another birthright. " That which 
 is born of the fiesh is flesh ; marvel not that I say unto you, 
 ye must be born again." 
 
 31. And, to show wherein the new creation of G-od should 
 take place, Abraham received the seal of circumcision, as a 
 token of the new covenant, which was an outward cutting off the 
 foreskin of the flesh. 
 
 32. But, why was he commanded to receive a token of the 
 covenant particularly there ? Why did he not receive it else- 
 where ? The truth is, that token was of special signification, and 
 pointed directly to the very seat of siu ; there lay concealed the 
 hidden mystery of human depravity — the secret pleasure of that 
 which is most highly esteemed of all men in their natural and 
 fallen state. 
 
 33. And this outward token of circumcision, signified the out- 
 ting off that fleshly and carnal pleasure, taken through that part, 
 by the circumcision of Christ in the heart, made without hands, 
 in all the true heirs of that new covenant. 
 
 34. The real substance of the covenant which God made with 
 Abraham, was neither to him, nor to natural Isaac, nor to 
 Isaac's natural posterity ; fhis is plain from the tenor of it. 
 
 35. " My covenant will I establish with Isaac, for an ever- 
 lasti?ig covenant, and with his seed after him." Again: "In 
 Isaac shall thy seed be called." And again: " Neither because 
 they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children : but in 
 Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the 
 children of the flesh, these are not the children of God : but 
 the children, of the promise are counted for the seed." 
 
 36. " He saith not. And to seeds, as of many ; but as of one, 
 And to thy seed, which is Christ." And alluding to that seed, 
 he said, " / will establish my covenant with him for an ever- 
 lasting covenant, and with his seed after him." The covenant 
 
B. I. THE CALL OF GOD TO ABRAHAM. 51 
 
 is therefore witli Christ for an everlasting covenant, and with his chap.x. 
 spiritual seed who are in him. As Jesus Christ said, " Ye shall joim, xiv. 
 know that I am in my father, and ye in me, and I you." '^'^■ 
 
 37. Then consider what was fm-ther signified by the token of 
 the everlasting covenant made with Abraham. He whose flesh 
 
 of his foreskin was not circumcised, " that soul (saith God) shall Gen.xvii. 
 be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant." ' 
 Which signified, that he who is not circumcised in heart, with the 
 circumcision made without hands, the same hath broken God's 
 everlasting covenants, and while remaining uncircumcised, is cut 
 off from Christ, and from the inheritance of everlasting life. 
 
 38. Then, from what has been said, it may appear evident, 
 that the covenant which God made with Abraham, was only 
 temporary, and pointed to an everlasting covenant, or spiritual 
 seed yet future. Therefore this temporary covenant did not save 
 those who kept it from the indwelling root and nature of sin, 
 received by the fall ; but pointedly prefigured what would save 
 them when the true seed should appear. 
 
 39. Nevertheless, as many as were obedient to the outward 
 sign of that covenant, and to whatever. else pertained thereunto, 
 obtained temporal blessings, possessed the gates of their enemies, 
 multiplied exceedingly, and in all outward things were blessed, 
 while their obedience continued, and were also blest with 
 spiritual gifts according to the order of that dispensation. 
 
 40. But when the true first-born of the promise appeared ; 
 neither outward circumcision availed any thing, nor uncircum- Rom, ii.2s, 
 cision, but a new creature. (iai. vi is. 
 
 41. The land of Canaan was only a temporal blessing to 
 Abraham's seed ; it was not heaven itself ; and therefore the 
 highest place it could have in the covenant of promise, was a 
 shadow of better and more durable things to come. 
 
 42. Abraham's natural posterity were no better than the rest 
 of mankind ; only as they were obedient to the revelation of 
 God, made known from time to time, they maintained and pre- 
 served the faith of the one true God, and served as a figure of 
 that seed who should possess a spiritual and everlasting kingdom. 
 
 43. And, although they were comparatively, according to the 
 literal sense of the promise, as the stars of the sky for multitude, 
 and as the sand by the sea shore innumerable ; yet it is expressly 
 
 said, ' ' These all died in faith, 7wt havirig received the promises ; Heb. xi. 12 
 but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, ' 
 and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers 
 and pilgrims on the earth." 
 
 44. They honestly confessed that they were strangers and 
 pilgrims, as much in the land of promise as elsewhere, and there- 
 by declared plainly that they sought another country, and had 
 not received the substance of the thing promised. 
 
52 THE CALL OF GOD TO ABEAHAM. B. I 
 
 CHAP.x. 45 _ Therefore it was not the country of Judea, nor the city oi 
 
 temple, whose builder and maker was David and Solomon, whiel 
 
 ■Hev.xxi.2. they looked for; but that city and temple, made without hands, 
 
 which God promised to build in the latter days, of which Christ 
 
 Jesus was the chief corner stone. 
 
 46. But as a figure of the oppression and bondage, under 
 which the heirs of the true seed of promise would be held, before 
 the time of real deliverance should come, the seed of Abraham 
 
 i^is^^' were led into Egypt, and kept under tyranny and oppression, for 
 a certain limited time, before their temporal and outward deliver- 
 ance could be accomplished. 
 
 47. And, as they were to increase, and did increase, accord- 
 ing to the purpose of God, it could not escape the notice of an 
 
 Ex. i. 16, oppressive government ; whose policy it was to destroy all the 
 2*- males, who, according to the command of God, were to receive 
 
 the token of that covenant which promised a seed as the stars for 
 multitude. No matter about the females ! 
 1 Cor. i. 25. 48. But however wise in their plans, ' ' the foolishness of God is 
 wiser than men" for He through a woman of the house of Levi, 
 began, according to promise, to redeem his people from the cruel 
 power and policy of Egypt, untU - he had parted the sea, and 
 destroyed the nations before them. 
 J, .. 49. Great is the mystery of God's dealings with men ! The 
 
 &c.' ' ' power and wisdom of God was manifested thus through one, who, 
 ly a woman, was preserved in an ark of bulrushes ! A type or 
 true figure of the final deliverance of the Isarel of God through 
 the woman. 
 
THE TESTIMONY 
 
 CHEIST'S SECOID APPEAEIIG. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE FIGURATIVE IMPORT OF THE MOSAIC DISPENSATION. 
 
 The express purpose of the Law, was to searoli out and condemn chap. i. 
 sin, root and branch. " For until the law sin was in the world; 
 and death by sin reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them Rom. v. 13 
 that had 7iot sinned after the shnilitude of Adam's transgres- ^*' 
 simi, who is the figure of him that was to come." That is, of 
 Christ Jesus, through whom salvation should be obtained. 
 
 2. " By the law is the knowledge of sin." As it is written, oo^i"'-'- 7 
 "7 had not knovm sin but by the law: for I had not known Rom vii.7. 
 lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet, or lust." den'on™" 
 
 3. And, although the Law went to search out and condemn sin, Concupis- 
 yet it could not save the soul from its reigning power, until l™!' ™ 
 Christ Jesus, the first bom in the work of Redemption should 
 appear. And therefore the law was "added because of trans- Gai. iii. 19. 
 gressions," that the "offence might abound " till the seed should °™' ^' ^' 
 come to whom the promise was made. 
 
 4. It is impossible for souls ever to find a full salvation, with- 
 out a full discovery of their loss. In vain is freedom sought for 
 in any government, where the very seat and centre of action in 
 the government itself, is established in tyranny and oppression, 
 by the consent of the people. 
 
 5. In vain is every attempt to change the nature of an evil 
 tree, by lopping off the branches, while the body and root of the 
 tree remain whole ; or by any means ever to expect good fruit 
 from a corrupt tree ; so in vain are pure waters expected from a 
 corrupt fountain. 
 
 6. " Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water Ja^. iii- n, 
 and bitter ? Can the fig tree bear olive berries ? either a vine 
 
54 
 
 THE PIGTJEATIVE IMPORT OP 
 
 B. II. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Mai, vii. 
 16-18. 
 
 Gal. V. 22. 
 
 Mark, xii. 
 2S-31. 
 
 Gal.iii. 24. 
 
 Deut. 
 
 TfTfTTli 5. 
 
 Isa. i. 4. 
 Jer. ii. 21. 
 vi. 23. 
 
 Lev. 3tx. 
 22. 
 
 Deut. vi. 
 17. 
 xviii. 9. 
 
 Lev. XX. 
 15, 16, 10. 
 Deut. xxii. 
 21-24. 
 
 Lev. XX. 
 14. 
 xxi. 9. 
 
 figs ? SO can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh." "Do 
 men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ? even so every 
 good tree hringeth forth good fruit ; but a corrupt tree bringeth 
 forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, 
 neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." 
 
 7. "The fruit of the Spirit is love; " pure and perfect love. 
 "The first of all the commandments is, Hear, Israel! the 
 Lord our God is one Lord : And thou shalt love the Lord thy 
 God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
 mind, and with all thy strength." 
 
 8. " And the second is like unto it : Thou shall love thy 
 neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater 
 than these." This comprehended the spirit and real intention of 
 the whole Law, and was all that God required. 
 
 9. But man in his natural and fallen state, is held under the 
 dominion of other objects. And as the law was added because 
 of transgressions, that the ofience might abound, and was given 
 to the Israelites as a schoolmaster, to teach them the nature and 
 purity of the promised Messiah's kingdom, it was necessary to 
 point out particularly what kind of fruit this spirit of love would 
 naturally produce, and what would as naturally flow from the 
 want of it. 
 
 10. The tree is known by its fruit. Then, if man was the 
 uncorrupted fruit, or offspring of pure and perfect love, he cer- 
 tainly would discover no other fruit in all 'his life and actions. 
 But both the law of Moses, and the Prophets, plainly discovered 
 that the tree and the fruit are both corrupt, or in other words, 
 that man in his fallen state is" a corrupt creature, and descended 
 from a corrupted and degenerate stock. 
 
 11. This was going to the root of the matter. It was more 
 than cutting off as a type, or teaching how the Messiah should lop 
 off the outside branches of a corrupt tree. The root of human 
 depravity is laid naked and open to view, in plain words, written 
 on tables of stone, and delivered by the special command of God. 
 
 12. And not only so, but with repeated and solemn injunc- 
 tions: "Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my 
 judgments, and do them ; that the land, whither I bring you to 
 dwell therein, spue you not out ; thou shalt not learn to do after 
 the abominations of those nations." 
 
 1-3. The law pointedly condemned every fleshly gratification ; 
 such as lying with a beast, lying with another's wife, &c., defi- 
 ling an unmarried virgin, &c., and, in many cases, it punished 
 such with death. 
 
 14. Stoning to death was the penalty for such like abomina- 
 tions. And if a man took a wife and her mother,' or if the 
 daughter of any priest committed whoredom, such were to be 
 burnt with fire. 
 
B. II. THE MOSAIC DISPENSATION. 55 
 
 15. Idolatry, giving seed to Moloch, witchcraft, blasphemy, chap, i. 
 murder, disobedience to parents, &c., were condemned by the Dem. xvu. 
 Law as evil ; the spirit of the Law was therefore lioly, just and i^^;^ ^^ 
 good, condemning nothing but sin. 2, 27. 
 
 16. Yet, however severe the punishments that were inflicted 17.'^' '°' 
 for sin, they only lopped off the branches of a corrupt tree, while I'eut. xii. 
 the root and foundation of all the abominations that were com- 
 mitted in the earth, remained unchanged. 
 
 17. But, when the law proceeded to take cognizance of the 
 very nature of man, and condemned that as sinful and unclean, 
 which might have been supposed to be lawful and right, then the 
 fountain of evil began to be uncovered. 
 
 18. Observe : " The law is not made for a righteous man, but 1 Tim. i. 0. 
 for the lawless and disobedient ; for the ungodly and for sinners." ■"'• 
 
 The spirit of the law was, , " Thou shalt love the Lord thy Grod 
 with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and thy neighbor as 
 thyself." 
 
 19. When, therefore, any punishment or penalty was inflicted, 
 it is evident that it was for the transgression of the Law, and 
 that the true end and design of the Law had not been answered 
 in that particular thing. 
 
 20. ,The law not only prohibited all carnal and abominable 
 intercourse between man and beast, upon pain of death ; but the 
 sexes were wholly prohibited from cohabiting, on pain of being 
 excommunicated, for a time, from the congregation of such as 
 were accounted clean. 
 
 21. And, as this statute respected the only motive and man- 
 ner in which a man aijd woman were tolerated to cohabit, it 
 suf&eiently showed that the very order of nature was corrupted, 
 and that it could never enter that new creatio?i, of which it is 
 
 said, " There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth." 27!^' ^^'' 
 
 22.. There was no possible case, in which a man and woman N^m.xix. 
 
 could lie together, in the work of the flesh, and hold their union 20, 22. 
 
 with the congregation within the camp of Israel. The very act ]o™ii.^'"' 
 
 cut them off, and separated them from the camp. Nor could they J*"™- g' 
 
 be again accepted until they were cleansed ; for nothing unclean xii'i. 13. 
 could abide in the camp. 
 
 23. And, lest the serpent should try to cover his head under ]'^''^^^- 
 a cloak, by some false gloss upon the generative act, every act xx-H.l-e. 
 of the flesh, even for procreation, was pronounced unclean. 
 
 24. And, concerning the act of sexual connexion, the law said i.cv. xv. 
 " The women also with whom man shall lie, in the works of the ^^' 
 
 Jlesh, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and he unclean 
 until the even.'''' This was going at once to the groundwork of 
 man's depravity. 
 
 25. And that something more than uncleanness accompanied Lev. xii. 
 the generative act, according to the flesh, is evident from the 
 
56 
 
 THE riGURATIVE IMPORT OF 
 
 B. II 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Lev. ii. 13. 
 
 Mai. iii. 2, 
 
 3. 
 
 Lu. xii 49. 
 
 Epli. VI. 17. 
 
 Mark, ix. 
 
 49, 60. 
 
 Geu xviii. 
 6,9. 
 
 xxiv. 67. 
 xxxi. 33. 
 Ex xix, 10, 
 15. 
 
 Psalms, 
 xxxvii. 3, 
 7, & li 2, 5. 
 
 Jnhli, iii. 6. 
 viii. 44. 
 
 1 Cor. XV. 
 50. 
 
 Ja?. i. 15. 
 
 statute respecting women after child-bearing, by which they also 
 fell under the penalty of excommunication. 
 
 26. The woman who brought forth a man-child, was unclean 
 seven days, according to the days of her separation for her 
 infirmity ; and thenceforth to continue in the blood of her purify- 
 ing three and thirty days, and to touch no hallowed thing, nor 
 come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying were 
 fulfilled, which were forty days and eighty days ; ■separation, if 
 she brought forth a female. 
 
 27. And, in order to be restored, she was required to bring a 
 burnt oilering, and a sin offering, to make an atonement ; a sin 
 offering unto the Lord made by fire. And with all their ofi'er- 
 ings they were commanded to offer salt. 
 
 28. The whole of which was nothing short of signifying, in the 
 most pointed manner, that all such carnal and fleshly things as 
 were contrary to the pure natlire of God, should be kept at a 
 distance from the true seed of promise, and be finally offered up 
 and consumed by the fire of the Holy Spirit, which is the incor- 
 ruptible word of God, and the salt of the earth in the children 
 of the regeneration, and the new birth. 
 
 29. If therefore, this conceplion-sin, and this hirth-siri he 
 overlooked, and made something contrary to what God hath sig- 
 nified it to be, it is in vain to look any further for a distinction 
 between good and evil; seeing that "5?/ the law is the know- 
 ledge of sin." 
 
 30. The patriarchs did not overlook it, when they held their 
 separate tents. Moses did not overlook it, when by the com- 
 mand of God from Mount Sinai, he solemnly charged the people, 
 saying, " Come not at your wives." If something there had not 
 been offensive to God, why was this charge ? 
 
 31. God did not overlook this as inoffensive, when he com- 
 manded that a woman should " not touch any holy thing, nor 
 come into the sanctuary of the congregation, for the space of 
 forty, or even eighty days;" and when he commanded that she 
 should "bring a burnt offering, and a sin offering, to make an 
 atonement." 
 
 32. David did not overlook it, when he said, "There is no 
 rest in my bones because of my sin. My loins are filled with a 
 loathsome disease. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, 
 and cleanse me from my sin. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; 
 and in sin did my mother conceive me." 
 
 33. Jesus did not overlook it when he said, " That which is 
 born of the flesh is flesh ; " and, " The lusts of your father ye will 
 do." _ Nor did Paul, when he said, "Flesh and blood cannot 
 inherit the kingdom of God ; neither doth corruption inherit in- 
 corruption." Nor did James, when he said, "When lust hatli 
 conceived it bringeth forth sin." 
 
B. II. 
 
 THE MOSAIC DISPENSATION. 
 
 57 
 
 34. It is vritten of the Lord God, that "his work is perfect; 
 for all his ways are judgme?it; a God of truth, and without 
 iniquity, just and right is he." 
 
 35. And if so, will the God of perfect justice, judgment, and 
 truth, do that which is contrary to his own nature and attributes ? 
 Will he inflict punishment without a cause ? or grieve willingly 
 the children of men ? Will he count that unclean, which is not 
 unclean? or require an offering for sin, where there is no sin? 
 By no means. 
 
 36. Then it is certain, that, where God commanded any one 
 not to touch anything that was counted holy, there was some- 
 thing offensive to his Divine nature; and that wherein he re- 
 quired an offering for sin from any one, there certainly was sin 
 in that case; either in the whole case, in the nature or motive to 
 an unclean action, or in the act itself. 
 
 37. Therefore, let that which God has accounted both sinful 
 and unclean, be both sinful and unclean; that God may be just, 
 and every man a corrupter, until he fulfills the very spirit of the 
 Law, by loving God supremely; and till no inferior object can 
 take possession of the highest seat in his affections. 
 
 38. Thus the true end and purpose of the law will be answered, 
 and it will not be said in vain, " The law luas our schoolmaster 
 to bring us to Christ." And, although it be a severe and mor- 
 tifying schoolmaster to the pride of fallen man, yet it is a true 
 and faithful one. 
 
 39. The Law condemned many things as being either sinful or 
 unclean, which arose from natural causes, and were figurative of 
 the heinous nature of sin. Such as the leprosy, which had a 
 striking reference to the plague of sin ; touching a dead body ; 
 eating unclean beasts and fowls; and many such like things, 
 which prefigured the abominations of man, and which were to be 
 destroyed under the law of grace, by the Gospel. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Deut. 
 xxxii. 4. 
 
58 THE LAW FULFILLED THEOUGH CHEIST. B. II. 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 THE MOSAIC LAW, WHEEEIN IT WAS FULFILLED BY THE LAW 
 OF GEAOE, THEOUGH JESUS CHEIST. 
 
 CHAP. II. "The laiu was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by 
 
 : — Jesus Christ." And Christ came not to destroy the law, hut to 
 
 M°at"'v.'i7 fvljil it ; not hy ohserviug its external rites and ceremonies; hut 
 hy loving and serving God, as the supreme object of his affec- 
 tions ; and by teaching the same to others. 
 
 2. Then, which of these two requires the greatest purity — 
 the ceremonial law given by Moses ? or the law of grace and 
 truth, which came by Jesus Christ ? Undoubtedly the latter, it 
 must be granted. 
 
 3. Therefore, let those who disregard the law, because they 
 imagine they are Under grace, at least be careful to examine their 
 
 .. fruits, or works, by the law of grace. For ''faith without 
 Kom. ii.12, works is dead;" and, "as many as sin without law shall also 
 perish without law." 
 
 4. And further : Let such as imagine they are under grace, 
 at least regard that superior reason and dignity, by which G-od 
 hath exalted man above the order of the brutes ; and not defile 
 themselves, nor gratify the inclinations of a corrupt and inferior 
 nature, with any woman, after she hath conceived seed. 
 
 5. And besides, after nine months, according to the common 
 time of pregnancy, let the same restriction be continued, for the 
 space of eighty days longer, according to the time which God 
 prescribed to Israel. 
 
 6. And finally, let such as imagine that they are free from the 
 Law, and under grace, never gratify the sensual and fleshly 
 appetites of their corrupt animal nature, at any time or season, 
 nor in any manner whatever, except with the sole motive to 
 honor and glorify God, and to propagate an offspring. 
 
 7. Then they may understand how much grace and truth lies 
 at the bottom ! But, if they fail in the attempt, they may under- 
 stand why kings and prophets desired to see the days of the Son 
 of man. 
 
 8. It was not because they expected Christ to come, with some 
 extraordinary grace, to daub over their secret corruptions, that 
 they might live in them with' impunity ; but on the contrary, 
 they looked for a day of full redemption from that predominant 
 nature of evil, root and branch, to which they were held in 
 bondage. 
 
B. II. THE LAW FULFILLED THROUGH CHRIST. 59 
 
 9. But in vain will the fatal wound of man's depravity be chap. u. 
 covered over by the superficial ornaments of an empty profes- 
 sion of grace, when " God shall bring evcTy work inlo judgment, Eoo.xii.u. 
 ivith every secret thifig." 
 
 10. In vain will souls groan for deliverance from the bondage 
 
 of sin, till they drop into eternity, while, by some plausible g^^jvia, 
 reasonings to enjoy a momentary pleasure, they willingly conceal xxiii 27. 
 the very core of their corruptions. 
 
 11. It was nothing short of supreme and perfect love to Grod, 
 that could ever order and regulate the actions of man so as to 
 render them well pleasing to Him; and therefore, where any 
 action was condemned, or any atonement required, it proved that 
 the nature from which the action proceeded was evil. 
 
 12. And, until that which was the spring or cause of the evil 
 was removed, the same evil action would be repeated ; for the 
 effect is like its cause, and the same cause must continue to pro- 
 duce the same effect. 
 
 13. And hence came those perpetual offerings and lurnt j^^^ ^ j 
 offerings for sin, in which God had^ no pleasure ; but they were o. 
 added that the offence of sin might abound, until the cause should 
 
 be removed by Christ the true seed, in whom only, the promise 
 of final redemption was made. 
 
 14. Therefore the design of the ceremonial law, was not to 
 fulfil the real law of God, but to point out the way in which it 
 should be fulfilled: first, by discovering that object which stands 
 in competition with God, and engrosses the highest affections of 
 man ; and then to have that object taken out 'the way. And 
 until that was done, the soul could never be free from bondage 
 and captivity to sin. 
 
 15. In every respect, the Law given by Moses, went to search 
 out the root of man's depravity. Many things pertaining to the 
 same nature, besides those that were actual, all fleshly emotions, 
 sensations and desires, and all issues, voluntary or involuntary, 
 which are the product of the fleshly nature, were counted unclean, 
 and were to be expiated according to the statutes of the Law. xv.^' 
 
 16. The voluntary, and unnatural crime of self pollution, was Gen. 
 ever an abomination in the sight of God ; and so was also that J^^'"' 
 of defiling themselves with their own sex. Rom. i. 26, 
 
 17. So that the strictest ceremonies of the law, were neither iTim.i.io. 
 more nor less, than to show, that the very root and fountain of 
 
 man's nature, in his fallen state, was corrupt before God, and 
 offensive to his pure nature. 
 
 18. Thus the Law, not only distinguished between good and 
 evil actions, but searched out the cause, and the different motives, 
 from which actions proceeded. And it discovered the root of all 
 evil to be in the very nature, in which man was begotten. 
 
 19. For, while the spirit of the law required perfect love to 
 
60 
 
 THE LAW FULFILLED THROUGH CHEIST. 
 
 B. IL 
 
 CHAP. IL 
 
 Jer. iii. 9. 
 
 Lev. xviii. 
 zx. 
 
 xviii. 27. 
 
 chap. XX. 
 
 23. 
 
 Deal. ix. 4, 
 
 5,6. 
 
 Mat. xxii. 
 39,40. 
 
 tlie invisible God, as the only justifying motive^ in the soul of 
 man, it immediately excluded that inferior instinct, which led 
 SodoJH and Egypt, and the inhabitants of Canaan, to the per- 
 petration, through lust, of the most horrid and unnatural crimes, 
 merely for the sake of its own gratification, or the momentary 
 pleasure which it afforded. 
 
 20. Moses plainly demonstrated, that these carnal desires by 
 which man was begotten in his fallen state, were inconsistent 
 -with perfect love to God, from its motives and actions being 
 lawless, under no government, and subject to no control. 
 
 :21. This lawless passion was blind to the law of God, and the 
 order and law of nature, and was regardless of the objects of its 
 choice or refusal ; so that it moved with freedom to any object 
 thai could afford it the gratification of its own agreeable and 
 CORRUPT SELF J whether that object was animate or inanimate, 
 brutal or human. They " committed adultery with stones and 
 stocks." 
 
 '2-2. All this is most strikingly evident from the Law of Moses, 
 as well as from the Prophets. And after Moses had given a 
 numerous list of the abominations, which all sprang from one and 
 the same source of human corruption, he adds, " Foi- all these 
 abominations have the Tnen of the land, done." 
 
 23. And, to show that the natural seed of Abraham had the 
 same corrupt inclinations of other nations, it is added, " And ye 
 shall not walk in the manners of the nations which I cast out 
 ("fore you; for they committed all these things, and therefore 
 I abhorred then.-" 
 
 24. Then, if that propensity of the natural man, was so blind 
 :md lawless, that it would move toward a neighbor's' wife, a 
 v'-ter, a father's wife, a mother, a daughter, a fellow man, a 
 fuur-footed beast, a dumb idol, a lifeless stock, or a stone ; could 
 any thing produced by it, be any better than itself? 
 
 25. Here again, we may see, that the true design of the Law, 
 was to discover the distinction of objects, and the chief motive 
 from which actions proceeded. 
 
 26. As every external object upon which man, in his fallen 
 state, placed his affections, was more or less offensive to God, 
 and merited punishment, according to the degree of the offence; 
 so, the whole Law went pointedly to discover that no motive, 
 or affection, fixed upon any external object whatever, could 
 satisfy the real spirit of the Law ; and that nothing could do 
 \i, short of perfect love to God, as the supreme object of man's 
 affections. 
 
 27. And therefore, until the reigning power of that lawless 
 corruption was taken out of the way, how could the soul Im 
 God supremely, and his neighbor as himself? For " on these two 
 commandments hang all the law and the prophets." 
 
B. 11. 
 
 THE LAW FULFILLED THROUGH CHRIST. 
 
 61 
 
 28. Christ Jesus was the first that e-per fulfilled the spirit of 
 the Law ; and thereby he put an end to all those external rite-i 
 and ceremonies, meats and drinks, and divers washings, ai. 1 
 carnal ordinances; and set the example for others to do the 
 same. Nothing, therefore, but perfect obedience to his com- 
 mandments, could ever satisfy the demands of the Law. 
 
 29. A perfect obedience to the law of Christ, walking in hij 
 very footsteps, traveling in the worlj of regeneration, and deny- 
 ing self, and abstaining from every actual and sensual gratifica- 
 tion, as he did, released every member of his body, from all the 
 external obligations of those carnal ordinances. 
 
 30. As it is written: ^'Christ is the end of the law for 
 righteousness to every one that hcleevetk." Not to such as 
 beliei:e only ; but he became " the author of eternal salvation to 
 all that OBEY him." 
 
 31. Thus far, we have opened, from its true origin, the nature 
 of man's loss, and the fundamental cause of his depravity and 
 separation from God, and the design of the Law to search it out, 
 not superficially, nor in disguise, but faithfully, and with that 
 plainness which the importance of sacred and solemn truth 
 demands. It is the truth only that ever will, or ever can, 
 make souls free. 
 
 3:2. Here we add a few very just observations from a respect- 
 able writer. They disclose in some measure, a spirit of willingness 
 and candor to acknowledge and expose the root ot evil ; and on 
 the contrary, a general principle of disguise to conceal it. 
 
 33. " But though these effects of human depravity, ' says the 
 writer, "are every where acknowledged and lamented, we must 
 not expect to find them traced to their true origin. Causa latet, 
 vis est notissima: " i.e. The cause lies concealed, the effect is 
 notorious. 
 
 34. "Prepare yourself to hear rather of frailty and infirmity, 
 of petty transgressions, of occasional failings, of sudden sur- 
 prisah, and of such other qualifying terms as may serve to keep 
 out of view the true source of the evil, and may administer con- 
 solation to the pride of human nature. 
 
 35. " Far different is the humiliating language of Christianity. 
 From it we learn that man is an apostate creature, fallen from 
 his high original, degraded in his nature, and depraved in his 
 faculties; that he is tainted with sin, not slightly and super- 
 ficially, but radically, and to the very core. 
 
 36. " These are truths which, however mortifying to our 
 pride, one would think (if this corruption did not warp the judg- 
 ment) none would be hardy enough to attempt to controvert. 
 
 37. " How, on any principles of common reasoning, can we 
 account for it, [this corruption] but by conceiving that man, 
 
 ince he came out of the hands of ihe Creator, has contracted a 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Rom. X. 4. 
 Heb. T. 9. 
 
 Jno.viii.32 
 
 Wilber- 
 force on 
 Religion. 
 Bost. Ed. 
 IhO.3. p. 17, 
 It. 
 
 Wilber. 
 force on 
 Religion.p. 
 25,28. 
 
62 THE LAW FULFILLED THROUGH CHRIST. B. II. 
 
 CHAP. H. taint, and that the venom of this subtil poison has been com- 
 ' munioated throughout the race of Adam, every where exhibit- 
 ing inoontestible marks of its fatal malignity. 
 
 38. " Henee it has arisen, that the appetites deriving new 
 strength, and the powers of reason and conscience being weak- 
 ened, the latter have feebly and impotently pleaded against those 
 fobidden indulgences which the former have solicited. 
 
 39. " Sensual gratifications and illicit affections have debased 
 our nobler powers', and indisposed our hearts to the discovery of 
 God. By a repetition of vicious acts, evil habits have been 
 formed within us, and have riveted the fetters of sin. All with- 
 out exception, in a greater or less degree, bear about them, more 
 visible or more concealed, the ignominious marks of their 
 captivity. 
 
 40. "Such, on a full and fair investigation, must be confessed 
 to be the state of facts ; and how can this be accounted for on 
 any other supposition, than that of some original taint, some radical 
 principle of corruption ? All other solutions are unsatisfactory, 
 while the potent cause which has been assigned, does abundantly, 
 and can only sufficiently, account for the effect." So says Wil- 
 berforce : and that with the greatest reason and truth. Then let 
 it be so. 
 
 41. Upon this subject we will only add, that, although the 
 ceremonial law was given to discover the root and fountain of all 
 evil, yet it never did, and never can, remove the cause. And 
 
 Heb. X 1- although the law stood only in meats and drinks, and divers 
 10. washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed upon the people until 
 
 the time of reformation, and could never make the comers there- 
 unto perfect ; yet it was never intended to be taken out of the 
 way, or destroyed, without substituting something more excel- 
 lent and permanent in its place. 
 Mat, V. 18. 42. "For verily I say unto you," saith Jesus Christ, "till 
 heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass 
 from the law, till all be fulfilled." 
 
B. II. 
 
 THE STATE OF ALL MANKIND, &C. 
 
 63 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 1 Sam. xix. 
 
 5. 
 
 Nch. ii. 27. 
 
 Obad.21. 
 
 THE STATE OF ALL MANKIND BEFORE THE FIKST APPEARING 
 OF OHMST, BY WHICH SALVATION IS REVEALED. 
 
 Salvation is of two kinds : First, to be saved from outward 
 dangers, temporal enemies, and such like, whick is properly- 
 called salvation: And secondly, to be saved from tke practice, 
 power, and nature of sin. A very different kind of salvation ; 
 the former being temporal, and the latter spiritual. 
 
 2. The Lord saved Noah from the destruction of the old world ; 
 brought Abraham forth out of TJr, (i.e. the fire) of the Chaldees, 
 and saved Lot from the overthrow of Sodom. 
 
 3. The children of Israel saw the salvation of the Lord at the 
 Ked Sea. And the Lord frequently wrought a great salvation 
 for Israel, in the land of Canaan; and, from time to time, gave 
 them saviors, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies. 
 
 4. Yet all this was not salvation from sin; nor were the 
 saviors, those who should judge the mount of E sau, when the king- 
 dom should be the Lord's. As sin was in the world until the law 
 was given, that the offence might abound ; so it remained in the 
 world until Christ appeared. 
 
 5. " For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats neb. i. 4 
 should take away sins." Even the high priests were required ii;™-27. 
 to offer sacrifices for their own sins, as well as for the sins of the 
 people. 
 
 6. The Prophets themselves were ignorant of that salvation, ipet.i. lo 
 and searched diligently to know when it would appear ; unto n. 12- 
 whom it was revealed that it was not unto themselves they 
 ministered the promise, but unto another people, yet to come; 
 
 and they prophesied of him, in whom it should first appear, by zech. ix. o.' 
 the spirit of Christ that was in them. i f""- '• H- 
 
 7. It is remarkable, that, under the covenant of promise, 
 names and characters were applied to many natural men, which 
 in reality could be applied to Jesus Christ only. 
 
 8. Thus, God said unto Abraham, "I will make of thee a 
 great nation ; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be 
 blessed." And of Isaac he said, " I will establish my covenant 
 with him, for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after 
 him." The whole of which, in spirit and in substance, applies 
 to Christ, and not to Abraham and Isaac, nor to their natural 
 seed. The thing was typical, as has been shown. 
 
 9. Again, "Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my Ex. it. 22. 
 
64 
 
 THE STATE OF ALL MANKIND 
 
 B. II. 
 
 Col. i. 15, 
 18. 
 
 John, iii. 
 18. 
 
 Hist, of 
 lledemp. 
 p. 176. 
 
 p. 177. 
 NoieN. 
 
 lb. p. 197. 
 Noie z. 
 
 Humor's 
 Sac. Biog. 
 vol i. p. 
 275. 
 
 CHAP. HI. first born." This is also typical, and, in reality applies to none 
 but Christ, and his true seed, who are in him by obedience. 
 
 10. And, after the law was given to the Hebrews, " the whole 
 nation," saith Edward^ "by this law, was as it were, constituted 
 in a typical state ; " which is true, as the Scriptures abundantly 
 prove. 
 
 11. Upon which a certain writer justly remarks, that " Chris- 
 tians have the most unequivocal assertions of this in the New 
 Testament. The law is called a shadow of good things to come. 
 And the whole epistle to the Hebrews, and great part of that to 
 the G-alatians, is written to prove and illustrate this very point." 
 
 12. Another writer on a similar occasion, as justly remarks, on 
 iyjAcal characters in general, that, "In order to constitute a 
 proper type, it is by no means necessary, that the person who 
 answers this important purpose, should possess perfect moral 
 qualities." " That the comparison is not to be stated and pur- 
 sued through every particular incident of the life, and every 
 feature of the person typifying." 
 
 13. Then, as the line of the patriarchs, and the Law of Moses, 
 were only typical of things to come, and were not the very sub- 
 stance of the thing typified ; let not the shadow of a thing be 
 mistaken for the substance. 
 
 14. The name or figure of a thing spiritual, is as distinct from 
 the thing itself, as the name or picture of the sun, is distinct from 
 the SU71 itself. The high priest of the children of Israel wore a 
 mitre upon his head, with a plate ofpure gold, on which was en- 
 graved. Holiness to the Lord. And of the people it was 
 said, " TIlou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God." 
 
 15. But did this make either the priest ot the people holy? 
 By no means. The whole nation were sinners, from Moses to 
 the appearing of Christ, both priest and people : and this their 
 sacrifices and offerings for sin, year by year continually, prove 
 beyond all contradiction. And the same also prove, that they 
 were perpetual transgressors of the moral law, the nature and 
 requirements of which have been pointed out in the preceding 
 chapter. 
 
 16. It is strictly true, however, that, while they punctually 
 observed all the external rites and ordinances of the Law, they 
 were counted blameless, and were blessed of G-od, above all other 
 nations. 
 
 17. And in all those blessings, which were the fruits of their 
 obedience, they verily were typical of what they were called; 
 A holy and peculiar people; sons and daughters of God; and 
 many other terms, that might serve as a " shadow of good things 
 to come." All of which is clearly evinced in the New Testa- 
 ment, particularly in Paul's Enistles to the Hebrews and 
 llomans. 
 
 Ex. xiviii 
 3r,. 
 
 Driut. xiv. 
 2. 
 
B. II. BEFORE THE APPEARlNa OP CHRIST. 65 
 
 18. And, when it is said, that Enoch, Noah, and others, chap. in. 
 walked with God ; it means nothing more, than that they walked ^ 
 in obedience to the commands of God, given them in their day. 
 
 19. Thus, Noah walked with God in his generation, in build- 
 ing an ark, &c. ; Abram, in leaving his father's house ; Moses, 
 in bringing up the children of Israel out of Egypt; David was a 
 man after God's own heart, to fulfil all his Avill ; but all his will 
 to David, was not all his will to another ; David was a 'man of 
 blood, therefore Solomon was chosen to build the temple ; Jehu 
 was anointed to cut off the house of Ahab ; and Cyrus was the 
 Lord's anointed to subdue the nations. But not one of them 
 walked with God under the cross of Christ ; nor were they 
 anointed with power to save them from theii*-sins. 
 
 20. It is true, that the Israelites " drank of that spiritual rock i Cor.i. i. 
 that followed them in the wilderness, and that rock was Christ ; " 
 
 or in other words, it was the same spirit of Christ, that spake by 
 the Prophets, and testified of his coming. 
 
 21. But observe, instead of their following the spirit of Christ 
 in Moses, that Spirit followed them, and strove with them, 
 while they remained a stiff-necked and rebellious generation. 
 
 " How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve p.,nim 
 him in the desert ! Yea, they turned back and tempted God, jj^j-"'"'"- ^"i 
 and limited the Holy One of Israel." And, " about the time of 
 forty years, suffered he their manners in the wilderness." So ^g"^''>^'"- 
 far distant, then, was this typical Israel from being the true 
 Israel of God, whom they typified. 
 
 22. But, when the promised Messiah really came, instead of 
 following them, he exhorted them to follow him, and testified that 
 unless they did, they could not be his disciples. And further 
 
 said, "i/" ye believe not that I am he, (that was promised) ye J"''",vui. 
 shall die in your sins." 
 
 23. Therefore, it was not faith in a Saviour to come, that ever 
 saved any people from their sins ; nor did a law of types and 
 shadows ever save any. The very intent, and substance of all 
 that was typified, and promised to Israel, was salvation from all 
 sin, by Christ, when he should appear, and not before.' Every 
 thing else, without s.full and -present salvation from sin, call it 
 what you please, is nothing but an empty shadow ; and as Paul 
 justly expresses it, weak and beggarly elements. Gal. iv. 9. 
 
 24. Then how mistaken are they who imagine, that God saved 
 one good man from his sins here, and another there ; and, from 
 Adam to Christ, doomed all the rest of the innumerable 
 multitudes of the human race to eternal destruction, while it was 
 impossible that ever one of them could be really saved, having 
 no real Saviour. For, by the progressive dispensations of the 
 work of God, the creation must necessarily be brought to that 
 maturity, that a vessel of the human race might be prepared, as 
 
66 
 
 THE STATE OF ALL MANKIND 
 
 B. II. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Rom. xi. 
 32. 
 
 Gal. lii. 22. 
 Heb. V. 9. 
 
 Gen. xj[.xi. 
 JO, 30-35. 
 
 xxxv. 2, 3, 
 4. 
 
 Amos, V. 
 25,26. 
 
 Acts, vii. 
 42, 43. 
 
 Josh. xxiv. 
 14, tc 23. 
 
 Deut. ix. 4- 
 6, & 24. 
 
 Eccl. Ee- 
 scafchc.?, 
 1). 22, 23. 
 
 a medium through whom a Savior could be born into the world, 
 before a real Savior could be revealed among men. 
 
 25. For how then could that scripture be true, which said, 
 "God hath concluded them ALL in unhelief? " And again: 
 " The scripture hath concluded ALL under sin, that tlie 'promise 
 by faith of Jesus Chriat might he given to them that believe." 
 Not that did believe,* but that now believe. And who not only 
 believe, but obey. 
 
 26. It is evident from the plain history of facts, that the real 
 state of both Jews and Gentiles was equally and impartially 
 considered, in the sight of God ; and that all stood in equal need 
 of a Saviour, from Moses to Christ.- 
 
 27. The descendants of Abraham were taught the faith and 
 worship of the One true God; but very early, was idolatry in- 
 troduced among them. Rachel stole the gods of her father, 
 brought them to Mount Gilead, and artfully contrived to keep 
 them. 
 
 28. Afterwards, however, Jacob, required his household, and 
 all that were with him, to put away the strange gods that were 
 with them ; accordingly they were given up to Jacob, with all 
 their ear-rings, and he hid them under an oak by Shechem. 
 
 29. And after this, again, in Egypt, they served strange gods. 
 And even after they were delivered from the bondage of Egypt, 
 forty years did the house of Israel carry, in the wilderness, the 
 tabernacle of Moloch and Chiun, their images, the star of their 
 god, which they made to themselves; as saith the Prophet 
 Amos. Stephen explains it by calling them figures, or images, 
 which they made to worship the host of heaven. 
 
 30. To this agree the words of Joshua, who, after having 
 settled the Israelites in the land of promise, assembled them 
 together, and said, " Put away the gods which your fathers 
 served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt ; arid serve 
 ye the Lord." 
 
 31. It was therefore justly observed, that it was not because 
 of the righteousness of the Israelites, nor for the uprightness of 
 their hearts, that they inherited the land of promise ; but to sub- 
 serve the purpose of God in regard to a spiritual seed. For 
 Moses declared that they were a stiff-necked people, and that 
 they had been rebellious against the Lord, from the day that he 
 knew them. 
 
 32. The conduct of the Israelites as a people, after they were 
 in possession of the promised land, both under the judges and 
 kings, need not be more clearly expressed than it is by Robinson; 
 
 33. " Bloses and the Levites had put to death about three 
 thousand men, for setting up the golden calf; but he had not 
 
 * The Jews did believe in a Messiah to come ; but their past ielief was ren- 
 dered ineffectual, by their tmieliefiD him when present among them. 
 
B. II. BEFORE THE APPEARING OP CHRIST. 67 
 
 extirpated idolatry; it was practised all his time; and it was chap.iii. 
 
 practised in the time of Joshua, and it continued to be practised e^. xxxu. 
 
 under the judges through all this period. The people did sm. 
 
 serve, and would serve Baal and Ashtaroth ; and although is-is. 
 
 Gideon checked foreign idolatry, yet he set up an idol of his j}"*,!*'"' 
 
 own ; and as soon as he was dead , the people turned again to vi. 25, 32. 
 
 Baalim, and made Baalberith their god. Jj"' '^*' ^''' 
 
 34. " Samuel the last of the iudses, observes that, in his time, 1 wnm. vii. 
 they served strange gods and Ashtaroth: so that idolatry was ' 
 practised through this whole period." Under the kings, is ex- 
 hibited a code of statutes, like the former, " Which made idolatry 
 
 and several vices capital crimes, and was. a history of the per- 
 petual violation of it. The Idngs were arbitr iry, but far from 
 enforcing the law, they broke it themselves, and protected others 
 in doing so. 
 
 35. " David, who was an enemy to idolatry, committed adultery ] iciiijs ix. 
 and murder with impunity. Solomon, who built a temple for ~^^- g ^ 
 Jehovah on one mountain at Jerusalem, built also an high place 
 
 for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on another; and though 
 he sacrificed three times a year to Jehovah, yet at other times 
 he went after Moloch, the God of Ammon, and Ashtaroth, the 
 goddess of Zidon. 
 
 36. " Jeroboam, who reigned over ten tribes, set up calves of chop. xii. 
 gold, made high places and priests, ordained festivals, and ^-j-ss. 
 offered sacrifices to idols. And Behoboam, who reigned over xiv.23, 24. 
 the other two, either built, or suffered the people to build, high 
 places, and set up images, and to consecrate groves, and to do 
 
 all the abominations of the ancient inhabitants of the land. In 
 this manner, in general, they conducted themselves through all 
 this period. 
 
 37. "It is remarkable that the royal reformers were idolaters i Kings, x. 
 themselves ; for Jehu departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, ^^' ~^' 
 the golden calves that were in Bethel and in Dan. Asa, who ^ j^. 
 dethroned his mother, because she had made an idol (this was an xv, 1.3. 14. 
 obscene filthy idol) in a grove, did not take away the high xmi'^'is- 
 places ; and Joash not only left the house of the Lord, and served 2-2. 
 groves and idols, but murdered Zechariah, for remonstrating 
 against idolatry, in the court of that very house of the Lord which 
 
 he had pretended to purify from idolatry by shedding the blood of 
 his mother and the Baalites. It is observable, further, that the 
 people, who put others to death, did not reform themselves." 
 
 38. It is true, that, through the Hebrew nation, God hath 
 verily performed his promise made unto Abraham, in raising up 
 that seed in which all the families of the earth were to be 
 blessed. But, when the long-suffering, patience, wisdom, and 
 goodness of God, in dealing with that nation, in order to fulfil 
 his promise, is rightly considered, it will appear marvellous 
 
68 
 
 THE STATE OF' ALL 3IANKIND 
 
 B. II. 
 
 CHAP. HI. 
 
 IsR. i. 10- 
 15. 
 
 XXX. 8, 9. 
 
 .Ter. xxiii. 
 14. 
 
 Ezek. V. 6. 
 xri. 47-52. 
 
 l\[ic. vji. 2, 
 4. 
 
 Zeph. iii. 
 1-4. 
 
 1 Sam. ii. 
 22; lii. 13. 
 
 Mai. iii. 9. 
 Jolin, X. 8. 
 
 indeed. Througt perpetual changes of judgment and mercies, 
 was his name upheld. 
 
 39. And it is certain, that although, in some extraordinary 
 instances, some walked blameless, as touching the external law; 
 yet as touching the internal work of redemption by Christ, they 
 were not blameless: Witness, Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul, 
 the Apostle of the Gentiles. 
 
 40. And it is also certain, that, as a people, they were as 
 prone, and, when not restrained by judgments, as active, to 
 commit all the abominations of the earth, as any other nation 
 under heaven. Their whole history proves this. 
 
 41. And as to the internal work of salvation, their real state 
 and standing, in the sight of God, was considered no better than 
 other nations. This is most manifest, from the Prophets : — 
 
 42. Thus saith Isaiah: '^ Ah sinful nation, a people laien 
 wilh iniquity., a seed of evil doers, children that are cor- 
 rupters ! Hear the word of the Lord, j/€ rulers of Sodom: 
 give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To 
 what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me ? saith 
 the Lord, your hands are full of blood. 
 
 43. " Write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, 
 that it may be for the ti-me to come for ever and ever ; that this 
 is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear 
 the law of the Lord." 
 
 44. Thus said God by Jeremiah: "I have seen also in the 
 prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing : they commit adultery, 
 and walk in lies ; they strengthen also the hands of the evil-doers, 
 that none doth return from his wickedness : they are all of them 
 unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.'''' 
 
 45. Thus said the Lord God, by Ezekiel, concerning Jerusalem: 
 " She hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the 
 nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round 
 about her ; for they have refused my judgments, and my statutes, 
 they have not walked in them." 
 
 46. And by Micah: "There is none upright among men: 
 they all lie in wait for blood, they hunt every man his brother 
 with a net ; The best of them is as a brier ; and the most up- 
 right is sharper than a thorn hedge." 
 
 47. And by Zephaniah: " Woe to her that is filthy and pol- 
 luted, to the Oppressing city I Her princes within her are roaring 
 lions; her judges are evening wolves; her prophets are light 
 and treacherous persons ; her priests have polluted the sa?ictuary, 
 they have done violence to the law." 
 
 48. And by Blalachi: "Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye 
 have robbed me, even this whole nation." To this agrees what 
 Christ testified: "ALL tlLat ever came before me are thieves 
 and robbers." 
 
B. II. BEFORE THE APPEAEINQ OP CHRIST. 69 
 
 49. Solomon in all his glory had to confess " There is no man chap. in . 
 that sinneih not." And David also declared, under the Law, 
 
 ^^ Every one of them is gone hack, they are allogeiher become ^^^1^,^'. 
 filthy; there is none that dotth good, no not one. Their throat eccI. vii. 
 is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit ; !"■ ,jjj j 
 the poison of asps is under their lips. Whose mouth is full of Rom.iu. 
 airsbig and bitterness. Their feet are svjift to shed blood. ^' 
 Destruction and Tnisery are in their ways. And the way of peace 
 have they not knoiun. There is no fear of God before their eyes." 
 
 50. How uniform and evincihle are the testimonies of the law 
 and the prophets! "Now we know," saith Paul, "that what 
 things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the 
 law ; that every mouth may he stopped, and all the icorld may 
 become guilty before God." Were then the Jews under the 
 law any better than the Gentiles? "No," (saith the Apostle,) 
 "in no wise; for we have before proved both Jetvs and Ge?iiiles, 
 that they are ALL under sin." 
 
 51. Hence it was justly observed of the Jews, by the Prophet 
 Isaiah, that, although God had increased the nation, and they 
 
 had been in pain like a woman in travail; yet they had, as it la. xxvi. 
 were, "brought forth wind, and had not wrought any deliver- is-is. 
 ance in the earth." A more just and true expression was never 
 uttered by a prophet ! 
 
 52. At the time of the birth and appearing of Jesus Christ, 
 
 the state of the world, in regard to piety and virtue, was very J^-'"'"'' '• 
 deplorable. The whole world lay in wickedness. In particular, 
 
 the world is divided into four parts, and their situation justly Ecd. Re. 
 
 stated by Eobinson, as each is described in the holy Scriptures. P' ^^' ^*' 
 
 53. "The first contains the uncivilized part of mankind, and jq^^ .^j g 
 these, who are alike in all ages, are depicted in miniature by the iTjm.i.io, 
 Apostle of the Gentiles, and at large by the legislator of the 
 
 Jews, and both are justified by profane writers. 
 
 54. "The barbarous ceremonies, and the beastly and un- Lev. xviu. 
 natural crimes of these people, excited in Moses such indignation, 21-24, st. 
 that he seems at a loss for language to express it, and he exclaimed 
 
 of one vice, it is abomination, of another, it is confusion, and of 
 the whole, it is wickedness. 
 
 55. " In a second division, we may consider the civilized part 
 of the world, the accomplished Greeks, the polite Komans, and 
 all others, who have been reclaimed from brutality, and instructed 
 in the arts of regular life. It is but justice to allow, that their 
 taste for all the arts was elegant in the highest degree ; but the 
 same justice obliges us to aifirm, that they were devoid of all 
 religion and virtue. 
 
 ; 56. " The Apostle Paul describes this class of men, in the 
 
 ; latter half of the first chapter of the Epistle to the Komans, and, 32°"' '' ^" 
 
 i! to say nothing of books '^e have an undeniable proof, and a full 
 
70 THE STATE OF ALL MANKIND B. II. 
 
 cHAP.m. illustration of what he affirms, in the ruins of the famous cities 
 of Herculaneum and Pompeii. 
 
 57. " About twenty year.s after Paul wrote his Epistlo to the 
 Pvomans, a .sudden eruption of mount Vesuvius buried these two 
 places with all the inhabitants.* They were first covered with 
 ashes and cinders, and then glazed over, as it were, with the 
 burning lava of the mountain. Secured by this, and subsequent 
 eruptions, from the action of the air, the whole lay undiscovered, 
 and some parts unhurt, for 1641 years. The discovery was 
 made in 1720, "and all the statues, vases, pictures, and build- 
 inf'S confirm the two truths just now mentioned, that the inhabit- 
 ants had an exquisite ta«te for the arts, and a total ignorance of 
 religion and virtue. 
 
 .58. "Judea in general, maybe considered as a third class. 
 The governors were unprincipled tools of pagan Piome ; the chief 
 priests were Sadducees, who believed no future state ; the ex- 
 positors of the law rendered the text obscure by traditions. 
 
 .59. " Those hungry hypocrites, the Pharisees, were the guides 
 of the common people ; and the people themselves were abomin- 
 Tau8,i. 18. able and disobedient, and to every good work reprobate. Their 
 own historians say all this, and much more to the same purpose, 
 jooc.de According to Josephus, they trampled upon all human laws, 
 Bel. lib. ]>. derided divine thiug.s, and made a jest of the oracles of the Pro- 
 '"'^' ' phets, as of so many dreams and fables. 
 
 60. "In a fourth division we put the devout Jews. These 
 
 Mat"'xx?' were few, and they had very imperfect notions of that kind of 
 
 ^'' f •: . kingdom which their ancient Prophets had foretold God intended 
 
 ' ' to erect ; and of that sort of Messiah, by whom the great event 
 
 was to be effected. Hence it was, that, when he came to hi^ 
 
 own, his own received him not." 
 
 Efoi Hc»- 61. To this may be added the following extracts from Mosheim, 
 
 lory, vol. L ^nd fijgt, concerning the Pagans, " The rites used in their wor- 
 
 &j. '' ' ship were absurd and ridiculous, and frequently cruel and 
 
 obscene. For the gods and goddesses, to whom public homage 
 
 was paid, exhibited to their worshippers rather examples of 
 
 egregious crimes, than of useful and illustrious virtues. The 
 
 consequences of thLs wretched theology were a universal cormp- 
 
 tion of manners, which discovered itself in the impunity of the 
 
 most flagitious crimes. 
 
 62. "It is also well known, that no public law prohibited tie 
 sports of the gladiators,! the exercise of unnatural lusts, the 
 
 •Paul wrote in 58. The cities were Imried in 79. Dijcovered by Prince Elbenf, 
 anil pnrened by tbe king of Jfaplea. 
 
 t The '^ladiatort were persons appointed to fight each other with the sword, for 
 the entertainment of the nobility and jjeople. Tlie Bghters generally connstcd rf 
 slaves, prisoners of war, Ac., who were stripped naked to the waist, and sent into 
 the amjihitheatre or place appointed, to fight till death. In this way rast nomlKn 
 were slain, while thonsands of spectators looked on to see the sport I 
 
B. II. BEPOEE THE APPEARING OF CHRIST. 71 
 
 licentiousness of divorce, the custom of exposing infants, [to chap, in 
 ■wild beasts,] and of procuring abortions, nor the frontless atrocity 
 of consecrating publicly stews and brothels to certain divinities."* 
 
 63. " The state of the Jews was not much better than that of ibid. p. ss, 
 other nations, at the time of Christ's appearance in the world. "'"' *"' 
 They were governed by Herod — his government was a yolje of 
 
 the most vexatious and oppressive kind. The priests, and those 
 who possessed any shadow of authority, were become dissolute 
 and abandoned to the highest degree ; while the multitude, set 
 on by these corrupt examples, ran headlong into every sort of 
 iniquity." 
 
 64. Such then, as has been stated, was the real situation of all 
 mankind, from Adam to Moses, and from Moses to Christ. Not 
 all of them at all times alike, in name or appearance, nor equally 
 corrupt in practice. But all of them, patriarchs and families, 
 kings and prophets, priests and people, from Adam to Christ, 
 were destitute of the real internal power of salvation from all 
 sin. It is testified by the Law and the Prophets, and confirmed 
 by the most undeniable facts. 
 
 65. And hence the conclusion of the holy Scriptures, before 
 
 the appearing of Christ: ^'■Remember ye the laiv of Moses my Mai.iv. 4, 
 servant, saith God, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for ' '' 
 all Israel, with the statutes and judgments." 
 
 66. " Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the 
 coming of the great day of the Lord. And he shall turn the 
 heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children 
 to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with A crRSE." 
 
 • These were worsliipped by the most abominable and filthy obscenities. 
 
THE TESTIMONY 
 
 CHRIST'S SECOND APPEARING. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 THE DISPENSATION OF THE FIRST APPEARING OF CHRIST- 
 THE BEGINNING AND WORK OF A NEW CREATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 JESUS CHEISX PRECEDED AND INTRODUCED BY JOHN THE 
 BAPTIST. 
 
 Mankind teing universally sunk in depravity, and tlie Jews chap. i. 
 themselves, who, in the times of their obedience and prosperity, 
 had figuratively stood as God's chosen people, being totally igno- 
 rant of that kind of Messiah and his kingdom, which their ancient 
 Prophets had foretold ; it was highly necessary, that the way for 
 the coming of Christ should be prepared, before he could be re- 
 ceived by any. 
 
 2. The angel Gabriel had informed Zacharias of the birth and Luke, i. is, 
 designation of John, that he should drink neither wine nor strong ^^' ^'' 
 drink, but should be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's Mat. iii. 3. 
 womb, and turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their 
 
 God ; and that he should go before him, in the spirit and power 3."'^ '''^' 
 of Elias — -and make ready a people prepared for the Lord. 
 
 3. It was in the last days of the Jewish cominonwealth, and in 
 their worst state of depravity, that John the Baptist appeared. 
 His parents were both aged, like Abraham and Sarah. And 
 John, like Isaac, was born according to promise. 
 
 4. It is every where observable, in the sacred history of God's 
 dealings with mankind, that his ways are not man's ways. John 
 did not make his appearance to the world, from among the learned 
 
 6 
 
74 CHRIST INTRODrCED BY B. III. 
 
 CHAP I. <iootors, nor from the great Sanhedrim of the Jews;' hut ahode 
 Lake,iii. in tbe deserts until the day of his testimony unto Israel. _ 
 2, 3. ' 5. And when the fulness of time was come, John received his 
 
 mission from Almighty God, and went forthwith the solemn cry, 
 Mat. iii. 2, " Repent, ye; for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Then went 
 ^^' out to him multitudes from Jerusalem, and from other pajrts of 
 
 Judea, particularly from the region round ahout the river Jor- 
 dan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. 
 
 6. " But, when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadduoees 
 coming to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers'. 
 who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come ? Bring 
 forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance : and think not to say 
 within yourselves. We have Abraham to our father." 
 
 7. The Jews had been long accustomed to confess their sins, 
 one by one, to the priests appointed for that purpose ; and, in 
 
 J j^ • o . times of calamity, they had acquired a habit of feigning repent- 
 fcyi. 7-io' ance, and claiming their right to the promises made to faithful 
 Acts vii. Abraham ; while they themselves continued to bring forth the 
 51' fruits of sin, and perpetual rebellion against God, and were abomi- 
 
 nable, and "to every good work reprobate." 
 
 8. But this feigned repentance, and confessing sins without 
 forsaking them, and this pretended submission to what John 
 taught, by being baptized, while they b^d no sincere intention of 
 reforming, was too thin a mask to conceal the hypocrisy of those 
 blind guides from that burning and shinvig light which pene- 
 trated their secret motives. 
 
 Luke, vii. 9. It was not the rulers who believed, or wished to believe, the 
 testimony of John; on their parts they rejected him. It was 
 the common people that were the most disposed to receive his 
 testimony. And while they came to him from every quarter, 
 and were baptized, confessing their sins, such an affair could not 
 escape the notice of the rulers, without their taking cognizance 
 Mark, xi. of it ; but fearing the multitude, who all held John as a Prophet, 
 32- they conducted themselves with caution, and sent priests and 
 
 Levites to examine, and if possible to detect, him. 
 
 10. The deputies found John in Bethabara, beyond Jordan, 
 where he was baptizing. "And they asked him, Who art thou 1" 
 
 John,i. IS- "He acknowledged, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, 
 ^^' what then ? Art thou Elias ? And he said, I am not. Art 
 
 thou that prophet ? And he answered, No."* 
 
 11. "Then said they, Who art thou ? What sayest thou of 
 thyself? He said, I am the voice of on6 crying in the wilderness, 
 Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias." 
 
 12. This was enough, had they been honest. But, added 
 they, "Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor 
 Elias, neither that prophet ?" This was equal to saying, If thou 
 
 * Original, Nay. 
 
 30, 
 
B. III. JOHN THE BAPTIST. 75 
 
 art not an extraordinary person, immediately commissioned by chap. i. 
 God, why dost thou introduce this rite, for which thou hast re- 
 coived no authority from us ? 
 
 13. "John answered them, I baptize with water : hut there 
 standeth one among you, whom ye know not ; he it is, who, 
 coming after me, is preferred before me ; for he was before me." 
 
 14. "And John bare record that he saw the Spirit descending John, i. 32' 
 fiom heaven like a dove, and it ahode upon Jesus;" and also '^' 
 freely acknoivledged of himself , saying, "and I knew him not ; 
 
 hut he that seid me to baptize with water, the same said unto 
 mc. Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remain- 
 ing on him, the same is he which baptizetli with the Holy 
 Spirit." 
 
 15. The nest day, after John's answers to the Pharisees, he 
 saw Jesus coming, and introduced him as the Saviour of man- 
 kind, saying, " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the 
 sin of the world!" 
 
 16. This was the testimony of John from the beginning, " I Mat iii.ii, 
 indeed baptize you with water unto repentance : but he that '^' 
 comcth after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy 
 
 to bear; he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire : 
 "WTiose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his 
 floor, and gather his wheat into the garner ; but he will burn up 
 the chaff with unquenchable fire." 
 
 17. John was a burning and shining light ; yet he was not the John, i, 7, 
 true light, but was sent to bear witness of that light ; so the *' 
 baptism with water, was not the true baptism of the Holy Spirit 
 
 and fire ; but the former was a striking figure of the latter. As 
 baptizing, dipping, or washing in water, cleanses the body from 
 outward pollution, so the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire 
 cleanses the soul from sin. 
 
 18. The baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire was prefigured 
 under the Law ; but by nothing more strikingly than by John's 
 baptism ; and it was spoken of by the Prophets, particularly the 
 Prophet Malachi, who said of Christ, He is like a refiner'' s fire — Mai. iii. s, 
 and he shall sit as a refiner. And mankind had been encouraged to 
 
 long and thirst for that day of Grod that should ' ' burn as an oven. ' ' chap. iv. i. 
 
 19. Of course, when that day commenced, the sign could be 
 of no further use, nor could it be continued, except with those 
 who ignorantly wished to continue under a comfortable deception. 
 
 20. Here lay the mystery : the baptism of John was no more 
 like that of Christ, than water is like fire ; and the only compari- 
 son that could be drawn between them was, that as water is re- 
 freshing to a thirsty man, so- is the fire of truth to a soul thirst- 
 ing for salvation. And, as water is of a cooling, cleansing nature, 
 so it is the nature of fire to burn and consume ; and therefore, 
 what was ceremonially cleansed under the Law, must needs be 
 
-15. 
 
 John, iii. 
 
 76 CHEIST INTKODUCED BY B. III. 
 
 CHAP. I. consumed under the G-ospel. Suoh then is the difference between 
 
 ~ the shadovj and the substance. 
 
 Mat. iii. 13 21. Jesus himself came to be baptized of John; but John 
 said, " I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to 
 me ? Jesus said, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us 
 to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him." 
 
 22. And when Jesus was baptized, and came up out of .the 
 water, and the Spirit of God descended on him like a dove; 
 (which appearance served as a visible sign to John, that this was 
 the Son of God, who should baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire ;) 
 then was John's mission fulfilled; consequently he must thenee- 
 forth decrease. 
 
 23. John was a faithful witness, and plainly testified of Christ 
 30. ' Jesus, that " He must increase, but I must decrease;" and there- 
 fore, as soon as the Holy Spirit was given, and the baptism of fii'e 
 commenced, there was no further need of the baptism of water, 
 nor could it be used as a binding institution, unless it were 
 through ignorance, or cunning deceit, to ease the pain and pro- 
 
 l/ulce, xii. long the life of that sinful nature, which the^re of naked truth 
 *"• had begun to consume. For this was the fire which Christ came 
 
 to kindle on earth. 
 
 24. It was the testimony and baptism of John that first at- 
 tracted the multitude. And some of John's disciples left him, 
 and followed Jesus. From this it may easily be inferred why 
 some of the disciples of Jesus baptized. 
 
 Johii iv. 2. 25. ^^ Jesus himself ba-ptized not;'''' and whether ho command- 
 ed his disciples to baptize with water, or not, the sacred text 
 does not say, but the faith of the multitude was strenuously fixed 
 on the economy of John ; and the disciples themselves were then 
 ignorant of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 26. And, even after the Holy Spirit was given, it is probable 
 Acis, ,-tvi. ^^'^'1 in some instances, the Apostles made use of water baptism, 
 :i; &xxi. circumcision, and other Jewish ceremonies, in order to make the 
 1 COT.'i. 14, truth accessible to the blind and bigoted, who were unable to see 
 Gal. ii. 7 8. ^^'^^^^ ^^ shadow, which was to be abolished. 
 
 27. Paul circumcised Timothy, and (although not commanded 
 so to do) baptized some individuals, and in obedience to the other 
 Apostles, had his head shaved, and used other ceremonies of the 
 Law. But as no Jewish ceremony was ever used by them as an 
 institution binding upon Christiajis, but were merely used to 
 make the substance accessible to such as needed these figures. 
 
 M.iit, "^" i^^^^^^ commanded his disciples, saying, " Go ye and teach 
 
 xxvii'i. 19, all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the 
 
 Son, and of the Holy Spirit." But here was a mystery. They 
 
 had first to tarry at Jerusalem, and know for themselves what it 
 
 Acts, 4 5. ■"'as to be in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit, 
 
 before they could in truth baptize in that name. 
 
B. III. 
 
 JOHN THE BAPTIST. 
 
 77 
 
 CHAP I. 
 
 1 Cor. i. 14, 
 IS. 
 
 29. And that this command to fcaptize had no reference to 
 water, is plain, from the words of Paul: " / thank God that 
 I baptized none of you, hut Crispus and Gaius. And I bap- 
 tized also the household of Stephanusj besides, I k?iow not 
 whether I baptized any other." 
 
 30. Would Paul have thanked God for not doing what Christ 
 commanded him ? In nowise. But he immediately tells what 
 was commanded him, when he says, "Christ sent me not to 
 baptize, but to preach the Gospel." Hence it is indisputable 
 that baptism by water is no part of the Gospel, or he would have 
 been sent to administer it. The truth is, that in every age, and 
 in every nation under heaven, mankind were justified and ac- 
 cepted of God, according to the degree of their obedience to the 
 light they were under. 
 
 31. Those who were commissioned to preach the Gospel, never 
 bound mankind to any thing beyond the conviction of their own 
 consciences. Jesus himself spake the word as they were able to ^"'k, ii. 
 bear it. Hence it was, that circumcision was made use of in 
 
 the days of the Apostles, and such as gladly received the word, 
 were baptized; but neither of them was the substance of the 
 thing signified. 
 
 32. Outward circumcision could never destroy the root of sin ; Rom.ii as, 
 nor could the external baptism or washing with water, ever take 
 
 away the internal pollution of the soul. 
 
 33. The mission of John the Baptist, was to prepare the way 
 for the Messiah, and was not to increase, but to decrease, when- 
 ever the ministry of the Messiah commenced. Hence, from 
 John's mission as a witness of that light, that all men through 
 him might believe, it is evident that Christ could not have been 
 revealed to the world without a witness. 
 
 34. John bore testimony to a kingdom of heaven at hand. 
 From which it is clear that he himself was not in that kingdom. 
 And, from the testimony of Jesus, it is easy to infer, that those 
 who were before John, were still more remote from the kingdom 
 
 than he. " Verily I say unto you, among them that are born Mat. xi.n. 
 of women, there hath nat risen a greater than John the Bap- 
 tist; notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of hea- 
 ven is greater than he." 
 
78 
 
 MINISTRY OF JESUS CHKIST. 
 
 B. III. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE MINISTRY OP JESUS CHRIST OR THE ANOINTED.* 
 
 CHAP. II. Before the first appearing of Christ, long experience Lad 
 proved, that no redemption from the nature and effects of the 
 fall, had yet been wrought among the human race. No law, how- 
 ever severe against sin, had ever yet saved the soul from its 
 reigning power. 
 
 2. From Adam to Moses, and from Moses to Christ, the true 
 cause of virtue and freedom was unknown. Sin, through the in- 
 strumentality of Man, had continued to corrupt the world. Op- 
 pression, civil and religious, had still continued to pervade the 
 earth, and destroy the peace and happiness of mankind. 
 
 3. As the whole posterity of fallen man, had thus continued 
 to bring forth the fruits of unrighteousness, the produce of an 
 evil nature; and, instead of being reclaimed from the depravity 
 of the fall, the world had waxed old in vnckedness, it was ne- 
 cessary that the axe should be laid to the root of that corrupt 
 tree, before the cause of sin could possibly be removed, or the 
 effect cease. 
 
 4. As sin entered into the world by the first man's disobedi- 
 ence, and all his posterity, in the same nature of rebellion, con- 
 tinued to follow his example, by which the whole became separa- 
 ted and fallen from God, it required a life and example directly 
 contrary to theirs, in order to their recovery. 
 
 5. And as the very nature of man was corrupt, and stood in 
 direct enmity against God, it was impossible for him to find redemp- 
 tion, except through that Mediator, the Lord Jesus, who pos- 
 sessed the same nature and enmity, and thereby was united to the 
 fallen race, that he might crucify that nature, and slay the en- 
 mity, in order to become "the Captain of their salvation." 
 
 6. Hence it is written, "Forasmuch as the children are par- 
 takers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of 
 the same ; that through death he might destroy him that had the 
 power of death, that is, the devil ; and deliver them, who, 
 through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage.'^ 
 
 7. It is evident, from the Scriptures, that the man Jesus, 
 who was ordained and anointed of God to become the Saviour 
 
 Mat. i. 25. of mankind, was not begotten after the flesh; or in other words, 
 
 Luke, i. 35, ijy the works of natural generation ; but he was made by the 
 
 power of the Highest, and the agency of the Holy Spirit, through 
 
 * Greek, Christos, Anointed. 
 
 Heb. ii. 14 
 15. 
 
B. III. MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST. 79 
 
 tte medium of a woman, who with the rest of mankind, was un- chap, ii. 
 der the law of a corrupt nature. 
 
 8. Eor verily he was not formed of the nature of angels, but Gal. iv, 4, 
 of the seed of Abraham, for he was " made of a woman," a de- 
 scendant of Abraham ; " made under the law ;" and in this he 
 became united to mankind in their fallen state ; the Word [ori- ?l^'' "■ "'i 
 ginal. Divine Intelligence] was manifested in flesh, that is, in Je- ja\ni,\.u. 
 sus, and dwelt among men, that he might redeem them from the 
 
 power and dominion of sin. 
 
 9. It is certain that, if Jestjs had been begotten and con- 
 ceived after the corrupted order of sexuality, descending from 
 fallen man, he never could have had the pre-eminence above the 
 first Adam, nor have been in a condition to have received the 
 anointing power, or heavenly dove, that enabled him to become 
 the Redeemer and Lord of the new creation — a new and heavenly 
 order. 
 
 10. But before Jesus Christ came into the world, there was 
 no judgment in the earth ; there was no man who could bring 
 salvation, for the joining of the human race to the orders above, 
 
 had been cut oiFby transgression. And the Lord saw it, and it laa. lix. is, 
 displeased him that there loas no judgment. " And he saw that ^^■ 
 there was no mail, and wondered that there was no intercessor ; 
 therefore his own arm brought salvation.'''' 
 
 11. After man had once lost the image of God, and his very 
 nature stood at enmity against God, had his life been prolonged 
 to succeeding millions of ages, it would have been impossible for 
 him to have recovered from his fallen state, without an entire 
 new order of things, properly called the adjusting of a new age, 
 or a nev] creation. 
 
 12. And, from generation to generation, while man remained 
 in the order of the first creation, as it stood after he fell, it was 
 justly said of him, that when he multiplied, The wickedness of 
 Tnan was great in the earth. For, instead of subduing and re- 
 plenishing the earth, he corrupted it, and brought it under a 
 double condemnation. 
 
 13. Therefore it was, that Jesus was not begotten after the 
 order of natural generation, according to the will of man ; nor 
 made an high priest over the household of God, after the law of 
 
 a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. Heb. vii. 
 For that which was carnal, was, by him, and in him, verily dis- ' ' 
 annulled and made void. 
 
 14. For if he had been begotten after the order of that crea- 
 tion which had waxed old in wickedness, he could not have been 
 
 the medium of salvation, nor the beginning of a neio creation. Rev. iii.u. 
 Neither could he have been the head and first horn of many Rom- viii. 
 brethren. The first Adam, who was of the earth earthy, must 
 still have had the pre-eminence. 
 
80 
 
 MINISTET OP JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 B. III. 
 
 CHAP ir. 
 
 1 Cor. XV. 
 47. 
 
 Luke, : 
 46-49. 
 
 15. But in Christ Jesus was the Divine quickening Spirit, the 
 real Son of God, having the eternal life and light of Heaven ; 
 therefore he could reveal the way, and dispense the power by 
 which souls could rise into the elements of the heavenly state. 
 This quickening Spirit was manifested in Jesus, as the "Second 
 Adam," with the power to propagate eternal life. In this the 
 distinction was made plain Between the first heads of the old and 
 new creation. 
 
 16. It is evident from the history of Jesus, that from his in- 
 fancy, he possessed that wisdom and understanding which was 
 superior to any other of the human race. When twelve years Of 
 age, he questioned with the learned doctors, who were astonished 
 at his ujiderstanding and. answers; and, in answering his parents, 
 who had sought him, he said, " Wist ye not that I must be alout 
 my Father's business?" 
 
 17. Jesus, in the first stages of his life, fulfilled the law of 
 nature : he was subject to his parents. He fulfilled the moral 
 law, hy the purity of his life and manners : his flesh saw no cor- 
 ruption by reason of sin. Hence he put an end to the external 
 ceremonies of the law, and naUed them to his cross of self- 
 denial. 
 
 18. And, when about thirty years of age, he went to John, 
 acknowledged his mission to be of God, and fulfilled it. And, 
 being baptized with water, the heavens were opened unto him ; 
 and the Holy Spirit descended in bodily shape as a dove and 
 abode upon him; and lo, a voice! saying, " This is my beloved 
 Son, in whom I am well pleased. ' ' Thus, having received by the 
 anointing Spirit of Christ an abiding power from on high, which 
 was not given him by measure, Jesus Christ went forth to do the 
 will of his Father ; to teach mankind, by precept and example, 
 the way to the Fountain of true felicity and eternal life. 
 
 19. In his public discourses, he unfolded to the multitude, 
 that divine wisdom which he had received from God, the Father 
 of all wisdom and goodness. By the spirit of truth and love, he 
 found access to the hearts of the sincere, and fixed that convic- 
 tion in their minds which human wisdom can never inspire nor 
 dissolve. 
 
 20. Jesus Christ knew, by that divine wisdom which dwelt 
 in him, that very few were disposed to hear, much less to obey, 
 what he was commissioned to teach ; and therefore he frequently 
 retired to the mountains and deserts, from the cabals and cla- 
 mors of the chief priests and rulers, who kept the people under 
 bondage and fear. 
 
 21. To such as wished to hear, and were honestly seeking for 
 salvation, he taught the Gospel of his kingdom, and no others 
 received it. To those who followed him, he first opened the little 
 narrow way of self-denial, and laid before them those characters 
 
B. III. MINISTRY OF JESrS CHRIST. 81 
 
 wliioli are truly blessed, namely, the poor inspirit, the mourner, chap, ii. 
 the seeker after righteousness, the meek, the merciful, the pure Matt. v. 2- 
 in heart, the peacemakers, and such like. ^^■ 
 
 '2'2. Long experience had proved, that this blessedness was 
 not to be attained by the external rights of the Law ; it was 
 therefore necessary that he should show them a more excellent 
 way. 
 
 23. He bore a swift testimony against every kind of vice, and 
 against tyranny in every form. He manifested the truth of his 
 testimony to the world, by his example of piety and virtue. He 
 strictly observed and kept all the commandments of God his 
 Father, taught others to do the same by following his example ; 
 and confirmed the truth of his Divine mission by his miracles, 
 and by the purity of his life. 
 
 24. Although Jesus came to fulfil the true intent of the law, 
 
 he knew that his testimony would be perverted, "for he knew .Tohn,ii.24. 
 what was in man," and therefore said, "Think not that I am Jgf ' ^' ^'" 
 come to destroy the Law or the Prophets : I am not come to 
 destroy, but to fulfil. For I say unto you, that except your 
 righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and 
 Pharisees, (which is of the law,) ye shall in no case enter into 
 the kingdom of heaven." 
 
 25. "Ye have 'heard that it was said by" them of old time, 
 Thou shalt not kill ; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger 
 of the judgment : But I say unto you. That whosoever is angry 
 with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judg- 
 ment." 
 
 26. " Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Mat. v. 27. 
 Thou shalt not commit adultery : But I say unto you, That 
 whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed 
 adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye 
 
 offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee : For it is profita- 
 ble for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that 
 thy whole body should be cast into hell." ' 
 
 27. Again : "Ye have heard that it hath been said by them Mat. v. 33, 
 of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform *'^' 
 unto the Lord thine oaths : But I say unto you, Swear rwt at all. 
 
 Ye have heard that it hath been said. An eye for an eye, and a 
 tooth for a tooth : But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil." 
 
 28. " Ye have heard that it hath been said. Thou shalt love 
 thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy : But I say unto you. Love 
 your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that 
 hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and per- 
 secute you ; that you may be the children of your Father which 
 is in heaven. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father 
 which is in heaven is perfect." 
 
 29. Thus the life and ministry of Jestjs, both by precept and 
 
82 MINISTRY OF JESUS CHEIST. B. III. 
 
 CHAP ir. example, was that which never before had either been understood 
 ~ or practised. by mankind. The true intent of the Law was wholly 
 unknown, and the letter itself was but the sayings of those of old 
 time. 
 
 30. Who then, of all the human race, ever fulfilled the law of 
 Grod until JEStJS fulfilled it ? He was the first who kept his 
 Father's commandments. By him the Divine perfections of the 
 GREAT First Cause were first taught. 
 
 81. In him were found the treasures of true wisdom and know- 
 ledge. In him was the example of patience, m.eekness, long-suf- 
 fering, universal benevolence and love, " and every practice that 
 became the Son of God, the Prince of Peace. And such an one 
 Heb. vii. it liehooved to be the Saviour of mankind, who was " holy, harm- 
 <"■ less, undefiled, and separate from sinners." 
 
 32. It is evident, from the sacred writings, concerning the life 
 and ministry of Jesus, that he became the anointed of G-od, 
 to bring salvation to man ; that he came to redeem the souls of 
 men from under the bondage of sin, and from oppression of every 
 kind. 
 
 33. And it is further evident, that Jesus Christ was the be- 
 ginning of a new creation, the first foundation and chief corner- 
 stone of a spiritual kingdom, which had no connexion with the 
 generation, population, increase, or government, of this world, 
 but merely as it respected the redemption of mankind. 
 
 34. Jesus knew that his testimony would cost him his life ; 
 but seeing that for the cause of righteousness he came into the 
 world, he, for the benefit of mankind, willingly suffered and died 
 in the accomplishment of that design. 
 
 Like, xvii. 35. He foretold, to his disciples, that he must suffer many 
 
 "'• things, and be rejected of this generation, and of the elders, 
 
 Mark, via. chief priests, and scribes, [ or writers ; ] that they would put him 
 
 to death, and that he should rise again the third day. In all 
 
 such sufferings, his followers would be included, according to his 
 
 John, XV. saying, '■'■If they hate persecuted me, they will also persecute 
 
 you." 
 
 36. And accordingly, being put to death in the flesh, through 
 the envy of the chief priests and rulers, he rose again the third 
 day ; and, by many infallible proofs, shewed himself alive unto 
 his disciples, " after his passion," that is, showed" that he lived 
 in spirit, the same being whom they had known as Jesus. These 
 he had instructed during the time of his ministry, and chosen to 
 be witnesses of his name ; and now he appeared to them forty days, 
 speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. 
 
 37. And having, through the Holy Spirit, given command- 
 ment to his Apostles, to teach all nations in his name, beginning 
 
 i.uki.'.xxivr. at Jerusalem, he charged them to tarry there until they should be 
 endued with power from on high ; and having led them out as 
 
 '.;u. 
 
 4?-0J. 
 
B. III. THE INSTITUTION OP, &C. 83 
 
 fiv as Bethany, he lifted up his hands, and hlesSed them. And, chap, iir. 
 ■while he blessed them, a cloud received him out of their sight, 
 and they worshipped him ; and returned to Jerusalem with great Acts,! s,9. 
 joy, and continued there with one accord until the day of Pente- 
 cost. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE INSTITUTION OF THE PRIMITIVE CHUECH. 
 
 It is evident, from the Scriptures, that the Apostles of our Lord 
 and Saviour, had received no real spiritual understanding of the 
 nature of his kingdom, until they were baptized with the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 2. Although it is written, that John was filled with the Holy 
 Spirit, that Zacharias and Elizabeth were filled with the Holy 
 Spirit, and that the prophets, and holy men of God in old time, 
 spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit ; yet, after all 
 
 this, it was said that, "the Holy Spirit was not yet given, be- ir'"''™' 
 cause that Jesus was not yet glorified." 
 
 3. When, therefore, the Prophets, or holy men of God, are 
 represented as having the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of Christ, 
 before Christ was fully made manifest in the Church, his true 
 body, it means nothing more than their being anointed and in- 
 spired with the Holy Spirit, which influenced them, at certain 
 times, to prophecy of things to come, but did not abide and re- 
 main in them as the constant spring of all their actions. 
 
 4. There was evidently an extraordinary measure, and man- 
 ner, in which the Holy Spirit was to be received according to 
 the promise of Christ, which could not possibly take place, until 
 the work of regeneration was completed in Mm, and till he was 
 glorified, and received that fulness of the Spirit which was the 
 promise of the Father, and which was to flow frmn him to such 
 as were united to him by faith and, obedience, as members of his 
 body. 
 
 5. Jesus Christ could, and did, administer a measure of his 
 Spirit to his disciples, while he was with them ; and they could 
 go forth in faith, and speak in his name ; and in the power of 
 that spirit which they received from him, they could cast out 
 unclean spirits, and perform many miracles. But they had not 
 
84 THE INSTITUTION OF B. III. 
 
 CHAP. III. the fountain abiding in them, from which that power flowed ; 
 ■ and therefore they followed Jesus from place to place, and re- 
 
 ceived their ministrations from him. 
 
 6. This was signified hy the tabernacle of Moses in the wil- 
 derness, which was followed by the children of Israel, until the 
 ark of the testimony found a fixed habitation in the temple of 
 Solomon. 
 Heb.viu.2; 7. Christ Josus, while in the body of his flesh, was " the true 
 -"coJ' ■ ' fahernade which the Lord pitched and not man." And the pri- 
 le."''"' mitive Church was " the temple of the living God" where his 
 mind and will was made known ; which was prefigured by the 
 first temple at Jerusalem. 
 
 8. Christ Jesus, while visible on earth, asked his disciples, 
 JTat. xvi. saying, " Whom say ye that I am ? And Simon Peter answered 
 i^-'»- and said. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living Grod." 
 
 This could now be said in truth ; for Jesus was then the anoint- 
 ed of God, and became the first born from the dead. 
 
 9. And Jesus answered, and said unto him, " Blessed art 
 thou Simon Bar-jona : for flesh and blood hath not revealed it 
 unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto 
 thee, that thou art Peter * and upon this rock I will build my 
 church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And 
 I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; and 
 whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven ; and 
 whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven." 
 
 DeuLxxxii. 10. " Ood is the Rock. And other foundation can no man 
 ''•„ ... lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." The Revelation oi 
 n. ' ' God through Christ, was therefore the rock upon which he pro- 
 mised to build his Church. And, though this revelation was in 
 liph. u. 20. g^i the Apostles, and was the same according to its order, by 
 which the Prophets had prophesied of Jesus Christ ; yet, accord- 
 ing to the promise of Christ, Peter was ordained to be the leader 
 among the Apostles in the Church. 
 
 11. At the same time that the disciples of Jesus manifested 
 2^j . their faith concerning him, he charged them to tell no man that 
 ';o. ' he was Jesus the Christ. By which it may be clearly seen, that, 
 although he had, from time to time, given them great authority, 
 respecting their future mission ; yet, while he was visibly present 
 with them, they oould not exercise that authority, until they 
 had received an abiding seal of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 • His former name was Simon, and the name Peter (in the original Petros, i.e. 
 a rock or stone) was given him by Christ, signifying that in him should be mani- 
 fested the revelation of G-od ; and by this revelation, through Christ, which pro- 
 ceeded from the Rock of eternal ages, he was appointed the visible head of the 
 primitive Church, after Christ, and the leader of the twelve Apostles. (See Mat. 
 xvi. 18; and John, i. 42.) N.B. .KepAas, or, as it is in our translation, Cephas, 
 is said to be a Syriac word, and signifies the same as does Peter in Greek, namely, 
 a rock or stone. 
 
B. III. THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 85 
 
 12. Christ, that is, the Divine Spirit, could never be seen by chap. hi. 
 mortal eye, nor the nature of his kingdom be understood by 
 human wisdom. Ho was only known by revelation. The 
 disciples of Jesus Christ themselves, were far from having a 
 perfect understanding either of Christ, or his kingdom, until the 
 
 day of Pentecost, after they had received the spirit of promise, 
 by which they remembered and understood what Jesus before 
 had taught them. 
 
 13. ^Vhen Jesus spake to them that he must suffer many Mat. xvi. 
 things of the elders, and chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, ' ""''■ 
 and be raised again the third, day, Peter began to rebuke him, 
 saying, " Be it far from thee Lord; this shall not be unio thee. 
 
 But he turned and said unto Peter, Get thee hehind me Satan; 
 thou art an offence unto me ; for thou savorest not the things 
 that be of God, but those that be of men." 
 
 14. The disciples believed, and knew that Jesus Christ was 
 the anointed of God; but he often had occasion to complain of 
 
 the dulness of their apprehension. " Huw is it that you do not xvi. ii. 
 understands " 
 
 15. Jesus Christ said unto them, " Yet a little while, and the 
 world seeth me no more; but ye see me; because I live, ye 
 
 shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in the John.xiv. 
 Father, and you in me, and I in you." And again: " These xvi. aj. 
 things have I spoken to you in proverbs ; but the time cometh, 
 when I shall no more speak to you in proverbs, but I shall shew 
 you plainly of the Father." 
 
 16. From which it is plain that, although they knew that he 
 came from God, yet they did not know what it was to be in 
 Christ, and to have Christ dwelling in them ; nor did they then, 
 in reality, know the Father. 
 
 17. Even after the resurrection of Jesus, unto the last, when 
 he was about to take his leave of his little family, whom he had 
 made heirs of his kingdom by promise, they still remained 
 ignorant of the nature of that kingdom. For, being assembled 
 together in his last interview with them, they asked him, saying, 
 ^^ Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to 
 Israel V 
 
 18. The only answer they received, was, "It is not for you Acts, i. 6, 
 to know the times, or the seasons, which the Father hath put in '> ^• 
 his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy 
 Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me, 
 
 both in Jerusalem, and all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the 
 utmost part of the earth." 
 
 19. It is evident that they were still intent uponf an earthly Luke, 
 kingdom ; that they still imagined the Messiah would deliver -'' -^ 
 their nation from under the Roman government, and restore 
 again, that kingdom to Israel, which in the days][of David^and 
 
 XXIV. 
 
86 THE INSTITUTION OP B. III. 
 
 CHAP, in. Solomon, stood in its highest degree of earthly glory ; although 
 John, xviii, Christ Jesus had plainly told them, that his kingdom was rcot of 
 ^^- this world. 
 
 Acis, ii 2, 20. But, when the sound came from heaven, as of a rushing 
 ^- miglity wind, and filled all the house where they were sitting; 
 
 and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak 
 with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance ; 
 
 21. Then, and not till then, did they begin to know the truth 
 of Christ's words, relating to the design of his work, and the 
 nature of his kingdom. This was the Spirit of anointing with 
 which Jesus himself was anointed ; and which he had promised 
 to send them, to lead them into all truth ; and this brought to 
 their remembrance whatever he had taught them, either by pre- 
 cept or example. 
 
 22. Here, then, was the true institution of the primitive 
 Church ; even the Spirit of truth and revelation of God given 
 to the Apostles. This was the foundation upon which the 
 Church was built ; the anointing of the Holy Spirit, or Christ 
 himself, being the chief corner stone : that is, Christ dwelling in 
 his people, and they in him, according to promise. 
 
 23. And as " tongues " were for a " sign ;" and as, in the first 
 outpourings of the Spirit, the Apostles received the gift thereof; 
 this gift, or sign, was to them the true and proper seal of their 
 
 Mark, xvi. Commission, to go and teach all nations ; to baptize them with 
 "a . the same Spirit ; and teach them to observe all thinss v:hatso- . 
 
 1 Cor. XIV. T 7 7 7 7 7 
 
 21,22. ever Jesus had minmanded them. 
 
 24. Hence it is evident that the Primitive Church was not 
 built upon any human system whatever, artfully formed by man's 
 device ; but upon the inspiration of the living God, made mani- 
 fest in the hearts of living and chosen witnesses. 
 
 25. The first Apostles, were plain, honest, illiterate men, who 
 15. ' ' cared for no other knowledge than what they received from 
 
 Jesus, who himself also, had never learned letters, according to 
 the order of the Jewish priesthood, 
 chap 3tiv. 26. Jesus had promised them, saying, " I will pray the Father, 
 ^6, 17_& and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with 
 you forever ; even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot 
 receive." "When the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide 
 you into all truth : for he shall not speak of himself ; but what- 
 soever he shall hear, that shall he speak ; and he will shew you 
 things to come.* 
 
 27. This was the Spirit which the Apostles received on the 
 day of Pentecost — This was the rule of their faith, the bond 
 of their union, and the spring of their actions, and of their tes- 
 timony. 
 
 * The word here translated " Ae " Id the original is in the nenter gender, and 
 is used in eibher the masculine or feminine, as the case may he. 
 
B. III. THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 87 
 
 28. The work of Christ, was spiritual; and therefore what chap. in. 
 Moses wrote upon hewn stone, Christ Jesus wrote upon the 
 
 hearts and minds of his true followers : and in the same manner 
 the testimony of truth was conveyed from the Apostles to 
 others. 
 
 29. Christ Jesus taught his Apostles, saying, " If ye love me, 
 
 keep my commandments.- — As the Father hath loved me, so have J^i'"!^'^'- 
 I loved you : continue ye in my love. If ye keep my command- cimp. xv, o, 
 ments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Fath- ^''' ^*' 
 er's commandments, and abide in his love. — Ye are my friends, 
 if ye do whatsoever I command you." 
 
 30. Nothing,' then, was necessary to the government of the 
 Church, but for those who had learned of Christ Jesus, to walk 
 
 even as he walked ; to follow his example ; and to let their light Mat. v. le. 
 so shine, that others seeing their good works, might learn to copy iCor. xi. 
 after them. As saith the Apostle, "Be ye followers of me. Phil. iii. 17. 
 even as I also am of Christ." And again: "Brethren, be fol- 
 lowers together of me, and mark them which walk so, as ye have 
 us for an example." 
 
 31. And thus, while the spirit of love and obedience flowed 
 from Christ the Head, through every member of his body, which 
 was his Church, they became one with Christ, as Christ was one 
 with Grod. And hence the followers of Christ could say, in the 
 
 spirit of truth, " As he is, so are we in this world." Jj" "''^' 
 
 32. Herein was the prayer of Christ Jesus answered, " Ihat John, xvii. 
 they may he one ; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee; 
 
 that they also may be one in us ; that the world may believe 
 that thou hast sent me." 
 
 33. It is very evident that the Spirit which the Apostles 
 received on the day of Pentecost, did actually produce the kind 
 offices of love and benevolence, and every good work, in those 
 who received the Apostles' word. 
 
 34. The effects of that Spirit with and into which they were 
 baptized, were manifest to the honest-hearted, as flowing from 
 a good cause ; while, to the blind arid dishonest, they appeared 
 as the effects of intoxication. Justice and freedom, harmony 
 and peace, reigned in them and among them ; and they were 
 united together, not by human systems, or the laws of men, but 
 by the cords of faith and love. 
 
 35. " And all that believed were together, and had all things Acts, ii. 44- 
 common ; and, breaking bread from house to house, did eat their *''• 
 meat with gladness and singleness of heart." 
 
 36. " And the multitude of them that believed were of one chap w.n, 
 heart, and of one soul ; neither said any of them that aught of '^^'^^ 
 the things which he possessed was his own ; but they had all 
 
 things common. And with great power gave the Apostles wit- 
 ness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus ; and great grace was 
 
88 THE INSTITUTION OF, &C. B. III. 
 
 CHAP. Ill, upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked : 
 for as many as had possessions of lands or houses sold them ; 
 and distribution was made unto every man according as he had 
 need." 
 
 37. Such, then, was the spirit of harmony, love, justice, and 
 equality, that was manifest in the primitive Church at Jerusalem ; 
 after which, the Gentile churches more or less copied, in the days 
 of the Apostles. The whole work was evidently wrought by the 
 internal operation of the -power and wisdom of God; a work 
 which no human power nor wisdom on earth could ever have 
 effected. 
 
 38. It is further evident, that the Apostles esercised no 
 authority over the conscience or conduct of any one, to force 
 them to believe or practice any thing beyond, or contrary to 
 their own convictions and choice. 
 
 Acts, V. 1- 39. This is clear from the case of Ananias, concerning the 
 *■ joint interest of the Church, who having sold a possession, came 
 
 deceitfully to give up a part, under a pretence of giving up 
 the whole. But Peter reproved him, saying, " While it re- 
 mained, was it not thine own ? And after it was sold was it not 
 in thine own power ? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine 
 heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God." 
 
 40. From which it may also be observed, that such was the 
 burning and penetrating light of God, in those who were com- 
 missioned with the true Gospel, as entirely excluded the feigned 
 believer, and the hypocrite, from any part or lot in that 
 matter. 
 
 41. Those who are ignorant of the true spirit that governed 
 the followers of Christ after the day of Pentecost, might assign 
 many reasons for the conduct of the Apostles, and the primitive 
 Church, in selling their possessions, and making distribution 
 among the believers, as every man had need, and possessing aU 
 things common. 
 
 42. But, in truth, it was impossible for those who were of 
 one heart and of wie soul, to act otherwise. They were members 
 
 1 Cor. xii. of Christ's body, and were actuated by one Spirit ; and therefore, 
 13, 14, 26. if ojie member suffered, all the rest suffered with it ; and if one 
 member rejoiced, all the rest rejoiced with it. 
 
 43. The very spirit of justice, equity, and love, by which they 
 became of one heart, and of one soul, was the moving cause of 
 their conduct. Their conduct was the only true seal of their 
 profession, and the only true evidence that they had given up all 
 for Christ and the kingdom of heaven's sake ; as Peter plainly 
 asserted that he and the rest of the Apostles had done, before 
 Jesus left them. 
 
 Acts, 
 3. 
 
 44. The word, of God, through the ministry of the Apostles, 
 was propagated first at Jerusalem. And believers having greatly 
 
B. III. THE CROSS MAINTAINED BY, &C. 89 
 
 multiplied, seven deacons, — men filled with the Holy Spirit and chap. iv . 
 with wisdom, — were chosen, by the advice of the Apostles, to 
 take the charge of the temporal economy of the Church. 
 
 45. " At that time, there was a great persecution against the A?.''> "^i""?- 
 Church which was at Jerusalem ; and they were all scattered 
 abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except 
 the Apostles." 
 
 ■16. Soon after this, the Gospel was opened to the G-entile 
 nations, principally by the ministry of Paul, who had received 
 his mission from Jesus Christ, through Ananias, a member of 
 the Church, and Churches were planted among the Gentiles. 
 
 47. But the Gentile Churches were very different from that 
 which was first founded by the twelve Apostles at Jerusalem. 
 The Church at Jerusalem was of " one heart and of one soul ;" 
 whereas, diversity of sentiments and manners prevailed among 
 the Churches of the Gentiles. 
 
 48. Such, however, is the spirit and nature of the Gospel, that 
 none were ever compelled to believe or practise any thing con- 
 trary to their own understanding and choice. 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 THE CROSS MAINTAINED BT THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 
 
 All who believed the doctrines taught by the Apostles, and 
 were reclaimed from the open practice of vice, were received, 
 and counted as believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, how much 
 soever they difi'ered in many things. 
 
 2. It was indeed a marvellous work, that brought down those 
 Gentiles, with all their learning and wisdom, in any degree to 
 accept of the humiliating Gospel of a despised and persecuted 
 Nazarene ; that reclaimed them from their heathenish and lasci- 
 vious practices ; from a plurality of wives, to be contented with 
 one wife ; and from their pagan idolatry, to serve the living and 
 true God. 
 
 3. The Gospel that Christ taught, was a Gospel of self-denial 
 and mortification to a carnal nature ; which is called the Cross 
 
 of Christ. " He that taketh not his cross and folio weth after jj^, ^ ^ 
 me, (said Jesus,) is not worthy of me." 
 
 4. "If any man will come after me, lei him deny himself, and xn.n ss. 
 
 7 
 
90 
 
 THE CROSS- MAINTAINED BY 
 
 B. Illi 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 John, xii. 
 
 Luke, xiv. 
 26, 27. 
 
 John, vii.7. 
 
 chap. XV. 
 18-20. 
 
 1 John, iii. 
 12. 
 
 take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his 
 life, shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake, 
 shall find it." 
 
 5. " If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and 
 mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, 
 and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever 
 doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my dis- 
 ciple." 
 
 6. Such were the precepts of the Gospel, as taught by Jesus, 
 and confirmed to his followers by his own daily life of self-denial 
 and the cross. And his Apostles obeyed his precepts and fol- 
 lowed his example, denying themselves of every sensual and car- 
 nal work of the fiesh as he did ; and they preached the same to 
 others ; which was a stumbling block to the Jews, and to the 
 Grreeks foolishness. 
 
 7. The former were superstitiously bigoted to the rites of 
 Moses, and hated the idea of a Messiah and his kingdom, that 
 would not bring every other nation and kingdom into subjection 
 to them. The latter were basely licentious, and rivetted to the 
 pompous and superstitious ceremonies of their pagan gods and 
 goddesses ; and hated the piety and simplicity of the Gospel. 
 
 8. A jMessiah who would have tolerated mankind in licenti- 
 ousness, and in shedding each other's blood, and who could have 
 proved by miracles, that the practice of vice and every carnal 
 pleasure, was the readiest way to heaven, would have given little 
 or no offence to Jews nor Pagans. 
 
 9. But this was not the case. Jesus said to his kinsmen : 
 " The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify 
 of it, that the works thereof are evil." And to his disciples he 
 said: "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before 
 it hated you. 
 
 10. " If ye were of the world, the world would love his own : 
 but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out 
 of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the 
 word that I said unto you. The servant is not greater than his 
 lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute 
 you." 
 
 11. The fundamental cause of all the ofience in Christ and his 
 immediate followers, and of all the persecutions against them, 
 was their lives of virtue and self-denial, by which they were 
 pointedly separated and distinguished from the children of this 
 world. 
 
 12. To speak after the common manner of men, Christ Jesus 
 himself was not married ; and such of the Apostles as had wives, 
 when they came to follow Christ in the spiritual work of regen- 
 eration, had nothing more to do in the works of natural genera- 
 tion. And such of them as were single when they were first 
 
B. III. THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 91 
 
 called to follow Christ, over after remained so, in regard to the chap, iv . 
 practice of the world. And all his real followers, without ex- 
 ception, took up their cross, and denied themselves of every car- 
 nal gratification of the flesh. 
 
 13. And herein the words of Christ to his Father, concerning 
 
 his followers, were strictly true : " T have given ihem thy word; John, xvii. 
 and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the loorld, 
 even as I am not of the world." 
 
 14. The word which Christ gave to those whom he had chosen, 
 was, " Follow me ;" and, in following him, they walked even 
 as he walked, and denied themselves as he did. Here was the 
 cause of every offence, of every evil suspicion, and false con- 
 struction upon their lives and conduct. 
 
 15. "The Pharisees came to Jesus, tempting him, and saying 
 
 unto him. Is it lawful for a mail to put away his wife for every Mat. xix. 
 cause?" as though his doctrine led to a licentious variety^ for ^"^^' 
 it seems they had no better esteem of it. 
 
 16. "He answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, 
 that he which made them at the beginning, made them male and 
 female ; and said. For this cause shall a man leave father and 
 mother, and cleave unto his wife ; and they twain shall be one 
 flesh ? What, therefore, God hath joined together, let not man 
 put asunder. They say unto him, Why did Moses then com- 
 mand to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her aioayV 
 
 17. From which it is plain that they did not understand him. 
 Jesus did not refer them to the history of the stiff-necked and 
 rebellious Jews, nor to the history of mankind in general, who 
 after the fall had corrupted the earth ; but he referred them to 
 what was said at the beginning, when man stood in a state of 
 innocence. 
 
 18. " He saith unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of 
 your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives : but from the 
 beginning it was not so. And I say unto you. Whosoever shall 
 put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry 
 arwlher, oommitteth adultery ; and whoso marrieth her which is 
 put away, oommitteth adultery." 
 
 19. By this he exposed the hidden cause of putting away their 
 wives, and marrying others. His disciples understood him, and 
 said, " If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good 
 to marry." 
 
 20. Jesus approved of their understanding, and manifested it 
 to be a gift of God, by observing : " All men cannot receive this 
 saying, save they to whom it is given. There are some eunuchs, "For" is 
 which were so born from their mother's womb ; and there are oriVinal." 
 some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men ; and there be 
 eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom 
 
 of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him, receive it." 
 
92 THE CROSS MAINTAINED BT B. III. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 21. Let it be observed, that, as there be eunuchs which have 
 made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of Heaven's sake, 
 these are the very ones who are ahle, and who do receive this 
 
 Mat. xxii. saying, " It is good not to marry ;" and " therefore they neither 
 marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God 
 in heaven." 
 
 22. Jesus knew that all men did not, and would not, receive 
 his sayings : the generality closed their eyes, lest they should 
 see, and stopped their ears, lest they should hear, and be con- 
 verted from the evil of their doings. 
 
 23. He knew that none but such as willingly, and of choice, 
 denied themselves, and followed his example, were worthy to he 
 his disciples ; and therefore he never forced any to receive his 
 sayings, or to follow him, by any human authority whatever. 
 
 24. He felt it his duty to reprove hypocrites ; and to teach 
 those who had ears to hear, what was necessary to be done, in 
 order to obtain the kingdom of heaven. And when he said, 
 " He that is able to receive it, let him receive it," he left it with 
 themselves either to choose or refuse. 
 
 25. And when he said, " If any man come to me, and hate 
 not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, 
 and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple," 
 "Was it either their souls or their bodies that were to be hated? 
 In nowise. But it was that selfish disposition, and fleshly, 
 earthly tie of a corrupt nature, which rivalled God's claim to the 
 principal seat of man's affections ; this he taught his disciples to 
 hate. 
 
 26. He came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them. 
 1?. "'"'■ " God sent not his Son into tlae world to condemn the world; 
 
 but that the world through him might be saved." 
 
 27. The advocates of marriage lay much stress upon Jesus 
 having attended a marriage in Cana of Galilee. Now, although 
 he did not thereby condemn this practice in its proper order 
 among the people of the world, it is clear that he did not attend 
 for the purpose of introducing the practice among his disciples. 
 
 28._ Christ Jesus was not of this world ; and therefore it was 
 not his concern to give laws to govern, or set an example, to 
 regulate them in that state.* His being at a marriage in Cana, 
 and turning water into wine, was for a better purpose. As it is 
 Joiui,u.u. ■nritten, ''This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of 
 Galilee, and manifested forth his glory ; and his disciples 
 believed on him" This was the true end and design of his being 
 
 '.■^^^"^S"'' °'^"'y '■f ''"^^^ *° intermeddle in the civU orpolitical affairs of this 
 wor d. "Man, who made me ajudge or a divider over you? " said he to one who 
 applied tohim for thatpurpose. [See Luke, xii. 14.] The truth is, his kingdom 
 waa not of this world; and therefore he would be neither a king nor a iudge : his 
 time wa« not come ; and whatever those who followed the course of thi world 
 chose to do, he did not interfere to frustrate their designs. 
 
B. III. THE PRIMITIVE CHUROH. 93 
 
 there. Not to confirm the practice of the world, but to confirm chap, iv. 
 the faith of his followers. 
 
 29. And what was that glory which he showed unto them, hut 
 a manifestation of his own glory, and the glory of his Father, in 
 which he was to come with all his holy angels, at the marriage Rev six. 
 of the Lamb ? For Jesus himself was not yet glorified. ^' 
 
 30. And his turning water into wine, was nothing less to his 
 disciples, than a seal of the certainty of the future accomplish- 
 ment of his own marriage ; and a figurative manifestation of that 
 
 wine which he afterwards promised to drink with them in his Mat. xxvi. 
 Father's kingdom. 
 
 31. It is therefore a mistake, among those who profess to be 
 his followers, to suppose, that because, as they say, he, graced 
 a 'marriage with his presence, he thereby gave any latitude for 
 the carnal gratification of the flesh. 
 
 32. By the same mode of carnal reasoning, might it not with 
 equal propriety be said, that, because he turned so much water 
 into wine, after men had well drunk, he also encouraged drunk- 
 enness 1 
 
 33. When he graced with his presence the assemblies of pub- 
 licans and harlots, and ate and drank with them, did he thereby 
 encourage them in injustice and whoredom? For his enemies 
 seem to have had no better sense of his life and conduct, who 
 
 called him, " a winehihber, a gluttonous man, a friend of puh- Mat. xi. id. 
 licans and sin7iers." 
 
 34. But shall we not rather say, that he took those oppor- 
 tunities of being with them, in order to teach or show them, by 
 his example, a better way of living? For he came not to call the 
 z'ighteous but sinners to repentance. 
 
 35. And what more shall we say, when he graced with his 
 presence the dark abodes of the spirits in prison, who were 
 disobedient under all the long-suffering of God in the days of 
 
 Noah ? Did he encourage them to continue in their disobedience, i Pet. iii. 
 or did he preach unto them repentance ? i°' ^''• 
 
 36. For the like reason Jesus wrought the miracle at the 
 marriage, i.e. to establish the faith of his disciples in following him, 
 which would lead them away from this darling custom of the 
 world. It is an undeniable fact, that Christ Jesus and his 
 Apostles did actually deny themselves of all the carnal works of 
 the flesh ; that they had nothing to do with the works of genera- 
 tion, and neither married nor were given in marriage, as did 
 "the children of this world." 
 
 37. And it is as undeniable, that, when the Gospel was 
 preached among the Gentile nations, who had accustomed them- 
 selves to licentiousness and a plurality of wives, every man, who 
 for the want of sufficient faith would not refrain, was permitted 
 to have his own wife, and every woman her own husband. 
 
94 THE OUOfsS MAINTAINED BY, &C. 13. HI- 
 
 C"AP IV. 33. Instructions were given by the Apostle of tlie Gentiles 
 1 Tim iii concerning married bishops and deacons, that such should be the 
 ?-.'2- . husband of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses 
 7 ' '■ ' well, having them in subjection. That the husband should love 
 Eph. V. 33. ]jig .(^ifg eyg^ as himself, and the wife see that she reverence her 
 husband. 
 
 39. From which it is evident that none were forbidden to 
 marry. The Apostles themselves copied the example of Jesus 
 Christ, and took up a full cross against the flesh ; but there were 
 many professing Christ in the Apostle's days who did not abstain 
 from marriage. The Gospel was ever a matter of free choice, 
 and not of compulsion. 
 
 40. Nevertheless, a plain distinction is made, by the sacred 
 writers, between that which was acceptable to the Lord, and that 
 which was of the world. This distinction is particularly made in 
 Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians ; unto whom he writes as 
 unto a carnal people, and not as unto spiritual. 
 
 41. The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth chapters contain their 
 character, which is very different from that given of the Church 
 at Jerusalem. The seventh contains a diversity of instructions 
 concerning the married and unmarried ; and concerning which, 
 it appears, that they had written to him before. 
 
 42. The instructions of the Apostle were adapted to the state 
 of the people. There were but few among them who were able, 
 for the lack of faith, to bear the doctrines of the cross ; and, as 
 the Apostle expresses it, he had fed them with milk, because they 
 were not able to bear meat ; and therefore, however plain and 
 pointed he speaks in one sentence, in another he indulges them 
 with permissions. 
 
 4.3. In the first verse of the seventh chapter, he answers them 
 
 icorvii ^®^y pointedly, saying "It is good for a man not to touch a 
 
 1-9. woman." [Gr. ■^uvaixos, a wife.] In the next verse he speaks 
 
 by permission, saying, " Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let 
 
 every man have -his own wife, and every woman her own husband." 
 
 and so on.* 
 
 44. Then again he pomtedly says, " I would that all men were 
 even as I myself; but every man hath his proper gift of God, 
 [or measure of faith,] one after this manner, and another after 
 that. I say, therefore, to the unmarried and widows, it is good 
 for them if they abide even as I. But if they cannot contain, let 
 them marry ; for it is better to marry than to bum." 
 
 * It may be proper to state that, according to the original Greelj, the word 
 anthropoa ''man," in the first verse, signifies man looking upward ; that is, a 
 spiritual minded man, one who "sets his affections on (heavenly) things above 
 where Christ sitteth, and not on natural or earthly things; such only would receive 
 pure instructions. In the second verse, the original word aneer signifies man look- 
 ing downward, that is an earthly or natural man ; it was to such that the indul- 
 gence of a wife was, granted ; evidently, because if not permitted, they would have 
 fallen into that state which was worse, even against nature. 
 
B. III. INSTKUCTIONS CONCERNING, &C. 95 
 
 45. This was the Ifest instruction the Apostle could give the chap. v. 
 Corinthians in such circumstances. They might now live a ' 
 
 little longer in the order of generation, or take up a full cross, 
 and follow his example, as he followed the example of Christ 
 Jesus. 
 
 46. "It is better to marry than to bum," says he. He well 
 knew their licentious dispositions, and that it was better for them 
 
 to be contented with one wife, than to burn in their lusts one ''om. i. 21 
 towards another, or defile themselves with mankind, as some of i"co'r.vi.y. 
 them had formerly done. 
 
 47. The baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire, progressively 
 destroys that nature and power of lust, which is the cause of that Rom- vi. 2. 
 burning ; so that he that is dead to sin, cannot live any longer 
 therein, being delivered and made free from that burning of the 
 
 flesh, which is the first and moving cause to sin. 
 
 48. As long, therefore, as any were under the necessity of 
 making any provision for the flesh, it was an evidence that the 
 aff'ections and lusts of the flesh were not yet crucified, nor 
 destroyed by the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire, with which 
 
 the Apostles and all the true and real followers of Christ were cai. v. 24. 
 baptized. As it is written, " They that are Christ's have 
 crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts." 
 
 10-15. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PERMISSIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS TO THOSE WHO CHOOSE A 
 MARRIED LIFE. 
 
 Concerning those who were married, the Apostle said, "Let {n^"^™ 
 not the wife de'part from her husband. But, and if she depart, 
 let her remain unmarried, or he reconciled to her husband: and 
 let not the liusband "put away his wife." 
 
 2. And, by permission, he said, "If any brother hath a wife 
 that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him 
 not put her aioay. And the woman which hath an husband that 
 believeth not, and^ if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not 
 leave him. For the unbelieving husband is (or may be) sanctified 
 by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is (or may be) sanctified by 
 the husband. But if the unbelieving depar-t, let him depart. A 
 
96 INSTRUCTIONS CONCERNING B. III. 
 
 CHAP. Y. brother or sister is not under bondage in sifch cases ; but God liatli 
 
 called us (believers) to peace." 
 Luiie.iii. 3. This instruction applies to the truth of Christ's words, 
 51,52. "Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth ? I tell you, 
 Nay ; but rather division : For from henceforth there shall be 
 five in one house divided, three against two, and two against 
 Mat. i. 30. three. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household." 
 4. But here the remedy is prescribed by the Apostle ; which 
 is nothing less than for the parties to allow each other the free 
 exercise of their faith in matters of conscience ; to be kindly 
 affectioned one towards another ; and by love and good works 
 serving one another, and setting the same example before their 
 children, 
 icor. Tii. 5. Thus the unbelieving husband may be sanctified by the 
 10,25-27. .^ifg^ tjie wife by the husband, and the children by the parents. 
 As it is written, " For what knowest thou, wife, whether, thou 
 shalt save thy husband ? Or, how knowest thou, man, whether 
 thou shalt save thy wife ? " 
 
 6. Concerning virgins, the Apostle gave his judgment, as one 
 that had obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful : saying, "I 
 suppose, therefore, that this is good for the present distress. 
 Art thou bound unto a wife ? seek not to be loosed. Art thou 
 loosed from a wife? seek not a wife." 
 
 7. What was this present distress ? Was it persecution ? By 
 no means. It was not concerning persecution that they had 
 written to him ; but the very subject on which he was writing 
 through the whole of his seventh chapter. 
 
 8. By marrying, they might avoid a great deal of persecution ; 
 but it was not to avoid persecution, but to avoid fornication, 
 according to their sense of the matter, that the Apostle said, 
 " Let every man have his own wife." 
 
 9. After all the indulgence which the Apostle gave them, in 
 their carnal state, the sentiments which he held up foremost to 
 their view, were the very cause of persecution. 
 
 Mark, i. IQ. This is plain from the words of Christ, " There is no man 
 
 that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, 
 or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the Gospel's, but 
 he shall receive an hundred fold tiow in this time, houses, and 
 brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, 
 with perseaitioiis ; and in the world to come, eternal life." 
 
 11. Here persecutions are put instead oi father and wife, and 
 every necessary blessing is preserved, both in this world, and 
 that which is to come. Here was the cause of persecutions: 
 A stumblingblock to the cruel Jews, who could no longer see 
 any way to uphold wars and fightings, for the want of a posterity 
 of murdering Cains, to involve the earth in blood and oppression : 
 A rock of offence to the licentious Greeks ; and a mortifying stain 
 
 20,34. 
 
B. III. A MARRIED LIFE. 97 
 
 to all flesh. Let it be particularly noticed, that the luife is cnAr.v. 
 required to be forsaken in order to gain the reward; but in this isa, viii. i4 
 reward, although an hundred fold is returned, yet the wife is loft J?- . 
 out ; which clearly shows that this relatio7i of wife, has no part 32, 33. 
 in Christ. 
 
 12. The readiest way to avoid persecution, would have been, 
 to advise those who professed faith in Christ, not to live contrary 
 to the children of this world, but to run with them to the same 
 excess of riot and ruin ; but far diiferent is the humiliating 
 language of the Gospel. 
 
 13. Except a man deny himself, said Jesus, a7id hate even his 
 own life, and take up his cross daily and follow me, he cannot 
 be my disciple. Take away, therefore, the precepts of Christ, 
 and all obligations of following his example, and the offence of the 
 cross, immediately ceases. 
 
 11. " But if thou marry, said the Apostle, thou hast not sin- 1 cor. vii. 
 ned; and if a virgin marry, she has not sinned." Tliis evidently ^^' 
 applied to such as had not sufficient faith to bear a full cross, i.e. 
 the earthly minded. But, " nevertheless (adds the Apostle,) such 
 shall have trouble in the flesh." The truth of this latter position 
 is so abundantly proved by experience, that it entirely excludes 
 the propriety of any contradiction. But the Apostle has here so R„m. viii. 
 clearly pointed out the state of those who marry that it seems as S' ^• 
 if the most blinded (by nature's darkness) might see the truth. 
 "Such shall have trouble in the flesh," and thus, such are in- 
 disputably in a state in which they cannot please God. " For 
 they that are in the flesh cannot please God." 
 
 15. " But I spare you," said he. This agrees with what he j-coriii. 2. 
 had told them before, " I have fed you with milk, and not with 
 
 meat : for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now 
 
 are ye able. But this I say, brethren, the time is short : it ^^^^ ^0.. 
 
 remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had 2»-3i. 
 
 none : and they that weep, as though they wept not ; and they 
 
 that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not ; and they that use this 
 
 world, as not abusing it : for the fashion of this world passeth 
 
 away." 
 
 16. Observe : they that have ivives, shall be as though they 
 had none ; and they that use this vmrld, as not abusing it. Can 
 this be said, where the silent grave has inclosed the one and left 
 the other in desolate widowhood ? or where the souls of both in- 
 habit eternity ? Or can it be said, where the tomb-stones over 
 their bodies have sealed their separation from all the works of 
 time ? By no means, for then none can suppose that they can 
 " use the things of this world." The Apostle alluded to the time 
 for which Jesus Christ taught his disciples to pray : Thy king- 
 dom come, thy will be done IN earth, as it is in heaven. 
 
 17. This time had already come to the Apostle, and to all the 
 
32-:i4. 
 
 98 INSTEUCTIONS CONCEENING B. III. 
 
 CHAP. V. true followers of Christ, as lie tells them in the same epistle, when 
 
 speaking of the idolatries, and fornications, and murmurings of the 
 
 icor, X. Jews, for which they were destroyed; saying, "Now all these 
 
 11- things happened unto them for examples : and they are written 
 
 for our admonition, " [the followers of Christ,]" upon whom the 
 
 ENDS OF THE WORLD ARE COME." 
 
 18. Whatever degree of indulgence was extended to some 
 among the Gentile nations, who professed faith in Christ, because 
 they were not able to bear the whole truth ; yet the truth did not 
 conceal the pointed distinction which Christ made between his 
 own true followers, and the children of this world. 
 
 19. " But," saith the Apostle, " I would bave you without 
 1 Cor.Tii. carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that be- 
 " long to the Lord, how he m&j please the Lord:" [His noblest 
 
 and principal affections are there.] " But he that is married 
 careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his 
 wife." The wife is put in the place of the Lord, as the first ob- 
 ject of his affections. 
 
 20. " The unmarried woman (i.e. the virgin for Christ's sake,) 
 careth for the things of the Lord," [upon whom she places her af- 
 fections,] " that she may be holy both in body and in spirit; 
 but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she 
 ma,j please her husband." She places her first affections upon 
 her husband, instead of the Lord. 
 
 21. The same pointed distinction is made by Jesus Christ ; 
 i.uke.xx. not only when he says of his disciples, " They are not of the 
 clTmpare ^^ovld, evsK as I am not of the world;" but in answering the 
 John, xi. Sadducees, who denied, and knew not that he was the resurreo 
 XV 4-7. & tion, he said, " The children of this world marry, and are given 
 ftli/VI *'™ ""carriage; but they which shall be accounted worthy to ob- 
 & 1 .Tohn' tain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither 
 111. 1, 2, 3. inarry, nor are given in marriage. Neither can they die any 
 
 more ; for they are equal unto the angels, and are the children 
 of God, being the children of the resurrection." 
 John, XI. 22. Christ declared, " I am the resurrection and the life." 
 
 If his words have any meaning, then the children of the resurrec- 
 tion are in his life, and live in him ; hence it follows conclusive- 
 ly, that all who are in Christ, neither marry nor are given in 
 marriage. And it is equally proved, that all who marry are not 
 in Christ, but are in the life of the world. 
 
 23. After the Apostle had pointedly shown the Corinthians 
 the distinction, between what belonged to the world, and what 
 belonged to the Lord, so careful was he lest they should stumble 
 
 _„ at the truth, that he added: "And this I speak for your own 
 
 35"" profit ; not that I may east a snare upon you, but for that which 
 
 is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without dis- 
 traction." 
 
 25, 
 
 1 Cor. vii. 
 
B. in. A MAREIED LIFE. 99 
 
 24. In his epistle to the Galatians, ho showed the cause of chap. v. 
 this distraction. It was the lust of the flesh, by which they oai. lii. i, 
 were bewitched. They held, as it were, the flesh in their right ■*• 
 hand, and the faith of Christ in their left ; and the spirit could 
 
 but feebly plead against the flesh ; hence-they could profess to 
 believe one thing, and practise another, and never practise what 
 their own faith taught them. 
 
 25. But the Apostle prescribes to them the remedy, when he 
 
 says, " Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of Oai. v. le, 
 the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit i'- 
 against the flesh : and these are contrary the one to the other ; 
 so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." 
 
 26. G-eneration and regeneration can no more be blended than 
 can death and life, for the life of the one, is the death of the 
 other ; hence the Saviour testified that " He that will save his 
 life shall lose it; but he that hateth and loseth his life, (the gen- 
 erative life of this world,) shall find and keep it (the regenerative 
 life) unto life eternal." For the generative life is the living 
 principle of this world, by which beings are begotten and born 
 into natural life. But the regenerative life is the living principle 
 of the superior and heavenly world, by which souls are born into 
 the heavenly or angelic life ; and thereby become " like the an- 
 gels of God in'heaven." Therefore, no faster than the natural, 
 generative life dies, can the spiritual, regenerative life possibly 
 take effect in any soul." 
 
 27. How many soever there were among the Gentiles, who 
 professed faith in Christ, but did not walk in the Spirit, but after 
 the flesh ; yet it is evident that there was a certain number, pro- 
 perly called the Church, who did take up a full cross against 
 all the carnal works of the flesh, after the example of Jesus Christ 
 and the Apostles. 
 
 28. Of this number St. Paul wrote to Timothy saying, " Let iTim. .. 
 not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years ^~''^' 
 old, having been the wife of one man, well reported of for good 
 works ; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged stran- 
 gers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have diligently 
 followed every good work. But the younger widows refuse ; for 
 
 when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will 
 marry ; having damnation, because they have cast off their first 
 faith." 
 
 29. It is certain then, that their first faith which they had re- 
 ceived in Christ, was not to live after the common course of the 
 world in the wvrks of the flesh ; else how could they, by casting 
 ofi^ their first faith, have damnation in marrying '? 
 
 30. And, if their first faith in Christ did not require them to 
 take up a full cross against every lust of the flesh, how could it 
 be said, that when they would marry, it was because they waxed 
 
100 INSTRUCTIONS CONCERNING B. ill. 
 
 CHAP. V. wanton against Christ ? For the -svliole of it pointedly shows 
 what the faith of Christ was, and what it was that stood against 
 Christ. 
 
 31. It is a mistake, therefore, to suppose, that the number 
 here spoken of, was a number of widows who were taken into the 
 Church to be supported only in temporal things. It was not the 
 immediate concern of the spiritual teachers of the Church to re- 
 gulate that matter : but it belonged to the deacons, in union with 
 the apostles, bishops, or elders, as may be seen by the first in- 
 stitution, to regulate the temporal affairs of the Church at Jeru- 
 salem. 
 Acts, vi. 2- 32. Be that as it may, it would be very unreasonable to sup- 
 '*' pose, that a widow having true faith, who was a widow indeed, 
 
 and who stood in need of temporal support, could not receive help 
 because she was not yet sixty years old. 
 
 33. Nature itself, and much more the Gospel of perfect justice 
 and equity teaches, that, if a widow of no more than thirty years 
 old, be in distress, and stand in need of as much help as one of 
 sixty years old, she ought to be relieved. And supposing a widow 
 of sixty years old, who had true faith, to have had even five hus- 
 bands, would this, according to the spirit and equity of the Gos- 
 pel, have shut up the bowels of compassion, in those who believ- 
 ed, from administering to her necessities ? Certainly not. 
 
 34. The truth is, the Apostle had here, a particular reference 
 to that certain number whose faith it was to live after the exam- 
 ple of Jesus Christ, and not after the common course of the 
 world. And he admitted that all such as had already proved 
 themselves continent, strong in the faith, and had diligently fol- 
 lowed every good work, might have a privilege to enjoy the free 
 exercise of their faith with this number, where they might be 
 supported in temporal things also. 
 
 35. And in a strict sense, this number only was properly call- 
 ed the Church, as is evident from the words of the Apostle that 
 
 1 Tim. V. follow: "• If any man or woman that helievcth have widows, let 
 them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may 
 relieve them that are widows indeed." 
 
 36. This further shows, as before observed, that there were 
 those, in the days of the Apostles, who were counted as believ- 
 ers, who did not take up a full cross, but more or less followed 
 the common course of the world, in living after the flesh. And 
 these could only find access to the Church, as the Gentiles, under 
 the Mosaic Dispensation, found access to the temple by coming 
 into the outer court, but could not enter within the temple. 
 
 37. Of this sort of believers were the young widows just men- 
 tioned, who were refused admittance into the Church ; not only 
 because when they waxed wanton against Christ they would 
 marry ; but withal they learned to be idle, going about from 
 
 3C. 
 
B. III. A MARRIED LIFS. 101 
 
 house to house ; tattlers also, and busybodies, speaking things chap, v. 
 ■which they ought not. 
 
 38. It was for these and such like reasons only, that the Apos- 
 tle said, " / 7vill, therefore, that the younger widows* marry, bear i Tim. \. 
 children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adver.sary to ^'^^'-^'■ 
 speak reproachfully. Eor some are already turned aside after 
 Satan." 
 
 39. From which it is evident, that some had already been 
 proved, who had professed to take up their cross, and had turned 
 aside from their first faith, and turned against Christ ; and where- 
 in they turned aside after Satan, is niade sufficiently clear by the 
 Apostle. 
 
 40. It was, therefore, far better for them to marry, and live 
 after the common course of the world, to be keepers at home, to 
 bear children, to guide the house, and so let their profession be 
 according to their practice, than to make a great profession of 
 faith in Christ, and then again turn against him by their contrary 
 practice, and give occasion to the adversary to speak reproach- 
 fully. 
 
 41. From what has been said concerning ihn primitive Church, 
 it may evidently appear, that all who were accounted believers 
 in that day, did not, strictly speaking, constitute that Church 
 which was the real spiritual body of Christ — the temple of the 
 living God. 
 
 42. The Apostles were commissioned to go and teach and 
 baptize all nations ; and as the true and abiding seal of their di- 
 vine commission, they themselves were first baptized with the 
 Holy Spirit and fire. And being baptized with, and into one 
 and the same Spirit into which Christ Jesus was baptized, thcj' 
 were able to follow his example, and to teach others to follow 
 them, as they followed Christ. 
 
 43. But were all the nations baptized ? Did all receive their 
 testimony? Did all follow the same example? In nowise, icor.iis. 
 It is evident throughout the writings of the Apostles, that there 
 
 were many unto whom the preaching of the cross was foolishness. 
 And even many who believed, or professed to believe in Christ, 
 walked directly contrary to his example. Of this sort St. Paul 
 wrote, in his epistle to the Philippians, 
 
 44. After having exhorted them, " Brethren, he ye followers PM.iii.ir- 
 of me, and Tnark them which walk so, as ye have us for an en- 
 sample : he adds, for many walk, of whom I have told you often, 
 and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of 
 the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is 
 their belly, whose glory is in their shame, loho mind earthly 
 ihmgs." 
 
 ' This word is the same as before traDslated widows, and it is wresting the 
 scripture to render it women. 
 
 19. 
 
102 THE ATTAINMENTS 0¥ B. III. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE ATTAINMENTS OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAP. VI. Whatever they were called, wlio professed faith in Christ, 
 
 whether believers, disciples, brethren, Christians, Churches, or 
 
 saints ; none, strictly speaking, were the true followers of Christ, 
 but such as received his word and continued therein, were bap- 
 tized with the Holy Spirit, were led by that Spirit, and followed 
 the very example of Christ Jesus in all his moral perfections. 
 
 2. Christ came to bring salvation from sin, and to release 
 souls from the bondage and condemnation of it ; and he taught 
 his followers how to obtain that inestimable prize of true felicity 
 and eternal life. And this salvation, which is the very essence 
 of all moral perfection, was attainable only by keeping all his 
 eommandments, as he kept the commandments of his Father. 
 
 John, XV. -^s Jesus said, " If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide 
 !"• in my love ; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, 
 
 and abide in his love." 
 
 3. Hence his true followers who copied his example, could 
 i.Tohn, i. freely testify to others, " That which we have seen and heard 
 3-7. declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us : 
 
 and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son 
 Jesus Christ." 
 
 4. " God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we 
 say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we 
 lie, and do not the truth : But if we walk in the light, as he is 
 in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood 
 (that is the life) of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all 
 sin." 
 
 chap, ii.4- 5- " He that saith I know him, and keepetk not his command- 
 's ments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth 
 his word, in him verily is the love of Grod perfected : hereby know 
 we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him, ought 
 himself also so to walk, even as he'' [Jesus Christ] "walked." 
 chap.iii.7, 6. "Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth 
 8- righteousness is righteous, even as he" [Jesus Christ] "is righte- 
 ous. He th^t committeth sin is of the devil ; for the devil sinneth 
 from the beginning." 
 chap. iv. 7. "No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one 
 12, 13. another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. 
 chH V " ■'^^*^i''^^y ""''^ ^™°^ *^^* """^ &^q\1 in him, and he in us, because he 
 3 '*''■ ''• "' hath given us of his Spirit. By this we know that we love the 
 
B. III. THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 103 
 
 children of God, whfen we love God, and keep his' command- chap.vi. 
 ments. For this is ihe love of God, that we keep his comviand- 
 ments ; and his commandments are not grievous." 
 
 8. Here is the character of a true follower of Christ — a tran- 
 script of the moral perfections of the Son of God — a true copy 
 of his holy life, transcribed by obedience, by receiving his word, 
 his commandments, and his Spirit, and walking therein, even as 
 he walked. Herein was the whole law fulfilled, not in Chri.st 
 Jesus only, but in every one of his true followers. 
 
 9. Thus, while sin and death reigned from Adam to Moses, 
 and the Law brought wrath and condemnation, and made, as it 
 were, the very life of the transgressor, offensive to God; Christ 
 Jesus came and burst the bands of sin and death, and brought 
 forth the prisoners out of their prison-houses, and the captives 
 out of their dungeons, saying, in the language of the Spirit, 
 Deny yourselves, and follow me. 
 
 10. And, by obedience to his commands, following his ex- 
 ample, and walking even as he walked, salvation from sin was 
 obtained by every one of his true followers. They dwelt in the 
 lace of God, and fulfilled the whole Law, to a much more per- 
 fect degree than was ever done before on earth. 
 
 11. Such then, were the nature and effects of man's redemp- 
 tion, brought to light by the Gospel of Christ Jesus, and mani- 
 fested to his church, his true followers, and members of his 
 body, who saw, and tasted, and handled of " the Woi'd of life," 
 
 12. The work of Redemption by Christ, in his followers, did 
 not consist in any change in the position of their natural bodies, 
 but in the disposition of their souls. Their dispositions, affec- 
 tions, lives, and manners, were changed by the Spirit of God, 
 through faith in Christ, and obedience to his law. 
 
 13. The nature and work of redemption, is a perfect contrast 
 to the nature and manner of man's fall from his primitive 
 rectitude. 
 
 14. The first Adam lost his union and relation to God, by 
 disobedience to his righteous law, and became a captive to the 
 desires and works of the flesh ; and all his posterity, being 
 begotten in that nature, were led captive by the same, and con- 
 tinued to fall with him, in the same line of disobedience. 
 
 15. Christ, the second Adam, who was manifested as the 
 heginning of the new creatimi in Jesus, and by whom all things Heb. i. 2. 
 were made and created, did not come to condemn mankind, but 
 
 to redeem and save them from that which was their loss and 
 separation from God, and to create them anew in his likeness. Eph. ii. lo. 
 
 16. And therefore Jesus set the example of perfect obedience to 
 the law of God his Father, and of complete self-denial, and a 
 final cross against all the carnal de?ires of the flesh, and the 
 actual works of natural generation. And all his true followers 
 
Jaa. iv. 5. 
 
 2 Tim. ii, 
 26. 
 
 104 THE ATTAINMENTS OF B. III. 
 
 CHAP. VI . found their union and relation to God, through Christ, in the 
 same line of obedience with him. 
 
 17. And herein it was, that he and his kingdom, and his true 
 followers, were not of this world. And herein lay the secret 
 cause of all the enmity between those who were born after the 
 flesh, and those who were born again, of the Spirit. For this, the 
 very spirit and life of Jesus Christ was hated. 
 .Total, iii. 18. Grod did not hate the world, but " so loved the world, 
 
 iiJ- ' that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
 
 him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 
 
 19. He created man at the beginning for his own honor and 
 glory; and in his first creation, as he was made in the image 
 and likeness of his Creator, there was nothing in his soul, or 
 body, that was offensive to the pure nature of God who created 
 him. But man received, by his disobedience, a foul and rebel- 
 lious spirit against God, which lusted to envy: it was this that 
 ever stood in opposition to God's holy and pure law, and was 
 the object of his just indignation. 
 
 20. By this, the soul, with all its noble affections, was led 
 captive by the devil into sin; but ever remained the object of 
 God's love, and became punishable only as it yielded to the in- 
 fluence of sin. 
 
 21. Through the influence of this foul and rebellious spirit, 
 the natural body, with all its faculties, became polluted, and 
 directed to an evil use, contrary to the law of God. But the 
 natural body, simply considered in itself, remained the same 
 after the fall as it was before, with all its form, natural pro- 
 perties and qualities, and only shared with the soul in its punish- 
 ments, by reason of sin. 
 
 22. The natural body of man, comprehending male and female, 
 being of the earth, earthy, and created for time, stood in need 
 of temporal food for its subsistence, before the fall, as well as 
 after. And so in regard to the formation of his body, and its 
 natural properties for the increase of posterity, simply considered 
 in itself, there was no change, it remained the same after the 
 fall as it was before : the change was in his inclination to sinful 
 actions, and in his obedience thereto. 
 
 23. In the beginning " God saw every thing that he had made, 
 and behold it was very good;" and He has never found any 
 fault with his own work ; but, as man had corrupted himself and 
 the earth, by reason of sin, therefore God promised to create 
 
 2 Pet. iii. new heavens, and a new earth, wherein should dwell righteous- 
 ness. 
 
 24. When therefore the law went to condemn any property, 
 which was necessary in the natural creation, as sinful or unclean, 
 either in male or female, it was not because there was any evil 
 in the thing simply considered in itself ; but because it was cor- 
 
 13, 
 
B. III. PRlMITIAiE CHURCH. 105 
 
 rupted, and must be redeemed from that corruption before it chap. V[, 
 could ever come into the mw creation. ' 
 
 25. The Son of man himself, who by regeneration became ihio, first Heb. iv. 15. 
 horn of God, and the Eedeemer of mankind, although he was not 
 
 of this world, yet he was found in fashion like other men, touch- 
 ed with a feeling of their infirmities, and tempted hi all points 
 as they were, subject to hunger, and weariness, and stood in need 
 of temporal subsistence. But he "knew no sin, neither was guile 
 found in his moiith." 
 
 26. " It is enough,^'' said Jesus, " that the disciple he as his Jfat. x, 25. 
 master, ajid the serva?tt as his lord." "But every one that is i.uke, vi. 
 perfect, shall be as his master." And in his prayer to his Father *°' 
 
 for his disciples, he says, " They are not of the world, even as I Joim^xvii. 
 am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldst take them ' ' 
 out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil. 
 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy luord is truth." 
 
 27. And hence the words of the Apostle, " The very God of iThcs. v. 
 peace sanctify you vjholly : and I pray God your whole spirit ' ^' 
 and soul, and body, he preserved blameless unto the comi^ig of 
 
 our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 28. The Apostle did not pray that God would change the form 
 or properties of their bodies, or the faculties of their souls from 
 what he had made them at the beginning ; nor did he pray that 
 the corruption of nature might be sanctified; but that their souls 
 and bodies, which at tbe beginning were innocent, and lovely, 
 might *e wholly sanctified and cleansed from sin, — the cause of 
 every corruptioii and offence. 
 
 29. Christ Jesus was a man, who had no other bodily appear- 
 ance than that of other men. And his followers were men and 
 women, like other men and women, who possessed all their for- 
 mer organizations, and faculties of body and mind with which 
 they were at first created. But the change which was wrought 
 in the followers of Christ, by the Gospel, consisted in their being 
 saved from sin ; and that the cause of every offence between God 
 and them was removed. 
 
 30. And, by receiving his word, and abiding in it, they received 
 his Spirit, and had power to become the sons of God, and joint- 
 heirs with Jesus Christ in his kingdom ; were freely justified by 
 his grace ; and were no longer under the guilt and condemnation 
 
 of the law. As it is written, " There is therefore, now no con- Rom. viii. 
 demnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after ^'^''' 
 the flesh, hut -after the Spirit." They are made free from the 
 law of sin and death, by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. 
 
 31. The law could never save the soul from sin ; and therefore 
 the guilt and condemnation of sin remained ; it was weak through 
 the flesli, because those who were, under it, lived in the gratifi- 
 cation of the flesh. 
 
106 THE ATTAINMENTS OF THE B. HI. 
 
 CHAP. VT. 32. Henco it is written: "What the law could not do, in 
 
 ' tliat it was weak through tho flosh, God sending his own Son in 
 
 the likeness of sinful flosh, and for sin" [original, by a sacrifice 
 for sin] "condemned sin in the fllesh ; that the righteousness of 
 the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk vol after the flesh, 
 hit after the Spirit." 
 
 33. " For they that are after the flesh, do mind the things of 
 the flesh : but they that are after tho iSj^iirit, the things of the 
 Spirit. For to be carnally" [fleshly] " minded is death ; but to 
 be spiritually minded is life and peace: Because the carnal" 
 [fleshly] " mind is enmity against (iod ; for it is not subject to 
 the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then, they that are 
 in the flesh camtot please God." 
 
 34. " But ye are not in tho flesh, but in the spirit, if so be 
 that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if amj man havemt 
 the Spirit of Christ, he is iio/ic of his. And if Christ be in you, 
 the body is dead because of sin ;" [Christ and sin cannot dwell 
 together ; where he has tho lead and government of the mind, 
 the body is dead and inactive to sin;] "but the spirit is alive 
 because of righteousness." 
 
 35. This answers to what the Apostle had before stated, when 
 he showed what it was to be crucified and dead with Christ. 
 
 itom. vi.e-' " Knowing that our old nMn is crucified with him, that the body 
 c?'i ' 21 "/•"'''" [lot *^"3 natural body, nor any part or property of it] 
 " Diighl be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serf^e sin. 
 for he that is dead" [to sin] " is freed from sin." 
 
 '.]&. " Likewise reckon ye nLsu yourselves to be dead indeed 
 unto sin; but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, that ye 
 should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your 
 members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield 
 yourselves u7ito God, as those that are alive from the dead ; and 
 your members instruments of righteousness unto God." 
 Rom. vi. -37. " For sin shall not have dominion over you ; for j'C arc 
 
 ^''"'''" not under the law, but under grace. What then ? shall vvo sin 
 because we are not under the law, but under grace ?" [Gr. Mr) 
 ysvoiTo.] Let it not be. "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield 
 yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; 
 whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" 
 
 38. Did then the Gospel of Jesus Christ come to count all 
 mankind under grace who did not come under its influence ? In 
 nowise. Tho distinction is made plain between those who are 
 yet under the law, and those who are under grace. 
 
 39. " The law was given because of sin, that the ofi'ence might 
 abound," (i.e. might be made manifest,) and served as a school- 
 John, i. 17. master, until faith and obedience, grace and truth, wore made 
 
 manifest by Jesus Christ. And after Christ- came, those who 
 
B. III. PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 107 
 
 received lum by faitli, and became his by obedience, ■\vcro no ciuivvr. 
 longer under that school-master, but were under grace. 
 
 40. But who were released from that school-master ? Those 
 who continued to commit sin, as some pretend, with a granous 
 reluctance ? Nay, in nowise. For the Law was gi\ en by reason 
 of sin, and the testimony of the scripture, is plain and pointed : 
 "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to f,„^^ nj 
 them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, w- 
 and all the ivorld may hewme guil/y befoi'C God." 
 
 41. And again: "Whosoever committeth sin transgresscth iJohn, iii. 
 also the law ; for sin is the transgression of the laic." There- ' "' 
 fore we conclude, that whosoever liveth in sin, whether he be 
 
 called Gentile, Jew, or Christian, he is yet under the guilt and 
 condemnation of the L'aW, and has no part in Christ; neither piiii. iii. in. 
 knoweth him, in the power of his resurrection. 
 
 4'2. And, as the Law of Moses was given to convey the know- 
 ledge of sin, that all the world might become guilty before God, 
 therefore, by the deeds of the lata, shall no jlesh he justified in Rom. iii. 
 his sight. But by Christ all that believe, are justified from all ~^^^ ^jj; 
 things, from which they could not be justified by the law of 39. 
 Moses. 
 
 43. " Christ is become the end of the lavj for righteousness to rq^. _^. 4. 
 eueryoJie ?Aa<BELiEVETH;" and "hehecame the author of eternal i-ieb.v.9. 
 salvatio7i to all them that obey him." Therefore, there is no 
 difference; all who believe and obey him, are equally justified 
 
 in his sight, and equally accepted of him, whether male or female, 
 bond or free, Jew or Greek; and " the righteousness of the law 
 is fulfilled in them, because they walk not after the flesh, but 
 after the Spirit." 
 
 44. And it is through the Spirit they mortify and crucify the Rom. viii. 
 deeds of the body, and live unto God. "For as many as are g^^v. is 
 led by the Spirit of God, they are lheso7is of God," and are not '-i- 
 under the law, but are made free, and set at liberty, being the 
 children of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. 
 
 45. What, then, because they are made free from the Law, Coi. i. 20. 
 by the Spirit and cross of Christ, shall they therefore live any ^"'•^''H- 
 longer in the gratification of the flesh ? Nay, in nowise ; their 
 liberty, and their peace, is through the cross of Christ, by whom 
 
 the world is crucified unto them, a7id they u7ito the world. 
 
 46. Hence said' the Apostle, "Ye have been called unto cimp. v. 13, 
 liberty: only use not liberty j'or an occasion to the flesh, but bj' ^'^' 
 
 love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in this one 
 word ; Them shall love thy neighbor as thyself." 
 
 47. Fo.r the greatest reason, then, because the Spirit of Christ 
 dwells in them, by which the whole Law is fulfilled, the Apostle 
 concludes, "Therefore, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live Rom. viii. 
 after the flesh." ^-- 
 
108 
 
 CHAP. 
 VIl. 
 
 Gal. 
 23. 
 
 THE ORDER AND POWER OF 
 
 B. III. 
 
 48. And as the tree is liiwwn hy its fruit, so the Spirit by 
 which the primitive Church was led, was evidently distinguished 
 by such fruits as are briefly summed up by the Apostle, namely: 
 love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meek, 
 ness, temperance ; against such there is no law. 
 
 .Tnlin, iii. 
 
 13. 
 
 Acts, ii. 34. 
 
 John, xiv. 
 
 9-11. 
 
 chap. ill. 
 35. 
 
 V. 22, 23, 
 26, 27. 
 
 John, ix. 5. 
 xiv. G. 
 Col. i. 19. 
 ii.9. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE ORDER AND POWER OP THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 
 
 Christ Jesus our Saviour, during the time of his ministry on 
 earth, took great pains to instruct his disciples, concerning the 
 design of his coming into the world ; the nature of his kingdom ; 
 the order and place in which he stood, as the light of the world ; 
 the salt or Saviour of the earth, for their salvation and redemp- 
 tion ; and, for the same purpose, the order in which his Church 
 should stand as his body, after his decease, or departure from 
 them. 
 
 2. "No man hath ascended up into heaven," said Jesus Christ, 
 " but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, who is 
 in heaven. He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father. Believe 
 me that I am in the -Father, and the Father in me." Here was 
 God and heaven made manifest on earth. 
 
 3. "The Father himself loveth the Son, and hath given all 
 things into his hand. The Father judgeth no man : but hath com- 
 mitted all judgment unto the Son : that all men should honor 
 the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not 
 the Son, honoreth not the Father which sent him." 
 
 4. " As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to 
 the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority 
 to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man." He 
 is the So7i of man, because he is the true descendant and heir 
 of man according to his original innocent order ; thus having 
 inherited the highest human faculties, and subdued and devoted 
 them to the will of G-od. He is the Dispenser of Divine justice, 
 and in this manner takes the lead and government of man's 
 affections, and is therefore capable of exercising true judgment, 
 in opposition to the man of sin, the son of perdition. 
 
 5. " As long as I am in the world," said Jesus, " I am the 
 light of the world ; I am the way, and the truth, and the life : no 
 
Jolin 
 
 xiv. 
 
 20. 
 
 
 Rora. 
 
 xii. 
 
 4,5. 
 
 
 Eph. 
 
 i.22, 
 
 23. 
 
 
 cliap. 
 
 V. .30. 
 
 B. III. THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 109 
 
 man oometli unto the Father hut by me." From all which, it '^y^^' 
 is evident, that in his human body and soul dwelt the true Chri.st, ' 
 
 the fullness of God the Father, pertaining to man's redemption. 
 
 6. Through the same power and authority of the Holy Spirit 
 with which Jesus was invested, he commanded his disciples, 
 saying, ^^ All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go Jo^Vij"^'"' 
 ye therefore, and teach all nations."' And he promised to endow 
 
 them with the same power to perform their mission : which pro- 
 mise he fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. 
 
 7. And, as his disciples and immediate followers, stood nearest 
 to him in point of union, therefore the descent of the Holy 
 Spirit was properly the descent of the same anointing that ho 
 had; so that whatever order, lot, or ofiice he had received from 
 the Father, relative to the world, the same pertained also to the 
 Church who received of his fullness, and through them must be 
 propagated. 
 
 8. Then they knew in truth, that the Father was in Christ, and 
 he in them, and they in him ; and that they had both the Father 
 and the Son. Then God, and Christ, and the Church, became 
 ONE. And such as believed and were baptized with the Holy 
 Spirit, being of one heart and of one soul, were the trve hody of 
 Christ, and members in particular; members of his body, of his 
 
 flesh, and of his bones, because his Spirit dwelt in human 
 tabernacles as his body. 
 
 9. So that, according to the measure of that Dispensation, 
 the Church was as really the body of Christ, — a body as really 
 ANOINTED, as the man Jesus was, while visible on the earth; 
 and God did as really dwell in the one as in the other. 
 
 10. And, as Christ was the only light of the world, the only 
 salt of the earth, by which men could be saved, and was now 
 really and actually in the Church as his true body, he in them, 
 and they in him, and they were perfect 'in one; therefore they 
 were now the only light of the world, the only salt of the earth. 
 
 11. Of this Jesus had told them while he was yet with them, 
 
 before the Holy Spirit was given, saying, "Ye are the salt of Mm. v. is, 
 the earth ; but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it ^^' 
 be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out 
 and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the 
 world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid." 
 
 12. By which, he plainly intimated the order in which they 
 were to stand, with regard to the salvation of others, and that 
 the world could not be saved without them. And as the salt of 
 the earth is the only saviour of the body, that is the members of 
 the Church, so all the salvation that was within the reach of the 
 world, was in the Church, and the Church remained to be the 
 only true Saviour of the world, according to the sayings of 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
110 THE OKDEE AND POWER OP B. III. 
 
 CHAP. 13_ I. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but 
 
 ^' ' ye see me : because I live, ye shall live also. And now, I am no 
 
 j.ihii, xiv. more in the world. And the glory which thou gavest me, I have 
 
 iv'ii.11,22, gi^eii them; that they maybe one, even as we are one: I in 
 
 23. them, and thou in me." 
 
 14. Hence the Church was in possession of what Christ called 
 the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; for heaven was really upon 
 earth, in them, and they sat in heavenly places, with Christ 
 Jesus. And this order Jesus gave them, when he said to the 
 
 Mat. xviii. Church, " Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on 
 ^''"^"' earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose 
 on earth, shall be loosed in heaven." 
 
 15. "Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree 
 on earth, as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be 
 done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two 
 or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the 
 midst of them." 
 
 16. Now, although the world could see the Son of man no 
 more in the body or flesh of Jesus, yet his power, which he had 
 while visible on earth, was not diminished in his followers, but 
 increased, according to his promise, "Verily, verily, I say unto 
 
 jnim.iiv. yg^^ jjg ^jjg^j. ]3elieveth on me," [and keepeth my command- 
 ments,] "the works that I do shall he do also; and greater 
 works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." 
 
 17. And that power was not diminished after Jesus left the 
 world; the true and real members of the Church or body of 
 Christ, had the same power on earth that Jesus had; according 
 
 John, XX. to his words, " Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto 
 ^- them,; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." 
 
 18. Hence says the Apostle to the Corinthians, " To whom ye 
 10. forgive any thing, I forgive also : for if I forgave any thing, to 
 
 whom I forgave it," [Gr. 5ia ufxaj,] hy yaw "forgave I it, in the 
 icor. v4 person of Christ." And again, "In the name of our Lord 
 5- Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with 
 
 the power of our Lord Jesus, to deliver such an one to Satan." 
 
 19. Thus it is evident that the Church and messengers of 
 Christ stood in his very character, and acted by the very same 
 spirit and power of the Lord Jesus, which he had received from 
 his Father, and given unto them. Whatsoever they taught, was 
 taught of God; and whosoever received, despised, or rejected 
 them, received, despised, or rejected not man, but God. 
 
 1 Thes.iv. 20. Hence the words of the Apostle, " God hath not called us 
 
 ' ■ to uncleanness, but unto holiness. He, therefore, that despiseth, 
 
 [or rejecteth,] despiseth [or rejecteth] not man, but God." 
 
 Johmxii. 11 He that rejecteth me, said Jesus, and receiveth not my words, 
 
 ' ' hath one that judgeth him : the word that I have spoken, the 
 
 same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of 
 
B. III. 
 
 THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 
 
 Ill 
 
 John. xvii. 
 7-9. & 17, 
 IS, & 20, 
 22, 23. 
 
 Jolin, xiii. 
 
 20. & XX. 
 
 21, 23. 
 
 myself; but tte Father which sent me, he gave mo a command- *^yf/' 
 
 ment what I should say, and what I should speak." . 
 
 Lil. And whatsoever Jesus Christ spake of himself, pertained 
 also to his followers; for all that the Father gave unto him, he 
 gave unto them, even eternal life; as he expresses it in his 
 address to the Father. 
 
 22. "Now they have known that all things,. whatsoever thou 
 hast given me, are of thee. For I have given unto them the 
 words which thou gavest me, and they have received them. I 
 pray for them, I pray not for the world. Sanctify them through 
 thy truth ; thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the 
 world, even so have I sent. them, into the world. Kcither pray I 
 for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on mo 
 through their word. And the glory which thou gavest me, I 
 have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I 
 in fliem, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; 
 and that the world may know that thou hast sent mo, and hast 
 loved them, as thou hast loved me.''^ 
 
 23. In th-e same order in which his Father had placed him, 
 he also placed them, as his joint body, and endowed them with 
 the same power and authority. 
 
 24:. " Yerily, verily, I say unto you, He that reoeiveth whom- 
 soever I send, receiveth me ; and he that reoeiveth me, receiveth 
 him that sent me. As my Father hath sent me, even so send I 
 you." Then, as the Father was revealed in Christ ; so in the 
 same manner is Christ revealed in his Church, as his true body. 
 And as God is the Head of Christ ; so is Christ Jesus the Head 
 of his Church. 
 
 25. And as whatever was done by Christ, was done by the 
 Father; so, whatever is -done by the true Church and body of 
 Christ, is done by Christ himself. 
 
 26. And as the Father judged no man, but committed all Joim.v. 2 
 judgment to the Son; so in like manner, when the Son had 
 finished the work on earth which was given him to do, he com- 
 mitted all judgment to the saints, in whom he promised to dwell, 
 
 and out of the Church he judgeth no man. Know ye not, saith i Cnr. vi. i 
 the Apostle, that the saints shall judge the world? 
 
 27. And as "tjo man hath seen God at any time; but the 
 only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, hath de- 
 clared him;" so no man hath seen the Son in his glorified state, 
 at any time ; but his only begotten saints, who are in him, and 
 he in them, they have declared him in his true character. God 
 is a Spirit, and cannot be seen, known, or worshipped, but by 
 
 and in the Spirit. " For the thi7igs of God hnaweth no man, hut i Cor. ii. 
 the Spirit of God." 
 
 28. Then, as Christ, that is, the Aiiointing Spirit, with which 
 Jesus was anointed, alone really knew the Father, being a quick- 
 
112 THE OUDER AND POWER OP B. III. 
 
 CHAP, ening Spirit, one with tlie Father ; it is evident that no man can 
 ' know the things of Christ, but by the Spirit of Christ, which 
 Spirit is in all his truly begotten followers. 
 
 29. The Church, or body of saints, which Christ himself had 
 spiritually begotten, which were in his bosom, as he was in the 
 bosom of the Father, was the only salt of the earth — the light of 
 the world — the only house, or temple of the living God on eartl, 
 and the only pillar and ground of truth among men : therefore it 
 was impossible for any soul to find God or Christ to salvation, 
 in any other place, or through any other medium, than through 
 the Church, or saints, the true members of his body, in which he 
 dwelt. 
 Acts, X. 1- 30. This is clearly proved by the case of " Cornelius, the 
 ■'■ centurion, a devout man, and one that feared God with all his 
 
 house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God 
 alway." But he was not. yet saved. And the angel who came 
 to Cor?ieUus, could inform him that his prayers and alms were 
 come up for a memorial before God, and intimate to him that he 
 was not yet saved, and that in order to obtain salvation, he must 
 send for Simon Peter. 
 
 31. But why could not the angel administer salvation to him, 
 without being beholden to Peter ? The truth is, it was not in 
 his power ; that power was committed unto the Church, as hath 
 been shown. 
 
 32. Salvation was only in and by Christ, and Christ, from the 
 beginning, had not taken on him the nature of angels, but the 
 seed of Abraham, and was, and still continued to be manifested 
 in the flesh, and dwelt in his temple or earthly tabernacle, where 
 he promised to dwell. 
 
 38. Therefore the most that the angel could do for this devout 
 man, was to inform him where he could find an entrance into the 
 kingdom of heaven, and direct him to that temple, or habitation 
 of God, from which the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus 
 could be communicated. 
 
 34. And as Peter was a real member of the body of Christ, 
 who had Christ the Word and power of salvation, and eternal 
 life dwelling in him, according to the work of that day, with 
 authority to transmit the same to others ; therefore the angel 
 
 ^';j'g^'- said to Cornelius, "Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, 
 whose surname is Peter, who shall tell thee words, whereby thou 
 and all thy house shall be saved." 
 
 35. And, when Peter came to Cornelius, and those who were 
 with him, and preached unto them that Word, which he had in 
 him, which God had appointed to be the judge of both quick and 
 dead, the Holy Spirit fell on them, as it did on the Apostles at 
 the beginning ; and they were translated from darkness to light, 
 and from the power of S atan into the kingdom of heaven upon earth. 
 
B. III. THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 113 
 
 36. By this ciroumstanoe, together with what has been said, ™fi^' 
 it is verified beyond all contradiction, that unto the angels 
 
 God hath not subjected the world to come, or the building of his Heb. a. 5. 
 habitation among men. Nor was there any angel, or spirit, in 
 heaven or on earth, that could open and administer the true way 
 and power of salvation and eternal life, but that Spirit and power 
 which abode in the Church. 
 
 37. It was in the Church that Christ was set upon the right 5j°'J'p^1 
 hand of the Father, in heavenly places, far above all principality m-hu 20-23. 
 and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is 
 named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come. 
 
 Here God the Father put all things under his feet, and " Christ 
 was given to be the Head over all things to the Church, which is 
 his body, the fulness ot him that filleth all in all." 
 
 38. And that the Church was the only medium, through which 
 
 . ' c^ Acts IX 1~ 
 
 the Gospel of salvation and eternal life could be administered to 3. ' ' 
 mankind, is also manifest from the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, 
 while on his way to Damascus, breathing out threatnings and 
 slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, when he was arrested 
 by a shining light. 
 
 39. Christ is the true light, who, coming into the world, 
 enlighteneth every man. But the light that shone upon Saul 
 blinded him: and moreover no man can even call Jeisus, Lord, 
 and much less see him, but by the Holy Spirit. And Saul 
 neither received his sight, nor the Holy Spirit, until three days 
 after, when he received both, through Ananias a jpember of 
 Christ's body. 
 
 40. But Saul himself relates his seeing a vision, and hearing a 
 voice, saying, " Saul, Saul, v;hy persecutest thou meV No doubt 
 
 Paul saw a vision of Jesus. But who was he then persecuting ? ^'^^' '^ ^' 
 Not that light that struck him blind, nor that voice that reproved 
 him. These he respected as the glory and voice of the Lord, as 
 much as his fathers had respected the cloud of glory which cov- 
 ered the mercy-seat; but Christ in his real habitation he had 
 not respected, but persecuted him in the true members of his 
 body. 
 
 41. He had persecuted Christ in Stephen the martyr, and he 
 had persecuted him in those men and women, whom he had 
 hauled forth and committed to prison. And it was only in the 
 members of Christ, that he, or any other, could either love or 
 hate him, bless or curse him, receive or reject him; according 
 
 to Christ's own words : Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as Mat. xxy. 
 ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have *"' '*^' 
 done it unto me. 
 
 42. And therefore, as Christ dwelt nowhere for true salvation 
 to men, but in his living witnesses, the vision could only direct 
 him where to find Christ, and through whom he must receive his 
 
114 THE ORDER AND POWER OF, &0. B. III. 
 
 *^^j^P- instructions, saying, " Arise and go into the city, and it shall 
 ' be told thee, what thou must do.''' 
 
 kT'-w''' ^^' ^^611 therefore Saul was obedient to the heavenly vision, 
 and Ananias also followed the instructions which he had received 
 through another vision, and actually laid his hands on Saul, in 
 the very Spirit and power of that Jesus Christ whom he had seen 
 in vision on the way, then Saul received his sight, and was filled 
 with the Holy Spirit ; and then, and' not till then, did he know 
 Christ ; and, abiding certain days with the disciples, straightway 
 he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of 
 God. 
 
 44. It is evident, that, by finding his union to A?iajiias, a 
 member of the Church, he found his union to Christ, and be- 
 came himself a member of Christ's body, and a joint-heir to the 
 promised inheritance. And thus, having Christ in him, he wag 
 thereby qualified to preach, among the G-entiles, the same Gos- 
 pel of salvation and eternal life, and to administer the same to 
 others, which he himself had received, not as of man's wisdom, 
 but as a medium of revelation, through the Divine Spirit of 
 Christ. 
 
 Gal. i. 11. 45. Hence he says to the Gralatians : "■ I certify, brethren, that 
 the Gospel which was preached of me, is not after man. For I 
 neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the 
 revelation of Jesus Christ." 
 
 46. And in the same sense the Galatians received him, not 
 as man, but " as an angel, even as Christ Jesus.'' And to 
 
 chap. iv. the Thessalonians he says, " "When ye received the word of God 
 1 Thes. u. which ye heard OP us, ye received it not as the word of men, but 
 13. !*■ (as it is in truth) the word of God. For ye became followers of 
 the churches of God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus." 
 
 47. Thus the Gospel of salvation, in its spirit and power, was 
 conveyed from the living witnesses and members of Christ's body, 
 to those who had it not ; and among those who received faith, 
 the younger copied the example of the elder; and by the one 
 undivided Spirit which they received, they became one in Christ, 
 as Christ and God are one. 
 
 2?.'thl ^^' .■''* '^^^ "^^^ Word of God, even the mystery, which had 
 3.' ' ' been hid from ages, and from generations, that was made mani- 
 2Cor.iv.6, fest unto the saints — which is Christ in you, saith the Apostle, 
 the hope of glory ; the mystery of God, and of the Father, and 
 of Christ ; in whom are hid all the treasures of vnsdom and 
 knowled,ge." And this treasure was committed to earthen 
 vessels. 
 
 49. Then, where else could that wisdom and knowledge he 
 found, but in that mystery ? and where could that mystery he 
 found, but in those earthen vessels to whom it was committed? 
 There is no salvation in any other, but in Christ Jesus, as it is 
 
B. III. THE EISE AND DOMINION OF, &C. 115 
 
 written, " For there is no other name under heaven, given among ^J[f^- 
 men whereby we must be saved." 
 
 50. And as Christ Jesus was revealed, and made manifest for Acts, iv. 
 salvation, in his saints only, and unto them was committed all ^''^' 
 power to remit and retain sin, and all that pertained to eternal 
 
 life and godliness ; therefore, without the boundary of the Church, 
 true salvation was never found; nor, separate from it, could one 
 soul ever find deliverance from the reigning power of sin. 
 
 51. And hence the words of St. Peter are verified: "Accord- aPct. i. 3. 
 ing as his divine power hath given unto us all things that per- 
 tain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that 
 
 hath called us to glory and virtue." And hence also those of 
 St. John: "We know that we are of God, and that the whole 
 world lieth in wickedness. And we know that the Son of God 10,30.' 
 is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know 
 him that is true ; and toe are in Idm tliat is true, evcii, in his Son 
 Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE EISE AND DOMINION OP ANTICHRIST PREDICTED. 
 
 It is certain' that neither Christ nor the Apostles expected the 
 continuance of that order and power, in which the primitive 
 Church stood ; for the order of its foundation was not completed ; 
 but on every occasion, spoke of the work in which they were 
 engaged, as not only subject to be corrupted, but plainly fore- 
 told that it would be supplanted, by a false spirit and power, 
 which would prevail against the truth, and overcome the saints 
 for a certain limited time. 
 
 2. And in this, the spirit of prophecy which was in them, agreed 
 with the predictions of the Prophets, who had spoken of the suf- 
 ferings of Christ, and of a beastly dominion that would arise, 
 and make war against the saints of the Most High, and overcome 
 and triumph over them for a season, before the ultimate glory of 
 Christ's kingdom should be fully established. 
 
 3. The Prophet Daniel gives a very plain and striking repre- 
 sentation of this, in opening Nebuchadnezzar's vision of the 
 image, which represented four oppressive kingdoms, or earthly 
 governments, the last of which was to be more universally des- 
 tructive to the saints than any of the former. 
 
 Dan. ii. 01- 
 
116 
 
 THE RISE AND DOMINION OF 
 
 B. III. 
 
 CHAP. 
 VIII. 
 
 Daii. vii. 
 
 chap. ix. & 
 xii. 
 
 Ezekiel 
 xxxviii. & 
 xixis. 
 
 Mat. xxiv 
 Mark, xiii. 
 & Luke, 
 xxi. 
 
 2 Thes. ii. 
 
 3. 
 
 1 Tim. iv. 
 
 1. 
 
 Rev. ii. iii. 
 
 Rev. xiii. 
 
 Rev. 
 
 4. The same was also shown by tte vision of four great beasts, 
 the last of which was dreadful and terrible, and prefigured an 
 oppressive power that was to devour the whole earth, and tread 
 it down, and break it in pieces. 
 
 5. To Daniel also was pointed out the cutting off of the Mes- 
 siah ; the taking away of the daily sacrifice ; the setting up of 
 the abomination, which would make the truth desolate ; and the 
 period of time it would stand. And most of the Prophets, par- 
 ticularly Ezekiel, have spoken of the same things. 
 
 6. Christ Jesus, in his instructions to his disciples, is very 
 pointed, in showing them, not only that Ms work of that day 
 would be supplanted, but by whom, and in what manner it would 
 be effected. 
 
 7. He forewarns them of the coming of false christs, [i.e. 
 antichrist,] and false prophets, who would shew signs and won- 
 ders, and if it were possible, deceive the very elect; that many 
 (not a few) would come in his name, saying I am Christ, and 
 would deceive many. 
 
 8. He also forewarns them that Jerusalem [literally and 
 spiritually] would be compassed about with armies, and finally 
 taken ; and that the abomination of desolation spoken of, would 
 be set up in that very city which the saints had possessed, and 
 from which they should flee as from the deepest, sink of cor- 
 ruption. 
 
 9. And St. Paul, in his epistle to the Thessalonians, concern- 
 ing the day of Christ's second coming/ says, "That day shall 
 not come, except there come first a falling away." And to Tim- 
 othy, the Apostle wrote of the Spirit's speaking expressly, that 
 in the latter times some would depart, [or stand off] from the 
 faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. 
 
 10. St. John also, in the. latter days of his time, represents 
 the true Church, in his book of Revelation, as already swiftly on 
 the decline, as may be seen by his solemn warnings to the seven 
 churches of Asia. 
 
 11. He likewise describes the growing power of corruption and 
 oppression, under the figure of two wild beasts, the first as com- 
 ing up out of the sea, and the second out of the earth, which ex- 
 ercised all the power of the first, to show the continuance of the 
 same beastly power in another form. 
 
 12. And lastly, he represents his whole compound of mon- 
 strous wickedness, under the figure of a scarlet colored beast, 
 whose power was universal, carrying a " Mother of Harlots" 
 with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication and lived 
 delioiously. 
 
 13. It is clearly manifest, from all that is recorded in Church 
 History, that such an apostasy did take place, as entirely ex- 
 cluded the Spirit and power of Christ from what was called his 
 
B. III. 
 
 ANTICHRIST PBEDICTED. 
 
 117 
 
 Churohf and' that a false spirit and power prevailed in that church, 
 for many ages, after the days of the Apostles. 
 
 14. But it may be asked, whether this church really descended 
 from the primitive Church of Christ, and had still a measure of 
 the same Spirit ? or whether it originated wholly from another 
 source ? or whether Cod had a people in that Church, distinct 
 from the main body of professors ? or whether there was a pure 
 Church preserved on the earth, vested with the Apostolic power, 
 altogether distinct from that corrupt body? These are questions 
 which have furnished matter of great debate, and many re- 
 searches ; but could never be decided by all the powers of argu- 
 ment. 
 
 15. For the prophecies, being mostly sealed up under the 
 figurative language of the inspired writers, were liable to any ap- 
 plication which the ingenuity of the learned might contrive ; they 
 were therefore not intended to be understood, any faster than 
 they were actually fulfilled, that the truth of things might be 
 established by an appeal to matters of fact. As said the angel 
 to the prophet Daniel, " Go thy way Daniel ; for the v:ords are 
 closed up and sealed till the time of the e7id." 
 
 16. Therefore, as ^Hhc time of the end" is actually come, in 
 which those predictions concerning antichrist have had their time 
 and accomplishment, it will be proper and necessary to discover 
 the true source and influence of that false power called antichrist, 
 by which the nations and kingdoms of the earth were deceived for 
 ages, and brought into bondage the most wicked and oppressive : 
 and by which the cause of true virtue was trodden under foot, 
 and became unknown; that now "the thoughts of -inany hearts 
 may he revealed." 
 
 17. Many persons have supposed that a true Church of Christ 
 existed through all the dark and deplorable reign of antichrist ; 
 and ecclesiastical writers have labored much to prove this posi- 
 tion, and to trace out such a church in the line of certain indi- 
 viduals and sects, to the Reformation. While the Catholics have 
 maintained that their institution was the legitimate descendant 
 from the primitive Church, and that therefore, it has been the 
 true and infallible Church to this day. But all their labor could 
 never prave that which is so utterly inconsistent with the predic- 
 tions of Christ and his Apostles, and with the authentic facts 
 which will be brought to light in the succeeding pages. 
 
 18. Let the candid reader bear in mind, first, that Jesus Christ 
 predicted to his disciples: "The days will come when ye shall 
 desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not 
 see it. Then, if any man shall say to you, Lo ! here is Christ, 
 or Lo ! he is there ; believe him not. Behold he is in the desert ; 
 go ye not forth. Behold he is in the secret chamber ; believe 
 it not. Go not after, nor follow them." 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 via 
 
 Acl-^, XX. 
 20, 30. 
 2Pel. ii. 1, 
 10,14. 
 chap, iii- 3, 
 4 
 
 1 John. ii. 
 18 )v. 3. 
 a John, 7. 
 .Incle, 4. 18. 
 Dan. xii. 
 
 I.iike, ii. 
 35. 
 
 Mat xxiv. 
 23, 24. 
 Luke, xvii. 
 22, 23. 
 xxi. 8. 
 
118 THE RISE AND DOMINION OF, &C. . B. III. 
 
 ™-*j?- 19. Then, if there was a time when Christ could' noiAere he 
 ' found On earth, and that none could be believed nor followed upon 
 the ground of such a testimony, it follows conclusively, that 
 neither a true Church, nor any messenger who possessed the real 
 Christ could be found on earth during that time. For the Church 
 is his visible body. Therefore, if Christ had had a true Church, 
 he could certainly have been found in that Church ; his Divine 
 Spirit must have been in it, as "his body." Those only who 
 have "Christ in them as the hope of glory," can say in truth, 
 Col. i. 27. "Lo! here is Christ." 
 
 Mark, xiii. 20. Now as this time was to follow " the abomination of deso- 
 ■'*• lation, being set up and standing where it ought not," it is evi- 
 
 dent that this is the abomination of antichrist, or "man of sin," 
 2 Thes ii being set up, and standing in the Church which possessed the 
 34. Christian name, which was truly "standing where it ought not." 
 
 The candid mind cannot reasonably suppose that this would refer 
 to the setting up of the Roman idols in the temple, and the de- 
 solation of Jerusalem, except as a figure of the setting up of anti- 
 christ by the same people. 
 
 21. For when we consider the abominable wickedness of the 
 Jews, and their crucifying the Saviour, rejecting his Grospel, and 
 persecuting his followers, we must see that their desolation was 
 just; therefore, it stood whereit ought, instead of where it ought 
 not. Hence, from these premises, it incontestibly follows that 
 so long as antichrist, with his abominations, that make souls 
 desolate of the power of salvation, was set up and dwelt in the • 
 great orthodox church, and by its power prevented any people 
 from maintaining the order and power of the Primitive Church, 
 Christ could not possibly have a true Church on earth. 
 
 22. Secondly. Let the reader candidly consider the facts 
 brought to light in the succeeding pages, taken from the most 
 authentic histories, and from the confessions of all the different 
 sects which have sprung up, since Pope Leo was established, and 
 ho will easily see, that not one of them all maintained the cha- 
 racter of the primitive Church. Although some of those called 
 heretics, ior a time supported, in a good degree, the principles 
 of primitive Christianity, yet they soon became corrupted, and 
 all finally fell into union with the kingdom of antichrist, and be- 
 came blended with the world. 
 
 23. And it is clearly evident, that the great popular sects, 
 whether Catholic or Protestant, have been founded and governed 
 by those principles which are as opposite to the faith and prmci- 
 pies of the Gospel of Christ, as the spirit of the corrupt world, is 
 to the spirit of the heavenly world, and as contrary as is the flesh 
 to the spirit of Christ ; or as war and bloodshed is contrary to 
 peace and love, yea, and as pride and lust are to purity, meek- 
 ness and holiness. 
 
THE TESTIMONY 
 
 CHRIST'S SECOID APPEAEIIG. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 THE RISE AKD PKOGRESS OF ANTICHRIST'S KINGDOM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE WORK OF ANTIOHEIST, BY FALSE XEACHEKS. 
 
 The word antichrist, was first used by the Apostles ; and, chap. i. 
 
 doubtless, the occasion to it, arose in their day. This singular 
 
 name is compounded of these two Greek words, avri and xf'S°?i* *A«tiMii 
 which signity against Clirist ; so that the term antichrist, in- "■"'"■'■ 
 eludes whatever is against Christ ; biit was originally intended 
 to apply, more particularly, to such, as under a pretence of act- 
 ing in the name of Christ, acted with a spirit directly against the 
 Spirit of Christ. 
 
 2. Therefore this term, as used by the Apostles, had no 
 reference to the superstitious Jews, nor idolatrous Pagans, who 
 made no profession of faith in Christ ; but was generally confined 
 to such as, through a pretence of faith in Christ, and obedience 
 to the Grospel, claimed an interest in the affairs of the Church, 
 and thereby took occasion to pervert and corrupt it. And, as 
 there were many of this description, who rose up in the days of 
 
 the Apostles, St. John expressly says. Even now are there is."'"'"' 
 many antichrists ; luhereby we know that it is the last lime. 
 
 3. As if he had said. There are already many in the world, 
 who profess Christ, but do not possess him ; who own him in 
 words, but deny him in works ; who talk about the spii-it, but 
 walk after the flesh; and confess not that Jesus Christ is come 
 
 in thefl,esh; " this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have Uohn, iv. 
 heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the "' 
 
Rom X. 12. 
 
 120 THE WORK OF ANTICHRIST, B. IV. 
 
 '^HAP. I. ivorld; " whereliy we know that it is the last time Satan shall 
 ever take the advantage of a revelation from heaven, to corrupt 
 and supplant the work of God, as these hypocrites are doing. 
 
 4. Prom this it is evident, that antichrist was not a particular 
 man, but a spirit, which assumed the name and authority of 
 Christ, and made its way into many deceitful and false-hearted 
 men, who pretended to be the followers of Christ, while their 
 practice was pointedly against him. 
 
 5. According to the commission of the Apostles, the Grospel 
 was to be preached to every creature, and no distinction was to 
 be made between the Jew and the Greek, the learned and the 
 unlearned; and as it 'was received, at least in word, by all 
 characters; so none were prohibited from teaching #0 others 
 what they themselves had learned. 
 
 6. Hence many false teachers took occasion to modify the 
 doctrines of Christ, according to their own carnal taste, or that 
 of others, and to explain them in such a manner, as to avoid 
 those persecutions to which the honest and faithful were exposed. 
 In particular, many of the Jews, whose rites and ceremonies had 
 become honorable in the world, continued to practise those super- 
 stitious rites which had no connexion with the faith or practice of 
 the Gospel. 
 
 7. Thus, by putting, as it were, a piece of new cloth upon the 
 old garment, they claimed their relation to the Church, and at 
 the same time retained the friendship of the world. Hence St. 
 
 Gal. V . 12. Paul observed, " As many as desire to make a fair sheic in the 
 Jlesh, they constrain you to he circumcised ; only lest they sltouli 
 suffer persecution for the cross of Christ." 
 
 8. Many also of the profligate Pagans, who were convicted of 
 the truth of the Gospel, and constrained to seek some measure of 
 union with the followers of Christ, early took the same deceitful 
 liberty of perverting the truth, and mixing it with their carnal 
 reasonings ; and of even introducing, under the Christian name, 
 their licentious doctrines, and impious festivals, and committing 
 such abominations as were not so much as named among other 
 Gentiles. 
 
 ch.Theo. 9. Hence it is justly remarked by Osterwald, that, "in the 
 P- • days of the Apostles, there were carnal men, who, under the 
 pretext qf grace, and Christian liberty, introduced licentiousness, 
 refused to suffer persecutions, and who gave themselves over to 
 carnal lusts. ^ These were in a spirited manner opposed by James, 
 Jude, Peter, in his second epistle, and John, iu his epistles, and 
 Eevelation," 
 
 10. As Jesus Christ began to prepare the way for his kingdom, 
 by teaching his followers to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts; 
 so, on the other hand, antichrist began his work, by false 
 teachers, and false, doctrines. Such were the first means em- 
 
B. IV. BY FALSE TEACHERS. 121 
 
 ployed in corrupting and weakening the truth ; and such have chap, i 
 had a principal hand in establishing that kingdom, which is 
 Christ's in name, hut antichrist in its very nature. 
 
 11. It was not only foreseen and testified by Christ, that such 
 deceitful workers would come; but the Apostles, who were 
 anointed from heaven as witnesses of the truth, testified that they 
 had already appeared in their day ; which may be seen from the 
 slightest examination of their writings. 
 
 12. The words of Jesus are plain : '^ Beware of false prophets, Mat.vii.is, 
 which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are 
 ravening wolves. Ye shall know them hy their fruits. Take xxiv. 4, 5. 
 heed that no man deceive you ; for many shall come in my 
 
 name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many." 
 
 13. The same thing was predicted by Sf. Peter, saying, sPet. ii. i- 
 " There shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall ^^' 
 bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought 
 
 them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many 
 shall follow their pernicious ways ; by reason of whom the way 
 of truth shall be evil spoken of. Sporting themselves with their 
 own deceivings. Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot 
 cease from sin ; beguiling unstable souls. For when they speak 
 great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of 
 the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped 
 from them who live in error." 
 
 14. These same false teach-ers, according to the testimony of 
 St. Jude, had already made their appearance in his day : Thus 
 says he, "It was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort 
 you, that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was 
 
 once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept jude, 3, 4. 
 in unawares, who were before of old ordained [described*) to 
 this condemnation ; ungodly men, turning the grace of our G-od 
 into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord -God, and our 
 Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 15. This plainly implies that these deceivers were neither 
 professed Jews nor Pagans, but some among the professed fol- 
 lowers of Christ, who in fact denied both God and Christ, by 
 new modelling that precious faith and testimony of Jesus, which 
 had been delivered, once for all, to the Apostles, not to be 
 mended or expounded by human wisdom, but to be punctually 
 obeyed. 
 
 16. Again: St. Paul, in his last address to the Elders at acis, xx. 
 Ephesus, delivers this plain prediction : " I know this, that after ^' ^"^ 
 my departing, shall grievous wolves come in among you, not 
 
 * By the expression in the original (palaiprogegrammenoi) may be understood 
 those who were formerly described or pointed out by the spirit of prophecy, 
 through which the iniquities of the latter times had been foretold, together with 
 the judgment and condemnation that would fall upon those who lived in such 
 things. 
 
122 THE -WORK OF ANTICHRIST, B. IV. 
 
 CHAP. I. sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, 
 
 speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." 
 Rom xvi. 17. This same Apostle warns the Romans against some, who 
 ^^~^^' caused divisio?is and offences, contrary 1o the doctrine which they 
 
 had learned. And what had they learned, but to take up their 
 cross, and follow the Apostle, as he followed Christ ? To this 
 plain doctrine these false teachers were contrary. Therefore he 
 adds: " They that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, hut 
 their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive 
 the hearts of the simple." 
 
 18. Here the difference is visibly marked between those who 
 served the Lord Jesus Christ, and were obedient, and those who 
 Phil. iii. 19. corrupted the pure precepts of the Gospel from their original 
 meaning, that they might take the liberty of serving their own 
 beastly bellies — their lusts. 
 2Corii.i7 l^" Again: To the Corinthians, he speaks of "many which 
 xi. 13, j5. corrupt the word of God, who were false apostles, deceitful 
 workers, traiisforming themselves into the apostles of Christ; 
 ministers of Satan, transformed as the ministers of righteous- 
 ness ; whose end (says the Apostle) shall be according to their 
 works." 
 
 20. The same kind of deceivers he described to Timothy, as, 
 2 Tim. iii. "having a, form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; 
 ^''^' from such " (says he) " turn away. For of this sort are they 
 
 which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with 
 sins, led away by divers lusts ; ever learning, and never able to 
 come to the knowledge of the truth." 
 Til. i. 10, 21. And to r?iMS, he observed, " There are many unruly aiid 
 11, & 16. vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: 
 whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teach- 
 ing things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. They 
 profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being 
 abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work repro- 
 bate." Can there be a plainer description of an antichrist? 
 
 22. It would be almost an endless work to enumerate the 
 
 marks which were given to distinguish these perverters of the 
 
 2 Tim. iii. truth: they were justly called "Traitors, heady, highminded, 
 
 ^'*- fierce, desyisers of those that are good. Proud, knowing noth 
 
 iTim. vi. ^0^^" ."/ pleasures, more than lovers of God. Incontinent, 
 
 4,5. ing," in re.ility, "hit doting about questions, and strifes of 
 
 words ; perverse disputers ; men of corrupt mirids, and destitute 
 
 of the truth." 
 
 Tit. i. 12. 23. Such were the enemies of the cross of Christ, — the liars, 
 
 the evil beasts, the slow bellies, who were reproved sharp'y by 
 
 the faithful; but whose progress was not stopped by all the 
 
 authority even of the Apostles themselves. 
 
 24. John, who outlived all the other Apostles, and had the 
 
B. IV. BT FALSE TEACHERS. 123 
 
 greatest opportunity of seeing the increase and fruits of these ch^p- i- 
 false teachers, is also very particular in his testimony concern- 
 ing them. His three epistles, which were written near the 
 close of the first century, appear to have heen written for the 
 purpose of distinguishing between the followers of Christ, and 
 antichrist. 
 
 25. Hence, so much is said in the first epistle, to establish 
 that fundamental truth, that the followers of Christ do not com- 
 mit sin. "Little children, let no man deceive you; he that Uohn, iii. 
 doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. Who- 
 soever abideth in him sinneth not ; whosoever sinneth hath not 
 
 seen him, neither known him. He that committeth sin is of the 
 devil. Whosoever is born of Grod doth not commit sin. In this 
 the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil : 
 whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God. He that keep- 
 eth his commandments, dwelleth in him, and he in him." 
 
 26. The whole of this epistle plainly shows, that Christ was 
 in his true followers, and they in him ; not by imputing or ima- 
 gining it to be so, but by a vital and substantial union ; which 
 was manifest, by comparing their fruits with the first fruits of the 
 Spirit in Jesus; and consequently, that the only true God, and 
 eternal life, was manifested in the flesh, as visible and real in them, 
 as they had been in Jesus, "the first begotten from the dead." 
 
 27. While, on the other hand, these false teachers, denied 
 Christ's being in the flesh, and put him at a distance. Instead 
 of denying self, they denied both the leather and the Son ; and 
 therefore still continued in their former wicked works, which 
 proved that they were yet of the devil, and not even begotten of 
 
 God; for, "He that is begotten of God keepeth " [Gr. TTipsi, i.rohn, v. 
 strictly watcheth] " himself and that wicked one toucheth him ^^' 
 not." 
 
 28. This is the testimony of St. John; and we know that his 
 testimony is true, because he had the Spirit of truth, from both 
 the Father and the Son, abiding in him. 
 
 29. Again : In his epistle to the elect lady and her children, 
 
 he draws the same line of distinction. "This is love, that we '^''°^"'''' 
 walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, that, 
 as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it." 
 
 30. "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine 
 of Christ, hath not God ; he that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, 
 he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto 
 you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, 
 [Gr. omav] family (or communion,) neither bid him God speed." 
 
 31. "For many deceivers are entered into the world, who 
 confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh," that is, those 
 who do not confess in their works that the saving power of Christ 
 is come in them. Who walk not after his commandments, but after 
 
124 THE WOEK OF ANTICHRIST, B. IV. 
 
 CHAP. I. their own lusts ; who own the doctrine of Christ to be from hea- 
 ven, but transgress it, and keep it not: and whosoever he be that 
 
 2 John, i. 7. answers to this character, mark it well; \SZr' This is a deceiver 
 
 and an antichrist. 
 
 32. In his third and last epistle, the beloved Apostle makes 
 the distinction, if possible, more plain and simple; in which the 
 Spirit of Christ, and that of antichrist, are manifested in their 
 respective followers, Gaius, and Diotrephes. 
 
 3 John, 3- 33. To Gaius he saith, "Beloved — I rejoiced greatly when 
 ^' the brethren came, and testified of the truth that is in thee, even 
 
 as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear 
 that my children walk in truth. Beloved, thou doeth faithfully 
 whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers." 
 
 34. Thus it is evident, that, by walking in the truth, and 
 
 faithfully doing the commandments of Christ, Gaius was accepted; 
 
 and particularly, in observing that saying of Christ which was 
 
 Mat. XXV. from the beginning: " Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye 
 
 ^o- have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have 
 
 done it unto me." 
 3. John, s- 35. But how manifest is the contrary character? "I wrote 
 ■'^" unto the church : but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the pre- 
 
 eminence among tbem, received us not. Wherefore, if I come, 
 I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us 
 with malicious words ; and not content therewith, neither doth 
 he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, 
 and casteth them out of the church." 
 
 36. " He that doeth good is of God; hut he that doeth evil 
 iJohn.iii. hath not seen God." "In this the children of God are manifest, 
 ■"'■ and the children of the devil ; whosoever doeth not righteousness, 
 
 is not of God, neither^he that loveth not his brother." This is 
 the touchstone ; and by this, Diotrephes is proved to be an anti- 
 christ in perfect shape. He loved to have the pre-eminence ; 
 not willing to be the least of all, and servant of all, to humble 
 himself, and esteem others better than himself, according to the 
 Gospel. 
 
 37. Again: He received not those whom God had sent; of 
 course he received not John, nor him that sent him, sor him 
 that was from the beginning. Thus, he at once rejected Christ, 
 and subverted the whole order of the Gospel; and professing 
 Christ, yet having neither the Father nor the Son, what could 
 he have but the spirit of antichrist ? 
 
 38. The reason why this deceiver did not receive the brethren, 
 3 John, 7. is particularly noticed by the Apostle : Because that in the name 
 
 of God they went forth, taking nothing of the.Gentiles. Those 
 faithful ministers of Christ, would neither take any part of the 
 Gentile superstitions, wherewith to corrupt the Gospel, and ac- 
 commodate it to the taste of the wicked ; nor would they take 
 
B. IV BY FALSE TEACHERS. 125 
 
 any hire for their labors in the Gospel ; either of which was ™^P- '■ 
 sufficient to stir up Diotrephes against them. 
 
 39. Eor antichrist never could endure sound doctrine, nor 
 tear the testimony of Jesus, as delivered in his name, without 
 any mixture or false covering; nor could he ever support his 
 dignity, without a revenue from his subjects. Thus we see, at 
 so early a period, not only the distinction, but the division, be- 
 tween Christ and antichrist. 
 
 40. For, if Diotrephes oast those out of the Church, that would 
 receive John and the brethren, what kind of a church must have 
 remained ? Must it not, upon the plainest principles of the doc- 
 trine of Christ, have been a body of professed Christians, who 
 would neither receive the Father, nor the Son, nor even hold in 
 fellowship any one who would receive either 1 
 
 41. So far, then, did the work of antichrist advance in the 
 first century, that he had a body, in which he could live, and 
 by which he could work, according to his own deceitful plan, for 
 the undermining, and supplanting the true spirit and power of 
 the Gospel. 
 
 42. And it further appears, from the revelation to John, in 
 the isle of Patmos, that, in all the Gentile churches scattered 
 abroad, antichrist had more or less of his subjects at this period, 
 who, JDiotrephes-like, were striving for the pre-eminence. This 
 will reasonably appear to have been the case, from a view of the 
 situation of the seven Churches of Asia. 
 
 43. The angel (or minister) of the Church of Epkesus, had Rev. ii. 2, 
 to contend with those that said they were apostles, and were not, **"-"• 
 but were liars ; and also with the Nicolaitans, who held a com- 
 munity of wives. At Smyrna, were similar blasphemers, who 
 
 said they were Jews, and were not; but in reality, were of the 
 synagogue of Satan. 
 
 44. In Pergamos, where Satan had his seat, they had those 
 who held the doctrine of Balaam, who taught to eat things 
 sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication ; and also those who 
 held the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. At Thyatira, that lying 
 Jezebel, who called herself a prophetess, was suffered to seduce 
 the professed servants of Christ, to commit fornication, and 
 adultery, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. 
 
 45. There were but a few names in Sardis, which had not chap. iii4, 
 defiled their garments. Philadelphia had but a little strength ; 8, 16. 
 and Laodicea was lukewarm, neither cold nor hot ; for which 
 
 cause, says Christ, "I will spue thee out of my mouth." Yet, 
 amidst all the deceitful working, of lying apostles, filthy, 
 debauched, and lukewarm professsors, there remained still a few, 
 who had ears to hear what the Spirit said unto the churches. 
 
 So ENDS THE FIRST CENTURY. 
 
126 THE WORK OF ANTICHEIST, B. IV. 
 
 1 Cor. i. 26. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE WORK OP ANTICHRIST, BY EGYPTIAN PHILOSOPHERS, IN 
 THE SECOND CENTURY. 
 
 CHAP. ir. In the beginning of the Gospel, God chose the foolish things of 
 the world, to confound the wise, and weak things of the world 
 to confound the mighty ; and not many wise men after the flesh, 
 not many mighty, not many noble, were called. 
 
 2. But, in process of time, when/aZse teachers had perverted 
 the truth from its original simplicity, and modified the doctrines 
 of Christ to suit the taste of the wicked ; then the Gospel, as it 
 was called, in this corrupted state, began to be advocated by 
 many among the wise and prudent of the world ; and, in propor- 
 tion as their number and influence increased, the order of things 
 was changed, and the wisdom of man was introduced as the 
 foundation of faith, instead of the power of God. 
 
 3. The true order of God required living witnesses, who were 
 united to Christ, by a perfect obedience to his example, and 
 none could stand in that order, as Jesus testified, but such as 
 denied themselves, and took up their cross against every carnal 
 lust, and walked even as he walked. 
 
 Ch. Theo. 4. But Osterioald well observes: "Carnal men could not 
 
 p. 332. endure the cross, nor divest themselves of the love of wealth and 
 pleasures ; and by these means they corrupted the pure doctrine 
 of the Gospel." 
 
 5. It was imposible for carnal men, who lived in wealth and 
 pleasures ; to have the Spirit of Christ, the true power of the 
 Gospel, abiding in them. And, as their pride and presump- 
 tion prompted them to stand at the head of afl'airs, they wickedly 
 contrived means of getting a false power ; which was effected by 
 substituting the letter for the Spirit, and assumiog the authority 
 of expounding the writings of the Apostles by the rules of a 
 blind philosophy, which carnal men like themselves had in- 
 vented. 
 
 Ibid. p. 331. 6. Hence says, Osterioald: "From the time that the tenets 
 and methods of philosophers were blended with the Christian 
 religion, which is very simple, all things began to degenerate." 
 7. As early, at least, as the second century, this change in 
 the fundamental principles of the Gospel was introduced: so 
 that, instead of receiving and treating those that were sent in the 
 
 Gal. iv. 14. order of God, as angels of the Lord, even as Christ Jesus, the 
 whole of the Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, 
 
B. IV. BY EGYPTIAN PHILOSOPHERS. 127 
 
 were adopted as the basis of truth, and publicly read and ex- chap. ir. 
 pounded by the wicked and ^Yise of the world, as tlte great rule E(,ci. uist. 
 of faith and manners. ™'- '■ p- 
 
 8. Those vain men gradually effaced the beautiful simplicity 
 of the Gospel, by the laborious efforts of human learning, and 
 
 the dark subtilties of imaginary science; and the tenets of a ibid.p. iso, 
 chimerical philosophy, were incorporated into the Christian ' 
 system; for, as Mosheim says, "they thought it a very fine 
 accomplishment, to be able to express the precepts of Christ, in 
 the language ot philosophers, civilians, and r ablins." 
 
 9. From this, it is easy to see what kind of a Gospel was 
 ■ established, when the whole of the Jewish Scriptures, which the 
 scribes and Pharisees themselves could not understand, together 
 with the writings of the Apostles, were explained by carnal men, 
 whose education and manners rendered them as widely different 
 from the Apostles, as Belial is different from Christ. Surely 
 such a tevolution could effect nothing short of a total shipwreck 
 of the living faith of the Son of God. 
 
 10. This change was gradually introduced; and the means by 
 which it was effected, are particularly worthy of notice; which, 
 according to the history of those times, consisted in substituting 
 human learning for the illuminating influence of the Holy Spirit ; 
 and this was done, not by any council from the Apostles, or any 
 that stood in the order of God ; but by the cunning craftiness of 
 men, who were destitute of the truth. 
 
 11. "The first, and the most fatal of all events to the primi- Ecci. Re- 
 tive religion, (says Robinson,) was the setting up of a Christian J^^'''^'"^* ?• 
 academy at Alexandria, in Egypt. Christians had been re- 
 proached with illiteracy, and this seemed a plausible method to 
 
 get rid of the scandal." 
 
 12. " This school was first kept by Pantaenus, whom Clement 
 first assisted, and then succeeded, as Origen did him. Each im- 
 proved upon his predecessor, and all together invented questions 
 about the Christian religion, sufiScient to perplex and puzzle the 
 whole world." To this may be added the following account 
 from Mosheim. 
 
 13. "Towards the conclusion of this [second] century, a new Ec.Hist. 
 sect of philosophers arose on a sudden, spread with amazing jjj \^^ 
 rapidity throughout the greatest part of the Roman empire, 
 swallowed up almost all other sects, and was extremely detri- 
 mental to the cause of Christianity. 
 
 14. ^^ Alexandria, in Egypt, which had been, for a long time, 
 the seat of learning, and, as it were, the center of all the liberal 
 arts and sciences, gave birth to this new philosophy; which was 
 embraced by such of the Alexandrian Christians as were desirous 
 to retain, with the profession of the Gospel, the title, the dignity, 
 and the habit of philosophers. • . 
 
128 
 
 THE WORK OP ANTICHRIST, 
 
 B. IV. 
 
 CHAP. n. 
 
 Rom. i. 2a, 
 
 23. 
 
 EopI Rc- 
 seurchtis. p. 
 SI. 
 
 Ec. Ilisl. 
 vol, i. p. 
 105. 
 
 Eool. Ro- 
 pcarches, p. 
 St. 
 
 Ecel. His- 
 tory, vol. i. 
 
 p. ie6. 
 
 ibid. vol. i. 
 p. 167. 
 
 Ihid. Note 
 [m] 
 
 15. Thus, "professing themselves to he wise, they became 
 fools, evou vain in their imagination; and as they did not like to 
 retain God in their knowledge, God gave thepi over to a repro- 
 bate mind, to do those things which are not convenient." 
 
 IG. It is stated by Robinson, that, "From a wild enthusi- 
 astical philosopher of Alexandria, named A/iniiomus Saccas, 
 these men imbibed a chaos of gross errors called philosophy. 
 Vain questions about matter and spirit ; the whole and the parts, 
 human souls, demons, &c., were all applied, by these men, to 
 the Christian religion ; and the inspired writers put upon the 
 rack, and tortured to give answers and determine points, of which 
 probably they had never heard the names, and never entertained 
 a thought." 
 
 17. And who were these men, but the highly respected fathers 
 and founjiers of that which for many ages had been called the 
 Christian system? In the first place, this new philosophy had 
 the particular approbation of Athenagoras, Pantaenus, Clemens, 
 the Alexandrian, and all those who, in this century, were 
 charged with the care of the public school, which the Christians 
 had at Alexandria. 
 
 18. " The title and dignity of philosophers delighted so muoli 
 these vain men, that, though they wore advanced in the church 
 to the rank of presbyters, they would not abandon the philoso- 
 pher's cloak." 
 
 19. "These sages were of opinion, that true philosophy, the 
 most salutary gift of God to mortals, was scattered in various 
 portions through all the different [Pagan] sects ; and that it was 
 the duty of every wise man, and more especially of every 
 Christian doctor, to gather it from the several corners, where 
 it lay dispersed, and to employ it, thus reunited, in the 
 defence of religion." From hence they were called Eclectics, 
 [i.e. Selecters.] 
 
 20. The former Egyptian philosophers, from whom these 
 Alexandrian doctors selected the materials of their system, held, 
 "That in every sect there was a mixture of good and bad, of 
 truth and falsehood, and accordingly they chose and adopted 
 out of each of them, such tenets as seemed to them conformable 
 to reason and truth, and rejected such as they thought repugnant 
 to both." 
 
 21. Here then, appears the ground-work of what has long 
 passed in a deceived world, under the honorable name of Chris- 
 tianity, and upon which the Alexandrian doctors began their 
 building. 
 
 22. "Ammonius Saccas," (says Maclaine,) "was a Christian 
 who adopted with such dexterity the doctrines of the Pagan 
 philosophy, as to appear a Christian to the Christians, and a 
 Pagan to the Pagans." And says Mosheim: "As his genius 
 
B. IV. BY EGYPTIAN PHILOSOPHERS. 129 
 
 was v-ast and comprehensive, so were Ms' projects bold and sin- chap. n. 
 gular. For he attempted a reconciliation, or coalition, of all ' 
 sects, whether philosophical or religious, and taught a doctrine 
 which he looked upon as proper to unite theni all, the Christians 
 not excepted, in the most perfect harmony. 
 
 23. "He maintained, that the great principles of all philo- ibid. p.ios. 
 sophical and religious truth, were to he found, equally, in all 
 
 sects : that they differed from each other, only in their method 
 of expressing them, and in some opinions of little or no import- 
 ance ; and that by a proper interpretation of their respective 
 sentiments, they might easily be united into one body." 
 
 24. "How this vast project was effected by Ammo?nus, the 
 writings of his disciples and followers, that yet remain, abundantly 
 testify. All the Gentile religions, and even the Christian, wore 
 to be explained by the principles of this universal philosophy ; 
 but that, in order to this, the fables of the priests -were to be 
 removed from Paganism, and the comments and interpretations 
 of the disciples of Jesus from Christianity." 
 
 25. How evidently does this deep laid scheme of antichrist 
 strike at the very foundation of the Gospel, by excluding the 
 disciples of Jesus from the liberty of interpreting their own 
 original doctrine ! And, if the foundation be destroyed, what 
 
 shall the righteous do? "Some Christians," (says Robinson,) Ecoi. Re- 
 "foresaw the mischief that this school would produce, and ^='"'''*'«SiP- 
 remonstrated against it; but they soon sank into neglect and 
 contempt." 
 
 26. "The number of learned men," (says Mosheim,) among ecci. His- 
 the Christians, which was very small in the preceding century, p"'^?^^"'' '' 
 grew considerably in this, [second century.] The most part 
 
 were philosophers attached to the Eclectic system, though they 
 were not all of the same sentiments concerning the utility of 
 letters and philosophy. 
 
 27. "Hence the early beginnings of that unhappy contest ibid.p. 173. 
 between faith and reason, religion and philosophy, piety and 
 genius, which increased in the succeeding ages, and is prolonged, 
 
 even to our times, with a violence that renders it extremely 
 difficult to be brought to a conclusion. 
 
 28. " Those who maintained that learning and philosophy 
 were rather advantageous, than detrimental, to the caiise of 
 religion, gained, by degrees, the ascendant ; and in consequence 
 thereof, laws were enacted, which excluded the ignorant and il- 
 literate from the office of public teachers. The opposite side of 
 the question was not, however, without defenders; [heretics,] 
 and the defects and vices of learned men and philosophers con- 
 tributed much to increase their number." 
 
 29. Doubtless, to remedy this inconvenience, these learned 
 Pharisees invented many of those austere and monkish rules of 
 
13T) THE WORK OF ANTICHRIST, &C. B. lY. 
 
 CHAP. II. diseipline, which neither they nor their followers ever observed ; 
 but, merely to blind the eyes of the ignorant, and carry the ap- 
 pearance of sanctity to the multitude, they taught the propriety 
 of such rules of discipline, as a necessary part of their system. 
 Eccl. His- 30. "To this monstrous coalition of heterogeneous doctrines," 
 i^n™' ' (ssy^ Mosheim,) " its fanatical author added a rule of life and 
 manners, which carried an aspect of high sanctity, and uncom- 
 mon austerity. As Ammonius was born and educated among 
 the Christians, he set off, and even gave an air of authority to his 
 injunctions, by expressing them partly in terms borrowed from 
 +.he sacred Scriptures." 
 
 31. But what follows ? " He ■permitted the people to live ac- 
 cording to the dictates of nature." Of what use then, was either 
 this labored philosophy, or those rules of high sanctity, but 
 merely, through a vain show, to deceive mankind into a belief, 
 that it was the once living revealed religion of Christ Jesus, 
 that they were promoting, while their own interest, honor, and 
 pleasure, were at the bottom. 
 
 a'l. Thus the Gospel was evidently supplanted, both as to 
 faith and practice ; from which time the church assumed entirely 
 a different visible form. The academy became the head of in- 
 fluence ; the learned reasoner was respected as the oracle of truth ; 
 and the admirer of a vain philosophy, garnished with the words 
 of Scripture, constituted the body. Titles of honor were adopted, 
 offices of dignity were created, councils called, and the vote of 
 the majority established as the test of truth. 
 Eccl. Re- 33. This compound of clashing principles, in its very consti- 
 sITs?'''' *itioi and laws, excluded the disciples of jEsrs from any part 
 or interest in it: hence, as Robinson expresses it, "Modest 
 plain people retired and kept at due distance." 
 
B. IV. OP THE ORTHODOX AND HERETICS. 131 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE DIFFERENCE OF FAITH AND PRACTICE BETWEEN THE 
 ORTHODOX AND THE HERETICS, IN THE SECOND CENTURY. 
 
 A GENERAL division, both in faitli and practice, evidently chap. in. 
 appears. Historians say, that genuine Christianity had almost 
 disappeared, that solid piety, at this time, was scarcely to be 
 found in the church, that little remained but a moUey spectacle 
 of superstition. 
 
 2. And yet, notwithstanding the evident truth of these asser- 
 tions, this same church, this numerous party, who called them- 
 selves the Catholic and Orthodox Church, is distinguished as the 
 legitimate descendant from the Apostolic order ; while such as 
 followed the precepts and examples of Christ, in any degree of 
 simplicity, and kept their proper distance from those subtle de- 
 ceivers, are known and distinguished by the odious name of 
 Heretics. 
 
 3. But who has a right to give names ? And who is to be 
 credited in this case ? Admitting the principal matters of fact 
 to have been correctly handed down in history, it is little matter 
 what those high sounding professors called either themselves or 
 others. Names cannot alter the nature of things, they may 
 blind and dazzle the eyes for a season ; but each party must 
 finally be distinguished by their merits, and named and rewarded 
 according to their vjorks. 
 
 4. However, from what has been already stated, it is evident, 
 that, in the second century, there was a vast distinction between 
 those who styled themselves Catholics, and those who, by this 
 compound body, were treated as Heretics ; and the most evident 
 marks of this distinction are worthy of notice at this early period 
 of apostacy from the Apostolic faith. 
 
 5. It is evident that the Alexandrian school was, for that time, 
 the head of the great body, called the church. Milner says, 
 " Alexandria was at this time the most renowned seminary of 
 learning. Here were the philosophers who called themselves 
 Eclectics: and here was Ammonius Saccas, who reduced the 
 opinions of this sect to a system. This man fancied that all re- 
 ligions, vulgar and philosophical, Grecian and Barbarian, Jewish 
 and Gentile, meant the same thing at botlom." 
 
 6. Thus it will be seen, that, so early as towards the end of 
 the second century, the head of this church was the most re- 
 nowned seat of human learning, and its leading characters were 
 Gentile philosophers, who embraced the Christian profession, 
 
132 OF THE ORTHODOX AND HERETICS. B. IV. 
 
 CHAP. III. yet maintained their former habits and titles, and the religion 
 which they taught was a compound of all the religions of the 
 world, selected by their vain philosophy and human wisdom. 
 
 7. Now let the candid reader judge whether this can be the pure 
 Gospel taught by Jesus Christ ; or rather, is it not an imposition 
 on the reason of man, to call it Christianity ? And, if such was 
 the case at that early period, what are we to expect in the suc- 
 ceeding ages ? "What kind of a Gospel could be handed down to 
 posterity from such a source, but vain philosophy, and the tra- 
 ditions of men ? 
 
 8. These leading characters of the Alexandrian school, were 
 the first of the "venerated" fathers, in conformity to whose 
 dogmas the Scriptures have been interpreted by the professed 
 orthodox to the present day, but which have no foundation in 
 the doctrines of Christ, or his Apostles. Yet all who have had 
 light to see the deception, and conscientiously refused to unite 
 with this corrupt body, and its descendants, have been proscribed 
 as heretics.* 
 
 9. Besides that vast and extensive body that was ruled by the 
 influence of learned bishops, archbishops, patriarchs, and councils. 
 history furnishes an account of Marcionites, Valentinians, 
 Basilidians, and others, who were so far from meditating a coa- 
 lition with the general mass of Pagans, Jews, and Christian 
 philosophers, that they stood as common objects of hatred to them 
 all. 
 
 10. It is difficult, at this distance of time, without the writings 
 of those reputed heretics, to ascertain precisely their faith and 
 practice in every particular ; the most that can be collected, is 
 from the writings of their adversaries, who frequently contradict 
 each other. 
 
 11. But notwithstanding all the learned labors of Catholic 
 philosophers and historians, in support of their own orthodoxy, 
 and in blackening the characters of those who differed from them, 
 they nevertheless, furnish sufficient matter to show who they 
 were that retained the greatest degree of the Gospel according 
 to its primitive simplicity and truth. 
 
 Meih Ma" * Sucli has been the effect of that darkening influence, proceeding from ibis 
 p. 277. X.° source, that even John Wesley, the renowned advocate of virtue and Christian 
 Y. 1^:39; perfection, was so far blinc^d that he took hia pattern of primitive, nnadnlterated 
 new series, Christianity, and of ordaining bishops, from the apostate church of Alexandria; 
 vol. ix. No. ag may be seen from the following : It is said he kept " his eye upon the con- 
 duct of the primitive churches, in the ages of unadulterated Christianity; he had 
 much admired the mode of ordaining bishops, which the church of Alexandria 
 had practised." It was to this seat, then, of corrupt and corrupting ChristiJHiity, 
 that Wesley looked for ihe primitive and unadulterated Apostolic Church. 
 
B. IV. THE FIRST DISTINCTIOlSf BETWEEN, &C. 133 
 
 CHAPTEE lY. 
 
 THE FIRST DISTINCTION BETWEEN CATHOLICS AND HERETICS, 
 IN THE SECOND CENTURY. 
 
 The title of Catholic, which signifies universal, appears to have chap. iv. 
 been-first adopted by those Christian fathers, s6 called, who, in 
 the second century, embraced the philosophy of the Alexandrian 
 school ; which distinguishing title answered well to the system of 
 Ammonius Saccas, who proposed to incorporate all sects and 
 denominations of mankind into one body, or universal church. 
 
 2. Hence the writings of those renowned fathers, have been 
 considered, through all succeeding ages, as the only key to open 
 the Scriptures; as the only exposition of the words of God, and 
 the only test of truth, by which all controversies were to be 
 decided. 
 
 3. Consequently, those writings have been preserved by their 
 successors, as the most precious fountain of light, without which, 
 the Scriptures must (in their esteem) be entirely useless. Then 
 it must be from the writings of these fathers, that the real foun- 
 dation of the Catholic church is to be ascertained, and the spirit 
 from which it originated, made manifest. 
 
 4. Among the famous foundation pillars of this Catholic build- Ecci. His- 
 ing, maybe ranked JustiJi, Irenaeus, Athenagoras, Theophilus, '"^re™''"' 
 Pantaenus, Clement,* and Origen. There were also many other 
 learned commentators of less note. Clement, the Alexandrian, 
 
 who succeeded Pantaenus in the care of the Christian school, 
 wrote several books which are yet extant. Mosheim says, they 
 show the extent of his learning and the force of his genius ; but 
 at the same time, acknowledges, that his excessive attachment 
 to the reigning philosophy led him into a variety of pernicious 
 errors. 
 
 5. Origen succeeded him. "This rash young man," (says Erci Re- 
 Robinson,) came quibbling into the church when he was about |^ '''•'"=*> p- 
 eighteen. Old Clement, and the pedants emboldened him. He 
 persecuted the world with an endless number of books, and 
 
 wrote twenty tomes to explain the hidden mysteries of the 
 Gospel of John. At length death forced him to quit his delight- 
 ful work of disputing and wrangling, in the year two hundred 
 and fifty-four." 
 
 • His name was Titus Flavins Clemens, usually called St. Clement of Alex- 
 andria, to distinguish him from Clement of Rome, mentioned in Paul's epistle to 
 the Philippians. See Phil. iv. 3. 
 
134 
 
 THE FIRST DISTINCTION BETWEEN 
 
 B. IV. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Eccl. His- 
 tory, vol. i. 
 p. 171. 
 
 Ibid. p. 1S5. 
 
 ]\Iil. Chh. 
 Hist vol i. 
 p. 145. Piiil- 
 adelphia 
 edil. 1S35. 
 
 Keel. Re. 
 searches, p. 
 51,52 See 
 also Mo- 
 sheim^ Eel. 
 Hislt>iy, 
 vol. ii p. 
 183. 
 
 6. To this agree tlie following observatioBS of Mnskehn : " This 
 new species of philosophy, imprudently adopted by Origen, and 
 many other Christians, was extremely prejudicial to the cause of 
 the Gospel, and to the beautiful simplicity of its celestial doc- 
 trines. 
 
 7. " For hence it was, that the Christian doctors began to in- 
 troduce their subtle and obscure erudition into the religion of 
 Jesus ; to involve in the darkness of a vain philosophy, some of 
 the principal truths of Christianity, that had been revealed with 
 the utmost plainness, and were indeed obvious to the meanest 
 capacity ; and to add to the divine precepts of our Lord, many 
 of their own, which had no sort of foundation in any part of the 
 sacred writings. 
 
 8. " Pantaenus, the head of the Alexandrian school, was pro- 
 bably the first who enriched the church with a version of the 
 sacred writings. All were unanimous in regarding with venera- 
 tion the holy Scriptures, as the great rule of faith and manners." 
 Clement wrote a Commentary upon the canonical epistles, or those 
 epistles which had been selected for a canonical, purpose by his 
 learned master Pantae7ius. He is also said to have explained, in 
 a compendious manner, almost all the sacred writings. 
 
 9. Milner says, " Pa7daenus was much addicted to the sect 
 of Stoics. The combination of Stoicism with Christianity in the 
 system of Pantaenus, must have very much debased the sacred 
 truths. He always retained the title of the Stoic philosopher, 
 after he had been admitted to eminent employment in the Cltfis- 
 tian church." 
 
 10. "Every effect," (says RohinsoJi,) "produced by these 
 causes, became itself the cause of another effect : Origen broached 
 a new and universal maxim in explaining the Scriptures. This 
 was, "that scripture had a, donble sense; the one obvious and 
 literal, the other hidden and mysterious, which lay concealed, as 
 it were, under the veil of the outward letter. 
 
 11. "The former they treated with the utmost neglect, and 
 turned the whole force of their genius and application to unfold 
 the latter ; or in other words, they were more studious to darken 
 the holy Scriptures with their idle fictions, than to investigate 
 their true and natural sense. 
 
 12. " Some of them also forced the expressions of sacred writ 
 out of their obvious meaning, in order to apply them to the sup- 
 port of their philosophical systems ; of which dangerous and per- 
 nicious attempts, Clemens is said to have given the first example. 
 The Alexandrian version, commonly called the Septuagint, they 
 regarded almost as of divine authority." 
 
 13. This, in conjunction with such of the Apostle's writings 
 as these Eclectics chose to select, formed the orthodox canon, 
 or law. From Jews and Pagans they received, or adopted the 
 
B. IV. CATHOLICS AND HERETICS. 135 
 
 maxim, "That it was not only lawful, but even praiseworthy, chap, iv . 
 to deceive, or even to use the expedient of a lie, in order to ad- kcci iiis- 
 vance the cause of truth and piety." Doubtless for this prac- wn'^voi.i. 
 tice their double sense of scripture opened a large field. " Such" Ecti Re- 
 (says Robinson) "were the benefits which the Alexandrian school, scfirdies,p. 
 and chiefly Origcn, conferred on the Primitive [Catholic] 
 Church!" 
 
 14. " The charge of the Alexandrian school (says Milner) was 
 committed to Origen when quite young, (17) by Demetrius, the 
 bishop of that city ; and here is the platform of his doctrines on 
 Rom. iii. -8. ' We conclude that a mwn is justified by faith,^ 
 &c., he says: 'The justification by faith only is sufiicient; so 
 
 that, if any person only believe, he may be justified, though no ins.n.io. 
 good work hath been fulfilled hy him." 
 
 15. Here is the whole and sole foundation of antichristian 
 doctrine; this is the true Catholic faith, the true Protest aiit 
 faith, and the true Orthodox faith, as systematized by Origen. 
 
 On this ground the devils may be justified, for they believe and 
 tremble. 
 
 16. Yet Milner goes on : " Thus this precious doctrine of jus- Mil. chh. 
 tifioation was yet alive in the third century. This it was that ^"''jjo'i '' 
 kept Origen, with all his hay and stubble, firm on Christian -20. 
 foundations." "Christian foundations!" What astonishing 
 blindness! But what follows? "A thick mist pervaded the ibid. p. 221 
 Christian world, supported and strengthened by his absurd, alle- 
 gorical manner of interpretation." Yet his false and absurd 
 theories have been handed down as true orthodox faith, to the 
 present time. 
 
 17. " Justin Martyr," (says Mosheiin) "had frequented all Ecci. His- 
 the different sects of philosophy, in an ardent and impartial pur- p 177. 
 suit of truth ; but finding, neither in the Pijthagorean nor Pla- 
 
 loidc schools, any satisfactory account of the perfections of the 
 Supreme Being, and the nature and destination of the human 
 soul, he embraced Christianity, on account of the light which it 
 cast upon these interesting subjects." 
 
 18. He wrote in defence of the Christians, and even presented 
 
 an Apology to the emperor in their behalf. His apologies are ibid. p. 157, 
 said to be "most deservedly held in high esteem;" notwith- 
 standing, " He shows himself an unwary disputer, and betrays a . 
 want of acquaintance with ancient history." And where is Ihe 
 disputer of this world ? 
 
 19. Irenaeus turned his pen against those whom Mosheim calls, f.coI His- 
 " The internal and domestic enemies of the church," to which '"Y:,^"'-'- 
 his labors are said to have been " singularly useful ;" for he 
 
 wrote ;?t)e hooks against heresies, and refuted the whole tribe of 
 Heretics. 
 
 20. Athenagoras wrote a Treatise upon the Resurrection, 
 
136 
 
 THE FIRST DISTINCTION BETWEEN 
 
 B. IV. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Il)id p. 186, 
 
 1B7. 
 
 Ibid. vol. i. 
 p. 173, 
 Note [q.] 
 
 Ibid vol. vi. 
 p. 137. 
 Clironol. 
 Table. 
 Ceiil. II. 
 
 Eccl. His- 
 tory, vol. i. 
 p. 149. 
 Note [1.] 
 
 *i.e. plu- 
 rality of 
 gods. 
 
 Eccl. Re- 
 searches, p. 
 53. 
 
 and an Apology for the Christians. — "He was a philosopher of 
 no mean reputation," says Mosheim, " and deserves a place 
 among the 'estimable ■writers' of the second century;" of course 
 he could not be an Apostle, hated of all men, and counted as the 
 filth and off-scouring of all things. 
 
 21. But who were those estimable writers'? and what are 
 the merits of their works ? Mosheim himself confesses that, 
 " they abound with stoical and academical dictates, vague and 
 indeterminate notions, and, what is yet worse, with decisions 
 that are absolutely false, and in evident opposition to the pre- 
 cepts of Christ." Such is the heterogeneous description of quali- 
 ties which truly belong to the fathers, the self-styled orthodox, 
 and first founders and defenders of the Catholic faith. 
 
 22. " Theophilus, bishop of Antioch, wrote three hooks in de- 
 fence of Christianity — a Commentary on the Proverbs — another 
 on the Four Evangelists. He also wrote against Marcion and 
 Hermogenes, and refuting the errors of these Heretics, he quotes 
 several passages of the Revelations. He was the first who made 
 use of the word [C7° TEINIT Y to express the distinction of what 
 divines [or rather blind guides] call, Persons in the Godhead." 
 
 23. " The Christian church," (says Maclaine) "is very little 
 obliged to him for his invention. The use of this and other un- 
 scriptural terms, to which men attach either no ideas, or false 
 ones, has wounded charity and peace, without promoting truth 
 and knowledge. It has produced heresies of the very worst 
 kind." 
 
 24. " Nothing more injurious can be conceived than the 
 terms of contempt, indignation, andTeproach, which the heathens 
 employed in expressing their hatred against the Christians, who 
 were called by them atheists, because they derided the heathen 
 Polytheism ;* magicians, because they wrought miracles ; self- 
 murderers, because they suffered cheerfully for the truth ; haters 
 of the light," because they held religious assemblies in the 
 night : " with a multitude of other ignominious epithets." 
 
 25. Then, what could ever have induced such indignant des- 
 pisers to embrace a religion against which they had such indig- 
 nation ? The truth is, they never did receive nor embrace it; 
 they quarrelled about the name, for the sake of honor and pro- 
 motion ; but the power and substance of the religion of Christ 
 they never knew or received. It is unnecessary to say any thing 
 about the miraculous power of God ; for of this the learned doc- 
 tors professed to stand in no need. 
 
 26. "It was," (says Robinson,) "an enormous compliment, 
 which these gentlemen paid themselves." "The gospel," (said 
 they,) " is evidently divine, because nothing but the miraculous 
 power of God could support it in the hands of illiterate men. 
 As if they and their quirks, were, to all succeeding ages, to sup- 
 
B. lY. CATHOLICS AND HEEETICS. 137 
 
 ply the place of the miraculous power of G-od." Doubtless the chap. iv. 
 quirk of Theophiius removed much of the Pagan indignation and 
 contempt. 
 
 27. The following remarks of Mosheim, on this subject, are 
 worthy of particular notice. " The religious sentiments of the Ecci. His- 
 first Christians were most unjustly treated, and most perfidiously '"^ao™' '' 
 misrepresented to the credulous multitude, who were restrained 
 
 by this only from embracing the Gospel." Here the doctor 
 seems to have forgotten that the carnal mind is enmity against 
 God, and in love with gods many. But observe what follows : 
 
 28. "Those therefore, who, by their apologetic writings in 
 favor of the Christians, destroyed the poisonous influence of de- 
 traction, rendered, no doubt, signal service to the doctrines of 
 Christ" [he ought to have said, to the doctrine of Saccas,^ " by 
 removing the chief impediment that retarded its progress. 
 
 29. " Nor were the .writings of such as combated with success 
 the ancient heretics without their use. For the insipid and ex- 
 travagant doctrines of these sectaries, and the gross immoralities 
 with which they were chargeable, were extremely prejudicial to 
 the Christian religion, by disgusting many at whatever carried 
 the Christian name. 
 
 30. "But, when it was known, by the writings of those who 
 defended Christianity, that these corrupt heretics were held in 
 aversion, instead of being patronized by the true followers of 
 Christ, then the clouds that were cast over the religion of Jesus 
 were dispersed, and the prejudices that had been raised against 
 it were fully removed." 
 
 31. How Dr. Mosheim could give the name of followers of 
 Jesus Christ, to the votaries of that system, which he elsewhere 
 denominates "a motley spectacle of superstition,'" is a mystery; 
 but, granting that it was the religion forged in the Alexandrian 
 school, that the learned fathers rescued from the indignation and 
 contempt of the Pagans against the Christian name, his state- 
 ment is doubtless correct. 
 
 32. "To us," (said the followers of Christ from the begin- iCor.viii. 
 .ning) " there is but one God." This was detraction enough ; it ' 
 
 overthrew at once the whole Pagan system. This must surely 
 be charged to the followers of Saccas, if they assume the name 
 of Christians. To remove this disgraceful charge, they apply 
 Origen's two-fold sense of scripture ; according to this, the 
 literal sense must be. One God; and the mysterious sense. Three 
 Persons ; and so of the rest. 
 
 33. Thus it appears that the Catholics hold that more persons 
 than one may be called God and worshipped. This doctrine 
 they established by a council of learned bishops, doctors and pa- 
 triarchs, from which the illiterate were excluded, and into which, 
 none of the comments of the disciples of Jesus on the scriptures 
 
 10 
 
138 
 
 CHARGES AGAIXST REPUTED HERETICS. 
 
 B. IV. 
 
 CHAP. V. siiould be admitted. Here the Jew, the Pagan, and the Chris- 
 tian, are incorporated into one ; and why not admit that three 
 persons, each true God, by a mystical imion, may also be incor- 
 porated into one ? 
 
 34. This is according to the true Catholic faith ; and he that 
 disputes this doctrine must be called a heretic. Heretics are 
 held in aversion ; they are not patronized ; they are charged with 
 the most extravagant, and execrable doctrines, and the most 
 gross immoralities. This was enough to arouse the persecuting 
 vengeance of both Pagans and Catholics to extirminate them 
 from the earth; while the correspondent faith, and co-operating 
 practice of their joint persecutors, declared them both to be the 
 servants of one viaster. 
 
 35. Then, as Christian heretics alone are cut off from the 
 general bond of union, and marked out for destruction, it may 
 be proper to notice the account that historians give of them. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Lardner's 
 
 Works, 
 
 vol. ix. p. 
 
 223. 
 
 \ Acts, V. 
 
 17— XV 5. 
 
 — xxir. 5, 
 
 14. 
 
 xxviii. 22. 
 
 I bid. vol. iv. 
 
 p. 22 0. 
 
 p. 227. 
 
 Eccl. Ee- 
 &*arches, p. 
 53, 55. 
 
 CHARGES BROUGHT AGAIXST THE CHRISTIANS, CALLED HERE- 
 TICS, IN THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES. 
 
 "Heresy, in G-reek," (says Lardner. in his History of Here- 
 tics,) signifies election or choice, and is used for any opinion which 
 a man ohooseth as best, or most probable. The same word is 
 also translated sect.V^ 
 
 2 . " It is generally allowed, that a heretic is one who professes to 
 be a Christian, but is not supposed to be of the Church, having 
 either separated himself from it, or been excluded from it by. 
 others. They believe what they profess, to be true. As they 
 are heretics in our esteem, so are we in theirs. 
 
 3. "During the first three centuries," [sajs Robi7ison,) "Chris- 
 tian congregations, all over the east, subsisted in separate inde- 
 pendent bodies, unsupported by government, and consequently 
 without any secular power over one another. Opinionists, or, 
 to use the Greek style, heretics, formed churches, taught their 
 own doctrines, and held separate assemblies everywhere." 
 
 4. " Marcionites, Valentinians, BasilidiariS, and great num- 
 bers more who foljowed their own convictions, taught churches, 
 and probably were men of more zeal than that most numerous 
 
B. IV. CHARGES AGAINST REPUTED HERETICS. 139 
 
 party, who calumniated all the rest as heretics who troubled the chap, v. 
 peace of Israel." 
 
 5. " Heretics," (says iar(^?zer,) " have often been treated with Lai-dner's 
 much harshness and great severity of expression. Some seem to vnMx^'p. 
 have reckoned that they had a right to say the worst things of ^^^: 237. 
 heretics which they could ; and others have thought themselves 
 obliged to believe all the evil that has been reported of them. 
 
 6. " One thing laid to the charge of many of those heretics is Ibid. p. 239. 
 magic: another thing is lewdness, and all raanner of wickedness, 
 
 and likewise teaching it. There is no small agreement between P' ^''■ 
 the charges brought against the first Christians in the beginning 
 of the second century, and the charges against the heretics in later 
 authors ; which may create a suspicion that these last were formed 
 upon the model of the former, and consequently are without ground. 
 
 7. "What the crimes were, which were laid to the charge of 
 the primitive Christians, we know from divers writers, Greek 
 and Latin, — from whom it appears that, besides atheism, or im- 
 piety to the established deities, they were charged with having 
 their wives in common, with promiscuous lewdness in their assem- 
 blies, with incest, and eating human flesh, especially young chil- 
 dren, whom they first killed and then ate, at their nocturnal meet- 
 ings, where persons of each sex, and every age were present." 
 
 8. " Ti6rner sa,js, these calumnies seem to have begun with ibW.p.Mi. 
 Christianity itself. Tacitus, speaking of the Christians in the 
 
 time of Nero, says, they were generally hated for their wicked- 
 ness; that is, they lay under a bad character with the people." 
 
 9. "The Eomans," (says Mosheim,) "concluded, that the ecoI. Hia- 
 Christian sect, [L e. heresy,] was not only unsupportably daring i°Yt™'''' 
 and arrogant, but, moreover, an enemy to the public tranquility, 
 
 and every way proper to excite civil wars and commotions in the 
 empire." 
 
 10. " Tacitus, reproaches them with the odious character of 
 haters of mankind, and styles the religion of Jesus a destruc- 
 tive superstition. Suetonius speaks of the Christians, and their 
 doctrine, in terms of the like kind." He calls Christianity " a ibid. Note 
 poisonous and malignant superstition." '•'"■' 
 
 11. What is here added, may sufficiently show upon what 
 ground the charge of heresy was excited and continued against 
 
 the heretics. Thus says Paul: " I confess, that after the way Acts, xxiv. 
 which they call heresy, so loorship I the God" [not gods] "0/ 
 my fathers." And it was predicted by Christ Jesus himself, 
 that his followers should have their name cast out as evil, and 
 that all manner of evil would be spoken against them falsely. 
 
 12. From which it appears, that, while the apologists, the 
 honorable Catholic fathers, cleared themselves of those ridicu- 
 lous charges, by uniting with the universal faith and manners 
 invented by Saccas, they rolled over the burden of reproach 
 
140 
 
 CHARGES AGAINST KEPUTED HERETICS. B. IV. 
 
 Lardner's 
 Works, 
 vol. is. p. 
 225. 
 
 p. 236. 
 
 CHAP.v. Tipon those who would not conform of course: a. heretic in the 
 second or third century, according to the universal opinion, 
 must be a magician, an atheist, a lewd incestuous, man-eater. 
 
 13. According to Lardner, St. Jerome scruples not to say, 
 "They are worse than heathens, the worst of all men; and if 
 they are free from all reproach in their lives, yet they have only 
 the shadow and appearance of virtue, not the truth." "This is 
 certain," (says Lardner,) that as bad things were said of the 
 primitive Christians (in the first century) by Jews and heathens, 
 as ever were said of the ancient heretics (in the second and 
 third centuries) by Catholics." 
 
 14. And we might add, that as bad things were said by Jews, 
 heathens, and Catholics, against Christ and his followers, in the 
 three first centuries, as can be said by antichristians, against 
 the followers of Christ in this latter day of his second appearing ; 
 which may appear, not only from those general charges which 
 have been mentioned, but from many things of the like nature, 
 which were published to the world, with some appearance of 
 authority ; of which the following may serve as a specimen : 
 
 15. Celsus, an Epicurean Philosopher of the second century, 
 wrote a book against the Christians, entitled " The True 
 Word." Lardner thinks it was a time of persecution when he 
 wrote, [about the year of Christ 176] because he several times 
 speaks of the Christians as teaching their principles privately, 
 and holding assemblies contrary to law, and hiding themselves. 
 
 16. The following extracts of this subtle writer are copied 
 from Lardner'' s Jewish and Heathen Testimonies: " I could say 
 many things," (says Celsus, personating a Jew,) " concerning the 
 affairs of Jesus, and those true too, different from those written 
 by his disciples, but I purposely omit them. It is but a few 
 years since he [Jesus] delivered this doctrine, who is now 
 reckoned by the Christians to be the Son of God. In another 
 place, Celsus calls Jesus the first author of this sedition." 
 
 17. "After this he brings in his Jew, arguing against Jesus 
 in this manner. First, that he pretended he was bom of a 
 virgin : then he reproaches him with his birth in a Jewish 
 village, and of a poor woman of that country, who subsisted by 
 the labor of her hands. 
 
 18. "And he says, 'she was put away by her husband, who 
 was a carpenter by trade, he having found, that she was guilty 
 of adultery.' Then he says, that, having been turned out of 
 doors by her husband, she wandered about in a shameful man- 
 ner, till she had brought forth Jesus, in an obscure place ; and 
 that he being in want, served in Egypt for a livelihood; and 
 having there learned some charms, such as the Egyptians are 
 fond of, he returned home ; and then valuing himself upon those 
 chaBms, he set up himself for a G^od. 
 
 Lardner's 
 "Works, 
 vol. viii. p. 
 9,18. 
 
 Ibid. p. 19. 
 
B. IV. CHARGES AGAINST REPUTED HERETICS. 141 
 
 19. Again, "That the mother of Jesus, being great with chap. v. 
 child, was put away by the carpenter, who had espoused hei', he 
 having oonyioted her of adultery with a soldier named Pant her as."' 
 Afterwards Celsus goes on: "Was the mother of Jesus hand- 
 some, that G-od should be in love with her beauty ? It is un- 
 worthy of God, to suppose him to be taken with a corruptible 
 
 body, or to be in love with a woman, whether she be of royal 
 descent or otherwise." 
 
 20. " In another place, Celsus s&fs : ' But if God would send 
 forth a spirit from himself, what need had he to breathe him into 
 the womb of a woman? For, since he knew how to make men, 
 he might have formed a body for this spirit, and not cast his own 
 spirit into such filth." 
 
 21. Upon what principle could this Epicurean ascribe filth to 
 the womb of a virgin 1 Must it not have been from the debauched 
 state of his own carnal mind, which could conceive nothing clean, 
 where the unclean and lyutal passions of human nature might be 
 gratified ? 
 
 22. And why does he call in question the beauty of the mother 
 of Jesus ? Is it to prove that God can have nothing -to do with 
 a woman ? or is it not rather to cast contempt upon that particu- 
 lar woman, who was chosen for a higher purpose than to gratify 
 the carnal desires 91 man 1 Admitting that she was not beautiful, 
 but even ugly, in the eyes of an Epicurean ; this could be no 
 reasonable objection to the Gospel, which came not to promote 
 either the lust of the flesh, or the lust of the eye : but doubtless 
 this was the secret cause of his enmity. 
 
 23. "Afterwards the Jew in Celsus, addresses Jesus, and says : Lardner, 
 
 ' What occasion ha,d you, when an infant, to be carried into Egypt, ™'- ""■ P- 
 lest you should be killed ? A God has no reason to be afraid of 
 death. And now an angel comes from heaven to direct you and 
 your relations to flee into Egypt, lest you should be taken up 
 and put to death; as if the great God, who had already sent two 
 angels, upon your account, could not -have preserved you, his 
 own Son, in safety at home." 
 
 24. "In another place Celsus has these words: 'But if he ibid. p. 22. 
 [Herod] was afraid, that when you was come of age, you should 
 
 reign in his stead ; why did you not reign when you was of age ? 
 But so far from that, the Son of God wanders about, cringing 
 like a necessitous beggar, or sculks from place to place, as if he 
 was afraid of being taken up." 
 
 25. Again: Celsus says, "That Jesus taking to himself ten ibid. p. 23. 
 or eleven abjects, vile publicans and sailors, went about with 
 
 them getting his subsistence in a base and shameful manner." 
 In another place the Jew in Celsus says, "Jesus set out with ten 
 profligate publicans and sailors." 
 
 26. Agam, concerning the disciples of Jesus, Celsus has these 
 
142 
 
 CHARGES AGAINST REPUTSJD HERETICS. 
 
 B. IV. 
 
 Vol. viii. p. 
 3. Dialog, 
 of Minuliug 
 Felix, pub- 
 lished A, IX 
 210. 
 
 CHAP. V. ■(vords: " Some of them say : Do not examine, but believe : and, 
 Ibid. p. 16 t^y 'faith shall save thee : and, the wisdom of this world is evil, 
 and folly good." And again: "These are their instructions: 
 Let not any man of learning come hither, nor any vnse man, 
 nor any man of prudence ; but if any man be unlearned, if he is 
 ignorant, if he is silly, let him come without fear. Thus ac- 
 knowledging, that these are the men who are acceptable to their 
 God ; and thereby manifesting, that they are neither willing, nor 
 able to gain any but the foolish, the vulgar, the stupid, slaves, 
 women and children." 
 
 27. In such manner, this learned' sophist runs through a great 
 part of the New Testament ; and, by such kind of reasoning as 
 would even carry a show of sanctity, he endeavors to show to 
 the world, that Jesus and his followers are unspeakably below 
 them, in meanness, and all manner of low debauchery. 
 
 28. The following is also from Lardner : " Ccecilius Natalis, 
 a heathen, arguing against the Christians, speaks to this .pur- 
 pose : "As for the feast, it is a well known thing : every body 
 talks of it. They come together upon an appointed Say, with 
 all their children, their sisters and mothers ; persons of each sex, 
 and of every condition. And after feeding plentifully, when the 
 lights are put out, they practise promiscuously, incest, and all 
 manner of unoleanness.' " * 
 
 29. These and such like, were the reproaches of Christ, of 
 which the learned Catholic fathers had to clear themselves, in 
 order to lay the foundation of their honorable kingdom. But 
 this they could never have effected, had tjiey not first proved 
 to the world, by their practice and their writings, that they re- 
 jected that singular manner of life, which had first given occa- 
 sion to such false and blasphemous reports. 
 
 30. And therefore, whUe they pretend to maintain the inno- 
 cence of Jesus and his first followers, they unite with the same 
 old spirit of falsehood, in rolling off these reproaches from them- 
 selves, and loading the living heretics of their day with the scan- 
 dal ; and, under a deceitful mask, they try to make it appear, 
 that they, and not the heretics, stand related to the once despi-' 
 eed Jesus, and have the only right to the distinguishing name 
 of Christians. 
 
 31. "Justin says, that their accusers themselves scarcely be- 
 lieved the charges brought against them : and where these had 
 in some measure been credited, it arose from the wickedness of 
 the heathens, which disposed them to believe such things of other 
 people as they praotised themselves." 
 
 32. Moreover, " He assures us, that, in the time of his 
 heathenism, he thought it impossible that the Christians should 
 suffer with such constancy and resolution as they did, if they had 
 been man-eaters, and addicted to lewdness. — Athenagoras 
 
 Lardner, 
 vol. ix. p. 
 243. 
 
 Ibid. p. 241. 
 
B. IV. 
 
 CHARGES AGAINST REPUTED HERETICS. 
 
 143 
 
 p. 243. 
 
 p. 244. 
 
 Lardner, 
 vol. ix. p. 
 244, 245. 
 
 plainly says, that the general wickedness of the heathen people, chap v. 
 was the ground of their charging such base practices upon the ' 
 
 Christians, who were exemplary virtuous." 
 
 33. " It appears from Tei-tullian, that in his time it was not 
 known that any among Christians were guilty of such crimes as 
 were imputed to them by their adversaries. The only ground of 
 these charges according to him was common fame, and uncertain 
 report, without any proof. 
 
 34. "You tax us, (says he) with killing and eating children. Ecci. Ee- 
 The charge is absurd and cruel in the extreme, and we cannot ■°|^'^'^''"' p- 
 conceive how you came to invent such a scandalous calumny. 
 
 We defy you to prove it. Why do not the magistrates examine 
 us on this subject ? What glory would redound to any governor 
 who could produce a Christian who had eaten an hundred in- 
 fants. 
 
 35. "But you hate us, even the bare name by which we are 
 called, and without giving yourselves any trouble to examine, 
 you say all manner of evil of us." These words of Tertullian 
 are quoted by Robinson. What follows is taken from Lardner's 
 History of Heretics. 
 
 36. " Trypho the Jew, being asked by Justin whether ho 
 believed the common reports concerning the Christians, readily 
 answered, " They are incredible ; hwman nature is not capable 
 of such things.'" 
 
 37. The same arguments will serve for the heretics, for they are 
 charged by later writers with the same things which were before 
 imputed to the primitive Christians. If then they are incredible 
 with regard to the one, ihey are so likewise with regard to the 
 other. 
 
 38. "When all this is considered, (says Lardner,) I cannot 
 help thinking that there is too much justice in Mons. Bayle's 
 satire. 'When we read these things in the fathers of the church, 
 one can scarce forbear thinking that the case was the same with 
 them in respect to heretics, as with the heathens in respect to 
 Christianity. 
 
 39. ' The heathens imputed to Christianity an hundred ex- 
 travagances and abominations that had no foundation. The iirst 
 who forged these calumnies were undoubtedly guilty of the 
 blackest malice ; but the greatest part of those who vented them 
 abroad, after they had been so maliciously sown, were only guilty 
 of too much credulity; they believed common fame, and never 
 troubled themselves to dive into the bottom of it. 
 
 40. "Is it not more reasonable to believe that the fathers did 
 rot, with all the patience requisite, thoroughly inform themselves 
 of the real principles of a sect, than it is to believe that those 
 very men, who held that Jesus Christ, by his death, was the 
 Saviour of mankind, should, at the same time, hold that the 
 
 Lardner, 
 vol. ix. p. 
 246. 
 
144 
 
 DISTINCTION BETWEEN CATHOLICS 
 
 B. IV. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 beastliest pleasures are the ready way to paradise ?" So far Mons. 
 Bayle. 
 
 41. Then, according to this plain and candid statement, let 
 every stone be gathered and united to its own foundation. Let 
 the fathers of the church be known by the church which they 
 farthered, and let the churches own their fathers and grandfathers 
 whose image they bear. But to show more particularly, the first 
 distinction between the church of the fathers, and that of the 
 heretics, we shall state a few of the most material points, upon 
 which they stood divided ; • and, if Christ is not divided, it must 
 follow that one or the other was antichrist. 
 
 CHAPTER VI, 
 
 PARTICULAR DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE CHARACTERS OP 
 CATHOLICS AND HERETICS, IN THE SECOND AND THIRD 
 CENTURIES. 
 
 Lardner, 
 vol. ix. p. 
 361, 366. 
 
 Ibid. p. 363, 
 364. 
 
 The following extracts from Lardner, contain some of the most 
 unfavorable things against Heretics that could be collected from 
 the writings of their adversaries, particularly against the Mar- 
 cionites . 
 
 2. Of all the ancient heretics the most extraordinary was 
 Marcion. * " He flourished about the year 130 or very soon 
 after. Marcion had many followers. Epiphanius says that he 
 deceived multitudes of people, and that his heresy still subsisted 
 in his time at Rome, in Italy, Egypt, Palestine, Arabia and 
 
 'Syria, in Cyprus, Thehais, Persia, and other places." The 
 first character given of this heretic is that of a deceiver, which 
 must imply that he professed to follow Christ, but did not ; and, 
 to prove this, his moral character is next' impeached. 
 
 3. Epiphanius has an account of his admitting an affection for 
 a young woman, and of having been guilty of uncleanness with 
 her. " The story (says Lardner,) of his deceiving a young 
 woman is held doubtful by many. Beausohre has a long argu- 
 
 * Marcion was a disciple of Cerdon, whose doctrine he emhraced at Rome. 
 The Catholic historians say that Marcion joined himself to the impostor Cerdon 
 while he was preaching at Rome. Cerdon flourished between the years 125 and 
 160. His doctrines are blended with those of Marcion. The faith and manners, 
 therefore, of Cerdon and his followers, may be condaidered the same as those un- 
 der the description of the Marcionites. 
 
B. IV. AND BEPUTED HERETICS. 145 
 
 ment upon tliis point, taken from the silence of ancient writers, chap. vi. 
 and consisting of many particulars." All of "whicli tend to prove 
 Marcion's innocence. 
 
 4. "EtrsEBlHS informs us of many authors who had written 
 against Mabcion : Justin Martyr, Bionysius of Corinth, 
 Theophilus of Antioch, Philip of Gortyna, Modestiis, 3Ielito, 
 and Apollinaris. He had read their writings. Nevertheless 
 he makes no mention of this scandalous action of Marcion; Je- 
 rome would not have omitted it, if he had known anything of it : 
 since he omits not even conjectures and the slightest reports that 
 tend to blacken the reputation of a heretic." 
 
 5. " Tertullian wrote five books against Marcion. He did 
 not neglect any occasion to decry his adversary ; nevertheless he 
 says nothing of this scandalous adventure. The story of Mar- 
 ciorCs fall is not ia Philastcr, which shows that he never knew 
 it ; which may lead persons a little suspicious, to mistrust that 
 Epiphanius himself is the author of the story." So says 
 Lardner. 
 
 6. The following is the character of the Marcionites given by ibid. vol. is. 
 Lardner. " The manners of the JkZizj-aomYes were virtuous, and ^' ^' 
 they had many martyrs. They are not charged by their adver- 
 saries with being vicious. They had respect to the will of God, 
 
 and were desirous of obtaining his favor as the greatest good. 
 They did not allow themselves in indulging carnal desires, though 
 their adversaries said that their principles led directly to the 
 gratifying them. 
 
 7. "In short, it is evident that these people were in general i^i^Ttiner, 
 strictly virtuous; that they dreaded sin as the greatest evil, and see', 
 had such a real regard for Christ, as to undergo martyrdom 
 rather than offer incense to idols. They seem indeed to have had 
 
 a great number of martyrs." 
 
 8. We come now to the principal charge of heresy which ex- 
 posed them to the rage of their persecutors. " They contemned 
 marriage, and highly extolled '■virginity." Clement, in par- 
 ticular, fills up almost all his third book of Stromata, in rehears- 
 ing and contradicting the arguments of Marcio?i, and other 
 Encratites [i.e. continent persons] against marriage. 
 
 9. "These proud men, (says Clement,) boast of imitating our ibid.p,3Q-i. 
 Saviour, who never married, and possessed nothing in this world. 
 
 But they should know that God resisteth the proud, but giveth 
 grace to the humble." This is a comment on the Scriptures 
 truly worthy the mystic predecessor of Origen. Had he in 
 truth brought out what he couched under the outward veil of the 
 letter, he must have said, that God resisteth the sincere and 
 harmless imitators of Christ, but giveth grace to the aspiring 
 followers of Saccas. 
 
 10. " St. Ephrem lived at Edesa. — There were many Mar- 
 
146 DISTINCTION BETWEEN CATHOLICS B. IV. 
 
 CHAP. VI. cionites in that country; whicli induced him to write against 
 ibiaT^TiT tlicm. He says that " Marcion's apostles were wolves, hut they 
 p-i65. ■ ■ had sheep's clothing: and that the Devil put a cowl upon him, 
 
 that he might deceive the children of light.'' 
 ii)ia.p.3S7. 11. Unhappily, this saint who covered himself with the out- 
 ward veil, or co^l of the letter, left out the most important part 
 of the sacred text: " By their fruits ye shall Imow them." 
 
 12. "According to St. Jerome, the Marcionites seem to have 
 considered the connubial state, not merely as less perfect, but 
 even as sinful, impure, and odious, in the eyes of their God; 
 whom they call a hater of marriage." 
 
 13. Had this canonized father of the church adopted but one 
 sense to the Scriptures, most likely he would have represented 
 the God of the Marcionites as a hater of the lusts of the flesh ; 
 but with all their learned authority, and compound philosophy, 
 it is easy to see their misrepresentations. 
 
 14. " Clement ' supposeth them to abstain from marriage, that 
 they might not people the world of the Creator: which is a rea- 
 son similar to that which he assigns for their offering them- 
 selves voluntarily to martyrdom, namely, out of hatred to the 
 Creator." 
 
 Gardner, 15. " Another of their institutions was fasting, especially' on 
 
 vol. ix. p. tije Sabbath or seventh day, which had been a day of rest to the 
 Creator, or God of the Jews, whom they despised. This day 
 therefore, they kept as a fast, because they were inclined to do 
 every thing contrary to what would show the least respect for 
 him." 
 
 16. Here then, is about the heaviest charge of atheism, and 
 impiety, fired, by the Catholic fathers, upon the ancient heretics; 
 which may be more clearly understood by what follows. 
 iiii(i.p.389. 17. It is said, that ilfcrcz'ow rejected the Old Testament. He 
 also objected to the appointment of sacrifices — and likewise said 
 that many parts of the New Testament were writings not for 
 Christians, but for Jews. He is also charged with altering many 
 places to suit his own principles, and of putting a wrong sense 
 upon others : one particular point as a specimen, is here inserted 
 from Lardner. 
 
 18. " In the second Epistle to the Corinthians, ch. iv. 4, Mar- 
 Ibid p.403. cion understood by [0£o« <ns aiuvoi t-^th,] the God of this vorld, 
 
 the Creator, and considered him as here opposed to the good 
 God, or the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was the God 
 of the Christians. In opposition to this, Irenaeus, TertuUian, 
 and others, who wrote against the Marcionites, were for placing 
 a comma after ©eos, and referring aiuvoffTX-TH to airisuv, and so read 
 it " In whom God hath blinded the eyes of the unbelievers of this 
 ivorld." 
 
 19. " To us of the present day," (says Lardner,) " this sense 
 
B. IV. AND KEPUTED HERETICS. 147 
 
 appears very harsh, and is one instance, among many others, chap.vi. 
 how far the heat of controversy -ivill carry men." But harsh as 
 it is, this comment of these orthodox fathers has heen retained as *Pi'n. Cnn- 
 a Catholic doctrine down to the present day ; that it is the office ch^v.^'eeo'. 
 of God, as a righteous judge, to lilind and harden the wicked.* ^'• 
 
 20. And yet, after all they have said concerning the heretics, 
 rejecting the Scriptures, the whole of the charge, even according 
 to their own account, is, that they pe^'verted them. As an evi- 
 dence of this, Lardner produces what was said by one of the 
 bishops of the council of Carthage. " I am of opinion that bias- Lmdner 
 phemous and wicked heretics, who pervert the sacred and adora- T;_'i;iii-p- 
 ble words of the Scriptures, ought to be accursed." 
 
 21. That they did not, in every point of view, reject the Scrip- 
 tures, is manifest from the accounts of their enemies. t The 
 truth is, they rejected the Catholic sense of them. What was 
 said of those early heretics, was probably the same, in substance, 
 that was said of other heretics after them. 
 
 22. This general charge against ancient heretics, of rejecting 
 the Scriptures, is judiciously stated, by Robinson, in the follow- 
 ing words, which relate to heretics of a later period : " The fact eccI. Re- 
 is, they knew the Old Testament economy was dissolved and »^="''=i»:=i p- 
 abolished, and therefore they rejected, not as history, but as a 
 
 rule of faith and practice to Christians, all the books of the Old 
 Testament down to Job. They saw that people, who did not 
 make this distinction, confounded Christianity with Judaism." 
 
 23. " The Catholic schools under pretence of expounding 
 Genesis, filled the church with vain disputes about matter and 
 spirit, the origin and duration of the world. They [the heretics] 
 saw the priests set up Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus and Deuter- 
 onomy, as the rules of an hierarchy, never intended to take place 
 among Christians. They heard them employ kings to kill and 
 slay for Jesus, on the ground of the books of Samuel, Kings and 
 
 t Amoiag tlie many evidences, whicli Lardner produces, to prove that the liere- 
 tics did not reject the Scriptures, we notice the following ; * ' Augustin often bl ames 
 the heretics for perverting the Scripture in favor of their errors ; not that they re- 
 jected or despised the Scriptures, but that they misunderstood them, and put wrong 
 interpretations upon them. All heretics, he says, endeavor to defend their false 
 opinions by theauthority of the divine Scriptures. In like manner St. Jerom says — 
 that heretics strive to support their doctrines by quotations of Scripture, that they 
 corrupt the truth of the Gospel, by wrong interpretations. Tertullian speaks much 
 to the same purpose. Ambrosiaster^s description of heretics is, that, they are 
 men who endeavor to support their opinions by Scripture, — attempting to defend 
 their errors by the authority of the sacred writings. Vicentius Lirinensis testifies 
 the same thing, informing us that some in his day?, who were called hcreticSj 
 made great use of Scripture, a-nd continually answered their adversaries and calum- 
 niators by quotations from the sacred writings. He indeed says, "It is the devil 
 who puts these arguments into their mouths and speaks by them." From which 
 probably some will conclude, [and perhaps very justly too,] that many of their 
 arguments from Scripture, were such as their adversaries could not answer. It 
 would be endless to enter into particulars; suflSce it to mention one instance : They 
 argued against the resurrection of the body from St. Paul's words : 1 Cor. xv. 60 . " 
 Lardner, vol. ix. p. 152, 163, 164. 
 
148 
 
 CHUECH OF ANTICHRIST ESTABLISHED. 
 
 B. IV. 
 
 CHAP. 
 VII. 
 
 Eccl. Rc- 
 ■ searches, p. 
 
 yt. 
 
 Chronicles : and they discovered their wisdom by renouncing all 
 such sophisms, and the consequences deduced from them. 
 
 24. " They placed religion in what it really consists, piety 
 and virtue. They had neither sophistry in their doctrine, nor 
 tyranny in their government. They are said to have been bad 
 expositors of Scripture, and to have abounded in allegory : but, 
 assuredly, the vilest of all expositors is he, who finds in the 
 Gospel of peace a divine, commission to spill the blood of his 
 fellow creatures." 
 
 25. Thus far for the first and particular distinction between 
 Catholics and reputed heretics. It now remains to pursue those 
 progressive steps by which the power of antichrist was finally 
 established. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE CHURCH OF ANTICHRIST ESTABLISHED BT ROMAN EM- 
 PERORS IN THE FOURTH AND FIFTH CENTURIES. 
 
 The design of antichrist, from the beginning, was to get the 
 name, the seat, and reputed authority of Christ, and convert that 
 light and revelation which was given through the Son of Q-od, 
 into a source of wealth and honor to the carnally-wise and wicked 
 of the world. 
 
 2. The enemy of God and man, had been always ready to per- 
 vert and corrupt whatever had been revealed from heaven, by 
 getting it into the hands of proud and wicked priests, who could 
 accommodate it to their own carnal ends, for the purpose of pro- 
 moting still higher degrees of wickedness, until it was made 
 manifest, that such doctrines and institutions, whatever they 
 were at first, could not, in their 'corrupted state, be of God. 
 
 .3. The Jewish and Pagan religions, at the time of Christ's first 
 appearing, were quite sunk, as to any spiritual authority; and 
 the priests were so notoriously wicked, that they had quite lost 
 their credit with the people, as ministers of God ; nor could they 
 raise sufficient evidence, upon their corrupted forms and super- 
 stitions, to regain their influence over the people. 
 1 Cor.i. 19, 4. Under the ministry of Jesus and his followers, the wisdoni 
 ~"' of these impostors was turned into foolishness, and their strength 
 
 became weakness. And their violent opposition against those 
 
B. IV. CHURCH OF ANTIOHKIST ESTABLISHED. 149 
 
 harmless characters, which their own prophets and poets had ''vn^' 
 
 described as the people of God, made it manifest, that in all their 
 
 religious zeal, they were actuated by no higher motive than a 
 regard to their own hoaor and interest. 
 
 5. And therefore, when such multitudes were likely to desert 
 them, and withdraw from them, not only their ill-gained salaries, 
 but that religious reverence which they had deceitfully cained 
 by their splendid superstitions, there remained no possible way 
 for them to regain their credit and influence, but by hypocriti- 
 cally pretending to embrace that religion, which was confirmed to 
 the people by the power of God. 
 
 6. By this means they could change their ground to advant- 
 age, and rise in wealth and honor, above their former standing, 
 in proportion as this new revelation was superior to any that was 
 past. This must eventually be the last time for their aggran- 
 dizement. God. had sent his Son in.to the world, who was ex- 
 alted above all principality and power ; and what could be 
 greater, than for them to become the sons of God ? 
 
 7. Honest souls set out for this prize by taking up their cross, 
 and following Christ. They entered by the door of self-denial ; 
 but these " thieves a7id robbers," sought means to climb up some 
 other way. Simon Magus was the first ; he stood ready feignedly 
 to embrace the Gospel in the very start, and even to purchase 
 with money, that power which would raise him in the esteem of is. ' 
 the people, to a level with the Apostles. 
 
 8. DiOTREPHES gained the pre-eminence, and many followed 
 his pernicious ways. The Alexandrian school furnished a new 
 race of Apostles, whose labors, through a great part of the second 
 and third centuries, consisted in forming a new church, wholly 
 different, even in its outward appearance, from the primitive 
 Church of Christ. 
 
 9. And this was effected by holding councils, creating offices, 
 and assuming titles, condemning heretics, and disputing among 
 themselves about their self-invented doctrines. Thus, from one 
 thing to another, they altered, expunged, and added, until their 
 Christian religion, so called, demanded the most honorable seat 
 in the Roman Empire, and its promoters became exalted to the 
 utmost pitch of pride, luxury, and temporal dominion ; by which 
 the nations of the earth have been deceived, even to the present 
 day. 
 
 10. The followers of the Orthodox Fathers, have generally 
 agreed, that the establishment of the Christian religion, so called, 
 by the Roman emperors, was an introduction to the reign of 
 Christ upon earth. They have generally agreed, that Constax- 
 
 TiNE THE Great, was the man-child, spoken of in the Eevela- r^f-^- ^i'- 
 tion, who was to rule the nations; and, that the church which 
 brought him forth, was the true church of Christ, which, at the 
 
150 CHURCH OF ANTICHRIST ESTABLISHED. B. IV. 
 
 CHAi', expiration of twelve hundred and sixty years, would appear in 
 
 '. her latter-day-glory ; when all heresies, or false doctrines, (which 
 
 are to be considered as the flood nf the dragon,) should be 
 swallowed up, and taken out of the way of Catholic truth. 
 
 11. It is well known, that this is the general faith of Protes- 
 tants, as well as that of their Mother Church, and that all 
 parties in the great Catholic division, consider Constantine the 
 Great, as the most eminent father, and founder of their religion 
 and government. The following remarks of President Edwards, 
 are conformable to the general opinion of Protestant writers on 
 this subject. 
 Hist. He. p. 12. In his History of Redemption, h-Q says, "I come now in 
 '"''■ the fourth place, to the great revolution that was in the world in 
 
 the days of Constantine, which was, in many respects, like 
 Christ's appearing in the clouds of heaven, to save his people, and 
 judge the world. 
 
 13. "The people of Rome, being weary of the government of 
 those tyrants to whom they had lately been subject, sent to Con- 
 stantine, who was then in the city of York in England, to come 
 and take the throne. And he being encouraged, as is said, by a 
 vision of a pillar of light in the heavens, in the form of a cross, 
 in the sight of his whole army, with this inscription. By this con- 
 quer; and the night following, by Christ's appearing to him in a 
 dream with the same cross in his hand, who directed him to make 
 a cross like that to be his royal standard, that his army might 
 fight under that banner, and assured him that he should over- 
 come. 
 
 14. " Accordingly he did, and overcame his enemies, took pos- 
 session of the imperial throne, embraced the Christian religion, 
 and was the first Christian emperor that ever reigned. He came 
 to the throne about 320 years after Christ. There are several 
 things which I would take notice of, which attended or im- 
 mediately followed Constantine'' s coming to the throne. 
 
 15. "First. The Christian church was thereby wholly de- 
 livered from persecution. Christians had no persecutions now to 
 fear. ^Their persecutors now were all put down, and their rulers 
 were some of them Christians like themselves. Second. God 
 now appeared to execute terrible judgments on their enemies. 
 
 Rov.vi. 15 ^° *^^*' yfh&t now came to pass, might very fitly be compared to 
 16,17. ' their hiding themselves in the dens and rocks of the mountains. 
 
 16. "-Third. Heathenism now was in a great measure abol- 
 ished throughout the Roman empire. Images were now de- 
 stroyed, and heathen temples pulled down. Images of gold 
 and silver wore melted down, and coined into money. The 
 heathen priests were dispersed and banished. 
 
 17. Fourth. "Now all heathen magistrates were put down, 
 and only Christians were advanced to places of authority all over 
 
B. IV. CHUKCH OF ANTICHKIST ESTABLISHED, 151 
 
 the empire. They had now Christian presidents, Christian gov- '^H^''- 
 
 ernors, Christian judges and officers, instead of their old heathen- '. 
 
 ish ones. Constaniine set himself to honor the Christian bishops 
 or ministers, and to build and adorn churches : and now large 
 and beautiful Christian churches were erected in all parts of, the 
 world, instead of the old heathen temples. 
 
 18. " This was the greatest revolution in the face of things 
 that ever came to pass since the flood. Satan tempted Christ, 
 and promised to give him the glory of the kingdoms of the world ; 
 but now he is obliged to give it to him even against his will. 
 
 This was a glorious fulfilment of that promise which God made Iei. iiu.12, 
 to his Son, that we have an account of in Isaiah. 
 
 19. " This was a great fulfilment of the prophecies of the Old 
 Testament concerning the glorious time of the Gospel, and par- 
 tioularly of the prophecies of Daniel. Kow the kingdom of hea- 
 ven is come in a glorious degree. It pleased the Lord God of 
 heaven to set up a kingdom on the ruins of that of Satan. And 
 now see to what a height that glorious building is raised, which 
 had been building ever since the fall." 
 
 20. 3Iany things more might be added from this author, and 
 also from others, to show the high reputation, in which Conslait- 
 /zweisheld;* that he is considered as the greatest birth, that 
 had ever been produced since the flood : and this idea is still 
 more ingeniously stated by Whiston, and after him by Bishop 
 Newton, thus : 
 
 21. " For as the time of gestation from the conception to the Dissert on 
 birth in woman with child, is known to be forty weeks, or tv.-o ?''^°'''j"gy."'' 
 hundred and eighty days ; so it is well known, that from the 
 
 first rise of our Saviour's kingdom, A. D. 33, till the famous pro- 
 clamation and edict, for the universal liberty and advancement 
 of Christianity by Constantine and Licivius, A. D. 313, was ex- 
 actly two hundred and eighty years. Reckoning according to 
 the prophetic account, a day for a year." 
 
 22. 'That Constantine laid the foundation of a vast kingdom, a 
 Catholic, or universal empire, is not disputed. But whether it 
 was the kingdom of Christ, or of antichrist, is the question. 
 And should it be found to be the kingdom of antichrist, which he 
 set in order, then his descent must be reckoned from Simon Ma- 
 gus, who was cotemporary with the Apostles, and not from Jesus 
 of Nazareth. 
 
 * The following comment (on Kev. xii. 5, 6, &o.) by certain learned divines, so 
 called, may also serve as a striking proof, to show the exalted veneration in which 
 Constantine and his successors are held by the defenders of his faitli — viz : Amon- 
 child caught wp to God andhis throne:- ''IMeaning (5a.y they) Constantine ^jiri 
 his successors to the Roman empire, and made God's deputifs, sitting: as it were on 
 his throne" — War in Heaven: ["A great battle in the Church of God," i.e. in 
 the Church of the Catholics — Michael and his Angels:] '' Constantine and his 
 floldiersj Ac." See Assembly's Annotations on the place. Lon. Kd. 1651. 
 
152 CHURCH OF ANTICHRIST ESTABLISHED. B. IV 
 
 CHAP. 23. If Christ Jesus was truly the Son of God, and if the pri- 
 '- — mitive Church was his real body, so long as that Church remain- 
 ed, and Christ Jesus reigned in it, wliat need could there be of 
 another birth or bringing forth of the same ? And if it is estab- 
 lished, that another gestation commenced in the very year that 
 Simon the sorcerer professed faith in Christ, and offered to pur- 
 chase the power of God with money, and that birth took place in 
 the same year that Constantine and Licinins proclaimed univer- 
 sal liberty, then what could it be but the birth of a?Ltichrist 1 
 
 24. And especially, if it is found that both the hody and spirit 
 brought forth in this latter period, is essentially different from 
 the body and spirit of the first Christian Church, then it must 
 follow, beyond all contradiction, that the Church established by 
 Constantine, is the hody and spirit of antiehrist ; and of course, 
 that all such as have sprung from that body and spirit, or claim 
 any relation thereto, are properly members of antichrists king- 
 dom, and stand in no relation to Christ the true Son of God. 
 
 25. Is it not surprising, how any sensible man could avoid 
 seeing the plain contrast between the spirit and works of Con- 
 stantine, and those of the primitive Christians? And how could 
 any have the confidence to appropriate the name of the true God, 
 or of Christ his Son, to a haughty, and blood-thirsty Pagan, who. 
 through scenes of human butchery, established himself at the 
 head of a religion, of which he knew nothing, but the name. 
 
 26. Where is the least resemblance of the innocent Jesus, 
 even according to their own account ? Was it in accepting the 
 glory of the kingdoms of this world? Surely here the con- 
 trast is perfect : and so it continues in every branch of his pro- 
 ceedings. 
 
 27. This is manifest from his conduct in spreading desolation 
 and destruction through the empire, butchering or banishing his 
 former brethren, taking their property, and coining their gold 
 and silver into money for his own use ; in honoring, and pro- 
 moting the same kind of men, for their feigned profession of 
 Christia?iity, to posts of honor and profit. In building temples, 
 different in name, but as magnificent, and ornamented with as 
 splendid images, as those which he destroyed. And all this they 
 ascribe to the mighty power of God, above all that had ever 
 appeared since the flood, Jesus and his Apostles not excepted! 
 
 28. How is it possible that any man of sense could be so im- 
 posed upon, as to believe that the sacred Scriptures, written hy 
 the persecuted John, was fulfilled in the frighted nonconformists 
 hidin"' themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, 
 from Lord Constantine, who sat upon the throne of Augustus, 
 and from the wrath of that wild and furious emperor, who was 
 the first that had the assurance to shed human blood, under the 
 ensign of a cross. 
 
B. IV. 
 
 CHURCH OF ANTICHRIST ESTABLISHED. 
 
 153 
 
 Mil. vol. i. 
 chap. xvii. 
 p. 232. 
 
 29. Happily, the tree is hnovm hj itsfrvAt: and therefore, "^vn^' 
 we shall observe a little more particularly, the fruits of this great ' 
 revolution ; from which it will appear still more evident, that it 
 
 was not Christ, but antichrist, who accepted of that temporal 
 honor, power and preferment, by which he adjusted matters in 
 his Catholic or universal church, so as to prepare for his unlim- 
 ited ecclesiastical reign. 
 
 30. It may be instructive here to add the following from Mil- 
 ner's Chh. History, to show the causes which prepared the way 
 for the corrupt dominion of Constantine, and for the ascen- 
 dancy which the abominable power of antichrist attained during 
 that period. 
 
 31. " DiocLESiAN began to reign A. D. 284. For the space 
 of eighteen years, he was extremely indulgent to Christians. 
 His most important officers were Christians ; their wives and fami- 
 lies openly professed the Grospel. Christians held honorable offices 
 in various parts of the kingdom. Innumerable crowds attended 
 the Christian worship. " What wonderful Christians these 
 were ! and what fine times they had ! Were these the true de- 
 scendants of the primitive Church ? Let us look a little at the 
 results. 
 
 32. "If" (says Milner) "Christ's kingdom had been of this 
 world, we should here fix the era of its greatness. But, on the 
 contrary, the era of its actual declension must be dated in the 
 pacific part of Dioclesian's reign. During the whole century, 
 the work of God, in purity and power, had been tending to decay. • 
 Its connection with philosophers was one of the principal causes. 
 Outward peace, and secular [worldly] advantages completed the 
 corruption. Bishops and people were in a state of malice ; end- 
 less quarrels were fermented among contending parties, and am- 
 bition and covetousness had, in general, gained the ascendancy in 
 the Christian Church." 
 
 33. "Under the reign of Constantine," Milner says, "If we ibid. chap, 
 look at the external appearance of Christianity, nothing can be "' '"' 
 more splendid." Constantine " erects Churches exceedingly 
 sumptuous and ornamented. He destroys idol temples, prohibits 
 impious Pagan rites," &c. "How corrupt is human nature," 
 
 (says Milner.) [Ai ! but rather how corrupt is that church, 
 falsely called Christian ?] 
 
 34. Bitter feuds, contentions, and the most unworthy spirit of 
 avarice and ambition, appear very prevalent. Men were ripe for 
 a perversion of doctrine. Origan gave the first handle ; Eusebius, 
 the historian, with cautious priidence, was fomenting the evils ; 
 " while the christian world at large was torn to pieces with vio- 
 lence, intrigue, and scandalous animosities." 
 
 35. What man of candor and reflection will say that the 
 Church, under Constantine, was not a false and corrupt Church? 
 
 11 
 
154 
 
 CHARACTER OF CONSTANTINE, &C. 
 
 B. lY. 
 
 CHAP. Yet this is represented, by ecclesiastical writers, as the Tnost 
 
 ^"^' glorious reign of Christ that ever was on earth, and as the true 
 
 Church, from which all orthodox churches claimed their descent. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Eccl. His- 
 tory, vol. i. 
 p. 312. 
 
 Heb. xiii. 
 
 8. 
 
 John, xviii. 
 
 30. 
 
 Mat V. 2, 
 
 THE TRUE CHARACTER OP CONSTANTINE AND HIS SUCCESSOR. 
 
 AccORDiNa to Mosheim and others, Constantine professed to be 
 converted to the Christian faith, aheut the year 313, while on 
 his march towards Eome, to decide by a bloody battle with 
 Maxentius, which of them should be the greatest. And, having 
 defeated his antagonist, he was instated on the imperial throne; 
 soon after which, he repealed those laws which had been enacted 
 against the Christians. 
 
 2. But, in all this, what evidence appears to prove that it was 
 the true faith of the Son of God that he embraced ? His fol- 
 lowers say, that he saw the appearance of a cross in the heavens, 
 and that Christ appeared to him in a dream, with the same cross 
 in his hand, with this inscription on it : {Hac vince.) By this 
 conquer. 
 
 3. But why did not Christ come to him with a sword in his 
 hand, and tell him to conquer by that ? "Was it by the cross, or 
 by the sword that he conquered ? If by the sword, than he mis- 
 took the vision altogether. 
 
 4. But it seems he made a sign of that visionary cross, and set 
 it up as a standard to fight under ; and herein he manifested the 
 very spirit of his Catholic Christianity, by establishing an out- 
 ward sign of appearance of Christ, under which he could act in 
 direct opposition to the nature and Spirit of the Lamb of Cod. 
 
 5. The fact is, if Christ Jesus appeared to Constantine, and 
 gave him authority to draw the sword, and force his way to the 
 throne, through scenes of blood and carnage ; if he commissioned' 
 him to repeal civil laws and statutes, to pull down temples and 
 build them again ; to banish heretics, promote proud bishops, and 
 so on, he must first have repealed all the laws he ever gave his dis- 
 ciples and contradicted all that he ever taught. 
 
 6. But if Christ is " the same yesterday, to-day, and forever;" 
 if his kingdom is not of this world ; if his servants will not fight ; 
 if they are poor in spirit, meek, merciful, peace-makers; and if 
 the fruits of his spirit are love, joy, peace, and such like ; then 
 
B. IV. CHARACTER OF CONSTANTINE, &C. 155 
 
 it follows, that it was neither Christ Jesus, nor any of his follow- *^vlf,^' 
 
 ers, that repealed or contradicted his doctrines, but cunning de- 
 
 ceivers who crept in unawares. 
 
 7. If there was any truth in the story of Constantine's seeing 
 a vision, it was not Christ that appeared to him, to encourage 
 
 him to the battle ; but the father of deception " transformed into ?/'°'"-^'- 
 the appearance of an angel of light." 
 
 8. It is readily granted, that Constantine eifected a great rev- 
 olution, by incorporating together the civil and ecclesiastical 
 powers under the name of Christ ; for which his followers exalt 
 him above all that had, been called God ; yet they are greatly 
 mistaken, when they suppose that his motley empire exceeded in 
 temporal glory, the kingdom of Solomon.* The fact is, it fell *]f ^'"'°°' 
 vastly short : then with how much less propriety must it bear 
 
 any comparison to the spiritual kingdom of the Prince of Peace ! 
 
 9. Instead of being greater than Solomon, this great head of 
 
 the orthodox churches must, in fact, appear less than the least in 
 
 the kingdom of heaven ; that is, such a one as in no case can 
 
 enter into it,t as is most strikingly evident from the following tMat. v. 
 
 ' ° ■' ° 19, 20. 
 
 concession. 
 
 10. "It must indeed be confessed," [Bays Mosheim,) "that the Ecci.His- 
 life and actions of this prince, were not such as the Christian re- p^^is'sii! 
 ligion demands from those who profess to believe its sublime doc- 
 trines. It is also certain, that, from his conversion to the last 
 period of his life, he continued in the state of a catechumen, and 
 
 was not received by baptism into the number of the faithful, 
 until a few days before his death, when that sacred rite was ad- 
 ministered to him at Nicomedia, by Eusebius, bishop of that 
 place. 
 
 11. "For it was a custom with many, in this century, to put 
 oif their baptism to the last hour, that thus immediately after 
 receiving by this rite the remission of their sins, they might 
 ascend pure and spotless to the mansions of life and immortality." 
 
 12. So far the principles and practices of this Catholic emperor 
 are simply stated ; the next thing then is to garnish over the whited 
 sepulchre, and fry to prove him a sincere Christian. And to 
 effect this, his wicked life and actions are covered up in such 
 false and unscriptural reasoning as the following : 
 
 13. "Nor are the crimes of Constantine any proof of the in- 
 sincerity of his profession, since nothing is more evident, though 
 it be strange and unaccountable, than that many who believe, in 
 the firmest manner, the truth and divinity of the Gospel, yet 
 violate its laws by repeated transgressions, and live in contra- 
 diction to their own inward principles." 
 
 14. Was there ever a plainer mark of an antichrist ? Who 
 can be more justly entitled to that character than a man, who 
 believes the truth and divinity of the Gospel, and yet lives in 
 
156 CHAKACTER OF CONSTANTINE, &C. B. lY. 
 
 CHAP, contradiction to his own inward principles ? And because, under 
 ^"'' the doctrines of Christ, this had become common, therefore, it 
 
 isa.xxx.i. must be used as an apology for Const antine' s wickedness ! " Woe. 
 to the, rebellious children, saiih the Lord, that take counsel, but 
 not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my Spirit, 
 that they may add sin to sin." 
 
 15. If it were granted that Christianity came to Constantine, 
 through the mongrel bishops, in such a dress, and that neither 
 he, nor his civil officers, ever heard the true Gospel from a living 
 man of God, (which was most likely the case,) this might be some 
 excuse for his professing to be a Christian, while his practice was 
 directly contrary to his profession. 
 
 16. But, even admitting that his principles were formed, in 
 any sense, according to the doctrine of Christ ; yet if he lived in 
 contradiction to his principles, it must have constituted him an 
 antichrist; that is, having Christ m principle, and living against 
 
 Titus, 1, 16. }^jj)2 ijj practice. 
 
 17. They that have not Christ in some sense or other, cannot 
 Heb.vi. 6. crucify him. But apprehending him by faith, and living a life 
 %^i.°^^' contrary to his life, is both crucifying him afresh, and putting 
 2 John, 7. him to an open shame. [CT" This is a deceiver and an antichrist; 
 
 and this is the most prominent character of the great Con- 
 stantine, even as exhibited by his friends and followers. 
 
 18. It possibly was the inward principle of this great man to 
 live in peace ; but this he found to be impossible, at the head of 
 an avaricious, contentious, and aspiring priesthood. He found 
 it impossible to serve two masters ; and therefore, when he set 
 himself to honor and promote the bishops, he must of course, at 
 Ihe same time, set himself to dishonor the name of Jesus, and 
 put away the true spirit of the Gospel. 
 
 19. Hence all his mighty works, which he wrought under the 
 influence of these sanctimonious deceivers, are such as will be 
 eternally disclaimed by every follower of the meek and lowly. 
 Saviour. Even while the corrupters of the Gospel were exulting 
 in the great advancement of their Church, established under 
 Christian Presidents, Christian Magistrates, and Christian 
 Officers of every rank, there were many souls who viewed this 
 event as a horrible prelude to the total overthrow of the piu-e 
 doctrine and manners of the Apostolic Church. 
 
 20. Nor did those Catholic betrayers of the rights of con- 
 science long enjoy their ill-founded confidence of universal 
 
 Mat. xu. empire ; for a house divided against itself cannot stand. It was 
 25. but a little while, before the chief promoters of the Catholic 
 
 cause were up in arms against each other. 
 EC. Hist. 21. "The joy" (sa^js Mosheim) " with which the Christians 
 ToU.p. fffQyQ elated, on account of the favorable edicts of Constantine 
 
 and Licinius, was soon interrupted by the war which broke out 
 
B. IV. 
 
 CHARACTER OP CONSTANTINE, &C. 
 
 157 
 
 between these two princes." Here this great man-chU, as they 
 call him, enters the list with his own colleague, and in the year 
 314, by a pitched battle, they settle the point, which of them 
 shall be the greatest. 
 
 --. Next, the character of Constantine must be built upon 
 the ruins of that of Lidnius, and even Jtdian, whom they call 
 the apostate, is quoted to prove that L?dnius was an infamous 
 tyrant, a projiigate, abandoned to all sorts of wickedness. It is 
 easy to see how much honor is reflected on the Catholic cause 
 from this character of one of its principal pillars. 
 
 23. But, if facts will demonstrate a character as clearly as 
 words, then we may judge from the following, whether Lidnius 
 or Constantine was the most infamous tyrant. T\'e find it 
 stated, by Mosheim, that, "After several battles fought be- 
 tween them, Lidnius was reduced to the necessity of throwing 
 himself at the victor's feet, and imploring his clemency; which 
 however, he did not long enjoy; for he was strangled by the 
 orders of Constantine, in the year 325."* 
 
 24. Much has been said about David murdering Uriah, that 
 he might enjoy his wife; David only had Uriah placed in the 
 front of the battle, yet it is called murder ; then what shall be 
 said of the conduct of Constaidine toward his former colleague, 
 and now humble suppliant Lidnius, in ordering him to be stran- 
 gled ? Truly it may be said that, Cain like, he slew his brother. 
 
 "According to Lardner, it appears that Lidnius (to whom Constantine, in 
 the time of their friendship^ had given hia sister Constantia in marriage) was 
 put to death at Thessalonica, after Constantine had reduced him to a private 
 condition, and promised him his life. Lardner observes that, "Many ancient 
 writers charge Constantine with a breach of faith in this matter." Nor is this 
 the only crime of the kind alleged against Constantirie. He had already dis- 
 patched his father in law, Maximian, whose son, Maxentius, he was at war with, 
 at the time of his pretended conversion. After this, (in 314, or 315,) he put to 
 death Bassianus, to whom he had married his sister Anastasia. In the year 
 326, he put to death his son Crispus, and his nephew Licinianus, or Lidnius 
 the younger; the former about twenty-five years of age, and the latter about 
 eleven. Next came Fausta his wife, the daughter of Masimian, who was put to 
 death not long after the two last. After giving an account of these three last, 
 Lardner adds, '^ These are the executions, which above all others, cast a reflec- 
 tion upon the reign of Constantine; though there are also hints of the death of 
 some others about the same time, with whom Constantine had till then lived in 
 friendship." See Lardner's Works, Vol. IV. p. 172-176. 
 
 The causes which excited Constantine to put to death so many of his relations, 
 appear to be veiled in obscurity; and perhaps designedly so, in order to conceal 
 from the world crimes which the friends of Constantine cculd not justify, and 
 dare not condemn. From the hints given by various writers, Lardner thinlis it 
 lilsely that the death of Lidnivs and his son was brought about by Constaiitine 
 in order to secure the empire in his own family : and that the death of Crispus 
 was probably occasioned by the instigation of his step-mother Fausta; who, for 
 the same reasons that Constantine was desirous to secure the empire in his own 
 family, was concerned to secure it to his issue by her, in preference to Crispus, 
 who was his son by a former wife. Among the causes to which Fausta's death is 
 attributed, the account given by Zosimus seems not unlikely : viz. " Helena, the 
 mother of Constantine, being extremely grieved at the death of Ciispus, excited 
 Constantine to revenge it on Fausta, the adviser of it." It is asserted, by the 
 same author, that he sent and had her suffocated in a bath. 
 
 CTIAP. 
 VIII. 
 
 Ibid, note 
 
 Ec. Hist, 
 vnl, i. p. 
 318. 
 
158 CHAEACTEE OP CONSTAXTIXE, &C. B. IV. 
 
 CHAP. 25. Was this breaking one of the least, or one of the greatest 
 
 vnr 
 
 commandments! I came not, (says Christ,) to destroy the Late, 
 nor to desiroy Tnern's lives. " TiuM shalt not kill." It may be 
 said, Licinius was an enemy. But where did Christ say thou 
 
 tMat.v. shalt kill thine enemies, and slay them that despitefully use 
 
 **■ you ? t 
 
 26. Here, then, is so manifest a difference between Christ, and 
 the Roman emperor, that the one came to save men's lives, and 
 the other to destroy even the humble suppliant, who cast himself 
 at his feet imploring his clemency. Here was a fair opportunity 
 of proving the spirit of Const antijie. 
 
 27. Was he possessed of the meek and merciful spirit of 
 Christ, or with the cruel and merciless spirit of a tyrant, when 
 he ordered Licinius to be strangled ! For his manifest object was 
 to possess his dominion and reign sole lord of the empire; which 
 he did from that period until his death. 
 
 28. Under such circTunstances, it might argue some degree 
 of candor in Constaniine, to decline being numbered, among the 
 faithful till he was past committing such bloody crimes. But 
 who could assure him that his blood-guiltiness could, in the end, 
 be washed away with a little water 1 Surely this delusion of anti- 
 christ belonged to the priesthood. 
 
 29. It will farther appear evident, beyond dispute, that it was 
 not the cause of Christ, but the Church of antichrist, that Cm- 
 stantine espoused, if we consider the fruits of his spirit, which 
 appeared in his successors. 
 
 Ecci. Hj- 30. " Aft«r the death of Constantine, which happened in the 
 p^'SsIm y®^' ^■'"' ^ tliree sons, Ccmstantine. II, Comtantius, and Cm- 
 stans, were, in consequence of his appointment, put in possession 
 of the empire, and were aU saluted as emperors and Augustii by ' 
 the Homan senate. 
 
 31. " There were yet living two brothers of the late emperor, 
 'ciz. Constantius Belmatius, and Julius Conslantius, and they 
 tad several son.=. These the sons of Cmtstantine ordered to be 
 put to death, lest their ambitious views should excite troubles in 
 the empire. And they all fell victims to this barbarous order, ex- 
 cept Gallus and Julian, the sons of Julius Constantius, the lat- 
 ter of whom rose afterwards to the imperial dignity." 
 
 32. Here, was manifested, the first fruits of that spirit which 
 flowed from this imperial head of the Catholic church to his suc- 
 cessors — a cruel massacre of their nearest relations, from a sor- 
 did thirst of empire ? And what was the language of this horrid 
 and barbarous act to the subordinate members of their motley 
 government? Surely it must be this. Be ye followers of us, 
 eetn as v^e are o/C'osstastise. 
 
 33. The bloody murderers, however, could not long agree 
 ibiAp.320. among themselves. "The dominions allotted to Constaniine, 
 
B. lY. CHARACTER OF CONSTANTINE, &C. 159 
 
 vrere Britain, Gaul and Spain; but he did not possess them ^^f^F' 
 
 long, for, having made himself master, by force, of several places 
 
 holonging to Constans, this oecasioned a Tvar between the two 
 brothers, in the year 340, in which Constanline lost his life." 
 
 34. Constatis, the conqueror, now became sole master of all 
 the western provinces, of which he remained in possession until 
 the year 350, when he was cruelly assassinated by Magnentiiis, 
 one of his commanders, who afterwards, in a fit of rage and des- 
 pair at his ill success in a war against Co?istant?:is, laid violent 
 hands upon himself: and lastly, Coiistantius died in the year 
 361, at Mopsucrene, as he was marching against Julian. 
 
 -35. Such were the successors of Coxstaxtixe, whom the 
 Christian tcorld, so called, respect as the great pillars of their 
 religious establishment. And though giulty of the most horrid 
 and barbarous crimes, yet are honored and applauded under the 
 beautiful mask of a Christian profession, following the example 
 of their father, {as Moshcim expresses it) " in continuing to abro- 
 gate and efface the ancient superstitions of the Romans and other 
 idolatrous nations, and to accelerate the progress of the Christian 
 religion throughout the empire." 
 
 36. But observe what follows : " This flourishing progress of 
 the Christian religion was greatly interrupted, and the church re- 
 duced to the brink of destruction, when Juliax, the son of Ju- 
 lius Constant ius was placed at the head of affairs." 
 
 37. What is the matter now? This prince, though he had 
 been educated in the principles of Chi-istianity, "yet " (says Mo- 
 skeim) '• he apostatized from that divine religion." And pray 
 what was the cause of this apostasy? The answer is, '-.It was 
 partly owing to his aversion to the Coxstaxtixe family, who 
 had embrued their hands in the blood of his father, brother, and 
 kinsman.'' It was therefore, not from the religion of Jesus, but 
 from that of bloody murderers, that he apostatized. 
 
 35. "Juliax" (adds the doctor,) "affected, in general, to ibid.p.323 
 appear moderate in religions matters, unwilling to trouble any 
 
 on account of their faith, or to seem averse to any sect or party." 
 And because he allowed equal liberty to all, or, as Robinson ex- 
 presses it, "The just and gfutle JrilAX, because he headed Eccl.Re- 
 neither party, and put off the purple unstained with the blood of m"^ '^'^' 
 heretics, both sides agree to execrate him as a diabolical apos- 
 tate." 
 
 39. And strange as it may seem, this mild and equitable gov- 
 ernment, tmder JrLiAX, is by some of the most eminent ortho- 
 dox divines, included in the flood which the dragon, i.e. the 
 devil, poured out of his mouth to destroy the woman, i.e. the 
 church, and her son, the Eoma'n emperor. 
 
 40. But, having examined this man-child, which they have 
 exalted, not only to God and to his throne, but above all that is 
 
160 CHAKACTEB OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. B. IV. 
 
 CHAP. IX. called God, we shall leave him at present, and examine a little 
 
 further into the spirit and conduct of the mother of harlots that 
 
 bore him. 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, IN THE 
 SECOND, THIRD, AND FOURTH CENTURIES. 
 
 "Whoever examines the accounts given by historians, of the 
 nature and genius of that religion which was established by the 
 Catholic fathers, under the name of Christianity, will find that 
 it diiFers as widely from the work of the Holy Spirit in the pri- 
 mitive Church of Christ, as did their imperial forms of govern- 
 ment. 
 
 2. In fact, their religion was all of a kind; and therefore, in- 
 stead of retaining that divine power, which, in the days of the 
 Apostles, manifested itself in every good word and work, they 
 adopted a vain parade of external rites and ceremonies, resem- 
 bling those of the Jews and Pagans. 
 
 3. These they united to their corrupt doctrines; and, for the 
 support and propagation of both, they, in process of time, raised 
 the arm of persecution against all such as were so far enlightened 
 as to differ from them, and so presumptuous, in their esteem, as 
 to think and act for themselves. 
 
 4. Prom the first formation of the Catholic system, before 
 ever Constantine ascended the throne, the principal account that 
 is given of the religion of the self-styled orthodox, is, their either 
 practising old rites and ceremonies, or inventing new ones, which 
 put them still at a greater distance from every appearance of the 
 humble followers of Jesus. 
 
 5. Many there were, however, who could not conform to these 
 absurd innovations, who consequently were looked upon as per- 
 sons of no religion, and against whom the most bloody persecu- 
 tions were raised, as soon as the aid of civil power was attained; 
 the cruel and lawless spirit of which has, more or less, continued 
 to the present day. 
 
 6. Prom all that has been written concerning the rise and pro- 
 gress of this Catholic religion, even by their own historians, it is 
 plain, that the most distinguishing marks of it, are, superstition 
 
B. IV. CHARACTER OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 161 
 
 and. persecution; of which we shall here insert a brief aoooiint chap.ix. 
 from their early beginning. 
 
 7. By superstition is meant, any religions offering, act, or per- 
 formance, for which there is no present order, or command from 
 heaven ; but which is either indented or practised to serve the 
 selfish ends of some human priesthood, and subserve the purposes o Tim, jv. 
 and passions of a corrupt nature ; and hence, the vain supersti- 3, 4. 
 tions of the Catholic church, took their rise, with those bishops 
 
 and priests, who substituted their own natural wit and learning, 
 instead of the spirit of inspiration ; from which alone the mind of 
 God could be known. 
 
 8. It therefore made no difference what they set up for reli- 
 gion ; whether it was some new invention of their own, or some 
 rite and ceremony, which might formerly have been of Divine 
 appointment ; inasmuch as there was no express command of 
 G-od, to them, in the case : of course, whatever they introduced, 
 must be, to them, a matter of their own superstition ; which will 
 manifestly appear from what is stated concerning their reasons 
 for first introducing superfluous rites and ceremonies into the 
 Catholic church. 
 
 9. Mosheim says, "In this [second] century, many unneces- Ecci.iiist. 
 sary rites and ceremonies were added to the Christian [i.e. p"']^™'''' 
 Catholic] worship ; the introduction of which was extremely offen- 
 sive to wise and good men. These changes, while they destroyed 
 
 the beautiful simplicity of the Gospel, were naturally pleasing to 
 the gross multitude, who are more delighted with the pomp and 
 splendor of external institutions, than with the native charms of 
 rational and solid piety, and who generally give little attention 
 to any objects but those which strike their outward senses." 
 
 10. '' It is not improper to remark here, that this attachment of VM. noto 
 the vulgar to the pomp of ceremonies, is a circumstance that has 
 always been favorable to the ambitious views of the Romish 
 
 [i.e. Catholic] clergy, since the pomp of religion naturally casts 
 a part of its glory and magnificence upon its ministers, and 
 thereby gives them, imperceptibly, a vast ascendant over the 
 minds of the people." 
 
 11. Then, as an aspiring and self-interested clergy have had 
 the modelling of this Catholic religion from the beginning, it is 
 evident that its rites and ceremonies, throughout, are merely the 
 fruits of human ambition, and not of any Divine appointment. 
 
 This is evidently implied by Mosheim, when he says, " That the jbia. p.ig7^ 
 bishops augmented the number of religious rites by way of los. 
 accommodation to the infirmities and prejudices of both Jews 
 and heathens, in order to facilitate their conversion. 
 
 12. "Both Jews and heathens were accustomed to a vast 
 variety of pompous and magnificent ceremonies in their religious 
 service. And as they considered these rites as an essential part 
 
P' 
 
 162 CHABACTER OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. B. IV. 
 
 CHAP. IX. Qf religion, it was tut natural that they should behold, with in- 
 ' difference, and even with contempt, the simplicity of the Chris- 
 
 tian worship, which was destitute of those idle ceremonies that 
 rendered their service so specious and striking. 
 
 1.3. " To remove this prejudice against Christianity, the bis- 
 hops thought it necessary to increase the number of rites and 
 ceremonies." And by this means it seems they also designed 
 " to remove the opprobrious calumnies, which the Jewish and 
 Pao-an priests cast upon the Christians, on account of the 
 simplicity of their worship, esteeming them little better than 
 atheists, because they had no teinples, altars, victims, priests, 
 nor any thing of external pomp in which the vulgar are so prone 
 to place the essence of religion." 
 
 14. Can any thing be plainer, than that this Catholic religion 
 principally consisted in reviving their ancient superstitions under 
 a new name ? And therefore, as early as the second century, the 
 followers of Saccas adopted the Jewish titles of chief priests, 
 priests, and Leeites. 
 Ecci. His- 1-5. "But in a little time," (says Mosheim,) "these titles 
 ""is!™'''' 'w^ere abused by an aspiring clergy, who thought proper to claim 
 the same rank and station, the same rights and privileges, that 
 were conferred, with those titles, upon the ministers of religion 
 under the Mosaic Dispensation." 
 
 16. "Hence the rise of tithes, first fruits, splendid garments, 
 and many other circumstances of external grandeur, by which 
 ecclesiastics were eminently distinguished." In like manner, 
 the comparison of the pious gifts of Christians, with the Jewish 
 victims, oblations, and sacrifices, produced a multitude of un- 
 necessary rites, "and was the occasion" (says Mosheim) "of 
 introducing [E7° that erroneous notion of the eucharist, which 
 represents it as a real sacrifice." And under this erroneous 
 notion it has been continued among the Catholi(?s to the present 
 day._ 
 Ibid. p. 200. 1'. "The profound respect that was paid to the Greek and 
 Roman mysteries, and the extraordinary sanctity that was 
 attributed to them, induced the Christians [or rather the Catholic 
 bishops] to give their religion a mystic air, in order to put it 
 upon an equal footing in point of dignity, with that of the 
 Pagans." For this purpose the eucharist, or as some call it, the 
 Lord's supper, and baptism, were denominated mysteries. 
 
 18. They used in those institutions the very terms employed 
 in the heathen mysteries ; and proceeded so far, at length, as 
 even to adopt some of the rites and ceremonies of which these 
 renowned mysteries consisted. So that a great part of the 
 service of the church, in this century, had a certain air of the 
 heat\en mysteries, and resembled them considerably in many 
 particulars. 
 
B. IV. CHAHACTEE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. IGo 
 
 19. As early as the second century, tlic Catliolics celebrated chap.ix. 
 anniversary festivals in commemoration of the death and resur- ^^^J^Tni^ 
 reotion of Jesus. That which was observed as the anniversary lory, vol. i. 
 of his death, they called the ■paschal day, or passover. They ^''^ "'" "' 
 fasted during the great week, (as they called it) in which Christ 
 
 was crucified; and afterwards celebrated a feast, like the Jews, 
 at which they distributed the paschal lamb. 
 
 20. This was the great festival; but, unhappily, they could 
 not agree about the time of celebrating it ; which was a particu- 
 lar means of setting them to quarreling among themselves, and 
 striving who should be that Great High Priest, to whom all the 
 rest must be subject. 
 
 21. Robinson says, " Victor, bishop oi Rome, was an African, Ecci.Ee- 
 and he was the first bishop who presumed to send an order to all j^^'^'"*''' ''' 
 the churches of Asia to keep the passover when he did, for he 
 
 kept it, forsooth, when Peter did. Polycrates, bishop of Ephe- 
 sus, sent him word in the name of all the Aarons of Asia, that 
 they would not alter their custom, for they kept the passover 
 when John kept it. 
 
 22. " Victor, with true African rage, got together a few 
 neighboring Levites, and held a meeting which he named a 
 council, and excommunicated all the bishops of the East. 
 Cyprian that other Carthaginian zealot, excommunicated Ste- 
 phen, bishop of Rome, because, truly, he would not rebaptize 
 heretics as the African ordered him. Stephen returned the 
 compliment, and in this manner they cursed and combated till 
 the Koman bishop obtained the victory." 
 
 23. Thus, their mysteries and festivals were adopted as their 
 main articles and terms of communion, instead of righteousness 
 and peace; and a set of profligate gentry, no better, in reality, 
 than Pagans, were set up to enforce and administer these empty 
 
 ■ rites to a deluded multitude, as the great and only means of 
 salvation. 
 
 24. In the celebration of the eucharist, the bread and wine eccI. nia- 
 was consecrated by the prayers of the bishops. The wine was ^^J^l"^- '■ 
 mixed with water, and the bread divided into several portions. 
 
 A part- of the consecrated bread and wine was carried to the sick 
 or absent members; and, as it was considered essential to salva- 
 tion, it was administered even to infants, during this century. 
 
 25. Baptism, was administered publicly twice a year, at the 
 festivals of Easier and Pentecost. "The persons that were to .''econci 
 be baptized,'; (says Mosheim,) " after they had repeated the Cemury. 
 Creed., confessed and renounced their sins, were immersed under 
 water, and received into Christ's kingdom by a solemn invoca- 
 tion of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 
 
 26. After baptism they received the sign of the cross, were ^J';'JJi': 
 anointed with oil, consecrated by prayers and imposition of p. 207. 
 
164 CHAEACTEB, OF THE CATHOLIC CHUKCH. B. IV. 
 
 CHAP. IX. fiaiids, and received milk and honey, which concluded the cere- 
 ' niony. [117° God-fathers were, at this time, instituted to answer 
 
 for adult persons, and afterwards even for infants. 
 
 27. In the third century, their superstitions still increased. 
 Their places of public worship were embellished with images and 
 other ornaments; and the discourses addressed to the people, 
 were wholly of a different cast from those of the simple and sin- 
 cere followers of Christ. 
 Ibid. p. 282. 28. "For, not to say anything of [C7° Origen, who introduced 
 long sermons, and was the first who explained the scriptures in 
 his discourses, several bishops, who had received their education 
 in the schools of the rhetoricians, were exactly scrupulous, in 
 adapting their public discourses to the rules of G-recian eloquence. 
 And this method gained such credit, as to be soon, almost 
 universally followed." 
 
 29. Those who were in a penitential state, and those who had 
 not received the sacrament of baptism, were, at this time, 
 debarred from their sanctimonious supper; "and it is not 
 
 lbid.p.28.3. diflicult " (says Mosheim) "to perceive, that these exclusions 
 were an imitation of what was practised in the heathen mysteries." 
 "This pompous rite was, at this period, administered in golden 
 and silver vessels : and by all, it was considered as essential to 
 salvation." 
 
 30. A long course of trial and preparation was now deemed 
 necessary in order to baptism, and the remission of sins was 
 thought to be its immediate and happy fruit. It was adminis- 
 tered only in the presence of those who had been initiated into 
 
 lbici.p.28i, the mystery of the supper. " And we have only to add, "'(says 
 Mosheim,) "that none were admitted to this solemn ordinance, 
 until, by the menacing and formidable shouts and declamation of 
 the exorcist, they had been delivered from the dominion of the 
 prince of darkness." 
 
 31. "The origin of this superstitious ceremony may be easily 
 traced, when we consider the prevailing opinions of the times," 
 which according to the Egyptian philosophy, attributed all the 
 corrupt propensities and evil actions of men to the influence and 
 impulse of a certain spirit or einl being within them, "who was 
 perpetually compelling them to sin." 
 
 ibid.p.2S5. 32. " The driving out of this rfewow was now considered as an 
 essential preparation for baptism, after the administration of 
 which, the candidates returned home, adorned with- crowns, and 
 arrayed in white garments — emblems of their purity, and victory 
 over sin and the world." A consistent writer would rather have 
 styled them masks of hypocrisy, whereby they might cover their 
 inward corruption and guilt, while they lived in sin, and perfect 
 union with the world. 
 
 33. Great sanctity was now attributed to the practice bi fast- 
 
B. IV. CHARACTEU OF THE CATHOLIC CHUECH. 165 
 
 i7ig ; and " the sign of the cross was supposed to administer a chap ix. 
 victorious power over all sorts of trials and calamities ; and was it,id.p.28G 
 more especially considered as the surest defence against the 
 snares and stratagems of malignant spirits." 
 
 34. Had the Church of Christ degenerated into this dark and 
 senseless superstition, Satan might have triumphed indeed; but 
 all he had to boast, was merely of leading the subjects of his 
 own dark kingdom into grosser darkness ; and even, turning into 
 darkness, those reflections of light, which they had received from 
 the saints. It was the work only of "evil men and, seducers, sxim. iii. 
 who waxed vxrse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." 
 
 3.5. We will here add the following confession of Cyprian, 
 presbyter and prelate of the Church at Carthage, who lost his 
 life in the persecution under Valeeian, A. D., 258. In a 
 letter which he wrote before his death, he says: "It must be 
 owned and confessed, tjiat the outrages and heavy calamity which 
 hath almost devoured our flock, and continues to devour it to the 
 present day, hath happened to us because of our sins, since we 
 keep not the way of the Lord, nor observe his heavenly com-* 
 mandments. 
 
 36. " Our principle study is to get money and estate ; we follow 
 after pride ; we are at leisure for nothing but emulation and quar- 
 reling, and have neglected the simplicity of faith. AVe have re- 
 nounced this world in words only, and not in deed. Every one 
 studies to please himself, and to displease others." 
 
 37. On this sad picture of the state of Christianity, Jones, 
 remarks, " Cyprian's account is confirmed by the testimony .ronesOhh. 
 of Eusebius, (the historian) who was nearly cotemporary with piiif'^iJft'' 
 him." 1832. 
 
 38. In the fourth century, their vain superstitions surpass 
 description. Mosheim says, "It would be almost endless to -p^^^^Wi'- 
 enter into a minute detail of all the different parts of public wor- tory, vol. i. 
 ship." The rites and institutions of the Greeks and Romans '^'''^^' 
 were adopted by the Catholic bishops with some slight altera- 
 tions. 
 
 39. "They imagined that the nations would embrace their ibid. p. 332. 
 doctrines and come under their government with more facility, 
 
 when they saw the rites and ceremonies to which they were 
 accustomed, adopted by their church, and the same worship paid 
 to Jesus and his martyrs, which they offered to their fictitious 
 gods and heroes." 
 
 40. Could they possibly have taken a readier way to disgrace 
 the name of Christ ? Was it not in efi'ect placing him on the same 
 list with those beastly characters whom the heathens worshipped 
 as gods, and whose worse than brutal actions they commemorated 
 in their festivals and acts of worship ? or was it not in reality 
 setting up the same spirit ot beastly wickedness, and worshipping 
 
166 CHAEACTEE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. B. IV. 
 
 CHAP. IX. the least and his followers under the peryerted Dames of Christ 
 and Ms faithful raartyrs ? 
 
 41. Tlius, while they called themselves orthodox Christians, 
 they practised Paganism, and to the wicked, became more 
 wicked, that they might subject the wicked to their ungodly 
 
 ibid.p,3S2. dominion. "Hence it happened," (says Mosheim)^ "that, in 
 these times, the religion of the Greeks and Romans differed very 
 little, in its external appearance, from that of the Christians." 
 [He ought to have said, from that of these hypocrites.] _ 
 
 42. " They had both a most pompous and splendid ritual. 
 Gorgeous robes, mitres, tiaras, wax-tapers, crosiers, processions, 
 lustrations, images, gold and silver vases, and many such cir- 
 cumstances of pageantry, were equally to be seen in the heathen 
 temples, and the Christian [i.e. Catholic] Churches." 
 
 ibid.p.3S3. 43. "No sooner had Constantine the Great abolished 
 the superstitions of his ancestors, thaii magnificent churches 
 were everywhere erected for the Christians, which were richly 
 adorned with pictures and images, and bore a striking regem- 
 Iblance to the Pagan temples, both in their outward and inward 
 form. 
 
 44. " Some of these churches were built over the tombs of 
 martyrs, and were frequented only at stated times ; while others 
 were set apart for ordinary assemblies. Both of them were con- 
 secrated with great pomp, and with certain rites borrowed, 
 mostly, from the ancient laws of the Roman pontiffs," or Pagan 
 priests. 
 
 Ibid. P.3S5, 4-5. "Inconsequence of a peculiar law enacted by [CT'CoN- 
 STANTINE, the first day of the week was observed with more 
 solemnity than it had formerly been.* The psalms of David 
 were now received among the public hymns that were sung as a 
 part of divine service. Their prayers degenerated into a vain 
 and swelling bombast." 
 
 46. " The sermons addressed to the people — were rather 
 adapted to excite the stupid admiration of the populace, who 
 delight in vain embellishments, than to enlighten the understand- 
 ing, or to reform the heart." Five yearly festivals were at this 
 time established, none of which were kept with so much super- 
 stition as the fourteen days appointed for the commemoration of 
 Christ's resurrection. 
 
 * It appears that, in the second century, there were various opinions conceniing 
 the day of the week proper to be kept as a day of worship. Some observed the 
 sixth day, in remembrance of the crucifixion ; others \he fourth, the day on which 
 Christ was betrayed ; some observed the first, in memory of the resurrection ; and 
 others retained the Jewish sabbath. But what must we think of Constantine's 
 law enjoining more solemnity to the first day of the week ? Was it really in- 
 tended that the people should be more solemnly engaged in the worship of God on 
 that day 1 or was it not rather intended to make the celebration of the day equal, 
 in pomp and splendor, to the magnificence of his Churches, which were so ncbly 
 adorned with pictures and images. 
 
 3815, 
 
B. IV. CHARAOXEE OE THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 167 
 
 47. "But the unlucky success, (says Mosheim,) vrhicli some chap.ix. 
 had in discovering the carcases of certain holy men, multiplied JTiTVss? 
 the festivals and commemorations of the martyrs in the most ex- 
 travagant manner. Nor was this all : certain tombs were falsely ibid. p. 357. 
 given out for the sepulchres of saints and confessors ; • the list of 
 
 the saints was augmented with fictitious names, and even robbers 
 were converted into martyrs." 
 
 48. Neither were these festivals employed in any manner 
 that either Christ or any of his followers could approve, but 
 "were squandered away in indolence, voluptuousness, and crim- 
 inal pursuits, and in the indulgence of sinful passions " — as it is 
 to this day. 
 
 49. We might add, their establishing set fasts, at this period, Ecci.iiis- 
 by express laws, of which the Lent fast was held more sacred than p^'sss™:'!). 
 all the rest — erecting baptismal fonts in the porch of each church 
 
 — casting salt into the mouth of the baptized person, a^ an em- 
 blem of something which they had not in possession — using a 
 double anointing — celebrating their mystical supper, at the tombs 
 of the martyrs, and holding up the bread and wine to the igno- 
 rant multitude as objects of adoration — performing masses in 
 honor of the saints, and for the benefit of the dead: and many 
 such vain superstitions which their own historians consider too 
 numerous and contemptible to be related. 
 
 50. It is therefore an undeniable fact, justly stated by Mosheim, 
 that (in the fourth century) " the progress and the baleful in- 
 fluence of srfperstition, was now become universal ! " To this we 
 may add the testimony of Eusebius. The state of the profes- 
 sing Christian Churches in the latter part of the third, and be- 
 ginning of the fourth century, is by Eusebius thus stated : 
 
 " Through too much liberty, they grew negligent and slothful, jonesChh. 
 envying and reproaching one another; waging as it were, civil Hist.p.isa. 
 wars among themselves, bishops quarreling with bishops, and , 
 
 the people divided into parties." 
 
 51. " Hypocrisy and deceit were grown to the greatest pitch of 
 wickedness. The bishops themselves had thrown off all concern 
 about religion ; were perpetually contending with one another ; 
 and did nothing but quarrel with, and threaten, envy, and hate 
 one another ; they were full of ambition, and tyranically used 
 their power." What rational mind can believe this to be the 
 true Church of Christ ? 
 
 52. And yet this is the Church which, for many ages, has 
 pretended to be the light of the world, and this the kind of reli- 
 gion that has been artfully substituted in the place of that true 
 holiness of heart and life, which distinguished the primitive 
 Church. 
 
 53. But whoever will take the pains to examine the spirit of 
 their religion, will find that this Vain parade of Jewish and Pa- 
 
PEESECUTING SPIUIT OF B. lY. 
 
 CHAP.x. gan superstition, had no relation to the spirit and work of 
 Christ, and that the Church in which it was established, stood in 
 
 perfect contrast to the real Church of Christ, and was a perpetual 
 
 disgrace to the name which they assumed. 
 
 CHAPTEK X. 
 
 THE PEESECUTING SPIEIT OP THE CATHOLIC CHTIECH, IN THE 
 THIED AND FOtlETH CENTURIES. 
 
 Peesecution is a general character of the Catholic religion. 
 This was founded upon the supposed orthodoxy, and sacred au- 
 thority of the Catholic priesthood : and this authority they re- 
 ceived in a proper line of succession from their Pagan ancestors, 
 by whose diabolical influence, the blood of those same martps 
 was shed, whom their Catholic successors deceitfully pretended 
 to worship. 
 
 2. It is proper to observe against whom this spirit of persecu- 
 tion was directed, and in what manner it operated "in dififerent 
 periods. It was not before the fourth century, that the Catholic 
 bishops personally engaged in the unnatural and beastly work of 
 destroying heretics for their religion, but it is certain, that they 
 had all along contributed much to the flame of persecution by 
 their tongues and pens. ' 
 
 3. According to the kind and the degree of power they possess- 
 ed, so at different perio.ds, they manifested, by their works, that 
 it was not for the promotion of truth and virtue, but for its des- 
 truction, that their orthodoxy was established; and as far as 
 orthodoxy was considered the chief and most honorable virtue, so 
 far heresy was made the principal and only crime. 
 
 4. Amidst the dark and senseless superstitions that prevailed 
 in the Catholic Church during the second and third centuries, 
 there were many under different names, who maintained the prac- 
 tice of true virtue, according to the precepts and example of 
 Christ. These are all distinguished, in history, under the one 
 general name of heretics. 
 
 5. In the third century, Mosheim says, " The Montanists, ["i.e. 
 those who assembled for religious worship, among the mountains, 
 to avoid their persecutors] Valentinians, Marcionites and other 
 heretics continued still to draw out their forces." 
 
Eccl.I-Jist. 
 vol. i 
 28S. 
 
 B. IV. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 169 
 
 (i. Adelphius and Aquilinus, were at this time the greatest chap. x. 
 disturbers of the Catholic peace. Mosheim says, "They were, 
 however, opposed not only by the [pretended] Christians, but J''V'P- 
 also by Flotinus, the greatest Platonic philosopher of the age, 
 who, followed by a numerous train of disciples, opposed them, 
 and others of the same kind, with as much vigor and success as 
 the most enlightened [Catholic] Christians could have done." 
 
 7. It seems that the opinions of these heretics, difTered widely 
 from the doctrines of Plato, and on this account, " The disciples 
 0/ Jesus, a?id the followers of J^lotinvs, joined together their 
 efforts against them, and by their united force soon destroyed their 
 credit and authority, and rendered ^em. contemptible in the esti- 
 mation of the multitude." 
 
 8. But this circumstance, if there was no other, is altogether 
 sufficient to show that it was not the disciples of Jems, but of 
 Saccas, who joined forces with Flotinus and his numerous train, 
 and if the name of Jesus had any just application in the case, it 
 must have belonged to those of the contrary side, who were hated 
 and persecuted by both Pagans and Catholics. 
 
 9. However, unhappily for the united forces of the Catholic 
 and Platonic doctors, when they seemed just " upon the point of 
 obtaining a complete, and decisive victory, anew enemy, (says 
 Mosheim,) more vehement and odious than the rest, started up 
 suddenly, and engaged in the contest." 
 
 10. This was Mani, hj birth a Persian. His character fol- ibid. p. 288. 
 lows in the old orthodox form. " Many were deceived by the 
 eloquence of this enthusiast, by the granity of his countenance, 
 
 and the innocence and simplicity of his manners : so that, in a 
 short time, he formed a sect not utterly inconsiderable in point 
 of number." 
 
 11. To whom then, could gravity, innocence, and simplicity of 
 manners be an odious and vehement enemy? Surely not to 
 Christ, but to antichrist, and his idolatrous superstitions ; and 
 therefore, these unreproachable qualities of this reputed heretic, 
 could not defend him against the united hatred of the pretended 
 Christians, Philosophers, Jews and Pagans. 
 
 12. According to the Grreek writers, he was, for some time, 
 protected in a strong castle, which the Persian monarch had 
 erected between Bagdat and Suza, to serve him as a refuge 
 against those who persecuted him on account of his doctrine ; yet 
 he wa^ afterwards delivered up, and fell a victim to the rage of 
 his persecutors. 
 
 13. His adversaries complain that, " The rule of life and man- Ibid.p.294, 
 ners which he prescribed to his disciples, was most extravagantly 
 rigorous and austere." If the rule which he prescribed to per- 
 fect Christians, was, as they say, an entire abstinence from ivine 
 
 and wedlock, from all intoxicating drink, and all amorous gra- 
 
 12 
 
170 
 
 PERSECUTING SPIRIT OP 
 
 B. lY. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Eccl. Re- 
 searches; p. 
 
 ISO. 
 
 Ibid. p. 186. 
 
 Ibid. p. ISS. 
 
 tiJicatio7is, it need not bethought strange, that such a debauched 
 and superstitious age shquld revile him, not only as a heretic, 
 but as the most dangerous fanatic or madman. 
 
 14. And in fact, the principal respect that is paid to this class 
 of heretics, by those false judges of true virtue, is, that the 
 ■weaker sort of this sect, or those who were denominated hearers, 
 were allowed to possess houses, lands, and wealth, and to enter 
 into the conjugal bonds : " But (say they) this liberty was given 
 them with many limitations, and under the strictest conditions 
 of moderation and temperance." 
 
 15. Doubtless there was nothing but liberty in the case, and 
 all were allowed to act according to their ovra choice; and 
 though the adversaries of Mani would seem to insinuate that he 
 used some kind of compulsion ; yet it is very evident that it was 
 not he, but his persecutors, that lorded it over the conscience: 
 and that the only means which constrained this people to a life 
 of mortification and abstinence, was the exemplary innocence of 
 their leaders. 
 
 16. " The celebrated Hierax, from whom came the Hieracites, 
 was a native of Egypt, and a Christian (says Robinson,) of the 
 true primitive cast. He was a man of eminent abilities, both 
 natural and acquired — and what is more to ^is honor, his bitter- 
 est enemies applaud his distinguished piety and virtue." 
 
 17. "This poisonous reptile, a,s Saint Epiphanius is 
 to call him, had the misfortune to hold two or three errors, for 
 which he was anathematized with all his followers, and, if the 
 last judgment be directed on the principles of Greek councils, 
 they win all suffer the vengeance of eternal fire." 
 
 18. "In brief he was a Manichean. Mos hci m sa.js, he dif- 
 fered considerably from Mani; but Beausobre more accurately 
 observes that Mani and Hierax, from whom came the Spanish 
 heretics, dififered only as two drops of water differ from each 
 other. It was a difference of quantitv, not of nature." 
 
 19. "In the fourth century the Hieracites were very numer- 
 ous in Egypt. One of them named Mark, of the city of Mcm- 
 phis, went into Spain, where he was entertained by a lady named 
 Agape, and Helpidius, a rhetorician : but the most famous of 
 all his converts was Prisdllian." 
 
 20. "In the religious assemblies of all the Manicheans, adora- 
 tion of God was the whole of the worship. This was performed 
 in the natural way of prayer, and singing hymns — the scriptures 
 were read, and some discoursed on the nature and obligations of 
 virtue to inform the rest." 
 
 21. " Prisdllian did so, and many of noble families, and 
 common people, and crowds, especially of women, attended and 
 imbibed the doctrine. In a short time it spread all over Spain: 
 and some bishops embraced it, who, laying aside the vices of the 
 
B. IV. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 171 
 
 world, and the superstitions of the [Catholic] oleray, applied chap, x. 
 themselves wholly to the practice of piety, and a course of 
 virtue." 
 
 22. Thus far has Robinson stated the occasion of the first Ca- 
 tholic persecution, which began about the year 380, at the in- 
 stigation of Idacius and Ilhacius, two cruel and persecuting 
 ecclesiastics, 
 
 23. Their first step was, to call a council, for the purpose of 
 suppressing the heresy of Priscillian. With twelve bishops they 
 passed a decree,- that no man should assume the rank of a teacher 
 without leave first had and obtained from them. Priscillian in 
 the mean time continued to teach. Enraged at this contempt of 
 their assumed authority, their next recourse was to the civil ma- 
 gistrate for aid. 
 
 24. And after a process of several years, the bloody Ithacius Eoci. HU- 
 obtained an order from the Catholic emperor Maximus, for the ^^'l{^°^'^' 
 execution of Priscillian and his associates. In consequence of 
 which, in the year 384, Priscillian and many more were put to 
 
 death. Some, says Robinson, were put on the rack, others had 
 all their property confiscated, and others were banished. 
 
 25. And who were Ithacius and Maximus, that they should 
 agree, for the honor of religion, to destroy the inoffensive Pris- 
 cillian, and those who adopted his harmless manner of life? 
 Maximus came to the throne by means of procuring the murder 
 of the emperor Gratian; and even the party to which Ithacius 
 belonged gave him the following character : 
 
 26. " He was a man abandoned to the most corrupt indolence, Ibid.p.4i4. 
 and without the least tincture of true piety. He was audacious, °'* 
 talkative, impudent, luxurious, and a slave to his belly. He ac- 
 cused as heretics, and as protectors of Priscillian, all those 
 
 whose lives were consecrated to the pursuit of piety and know- 
 ledge, or distinguished by acts of mortification and abstinence." 
 
 27. However, in all this he only proved himself to be a true 
 son of the Catholic Church ; and his introducing persecution into 
 his mother's house, was nothing more than improving the liberty 
 which she had granted her sons, by the Tkeodosian creed, formed 
 about the same period in one of her general councils at Constan- 
 tinople, in the year 381. 
 
 28. " An hundred and fifty bishops, (says Mosheim,) who were Ibid.p.4i4, 
 present at this council, gave the finishing touch to what the ^^^' 
 council of Nice had left imperfect, and fixed, in a full and deter- 
 minate manner, the doctrine of HIT" three PERSONS in one GrOD, 
 
 which is as yet received among the generality of Christians :" 
 [i.e. professed Christians and Catholics.] 
 
 29. " This venomous council did not stop here ; — They branded 
 with infamy, all the errors, and set a mark of execration upon 
 all the heresies, that were hitherto known." 
 
172 
 
 PKOGRESS AND DOCTRINES OP B. IV. 
 
 CHAy.xi. 30. Thus, superstition became the estaMishcd religion, and 
 
 persecution the principal means of supporting it, which furnished 
 
 the most distinguishing and evident marks of a corrupt hierarchy, 
 founded upon the unnatural and pernicious coalition of the civil 
 and ecclesiastical powers, under the name of Christianity and a 
 Christian government. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 PEOGRESS AND DOCTRINES OP THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, IN THE 
 FOURTH CENTURY. 
 
 The continuation of a thing in its own place, nature, and proper- 
 ties, is very different from a succession of things rising up and 
 filling the place of another ; yet it is really according to the lat- 
 ter idea that the religion of Christ has been supposed to continue 
 in the world to the present day. 
 
 2. But to every reasonable mind the distinction must be self- 
 evident : and if so, then it may, doubtless, with propriety be 
 said, that certain men have, in every age through the Christian 
 era, appeared either as Christ, or in his place, and that either 
 the real Church of Christ, or one in its place, has continued to 
 exist upon earth. 
 
 3. And if any man and any church did actually rise up in the 
 room of Christ and his church, then it must be evident that 
 neither Christ nor his church remained upon earth : for admit- 
 ting that the Church of Christ existed upon earth, it must have 
 been in its own place : of course another could not stand in its 
 place, at one and the same time. 
 
 4. When Solomon, king of Israel, died, the kingdom was divi- 
 ded between Rehoboam, afid Jeroboam, but neither of them 
 reigned fully in his stead. Nor was there any kingdom or em- 
 pire established upon earth in the room of Solomon's, until the 
 last remains of that was rooted out, and the seat of government 
 established at Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. 
 
 5. Then it might be said that there was a kingdom established 
 in the room of Solomon's, and a king reigned in his stead, but 
 this was not a continuance either of Solomon or his kingdom, but 
 something in their place, that in some respects resembled them, 
 but was essentially different and distinct. 
 
B. IV. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 173 
 
 6. This may serve as a comparison between Jesus Christ, and chap.xi. 
 Constantine the Great. For, as the wild and frantic Nebuchad- 
 nezzar was born to the wise men of Babylon, and grew up and 
 established a kingdom or empire, according to their council, in 
 
 the place of Solomon's ; so in the same sense was Constantine 
 born to the Catholic Church, and grew up and assumed to act in 
 the place of Jesus Christ. 
 
 7. And although the empire or church which Constantine 
 founded, stood professedly in the place of the Church of Christ, 
 as the Babylonian empire stood in the place of the kingdom of 
 Solomon; yet it will appear beyond dispute, upon the slightest 
 comparison, that the church which was founded and estab- 
 lished by Constantine the Great, was not a continuation of the 
 Church of Christ, but the very reverse. 
 
 8. And if it be granted that the heads and fathers of the 
 Catholic Church stood in place of Christ Jesus and his apostles, 
 and did not in reality fill the very character of those whom they 
 pretended to represent, then the conclusion must be evident, that 
 neither Christ nor his Apostles, in reality, were manifest on earth, 
 
 but certain pretenders in their place, therefore it was " the Mark xiii. 
 abomination of desolation, standing where it ought not." !*• 
 
 9. Of course, that Church of which they were the heads and 
 fathers, must have been as distinct from the primitive Church of 
 Christ, as they themselves were distinct, in point of character, 
 from those whom they are said to represent. If any evidence is 
 wanting to confirm these plain principles, it will appear from the 
 following account of the establishment of the Catholic Church, 
 under Constantine and his successors. 
 
 10. " Constantine the Great, in order to prevent civil commo- EcoL His- 
 tions, and to fix his authority upon solid and stable foundations, '""Jg/"'' '" 
 made several changes, not only in the laws of the empire, but 
 
 also in the form of the Eoman government. And as there were 
 many important reasons, which induced him to suit the adminis- 
 tration of the Church to these changes in the civil constitution, 
 this necessarily introduced, among, the bishops, ne,w degrees of 
 eminence and rank." So says Ur. Mosheim. 
 
 11. And further : " Though Constantine permitted the Church 
 to remain a body politic, distinct from that of the state, as it had 
 formerly been, yet he assumed to himself the supreme power over 
 this sacred body, and the right of modeling and governing it in 
 such a manner, as should be most conducive to the public good. 
 
 This right he enjoyed without any opposition, as none of the ibid.p,338. 
 bishops presumed to call his authority in question." 
 
 12. Here we see that the first step was to incorporate the 
 Church and the world into one body, to be governed by one 
 head: so that notwithstanding the Church, for certain purposes, 
 was kept a distinct body politic, yet it was as closely united to the 
 
174 PROGRESS AND DOCTRINES OP B. IT. 
 
 CHAP.IXI . gj^jj government, and as much one with the empire, as the harlot 
 icor.vi.i is one flesh with him that is joined to her; and from this union 
 ^^- proceeded that high degree of eminence and rank to which the 
 
 bishops arose. 
 
 13. How strong a temptation this must have been for the 
 wickedest men to seek the highest rank in so honorable a 
 Church ! Here we may justly apply that saying of the Prophet 
 
 Dan.xi.32. Daniel: Such as do wickedly against the covenant, shall he cor- 
 ruvt by flatteries. By the prophet Ezekiel such a union is com- 
 
 30-38. pared to the work of an imiienous whonsh woman. (Jr, as a 
 
 wife that committeth adultery, taketh strangers instead of her 
 husband: But with this difference: They give gifts unto all 
 whores; hut thov. givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest 
 them, that they may come unto thee on every side, for thy whore- 
 dom. And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and 
 shed, blood are judged. 
 
 14. In thus uniting and incorporating the Church with the 
 civil government, the emperor met with no opposition ; it was 
 on all sides a spontaneous confederacy, entered into with the 
 universal consent of the bishops, as representatives of the Church, 
 and the Roman senate, as the great fathers of the people; all 
 agree in joint compact, that a man-slayer, a proud ambitious 
 emperor, who had neither seen Christ nor known him, should be 
 the common head of influence to the whole body. 
 
 15. In consequence of this unnatural union, the government of 
 the Church, in all her parts, assumed the form and likeness of 
 the civil government. Four bishops, viz: of Rome, Antiock, 
 Alexandria, and Constantinople enjoyed a certain degree of pre- 
 eminence over the rest of the episcopal order. " These four 
 prelates, (says Mosheim,) answered to the four pratorian pre- 
 fects created by Constantine ; and it is possible that, in this very 
 
 Ecci. His- century, [iv.] they were distinguished by the Jewish title of 
 rMO™'"'" patriarchs.:' 
 
 16. "After these, followed the exarchs, who had the inspec- 
 tion over several provinces, and answered to the appointment of 
 certain civil of&cers who bore' the same title. In a lower class, 
 were the Metropolitans, who had only the government of one 
 province, under whom were the archbishops, whose inspection 
 was confined to certain districts." In the next grade below, 
 were the bishops, and so down to the chorepiscopi, or superinten- 
 dents of the country churches. These dignified orders were 
 doubtless created to fill the place of evangelists, apostles, elders, 
 <^c. ; but that they were men of like spirit their historians dare 
 not say. 
 
 17. Thus we see the form of the Church, fitly joined together 
 and compacted with a wicked world, and holding for its head a 
 wicked man, whose crimes deterred him from using even the 
 
B. IV. THE CATHOLIC CHTJECH. 175 
 
 most distant siiadow of purity. But we shall proceed to observe chap.xi. 
 something concerning the manner of the government of this pre- 
 tended"ohurch. 
 
 18. Mosheim says, "The administration of the Church was ecci. iiis- 
 divided, by Constantinehim&eli, into an external and an internal tory,voi i. 
 inspection. The latter, which was committed to bishops and '' ' 
 councils, related to religious controversies ; the forms of divine 
 worship ; the offices of the priests ; the vices of the ecclesiastical 
 orders, (fc. The external administration of the Church, the 
 emperor assumed to himself." 
 
 19. "This comprehended all those things that relate to the 
 outwards state and discipline of the church; it likewise extended 
 to all contests and debates that should arise between the ministers 
 of the Church, superior as well as inferior, concerning t)x&a: pos- 
 sessions, their reputation, their rights and privileges, their 
 offences against the laws, and things of a like nature. 
 
 20. " In consequence of this artful division, Constantine and 
 his successors called councils, presided in them, appointed judges 
 of religious controversies, terminated the differences which arose 
 between the bishops and the people, fixed the limits of the 
 ecclesiastical provinces, took cognizance of the civil" causes that 
 subsisted between the ministers of the Church, and punished the 
 crimes committed against the • laws, by the ordinary judges 
 appointed for that purpose." 
 
 21. In all this, the emperor still appears the supreme head^, 
 and no other impulse of government is so much as hinted at, in 
 all the account, but the sovereign will and authority of this un- 
 baptized- usurper. Let such a government be said to arise in the 
 room of the Apostolic power; but let no one imagine that it was 
 one and the same, or had any relation to that divine order in 
 which nothing was passed but what seemed good to the Holy 
 Spirit, and those who had been therewith baptized. 
 
 22. Although the bishops were intrusted with the principal 
 management of their Church affairs, and were appointed by the 
 emperor, as judges in points of religious controversy ; yet, in 
 every punctilio, they were subject to his control: so that at best, 
 these pretended fathers could only be tools to form and modify 
 such a religious doctrine and worship as would best suit the pur- 
 poses of civil government, and please the taste of a debauched 
 and corrupt empire. 
 
 23. Could this be that sin-condemning Gospel which Jesus 
 sent by his Apostles to all the world as a testimony against 
 them ? "Who cannot see the infinite difference ? Behold a set of 
 lordly ecclesiastics, bred in the schools of religious conten- 
 tion, living in idleness, luxury and lust, employed, supported, 
 and enriched by civil government, for the purpose of render- 
 ing the religion of Constantine universally acceptable to all 
 
176 PKOGEESS AND DOCTRINES OP B. TV. 
 
 CHAP.; XI. iiis subjects! Is not sucli a religion a libel upon the name of 
 Christianity ? 
 
 24. Before ever Constantine assumed tbe reins of Churcli 
 government, tbe contending fathers had disputes and contro- 
 versies prepared, which all his imperial wisdom and power could 
 never settle. Besides reputed heretics, a numerous party had 
 Ecci. His- separated from the Catholic body, called Bonatists. They dis- 
 '"sV"''^' piitsd with the main body about the sanctity of bishops, and the 
 ''' ' gifts of the Holy Spirit. They avoided communion with all 
 other churches: of course their principles were pronounced 
 seditious. Novatus and his followers also much troubled their 
 Catholic peace. 
 Ibid p 399 2^- -^'^'^ this was not all: deplorable divisions were kindled 
 (says Mosheim,) throughout the Christian world, on the subject 
 of KIT' Three persons in the Godhead. The dispute on this sub- 
 ject took its rise at Alexandria, that seat of vain philosophy, and 
 was differently modified and prolonged by Alexander and Arius. 
 The dpotors themselves could not decide the point. The 
 emperor admonishes them by letter to end their dispute, but 
 without effect. And seeing the flames of controversy daily 
 spreading through the empire, he at length assembled a general 
 Ibid. p. 402. council, in the year 325, at Nice, in Bithynia. 
 
 26. A general council is supposed to consist of commissioners 
 from all the churches in the Christian world, which represents the 
 
 Ibid. p. 338. church universal. These were established by the authority of 
 the emperor ; though it is probable his judgment was directed by 
 that of the bishops. The general council is assembled at Nice, 
 Here the whole Christian world, so called, is represented, with 
 the emperor at their head, to dispute concerning the persons in 
 the Godhead; to decide the manner of Christ's union with the 
 Father ; to compose schisms, heal divisions, suppress heresies, 
 and establish the orthodox faith. 
 
 27. This they call Church government. And what did this 
 universal council effect ? Doubtless that glorious building, called 
 the Catholic Church, had here arisen to the greatest height 
 which it attained during the reign of Constantine : for a house 
 divided against itself cannot stand. 
 
 28. By this council the Arian party were condemned, the 
 consubstantial doctrine established — Arius banished— a creed 
 formed, and his followers compelled to give their assent to it. 
 Five years after, the emperor changes sides, recalls Arius from 
 banishment, espouses his doctrine, and uses all his influence to 
 promote if. 
 
 29. By a council held at Tyre, in the year 335, he deposed 
 and condemned Athanasius his great antagonist, aad afterwards 
 had him banished into Gaul : soon after which, this great head 
 of the church finished his race, having received a baptism of 
 
B. IV. THE CATHOLIC CHUBCH. 177 
 
 water from Eusebius of Nicomedia, the principal supporter of 
 tlie Arian cause. 
 
 30. The order of the Catholic Church (if order it might be 
 called) had long been preparing, but by the council of Nice it 
 was established. Here the first Catholic Confession of Faith 
 was confirmed by the united authority of bishops and civil rulers, 
 the church and the world in one. Here it was first decreed, by 
 the same authority, that the Son was co'/LSubstantial with the 
 Father. But their doctrine could not be completed without a 
 third person; and, as the rulers of the church and civil oflicers 
 were co7isubstantial with the emperor, so the odd number of 
 THREE was soon after established in the Deity, and the second 
 and third proved by a majority of votes to be consubstantial with 
 ihs first. 
 
 31. Two could never agree in the kingdom of antichrist, there- 
 fore three became necessary to form a council, in order to a cast- 
 ing vote. Here tik^patriarch, thepapa, that is^ope or father, must 
 have all power in his hands, ' and sway the sceptre uncontrolled ; 
 and whether his vote is in favor of truth or error, virtue or vice, 
 his counsel must stand, and he will do all his pleasure. 
 
 32. By this fatal error, which was founded on their own carnal 
 reasoning, and the motley compound of civil and ecclesiastical 
 power, the council of Nice, instead of uniting in harmony the 
 contending parties, laid a lasting foundation for errors of every 
 kind. In consequence of which, council was formed against 
 council, and shameful and scandalous debates prflnoted, until 
 they increased to severe scourging, banishment, and even blood- 
 shed; while the jarring opinions and contradictory decrees of 
 this only Catholic Church, seemed to claim a divine authority to 
 drive the world into the utmost confusion. 
 
 CHAP. 
 XI. 
 
178 DOCTRINE AND ARRANGEMENT OP B. IV. 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDER OP THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, 
 ESTABLISHED IN THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 CHAP. The emperor, at the time of the first universal council, was ac- 
 ■'^"' knowledged as the head of the Church ; but as he afterwards 
 changed sides, and espoused the doctrine against which the ortho- 
 dox universe had passed its decrees at Nice, it gave occasion to 
 call in question his right to the headship, and excited the Catho- 
 lic bishops to contend for the pre-eminence ; that the decision in 
 all matters, both temporal and spiritual, might be infallibly sanc- 
 tioned, as coming from the representatives of the holy Apostles, 
 and of Jesus, whose authority was only spiritual and divine. 
 
 2. This point, the cunning priesthood finally gained, whereby 
 they duped the emperor out of his throne, supplanted the whole 
 civil authority, and engrossed the administration into their own 
 hands. This, however, was not eifected in an instant, but re- 
 quired more than a hundred years labor of the ingenious doctors, 
 who were continually commenting and improving upon the ca- 
 nons, decrees, and established doctrines of the Nicene council. 
 This leads us to make a few remarks on the character and doc- 
 trines of some of the most eminent fathers, who succeeded this 
 first universal council. 
 Grounds of 3. St. Athanasius says, " Whosoever will be saved, before 
 caft. DocL j^ii things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith. Which 
 faith, except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without 
 doubt he shall perish everlastingly." This may serve as an in- 
 troduction : it then remains to find out in whom such a Catholic 
 faith is deposited ; whether in the Nicene or Arian party, in the 
 Donalists, the Nestoriajts, the Pelagians, or in the Manichean 
 and Marcionite heretics. 
 
 4. The Catholics, however, have a right to claim what they 
 
 call the Catholic faith, that is, such a faith as they are able to 
 
 impose upop mankind by the allurements of eloquence, or the 
 
 power of the secular arm. Let us enquire then what this faith 
 
 was in its first stages of authority, and who they were that formed 
 
 it, and gave it the awful sanction. 
 
 Ecci.His- 5. Ephraim the Syrian, acquired an immortal name by the 
 
 p M0™5i'' ^Multitude of his writings, in which he combated the sectaries. 
 
 354. ' ' Hilary, bishop of Poictiers, is immortalized by his twelve books 
 
 concerning the trinity, which he wrote against the Avians. 
 
 6. Rvfinus, presbyter of Aquileia, was famous for his com- 
 mentaries on several passages of the holy Scriptures., and his bit- 
 
B. IV. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 179 
 
 ter contest witli St. Jerome. "He would (says Mosheim) have ^^f^' 
 
 obtained a very honorable place among the Latin writers of this — 
 
 century, had it not been his misfortune to have the powerful and 
 foul-mouthed Jerome for his adversary." 
 
 7. But the glory of these, and almost all the other writers of 
 this age, was eclipsed by St. Augusiin. Mosheim says, " The 
 fame of Augustin, bishop of Hippo, in Africa, filled the whole 
 Christian world." He gained much honor by his conte.st with 
 Pelagius, suppressing the Pelagian heresy almost in its very 
 beginning, and establishing the Catholic doctrines of [C?'?Ae Ecc-i. His- 
 impu/atiqn of original sin — Election and reprobation, and of '""^^yj "' 
 sahatio-fi hy mere grace, without any foresight of faith, or regard 
 
 to good works, which have darkened the earth even to the pre- 
 sent day. 
 
 8. The African bishops, with Augusiin at their head, main- 
 tained the Catholic faith, even against the Bishop of Rome, who 
 esteemed Pelagius sound in the faith, and by their exhortations, 
 letters and writings, gained over the Roman pontiff to their side. 
 Pelagius and his doctrines are condemned with the utmost seve- 
 rity at Rome. Likewise in the famous council at Ephesus, A. 
 
 D. 431. "In short, (says Mosheim,) the Gauls, Britons, and ibid. p. ss. 
 Africans by their councils, and the emperors by their edicts and 
 penal laws, demolished this sect in its infancy." 
 
 9. But this was not all : Robijison says, "While Gensericw&s Ecci. Re- 
 defending the [Arian] faith at the head of eighty thousand men, ^^J^'^'^^jP- 
 Augustin who had now no command over the sword, was inflam- 
 ing his hearers with violent passions, by urging them to hate one 
 another for their speculations." 
 
 10. In a part of one of his sermons the following is worthy of 
 notice. The discourse is about the strait gate; and this accord- 
 ing to the Catholic faith, cannot be good works, or obedience to 
 the law of Christ; but the ■wounded side of Jesus. "By this 
 strait gate of the side of Christ, (says St. Augustin,) the con- 
 verted thief entered, the penitent Jew, every converted Pagan, 
 but the wicked heretic Arian turns his back on him and goes 
 out. He is one of those of whom St. John says, they went out 
 froiu us — you Arian heretic." 
 
 11. "Several Catholic historians, (says Robinson) observe, ibid. p. 102. 
 for the glory of God, for the honor of his providence, and for the 
 benefit of the Church, that the very day on which Pelagius was 
 
 born in Britain to shed darkness over the empire, Sai?it Monico 
 lay in with St. Augustin in Africa, to dispel the darkness, and 
 throw light and sunshine and midday splendor over the minds of 
 aU mankind." 
 
 12. " Just so, say they, when heretics appeared in the western 
 world, did God by his spirit excite pope Innocent to erect the 
 most holy ofiSce of the Inquisition. From [Augusiin] this bitter 
 
180 
 
 DOCTRINE AND AERANGEMENT OF 
 
 B. IV. 
 
 CHAP. 
 XII. 
 
 Eccl. Ru- 
 searchesj p. 
 103. 
 
 Ibid. Note 
 [2] 
 
 and bloody fanatic of Africa, proceeded two hundred and thirty- 
 two pamphlets. He understood the ten commandments in a 
 spiritual sense, and, Thov, shalt not kill, signified, thou shalt not 
 kill an orthodox believer. The command did not protect the life 
 of a heret/tc" 
 
 13. " This Saint Augustin had as fine a scent for this sort of 
 game as ever saint had. He reckoned up no less than eighty- 
 eight sorts of these poor beings, whom he and other such holy 
 men doomed to utter destruction." He had a little parish in his 
 own diocese infested with heresy, which is briefiy described in 
 his own words, as follows. 
 
 14. " There is a certain rustic heresy in our district, of Hippo, 
 in one small village, we may call them Aheliles. They are not 
 mixed with wives, yet, according to the decree of the sect, it is 
 not allowed them to live separate from wives. Therefore males 
 and females dwelling together, under a profession of continence, 
 they adopted to themselves a boy and a girl, as their future heirs 
 in the covenant of the same conjunction: each and every one 
 going before by death, others are sought out to fill their place. 
 
 15. "Moreover, provided that either parent being dead, one 
 remaining, the children served until their departure also, after 
 whose death, they (the successors) adopted boy and girl in like 
 manner : nor was there ever any lack from whence they might 
 adopt, their neighbors generating on all sides, and freely giving 
 up their needy children upon the hope of heirship to the pro- 
 perty of strangers." 
 
 16. "This (says Robinson,) afSicted the chaste bishop so 
 greatly, that he corrected them till they became Catholics." 
 Most likely this great saint cleared his diocese of such kind of 
 heretics ; however, he could neither expel them from the earth, 
 nor reduce them to a conformity to his hypocritical life and man- 
 ners. But as long as orthodoxy was the established virtue of 
 the Catholics, heresy, which must of course be the established 
 vice, remained as the principal object of their hatred and per- 
 secution. 
 
 17. The following is the character of three great Catholic 
 saints, who in their time were leading oracles of the orthodox 
 world, as given by ecclesiastical writers, viz: "St. Bernard," 
 whose word," says the historian, "was in his time, a law to all 
 Christendom;" also "St. Athanasius, and St. Augustine;" 
 who by their writings did much to establish the fundamental 
 principles of the Catholic church, and kindle the flame of perse- 
 cuting bitterness. 
 
 18. "Dr. Haweis, (says Jones) loses all patience with his 
 brother Milner, for attempting to introduce the great Bernard 
 into the calendar of saints." "I am astonished " says he, "at 
 his attempt to enroll Bernard into his catalogue of evangelical 
 
B. IV. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 181 
 
 religion. Saint added to such a name would be impious, "^vfi^' 
 
 However orthodox some of his sentiments may be, can false — '- 
 
 miracles, lying prophecies, blobdy persecutions of the faithful, 
 and servitude to the papacy and her dominion, constitute a saint 
 of the first water ? A protestant divine disgraces his pages by 
 these commendations." 
 
 19. Jb7ies replies : "In all this I fully agree with Dr. Haweis; Jones' ch. 
 but then it furnishes me with a powerful plea against his own ^^f°'JaA 
 consistency, who has no scruple to enrol in his catalogue the no<<= [p] 
 names of Athanasius, and Augustine, men equally renowned 
 
 for their lust of power, their persecuting principles, their false 
 miracles, their lying prophecies, and abject servitude to the 
 prevailing corruption of their respective times." 
 
 20. It seems that the most spiritually blind cannot help see- 
 ing the awful depravity of the Church and ecclesiastical councils, 
 which domineered over the professed Christian world in the dark 
 ages that succeeded the decline of the primitive Church ; when 
 ecclesiastical writers, hunting among the noblest and the best, 
 to find some marks of genuine Christianity, all declare, and 
 prove, that the most "reTiowned saints " of those dark ages, such 
 as St. Athanasius, St. Augustine, St. Bernard, and other great 
 '■^saints," were neither more nor less than Moody persecutors of 
 those who were more virtuous, and " abject slaves to, and leading 
 characters of the prevailing corruptions of their respective times." 
 
 21. The very constitution of the Catholic Church, from the 
 period of the Nicene council, inspired the priesthood with a 
 growing ambition to clear the empire of every object that would 
 expose their hypocrisy, or weaken their lordly influence over a 
 benighted world. Heretics stood principally in their way ; there- 
 fore the greatest champion in detecting and rooting out heretics, 
 however contrary to the precepts of the Gospel the means he 
 used, stood highest on the list of Catholic heroes, or canonized 
 saints. 
 
 22. It is easy to see that there could be no room, either for 
 truth or virtue, where the continual strife was, who should be 
 the greatest. And the source of revenue, which flowed from the 
 head of influence to these ministers of darkness, prompted them 
 to still higher degrees of ambition, by which the ?ustics, as they 
 are called, or common people, were trampled under foot, or at 
 best considered as necessary tools for promoting their opnlence 
 and grandeur, and supporting them in luxury and idleness. 
 
 23. To show that this was the true genius of this imperious 
 hierarchy, the following particulars may suffice. " Many of the Ecci. His- 
 privileges, {says Mosheim,) which had formerly belonged to the p"^™'''' 
 presbyters and people, were [under Constantine] usurped by the 
 bishops.- Their first step was an entire exclusion of the people 
 
 from all part in the administration of ecclesiastical affairs." 
 
182 DOOXRINE AND ARRANGEMENT OF B. IV. 
 
 CHAP. 24. "In the episcopal order, the bishop of Rome was the 
 
 -^"- first in rank, and was distinguished by a sort of pre-eminence 
 Ecci. His- over all other prelates. Prejudices, arising from a great variety 
 p°'342™'''' of causes, contributed to establish this superiority; but it was 
 chiefly owing to certain circumstances of grandeur and opulence, 
 by which mortals, for the most part, form their ideas of pre-emi- 
 nence and dignity." 
 
 25. " The bishop of Rome surpassed all his brethren in the 
 mat^nificence and splendor of the church over which he presided ; 
 in the riches of his revenues and possessions ; in the number and 
 variety of his ministers ; in his credit with the people ; and in 
 his sumptuous and splendid manner of living. These dazzling 
 marks of human power had such a mighty influence upon the 
 minds of the multitude, that the see of Rome became a most 
 seducing object of sacerdotal ambition." 
 
 26. "Hence it happened, that when a new pontiff was to be 
 elected by the suffrages of the people, the city of Rome was gen- 
 erally agitated with dissensions, tumults, and cabals, whose con- 
 sequences were often deplorable and fatal. The intrigues and 
 disturbances that prevailed in that city in the year 366, when, 
 upon the death of Liberius, another pontiff was to be chosen in 
 his place, are a sufficient proof of what we have now advanced." 
 
 27. " Upon this occasion, one faction elected Damasus to i\L&t 
 ' ''' ' high dignity, while the opposite party chose Ursicinus, a deacon 
 
 of the vacant church, to succeed Liherius. This double election 
 gave rise to a dangerous schism, and to a sort of civil war within 
 the city of Rome, which was carried on with the utmost barbarity 
 and fury, and produced the most cruel massacres and desolations. 
 This inhuman contest ended in the victory of Bamasus." 
 
 28. Such was the degree of lawless power, which those de- 
 generate plants of the vhLC of Sodnm had already attained, and 
 which evidently proceeded from the antichristian authority which 
 had been reposed in the emperors, that head of the false church, 
 as will appear from what follows. 
 
 Ibid. p. 346. 29. "The additions made by the emperors and others to the 
 wealth, honors and advantages of the clergy, were, followed with 
 a proportionable augmentation of vices and luxury, particularly 
 among those of the sacred order, [or rather according to their 
 fruits, that satanic order,] who lived in great and opulent cities ; 
 and that many such additions wore made to that order after the 
 time of Conslantine, is a matter that admits of no dispute. 
 So says Mosheim. 
 
 30. Here then was the source of all their ambition: A sordid 
 thirst for tein-poral glory! And hence the historian observes, — 
 
 lbid.p.347. "The bishops, on the one hand, contended with each other, in 
 the most scandalous manner, concerning the extent of their re- 
 spective jurisdictions ; while on the other, they trampled upon 
 
B. IV. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 1 8.: 
 
 the rights of the people, violated the privileges of the inferior chap. 
 ministers, and imitated, in their conduct and in their manner of L_ 
 
 living, the arrogance, voluptuousness, and luxury of magistrates 
 and princes." 
 
 31. "This pernicious example vpas soon followed by the seve- ibid. p 039. 
 ral ecclesiastical orders. The bishops by degrees, divested the 
 presbyters of their ancient privileges, and their primitive autho- 
 rity, that they might have no importunate protestors to control 
 
 their ambition, or oppose their proceedings ; and principally, that 
 they might either engross to themselves, or distribute, as they 
 thought proper, the possessions and revenues of the church." 
 
 32. " Hence it came to pass, that, at the conclusion of this 
 [iv.] century, there remained no more than a mere shadow of 
 the ancient government of the church." Admitting that there 
 did remain a mere shadow, there must be an essential dififerenoe 
 between that and the substance. 
 
 33. But it must appear evident that there did not remain the 
 most distant resemblance of the primitive Church, if we compare 
 the arrogance, voluptuousness and luxury of the clergy, and the 
 barbarity, fury, inhuman contests and cabals of their subjects 
 with what Jesus taught his true disciples. 
 
 34. But Jesus called them, and saith unto them. Ye know Mark, a. 
 that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise ' ' 
 lordship over them ; and their GSEAT ones exercise authority 
 
 upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever 
 will be great among you, shall be your [Grr. Siaxovo?] deacon:^' 
 and whosoever will he the chiefest shall be serva^it of all, 
 
 35. How diametrically opposite appears the whole course of 
 the Catholic order ! ' The bishops lording it over the pre.sbyters, 
 — the presbyters over inferior of&oers — and the lower class of 
 rulers setting themselves up as great ones over the common peo- 
 ple; and priests and people tyranizing with relentless cruelty 
 over reputed heretics, whose lives of virtue exposed them alone, 
 as a common prey, to the avaricious and beastly power of anti- 
 christ. 
 
 36. This is the Church which has been represented as the 
 blessed mother of sai7its, and of great, saints, and even of CoN- 
 STANTINE the GreAT, under whose reign that great building, 
 vjhich had been erecting ever since the fall, arose to so great a 
 height ! This is that great hierarchy, and these the effects of 
 
 that Catholic Gospel, for which even president Edivards could Kisiory of 
 affirm, that no other cause could be devised but the power of Redemp. p. 
 God. Doubtless that proverb is true. There is a way that ProV. xiv. 
 seemeth right unto a man ; but the end thereof are the loays cf ^^' 
 death. 
 
 37. Under the influence of a false education, and a deep rooted 
 prejudice in favor of the chain of orthodoxy, the most sensible 
 
 ^ or seT' 
 vatit. 
 
184 DOCTRINE AND ARRANGEMENT OF B. IV. 
 
 °HAP. modern -writers have labored to prove that to be the work of 
 ^h God, wliicb was evidently the work of wicked and aspiring men. 
 
 38. And lest the soundness of modern Christianity should be 
 called in question, the Protestant priesthood have universally 
 labored to establish the credit and authority of the Catholic 
 Church, in every age. But they have manifested the greatest 
 degree of partiality, in charging the whole guilt of apostasy upon 
 the bishop of Rome, while they themselves claim a relation to 
 that very sink of corruption, out of which he arose to the papal 
 dignity. 
 
 39. Although these modern doctors would seem to content 
 themselves with a less degree of power than the bishop of Rome 
 attained, and support their union only with such of the fathers as 
 preceded him; yet, in claiming and supporting this relation, they 
 show that if they had the same opportunity, they would not 
 stop short of universal supremacy, any more than their fathers 
 did. 
 
 40. Hence that very way, which- was invented by the Alexan- 
 drian priesthood, and established by Constantine, seems even to 
 this day, to be right ; and kindred bishops and doctors love to 
 have it so, and by false arguments and bold assertions, try to 
 prove it to be so. 
 
 41. Each impro-ving upon his predecessor, furnishes new argu- 
 guments for those that follow. So this ancient way of mixing 
 religion and politics, still seems to be right, although after so 
 lone a proof, even according to their own accounts, it has evi- 
 dently branched out into many ways of confusion, persecution 
 and death, 
 
 42. Under all their pomp and vain glory, their compound of 
 civil and ecclesiastical tyranny, their confused and contradictory 
 jargon, which they called orthodoxy, it is plain that a subtle 
 priesthood were aspiring to the entire headship over both church 
 and state. 
 
 Ecci.His- 43. In the fifth century, Mosheim says, "The vices of the 
 tory. vol ii. clergy were carried to the most enormous lengths. The -writers 
 of this century are iinanimous in their accounts of the luxury, 
 arrogance, avarice, and voluptuousness of sacerdotal orders." 
 And further observes that, "These opprobrious stains, in the 
 characters of the clergy, would never have been endured, had 
 not the greatest part of mankind been sunk into superstition and 
 ignorance." 
 
 44. Candid reader, where now was the true Church of 
 Christ, in the fifth century? What was there, then, to prevent 
 these basest of all deceivers from setting up a false god, a false 
 Christ, false teachers, false saints, and the like? 
 
 45. The superstitious and ignorant multitude were at their 
 control ; the civil authority was on their side ; the heretics were 
 
 p. 23 
 
B. IV. THE CATHOLIO CHtTRCH. 185 
 
 rooted out from among them, and were either banished, or chap. 
 voluntarily retreated to mountains or deserts, where they might ' 
 
 enjoy the free exercise of piety and uninterrupted peace, remote 
 from this Babylonish mixture of confusion. 
 
 46. Nothing, in fact, remained to prevent this "synagogue of 
 Satan" from establishing any. religion or government which they 
 could agree upon among themselves. The only difficulty they 
 had to surmount, was, to determine which of them should be the 
 greatest. 
 
 47. Mosheim says, that even "the office of a presbyter was eccI.hjs- 
 looked upon of such a high and eminent nature, that Martin, '°''.5f^™' "• 
 bishop of Tours, was so audacious as to maintain, at a public 
 entertainment, that the emperor was inferior, in dignity, to one 
 
 of that order." How then must the bishops have appeared? 
 
 48. Nor were the bishops themselves, at this time the highest 
 order of ecclesiastics. Five were distinguished from the rest, 
 under the name of fatriarchs, namely, the bishops of Rome, 
 Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem; whose 
 office it was to consecrate inferior bishops, assemble yearly coun- 
 cils in their respective districts, and regulate the affairs of the 
 church universal. 
 
 49. But antichrist must needs have a supreme head; and as 
 this had hitherto been vested in the emperors, and the ecclesias- 
 tics were now aspiring after the supremacy, it became necessary 
 
 that one of that order should have power to rule the rest. Hence ibid. p. 26. 
 ambitious quarrels, and bitter animosities arose among the 
 patriarchs themselves, which produced the most bloody wars, 
 and the most detestable and horrid crimes. 
 
 50. It would be endless to trace the artful measures which 
 these ungodly tyrants pursued, from time to time, to supplant 
 one another, in order to attain the last and highest degree of 
 pre-eminence. However, "None of the contending bishops, iMa.p.sT. 
 (says Mosheim,) found the occurrences of the times so favorable 
 
 to his ambition as the Koman pontiff." 
 
 51. And, "Among all the prelates who ruled the clfiirch of 
 Home during this century, there was none who asserted, with 
 such vigor and success, the authority and pretensions of the 
 Roman pontiff, as Leo,* commonly surnamed the Gkeat; " *i.e. <Ae 
 whose supreme authority was particularly owned by the general *'"'• 
 council assembled at Chalcedon, A. D. 451. 
 
 52. About this time a new controversy arose, occasioned by 
 certain doctrines advanced by Eutyches, a monk at Constanti- 
 nople. Eutyches maintained, that in Christ, there v;as hut one 
 nature, viz: that of the incarnate word; for which he was 
 accused of heresy, in a council assembled at Constantinople, A. iwd. p. 73 
 D. 448, by Flavianns, the patriarch of that city. 
 
 53. By a decree of this council, Eutyches was ordered to re- 
 
 13 
 
186 DOCTRINES AND AKRANGEMENT OF, &C. B. IV. 
 
 CHAP, nounce tte above mentioned opinion. He obstinately refused; 
 ' for whicli he was excommunicated and deposed. He appealed 
 
 Eccl. His- 
 
 to a general council, whioli was, accordingly, by order of the 
 emperor Theodosius, assembled at Ephesus, A. D. 449, in 
 which Dioscorus, the patriarch of Alexandria, presided, who 
 was of the same opinion with Eutyches. 
 
 54. By the order of this council, Eutyches was acquitted of 
 Sryl'voUi. the charge of error; and the patriarch Flaviaiius, publicly 
 ^' ''*' scourged in the most barbarous manner, and banished to Epipas, 
 
 a city of Lydia, where he soon after died of his wounds. But, 
 previous to his death, he appealed to Leo the Geeat, who took 
 up the cause, and demanded of Theodosius, another general 
 council, which this emperor could not be prevailed npon to 
 grant. 
 
 55. Upon his death, however, his successor Mahcianus, 
 consented to Leo's demand, and called, in the year 451, the 
 council of Chalcbdon. In this council, the legate, or representa- 
 tive of Leo presided ; the decrees of the council of Ephesus 
 were annulled; an epistle, which Leo had written to Flavianus 
 on the subject of debate, was received as a rule of faith; 
 Eutyches was condemned; and the following doctrine, "which 
 (says Mosheim,) is at this time almost generally received, was 
 inculcated upon Christians [i.e. Catholics'\ as an object of faith, 
 
 Ibid. p. 75. iiiz: [C?° ' That in Christ two distinct natures were united in 
 one person, and that without any change, mixture or confusion.' 
 
 56. "A great number of Oriental and Egyptian doctors, 
 united in opposing with the utmost vehemence, the council of 
 Chalcedon, and the epistle of Leo, which it had' adopted as a 
 rule of faith. Hence arose deplorable discords, and civil wars, 
 whose fury and barbarity were carried to the most excessive and 
 incredible lengths." 
 
 Ibid. p. 27. 57. "But the Koman pontiff, far superior to them all, in 
 wealth and power ; daily added new degrees of influence and 
 authority to the Roman see, rendered it every where respected, 
 and thiJS imperceptibly established its supremacy," and began 
 the real reign of antichrist. 
 
THE TESTIMONY 
 
 CSRIST'S SECOID APPEAEIIG. 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 THE KEIGN AND DOMINION OF ANTICHRIST. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE BEGINNING Or THE BBIGN OF ANTICHEIST, IN THE 
 FIFTH CENTUKT. 
 
 The precise period in whicli antichrist began his reign, has been chap. i. 
 
 a matter of great search ; and there are but few subjects on which ■ 
 
 the learned are more divided. What has rendered this point so 
 extremely difficult to ascertain, was the great length of time that 
 was taken up in laying the foundations of his kingdom, and the 
 gradual manner in which his dominion arose to its greatest 
 height. 
 
 2. Although the intimate connexion and resemblance between 
 the preparatory work, and actual reign of antichrist, has rendered 
 the precise beginning of his reign a matter of such various con- 
 jecture; it has notwithstanding been agreed to by all, that there 
 was such a period, and that the beginning of his dominion would 
 finally be ascertained by the end, and confirmed by corroborating 
 circumstances. 
 
 3. It is further agreed, that the reign of antichrist began with 
 the Papal hierarchy, or supremacy of the bishop of Rome ; but 
 it is evident, that they must be greatly mistaken, who fix the 
 date of this hierarchy at the period when the bishop of Eome had 
 gained the entire ascendancy, and exercised all the power of a 
 temporal monarch, on the supposed grant of Saint Peter and 
 Constantine the Great. 
 
 4. If he must needs reign, for the purpose of bringing every 
 enemy into subjection, his reign must have begun long before 
 
188 
 
 THE BEGINNING OP THE 
 
 B. V. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Newton 
 Dissert- on 
 Proph. vol. 
 i. p 170. 
 
 EjcI. Hi?. 
 torv- vol. ii. 
 
 p. 27. a;. 
 
 Dan. vii. 7. 
 Rev. xiii. 1. 
 
 this period ; therefore the main question is, when did he begm 
 to exercise that power by which he was exalted to so great a 
 height ? In order to open this matter in its proper light, the 
 following facts are particularly worthy of notice, as relating to 
 what has already been stated concerning the ambitious views of 
 Leo the Geeat. 
 
 5. xiocording to Mede and others, in the year 456, the Roman 
 empire was overrun by the Barbarians, and the city of Eo7iie 
 sacked by Genseric king of the Vandals : and the year following 
 the empire was divided into ten kingdoms. 
 
 6. Moskeim says, " The incursions and triumphs of the Bar- 
 barians were so far from being prejudicial to the rising dominion 
 of the Roman pontiff, that they rather contributed to its ad- 
 vancement. For the kings who penetrated into the empire, 
 were only solicitous about the methods of giving a sufficient de- 
 gree of stability to their respective governments. And when 
 they perceived the subjection of the multitude to the bishops, 
 and the dependance of the bishops upon the Roman pontiff, they 
 immediately resolved to reconcile this ghostly ruler to their in- 
 terests, by loading him with benefits and honors of various 
 kinds." 
 
 7. Likewise the wars and contentions that had long existed 
 among the patriarchs, and their appealing for redress to the 
 bishop of Rome, had most certainly given him a superiority over 
 all the episcopal orders. The authority of general councik was, 
 moreover, almost univer.'^ally acknowledged; and what greater 
 mark of superiority could b3 shown to the Roman pontiff than to 
 adopt his letter to Flaviamis as a rule of faith? 
 
 8. Mosheim also observes that, "The declining power and 
 supine indolence of the emperors, left his authority almost with- 
 out control." Then add to all this, that in the year 4.57, the 
 emperor Marcianus died ; the same emperor who had yielded to 
 the lordly demand of Leo. It must then appear very evident, 
 that another emperor could not succeed him, who could possibly 
 rise in the public esteem to an equal degree of dignity and power 
 with the artful bishop of Rome. 
 
 9. Upon the authority of these facts, it is doubtless, with the 
 greatest propriety, that some have referred to this period, the 
 rise of the ten horns of Daniel's fourth beast, and also of the 
 first beast mentioned by John, who came up out of the sea. 
 
 10. This beast, as it appeared to Daniel, dreadful a?id terri- 
 ble, was a figure of the Roman empire, in its tyrannical and per- 
 secuting power, under the Pagan emperors. To John, the same 
 tyrannical power appeared as a beast coming up out of the sea, 
 which was evidently fulfilled in that motley change of the em- 
 pire, which took place under Constantine the Great. 
 
 11. Here the monster, still more dreadful and terrible, and 
 
B. V. REIGN OF ANTICHRIST. 189 
 
 more unlike any thing that had ever been before it, rose up out "^hap. i. 
 of the sea of troubles, commotions and conflicts among difl'erent uev. .\iii. 
 kindreds, tongues, and people. Notwithstanding, through the ^~'^- 
 whole reign of Constantine aud his immediate successors, this 
 beast exhibited a plurality of heads, and these heads inspired to 
 the most beastly conduct. 
 
 12. Yet the monster was not complete in all his parts; a,nd it 
 was not till the period of which we are speaking, that his ten 
 horns appeared, which the angel expressly interpreted to be ten 
 kings, or rather kingdoms : and it was not till these ten horns 
 appeared, that the Utile horn could rise up among them. 
 
 13. Now observe, this last horn, which had eyes like the eyes Dan. vii. s. 
 of a man, and a mouth spealting great things, was little at 
 
 first, but increased in greatness, until his look became more stout itM. 20-23. 
 than his fellows ; and the same horn " made war with the saints, 
 and prevailed against them, until the Ancient of days came, 
 and judgmeiit was given to the saints of the Most High." 
 
 14. Then, as this last horn, which was a figure of the Papal 
 hierarchy, was lit tie m its rise, and afterwards waxed great, it 
 answered to the power of the Roman pontiff, which in its rise, 
 was scarcely visible among the ten ruling powers, which at first 
 loaded him with benefits and honors, but over which the pon- 
 tiffs afterwards exercised unlimited authority. 
 
 15. But however imperceptible in the beginning, he was cer- 
 tainly known and distinguished among the ten kings, and posses- 
 sed a degree of power, in his very rising up, by which he might, 
 with as great propriety be said to reign, as any of the other 
 kings. 
 
 16. When a prince or governor can pursue his own measures, 
 without any real obstruction, he may properly be said to reign. 
 What then remained after the death of Marciamis, that was 
 any obstruction to the growing influence and dignity of Leo the 
 Great ? 
 
 17. Before this period, the bishops were continually rivalling 
 each other; different systems and parties clashing, and emperors 
 and ecclesiastics standing in each other's way, rendered it doubt- 
 ful which or who should be raised to the highest degree of pro- 
 motion. But after the rise of Leo, all the strife and contention 
 that abounded, only contributed the more to augment his power, 
 and raise to higher degrees of respect his growing authority. 
 
 18. The fact is, that no object or pursuit was, at this time, of 
 so public and influential a nature as that in which the priesthood 
 were engaged ; and no revolution, either in civil or ecclesiastical 
 affairs, was considered of any great importance, further than as 
 it related to the affairs of that church, in which the bishop of 
 Rome filled the highest seat. And this is doubtless sufiicient to 
 establish his supremacy, at this period ; how much soever inferior 
 
190 THE BEGINNING OF THE B. V. 
 
 ^^^^- 1- incidents may be magnified by tbe ingenuity of designing men, 
 and urged as arguments to the contrary. 
 
 19. We shall now consider the nature of this dominion of an- 
 tichrist, in its first beginning ; and if every thing begets its own 
 likeness, it can present nothing to view essentially different from 
 the spirit and works of Constantine. 
 Ecci. His- 20. The doctrine of Three persons in one God, " which, (says 
 Tsi^°wi. Mosheim,) in the three preceding centuries, had happily escaped 
 the vain curiosity of human researches," was introduced as the 
 fundamental faith and gospel of the Catholic church under Con- 
 stantine the Great. And something as mysterious remained 
 to be introduced as the Catholic Gospel, by Leo the Great, 
 namely. Two distmct natures in one Christ. And this Catholic 
 doctrine, (as observed in the preceding chapter,) was established 
 in the council of Chalcedon, assembled by the emperor Maecia- 
 Nus, upon Leo's demand.* 
 
 21. And when this great fundamental doctrine was established, 
 could there be anything too mysterious to make a test of ortho- 
 doxy, or too contradictory to reconcile ? Well might the Lion 
 and the Lamb be united. Pagan and Christian, saint and sinner, 
 yea, heaven and hell, be blended together without change, mix- 
 ture or confusion. 
 Dan. Tiii. ^2. Therefore it was well said of the little horn, or last king, 
 
 ^*' of fierce countenance, that he should understand dark sentences, 
 
 and practise and prosper, and destroy the mighty and the holy 
 t or, tht people, f All of which was a true figure of the horn or power of 
 ftoiywiM'.'" antichrist, which overthrew the primitive Church, — ^trod undef 
 See Mar. foot the holy Sanctuary, took away the daily spiritual sacrifice, 
 — scattered the power of the holy people; and set up the ahomi- 
 TMtion of desolation in its stead. 
 
 23. It is observable, that although this king oi fierce counte- 
 nance was mighty, yet it was not by his own power ; hence, all 
 that is said of him in the figure, applies to the work of antichrist, 
 through the Eoman pontiffs; for it was 7iot of his own power; 
 but through the supine indolence of the emperors, the transgres- 
 sions of the patriarchs and people, and the favor of the Barbarian 
 kings, that he was exalted. 
 
 * The reader is here presented with the opinion of John Wesley, on reading 
 "Baxter's History of the Councils," which assumed the right, above all that is 
 called God, to control the consciences of the human race, as far as they could ex- 
 tend their power. 
 ■Wataon's "•'"' '^'" ™^' Wesley, "utterly astonishing, and would be wholly incredible, 
 
 Wesley but that his vouchers are beyond all exception. What a company of execrable 
 p. 106. wretches hare they been, (oiie cannot give them a milder title, ) who have almost 
 
 in every age, since St. Cyprian, talten upon them to govern the Church ! How 
 has one council been perpetually cursing another; and delivering all over to Satan, 
 whether predecessors or cotemporaries, who did not implicitly receive their deter- 
 minations, though generally trifling, sometimes false, and frequently unintelligible, 
 or self-contradictory ! Surely Mahomedaniam was let loose to reform the Chris- 
 tians!" 
 
B. V. KEIGN OE ANTICHRIST. 191 
 
 24. And by such means, /te waxed great, even against the chap, i. 
 host of heaven; and cast down some of the host, and of the Dan. viii. 
 stars to the ground; [such as had the brightest reflections of '"-i^- 
 the true light,] and magnified himself against the prince of the 
 
 host. 
 
 25. He even magnified himself in the character and stead of 
 Christ, and from him the daily sacrifice icas taken away, and the 
 place of his sanctuary was cast down. Every occasion, either of 
 sacrificing sin, or sacrificing for sin, was removed, as soon as the 
 two distinct natures could be united without any change ; and 
 the very place of the sanctuary, or order of distinction between 
 
 the holy and profane, was cast down, to be trodden under foot of Rev. xi. i, 
 the Gentiles forty -two months. ^' 
 
 26. Therefore an host [of evil powers] was given him against 
 the daily sacrifice, by reason of the proneness of the people to 
 transgress ; every rank of church officers, and civil rulers, reposed 
 their power and confidence in him, that by his ghostly authority, 
 they might be furnished with power to crush and debase their 
 inferiors to the lowest degree of wretchedness. And thus, by 
 making peace with the great, and receiving them under his Cath- 
 olic authority, he encouraged them to destroy many. 
 
 27. The Roman empire, the bloody dragon, now grown old in Eev.xiii.2. 
 wickedness, bloodshed and cruelty, and under a mortal declen- 
 sion, overrun with Barbarians, and no further life to be derived 
 
 from supine and indolent emperors, gave up the ancient seat of 
 Pagan power to the ghostly bishop of that city, together with as 
 great authority as emperors had ever possessed. 
 
 28. And under his sanctimonious influence, the same beastly 
 superstitions were pushed on, under the name of religion, with 
 numberless additions, and with increasing authority. Mosheim Eccl. His- 
 says, "To enumerate the rites and institutions that were added, Jl's's.™'' "' 
 in this century, — would require a volume of a considerable cem. v. 
 size." 
 
 29. Among the most noted of which, was a change in the 
 manner of confessing sins', introduced by a permission from Leo 
 
 the Great. "By this change, (says the historian,) one of the ibid. p. 65. 
 greatest restraints upon licentiousness, and the only remaining 
 barrier of chastity, was entirely removed." 
 
 30. Then if the reign of antichrist began with a gogpel and 
 government, under which licentiousness had no restraint, and 
 chastity no barrier of protection, how disagreeable must be the 
 task to pursue such a beastly dominion through all its progress ? 
 And what historian could unfold all the branches of wickedness, 
 perpetrated therein, through a reign of one thousand two hundred 
 and sixty years ? 
 
 31. From the variety of matter which historians have selected 
 out of the immense mass, we shall only present a few of the out- 
 
192 THE CATHOLIC GOSPEL PROPAGATED B. V. 
 
 CHAP. n. lines of this growing bieraroliy ; that by its most manifest fruit, 
 it may be distinguished from the righteous and peaceful .dominion 
 of the Lamb. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE CATHOLIC GOSPEL PROPAGATED UNDER. THE REIGN OP 
 ANTICHRIST, PROM THE FIFTH TO THE EIGHTH CENTURY. 
 
 Much has been said, by modern writers, about the henign 
 religion of Jesus, and about the salutary rays of the Gospel 
 enlightening the barbarous nations, even through the doleful ages 
 of the Papal hierarchy ; as if the reason of man must be forever 
 insulted with the influence of names and sounds. 
 
 2. When we hear of the religion of Jesus, the Christian doc- 
 trine, the light of the Gospel, the lamp of celestial truth, and 
 of thousands being converted, and embracing the Gospel of 
 Christ ; what ideas are we to affix to such words ? Must we take 
 it for granted that they are always used in their original 
 
 sense 
 
 2 
 
 .3. Or, shall we not rather examine the naked objects, to 
 which these dignified names are given, and denominate them 
 according to what, in reality, they are ? And what is this victo- 
 rious gospel, this celestial light, and benign religion, but at 
 best a vain philosophy, and a motley spectacle of superstition? 
 
 4. Long have the mere inventions of carnal and wicked men 
 been imposed upon the ignorant for the light of truth — ^long 
 have mankind been deceived with their senseless jargon about 
 God, and Christ ; the origin of the tvorld ; the destiny of human 
 souls ; the resurrection of the body; — about death, and demons ; 
 and divine decrees, and grace, and purgatory, and penance ; — 
 about the virtue of priestly prayers, and pilgrimages, and oil 
 from the lamp which burned over the tombs of the martyrs — of 
 a wooden cross, of cream and spittle, and salt and holy icater, of 
 vows, and relics, and monastic rules ; and whatever else might 
 excite the blind reverence, and stupid awe of their deluded fol- 
 lowers. 
 
 5. These inventions have served no higher purpose than to fur- 
 nish the priesthood with sufficient authority to tyrannize over the 
 common people, and live in lusiurj, lust, and idleness, upon their 
 
B. V. TJNDEE THE KEIGN OF ANTICHEIST. 193 
 
 property. This, in reality, was their benign gospel, which will '^"^P' "■ 
 appear from the manner in which it .was propagated. 
 
 6. The true Gospel of Christ Jesus was intended to save man- 
 kind from their sins, by leading them into the practice of piety 
 an-d virtue. Therefore, when Christ and his followers set the 
 example, the native excellence of their piety and virtue had the 
 greatest authority that ever the Gospel claimed over mankind, 
 and was the principal and most salutary means by which it was 
 propagated. 
 
 7. But far different was the case of antichrist. Instead of a 
 virtuous, upright and pious example, vain philosophy, and the 
 civil sword were the salutary means which he employed to re- 
 commend his celestial light, and which tended only to increase 
 unto more ungodliness, those barbarous works, which Christ 
 Jesus came to destroy. 
 
 8. Great numbers of the Vandals, Sueves, Goths, and Bur- 
 gundians, are said to have embraced Christianity, of their own 
 accord, in the fifth century. But from what follows, it is not 
 difficult to judge what it was that they embraced. 
 
 9. Mosheim seija, " All these fierce and warlike nations judged Ecci.His- 
 a religion excellent, in proportion to the success which crowned J,"''^' ""'' "' 
 the arms of those that professed it, and esteemed, consequently, 
 
 that doctrine the best, whose professors had gained the greatest 
 number of victories. When therefore, they saw the Romans pos- 
 sessed of an empire much more extensive than that of any other 
 people, they concluded that Christ, [or rather antichrist] their 
 god, was of all others the most worthy of religious homage." 
 
 10. Clovis, king of the Franks, was at this period, the most 
 famous trophy of their Catholic grace. "His conversion to the ibWp.G. 
 Christian religion, is dated from the battle he fought with the 
 Alemans, in the year 496 — in which, when the Franks began to 
 
 give ground, and their affairs seemed desperate, he implored the 
 assistance of Christ, and solemnly engaged himself, by a vow, to 
 worship him as his God, if he rendered him victorious over his 
 enemies," 
 
 11. Victory ensued. Clovis was, the same year, baptized at 
 Rheims, with three thousand of his subjects; who followed his 
 example. It is said that Remegius, bishop of Rheims, having 
 preached to Clovis, and those who had been baptized with him, a 
 sermon on the sufferings and death of Jesus ; the king in hearing 
 him, cried out " If I had been there with my Franks, that should 
 not have happened." 
 
 12. This may serve as a specimen to show the spirit that ani- 
 mated these bloody converts, as well as their ignorance of Christ 
 and his harmless religion. But this is not all: wonderful mira- 
 cles are said to have been wrought at the baptism of this first 
 Christian king of France: which lying tales, Mosheim observes, 
 
194 THE CATHOLIC GOSPEL PROPAGATED B. V. 
 
 t^HAP. ir. 11 are utterly unworthy of credit." He further adds, that, 
 Eccl His- "Pious frauds were very commonly practised in Gaul and Spain 
 tory, voi.ii. g^(. j-jjjg time, in order to captivate the minds of a rude and barba- 
 rous people, who were scarcely susceptible of a rational convic- 
 tion." 
 Ibid. p. 10. 13. "The impudence of impostors, in contriving false mira- 
 cles, was artfully proportioned to the credulity of the vulgar; 
 while the sagacious and the wise, who perceived these cheats, 
 were obliged to silence by the dangers that threatened their lives 
 and fortunes, if they detected the artifice. The prudent are 
 silent, the multitude hdiete, and impostors triumph.'" 
 Ibid. p. 01, 14. In the sixth century, the conversion of several barbarous 
 "^- nations is dated. Among whom were the Ahasgi, the Heruli, 
 
 the Alans, the Lazi and Zani. Moskeim says, "The conver- 
 sions, indeed, however pompously they may sound, were extremely 
 superficial." 
 
 15. " All that was required of these darkened nations, amounted 
 to an oral profession of their faith in Christ, to their abstaining 
 from sacrificing to the gods, and their committing to memory 
 certain forms of doctrine. So that, even after their conversion 
 to Christianity, they retained their primitive ferocity and savage 
 manners, and continued to distinguish themselves by the most 
 horrid acts of cruelty and rapine, and the practice of all sorts of 
 wickedness." 
 
 16. Surely, when such religion as this is called Christianity ; 
 and such ferocious, savage, horrid, cruel, and rapacious wretches 
 are called Christians ; it should seem that the meek, mild and 
 harmless followers of Jesus ought to have some other name; 
 rather call them heretics, fanatics, wild enthusiasts, or persons 
 disordered in their brains. And must not the whole succeeding 
 history of christianizing, converting, illuminating and church- 
 ing the nations, appear as great a romance in the eyes of sensible 
 men, as the Arabian Xiahts, or Fairy Tales? 
 
 17. In this (sixth) century also, a vast multitude of Jews 
 Ibid. p. 94. were converted to Christianity, and added to the church. " Many 
 
 (says Mosheim) were brought over to the truth, by the persuasion 
 and influence of the emperor Justinian." That these pretended 
 Christians were converted to the darkest schemes of hypocrisy, 
 and brought over into error worse than the first,- let Mosheim 
 himself testify. 
 
 18. "It must however be acknowledged, (says he) that of 
 these conversions, the greatest pai-t were owing to the liberality 
 of Christian princes, or to the fear of punishment, rather than to 
 the force of argument or to the love of truth. In Gaul, the Jews 
 were compelled by Childeric to receive the ordinance of bap- 
 tism ; and the same despotic method of converting was practised 
 in Spai7i." 
 
B. V. UNDSU THE REIGN OF ANTICHRIST. 195 
 
 19. About tte same time, this Catholic gospel was propagated chap, it. 
 in Britain, among the Anglo-Saxons, the Picts, and Scots; and Ccm. vi. 
 also in Germany, among the Boliemians, Thuringia^is, and Boii. 
 
 20. But it must be confessed, even by Moskeim, " That the con- ^°'''- ^^i'r. 
 
 T- -T-V p- ^ • f tory, vol.u. 
 
 verted nations, now mentioned, retained a great part or theiriormer p. 92-94. 
 impiety, superstition and licentiousness ; and that, attached to 
 Christ by a mere outward and nominal profession, they, in 
 effect, renounced the purity of his doctrine, and the authority 
 of his Grospel, by their flagitious lives, and the superstitious 
 and idolatrous rites and institutions which they continued to 
 observe." 
 
 21. Here then, we have a fair statement of the nature of these 
 great conversions. These barbarous nations, through the despotic 
 power of their more barbarous conquerors, are compelled to make 
 a mere outward and nominal profession of Christianity, without 
 mending their lives, or quitting their former idolatries ! What can 
 such Christianizing, be but the beastly work of Antichrist, at 
 
 .the head of which stood the bishop of Rome'? 
 
 ' 22. Gregory the Great sent into Britian, A. D. 596, 
 forty Benedictine monks with Augustin* at their head. "After 
 his arrival in England (says Maclaine) he converted the heathen 
 temples into places of Christian worship." And Gregory the 
 Great, in his epistle to the Anglo-Saxon converts, permits them 
 to sacrifice to the saints, on their respective holidays, the victims 
 which they had formerly ofl^ered to the gods. 
 
 23. The same account of the celestial light and the divine ibid.p.iso. 
 gospel runs through the seventh century; and St. Gal, St. 
 Kilian, and other Great Saints are said to convert Franks, 
 Frieslanders, and other nations, to the religion of Jesus. 
 
 24. But again Mosheim confesses of these gospelizers, that ibiu-p.isi. 
 "Many of them discovered, in the course of their ministry, the 
 
 most turbulent passions — arrogance and ambition — avarice and 
 cruelty. And instead of gaining souls to Christ, they usurped a 
 despotic dominion over their obsequious proselytes; and exer- 
 cised a princely authority over the countries where their ministry 
 had been successful." 
 
 25. "The conversion of the Jews seemed at a stand in this ibid. p. 152. 
 century. Though in many places, they were barbarously com- 
 pelled by the Christians, [or rather antichristians,] to make an 
 outward and feigned profession of their faith in Christ." 
 
 26. " The emperor Heraclius, incensed against that miser- 
 able people, by the insinuations, as it is said, of the Christian 
 doctors, persecuted them in a cruel manner, and ordered multi- 
 tudes of them to be inhumanly dragged into the Christian 
 
 ♦This monb. Augustin, on aooount of hie labors in propagating the Catholics 
 gospel in Britain, ia styled the British Apostle, and was the first archbishop of 
 Canterbury. 
 
196 THE CATHOLIC GOSPEL PROPAGATED, &C. B. V. 
 
 CHAP. Ti. churches, in order to he haptized hy violence and compulsion. 
 Th« same odious method of converting was practised in Spain 
 and Gaul.^' 
 Eoci.His- 27. In the eighth century, "Boniface, on account of his min- 
 '"'Si™''"" is'erial labors and holy exploits, was distinguished by the honor- 
 ^ ' able title of the Apostle of the Germans." But notwithstanding 
 the "■eminent services'" he is said to have rendered to Chris- 
 tianity, Mosheim confesses, that he "often employed violence and 
 terror, and sometimes artifice and fraud, in order to multiply the 
 number of Christians." 
 
 28. It would be endless to pursue these Catholic gospelizers 
 through aU their tyrannical movements. CharleTnagne, iu the 
 same century, commenced hostilities in behalf of the church, 
 against those Saxons who inhabited Germany. "That valiant 
 
 Ibid. p. 202. people, (says Moskeim,) whose love of liberty was excessive, and 
 whose aversion to the restraints of sacerdotal authority was in- 
 expressible." 
 
 29. Yet this valiant people, who had hitherto stood their 
 Ibid. p. 203. ground against the fraud and violence of monks and bishops; at' 
 « Note [1] jg^gf. overcome by the terror of punishment, and the imperious 
 
 language of victory, they suffered themselves to be baptized, 
 though with the greatest reluctance. For according to the 
 iniquitous law which these bloody gospelizers had enacted, 
 "every Saxon, who contemptuously refused to receive the sacra- 
 ment of baptism, was to be punished with death." 
 
 30. Such were the exploits of Charlemagne in the service of 
 Ibid, p, 201. Christianity, for which, " succeeding generations (says Mosheim,) 
 
 canonized his memory, and turned this bloody warrior into an 
 eminent saint" This "eminent saint" made no scruple of 
 seeking the alliance of the infidel Saracens, that he might be more 
 ii)id.p. 205. effectually enabled to crush the Greeks, notwithstanding their 
 profession of the Christian religion. 
 
 31. If Dr. Mosheim truly saw the absurdity of such an inj- 
 pious turn, how was'it possible that he could canonize millions of 
 such beastly characters, in his history, under the name of Chris- 
 tians, and turn their absurd and ridiculous doctrines, with their 
 pernicious effects, into tin Gospel of Christ, and the benign 
 religion ofJesiis? 
 
 32. Of the state of the Catholic Church at this time, Mosheim 
 Ibid.p.2i3. says, "The vices of the clergy in the former century, increased, 
 
 instead of diminishing in this, and discovered itself under the 
 most odious characters, both in the eastern and western pro- 
 vinces." 
 
B. V. VIOLENT MEANS OP SPREADING, &C. 197 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 VIOLENT MEANS OF SPREADING THE CATHOLIC GOSPEL, BY 
 CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS SUCCESSORS ; IN THE NINTH AND 
 TENTH CENTURIES. 
 
 About the close of the eighth century, the Roman pontiff was chap. iir. 
 
 constituted a temporal prince, by Charlemagne, ■who conferred ' 
 
 on him the splendid donation of the exarchate of Ravenna, with 
 
 its palace, and its wealth, in supreme and absolute dominion. 
 
 " And the world then beheld, for the first time, a Christian bishop Jones' Chh. 
 
 invested with the prerogatives of a temporal prince." 
 
 2. Thus the blood-stained Catholic "Saint" completed the 
 foundation for antichrist to rise to its height of power and domin- 
 ion. Previous to this, the power of the popes was, at times, kept 
 within some bounds by emperors ; but, after this, their power 
 increased, and experienced little or no check, from any earthly 
 authority. 
 
 3. Of Charlemagne, Mosheim says, " The life of that great 
 prince was principally employed in the most zealous efforts to 
 propagate and establish the religion of Jesus, among Huns, Sax- 
 ons, Frieslanders, and other unenlightened nations ; hit his piety 
 was mixed luith violence." Under the reign of his son Lewis, 
 " a very favorable opportunity was offered of propagating the 
 Gospel among the northern nations, particularly among the in- 
 habitants of Sweden and Denmark. 
 
 4. Harald Klaok, a petty king of Jutland, who was driven 
 from his dominion by Regner Lodbroek, implored the " succors " 
 of Lewis, who promised him protection and assistance; on con- 
 dition, however, that he would embrace Christianity, and admit 
 
 the ministers of that religion to preach in his dominions." Ha- EccI. hjs- 
 RALD submitted to these conditions, and was baptized with his 
 brother at Mentz, A. D., 826, and was restored to his do- 
 minions ; by this means, the Catholic gospel was propagated 
 in those countries by force of arms, rather than by force of argu- 
 ment. 
 
 5. "About the middle of this century, the Mcesians, Bulga- Cent. ii. 
 rians, Gazarians, and after them Bohemians and Moravians 
 
 were converted to Christianity, by Metihodius and Cyrel, two 
 G7-eek monks, whom the Empress Theodora had sent to dis- ^'^'^^'^!'-- 
 pel the darkness of these idolatrous nations." But what sort of p. 271. 
 Christianity was it to which all these were converted ? Let Mo- 
 sheim answer. "It must, however, be confessed," says he, 
 "that the doctrines they were taught were far from being con- 
 
 torv. vol. ii. 
 p. 270. 
 
19S VIOLENT MIL\XS OF SPSEADIXG B. Y. 
 
 CHAP. III. jformal)le to that pure and excellent rule of faitli and practice 
 laid do^vn hj ouv Divine Saviour and his holy Apostles. 
 
 Eoci. h;s- 6. " It is further certain, that there remained anions tiese 
 
 lory, \oi.ii. converted nations too many traces of the idolatrous religion of 
 
 ''*' ' their ancestors, notwithstanding the zealous labors of their Chris- 
 tian guides." Of the state of the professed Christian world at 
 this period, Jlosheim says: 
 
 ibid.p.oj-. 7. '■ The impietij and licaiiioiistu'ss of the greatest part of the 
 clergy arose, at this time, to an enormous height, and stands upon 
 record, in the unanimous complaints of the most candid and im- 
 partial writers of this century. In the east, ttivmh, discord, 
 conspiracies and treaso?!. reigned uncontrolled, and all things 
 were carried by violence and force." 
 
 8. In the western provinces, the bishops were become volup- 
 tuous and effeminate to a very high degree. " They passed their 
 lives amidst the splendor of cotuts and the pleasures of luxurious 
 indolence, which corrupted their taste, extinguished their zeal, 
 and rendered them incapable of performing the solemn duties of 
 their fpnetions, while the inferior clergj' were sunk in licentious- 
 ness, minded nothing but sensual gratifications, and infected with 
 the most hemous vices the flock." 
 
 Miiner-TOi. Q. " xhc ignorance and con-uption that dishonored the Chris- 
 tian Chtu-ch in this century, were great beyond measure ; and, 
 were there no other examples of their enormity upon record, than 
 
 Ibid, p 310 *^^' *i"S'l6 instance of that stupid veneration that was paid to the 
 bones and carcases of departed saints, this would be sufficient to 
 convince us of the deplorable progress of superstition." 
 
 10. In view of the tbregoing authentic picture of the imiversal 
 CJinrcfi, in the three preceding centuries, what candid, what feel- 
 ing and reflecting, what rational soul, can help shuddering at the 
 idea, that this Church, clothed in the garments of blood, envelo- 
 ped in superstition, in ambition, wars and strifes, eaitlily honors 
 and a£r£!;randizements, should bo considered as the true ■' Church 
 of Christ V 
 
 11 . In the beginning of this century, Olans Trigg, heir to 
 the kingdom of A'orira//, having embraced Christianity, (suoh as 
 it was,) in England, in his youth, rettmied to his country, and 
 tr.ivelled from one province to anotlier, attended by a chosen 
 band of soldiers : and, by compulsion and violence, by fire and 
 sword, forced his subjects to profess Christianity. But the 
 Christian king of Swcde/i invaded this Christian king's dominions, 
 and having defeated him, became master of Xorirai/, and gave 
 
 Sy,vd.'ii. |lie finishing stroke to the conversion of its inhabitants, by oblig- 
 p.373. ing them to abandon the gods of their ancestors, and to embrace 
 the universal rel/i!;/o>i of Jesus. 
 
 12. How much tliis resembles the preaching of the pui-e G-os- 
 pel of Jesus Christ and his Apostles ! and what we are to think 
 
B. V. THE CATHOLIC GOSPEL. 199 
 
 of their Christianity, the candid mind may easily judge. The CHAP.m. 
 numbers of those among the Danes, Hungarians, and other Eu- EccLHIs- 
 ropean nations, who retained the idolatrous religion of their an- ?"]j7"'' "" 
 cestors, was as yet very considerable; and they persecuted, with 
 the utmost cruelty, the neighboring nations, and such of their 
 fellow citizens as had embraced the Gospel. 
 
 13. "The Christian princes, in return, exerted their zeal in a 
 terrifclo manner, proclaiming capital punishment against all who 
 persisted in the worship of the Pagan deities. This dreadful 
 severity contributed much more towards the extirpation of Fa- 
 ganism, than the eshortations and instructions of ignorant mis- 
 sionaries, who were unacquainted with the true nature of the 
 Gospel, and dLshonored its pure and holy doctrines by their licen- 
 tious lives, and their superstitious practices.'' 
 
 1-1. Moshtim characterizes the Catholic hierarchy in this cen- 
 tury thus: "The corruption of the clergy," says he, "must ap- ibM. p.389. 
 pear deplorable, beyond all expression. Both in the eastern and 
 western provinces, the clergy were, for the most part, composed 
 of a most worthless set of men, shamefidly illiterate and stupid, 
 especially in religious matters ; equally enslaved to sensuality 
 and superstition, and capable of the most abominable and flagiti- 
 ous deeds. Besides the- reproaches of the grossest ignorance, the 
 Latin clergy, in this century, were also chargeable, in a very 
 heinous degree, with concubinage and sinwny." 
 
 1.5. "The priests, and what is still more surprising, even the ibid.p. 4f-0. 
 sanctimonious monks, fell victims to the triumphant charms of 
 the sex, and to the imperious dominion of their carnal lusts, and 
 entering into the bonds of wedlock, or concubinage, squandered 
 away in a most luxurious manner, with their wives and mis- 
 tresses, the revenues of the Chtirch. That the whole Christian 
 world was covered, at this time, with a thick and gloomy veil of 
 superstition, is evident from a prodigious number of testimonies '•"^p-^os- 
 and examples." 
 
 16. But lest it should be supposed that these accounts were 
 the high wrought coloring of prejudiced protestant writers, we 
 give here an extract from a Catholic historian, confirming the 
 foregoing sad picture. " The famous Annalist of the Roman 
 Church," Barronius, " has the candor to own, that this was an 
 iron age, barren of all goodness ; a leaden age, aboimding in all 
 wickedness." "Christ was then, as it appears, in a very deep 
 sleep, when the ship was covered with waves; and what seemed 
 still worse, when the Lord was thus asleep, there were no disci- 
 ples, who, by their cries, could awaken him, being themselves all 
 fast asleep !" 
 
 1 7. " Concerning the vices and crimes of the popes in this 
 century, it is not my intention to attempt to palliate the account. 
 It was deep and atrocious as language can paint ; nor can a 
 
200 MEANS or PEOPAGATING B. V. 
 
 CHAP. IV. reasonable man desire more authentic evidence of history, than 
 Mil. lUsio- that which the records both of civil and eeclesiasticiil history 
 ry,voi. i.p. afford, concerning the corruption of th& whole Church!" 
 
 18. If the vices and crimes of the popes, bishops and rulers of 
 the Chilreh, were as deep as language could paint, and the whole 
 Church was corrupt, every reasonable man may see, and must be 
 convinced, that this Church was not the true Church of Christ, 
 but the Church of antichrist. How then is it possible that any 
 ecclesiastical writer, can attempt to insinuate, that a true line of 
 Christianity or a true Church could proceed from such an abom- 
 inable source, and be handed down through such a corrupt chan- 
 nel ? 
 
 19. Nay, it is impossible that this Church, which is proved by 
 its fruits to be of Satan, could, by any means, either by monks, 
 or missionaries, of whatever name or class, propagate the true 
 and saving Gospel of Jesus Christ,- among any nation of the earth, 
 either barbarous or civilized. 
 
 20. The accounts of the propagation of the Gospel, and the 
 conversion of the barbarous nations, throughout this century, are 
 
 Ibid. p. 593. ijut one continued mass of contradiction and absurdity, a gross 
 abuse of "common sense," and of "rational understanding!" 
 And thus ends the tenth century. 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 CONTINUATION OP THE MEANS OP PROPAGATING THE CATHOLIC 
 GOSPEL *IN THE ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH CENTURIES. 
 
 Near the beginning of the eleventh century, Boleslaus, king 
 of Poland, entered into a bloody war with the Prussians, and 
 Eoci. His- " obtained by the force of penal laws and of a victorious army, 
 p°T2i°' "' what AdalheH, bishop of Prague, could not effect by exhorta- 
 tion and argument. He dragooned this savage people into the 
 Church." 
 
 2. Stephen, king of Hungary, had been baptized by Adal- 
 bert, bishop of Prague. "He showed himself," as Milner says, 
 "a zealous patron of the Gospel." And his zeal was much 
 stimulated by his pious queen, GiSLA, daughter of Henrt II. 
 This monarch (Stephen) defeated the prince of Transylvania, 
 who had invaded his dominions, and took him prisoner, but re- 
 stored him to liberty, on condition, that he should allow the 
 
B. V. THE CATHOLIC GOSPEL. 201 
 
 Gospel to he preached to the Transylvanians, without molesta- chap, iv. 
 tion." This king died in 1038. "He had lived," says Milner, 
 "to see all Himgary become externally Christian!" Ah! 
 " externally Christian ! " 
 
 3. With respect to the Christianity of the Bulgarians, Milner 
 says, " Though Christianity existed there, it was adulterated by 
 papal domination, and by the fashionable superstitions." Now 
 let it be recollected that this same Milner has proved, beyond a 
 question, that the same "papal domination" was antichrist, 
 more than three hundred years before this period! and conse- 
 quently that all these pretended conversions and professions of 
 Christianity, were solely the false pretensions of antichrist. 
 
 4. About the beginning of the eleventh century, Benmarlc 
 was said to have become entirely Christian ; but what sort of 
 Christianity they embraced was soon manifested, by the conduct 
 of their bishops and kings, in forcibly propagating their Gospel. 
 
 5. "In Benmarlc, Othingar, a bishop of that country, extend- Mil. His. 
 ed the pale of that church by his labors : and Univan, the bishop Jjjj,"^ \' 
 of Hamburg, under the patronage of the emperor Henry II, out 
 down the idolatrous groves, which the people of his diocese fre- 
 quented, and erected churches in their stead." 
 
 6. " Canute, king of Denmark, warred against the turbulent ibid.p.eii. 
 barbarians, his neighbors, and planted the profession of Chris- 
 tianity in Courland, Samogitia. and Livonia. His zeal for the 
 maintenance of the clergy having disgusted his subjects, he was 
 deserted and murdered, about 1086." Wonderful saint! 
 
 7. It is here only necessary to remark, that every sign and 
 character of true and genuine Christianity, were here totally obso- 
 lete, and entirely out of the question. In this violent and sav- 
 age manner of propagating their Catholic gospel, ends this elev- 
 enth century. 
 
 8. "BoLESLAHS, duke of PoZfflwi^, [a Christian duke, mind !] Century 
 having taken Stetin, the capital of Pomerania, by storm, and 
 
 laid waste the country, by fire and sword, compelled the remain- 
 ing inhabitants to submit at discretion," and thus Pomerania 
 became acquainted with Christianity. This was propagating the 
 Gospel with a vengeance ! 
 
 9. "BoLESLAUs, the conqueror, engaged Otho, bishop of ibid. p. 41, 
 Bamberg, in the work. The duke of Pomera7iia, with his ^' "■ 
 companions, and the duchess with her female attendants, received 
 
 the Gospel." So says Milner. Aye ! and they received such a 
 gospel as well became the whore of Babylon, and the scarlet 
 colored beast, upon which she rode ! 
 
 10. " About the middle of this twelfth century, Waldemar 
 
 I, king of Denmark, unsheathed his sword, for the propagation ^cci. His- 
 
 and advancement of Christianity; and wherever his arms were tory,voi. 
 
 successful, there lie pulled down the temples and images of the '"•''■^" • 
 14 
 
202 VIOLENT MEANS 0? PROPAGATING B. V. 
 
 CHAP. IV. gods, destroyed their altars, laid waste their saored groves, and 
 
 ' substituted in their place, the Christian worship, which deserved 
 
 to be propagated by better means than the sword." 
 
 11. These are the words of Moskeim, and he might with more 
 propriety have said that their beastly and bloody religion de- 
 served to be called by some other name than that of Christianity. 
 But he continues his narrative in the same Catholic strain. 
 " The island oi Rugen submitted to the victorious arms of Wal- 
 demar, A. D. 1168; and its fierce and savage inhabitants, who 
 were, in reality, no more than a band of robbers and pirates, 
 were obliged, by that prince, to hear the instructions of the pious 
 and learned doctors that followed his army, and to receive the 
 Christian worship." 
 
 12. "The Finlanders received the Gospel in the same man- 
 ner — they were also a fierce and savage people. After many 
 bloody battles, they were totally defeated by Eeic IX, and were 
 commanded to embrace the religion of the conqueror, which the 
 greatest part of them did, though with the utmost reluctance. 
 The founder and ruler of this new church [of fierce, savage rob- 
 bers and pirates] was Henry, archbishop of TJpsal, who accom- 
 panied the victorious monarch in that bloody campaign." 
 
 13. But Henry, for his severe treatment of his young con- 
 verts, was by them assassinated ; and thus procured the honors 
 of saintship and martyrdom, from pope Adrian IV. Milner 
 
 Ml. His. "^yS' " ^0*^1 ^^^'^ ™'l Henry were murdered in the same year," 
 ch. Tii.p. 11.51. So much, then, for the evangeUzers, and the evangelized! 
 *^' "' "■ Can the heathen mythology furnish greater monsters than doc- 
 tor Mosheim's bloody shristianity, his pious, learned, tyrannical 
 doctors, his fierce and savage Christians, and his lordly archbi- 
 shop-saints and martyrs '( 
 
 14. But let us pursue the track of this wild beast a little 
 further, and see what gospel or good news he spread among the 
 Livonians. Mosheirtt, in his usual style, says, " The propaga- 
 tion of the Grospel among the Livonians was attended with much 
 difficulty, and also with horrible scenes of cruelty and blood- 
 shed." 
 
 1.5, '■'■Mainard, a regular canon of St. Augustin, [having 
 attempted the conversion of that savage nation without success,] 
 addressed himself to the Roman pontiff, Urban III, who conse- 
 crated him bishop of the Livonians, and, at the same time, de- 
 clared a holy war against that obstinate people." 
 Ecci His- 16. " This war, which was at first carried on against the pro- 
 m^'.s"'' vince of Esthonia, was continued with stUl greater vigor, and 
 rendered more universal by Berthold, abbot of Lucca, who left 
 hLs monastery to share the labors and laurels of Mainard, whom 
 he, accordingly, succeeded in the see of Livonia." 
 
 17. " The new bishop marched into that province at the head 
 
B. V. THE CATHOLIC GOSPEL. 203 
 
 of a powerful army whicli he Lad raised in Saxo7iy, preached the chap. iv. 
 Gospel sword in hand, and proved its truth by blows instead of ' 
 arguments." Beyond all dispute, he proved, by his unmerciful 
 blows, that his religion and his gospel were a brutal imposition 
 on the reason and rights of man. 
 
 18. Albert, canon of Bremen, became the third bishop of Livo- 
 nia, and followed, with a bai'barous enthusiasm, the same mili- 
 tary methods of conversion. He entered Livoiiia, A. D. 1198, 
 with a fresh body of troops, drawn out of Saxony ; and encamp- 
 ing at Riga, instituted there, by the direction of the Roman 
 pontiff, In:*ocent III, the military order of the knights^ sword- 
 bearers, who were commissioned to dragoon the Livonians into 
 the profession of Christianity, and to oblige them, by force of 
 arms, to receive the benefits of baptism. 
 
 19. "New legions were sent from Germany to second the Ecci. His- 
 efforts, and to add efficacy to the mission of these booted apos- lii'^p.™' 
 ties ; and they, together with the knights' sword-bearers, so 
 cruelly oppressed, slaughtered, and tormented this wretched peo- 
 ple, that exhausted, at length, and unable to stand any longer 
 
 firm against the arm of persecution, they abandoned the statutes 
 of their Pagan deities, and substituted in their place the images 
 of the saints." 
 
 20. Mosheim at length closes his account of this wonderful 
 progress of the Catholic gospel among the Livonians, in the fol- 
 lowing inconsistent manner: "But while they received the 
 blessings of the Gospel, they were, at the same time, deprived 
 of all earthly comforts; for their lands and possessions were 
 taken from them with the most odious circumstances of cru- 
 elty and violence, and the knights and bishops divided the 
 spoil." 
 
 21. Such curses of antichrist's dominion, retailed out by Cath- 
 olic doctors and divines, under the name of gospel-blessings, have 
 driven many men of honest principles to discard the ' name of 
 Christianity, and all its votaries, with the utmost abhorrence ; and 
 justly they might discard a religion that claimed the most dis- 
 tant relation to such a bloody, oppressive, and beastly hier- 
 archy. 
 
 22. But the votaries of such a religion have nothing to do 
 either with Jesus Christ or any of his followers. The true and 
 genuine Gospel of Christ never was preached with sword in hand; 
 but with the inward power and energy of the Holy Spirit, which 
 is a Spirit of peace, long-suffering, meekness, and mercy. 
 
 23. And when the Gospel was preached by the true messen- 
 gers of Christ, every creature had full liberty of choice ; and if 
 any embraced the truth, it was upon their own inward convic- 
 tion, and their estimation of its value, without any compulsion 
 from any other quarter. 
 
204 
 
 VIOLENT MEANS OP PROPAGATING, &C. B. V. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Mil. Ch. 
 History, 
 vol ii. p. 
 48. 
 
 24. Neither did Christ Jesus, nor aBy of Ms followers, ever 
 enact laws to bind those who did not believe ; nor did they ever 
 persecute or practise war and bloodshed to promote their cause, 
 or increase their number ; nor compel any one to receive their 
 testimony, by any force, violence, or cruelty whatever. These 
 things are true, and cannot be denied. 
 
 25. According to Milner, in Livonia, (also in the latter part 
 of this century,) "violent and secular methods were principally 
 used, and the wretched inhabitants were compelled to receive 
 baptism !" And here Milner confesses truly, when he says, 
 "but I know no friiits that appeared in this century worthy the 
 Christian name." How astonishing, then, it is, that those learned 
 ecclesiastical writers should call such violent and horrible works, 
 the propagation of Christianity ! 
 
 26. But what shall be said, when such false apostles and 
 bishops, with their sword-hearers, drunk with ambition and zeal 
 for dominion, are pushing on, in every direction, to extend the 
 limits of their lawless empire, and spreading calamity and distress 
 wherever they go ? 
 
 27. Can any real friend of either God or man look on with in- 
 difference, or try to amuse a distressed world with flowery tales 
 about a divine Gospel — a benign religion — and a celestial light 1 
 Or must not reason and conscience speak out, and testify that all 
 such gospelizing is the deception of antichristian tyrants ? Such 
 awful scenes of merciless tyranny, under the mask of a Christian 
 profession, are the most noted achievements of Catholic empe- 
 rors, popes, bishops, and monks, through the whole reign of anti- 
 christ. 
 
 28. Many volumes could not contain a full account of all the 
 arts of deception, the pious frauds, the bloody wars, and horrid 
 massacres, the secret wickedness and open crimes, which have 
 been practised in this beastly kingdom under the sacred names of 
 God and Christ, and under a cloak of pious motives and holy 
 ends ; but happily, such monsters of iniquity are to be clearly 
 known by their fruits, their own historians being witnesses. 
 
B. V. 
 
 THE CRUSADES, OE HOLT WARS. 
 
 205 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 Jones Chh. 
 Hist. p. 291. 
 
 THE CRUSADES, OR HOLT AVARS. 
 
 The Crusades, or as they were impiously called, ^^ Holy Wars" chap, v. 
 with the infidel Turks, as they termed them, which were 
 carried on by the so-called "Christian world" for about 200 
 years, were sufficient to demonstrate to all future ages, that it 
 was not the Grospel, nor the spirit of Christ that they possessed, 
 but a spirit and system of principles falsely called, a Gospel, 
 directly contrary to the Gospel of Christ, and to every principle 
 of justice and humanity. In them the fanatical madness, bloody 
 cruelty, horrible and sacrilegious abominations of antichrist were 
 brought to their utmost height. 
 
 2. Hume terms them "the most signal and most durable Hist. of 
 monuments of human folly that has yet appeared in any age or ^"|jg™'' '' 
 nation." 
 
 3. A "fanatical monk, known by the name of Peter the 
 Hermit, a Frenchman, born at Amiens, in Picardy, conceived 
 the project of leading all the forces of Christendom against the 
 infidels, and driving them out of the Holy Land." 
 
 4. " The Mahometans had made themselves masters of Pales- 
 tine, soon after the death of their prophet ; but they gave but 
 little disturbance to the zealous pilgrims who daily flocked to 
 Jerusalem. But about the middle of the eleventh century, the 
 Turks who had also embraced Blahometanism, wrested Syria 
 from the Saracens, who had now been in possession of it for 
 several centuries, and making themselves masters of Jerusalem, 
 the pilgrims became exposed to outrages of every kind from 
 these fierce barbarians." 
 
 5. " Now this same Peter the Hermit, had made the pilgrim- 
 age to- Jerusalem, and was so deeply affected with the danger to 
 which his fellow pilgrims were exposed, that on his return, 
 he ran from province to province, with a crucifix in his hand, 
 exciting princes and people to undertake the "holy warfare; " 
 and he succeeded in everywhere, kindling the same enthusiastic 
 ardor for it with which he himself was animated." 
 
 6. Pope Urban II, having entered into Peter's views, sum- 
 moned a council at Placentia, [about 1096.] It consisted of 
 4000 ecclesiastics, and 30,000 of the laity, who all declared for 
 the war against the infidels. But few of them, however, dis- 
 covered any alacrity to engage personally in the enterprise." 
 
 7. "The pope, therefore, called another council, in the same 
 year, at Clermont, in Auvergne, which was attended by pre- 
 
206 THE CRUSADES, OR HOLT WARS. B. V. 
 
 cHAP.v. lates, nobles, and ■princes of the first distinction. Here the 
 pontiff and the hermit, exerted all their eloquence to stimulate 
 the audience to embark in this pious cause; and the whole 
 assembly, as if impelled by immediate inspiration, exclaimed 
 with one voice, 'It is the will of God,' 'It is the will of God!" 
 
 8. "7« is indeed the will of God! " replied the pope; "and 
 let your memorable saying, the inspiration surely of the Holy 
 Spirit, be forever adopted as your cry for battle, to animate your 
 devotion and courage of the champions of Christ. His cross the 
 symbol of your salvation; wear it: a rod, a bloody cross, as an 
 external mark on your breast or shoulders ; as a pledge of your 
 sacred and irrevocable engagement." 
 
 9. " The words were accordingly adopted as the motto for the 
 sacred standard, arid as the signal for rendezvous and battle, in 
 all the future exploits of the championS of the Cross ; as a badge 
 of union ; and it was aifixed to their right shoulder, whence their 
 expedition obtained the name of Crusade." 
 
 Jones Chh. 10. " Persons of all ranks now flew to arms with all ardouT ; not 
 Hist. p. 292, ojiiy the gallant nobles, and their martial /oZZoz«er«, but persons 
 in the humble and pacific stations of life ; ecclesiastics of every 
 order, and even females, concealing their sex beneath the dis- 
 guise of armor, engaged with emulation in a cause which was 
 deemed so sacred and meritorious." 
 
 11. " The greatest criminal entered with alacrity into a ser- 
 vice which they regarded as a propitiation for all their [sins and] 
 offences : if they succeeded, they flattered themselves vrith the 
 hope of making their fortunes in this world, and if they died, they 
 were promised a crown of glory in the world to come." 
 
 12. By the influence of pope, and emperor, of bishops, dukes, 
 monks, and all the ecclesiastical powers, an army was raised in 
 the eleventh century to force their gospel into Palestine. Eight 
 hundred thousand men, each with a consecrated cross on his right 
 
 Bed. His- shoulder, set out for Constantinople in the year 1096. "This 
 
 ^°1is°&"'- ^^^7 (s^ys Mosheim) was the greatest, and in outward appear- 
 
 ' '■ ance the most formidable, that had been known in the memory 
 
 of man." This was but the beginning of this Catholic army, 
 
 which is characterized as follows. 
 
 13. "This army was a motley assemblage of monks, prosti- 
 tutes, artists, laborers, lazy tradesmen, merchants, boys, girls, 
 slaves, malefactors, and profligate debauchees who were anima- 
 ted solely by the prospect of spoil and plunder, and hoped to 
 make their fortunes by this holy campaign." 
 
 ibid.p.43i. 14. Dr. MzcZaewe, from the best authority, states that, " the 
 note [s.] gygj division of this prodigious army committed the most abom- 
 inable enormities in the countries through which they passed, 
 and that there was no kind of insolence, injustice, impunity, bar- 
 barity, and violence, of which they were not guilty." 
 
B. V. THE CRUSADES, OR HOLT WARS. 207 
 
 15. "Nothing perhaps in the annals of history can equal the chap. v. 
 flagitious deeds of this infernal rabble." So says Madaine. 
 
 And truly, if this rabble "was infernal, it was but a part of the 
 infernal kingdom of antichrist, which was governed by an in- 
 fernal priesthood ; and what could such infernals ever communi- 
 cate to their successors, even to the latest ages, but the same 
 infernal spirit of deception and fraud, under the name of a 
 Gospel? 
 
 16. "We pass in silence, (says Mosheim,) the various enormi- Ecci. His- 
 ties that were occasioned by these crusades, the murders, rapes, p^Ys™ 
 and robberies of the most infernal nature, that were every where 
 committed with impunity, by these holy soldiers of God and of 
 Christ, as they were impiously called." 
 
 17. "In Baoaria alone, 12,000 Jews were massacred, and Jones chh. 
 many thousands more in the other provinces of Ger'/reawj/." "But 293.''' ' 
 Jews were not to be found every where : these pious robbers, 
 having tasted the sweets of plunder, began of course to pillage 
 without distinction." These horrible devastations caused the 
 inhabitants of the countries through which they passed to rise 
 
 in defence of themselves and families, and nearly destroyed them 
 all. 
 
 18. A remnant, however, escaped and reached the plains of 
 Asia, conducted by Peter, ready to give battle to the "infidels." 
 Their first engagement was with Soliman, Sultan of Niece, who 
 fell upon this disorderly crowd, and slaughtered them almost 
 without resistance." Peter escaped and found his way back to 
 Constantinople, where be was regarded as a maniac." 
 
 19. The next division of the Crusaders, amounting to the 
 number of 100,000 horse, and 600,000 foot, after mostly perish- 
 ing, succeeded in taking Jerusalem by assault, and put the garri- 
 son to the sword, together with the inhabitants. Neither age nor 
 sex were spared ; infants perished by the same sword that pierced 
 the supplicating mother. 
 
 20. ""When these [Christian warriors'] were glutted with ibid. p. 294, 
 slaughter, they threw aside their arms, still streaming with blood, 
 
 and advanced with naked feet and bended knees to the sepuloher 
 of the Prince of Peace ! they sung anthems to the Redeemer, and 
 while deaf to the cries of distress from their fellow creatures, 
 were [hypocritically] dissolved into tears for the sufferings of the 
 Messiah." What tremendous blasphemy, what sacrilegious and 
 awful hypocrisy and deception ! 
 
 21. This conquest, which took place in the year 1099, was but 
 temporary," very few engaged in the expedition ever returned 
 to their own land. Tet such was the fanatical madness of the 
 catholic world, that (through the influence of the popes and 
 catholic saints) a series of similar expeditions were carried on, 
 which involved nearly all Europe, and the fairest portions of 
 
208 
 
 THE CRUSADES, OE HOLT 'WAES. 
 
 B. V. 
 
 CHAP.v. jigid and Africa, in the most horrible scenes of blood, carnage, 
 distress and woe ! 
 
 22. '■^Europe was solicited for a new armament; and, as the 
 French bad taken the lead in the former armament ; they were 
 on the present occasion honored with the first application for a 
 renewal." Eugenius III, at the time [about 1150] "filled the 
 papal chair." To him deputies from the East had been sent. 
 He wisely pitched upon the celebrated Bernard, as the instru- 
 ment of this pious warfare. ' ' 
 
 23. " Bernard was learned for the times in which he lived; he 
 was naturally eloquent, austere in his life, irreproachable in 
 morals, enthusiastically zealous, and inflexible in his purpose. 
 He had long held the reputation of a saint, was regarded as an 
 oracle, and revered as a prophet ; no wonder then, (says Jones,) 
 that he found means to persuade the young king of France, 
 Lewis VII, to engage in his fresh crusade." 
 
 Jones chh. 21. "From Fra7ice, Bernard proceeded to preach the Cru- 
 Hist.p. 295. sades in Germany ; where through the force of his irresistible, 
 eloquence, he prevailed on the emperor. Cone ad III, as well as 
 on Frederick Barlarossa, who was afterwards emperor, and an 
 immense number of persons of all ranks, to take the cross, pro- 
 mising them in the name of the Most High, complete victory 
 over the infidels. He ran from city to city, every where com- 
 municating his enthusiasm." 
 
 25. Both the emperor and the king of France, were respec- 
 tively defeated, and returned to Europe, with the wreck of two 
 great armies, A. D. 1148, and 1149. And thus, after the power of 
 nearly all Europe and Asia had been exhausted in these disastrous 
 expeditions ; the Crusades ended in the destruction of nearly all that 
 were ever engaged in them, and with atotal failure of their object. 
 Ibid. p.304. 26. "But it is needless," says Jones, "to prosecute this sub- 
 ject further in detail. Enough, and more than enough, has been 
 said to convince the reader of the deplorable state of darkness and 
 superstition which reigned throughout Europe, to say nothing of 
 Asia and Africa, during this period." * 
 
 * Acoording to the most authentic accounts, the number of lives lost by these 
 sanguinary wars, has been computed to forty millions on the side of the Cru- 
 saders, and probably about an equal number on the Mahometan side. This would 
 make 400,000 ayear, on an average, and about 1100 each day, for the 200 years 
 in which these infuriate wars were carried on. All in the name of OTerthrowing 
 the infidels and defending the benign Gospel of the Prince of Peace. Truly, 
 what horrible Christianity ! and what a dreadful sacrifice to such awful fanaticism ! 
 Every rational mind must be shocked at the discordant sound. And what was the 
 effect? _ The historian observes that, " these religious wars deferred the progress 
 of civilization, and conferred a ferocious military character upon the people." 
 (See Treasury of Useful Knowledge, P. V. p. 22, 3d edition.) And we may fur- 
 ther add, that instead of extending even the name of Christianity, they were the 
 cause of the Turks in their turn taking Constantinople, and swallowing up with 
 their power, and overspreading with the Maliometan religion, the fairest portioDS 
 o{ Europe. 
 
B. V. THE CRUSADES, OR HOLT WARS. 209 
 
 27. And in this infernal manner, did this last horn of the chap, v. 
 monstrous beast, hoth in the Catholic and Mahometan systems, 
 
 ■wax exceeding great ; so that at the sight of his army and horse- 
 men, which were like the sand upon the sea shore for multitude, 
 it might justly have been said, Who is like unto the beast ? Rev.iiii.4. 
 Who is able to make war with him ? And all the wars of both 
 parties were carried on to extend and defend their respective re- 
 ligions, by which they deluged the greatest portion of the earth 
 with blood and carnage. Though each party stigmatized the 
 other as infidels. 
 
 28. The habitable and most populous parts of the globe were 
 the principal objects of his ravaging power ; and all whose habi- 
 tation was upon the earth, who contended for his honors, plea- 
 sures, and preferments, were obliged to worship him, whose iniqui- 
 tous names and characteristics never were written in the book of 
 the innocent life of the Lamb. 
 
 29. They worshipped this beast, not only by enriching him 
 with their substance, but by conferring upon him such names and 
 
 titles of blasphemy as. Our Lord God the Pope — another God fa^^'v^A^u 
 upon earth — King of kings and Lord of lords — The same is the p 33o, 460. 
 dominion of God arid the Pope — Lord of the universe, arbiter of dempt. p" 
 the fate of kingdoms and emfires — and supreme ruler over the r?^" ™''^ 
 kings and princes of the earth. 
 
 30. Agreeable to these blasphemous titles, his votaries main- 
 tain that, " The power of the Pope is greater than all created ^iss.on. 
 power, and extends itself to things celestial, terrestrial, and in- ii p. 71, 7S, 
 fernal:" that he is not only bishop of Rome, but of the whole 
 
 world, and is constituted judge in the place of Grod, which he fills 
 as the vicegerent of the Most High; that he "doeth whatsoever 
 he listeth, even things unlawful! and is more than God." 
 
 31. "Such blasphemies are not only allowed, but are even ap- 
 proved, encouraged, and rewarded in the writers of the Church 
 of Rome ; and they are not only the extravagances of private 
 writers, but are the language even of public decretals and acts 
 of councils." So says Newton. 
 
 32. And the Mahometan party worship and honor the beast, 
 by conferring on Mohammed their founder, the title of the 
 " Prophet of God," sent to reform the world by the sword. 
 Surely, a " name of blasphemy .'" And, under the influence of 
 this fanatical enthusiasm, they rushed, like devouring "locusts," 
 through a large portion of the earth ; yet their povjer was of the 
 beast, for the Mahomedan system rose from the corruptions of 
 the Jewish and CArz'siz'aw religions : the same as did the Catholic 
 system, and they were both co-workers in extending and sup- 
 porting the power of the beast. 
 
 33. Thus, the beast in both systems, was not only blasphe- 
 mously worshipped, but he magniied himself against the Prince 
 
210 THE ABOMINATIONS OF B. V. 
 
 CHAP. VI. of princes, saying, that neither princes, nor bishops, civil goyer- 
 jj^^i jj|5_ nors nor ecclesiastical rulers, have any lawful power in Church 
 tory, vol ii. or State, but what they derive from him: that both the kingdoms 
 vol. iii. p. o,nd soiils of kings were under his dominion, and, that he had 
 161,304. power to birtd them, both in heaven and upon earth. 
 
 34. Such was that combination of mutual blasphemy and 
 wickedness that centered in the head of this last beastly king- 
 dom; and such was that power that was given him, not of God, 
 but generally and successively of all the ranks and orders of men 
 that existed upon the face of the whole earth. They gave their 
 power to the beast, to establish the dignity, honor, power, great- 
 ness and glory of fallen man, both in a temporal and spiritual 
 view; in all which they expected to have a share. 
 
 35. It is no marvel, then, that such a hypocritical, bloody, and 
 cruel hierarchy should be represented, by the spirit of prophecy, 
 under the figure of a scarlet colored beast, fuU of names of blas- 
 phemy, on which was seated a woman arrayed in purple and 
 scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and 
 pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and 
 filthiness of her fornication : And vipon her forehead a name 
 written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE 
 
 Eev.xvii. MOTHER OP HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF 
 THE EARTH. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE ABOMINATIONS AND PERSECUTIONS OF THE MOTHER OP 
 HARLOTS. 
 
 The kingdom of antichrist was first founded and established un- 
 der the authority of names, and always abounded with names of 
 blasphemy, as the principal means of deception. To spoU this 
 corrupt Babylon of her names, would in fact be taking away 
 her whole artillery, and divesting her of every weapon of defence. 
 2. By means of such specious names and alluring titles, with 
 deep artifice, and diabolical fraud, did antichrist practise and 
 prosper in deceiving the nations into a belief in the holy Cath- 
 olic church, her holy bishops, holy monks, and holy virgins — ^her 
 holy institutions, holy ordinances, and above all, her holy wars, 
 her holy inquisitions, and persecutions. 
 
B. V. THE MOTHER OP HARLOTS, 211 
 
 3. But who is the Pope? and what is the Catholic Church? chap.-vi. 
 that they should he ornamented with vain titles, under pretence ' ' 
 of their conveying to later ages a religion of which they were in 
 
 every respect destitute ! 
 
 4. And what are we to think of those modern writers, who, to 
 preserve their dying authority, and maintain their unjust titles, 
 and ofiices of dignity and profit, have imposed upon the ignorant 
 hy their smooth words ? and although almost all Protestant wri- 
 ters have declared the Church of Rome to be a sink of corrup- 
 tion, and many of her own writers have admitted the same, how, 
 we ask, can those writers pretend that such a Church could 
 spread the light of the glorioris Gospel of Christ among the 
 nations ? 
 
 5. Are we to believe that such a corrupt church was able to 
 purge even herself from errors and heresies ? much less are wo to 
 believe that she could exclude from the kingdom of heaven dmi- 
 gerous faiiaties, sclnsmatics, and enthusiasts ; and transmit the 
 undefiled truth to her latest posterity. And is the superstitious 
 authority of names and titles, popish decretals, and Catholic dog. 
 mas sufficient to bind reason and conscience, and every principle 
 of humanity and justice, and hold them forever upon the rack ? 
 
 6. If the Catholic church contained such enormities as are 
 stated, which her candid children do not pretend to deny, then 
 where can either she or her offspring find the least shadow of pre- 
 tence for calling their religion by the name of Jesus Christ ? 
 Surely, of all their abominations, this must be the greatest, and 
 most provoking in the eyes of a just and righteous God. 
 
 7. But seeing her pretensions to sanctity have been so high, 
 and her resemblance to the true Church of Christ so strenuously 
 insisted upon, we shall notice some of the most essential points 
 in which this supposed resemblance consisted, and see how far 
 the pretensions will hold good. 
 
 8. It is said that the chief bishop in the Catholic church was Grounds of 
 the representative of Jesus : and that inferior bishops represented '^^^i^ ^^^"^ 
 the Apostles, who renounced the bands and fetters of a carnal 
 nature, did not marry nor live after the flesh, but devoted them- 
 selves wholly to the service of God, to labor for the salvation of 
 
 souls. Wherein then consisted the resemblance ? 
 
 9. Bishop Newton observes that, "As long ago as the year Diss. on 
 386, Siricius held a council of eighty bishops at RoTtie, and for- ii. p.gg. 
 bade the clergy to cohabit with their wives. This decree was 
 confirmed by Innocent at the beginning of the fifth century; and 
 
 the celibacy of the clergy was fully decreed by Gregory VII, in 
 the eleventh century ; and this has been the universal law and 
 practice ever since." 
 
 10. SiRiciTJS was not, however, the first who perceived the 
 absurdity of the professed ministers of Christ living in the works 
 
212 THE ABOMINATIONS OF B. V. 
 
 CHAP. VI . of natural generation ; for the council of Nice had almost come 
 to a resolution of imposing upon the clergy the yoke of perpetual 
 celibacy, when Paphnutius (an old cripple, with one eye) put a 
 stop to their proceedings. 
 
 11. CoNSTANTiNE, though he exercised no authority in the 
 Ecci. Re- case, manifested suf&ciently whiehside he favored, saying, " Ego 
 searches.p. plane, si moBchantem episcopum viderem, scelus ohtegerem palu- 
 M.TOte. (jamento." i.e. Surely if I should see a bishop committing 
 
 adultery, I should cover the dirty action with my robe. This 
 was great indulgence on the side of the emperor, which from 
 every evidence, was by the bishops infinitely improved. 
 
 12. The Nicene creed was introduced iuto Spain in the fifth 
 Ibid. p. 195. century, professedly for the sake of condemning the Priscillian- 
 
 ists, iu which there is a canon to allow every Catholic to keep at 
 his choice a wife, a woman, or a concubine. St. Augustin ex- 
 pounded it, and distinguished the concubine of a Catholic from 
 other concubines. 
 
 13. Where then was the great effect produced on the side of 
 purity by their boasted councils and decrees ? Could they ren- 
 der an adulterous bishop a fit representative of Jesus Christ, or 
 of his holy Apostles, by covering his filthy actions with even the 
 most spotless robe 1 or by allowing him to keep a woman, or a 
 concubine in place of a wife? 
 
 14. If not, let Catholics forever cease to disgrace the sacred 
 name of Christ or Apostle, with their sainted bishops, and monks, 
 and their Catholic concubines. Nor can their cause appear 
 in any better light under the permanent law of celibacy imposed 
 by Pope Gregory, if we consider the circumstances under which 
 that law was established, and the efi^ects which flowed from it. 
 
 15. The licentious and scandalous conduct of the monks and 
 clergy was enormous, with respect to concubinage in particular. 
 
 Ecci. Hii Mosheim says, "It was practised too openly to admit of any 
 '°40o'40i'' doubt. The priests, and what is still more surprising, even the 
 sanctimonious monks, fell victims to the triumphant charms of 
 the sex, and to the imperious dominion of their carnal lusts; 
 and, entering into the bonds of wedlock or concubinage, squan- 
 dered away in a most luxurious manner, with their wives and 
 mistresses, the revenues of the Church." 
 Ibid. p. 487. 16. " There was a prodigious number of ecclesiastics through- 
 note [p.] Qut all Europe, not only of priests and canons, but also of monks, 
 who kept, under the title of wives, mistresses, which they dismis- 
 sed at pleasure, to enjoy a licentious variety, and who not only 
 spent, in the most profuse and scandalous manner, the revenues 
 and treasures of the churches and convents to which they he- 
 longed, but even distributed a great part of them among their 
 bastards." 
 
 17. Such were the circumstances under which Gregory, in the 
 
B. V. THE MOTHER OF HAELOTS. 213 
 
 year 1074, assembled a council at Rome, in whleh it was decreed, chap. vi. 
 " That the sacerdotal orders should abstain from marriage ; and 
 that such of them as had already wives, or concubines, should 
 immediately dismiss them, or quit the priestly office." 
 
 18. " But no sooner was the law concerning the celibacy of the 
 clergy published, than those deceitful hypocrites, who were cov- Eccl Hi-!- 
 ering over their foul actions with the robes of indulgence, and p°789™oi)!' 
 living Iq their lusts with mistresses under the title of wives, and 
 
 hired concubines, raised the loud complaint against their Lord 
 God the Pope; charged him with too great severity, "and exci- 
 ted the most dreadful tumults, in the greatest part of the Euro- 
 pean provinces." 
 
 19. G-REGORT and his adherents were branded with the odious 
 
 name of Manicheans ; and many chose rather to abandon their ibid. p. 491. 
 priestly honor, their religion, and their G-od, than their sensual 
 pleasures ; and to quit their benefices, that they might live in the 
 full gratification of their lusts. 
 
 20. Some contended for the right of matrimony at least, and 
 urged the authority of St. Ambrose, but in vain ; GtREGort con- V^^^- °°'* 
 tinned obstinate ; and the fact was, that without such a revolu- 
 tion, his Catholic priesthood must have sunk into eternal infamy, 
 
 and forfeited forever, all pretensions of being the followers of the 
 Apostles : such were the monstrous degrees of wantonness and 
 debauchery into which that beastly order had run. 
 
 21. Yet severe as the law was, which obliged the sacerdotal 
 orders to "abstain from marriage," and dismiss their wives and 
 concubines, or quit the priestly office, it only turned the abomi- 
 nations of the Mother of Harlot smto a more extensive channel, and 
 opened the door for indulgences of a more secret and general kind. 
 
 22. Let it be granted, that the head bishops of Rome did not 
 marry ; and did they resemble Jesus Christ or his Apostles any 
 the more for that ? The most beastly drunkard might abstain 
 from drinking liquor in his own house, or liquor which he had 
 purchased and made his own; but could he argue from this that 
 he resembled a perfectly sober man who never tasted spirituous 
 liquor at all ? 
 
 23. But it seems the Catholic fathers and their councils were 
 under the necessity of enacting laws of celibacy and continency, 
 and of using arbitrary measures to enforce obedience. Hence it 
 is evident, that their laws and decrees, and all their transactions 
 to support the outward appearance of sanctity, were plain and 
 demonstrative proofs, that their pretended holy orders and holy 
 institutions were spurious and rotten at the very core. 
 
 24. Christ Jesus and his Apostles had no necessity for any 
 such laws, nor for any secular power to enforce obedience ; for 
 they had that spirit of purity dwelling in them, which gave them 
 an overcoming power over every unclean and hateful lust. 
 
214 TIIK AliOMfMATrONH OF, kc. V,. V, 
 
 CHAP. VI. f).^). lint aH U](! vi;ry irjMl.it.iitions of thiw Mol.li.cr of llarl.nli: viarc, 
 f.-ilne; .".d hi;r (Jiiliiolic (:oiiriKi:llorH wcrf! l.obiJIy dcHf.iliiU: oC tliafc 
 Hpirit which rcj^}i\:diA the coijiiiK:!, of the, Af)0,",l.h:.'^ of (Jhrinl; ;uii) 
 therefore they U:>A rnviur^c to l,lio;-(e arhitrary laWH wliieli eoi/M 
 ueither eljeek the arrihil.ioii of (JeeeiverK fro/rj (nmhirji.' into offiee, 
 nor eiirh thoir hivvle.-;:J fia.-siori:'. whi;M in offli:e : of cjjiirHC, their 
 preteri'led inKtitntiori of eeliiiaey WUH, io every hi-iiac, contrary 
 iioth to the eonvineiiig law of Moi-'.eH, and tlie reijeernin;/ power of 
 the i/erjiiine OoHfiel. 
 
 2';. Henee thei/- rnoek inHtitiition-f were, eventfiajly, pro'iue- 
 tive of rriillionH of lazy, iiKele.H,-', bein;.'H, who for ajre.-i were a eorn- 
 inon poHt to eivii ."oeiety. '('rue thef-ie ifionantieH and eouveri- 
 tuals profeHHod eontine.nee, and eha-itity, and v'lr'/nut.y, and under 
 thi.H profe.^-iioi] elairned fi Kiirnptijou:-; livin^^ from /riore virtiiOi;H 
 eitizen;.. 
 
 27. Although douhth;HH many IndividualH entered into the.^e 
 order,", from .sincere niotiven, liorieitly maintained their 'uiU:</nt;/ , 
 and ]afnr:rited the i/i:in;rtil depravity; yet, few were ahh; to re.'i.Ht 
 the frrowinjf eorruption i of the iiuici'., and influenee of their own 
 rjatiire'S. 
 
 28. lint how abundantly wa« their w:neral \iy^iiii;r\ny detected, 
 and thicir fia.'',e lieentiomne-i', ezpo.ned ! .SVy ■iiru.i.h. rufU.i'A, l.h.o.l. a 
 r/mr.i-Ml or ■iw.'n.ii.i-.ry 'vA a very prov'erh of eofjteriipt tr; this day! 
 And not only they, hut every rank of the prie.Hthood, even to lb'; 
 I'ope hirnnelf, bore the Harne ^reneral eharaeter, and ;.'ave the 
 mo,-,t unlawful rein', to ,Reeret dehauehery, which haH rendered ihc 
 very name of r.onii.m.nv, arid (.h.nzli.ty odioii.H to the Heris-,e of a lon^ 
 deceived world. 
 
 20. If the tjatliolie church had been tniiy eonvineed of th'; 
 
 ahominationn of a carnal nature, and liad po,^.»e,H:-',ed the pov/cr of 
 
 Halvation, there would never have been ocea-ion for tho.-ie indul- 
 
 j/enccH, which tliO hold hh),apherncr,-< dared to di.Hperisfe throngh 
 
 the pretended virtue of Chri-t'H blood. 
 
 Jii".v,r/r/f •'''■ ''"t -oich was the defrree of presumption and wiekednr^ 
 
 /i^i.;™,--, p, ip t.hi-! XloUi.i.r of U'l.rloiA, that ,'',he could fi,« her fee,s of n\i¥ihi- 
 
 [mi ' tion, lieen.a.c, and induljrence for the perpetration of the rli'i-f. 
 
 horrid crime-:; and publi.",h, ?o mnch for dfJUnjf a vir^fin — ^for 
 
 lyinj? with mother c/r ?.i-Hter— f'»r a prie-it who keep)* a eoncuhinc 
 
 — for lyin!^ with a wornan in the 'Jhureh — for peijury — for^'^ry 
 
 — robbery, and even fr/r murder; and thif pre-umptiimw rnw- 
 
 chandize .-he carried on under the pretended Heal of the court '/f 
 
 heaven. 
 
 •'il. 'JouU them, any (jrime be too enorw/W! to be eornmitte'l, 
 when money eouh] di-char^'c the f'uilt < And could iriWicv ^l« 
 wanfinrr while or(.ho4r>xy marked out the more i'ni'^-A, iridu»triorj« 
 and virtnotis part of rriankind ai ohjectx of de.»tructioii, of i>Tey 
 and .".poll, to their pernio/Jori: '', 
 
B. V. BLOODY CETTELTIES OF THE, &C. 215 
 
 32. Had this sink of corruplion let the rest of mankind alone, ^Sf^^' 
 lier abominations would have been more tolerable ; but how ' 
 deeply tinged are the crimes of this scarlet colored whore, when 
 
 her thirst for blood is as insatiable as her love of pleasure ! 
 
 33. And I saio the woman drunken wilh the blood of the r^ev.xyii. 
 saints, and with the Mood of the martyrs of Jesus. This was 
 evidently the most prominent feature of her character, as attested 
 
 by the most authentic history of those dark ages. 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 THE BLOODY CEUELTIES OF THE BEASTLY POWER OF 
 ANTICHRIST. 
 
 PArL of Samosata, in the third century, had been condemned Ecol.Hist. 
 and deposed by a council of CatJiolic fathers, for his wrong no- p°298™ 
 tions about God and Christ ; nevertheless he left behind him a 
 numerous train of followers, called Paulicians, who greatly 
 troubled the Church. Constans, Justinian II. and Leo the 
 Isaurian, exerted their zeal, in the seventh and eighth centuries, ibid. vol. ii, 
 against the Paulicians with a peculiar degree of bitterness and *"■ ^'^' 
 fury. 
 
 2. The cruel rage of persecution, which had been for some years 
 suspended under the reign of the emperor Nicephortjs, broke 
 forth with redoubled violence in the ninth century, under the reigns 
 of Curopalates, and Leo the Armenian, who caused the strictest 
 search to be made after those heretics in all the G-recian pro- 
 vinces ; and death was the certain doom of all such as refused to 
 conform to the abominable superstition of the times. 
 
 3. But the cruelty of these bloody heresy-hunters surpassed ibid. vol. ii, 
 all bounds, under the furious zeal of the empress Theodora. "^^^^• 
 
 In one campaign into Armenia, these relentless persecutors, after 
 confiscating the goods of above a hundred thousand Paulicians, 
 put their possessors to death in the most barbarous manner, and 
 made them expire slowly in a variety of the most exquisite 
 tortures. 
 
 4. Such as escaped were driven to madness, and finally into 
 the most desperate measures of defence, after escaping to the 
 more humane Saracens, by whom they were protected against 
 the rage of their Catholic persecutors. 
 
216 
 
 BLOODY CRUELTIES OF THE 
 
 B. V. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Bccl. Hia- 
 tory, vol. i. 
 p. 390. 
 Eccl. Re- 
 searches, p. 
 166. 
 
 Eccl. His- 
 tory, vol.i. 
 p. 390. 
 
 Ibid, note 
 
 Ibid. p. 398. 
 ^ vol. ii. p. 
 55. 
 
 Cent. IV. 
 Ibid. p. 86. 
 
 5. The Manicheans, in tlie fourth century, are said to have 
 increased above the other denominations of heretics in their in- 
 fluence and progress. During the time of their existence, " The 
 civil and canon laws of those times (says Robinson,) mention 
 seventy or eighty sorts of fieretics," of whom the penal statutes 
 say, " The Bonatists and Manicheans were the worst." 
 
 6. St. Augustin, that Catholic oracle of Africa,, had once 
 himself been a professed Manichean, and had he remained a 
 heretic, he might have continued a stranger to the diabolical 
 work of persecuting others for their sentiments, and been ex- 
 empted from the Just and highly merited charge of insulting the 
 reason and abusing the rights of mankind. 
 
 7. But when he " returned from his errors," (as Mosheim is 
 pleased to express it,) and became a true orthodox Catholic, 
 then indeed, the whole force of his much admired genius, and 
 flowing eloquence, was employed to stir u.p persecution against 
 the heretics, and he, and other such godly men, endeavored to 
 inflame the passions of those in power, to extirpate the root of 
 this "horrible disease," which so much troubled their Catholic 
 peace. 
 
 8. Through the influence of such imperious and bloody saints 
 as Augustin, severe laws were enacted by the emperors against 
 the Manicheans. Their assemblies were prohibited ; heavy 
 penalties were imposed on their teachers ; they were branded 
 with infamy, and deprived of all the rights and privileges of 
 citizens : besides many edicts more dreadful, which are said to 
 be recorded in the ancient histories of those times. 
 
 9. The Bonatists also suffered immense cruelties; numbers 
 were sent into banishment, and many of them were persecuted 
 with brutal barbarity, until they enjoyed some peace under the 
 reign of the Pagaii emperor Julian, who permitted the exiles 
 to return to their country, and restored them to the enjoyment 
 of their former liberty. 
 
 10. But no sooner did the self-styled orthodox ecclesiastics 
 recover the dominion, than the scene changed: and who more 
 fit to heighten the crimson dye of the scarlet beast in causing the 
 blood of heretics to be shed than Sf. AugustinJ "He (says 
 Mosheim,) animated against them, not only the province of 
 Africa, but also the whole Christian world, and the imperial 
 court." 
 
 11. The Mother of Harlots could not, at that age of apostacy, 
 hav« conceived and brought forth a more genuine offspring, to 
 help fill up the cup of her abomi?iatio?is, than that "learned and 
 ingenious prelate," St. Augustin, a divine oracle to her adulterous 
 seed ; but the most contemptible tool in the eyes of the virtuous. 
 He sent a Spanish presbyter into Palestine to accuse Pelagius, 
 who was favored by the bishop of Jerusalem. And he it wa^, 
 
B. V. BEASTLT PO'VrER OF AXTICHEIST. 217 
 
 ■who, at the head of the African bishops, inflamed the Gaulx, '^S^- 
 
 Britons, and Africans, ty their coTincils, and the emperors, by 
 
 their edicts and penal laws, to demolish the Pelagians. 
 
 12. The Donatists had expressly remonstrated against appeals 
 
 to the civil power in cases of religion. " The implacable Austin Eccl. Re- 
 (says RobiJison) had spent almost half a century in banishing, KrtT ^^ 
 bntehering, and driving all dissenters into comers ; and there he 
 stood, crowing to haU the return of day." But the Donatists 
 recovered their former liberty and tranquility by the protection 
 they received from the Vandals, who invaded Africa ; but as 
 the Tandal kingdom was brought to a period in the year 53-1; 
 hence, "Orthodoxy and persecution once more overwhelmed ibiip-uo, 
 that Ul-fated country, Africa. Councils, canons, edicts and all 
 imaginable instruments of oppression, came rolling in like a 
 tide." * 
 
 13. " One name given to the JDonatists was Montenses, be- itid.p.iia. 
 cause in the caves of the mountains, in times of oppression, they 
 
 held their religious assemblies. About the beginning of the sev- 
 enth century, pope Gregory wrote to two African bishops to 
 exert themselves to suppress them. Marked out thus for ven- 
 geance they disappeared — and the presumption is (says Robinson) 
 that they went among the Pagans for a liberty which the pre- 
 tended followers of Jesus refused to grant them." 
 
 14. Robinson says of Gregory, who sent Augustin the monk 
 
 to preaeh his Catholic gospel in Britain, "In spite of his title. Ibid. p, 155. 
 St, GtEegoet the Gbeat, the blood of more than two thousand 
 British Christians, whom he, a foreigner, had the impudence to 
 condemn, and the brutality to cause to be btriehered, cries to 
 heaven against him, and his accomplice Augustin the monk." 
 It appears that St. Gregory had studied the great African ora- 
 cle — Thou shalt not rerile the gods, that is, says Gregory, the 
 priests. 
 
 1.5. This Augustin was the first archbishop of Canterbury, con- 
 secrated by the authority of the Roman pontiff, Gregost, about 
 the close of ihe sixth century. And the consecration of the ^"^ 
 spiritual head of the Chtirch of England, has continued in the 
 same line, to the present day. Thus, through the medium of 
 the Christianity of Pope Geegoet, in the same line of succession 
 and ordination, the Church of England to this day, is proved to 
 be the true offspiiiig and legitimate daughter of the old "mother 
 church oi Rome." 
 
 16. And all the dissenters from this church, who continued to 
 maintain the doctrine of the Trinity, with their consecrations and 
 ordinations derived from her, are but the legitimate grand-daugh- 
 ters of the same old '■ mother church." 
 
 17. The history of the seventh century contains little more 
 than aecounts of schisms in the Catholic church, controversies 
 
 15 
 
218 BLOODY CRUELTIES OP THE, &0. B. V. 
 
 •^HAP- about tlie worsMp of images, horrible assassinations, bloody wars 
 
 '. between professed christian princes, and cruel persecutions of 
 
 heretics, and all dissenters from the ruling party. Also, in this' 
 century first began the wars between the Catholic and Mahome- 
 tan powers. 
 Ecci. His. 18. "In this century," says ikfosAem, "were sown the seeds 
 II. 178. Toi. q£ those fatal discords, which rent asunder the bonds of Christian 
 communion, between the Greek and Latin churches. Sec how 
 these professed Christians hate one another! (This was doubt- 
 less a remark often made by the JIahometans.) What a con- 
 trast, to the words of Christ ' By this shall all men know that 
 ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.' " 
 Ecci.Ee- 19. " Arals, SLui others called infidels, never persecuted till 
 pTu*"' ^^^ ortfiodox taught them. It is allowed by all, that the infernal 
 cruelties of the pretendedly orthodox, both in the eastern and wes- 
 tern empires, had rendered the name of Christianity hateful." 
 
 20. " The Saracens periiecuted nobody. Jews and Christians 
 of all parties lived happy among them." Of course, those infer- 
 Ibid.p.i57. nal cruelties, together with "the bitter dissensions and cruel 
 animosities that reigned among the Christian sects " — dissensions 
 that filled a great part of the east with carnage and assassina- 
 tions, may be ranked among the causes that contributed to the 
 rapid progress of the more mild and rational religion of Ma- 
 homet. 
 Ibid. p. 183. 21. There is yet extant a testamentary Bi-phma o/'Mahomet, 
 in which he promises and bequeaths to the Christians in his do- 
 minions, the quiet and undisturbed enjoyment of their religion, 
 together with their temporal advantages and possessions." Or- 
 thodox writers have assigned various causes for the rapid spread 
 of the Mahometan religion; but here is one cause clearly set 
 forth. 
 Century 22. The persecution of the Paulicians, and other heretics, raged 
 
 ^^- with fury in the eighth and ninth centurie.s. Near the close of 
 
 the seventh century, a new sect arose in the East, under the 
 Jones His. name of PawZzczaTis. During a period of 1.50 years, th« PaaZ;- 
 ''■ ' ■ dans seem to have been almost incessantly subjected to persecu- 
 tion. There were always real or reputed heretics enough to 
 "■trouble the Church," as ecclesiastical writers term it. There 
 were Montanists, Manicheans, and Pavlicians. 
 
 23. But by whatever name they were called, according to the 
 various sense of ecclesiastical writers, they were, by the domi- 
 nant and self-styled orthodox party, counted heretics, and feuir 
 jected to dreadful persecutions tkrcwigh the three following cen- 
 turie.s. 
 Vri.p.ai5. 24. The erapress Theodora, exerted herself against them, 
 beyond all her predecessors. She sent inquisitors throughout 
 Asia Minor, in search of these sectaries, and is computed to hare 
 
B. V. CRUELTIES AND PERSECUTING, &C. 210 
 
 killed by the gibbet, and by fire and sword, one hundred thousand Sljf,'"' 
 
 persons, about the middle of the ninth century. '. — 
 
 25. Pope Nicholas highly approves of Theodora's conduct, 
 and admired her for her implicit obedience to the Holy See ; and 
 commends her for the manly vigor she exerted ; the Lord co-ope- 
 rating against obstinate and incorrigible heretics. During the 
 tenth century, violent persecutions of heretics continued to rage. 
 Such then was the progress of persecution in the eighth, ninth, 
 and tenth centuries. This is a specimen of the infernal spirit, 
 which ruled this beastly kingdom, through all the dark ages. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE INCREASING CRUELTIES AND PERSECUTING WARS OP 
 THE ANTICHEISTIAN BEAST. 
 
 In the eleventh century, Europe was greatly infested with here- 
 tics. They spread through many provinces. They were rfeputed 
 Manicheans: In Italy they were called Paterini or Cathari, 
 that is, the pure: In France they were called Albigenses, Bul- 
 garians, and other names, sometimes according to the names of 
 the country in which they resided. 
 
 2. Their dangerous doctrine was first discovered by a certain eccI. His. 
 priest named Heribert, and a Norman nobleman, upon which Ti^ "• f- 
 Robert, king of France, assembled a council at Orleans, to 
 devise methods for reclaiming those harmless people, not, truly, 
 
 from the error, but, from the innocence of their ways ; but they 
 remaining obstinate, were at length condemned to be burnt 
 dive. 
 
 3. Their enemies acknowledge the sincerity of their piety ; and ibu. p.seo. 
 say, they were blackened by accusations which were evidently 
 
 false. But they were deemed unsound in their speculations con- 
 •cerning God, the Trinity, and the human soul. Such also were 
 the heretics of the succeeding centuries called, Brethren and 
 Sisters of the free spirit, that is, free from the law of sin and 
 ■death; the Massalians and Euchites, i.e. the people who pray; 
 the Bogomilans, i.e. such as call for mercy. In some countries 
 the same class of heretics were called Beghards, 
 
 4. Catholic writers have tried to enumerate the errors of these 
 heretics, but they were considered too numerous ; the fact is, their 
 
220 CRUELTIES AND PERSECUTING B. V. 
 
 CHAP- faith and practice were contrary to the Catholic establishment in 
 ^"' every thing ; of course it would be endless to calculate their sup- 
 posed errors concerning baptism, the eucharist, the sanctity of 
 churches, altars, incense, consecrated oil, bells, beads, bishops, 
 funeral rites, marriages, indulgences, and the wood of the 
 cross. 
 
 5. In the year 1017, heretics were discovered in France, 
 whose doctrines were diametrically opposed to the doctrines of 
 the ruling Church. " On their refusing to recant, before a council, 
 held at Orleans, thirteen of them were burnt alive." Doubtless 
 these thirteen were the principal leaders, and that their followers 
 suffered proportionable cruelties. Milner says, "It is certain 
 that they opposed the then reigning superstitions." No doubt 
 of this ; — and he should also, with the same candor, have said 
 that, they were equally opposed to the wicked lives of these false 
 professors of the Christian name. 
 Mil. Hist. 6. " Sometime after there appeared, in Flanders, another sect, 
 P- ''• ™ • -which was condemned in a synod held at Arras, in 1025. These 
 heretics, according to the account of their enemies, held the fol- 
 lowing doctrine: "This," said they, "is our doctrine, to re- 
 nounce the world, to bridle the lusts of the flesh, to maintain 
 ourselves by the labor of our own hands, to da violence to m 
 man, to love the brethren." 
 
 7. If this plan of righteousness be observed, there is no need 
 of [water] baptism ; if it be neglected, baptism [by water] is of 
 no avail." If they lived to these principles, (and their enemies 
 have given no proof to the contrary,) what lover of virtue, can 
 be at a loss, to know to which the name Christian truly belongs, 
 to those reputed heretics, or their persecutors ? 
 Ecci. Hist. 8. Basilius was a reputed Manichean, and founder of the sect 
 106. "' ^' called Bogomilans. This aged and venerable man, being trea- 
 See RMn. cherously induced to unfold his doctrine to the bloody emperor 
 Alexias, was condemned as a heretic, and barbarously burnt 
 at Constantinople, which was but the beginning of sorrows to his 
 harmless followers, 
 ikid.p.iis. 9. Peter de Bruys was another who, in the twelfth century, 
 troubled the Catholic peace, and supplied the heresy-hunters with 
 fresh blood. They say "he attempted to remove the supersti- 
 tions that disfigured the beautiful simplicity of the Grospel." 
 He would baptize only such as were come to the full use of their 
 reason. 
 
 10. He rejected the notions of the real body and blood of Christ 
 in the eucharist, the virtue of the wooden cross, and other instru- 
 ments of superstition. He was followed by great numbers, and 
 after a laborious ministry of twenty years, was burnt at St. Giles's 
 in the year 1130, by an enraged populace set on by the clergy. 
 
 11. The next public disturbance arose from Henry, from whom 
 
B. V. ■STABS OF THE BEiSt. £21 
 
 came tlie Henridans. He travelled from place to place declaim- ^"F^' 
 ing. ii Li said, with the greatest vehemence and fervor asaiast 
 
 the vice: of the clerjv : at length, l-eing seized by a certain ^^;^^^ 
 bishop, and condemned before pope Eugemus. he was committed ua""' 
 to a close prison in the year 11-18, where he soon after ended his 
 days; leaving a train of Lereties behind him in France, to sup- 
 ply the ravenotis priesthood with blood and carnage. 
 
 VI. In Brabant similar commctions were excited by the Ulite- lhiLp.u4. 
 rate Tanqutlnms. '• who drew after him a ntuneroui sect." Some 
 of his enemies speak the worst things of him ; others sav, these 
 infamons charges are "absolutely incredible — that these blas- 
 phemies were falsely charged upon him by a vindictive priest- 
 hood. They say he treated with contempt the external wor- 
 ship of God, and the sacraments, held clandestine meetings, and, 
 like other heretics, inveighed agains: the clergy; for which "he 
 was assassinated by an ecclesiasiic in a c-mel manner." 
 
 13. Amold, a man of extensive learning, and remarkable aus- Ibid.p.u5. 
 terity, excited new troubles in Italy. By his instigations . it is 
 
 said, the people even insulted the persons of the clergy in a dis- 
 orderly manner. He was, however, seized in the year 1155, 
 publicly crucified, and afterwards burnt to ashes ; leaving behind 
 him a sreat number of disciples, to perplex the priesthood about 
 their otergrou-n opuleiux, papal revenues, and nDgO'ily authoritv. 
 
 14. Sj)ain had long been teeming with heresy ; even from the 
 time that Mark the disciple of Hierax went into that kingdom. 
 Sometimes these heretics were called Gjwstics, sometimes Mam- 
 cheans, sometimes PrisciUiardsts; and they flourished here, 
 tmder the last name, dttring a period of more than eight hundred 
 years. 
 
 15. Bobinson says, "This body of people knew no crime of EceLRe- 
 heresv. they supposed very justly, that persecution was oppres- S^^'''*' 
 sion, that Vming for the faith was mtnder. If ecclesiastics had 
 
 never created a virtue called orthodoxy, the world would never 
 have heard of a crime called heresy.'' Councils never cotdd sup- 
 iress heresy in Spain, but the inguisition did. Innumerable 
 heretics resided in Spain, till they were rooted out by that 
 iniqmtoTis institution. 
 
 16. After this the valleys among the Purenean motmtains, 
 between Frarux and Spain, became the sequestered habitation 
 of heretics. To these retreats they fled from the destructive arm 
 of persecution, and as they were persecuted and driven from 
 thence, they spread through France, Germany, and other 
 provinces cif Europe, formed societies and were called by difierent 
 names, such as Paterim, Cathari, Beghards, Eeguincs; hut 
 were more generally called Alhigenses and JValdenses. 
 
 17. The MaTucheans, PrisdUianists, and all who sprang from 
 the same original stock, agreed in one article, and that was 
 
222 
 
 CRUELTIES AND PEKSECUTING 
 
 B. V. 
 
 CHAP. 
 VIII. 
 
 Ecel. Re- 
 searchts, 
 p. 125. 
 
 baptism. They all held that the Catholic^corporation was not a 
 church- of Christ, and they therefore re-baptized such as had been 
 baptized in that community, before they admitted them into their 
 societies ; for this reason their most common name of distinction 
 was Anabaptists. 
 
 18. But by whatever names they might be called in different 
 countries, all such as renounced the papal superstition; and 
 placed religion in the practice of virtue, were the common objects 
 of persecution, to the Mother of Harlots. 
 
 19. It is truly astonishing how some ecclesiastical historians, 
 under the darkest period of their Church history, have continued 
 to style this the Christmn Church, with all her train of vices 
 and cruelties ; and on the contrary, have defamed and blackened 
 the characters of those who bore a practical testimony against 
 this motley spectacle of vice and superstition as schismatics^ 
 heretics, and troublers of the Church. Instances of this kind are 
 not uncommon with Mosheim. 
 
 20. Mosheim, and after him Robinson, has given a fair des- 
 cription of what the state of this Church was at the early period 
 of the third century. "The most respectable writers of that age, 
 have put it out of the power of an historian to spread a veil over 
 the enormities of ecclesiastical rulers. By a train of vices they *- 
 were sunk into luxury and voluptuousness, puffed up with vanity, 
 arrogance and ambition, possessed with a spirit of contention and 
 discord, and addicted to many other vices. The* effects of a cor- 
 rupt ambition were spread through every rank of the sacred 
 order." 
 
 21. This is the Church which the Manicheans, Novatians and 
 other heretics so much troubled in the third century, and con- 
 tinued to trouble in the succeeding centuries. And if such was 
 her corrupt state at the early period of the third century, what 
 must she have been in the tenth ? 
 
 22. Mosheim says, " The clergy were, for the most part, a 
 worthless set of men, equally enslaved to sensuality and super- 
 stition, and capable of the most abominable and flagitious deeds. 
 The pretended chiefs and rulers of the universal church, indulged 
 themselves in the commission of the most odious crimes, and 
 abandoned themselves to the lawless impulse of the most licen- 
 tious passions without reluctance or remorse, and whose spiritual 
 empire was such a diversified scene of iniquity and violence, as 
 never was exhibited under any of those temporal tyrants, who 
 have been the scourges of mankind. " 
 
 23. Robinson, speaking «f the supreme rulers of this universal 
 Eeei.Re- church, the bishops ai Rome in particular, says, "Of the sinners 
 ?r leo"^'' ^^ ™*y truly be affirmed, that they were sinners of size ; for it 
 
 would be difficult to mention a crime which they did not commit." 
 ^M^^m. "AH historians" says Joaes, "civil and ecclesiastical, agree in 
 
 Eeul. HUl. 
 vol. ii. p. 
 3S9. 
 
B. T. ■^■AES OF THE BEAST. 223 
 
 'I;5;ri'di:2 the renzh. eenrary of iLe Ctriitian era. as the darkest '^^■ 
 t'^di in I he annals of mankind." 
 
 24. Moshetn 537=. -'The hiitory of the Eayncn pontiffs that 
 li'^ed in iLis ^tcnth cenicrv. is a historv of so manv ro'^nsters. Ew^.Hjs*. 
 aEd not ot men, and exiious a nomole series ot themosT :^iL'i*!- ■'so. 
 ons. rremei.i';u;. and eons plicated crimes, as all writers unani- ^="=^"t 
 mocslv roiiles;. ■' The Gnel ehnrch in profiigaoy and cormption 
 was not far l«rhind. 
 
 -b. The saice leame-i -writer irLStanee; the example cf Thic-vhv- 
 lact, Titriarei: of Cmista/il inoph. •' He sold everv ecclesiastic-al 
 tenetiee. as soin as ir became raeant. Had in Ms sticle alove 
 ivTo tliOusa:Li htinitr; horses, which he lei with pigntits. dates. 
 liriei rrattes. i-zi steepted in the most exqi^isite wines, to all 
 which he added the richest perftrmes. ic. ie.'' What a Chris- 
 tian p2tria'-cM what a Chrisfian leader! and what a Christian 
 Church that mnst be! 
 
 i'j. In the year 11G2. Liwis \ U, the Mng of Fra?icf. and jE.ch. t. 
 Hiysr n. kina of England walked one on each side of the p-S3.toL 
 Pope, hol-iic? the bridle cf his horse, and ecnditeted him to his "" 
 ha'citation. •■ exhioitiag," says Barmmis, (the papal historian! 
 " a spectacle most gratefol to G-o-i. to angels, and to men!" 
 
 iT. Bit this tmly exhibited the enormons height of that 
 arrosant priie, and idolatrous homage to the beastlv power of 
 man, which was the 'iisrliigishrng characteristic of that age. of 
 which the same writer owns, that it was an •' iron age. harren of 
 all gcrodniss : altaden asi. ahouyidins in all wickedness." ;.?ee 
 be ok IT. ch. iiL V. 15.) Such is the glaring inconsistencT of all 
 those writers, who labor to prove that a Chtirch cf Christ ever 
 existed amidst this horrid and abominable Irrg doai of antichrist. 
 
 ili. .StLzh was the power of the popes over the princes of the 
 earth : and snch too was the power cf these princes over the 
 Kves and forrunes of their fellow bein^. By the cruel decrees 
 of the aforesaid Lewis and Hesbt, in the latter part of this 
 cenmrv. the heretics of Trance, undvr ■iifferent names, (but 
 commonly called Albigenses.) -were exp-jsed to a persecution as md Hji. 
 cruel and atrocious as any record noted in history: " thousands P-^f-^- 
 suffered bv the most retroachfiil and cruel tortures, by hanging, 
 burning, kc. 
 
 il9. Xow if tbis was an "iron age, harrm of all soodntss. and 
 ahrjundins rii all manner of wickedness ; " if the vices and 
 crimes, and wickedness of the popes; the bishots, and rulers of 
 the church, in this century, were ■• as deep and atrocious as 
 language can paint : '' if the ••whole church" was corrupt; all 
 of which. •• both civil and ecclesiastical history, authentically 
 declare" every "reasonable man" must see and be convinced 
 that this church was not the true Church of Christ, but the 
 church of antichrist l the church cf Satan '■ 
 
224 
 
 CEUELTIES AND PEESEOUTING 
 
 B. V. 
 
 CHAP. 
 VIII. 
 
 Century 
 XIII. 
 
 Mil. Hisl. 
 p 65, & 104. 
 vol. ii. 
 
 Rev. xvii. 
 
 Eccl. Re- 
 ■earches, 
 p. 144. 
 
 Century 
 XIII. 
 Ibid. p. 412. 
 
 30. And consequently that this church of Satan, could, by 
 no means whatever, nor by any monks or missionaries of what- 
 ever name, class, or denomination, propagate the true and saving 
 Gospel of Jesus Christ among any of the nations of the earth, 
 either barbarous or civilized. 
 
 31. But after all those terrible persecutions, by the decrees of 
 popes and emperors before mentioned, finding that heretics in- 
 creased, pope Innocent, in the year 1204, instituted the bloody 
 inquisition. "He authorized certain monks to frame the process 
 of that court, and to deliver the supposed heretics to the secular 
 power. 
 
 32. The beginning of this thirteenth century, saw thousands 
 of persons hanged or burned by these diabolical devices ! By 
 bloody wars and conquests in this century, nations were forced 
 to receive the name of Christ." And as Milner truly shows 
 " the papal power, at this time, ruled with absolute dominion." 
 
 33. This is the description and character of that spiritual 
 empire, that Christian Church, most impiously so called. It is 
 the character of the great whore, who sat upon many waters, 
 ruling the nations, with whom the kings of the earth committed 
 fornication, and with whose wine of fornication the inhabitants 
 of the earth were made drunk. Her gilded oup, her specious 
 and alluring profession, yf&afull of abominations and filthiness of 
 her fornication. She was the MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND 
 ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. She was drunk with 
 the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. 
 
 34. Yet those nonconformists, who would not be intoxicated 
 with the wine of the filthiness of her fornication must needs be 
 called heretics, the only fit objects of revenge and destruction. 
 In the progress of this beastly power, " all places of worship were 
 taken from heretics, and they punished for holding Conventicles, 
 though they held them in forests, and dens, and caves of the 
 earth." 
 
 35. But in this spiritual empire of iniquity, the ruling party 
 from the beginning, "declared themselves the only Christians, 
 for they believed the Trinity, and all the rest were heretics, 
 bound over to present and eternal perdition." Notwithstanding, 
 thousands (says Robinson,) set all penalties at defiance, and lived 
 and died, as their own understandings and consciences com- 
 manded them, in the practice of heresy and schism.'" 
 
 36. "In they year 1210, these nonconformists had become so 
 numerous, and so odious, that Ugo or Hugh, the old bishop of 
 Ferrara, obtained an edict of the emperor Otho IV, for the 
 suppression of them. Five years after, pope Innocent III, 
 held a council at the Lateran, and denounced anathemas against 
 heretics of all descriptions, and against the lords and their bailiffs, 
 who suffered them to reside on their estates." 
 
B. Y. WAES OP THE BEAST. •2-2b 
 
 37. Men of continual employment -were now in quest of '-JSf^- 
 heretics J bound bv an oath, to seek for them in towns, houses, ' 
 
 cellars, woods, eaves and fields, and to purire the proyinces from E<^-.Hiit. 
 
 1 - . 1 /T 1 1- i' • 1 -r* ^1 • • vol. iU. p. 
 
 tnese enemies ot tne Catkolic taitn. isesides, in every city, a wi. noie 
 council of ihquisitors was erected, consisting of one priest and '''' 
 three laymen. 
 
 3f . As early as the year liloS, that bloody court called the 
 Inquisitio7i. had a permanent establishment in Spain and France, 
 which in its progress heightened, to the utmost degree, the 
 crimson color of that bloody beast, who instituted it, and the 
 7nfer7ud rabble by whom it was executed, who made it the sole 
 business of life to steal, to kill, and to destroy. 
 
 39. "In the kingdom of Castile and Aragon, there were Eccl.Re- 
 eighteen inquisitorial courts ; having each of them its counsellors, p! iis'^.''' 
 termed apostolic^ inquisitors; its secretaries, Serjeants, and 
 other ofBcers. And besides these, there were twenty thousand 
 familiars dispersed throughout the kingdom, who acted as spies 
 and informers, and were employed to apprehend all suspected 
 persons, and to commit them for trial to the prisons which be- 
 longed to the Liquisiiion." 
 
 4:0. "By these familiars, persons were seized on bare sus- 
 picion: and in contradiction to the common rules of law, they 
 were put to the torture, tried and condemned by the inquisitors. 
 without being confronted by their accusers, or with the witnesses 
 on whose evidence they were condemned.' 
 
 41. •• The punishments were more or less dreadful, according to 
 the caprice and humor of the judges. The unhappy victims were 
 either strangled, or committed to the flames, or loaded with 
 chains and shut up in dtmgeons during life. Their efieots were 
 confiscated, and their families stigmatized with infam y" 
 
 42. ••Authors of undoubted credit affirm, and without the n:i.p.5jc, 
 least exaggeration, that millions of persons have been rtiined by 
 
 this horrible court. Moors were banished, a million at a time ; 
 sis or eight himdred thousand Jews were driven away at once, 
 and their immense riches seized by their accusers, and dissipated 
 among their persecutors." 
 
 43. "Heretics of all ranks and of various denominations were 
 imprisoned and burnt, or fled into other countries. This horri- 
 ble court ^says Rcli/ison.^ is styled by a monstrous abuse of 
 words, ••The Holt and Apostolic court of Inquisition." 
 
 y acton says, ■■ It is enough to make the blood run cold, to real D.;s5.„n 
 of the horrid murders and devastations of this time : how many Pt^jpH^toL 
 of these poor innocent Christians [i,e. heretics} were sacrificed to kj. ' ' 
 the blind fury and malice of their enemies I It is computed by 
 Medi, from good authorities, that in France alone were slain a 
 Tr.ilJion." 
 
 44. -'Against the Wcldcnses. (says T^ai/^n/japopishliistorian,) 
 
226 CRUELTIES AND PEUSEOtTTING, &C, B. V. 
 
 CHAP, when exquisite punisliments availed little, and the evil was ex- 
 
 L_ asperated by the remedy which had been unseasonably applied, 
 
 and their number increased daily, at length complete arrnies 
 were raised ; and a war, of no less weight than what our people 
 had before waged against the Saracens, was decreed against 
 them. The event of which was, that they were rather slain, put 
 to flight, spoiled every where of their goods and dignities, and 
 dispersed here and there, than that convinced of their error they 
 repented." 
 
 45. " The Waidenses and Albige?ises being persecuted in then- 
 own country, fled for refuge into foreign nations, some into 
 Ger7namj, and some into Britain. In Germany they grew and 
 multiplied so fast, notwithstanding the rage and violence of 
 croisaders and inquisitors, that at the beginning of this [four- 
 Century teenth] century, it is computed, that there were eighty thousand 
 ■'^'^' of them in Bohemia, Austria, and the neighboring territories." 
 
 Yet comparatively, but few escaped the rage and fury of the 
 bloody inqidsitors. 
 .Tones' ohii 46. According to Jones, when the Catholic champions were 
 His. p. 37i. evidently baffled by argument in a conference which they had 
 agreed upon with these (harmless) people, the papal armies of 
 pope Innocent, the bloody founder cf the horrible Inquisition, 
 " advanced upon them, and, by fire and faggots, instantly decided 
 all the points of controversy, and destroyed above 200,000 of 
 them, within the short space of a few months." Such was the 
 horrid cruelty of that monstrous wretch, who, with blasphemous 
 effrontery, assumed the name of Innocent. 
 
 47. " There arose in this century, various sectaries, besides the 
 
 Waidenses and Alhigenses,^\io were cruelly persecuted, both by 
 
 popes and emperors." These sectaries went by various names, 
 
 Mii.cii in different countries. "It is certain" Milner says, "that 
 
 Inf'if ^"^^ t^s'^s were many societies of persons in this century, called Beg' 
 
 hards, Berguines, Lollards, Brethren of the Free Spirit, Flagel- 
 
 leiits, (f-c, who suffered extremely from the iron hand of power." 
 
 So ends the thirteenth century, and begins the fourteenth. 
 
 vol. ii. 
 
B. V. 
 
 TEOSniATE CAUSES OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 227 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE PROXIMATE CAUSES OF THE EEF0E3IATI0N. 
 
 About the middle of this fourteenth century, John WicJdiffe chap.ix. 
 began to oppose the papal religion, and the power of the pope, ~ ' 
 
 and gained many followers, called Lollards, who suffered much xiv. 
 persecution from the papists. But the labors of Wickliffe, and ^','1; "^.Ijf ji. 
 his followers, aud those cruel persecutions, began to open the p. iai-i4o, 
 eyes of rational minds, and produced divisions in the Catholic 
 world; hence he was called the morning star of the Beformation. 
 
 2. "In a space of scarce thirty years, the Inqiiisilion de- 
 stroyed, by Tarious kinds of torture, one hundred and fifty thou- 
 sands Christians;" [i.e. heretics, such as Catholics generally call 
 fanatics, or persons disordered in their hrai/is.] Then, how 
 many millions may we suppose it destroyed, in the course of 200 
 years, and more, from the period of its first institution. 
 
 3. "From the first institution of the Jesuits to the year 1580, Diss on 
 that is, in little more than thirty years, nine hundred thousand ^'°''\Z°^' 
 [reputed heretics] were slain. In the Netherlands alone, the 
 
 duke of Alva boasted, that within a few years, he had despatched 
 to the amount of thirty-six thousand souls, and those all by the 
 hand of the common executioner." 
 
 4. It is therefore a just remark of Neicton, that, "If Eome 
 Pagan hath slain her thousands of innocent Christians, [i.e. here- 
 tics,^ Kome Christian [Rome antichristian\ hath slain her ten 
 thousands. For not to mention other outrageous slaughters and 
 barbarities, the oroisades against the Waldenses and Albigenses, 
 the murders committed by the duke of Alva in the Netherlands, 
 the massacres in France and Ireland, will probably amount to 
 above ten times the number of all the Christians slain in all the 
 ten persecutions of the Roman emperors put together." 
 
 5. Thus we see that this universal bishop, this infallible 
 judge of all controversies, this sovereign of kings and disposer of 
 kingdoms, this vicegerent of Christ and God upon earth, has 
 plainly manifested his diabolical nature by his furious and infer- 
 nal works. And thus this Mother of all abominations, has evi- 
 dently exposed her scarlet color, by the millions whom she hath 
 persecuted unto death by every mode of torture. Is it not then 
 astonishing beyond all measure, that any should yet be so blind 
 as to imagine, that the pure G-ospel and Spirit of Christ could be 
 conveyed to future ages through such a medium ? 
 
 6. But these horrid enormities could no longer be endured by 
 inankind, and hence began to alarm the more humane minds 
 
 Ibid. p. 223. 
 
228 PROXIMATE CAUSES OP THE EEPOEMATION. B. V. 
 
 CHAP. IX. among men, who thereupon set about contending for their rights : 
 this produced bitter dissensions, and caused continual divisions 
 and bloody wars in the Catholic dominions for many years. And 
 so ends the fourteenth century; but the false church, false 
 doctrines, and tyrannical dominions of antichrist, is not here 
 ended. 
 
 7. Early in the fifteenth century, ecclesiastical corruptions had 
 increased to an intolerable magnitude ; and Christendom had been 
 distracted nearly forty years, by a schism in the popedom. 
 
 Mil. chh. '' Three popes, or pretenders to the chair of St. Peter, severally 
 ?om^°i62' ^^^^ claim to infallibility " (as Milner terms it,) " and of their 
 10 p. 196. ' vain contest there seemed no end. To settle this dispute, and to 
 restore peace to the church, [peace to what church ?] and root 
 out heretics, was the most urgent concern of the council of Con- 
 stance, which was assembled in 1414. This council was compo- 
 sed of all the dignified characters of Europe. The result was, 
 that the three contending popes were deposed, and a new pope 
 elected. 
 
 8. " All the dignified orders in Europe there assembled 
 together, (says Milner,) had not sufficient spirit and integrity to 
 punish crimes of the most enormous nature. Yet they could hum 
 without mercy, thofee whom they deemed heretics, though men of 
 real godliness. 
 
 9. " Previous to this period, John Huss and Jerome of Prague, 
 had for a considerable time preached in Bohemia, against the 
 Catholic doctrines, and the abuses oi papal power, and had gained 
 great numbers of followers." 
 
 10. But by the decrees of this corrupt and horrible council of 
 antichrist, "these two renowned preachers, and advocates of the 
 rights of conscience, were condemned as heretics, and perished in 
 the flames, although they had the promise of protection from the 
 emperor of Germany, their sovereign, which he basely violated. 
 And by the same wicked spirit, which governed the council, thou- 
 sands upon thousands of honest, upright persons, had to sufier 
 ignominious deaths." 
 
 Mil. Chh. 11. "The sovereign aforesaid, was the emperor Sigismtind, 
 ^'iGB™^ "• who presided in this council, and was notorious for duplicity and 
 hypocritical profession ; he and his consort Barba, both attended 
 the religious ceromonies of this council ; both were infamous by 
 lewdness ; yet he in feigned devotion, in a deacon's habit, read 
 the Gospel, while the pope celebrated mass." 
 
 12. Of those "dignitaries" assembled at Constance, Milner 
 Ibid. p. 190, says, "Many of them practised the foulest abominations, and 
 
 were ready to burn in the flames, as heretics, any person who 
 cast a censure upon their principles and practice." 
 
 13. Now if this council, composed of the highest church digni- 
 taries of all Europe, with all its wickedness and abominations, 
 
 191 
 
B. V. PROXIMATE CAUSES OF THE EEFORMATION. 229 
 
 together 'with all its barbarous and unrighteous decrees, does chap, ix. 
 not prove that antichrist had the entire dominion in the (pro- 
 fessed) Christian world, and that the Church of Christ did not 
 exist upon earth, then the sanctuary of the saints was never 
 " trodden under foot," and the testimonies of the Prophets, of 
 Christ and Lis Apostles, are all egregious falsehoods.* 
 
 14. But the conduct of the emperors and council aforesaid, in 
 putting to death the two leaders, {John Huss and Jerome,) who 
 were characters of extraordinary talents, and whom the Bohemi- 
 ans looked upon as true defenders of their rights and liberties, 
 so enraged them, that they were driven to desperation, and took 
 up arms in their own defence, against the emperor and persecu- 
 ting power. 
 
 15. But though they were eventually overpowered hy superior cenmry 
 force, yet the schism was never healed, hut continued to extend, ^^■ 
 and became one main source of the Reformation. Similar scenes 
 
 of persecuting violence and enormities were enacted, one after 
 another, through this century. 
 
 16. So long as the leaders of this beastly and blood-stained 
 hierarchy had the power, so long they unrelentingly used it, to 
 persecute and destroy every person who had virtue enough to 
 abstain from, and oppose their pernicious dogmas, and horrid and 
 filthy abominations. 
 
 17. There was no place left for the exercise of real virtue, 
 without facing death in its most frightful forms. About the 
 close of this century, the Jews, to the number of a million, were 
 banished from Spain; and the dreadful sufferings, misery and Century 
 destruction which they endured, can hardly be conceived by the ^^'' 
 mind of man. 
 
 18. Near the same time Jerome, an Italian monk, and zealous 
 preacher, with two of his companions, Dominic and Sylvester, Mii.chii. 
 though Catholics, by the influence of the pope's legate, were voT.ii. 
 burnt for heresy at Florence, because they preached doctrines too 
 virtuous to suit the profligate papal court. 
 
 19. Previous to this,' Thomas Rheden, a Frenchman, and even 
 
 • According to the accoant given by Jones, it appears that the principles of an- 
 tichrist in perfidious duplicity, shameful hypocricy, and- enormous unrelenting 
 cruelty, had reached the utmost height in this couTicil gf Constance which human 
 nature is capable of exhibiting ! And its '^grotesque'' and ridiculous composi- 
 tion is thus stated by i^oi : "There were," says he, "archbishops and bishops 346; 
 abbots and doctors 564 ; princes, dukes, earls, knights, and squires 16,000 ; pros- 
 titutes 450 ; barbers 600 ; musicians, cooks, and jesters 320." 
 
 What a Christian council! or rather, what an awful spectacle in the TCome of 
 Christian] No wonder that by their influence, multitudes of the most rirtuous 
 people were murdered in the most horrible manner ! And these inhuman princi- 
 ples were followed up by their successors^ and prqijuced some of the most barbarous 
 acts recorded in the history of man. Such as to cause many innocent infants with 
 their mothers, to be frozen to death — and of those who had fled into their caves at 
 the tops of the mountains — 400 children \f ere suffocated by fire and smoke, in their 
 cradles ; and thus exterminating a whole settlement of virtuous people, menj wo- 
 men, and children. (See Jones' Chh. History, pages 432, 435, and 436.) 
 
230 
 
 PROXIMATE CAUSES OP THE REFORMATION. 
 
 B.V. 
 
 Eccl. Re- 
 i-earclies, 
 p. 203. 
 
 Acts, viii. 
 B. 
 
 3 John, 9, 
 1(1. 
 
 CHAP. IX. a Carmelite friar, who came to Rome, in hopes of improving his 
 ' understanding in religious concerns, being surprised at the enor- 
 
 mous corruptions of that "venal city," of which he had before 
 no conceptions, bore an open testimony to the truth, not against 
 the Catholic religion, but against its corruptions; but he thereby 
 incurred the hatred of the ruling powers, and was burnt, four 
 years after his arrival at Eome." 
 
 ' 20. "That kind of religion (says Rohinson) which the Catho- 
 lics always propagated, ought to be considered as it really is, not 
 merely a religion, but as a species of government, including in 
 it a set of tyrannical maxims, injurious to the lives, liberties and 
 properties of citizens in a free state, and all tending to render 
 the state dependent on a faction called the Church, governed 
 from age to age by a succession of priests." 
 
 21. And such, we may say, was that kind of priesthood by 
 which the Catholic church was organized and ruled, from the be- 
 ginning according to their degree of power and influence. Simon, 
 the sorcerer, bewitched the people, giving out that himself yiss 
 some great one, when therefore, under his lucrative motives, 
 he professed to be a Christian, he was antichrist in the seed. 
 
 22. Diotrephes was a Catholic priest — antichrist in the blade 
 — he loved to have the pre-eminence ; he could not really perse- 
 cute, but he prated with malicious words against the heretic John 
 and his brethren, and cast them out of the Church. Councils 
 are but a larger growth from the same diabolical root, they are 
 rulers without dominion, inquisitors without an Inquisition, and 
 may be justly called antichrist in the ear. 
 
 23. " Synods of three or four bishops, framing creeds or canons 
 for conscience, and attaching to a breach of them ideas of guilt, 
 diifer from the Inquisition only as a spark of fire differs from a 
 city in a blaze." Thus from prating they proceed to solemn 
 anathemas, which happily, cannot yet effect the ruin of the dis- 
 senter. G-REAT Ones, however, go onto adopt Great Words, 
 and as their numbers and authority increase, they grasp the effec- 
 tual power to control the faith of mankind, and form an Inquisi- 
 tion in their dire decrees. 
 
 2J:. " Their language used to be, when they could do no bet- 
 ter, '' If any person, king, nohleman, prelate, priest, monk, or 
 any of inferior rank, native or foreigner, shall at any time deny 
 this creed, or disobey these canons, may he be numbered with Ju- 
 das, Dathan and Abiram; may all his limbs be broken; may 
 his eyes he plucked out ; may his entrails be torn out of him ; 
 may he be smitten with the leprosy, and other diseases from the 
 croiun of his head to the sole of his foot ; and may he sufer the 
 pain of eternal damnation ivith the devil and his angels." 
 Ibid p. 231. _ 25. ""When the inquisitors -burnt thirty, sixty, ninety here- 
 tics at a time; — stained the walls of their torture rooms with 
 
 Ecol. Re 
 searches, 
 
 .•230. 
 
B. V. PROXIMATE CAUSES OF THE EEFORMATION. 231 
 
 Kuman blood ; — while they clothed the wretched sufferers with ciiap.ix. 
 habits and caps, on which were represented devih and flames, 
 what did they more than finish and color a picture of which the 
 most ancient and sanctimonious Synods had given them a sketch ; 
 a picture when finished, so dreadful, that even the artists shud- 
 dered at the sight of their own work ! An inquisitor calls it, 
 Horrendum et tremendum spectaculum ! A horrid and iremcnd.- 
 ons spectacle! but liberal men (says Robinson,) have hardly words 
 to express their abhorrence of it." 
 
 26. Here this great fabric, which the enemy of God and man 
 had been laboring to establish ever since the fall, seems to ha\'e 
 attained its greatest height; and here it would seem that the 
 councils, decrees, and prayers of the whole Catholic priesthood 
 Lad their most desirable accomplishment. 
 
 27. And what more, in reality, could their Lord God the Pope, 
 and his subordinate legions have done, in answer to their impious 
 wishes, than to personate the devil and his angels, in torment- 
 ing those inoffensive heretics, with all manner of torture, as long 
 as they had it in their power 1 
 
 28. But high as this Babel of confusion had arisen, under the 
 reign of emperors and popes, by the labors of false teachers, 
 vain philosophers, lordly bishops, monks, friars, and the whole 
 infernal rabble ; yet its builders were far from being satisfied. 
 Even in their greatest victory over heresy, and the most absolute 
 uniformity that they could possibly attain, the lordly prelates 
 looked upon their established hierarchy to be quite imperfect, 
 and groaned for an opportunity of wresting the reins of govern- 
 ment out of the hands of their Lord God, in order to reform and 
 complete the work. 
 
 29. The fact was, their mock institutions of celibacy, and their 
 numerous orders of monkery, had opened such an ocean of de- 
 pravity and corruption, and the earth was so overrun with sanc- 
 timonious debauchees, and hypocritical yrMizifMifes, whose rage for 
 orthodoxy had become so excessive, and went so cfi'ectually to 
 extirpate every honest citizen from the earth, that it became 
 absolutely necessary for civil rulers to interpose for the preserva- 
 tion of mankind, and rescue the world from speedy and final ruin. 
 
 30. But without some religious pretext, the devotees of papal 
 power would have remained forever deaf to the voice of reason ; 
 hence the most discerning among the priesthood, who perceived 
 the necessity of a revolution, were ready, as soon as opportunity 
 offered, to furnish the rulers of the earth with a new scheme of 
 religion, as the mainspring of their reforming enterprise. 
 
 31. Schisms were common in the Catholic Church. Many, at 
 different periods, had grown weary of the superstitious, and 
 bloody religion ot the priests, had protested against it, and 
 adopted sentiments and manners better suited to honest citizens 
 
232 PKOXIMATE CAUSES OP THE KEPORMATION. B. V. 
 
 CHAP IX. of the earth. Such had laid a sufficient foundation for an appeal 
 to patriarchal authority in favor of a revolution. 
 
 32. Sufficient matter was also furnished for an enterprizing 
 priesthood to form a new system of orthodoxy, more rational and 
 consistent in the eyes of a long deceived multitude, than hare- 
 faced popery, obscene monkery, and the barbarous inquisition; 
 and thus to revive and continue, under a new dispensation of 
 civil and religious government, the dark and deplorable reign of 
 antichrist. 
 
 33. Thus closes the fifteenth century, with a professed 
 Catholic or universal " Church of Christ,'" full of all the filthiness 
 of her fornications, replete with cruelties, and effectually 
 crimsoned with the blood of martyrs. 
 
 34. But, from the horrid cruelties, avarice, litter animosities, 
 and clashing parties, in that false and corrupt church, the 
 materials were prepared for a grand division in the Catholic 
 world, in the next century, by which the power and dominion of 
 the heast, was broken in pieces, and thus was prepared the way 
 for innumerable other divisions, whereby lilerty advanced, and 
 the human famUy became more free to think and act, according 
 to the dictates of their own understanding. 
 
THE TESTIMONY 
 
 CHRIST'S SECOID APPEAEIIG. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 THE GRAND DIVISION IN THE KINGDOM OF ANTICHRIST, 
 CALLED THE REFORMATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE CArSE AND FIRST MEANS OF KEFOKMINQ THE CATHOLIC 
 CHURCH. 
 
 A REFORMATION of the doctrines, worship, discipline, and gov- chap. i. 
 ernment of the corrupt body, church, or kingdom of antichrist, 
 and a restitution of all that order and glory, which God by his 
 holy Prophets promised to accomplish in the latter-day, are two 
 very different things. 
 
 2. It has been made manifest, that the faith, order, and power, 
 together with the whole truth and simplicity of the true and gen- 
 uine Church of Christ, was totally supplanted and trodden under 
 foot by this false and corrupt church ; and no promise either of a 
 reformation or restitution of the false was ever given ; but a full 
 restitution of the true was promised, though not to take place 
 until Christ should make his second appearance. 
 
 3. Therefore, what has generally passed under the name of the 
 Reformation, implies no other alteration in the church that then 
 existed, than a mere change of form ; and a reformation, or forming 
 a thing over again, may either be for the better or for the worse. 
 
 4:.' The Protestant Reformed Church* which took its rise 
 
 • We have used the term Protestant Reformed Church, to include the whole of 
 that divided and sub-divided party which separated from the Church of Rome, but 
 did not really constitute a separate church till after its founders had entered that 
 protest against the decrees of the Catholic party, from which protest the name 
 Protestant originated. This numerous and divided party, are usually sub-divided 
 into the Lutheran Church, and the Reformed Church, including all those various 
 sects which exist, a? the fruits of the Reformation ; but, as they all admit of the 
 general appellation of Protestants, we think it not improper to distinguish them 
 by the above title. 
 
 16 
 
234 FIRSa? 3IEANS OF EEPORMING B. VI. 
 
 <^HAP I. early in the sixteenth century, is so denominated from its first 
 founders protesting against the authority and form of govern- 
 ment practised by the pope ; while they proceeded to build up 
 the same people, in the same rudimental faith, upon another plan 
 of government. 
 
 5. And from the fruitful invention of these reformers and their 
 successors, innumerable forms of government have been contrived, 
 sects, parties, and churches formed, all difi^ering from, and pro- 
 testing against their mother church, and against each other ; yet 
 all pretending to be the one Church of Christ. 
 
 6. The protest was by no means entered against the Catholic 
 church, nor was her orthodoxy ever called in question, imtil the 
 division was completed, and the reforming party had gained suffi- 
 cient strength to claim a right to the same power and authority 
 with which the Church universal had been vested. 
 
 7. Nor even then, was it ever maintained, by the promoters of 
 the Protestant cause, that the Catholic church was not the true 
 orthodox church previous to this revolution : as may appear from 
 what is stated by Br. Mosheim, concerning Ltjther, namely : 
 
 Ecci. His. that, "he separated himself only from the Church of Rome, 
 i?"^p.52' ■'^liich considers the pope as infallible, and not from the church, 
 considered in a more extensive sense ; for he submitted to the 
 decision of thfe universal [or Catholic] church, when that deci- 
 sion should be given in a general councU lawfully assembled." 
 Hist, of 8- Now this general council, Luther affirmed to be the repre- 
 
 Chariesv. seutative of the Catholic church: and therefore must have con- 
 
 vol, 11. p. . , . . "11 ' 
 
 122. sidered it, as representing the orthodox church, as much as the 
 
 council of Nice had done ; so that the protest in nowise respected 
 the church, but her head; "and hence it necessarily followed, 
 that the only point to be decided between the reforming party 
 • and the pope, was, Who should be the head; or in other words, 
 Which of them should be the greatest. 
 
 9. The kingdom of antichrist was full of animosities and divi- 
 sions from the beginning ; and by those divisions, and a thirst 
 for temporal glory and dominion, the church that was established 
 for the domineering party, by emperors and general councils, hag 
 been sufficiently proved to be not only false, but totally corrupt 
 in every part. 
 
 10. The first founders of the Keformation taught no new 
 doctrine different from what had been established in the general 
 councils of this corrupt church. Nor had they any divine autho- 
 rity for their conduct ; but were actuated by the suggestions of 
 their own natural sagacity and carnal wisdom, as the school phi- 
 losophers, emperors and popes, had been before them. From 
 whence, then, could any Keformation arise for the better, to a 
 church manifestly false, and wholly corrupt, both in its head 
 and members? An evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit. :^ 
 
B. VI. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 235 
 
 11. Hence we see among tlie first fruits of the Eefonnation, chap, i. 
 that, instead of putting an end to those scandalous debates and 
 animosities, which had continued in the church for many ages, 
 divisions and sectaries increased and multiplied from day to day. 
 
 This may be seen in Dr. Mosheim's introduction to his history Ecci. His. 
 on the times of the Reformation, which he very properly calls, J"''^' ^' 
 times of discord. Yet this is denominated the Blessed Refor- 
 mation. 
 
 12. It is not even pretended that the first reformers had any 
 divine authority for their conduct. This is evident from the 
 plain declarations of their most able defenders, who pointedly 
 discard the very idea of their being actuated by any extraordi- 
 nary illuminations of the Spirit of God, or claiming any other 
 light or power than that which had all along been preserved in 
 the church. 
 
 13. Dr. Mosheim says, "They were conducted only by the ibid.p204, 
 suggestions of their natural sagacity. The Lutherans were '^^''■ 
 greatly assisted, both in correcting and illustrating the articles 
 
 of their faith, partly by the controversies they were obliged to 
 carry on with the Roman Catholic doctors, and the disciples of 
 Zuingle and Calvin, and partly by the intestine divisions that 
 reigned among themselves." If contentions and divisions are 
 the effects of the true Gospel, then a fountain may, at the same 
 place, send forth both salt water and fresh. 
 
 14. Dr. Maclaine, speaking of the first reformers, says, ibid. p. 143. 
 "Those who especially merit that title, were Luther, Calvi7i, -^Pi*""*- 
 Zuingle, Melancthon, Bucer, Martyr, Bullinger, Beza, Oeco- 
 lampadius and others." And he very justly observes, " They 
 pretended not to be called to the work they undertook by visions, 
 
 or internal illuminations and impulses : — they never attempted 
 to work miracles, nor pleaded a divine commission; — they 
 taught no new religion, nor laid claim to any extraordinary voca- 
 tion." 
 
 15. Then what other fruits could be expected, but such as a 
 corrupt and aspiring hierarchy had always produced, seeing they 
 maintained their former standing, and derived their authority 
 from the same corrupt source with other lordly bishops ? 
 
 16. "They had recourse to reason and argument, (says the 
 above writer,) to the rules of sound criticism, and to the autho- 
 rity and light of history. They translated the Scriptures into 
 the popular languages of different countries, and appealed to 
 them as the only test of religious truth." 
 
 17. But who authorised them to set up their reason, their 
 argument, and rules of criticism above their fellows ? or to assert 
 that their translation of the Scriptures is the only test of reli- 
 gious truth? For it is plainly acknowledged that they were 
 never sent of God. Therefore, according to their own conces. 
 
236 FIRST MEANS OP REFORMING B. VI. 
 
 "^HAP. I. sions, they rank themselves with the false prophets whom God 
 spake of by the Prophet Jeremiah. 
 
 Jer. xiv. 14. l^- ^''* prophets prophesy lies in my name . I sent them not, 
 neither have I commanded thejn, neither spake I unto them : 
 they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing 
 
 ch. xxiii. of naught, and the deceit of their own heart. Again: In the 
 
 20-23. latter days ye shall consider it perfectly. I have not sent these 
 
 prophets, yet they ran: 1 have not spoken to them, yet they pro- 
 phesied. And again: The prophet that hath a dream, let him 
 tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word 
 faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord. 
 
 19. But these first reformers, according to the writings of 
 their ablest defenders, had not even so much as the chaff, not 
 even so much as a dream or a vision, or any internal illumina- 
 tion of the Spirit ; nothing but the suggestions of their own 
 natural sagacity, which in the sight of God is nothing more than 
 a false vision and divination, the deceit of their own heart ; and 
 how much less then had they that eternal word which is as a fire ? 
 
 20. But "these first reformers, were all men of learning, 
 1 c 20 *^®y translated the Scriptures into the popular languages." Bnt 
 isa. :iix. what then ? where is the scribe ? where is the disputer of this 
 ^^' world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world.? 
 
 hath he not determined that the wisdom of their wise men shaU 
 perish ? 
 
 21. "They maintained (says Maclaine) that the faith of 
 Christians was to be determined by the word of God alone." 
 And what was this word of God alone, but the scriptures which 
 they translated.^ And who authorised them to determine the 
 faith of Christians, even by the words of the inspired writers, 
 without having themselves any inspiration or divine commission ? 
 The fact is, they had stolen the words from their neighbor 
 Catholics, and they had stolen them from the Apostles and true 
 followers of Christ. 
 
 Jer. iviii. ^2. Therefore, Well Said the Lord by Jeremiah : Behold I am 
 
 30-32 against the prophets, that steal my teords every one from his 
 
 neighbor. Behold I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, 
 
 that use their tongues, and say. He saith : Yet I sent them not, 
 
 nor commanded them. 
 
 23. That such were the first reformers, is a fact that cannot 
 be disputed, while it is strongly urged, by their ablest defenders, 
 that they were conducted only by the suggestions of their 
 natural sagacity, and had no divine commission. As no true 
 Gospel revolution ever was, or ever can be effected without 
 divine authority, and as it is acknowledged that the first re- 
 formers had no such authority ; therefore we must look for a very 
 different cause from which all those mighty effects of the Eeforma- 
 tion flowed. 
 
B. VI. THE CATHOLIC CHTTECH. 237 
 
 24. Even the Apostles were commanded to wait until they chap, i. 
 were baptized with the Holy Spirit, before they could either ^cis i,4.& 
 preach the Gospel, or build a Church. How then could any "•*■ 
 fallen church be reclaimed and raised on the true foundation, by 
 
 the natural wisdom of man, which "discerneth not tne things of icor. ii, 
 God " without the agency of the same holy Spirit which laid that ^^' ^*' 
 foundation ? 
 
 25. Thus, these reformers, as they had nothing but their 
 natural sagacity, evidently knew nothing of the true work of God, 
 nor of the foundation upon which the true Church must stand, 
 hence all their buildings were upon a false and rotten foundation. 
 
 26. For many centuries, the enormous power of the pope, and 
 the horrid crimes and corruptions of every rank and order of the 
 Catholic churohj had been increasing until it became replete with 
 tyranny and all manner of wickedness ; while every attempt to 
 reform those open and scandalous abuses, had proved ineffectual. 
 
 27. " While the Koman pontiff slumbered in security at the Ecci. His- 
 head of the church, (says Moshcim,) and saw nothing through- Jvl^p. ^|' 
 out the vast extent of his dominion, but tranquility and submis- 
 sion; an obscure and inconsiderable person arose, on a sudden, 
 
 in the year 1517, and laic^ the foundation of this long-expected 
 change, by opposing, with undaunted resolution, his single force 
 to the torrent of papal ambition and despotism." 
 
 28. " This extraordinary man was Martin Luther,* a monk 
 of the Augustinian Eremites." Who also saith of himself, in 
 the preface to his works, "At first I was all alone ; " or as Col- 
 lier hath it in his Historical Dictionary, under Martin Luther, 
 where he praises his magnanimity, in having, " opposed himself 
 alone to the whole earth." 
 
 29. The beginning of the Reformation arose from the private 
 contentions of two monks, concerning the traffic of indulgences, 
 and the pope's power in regard to the remission of sin.t This 
 contention was carried on with great animosity, between BIartin 
 Luther, and John Tetzel; the latter a Dominican monk, 
 who by public authority preached those famous indulgences of 
 pope Leo X. 
 
 * The place of Us birth wag A isleben, in Saxony, Germany. 
 
 t These indulgences [as attested by authentic history,] were dispensed on the 
 pretended ground that Jesus Christ and certain great saints had accumulated a fund 
 of supernumerary righteousness, which the popes had a right to dispense to the un- 
 righteous, [Catholics of course] for a large sum of money specified, more or less, ac- 
 cording to the various crimes by which they were absolved from their sins, even the 
 most enormous crimes that could be committed, past, present and future. The Mil. Chh. 
 cause of these indulgences being dispensed to an uncommon degree at that period, His. p. 209, 
 arose from the pride and avarice of the papal court ; pope Leo X. having under- 210. vol. ii. 
 taken to build the vast and splendid edifice, called St. Peter's Church., which 
 cost an immense sum of money, he found that sufficient funds could not he raised by 
 ordinary means ; hence he authorized agents to travel through the Catholic coun- 
 tries, and make sale of these indulgences, by which means enormous sums were 
 thus impiously drawn from the people. 
 
238 FIRST MEANS OP EEFOEMING B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. I. 30. From this private quarrel, proceeded that memorable 
 revolution, called the Blessed Reformation. The causes, and 
 first means of its promotion arc briefly stated, by that noted 
 Protestant writer Dr. Robertson, in the following words : 
 Hist. of 31. "It was from causes seemingly fortuitous, and from a 
 
 vK°p^' source very inconsiderable, that all the mighty effects of the 
 105, 107, Reformation flowed. The princes and nobles were irritated at 
 seeing their vassals drained of so much wealth, in order to re- 
 plenish the treasury of a profuse pontiff. Even the most unthink- 
 ing were shocked at the scandalous behaviour of Tetzel and his 
 associates, who often squandered in drunkenness, gaming, and 
 low debauchery, those sums which were piously bestowed." 
 
 32. Such then was the favorable state of affairs, when Luther 
 first inveighed against the traffic of indulgences. The princes 
 and nobles being irritated at seeing their vassals, the common 
 people, whom they themselves kept as slaves, drained of so much 
 wealth, were ready to protect Luther's cause in order to support 
 their own tyranny. 
 
 S3. Luther published ninety-five theses or propositions against 
 
 indulgences; "to the whole (says Robertson,) he subjoined 
 
 Ibid. p. 112. solemn protestations of his high respect for the Apostolic 
 
 [i.e. the papal] see, and of his implicit submission to its 
 
 authority." 
 
 34. The friars of St. Angustin, Luther's own order, though ad- 
 dicted to the papal see with no less ready obedience than the other 
 monastic fraternities, gave no check to this publication. Luther 
 had acquired extraordinary authority among his brethren ; for he, 
 as well as they, professed the highest regard for the authority of 
 the pope. 
 
 35. "And as a secret enmity, excited by interest or emula- 
 tion, subsists among all the monastic orders in the Eomish 
 church, the Augustinians were highly pleased with his invectives 
 against the Dominicans, and hoped to see them exposed to the 
 hatred and scorn of the people." 
 
 Ibid p 113 ^^' "■No'" '"'^s his sovereign, the elector of Saxoiiy, dissatis- 
 fied with this obstruction which Luther threw in the way of the 
 publication of indulgences. He secretly encouraged the attempt, 
 and flattered himself that this dispute among the ecclesiastics 
 themselves, might give some check to the exactions of the court 
 of Rome, which the secular princes had long, though without 
 success, been endeavoring to oppose." 
 
 Ibid. p. 120. 37. It was therefore not from religious considerations that 
 
 Tetzel was the principal agent for Germany; but instead of retnming the 
 money to the pope, he and his subordinates shamefully squandered a great por- 
 tion of it in dissipation, and the most hare-faced and shameless debauchery. This 
 therefore produced the quarrel between him and iMther, which like a flame spread 
 through the Catholic world 1 Gould anything more blasphemous and sacrilegioiu 
 be propagated? 
 
B. VI. THE OATHOLIO CHURCH. 239 
 
 Luther was countenanced by the elector ; his protection flowed chap, i. 
 entirely from political motives. 
 
 38. "Leo regarded with the utmost indiiference the operations Hist, of 
 of an obscure friar, who, in the heart of Germany, carried on a Charles v. 
 scholastic disputation in a barbarous style. Little did he appre- nis', lie' 
 bend, or Luther himself dream, that the effects of this quarrel 
 
 would be so fatal to the papal see. Leo imputed the whole to 
 monastic enmity and emulation, [and such it really was,] and 
 seemed inclined not to interpose in the contest, but to allow the 
 Augustiniaiis and Dominicans to wrangle about the matter with 
 their usual animosity." So says Robertson. 
 
 39. Here then was the first cause from which the mighty 
 effects of the Reformation flowed ; from quarrelling, wrangling, 
 and animosity, after the usual manner of the monkish orders. 
 The princes supported the cause from political motives, first 
 secretly, and then openly, and at last by force of arms. 
 
 40. These contentions, being of a growing nature, became at ibid.p. ii6, 
 length a matter of serious concern to the pope, who in July, ^^''' 
 1518, summoned Luther to appear at Rome within sixty days, 
 
 and at the. same time wrote to the elector of Saxony, not to 
 protect him. 
 
 41. The professors in the university of Wittemlerg, after 
 employing several pretexts to excuse Luther from appearing at 
 Rome, intreated the pope that his doctrines might be examined 
 by some persons of learning and authority in Germany. The 
 elector requested the same thing of cardinal Cajetan, the pope's 
 legate or, representative, at the diet of Augsburg. 
 
 42. And after all this quarrelling, and wrangling about indul- 
 gences, ^^ Luther himself, who, at that time, was so far from 
 having any intention to disclaim the papal authority, that he did 
 not even entertain the smallest suspicion concerning its divine 
 original, had written to Leo a most submissive letter, promising 
 an unreserved compliance with his will." 
 
 43. A striking evidence this, that Luther had no divine com- 
 mission ; but that he had altogether been infiuenced by his own 
 natural sagacity, and his usual spirit of animosity, as the pro- 
 moters of his cause have testified. 
 
 44. The contention was now carried on between Luther smd iwd.p.uo, 
 Cajetan who was a Dominican. But as a secret enmity prevailed ^^"^ 
 between the orders of St. Augustin and St. Dominic, the dispute 
 remained undecided, and Luther secretly retreated and published 
 
 an appeal from the pope to a general council ; but still continued 
 to express no less reverence than formerly for the papal see. 
 
 45. Upon this retreat of Luther, Cajetan wrote to the elector jy^ jjj 
 of Saxony, to send that seditious monk a prisoner to Rome, or 
 
 to banish him out of his territories. But the elector, who had 
 secretly protected Luther, from political motives, now with less 
 
240 FIRST MEANS OF EEPOKMINQ, &0. B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. I. reserve, but under various pretexts, and with many professions 
 of esteem for the cardinal, as vrell as reverence for the pope, not 
 only declined complying with either of his requests, but openly 
 discovered great concern for Luther's safety. 
 
 Bed. His- 46. A new legate was now appointed by the court of Rome. 
 
 ivl^'.sa' This was Miltitz, who held three conferences with Luther, two 
 in the year 1519, and one in 1520. In these conferences, Lu- 
 iher manifestly discovered the gross darkness and superstition 
 under which he still lay, and that his conduct was influenced by 
 a spirit of animosity and resentment against the Dominicans, 
 with whom he had the quarrel. 
 • .p.4i. 47. " For he not only offered to observe a profound silence for 
 the future, with respect to indulgences, provided the same con- 
 ditions were imposed on his adversaries, but he went still further; 
 he proposed writing an humble and submissive letter to the pope, 
 [which he accordingly did,] acknowledging that he had carried 
 his zeal and animosity too far." 
 
 48. " He even consented to publish a circular letter, exhort- 
 ing all his disciples and followers to reverence and obey the dic- 
 tates of the holy Roman Church. He declared, that his only 
 intention, in the writings that he had composed, was to brand 
 with infamy those emissaries who abused its authority, and em- 
 ployed its protection as a mask to cover their abominable and 
 impious frauds." 
 
 ibid.p.42. 49. " Had the court of Rome been prudent enough to have 
 accepted of the submission made by Luther, they would have 
 almost nipped in the bud the cause of the Reformation, or 
 would, at least, have considerably retarded its growth and pro- 
 gress." 
 
 50. "But the flaming and excessive zeal [or animosity] of 
 some inconsiderate bigots, renewed the divisions, which were so 
 near being healed, and, by animating both Luther and his fol- 
 lowers — promoted the principles, and augmented the spirit, whicli 
 produced, at length, the blessed Reformation." Such is the tes- 
 timony of our historian. 
 
 51. But the fact was, that the flaming and excessive zeal or 
 animosity, of those inconsiderate bigots who animated Luther and 
 his followers, promoted the principles and augmented the spirit, 
 which produced, at length, an innumerable spawn of heresies, 
 seditions, tumults, blood and carnage, and every evil work. 
 
 52. Thus the first means of reforming the Church went on, 
 and was promoted from one degree of animosity and contention 
 to another, until the Reformation was completed by a grand 
 division between papists and protestants. 
 
B. VI. 
 
 DIVISION BETWEEN" PAPISTS, &C. 
 
 241 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE FINAL DIVISION BETWEEN PAPISTS' AND PKOTESTANTS. 
 
 One of the circumstances that contributed, principally, to render 
 the conferences of Miltitz with Luther ineffectual, was a famous 
 controversy carried on at Leipsic, several weeks successively, in 
 the year 1519, between a Catholic doctor named Eckius, and 
 Luther and Carlostadt his colleague and companion. 
 
 2. "The military genius of our ancestors (says Mosheim) had 
 so far infected the schools of learning, that differences in point 
 of religion or literature, when they grew to a certain degree of 
 warmth and animosity, were decided, like the quarrels of valiant 
 knights, by a single combat. Some famous university was 
 pitched upon as the field of battle, while the rector and profes- 
 sors beheld the contest, and proclaimed the victory." 
 
 3. "Eckius, therefore, incompliance with the spirit of this 
 figliting age, challenged Carlostadt and Luther to try the force 
 
 of his theological arms. The challenge was accepted, the day 
 appointed, and the three champions appeared in the field. 
 
 4. Carlostadt disputed with Eckius concerning the powers 
 and freedom of the human will. Luther disputed concerning the 
 Church of Rome ; that in earlier ages it was not superior to other 
 churches, and combated his antagonist from the authority of the 
 fathers, and from the decrees of the Nicene council. 
 
 5. These disputes were carried on from the 25th of June, to 
 the 15th of July following. Luther's cause was left undecided, 
 both were confirmed in their own opinions, and both parties 
 boasted of having obtained the victory. 
 
 6. In the mean time, the dissensions increased, instead of 
 diminished. For while Miltitz was treating with Luther in 
 Saxony, and the fairest prospect of accommodation was offered, 
 as has been observed, Eckius hastened to Rome, and entered into 
 a league with the Dominicans, who were in high credit at the 
 papal court, and entreated Leo to excommunicate Luther from 
 the communion of the Church. 
 
 7. The Dominicans, desirous of revenging the affront which 
 their order had received by Luther's treatment of Tetzel, used 
 their utmost endeavors to have the request of Eckius granted. 
 
 8. The request was granted; and the Roman pontiff issued 
 out a bull against Luther, dated the 15th of June, 1520, in 
 which all persons are forbidden to read his writings, and he is 
 again summoned to confess and retract his errors within the space 
 of sixty days ; and if he did not, is pronounced an obstinate her- 
 
 CIIAP. II. 
 
 Eccl. His- 
 tory, vol. 
 iv. p. 43. 
 
 Ibid. p. 44. 
 Note [e]. 
 
 Ibid. p. 43. 
 Note [b] . 
 Hist, of 
 Charles V. 
 vol. ii. p. 
 
 las. 
 
 Eccl. His- 
 torj', vol. 
 iv. p. 49. 
 
 Ibid. p. 50. 
 
 Hist, of 
 Charles V. 
 vol. ii. p. 
 127. 
 
242 DIVISION BETWEEN B. IV. 
 
 CHAP. II. g^jg . jg excommunicated, and delivered unto Satan for the des- 
 truction of his flesh. 
 Hist- of 9. In some cities, the people violently obstructed the promul- 
 
 vol. ii. p. gation of the bull ; in others, the persons who attempted to pub- 
 1^- lish it were insulted, and the bull itself was torn in pieces, and 
 
 trodden under foot. . 
 
 10. Luther, who, but a little while before, had declared that 
 his only intention in the writings he had composed, was to brand 
 with infamy those emissaries, who abused the authority of the 
 holy Roman ahurch, now boldly declared the pope to be that 
 man of sin, or antichrist, whose appearance was foretold in the 
 New Testament. He declaimed against his tyranny and usurpa- 
 tions with greater violence than ever, and exhorted the .princes 
 to shake oif that ignominious yoke. 
 Ibid. p. 128. 11- Leo having, in execution of the bull, appointed Luther's 
 books to be burnt at Rome, he, by way of retaliation, (being evi- 
 dently actuated by the same spirit of fiiry and resentment which 
 influenced his adversaries) assembled all the professors and stu- 
 dents of the university of Wittemberg, on the 10th of December, 
 1520, without the walls of the city, and with great pomp, in pre- 
 sence of a vast multitude of spectators, cast the volxmies of the 
 canon law, together with the bull of excommunication into the 
 flames ; and his example was imitated in several cities in Germany. 
 Ecci. His- 12. On the 6th of January, 1521, a second bull was issued 
 i?!^p 52I °^* against Luther, by which he was expelled from the commu- 
 nion of the church. Thus Luther furiously opposed the power 
 of the pope, and as furiously did the pope expel him from the 
 communion of the church. 
 Ibid. p.5i. 13. " It is not improbable, (says Mosheim,) that Luther vds 
 directed, in this critical measure, by persons skilled, [not in the 
 G-ospel, but] in the law, who are generally dextrous in furnishmg 
 a perplexed client with nice distinctions and plausible evasions. 
 Be that as it may, (continues the doctor,) he separated himself 
 only from the church of Ro?ne, which considers the pope as in- 
 fallible, and not from the church, considered in a more extensive 
 sense ; for he submitted to the decision of the universal [or Cath- 
 olic] church." 
 
 14. Therefore he still belonged, and professed to belong to 
 that corrupt church established by Constantine, from which the 
 papists originated, and to which the protestants have uniformly 
 with them, claimed an equal relation. 
 
 15. Here then was at length effected, that grand division in 
 the Catholic or universal church, first between Luthee an 
 Leo, and consequently between the parties who espoused the 
 cause of each. 
 
 16. It now remained to be decided who should have the pre- 
 eminence ; for each had his claim, the first under a pretence of 
 
B. VI. PAPISTS AND PROTESTANTS. 243 
 
 reforming the corruptions of the Church, and reclaiming its chap, ii. 
 members from a preposterous hierarchy ; and the second under 
 pretence of holding, by a lawful succession, the keys of St. Peter, 
 as Chris fs vicar upon earth. 
 
 IT. The true and genuine Gospel of Jesus Christ was never 
 preached with quarrelling and wrangling and animosity, nor 
 protected in shedding blood with the sword ; but with the Holy 
 Spirit sent dotun from heaven; and the fruits of that Spirit are 
 love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, goodness, 
 and such like; to the whole of which, every proceeding of the 
 Reformation, stood in direct opposition from the beginning. 
 
 18. Nay more, the first reformers had sufficient reason for not 
 pretending to be influenced by that Spirit of goodness, for other- 
 wise their conduct would immediately have discovered to the 
 eyes of every beholder, the falsity of their pretensions.* 
 
 19. But LwiAer being now expelled from the good old mother Ecci.Hie- 
 church, (as Mosheim calls her) instead of being intimidated by '""^p.^e,' 
 the laws which she enacted against him, "they led him to form ^J'^^' ''"'' 
 the project of founding a church upon principles entirely oppo- 
 site to those of Rome." And this is not all, they led him to 
 establish in it, a system of doctrines and ecclesiastical discipline, 
 agreeable to the suggestions of his own natural sagacity. 
 
 20. For to urge that the first reformers had no divine com- 
 mission, and were conducted only by the suggestions of their 
 natural sagacity, as Protestant writers have done, and at the 
 same time to pretend that they conducted agreeable to the spirit 
 and precepts of the Gospel of truth, is a palpable contradiction, 
 and only acting the hypocrite under the sacred names of God 
 and Christ. 
 
 21. The true primitive Christians professed to have, and in 
 truth had the Spirit of Christ, by which they were led ; and love 
 was the bond of their union. Whatever they suffered by cruel 
 persecutions, and the most ignominious deaths, they sought for 
 no civil powers to defend their cause, at the expense of the blood 
 of their fellow creatures. 
 
 * Every wise and candid person will feel it a matter of tte first importance to 
 examine, witk the utmost care and attention, that foundation on wMcli he is called 
 to build his hope of happiness hereafter. Let such view the effects of that system 
 produced by the iirst reformers ; let him carefully examine that foundation upon 
 which all the protestant sectaries throughout the world have built their jarring 
 edifices, from which they have drawn their clashing creeds, and let hira judge the 
 work by its effects. On a fair examination of their proceedings, there appears 
 scarcely room for a plea of sincerity in their favor ; but granting that they were 
 even sincere, the best apology that can be made in their behalf is, that the dark 
 power of antichrist had covered the earth, and gross darkness had blinded the eyes 
 of the most sincere among them. While they were united to that kingdom whoso 
 works were contention and strife, they must have been grossly deceived to imagine 
 that they were the subjects of the Prince of Peace. As the fruit is the best evidence 
 of the nature of the tree which produced it ; so the ungodly practices of the divided 
 and contentious protestant sectaries are the true witnesses of the source from whence 
 they sprung. 
 
244 DIVISION BETWEEN B. VI 
 
 CHAP, ir. 22. But after the Alexandrian priesthood liad corrupted the 
 truth and simplicity of the Gospel, and these dregs of Jewish and 
 Pagan superstition were converted into the pretended oracles ol 
 G-od, and set up as a religious test of orthodoxy, then it became 
 highly necessary that civil rulers should assume the supremacy 
 in this ecclesiastical hierarchy, in order, hy the power of the 
 sword, to defend its test and preserve it from losing ground. 
 
 23. The cause of Luther stood in evident need of such help to 
 prevent it from falling; and the project which he formed of 
 founding a church, upon principles opposite to those of Rome, 
 was nothing less than to secure the aid of secular princes : par- 
 ticularly of John, elector of Saxony, and successor to Peede- 
 EICK, the elector before mentioned. 
 Ecci. His- 24. The elector John, "convinced of the truth of Lutherh 
 •°"^' 66 " doctrine, and persuaded that it must lose ground and be soon sup- 
 pressed, if the despotic authority of the Roman pontiff remained 
 undisputed and entire, without hesitation or delay, assumed to 
 himself that supremacy in ecclesiastical matters that is the 
 natural right of every lawful sovereign." So says Mosheim. 
 
 25. That this sovereign had as good a right to be the supreme 
 head of the Catholic church as Constantine or the jjope, is not 
 disputed, but a supremacy over the Church of Christ, or any part 
 of it, was never given him. Like the kings of the Gentiles, he 
 might exercise lordship, create churches and priesthoods, or 
 reform part of the old church over again, and defend it by the 
 sword, and when he had done all, he could only prove by so 
 doing that Christ had never given him either precepts or example 
 for his conduct. 
 Ibid. p. 67. ^*^' '^^^ elector John ordered a body of laws, relating to the 
 form of ecclesiastical government, the method of public worship, 
 the rank, offices, and revenues of the priesthood, to be drawn up 
 by Jjuther and Melancthon, and promulgated by heralds through- 
 out his dominions in the year 1527. 
 
 27. The example of this elector was followed by all the princes 
 . and states of Germany, who renounced the papal supremaa/. 
 
 Now they had a supremacy of their own, a secxilar prince to per- 
 form the functions of spiritual supremacy in the church. 
 
 28. And who now could tell the difference between setting up 
 a religious test of supremacy at Constantinople, at Rome, or in 
 Saxony? If there was any difference it was in quantity only, 
 and not in nature ; for all blended the spirit of violence and the 
 sword, with the pretended Gospel of Jesus. Likewise this 
 reformed supremacy and coalition of civil and ecclesiastical 
 powers, like the decrees of Constantine, very soon discovered the 
 fruits of that spirit by which Luther formed his projects. 
 
 Ibid. p.67. 29. Mosheim says, "From that time, the religious differences 
 between the German princes, which had been hitherto kept with- 
 
B. TI. PAPISTS AND PEOTESTANTS. 245 
 
 in the lioiinds of moderation, broke out into a violent and lasting chap, ii. 
 flame." 
 
 30. "Well, therefore, said the prophet Isaiah, Wickedness isaix. i8. 
 bur?ieth as the fire: and James; Behold how gnat a matter a ' ' ' ' 
 little fire kindltth ! and setteth on fire the course of nature; 
 
 and is set on fire of hell. Such was the fire of discord, which 
 heated the spirits of the reforming party, and produced, at length, 
 what they call the Blessed Reformation! 
 
 31. So Dr. Mosheim goes on, "The timorousness, of Prede- Ecci.nis- 
 RICK the Wise, who avoided every resolute measure that might '""^p' ctL'oo 
 be adapted to kindle the fire of discord, had preserved a sort of 
 external union and concord among these princes. But as soon 
 
 as his successor made it glaringly evident, that he designed to 
 withdraw the churches in his dominions from the jurisdiction of 
 Rome, and to reform the doctrine, discipline, and worship that 
 had been hitherto established, then indeed the scene changed." 
 
 32. Their specious union was dissolved of a sudden, the spirits ihid.p, go, 
 heated and divided, and an open rupture formed between the ^'■■ 
 princes, of whom one party adhered to the superstitions of their 
 forefathers, and the other embraced the project of reforming 
 
 their mother. But the fruits of this Reformation continued to 
 be such as to reduce the state of things to violence and trouble, 
 the natural consequence of civil and ecclesiastical combinations. 
 
 33. "Thousands of volumes, (says Robinson,) ancient and Ecci. Re- 
 modern, have been written to assort and conciliate this kind of ^|^|''='"=S) p- 
 government; but it never can be exonerated of the charge of 
 inconvenience to two parties, and injustice to a third, whose in- 
 terests are unnaturally separated from those of the other two." 
 
 34. " There is not an evil that can blast society, which is not ibid. p. 139. 
 contained in this fatal coalition. Out of these two absolute 
 powers in one kingdom, rise new crimes, new claims, new dis- 
 putes, a new order of men to investigate them, new canons of 
 
 law, new ofBcers, new courts, new taxes, new punishments, a new 
 world all in arms, animated with a fury that never slept, and 
 never cooled till one party subdued the other into silence. There 
 was no peace in any kingdom where this system was adopted till 
 either the prince disarmed the priest, or the priest dethroned the 
 prince." 
 
 35. Such were the blessings to mankind for which the Alex- 
 andrian priesthood had paved the way when Constantine 
 assumed the supremacy in the church ; and the diabolical farce 
 would seem to have been completed when the popes assumed the 
 reins of civil and ecclesiastical government, had not Luther ap- 
 peared to act the same tragedy over again by his projects with 
 the princes. 
 
 36. By a diet or assembly of princes, held at Spire, in 1526, Ecci. His- 
 under the emperor Charles V, who was a Roman Catholic, w'.''f.m]' 
 
246 DIVISION BETWEEN PAPISTS, &C. B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. II. after long debates the reforming party gained the majority for a 
 
 general council to settle their controversies. It was unanimously 
 
 agreed to present a solemn address to the emperor, beseeching 
 
 him to assemble, without delay, this general council ; and it was 
 
 also agreed, that, in the mean time, the princes and states of the 
 
 empire should, in their respective dominions, be at liberty to 
 
 manage ecclesiastical matters as they should think proper; yet 
 
 so as to be able to give to Grod and to the emperor an account of 
 
 their administration. 
 
 Bcci. His- 37. But in another diet held at Spire, in 1529, the liberty of 
 
 i"p 7i'' ^^ reforming party was interrupted ; for by a majority of votes 
 
 72. ' the former agreement was revoked, and every change declared 
 
 tinlawful, that should be introduced into the established religion, 
 
 until the determination of a general council was known. 
 
 38. The elector of Saxony, who had assumed the supremacy 
 in the church, considered this decree as iniquitous and intolerable ; 
 as did also the landgrave of Hesse, and the other members of the 
 diet, who were persuaded of the necessity of a reformation in the 
 church. Therefore they entered a protest against this decree, 
 and still appealed to the emperor and to a general council. 
 Hence arose the denomination of Protestants. Therefore, from 
 this period, the church must be considered as divided between 
 the Papists and Protestants. 
 
 39. In the year 1530, a diet was held at Augsburg, and a 
 confession of faith drawn up by Luther and Melancthon, called 
 the Augsburg Confession, was read and presented to the em- 
 peror. 
 
 ib;d. p. 91. ^^' "The creatures of the Koman pontiff, (says Mosheim,) 
 who were present at this diet, employed John Faber, Eckius, 
 and another doctor named Cochlaus, to draw up a refutation of 
 this famous confession. The emperor demanded of the Protes- 
 tant members that they would acquiesce in it, and put an end to 
 their religious debates." 
 
 41. The Protestants, or creatures of Luther, declared, on the 
 contrary, that they were by no means satisfied with the reply of 
 their adversaries, and desired a copy of it to demonstrate its 
 weakness. " This reasonable request (says Mosheim) was refused 
 by the emperor." 
 
 42. Yet this was the emperor to whom they had appealed; 
 and all their appeals to princes and councils were of a like kind, 
 and produced the like fruits of more violent contentions and dis- 
 cord : as opposite to the nature and effects of the true Gospel, as 
 midnight darkness is opposite to the meridian sun. 
 
B. VI. EFFECTS OF THE PROTESTANT GOSPEL. 247 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FKriTS AND EFFECTS OF THE PROTESTANT GOSPEL. 
 
 According to Mosheim, the votaries of Rome, had recourse to ci-iap.iii. 
 measures suited to the iniquity of the times, though they were 
 equally disavowed by the dictates of reason and the precepts of wry,' vol.' 
 the G-ospel. These measures were, the force of the secular arm, 95 ''■^^' 
 and the authority of imperial edicts. 
 
 2. The Protestants, to show that they were evidently actuated 
 hy the self-same spirit of iniquity, left no means unemployed, 
 however contrary to the precepts of the Gospel, that might corro- 
 borate to form a league for the purpose of repelling force by 
 force. 
 
 3. An alliance with papists against other papists, nay, with 
 the wickedest of popish princes, was not deemed too base, pro- 
 vided it was likely to answer their purposes. And instead of 
 imperial edicts, Luther supplied this place, by exhorting the 
 princes, not to abandon those truths which they had lately as- 
 serted with such boldness. 
 
 4. After the diet of Augsburg, in 1530, the Protestant princes Hist, of 
 assembled at Smalcald. " There they concluded a league against voulri^' 
 all aggressors, by which they formed the Protestant states ot the si. 
 empire into one regular body, and beginning already to consider 
 themselves as such, they resolved to apply to the kings of France 
 
 and Engla7id, and implore them to patronize and assist their new 
 confederacy." So says Robertson. 
 
 5. The king of £wg'Za?z(Z was Henry VIII, the most licentious ecci. Hia- 
 and wretched character of that age. And the king of France J""'^' gg ' 
 was Francis I, a professed papist, a blood-thirsty and cruel 87, loi.' 
 tyrant, who, as his own private and personal views required, in 
 
 order to foment sedition and rebellion, could enter into a league 
 with the Protestants, and at other times, when he had no more 
 occasion for their services, could commit them daily to the flames.* 
 The Protestant historians have themselves given these two princes 
 this character. 
 
 6. This confirms what has been just now stated, that a con- 
 federacy would be entered into by Protestants with any, however 
 base or wicked, provided by it, they had a prospect of answering 
 their own purposes against their former brethren. 
 
 • He was indeed, the most iuliamaD, implacable and cruel tyrant, who could de- 
 clare, *' that if he thought the blood in his arm was tainted with the Lutheran 
 heresy, he would have it cut off; and that he would not spare even his own chil- 
 dren, if they entertained sentiments contrary to those of the Catholic church." 
 Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. Vol. IV, p. 87, Note [z.] 
 
248 
 
 EFFECTS OF THE PROTESTANT GOSPEL. 
 
 B.TI. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Ecol. His- 
 tory, vol. 
 iv. p. 96. 
 Not8[h]. 
 
 Hist, of 
 Charles V. 
 vol.iii. p. 
 336, & 343- 
 347, & Ecc. 
 HliSt. vol. 
 iv. p. 109. 
 
 Hist, of 
 Charles "V. 
 vol. iii. p. 
 353, 354. 
 
 Ibid.p.35S. 
 
 7. And what still more eminently discovered an antichristian 
 spirit of division, of enmity, and a sordid thirst for pre-eminence, 
 in the reforming party, was Luther's refusing to comprehend in 
 this league, the followers of Zuingle, and those who had adopted 
 the sentiments and confession of Bucer, although they were his 
 brethren, in the present necessary work of reforming the church. 
 
 8. Time and contentions roll on, and more violent and iniqui- 
 tous measures ensue. The emperor, confederate with the pope, 
 raised an army of thirty-six thousand men in order to reduce the 
 Protestants to obedience. The Protestants, far superior in num- 
 ber, amounting to eighty-five thousand, pushed forward their 
 armies, and cannonaded the camp of the emperor at Ingolstadt, 
 but their long fomented divisions, jealousies, and spirit of con- 
 tention among themselves, prevented their success. 
 
 9. Had the Reformation been carried on under the name of a 
 political revolution, on the side of freedom, things might have 
 been kept in their proper order; but when divisions, perfidy, 
 war, and bloodshed, make up the greatest part of their transac- 
 tions, and all carried on under the name of the Prince of Peace, 
 and the pretext of maintaining his religion, the truth was dis- 
 torted into falsehood, the precepts of the Gospel trodden under 
 foot, and the reason of mankind insulted. 
 
 10. Whatever credit may be due to the princes in the defence 
 of their natural and civil rights, the peaceable religion of Jesus 
 is manifestly put out of the question by their conduct: and 
 whatever deception there be in the case under religious pretexts, 
 the honor of this deception is due to Luther and the rest of the 
 Protestant priesthood. 
 
 11. From the year 1517, in which the Reformation commenced, 
 until the year 1546, in which Luther died, nothing but the fruits 
 of corrupt ambition are manifest from the whole face of history, 
 during that period of more than twenty-eight years. Endless 
 controversies, debates about diets and councils, violence and 
 wars, are the distinguishing marks of those times of discord. 
 And even the means by which the Reformation was finally estab- 
 lished, were as opposite to the precepts of the Gospel, as blood- 
 shed and robbery are opposite to peace and good will. 
 
 12. While the Papists and Protestants, and their armies, were 
 concerting plans to subdue each other by the sword, Maurice, 
 duke of Saxony, a professed protestant, and a perfect master in 
 the art of dissimulation, perfidiously makes a league with the 
 emperor, and engages to take up arms against his father-in-law, 
 and to strip his nearest relation of his honors and dominions. 
 John Frederick, elector of Saxony, was his uncle, and Ms 
 father-in-law was Philip, landgrave of Hesse. 
 
 13. Accordingly, MArRiCE having assembled about twelve 
 thousand men, defeated the troops which the elector had left to 
 
B. VI. EFFECTS OF THE PROTESTANT GOSPEL. 249 
 
 guard Hs country, and took possession of his dominions. The chap, iir . 
 news of these conquests soon reached the camps, and filled the 
 Papists with joy, and the Protestants with terror. 
 
 14. The maxims of the princes, with regard to the conduct of iiismry vc 
 the war, differed as widely as those by which they were influenced v,','|'^'''uf p; 
 in preparing for it. Perpetual contrariety, jealousy, and a spirit 343. 
 
 of contention prevailed. These multiplied dissensions flowing 
 from the inconsistency of their natural tempers, rendered them 
 more violent. 
 
 15. It was but a little while before Maurice, took possession of iwd. p. 339. 
 his uncle's dominions, that the confederated Protestants, " de- 
 clared their own resolution to risk every thing in maintenance of 
 
 their religimis rights. " But a spirit of discord and anxiety for 
 their temporal interest and safety, manifestly prevailed to put re- 
 ligion out of the question. 
 
 16. The elector returned with an army towards Saxony, and ibid. p. 364. 
 the greater part returned with their respective leaders into their 
 
 own countries, and dispersed there. AH the princes in person, 
 and the cities by their deputies, were compelled to implore mercy 
 of the emperor in the humble posture of supplicants. City after 
 city, even those who had been the most highly distinguished for ibW.p, 305. 
 their zeal in their way of reformation, now submitted to such con- 
 ditions as the emperor was pleased to give them. 
 
 17. For no sooner was the example set of deserting the com- 
 mon cause, than the rest of the members became impatient to 
 
 follow it, "and seemed afraid (says Robert soil,) lest others, by iwdp, 303, 
 getting the start of them in returning to their duty, should, on ^'^■'• 
 that account, obtain more favorable terms. Thus a confederacy, 
 lately so powerful as to shake the imperial throne, fell to pieces, 
 and was dissolved in the space of a few weeks. " 
 
 18. After these things the emperor passes on to Saxony, and ibid. p. 405, 
 the elector and landgrave, the two most powerful protectors of ^'''-i^'- 
 the Protestant cause, are made prisoners, with the most humiliat- ., 
 
 ing and aggravating terms of submission; and the perfidious 447.' 
 Maueice becomes elector of Saxony. 
 
 19. Finally, the emperor entered Augsburg, and with great ibid.p 431. 
 pomp, re-established the rites of the Bomish worship. And a 
 
 creed was drawn up containing the essential doctrines of the 
 E-omish Church. 
 
 20. "The greatest part of those (says Mosheim,) who had the Eoci. nis- 
 resolution to dispute the authority of this imperial creed, were {"p',!]'!), 
 obliged to submit to it by the force of arms, and hence arose de- 
 plorable scenes of violence and bloodshed, which involved the 
 empire in the greatest calamities. " Thus the Protestant power 
 
 was reduced to its lowest extremity, whUe the Papal power seemed 
 to recover its usual strength. 
 
 21. The landgrave of Hesse, through the counsel of histreach- 
 
 17 
 
250 
 
 EFFECTS OP THE PROTESTANT GOSPEL. B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Eccl. His- 
 lory, vol 
 iv. p. 109, 
 110, and 
 uole [y ] 
 
 Ibid. p. 116. 
 
 Ibid. p. 117, 
 118 & 27.1. 
 
 History of 
 Ciiarles V. 
 vol. iii. p. 
 353. 
 
 Ibid. p. 358. 
 
 Eccl. His- 
 tory, vol. 
 iv. p. 353; 
 and 
 
 Grounds 
 of 0. Doc. 
 p. 53. 
 
 erous son-in-law Maurice, and under the promise of liberty, had 
 submitted to the unjust demands of the emperor ; but eontrary to 
 the most solemn treaty, he was perfidiously imprisoned, and kept 
 for several years in a close and severe confinement ; and many 
 entreaties were made for his liberty from time to time, by 
 many European princes, particularly by Maurice, but without 
 effect. 
 
 22. Maurice, perceiving at length that he was duped by the 
 emperor, entered secretly into a league with the king of France, 
 and several German princes, for the maintenance of their rights 
 and liberties ; and by secret intrigue, marched a powerful army 
 against the emperor, and surprised him unawares at Inspruk, 
 where he lay with a handful of troops, and without the least ap- 
 prehension of danger. 
 
 23. By this sudden and unforeseen event, was that powerful 
 emperor brought to conclude a treaty of peace with the Protest- 
 ants, which was done at Passau in the year 1552. This they call 
 the Bulwark of peace and liberty ! And thus, by the sword of a 
 traitoy and a base usurper, did the beastly power of papal hierachy 
 receive a deadly wound. 
 
 24. It was well said, by D?: Robertson, concerning Maurice 
 and his perfidious treaty with the emperor, that " History hardly 
 records any treaty that can be considered as a more maniifest vio- 
 lation of the most powerful principles which ought to influence 
 human actions. " 
 
 25. Yet that same artful dissembler, the treacherous Maurice, 
 who entered into a league with the Papists against the Protestant 
 — who perfidiously and inhumanly stripped his nearest relation of 
 his honor and dominions and usurped his place — whom the Protest- 
 ants branded as an apostate from religion, a betrayer of liberty, a 
 contemner of the most sacred and natural ties ; that same perfidious 
 monster, according to the projects of Luther, must, of necessity, 
 be the supreme head of the church ! 
 
 26. Maurice, however, did not live to see the effects of all his 
 inglorious and treacherous conduct, for he died the following year, 
 of a wound received, while he was fighting against Albeet, of 
 Brandenburg. Such were the means used in Germany by Luther 
 and his followers, in reforming a corrupt church, and in establishing 
 what they call religious peace. 
 
 27. In Switzerland the Reformation was also carried on by 
 means diametrically opposite to the precepts of the Gospel. 
 Zuingle (who was cotemporary with Luther) fell in a battle, in 
 the year 15.30, while he was defending his reformed gospel, sword 
 in hand, against the Papists. 
 
 28. The Reformation in England, took its rise from a rupture 
 between the Pope and Henry VIII, concerning a divorce which 
 the Pope refuse^ to grant this licentious monarch. "A prince 
 
B. VI. EFFECTS OF THE PROTESTANT GOSPEL. 251 
 
 (says Mosheim,) -who in vices and abilities was surpassed by none chap, hi . 
 who swayed the sceptre in this age." Ecci. His. 
 
 29. "The English nation was delivered from the tyranny of ^^'^''Yn 
 Rome, by Henry's renouncing the jurisdiction and supremacy of ib'ici.'p.ioa. 
 its imperious pontiff." And what next? "Soon after this, 
 Henry was declared by the parliament and people supreme head, 
 
 on earth, of the church of England, the monasteries were sup- 
 pressed, and their revenues applied to other purposes." 
 
 30. But this is not all, he extended his supremacy as far as ibid. ii. 124. 
 his power permitted. In the year 1555, George Blown, a monk 
 
 of the order of St. Augustin, he created archbishop of Dublhi, 
 who caused the king's supremacy to be acknowledged in that 
 nation. " Henry shewed soon after, that this supremacy was 
 not a vain title ; for he banished the monks out of that kingdom, 
 confiscated their revenues, and destroyed their convents." 
 
 31. Thus the same means that had been used by the bloody 
 Constantine and his successors, in abolishing Paganism, and in 
 promoting their pretended gospel, were also used by the Ee- 
 formers, under a pretence of abolishing superstition, and restoring 
 pure religion. As their fathers did, so did they. 
 
 32. From Diotrephes to Constjzntine, and from Constantine to 
 Leo, and from Leo to Luther, and so along down through the 
 Reformation, one and the same spirit of antichristian tyranny is 
 manifest from the whole tenor of orthodox history; a sordid 
 thirst for dominion and supremacy, accompanied with a cool 
 barbarity towards all who differ from the ruling party. 
 
 38. To the above words of Br. Mosheim may be added the 
 following from bishop Challoner, "The foundations of the Grounds of 
 Reformation of England were laid by manifold sacrileges, in pE°°' 
 pulling down monasteries, and other houses dedicated to Grod, 
 [upon the principles of their own acknowledged ancestors] rifling 
 and pillaging churches, alienating church lands, &c. ; as may be 
 seen in the history of the Reformation by Dr. Heylin." 
 
 34. "Wheresoever the reformed gospel was preached, it 
 brought forth seditions, tumults, rebellions, &c., as appears from 
 
 all the histories of those times. Insomuch that in France alone, * Jem. and 
 the reformed gospellers, besides innumerable other outrages, are les.^'''' 
 said to have destroyed no less than twenty thousand churches.* Grounds of 
 How little does such a Reformation resemble the first establish- ss. 
 ment of the Church of Christ ! " 
 
 35. The Protestants of France were Calvinists, the disciples 
 and followers of John Calvin, whose principles were to defend 
 his reformed religion by the sword, and put heretics to death. 
 In the year 1560, the riotous Calvinists were called Huguenots ; 
 [i.e. confederates] and it was but natural for the disciples to be 
 
 as their lord. Mosheim observes concerning their commotions ^ry' vd'.*" 
 in that country, that, "both the contending parties committed iv- p- 373. 
 
252 EFFECTS OF THE PROTESTANT GOSPEL. JB. VI. 
 
 CHAP. III. such deeds as are yet, and always will he, remembered with 
 horror.' 
 
 36. These outrages, however, were calmed by Henry IV, 
 king of France, who renounced Protestantism and made it public 
 profession of Popery. Nothwithstanding, by an edict, drawn up 
 in the year 1598, called the edict of Nantes, he gave the Pro- 
 
 lbid.p.3-3. testants liberty of conscience, and "a full security (says Mo- 
 skeim,) for the enjoyment of their civil rights and privileges, 
 without persecution or molestation from any quarter." 
 
 37. The honor, therefore, of this religious liberty, is due to 
 the Papists, and not to the Protestants. But it must be 
 observed, that this liberty proceeded from political and sinister 
 motives : as the religious peace, of Passau, flowed from Maurice's 
 treacheries. 
 
 38. Such then, as have been stated, were the flrst means whicli 
 the Protestants used, in reforming a base and superstitious 
 church ; and re-form it they did, into as many different shapes 
 and forms, as have been sufiicient to keep the whole world in 
 perplexity, and which would require the labor of a life to expose 
 to full view. 
 
 39. But if such means, as those by which the Keformation 
 commenced, and was promoted, and finally established, under 
 the name of Christ, were contrary to the precepts and example 
 of Christ, it still remained an incontestible truth, that the whole 
 work, from beginning to end, was the work of antichrist. 
 
 40. Seeing that such false and deceitful terms as the blessed 
 Reformation, a religious peace, a glorious cause, SfC, areapphed 
 to quarrelling, wrangling, animosity, endless dissensions, 
 perfidy, frauds, usurpations, fightings, wars and bloodshed, 'with 
 all of which the Reformation was replete ; and seeing that the 
 promoters of such a cause called themselves the ministers of 
 Christ ; then with the strictest justice and propriety may also 
 the following titles be applied to such. 
 
 2 Cor, xi. 41. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, trans- 
 13-10. forming themselves into the Apostles of Christ. And no marvel; 
 for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. There- 
 fore it is no great iking if his ministers also be transformed as 
 the ministers of righteousness ; whose end shall be according to 
 their works. 
 
B. YI. KEPORSIED CHURCHES ESTABLISHED BT, &C. 253 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 REFORMED CHURCHES ESTABLISHED BT THE WORKS OF 
 ANTICHRIST. 
 
 The reformed churclies sprang immediately out of the papal chap, i v. 
 hierarchy ; and being separated, founded, and established, and their 
 doctrines, discipline, and government, reformed by works contrary 
 to, and without the example, precepts or commandments of Christ, 
 are properly called the works of antichrist. 
 
 2. Christ and antichrist could never sit together on one throne, 
 nor rule in one kingdom; therefore, while antichrist had the 
 dominion, Christ had it not. Antichrist, in the time of his do- 
 minion, could exercise his authority over the subjects of his own 
 dark kingdom, but such as never claimed any relation to his or- 
 thodoxy ; but rather suffered death under his tyranny, were never 
 his subjects, but were always branded as heretics. 
 
 3. Catholic despotism, under the same orthodoxy, was invented 
 by the Alexandrian priesthood, in the second century, and from 
 thence, like the torrent of one mighty river, it came rolling along 
 down to the Reformation, through emperors and popes ; and this 
 despotic hierarchy, through all its progress, by Protestant as well 
 as Popish writers, is called the Christian church ! 
 
 4. At the Reformation this one great church is divided, and 
 soon after subdivided ; and so it continued to divide and subdivide 
 until numerous churches were formed and re-formed, full of 
 clashing principles, sectary against sectary, each claiming the 
 greatest evidence of orthodoxy. 
 
 5. And what is still more remarkable, all those divided churches 
 still continue to make up the one great body of christians, the one 
 great Catholic or Universal church, very properly called the 
 Church militant, that is, thejighting church. 
 
 6. The papal hierarchy naturally arose out of that huge mass 
 of corruption and motley spectacle of superstition, established by 
 CoNSTANTiNE, and called the Church ; which, from the setting 
 up of the school at Alexandria, until the time of Leo the Great, 
 is by all her conduct, most manifestly proved to be the church of 
 antichrist. Over this self-styled Catholic church, the bishops of 
 Rome took the supremacy. 
 
 7. From about the year 756, the time the pope began to be a RedeSp? 
 temporal prince, the Protestants have, generally, dated the begin- p- ''3'' 
 ning of the reign of antichrist, and have taken great pains to prove. Diss on 
 that the papal power was antichrist — that the church of Rome J^^^'jos"'' 
 was the mother of Harlots, by whom the kings and inhabitants of aig. 
 
254 
 
 REFORMED CHURCHES ESTABLISHED BT B. VI. 
 
 CHAP IV. tije earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication — and 
 ' ' that the papal hierarchy, church, or kingdom, over which the popes 
 had the supremacy, was the wicked antichristia7i kingdom. 
 
 8. Yet from this complicated source, this self-styled holy and 
 ever orthodox church, this kingdom of antichrist and mother of 
 Harlots, the reformed churches immediately proceeded, and took 
 with them, the same doctrines, sacraments, manner of worship, 
 discipline, and government, together with a vast increase of 01 
 
 '.nature against each other, and an unmerciful spirit of persecution, 
 as will yet more fully appear. 
 
 9. The first reformers, at the commencement of the Reforma- 
 tion, particularly Martin' Luther, had no intention of separating 
 from what they called the holy Roman church, as has been ob- 
 served ; his only intention was to brand with infamy those emis- 
 saries who abused its authority. A reformation of the same cor- 
 rupt church of antichrist, was the highest that was even pretended. 
 
 10. But when Luther and his associates were expelled from 
 the communion of the church, projects were formed with the princes, 
 who thereupon withdrew the churches in their dominions from 
 under the papal hierarchy. These churches in all parts, were the 
 same which had, for many ages, professedly belonged to the jur- 
 isdiction of the popes of Rome. 
 
 11. And as it is strongly urged, by modem protestant writers, 
 th^t the first reformers, Luther, Calvin, and the rest who 
 merited that title, pleaded no divine commission ; that they 
 taught no new religion, nor laid claim to any extraordinary vo- 
 cation ; it therefore, consequently and inevitably follows, that 
 these churches were, and continued to remain the churches of an- 
 tichrist ; and that they still retained the same religion, doctrines, 
 discipline, and government, which they had been taught by their 
 mother, the Mother op Harlots. 
 
 12. The church of antichrist, in truth, never had the doctrine, 
 discipline, and government of Christ in possession ; but had stolen 
 the words and institutions of the saints, and clothed herself with 
 their profession. Her doctrine was a monstrous abuse of sacred 
 words ; her discipline was written with the blood of the innocent; 
 and her government was the grossest insult upon the rights and 
 consciences of mankind. As was the mother, so werp her daugh- 
 ters ; they were open prostitutes, who could show n'6 true descent, 
 but from the same Mother of harlots. 
 
 13. A late Protestant writer, speaking on the various states of 
 the church, very justly says of the Reformation, "It remained 
 imperfect, which is mostly discernible, in the discipline and go- 
 vernment of the church, as likewise in morals. For, with the re- 
 formed, the true government of the church was changed, apostolic 
 discipline laid aside, and the whole authority engrossed by poli- 
 ticians ; so that, at present, the most grievous abuses are flagrant 
 
 Christian 
 Theology, 
 p. 333. 
 
B. YI. THE WOKKS OF ANTICHRIST. 255 
 
 ■with respect to the vocation of ministers, the exercise of discipline, chap. iv. 
 the use of sacraments, kc. '" 
 
 14. Then surely, where churches were established without a 
 divine commission, and without any extraordinary vocation; 
 where apostolic discipline was laid aside ; and whore the whole 
 authority was engrossed by earthly politicians, it is no marvel 
 that the most grievous abuses should become flagrant. 
 
 15. The church of Rome never was uniform in her doctrines ; 
 the monastic orders held sentiments directly contrary to each 
 other, about which they were perpetually quarrelling aud wrang- 
 ling ; yet all were held in a kind of subordinate union, so long as 
 they professed their subjection to one infallible head. 
 
 16. But, when the reformers cast off the pope's supremacy, and 
 still retained the same contentious doctrines, and the same sordid 
 thirst for pre-eminence, they had nothing to prevent them from 
 showing out their divisions to the utmost extent. 
 
 17. The Scriptures, which they adopted as the Word of God, 
 and only test of religious truth, suffered them not only to retain 
 their former respective and contradictory doctrines, but to wran- 
 gle and dispute about them in the most shameful and scandalous 
 manner, and to give the most positive judgment against each other, 
 followed by banishments, imprisonments, and even death. If 
 such is the only test of truth, it is iodeed a strange mystery, and 
 mankind might forever content themselves to remain in darkness. 
 
 18. Through the whole progress of the Reformation, the same 
 doctrines and disputes were kept up, which for many ages had 
 existed in the Romish church, concerning The Eucharist — The 
 Trinity The Decrees of God — The Vicarious Atonement — Im- 
 puted Righteousness, &e., &c., &c. 
 
 19. So that in all their divisions and controversies, the con- 
 tending parties could appeal to the same fathers and general coun- 
 cils with the papists, and alternately boast of having on their side, 
 the decrees of the council of Nice, of Chalcedon, or Co7istanti?io- 
 ple; or the ancient writings of Origen, St. Ambrose or St. 
 Augustin.* 
 
 20. And while each made their appeal to their blind and dumb 
 test of truth for the orthodoxy of their sentiments, and labored 
 hard to determine what the faith of another should be, an impartial 
 spectator, might appeal to the judgment of common sense, to prove 
 that their systems and practices were all a perfect labyrinth of 
 senseless jargon. 
 
 21. The antichristian contentions and bitter animosities, that 
 were carried on, first by the Papists, and then by the Protestants, 
 concerning the manner in which the body and blood of Christ 
 
 * By the writings of this " bitter and bloody fanatic of Africa" (from whom 
 proceeded 232 pamphlets) did Luther, Oecolampadius, and other refonners, ex- 
 pound scripture. See Eccl. Researches, p. 102. 
 
256 EEEORMED CHURCHES ESTABLISHED BY B. VI. 
 
 CHAP IV. yj^yg present in the eucharist, make up a great part of the history 
 ' of the Reformation. 
 
 22. These contentions, concerning the body and bloodof Christ, 
 were carried on by the Protestants for many years, which finally 
 terminated in a grand division between the reforming parties, one 
 of which claimed Martin Luther, as the established founder 
 of their church, and the other John Calvin; and with all the 
 natural sagacity of their divines, and all the force of their earthly 
 princes and civil, magistrates, they have never been able to heal 
 the division from that day to this. 
 
 23. It is well known by all who are acquainted with the con- 
 duct of the first reformers, that about this one particular doctrine, 
 (concerning Christ's body and blood,) there have been more con- 
 tentions, bitter animosities, and bloodshed, than about any other. 
 
 24. In order that these superstitious debates about their 
 eucharist, may appear in their true colors, it will not be improper 
 to take some notice of their rise and progress, which may serve 
 as a further evidence that the first reformers taught no new reli- 
 gion, but the same that was taught by the corrupt church of 
 Rome. 
 
 Ecoi. His- 25. The controversy concerning the manner ifi which the body 
 tory, vol. (j,j(^ Mood of Christ were present in the eucharist, was first set on 
 "'' ' foot by one J^ar/ier^, a monk. He, in a treatise, maintained, "that, 
 after the consecration of the bread and wine in the Lord's supper, 
 nothing remained of these symbols but the outward figure, under 
 which the body andblood of Christ were really and locally present ; 
 and that the body of Christ thus present — was the same body thai 
 was born of the virgin, that suffered^ upon the cross, and was 
 raised from the dead. " 
 
 26. This treatise was composed in the year 831, at a time 
 when universal history declares the church of Rome to have been 
 the most abominable sink of corruption, and her rites and cere- 
 monies a motley spectacle of superstition, when, as protestant 
 writers say, the papal power is proved to be antichrist, and the 
 church the mother of abominations. 
 
 27. Until about the middle of the eleventh century, these jar- 
 ring opinions were proposed on both sides, unrestrained by the 
 
 Ibid. p. 331. despotic voice of authority. The emperor, Charles the Bald, 
 ordered Ratramn and Scoius to draw up a clear explication of 
 that important doctrine which Radbert seemed to have so egre- 
 giously corrupted. 
 
 Ibid, p.332. 28. " It is remarkable (says Mosheim,) that in this controversy 
 each of the contending parties were almost as much divided among 
 themselves as they were at variance with their adversaries. " 
 
 Ibid. p. 333. Scoius, from his philosophical genius, declared plainly that the 
 bread and wine were the signs and symbols of the absent body and 
 blood of Christ. The disputants mutually charged each other 
 
23S. 
 
 B. VI. THE WORKS OF ANTICHRIST. 257 
 
 in their turns with the most odious doctrines : and so it Trent chap.iv . 
 on. 
 
 29. Berenger, a scholastic disputer, and afterwards archbishop EccI. His- 
 oi Angers, and a subtle genius, maintained publicly the doctrine i^^l'lia, 
 of Scotus, in the year 1045, and opposed the doctrine of Radbert. 544. 
 
 No sooner was the doctrine of Scotus published by Berenger, than 
 it was opposed by certain doctors in France and Germany ; and 
 pope Leo IX, attacked it with vehemence and fury in the year 
 1050; and in two councils had the doctrine of Berenger con- 
 demned, and the book of Scotus, from which it was drawn, com- 
 mitted to the flames. 
 
 30. This example was followed by the council of Paris, and 
 one party, for a while, reduced the other to silence, by threat- 
 nings and deprivations of revenues, and fines, and synodical 
 decrees. But after the death of Leo IX, the flame of their ibici.p.545. 
 religious discord rekindled, and the popes strove in vain to put an 
 
 end to their antichristian debates. 
 
 31. Pope Innocent III, in the year 1215, had the honor of 
 introducing the term transulstantiation. That is, in the 
 eucharist there is a conversion (or change) of the whole substance 
 of the bread and wine; so that it is truly, really and sub- Grounds of 
 stantially, the very body and Hood, soul and divinity of Jesus 24. 
 Christ. 
 
 32. The grand dispute, however, continued. For, although Ecei. His- 
 the pope had placed transubstantiation among the avowed jii. p. 254. 
 doctrines of the church, yet the authority of this decree was 
 
 called in question by many. Some adopting the doctrine of 
 Berenger, considered the bread and wine as signs or symbols of 
 the absent body and blood of Christ. Others thought it sufii- ibid.p 252. 
 cient to acknowledge, what was termed a real presence, and ex- 
 plained the manner of this presence quite otherwise than the 
 pope had defined it. Among these was one Pungens Asiniis, a 
 subtle doctor of the university of Paris, who towards the close 
 of the thirteenth century, had the honor of substituting consuh- 
 stantiation in the place of transubstantiation. 
 
 33. Thus we see where, and when, and in whom, that supei'- 
 stitious rite and pernicious error took its rise, invented by subtle 
 philosophers, and scholastic disputants, and brought forth from 
 the prolific womb of the Mother of Harlots, the sink of every 
 abomination and all sorts of wickedness. 
 
 34. Luther and his followers, it is said, rejected this monstrous vol. iv. p. 
 doctrine of the church of Rome with respect to the transuh- 35 "'' ^' 
 stantiation, but were nevertheless of opinion, that the partakei'S 
 
 of the Lord's supper received, along with the bread and wine, 
 the real body and blood of Christ. "This, (says Mosheim,) in 
 their judgment, was a mystery, which they did not pretend to 
 explain." 
 
258 
 
 EEFOEMED CH0KCHES ESTABLISHED BY, &C. B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Eccl. His- 
 tory, vol. 
 iv. p. 62, 
 note [z.] 
 
 Iljid.p, 306. 
 note [h.] 
 
 Ibid. p. C2. 
 
 Ibid. p. 63. 
 
 1 Cor. 3 
 16, 17. 
 
 35. But Maclaine says, " Luther was not so modest as Dr. 
 Mosheim here represents iim. He pretended to explain his 
 doctrine of the real presence, absurd and contradictory as it was, 
 and uttered much senseless jargon on this subject. As in red 
 hot iron, said he, two distinct substances, viz : iron and fire, 
 are united, so is the body of Christ joined with the bread in the 
 eucharist." This, Maclaine very properly calls the "nonsensical 
 doctrine of consiibstantiation," which was first invented by that 
 subtle popish doctor Pungens Asinus. 
 
 36. Wherein then lay the difference ? It can be found only in 
 a slight variation of high sounding' words, calculated to impose 
 upon the credulity of a blinded multitude, and to add the greatest 
 number to the party who could use the most cunning deception, 
 in explaining the most pompous sounds of nonsense. 
 
 37. Cqrlostadt, who was Luther^s colleague and companion, 
 and whose doctrine was afterwards confirmed by Zuingle, main- 
 tained, " That the body and blood of Christ was not really pre- 
 sent in the eucharist ; and that the bread and wine were no more 
 than external signs or symbols." This was the doctrine of 
 Scotus just mentioned, who had invented it by the special order 
 of the emperor, who was then under the dominion of antichrist : 
 for so the Protestants call the pope. 
 
 38. This opinion of Zuingle was received by all the friends of 
 the Reformation in Switzerland, and by a number of its votaries 
 in Germany. But Mosheim says, " Luther maintained his doc- 
 trine, in relation to this point, with the utmost obstinacy; and 
 hence arose, in the year 1524, a tedious and vehement controversy, 
 which terminated, at length, in a fatal division. " 
 
 39. Was Christ ever divided ? He was the bread of life -that 
 came down from heaven, and the church, his true followers, ty 
 their fellowship, union and communion, became that one bread, 
 and were partakers of that one body, and one blood ; which anti- 
 christ, with all his learning and philosophy, could never yet 
 discern. 
 
B. VI. CONTEOVERSIES BETWEEN, &C. 259 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 VEHEMENT CONTEOVEKSIES BETWEEN THE FIRST 
 EEPORMEES. 
 
 Those vehement controversies among the first reformers, Tvhich chap. v. 
 finally terminated in a fatal division between them, were the ef- ' 
 fects that naturally flowed from a corrupt ambition. Diotrephes- 
 like, a sordid thirst for pre-eminence, and works directly contrary 
 to the precepts of the Gospel, were distinguishing characteristics 
 in those great ones upon whose jarring systems the reformed 
 churches were finally established. 
 
 2. Carlostadt, in the year 1522, carried on the Reformation eccI. hIs- 
 by taking down some images, while Luther concealed himself ^°^' ™'- 
 from the rage of the pope, in the castle of Wartenberg. But no and 306. 
 sooner did he hear of it, than he flew from his retreat, and had 
 Carlostadt banished. 
 
 3. " It is evident (says Maclaine,) from several passages in ibid. p. ss. 
 the writings of Luther, that he was by no means averse to the "°'^ '■'■■' 
 use of images. But perhaps the true reason of Ll'ther's dis- 
 pleasure at the proceedings of Carlostadt, was, that he could not 
 
 bear to see another crowned with the glory of executing a plan 
 which he had laid, and that he was ambitious of appearing the 
 principal, if not the only conductor of this great work. This is 
 not a mere conjecture. Luther himself has not taken the least 
 pains to conceal this instance of his ambition. " 
 
 4. But the violent rupture between these two flrst reformers, ibM.p. 30g. 
 who had been expelled from the communion of the church together, 
 
 first arose from a more important point. Carlostadt could not 
 believe as Luther did, that the body of Christ was in the bread 
 of the eucharist as fire was in red-hot iron. 
 
 5. Such were the divisions and animosities among the reform- 
 ers, concerning the eucharist, that to terminate this controversy, 
 Philip, landgrave of Hesse, invited, in the year 1529, to a con- j|,y jg 
 ference at Marpurg, Luther and Zuingle, together with some of 74. 
 
 the more eminent doctors, who adhered to the respective parties 
 of these contending chiefs. Here they disputed during four days, 
 and their dissension still remained; " nor could either of the con- 
 tending parties (says ikZosAezni:,) be persuaded to abandon, or even 
 to modify, their opinion of that matter. " 
 
 6. Pitiful reformers these, who needed earthly princes to ex- 
 hort them to peace, and who would neither reform themselves, nor 
 suffer others to reform them ! Well said the Apostle, evil men and 
 seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 
 
260 
 
 CONTROVERSIES BETWEEN 
 
 B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Keel, His- 
 loiy, vol. 
 iv. p. 355 
 
 Ibid. p. 35(3, 
 and note 
 
 [g]- 
 
 Eccl. His- 
 tory, vol. 
 V. p 351. 
 
 7. " In the year 1544, Luther publislied Ms confession of faith 
 in relation to the sacrament of the Lord's supper, which was di- 
 rectly opposite to the doctrine of Zuingle and his followers. 
 The doctors of Zurich pleaded their cause publicly against the 
 Saxon reformer. " And so it went on. 
 
 8. John Calvin,* professor of divinity at Geneva, proposed 
 an explication of the point in debate, and made use of all his credit 
 and authority among the Swiss in order to obtain their assent to 
 it. He denied the doctrine of Christ's bodily presence in the 
 eucharist, and at the same time expressed it in almost the same 
 terms which the Lutherans employed in inculcating their doctrine 
 of Christ's real presence, and " talked of really eating by faith 
 the body, and drinking the blood of Christ. " 
 
 9. AVherein then is the difference between the doctrine of the 
 pope, and that of Luther and Calvin ? The pope says, that the 
 bread and wine are changed into the very substance of that same 
 body, flesh and blood of Christ that was born of a virgin, and cru- 
 cified of the Jews, so that it is no more bread. 
 
 10. Luther says; that the body of Christ is in, and loith and 
 tinder the bread, as fire is in a red-hot iron ; so that both the sub- 
 stance of the bread, and of the body, flesh and blood of Christ, 
 are there present. 
 
 11. Calvin says, that the body of Christ is not really or cor- 
 porally there, and yet, that hy faith, the body of Christ is really 
 eaten I If therefore the first be monstrous, and the second non- 
 sensical, what is the third ? And how by faith or any other way, 
 could they really eat that which was not really there ? 
 
 12. Thus it appears that Calvin put the cap-stone upon the 
 fabric of superstition, when he persisted in denying Christ's real 
 presence, and yet would have it that his body was really eaten, 
 although it was really absent from the eater. 
 
 13. The truth is, they were blind guides, who knew nothing 
 about the body of Christ ; and how could they describe it to 
 others ? But how to wrangle about the stolen words of the saints, 
 mixed up and confused with their own inventions, and how to hate 
 one another, they understood and practised in a very extraordinary 
 manner, as their works abundantly testify. 
 
 14. The real presence of the body of Christ was not to be dis- 
 cerned by their natural sagacity, it was far beyond their human 
 comprehension. This they confess, and well they might, for their 
 systems have fixed him a local body, and a local heaven, far be- 
 yond the starry regions. 
 
 15. Mosheim says, " Luther maintained, that the body and 
 blood of Christ were really present in the eucharist, and were ex- 
 hibited together with the bread and wine, though in a manner far 
 beyond human comprehension. " 
 
 « Calvin was a native of Noyon, in France. 
 
B. VI. THE FIRST REFORMERS. 261 
 
 16. Robert Barclay remarks, that Calvin, "after he hath c^'af- v. 
 much labored in overturning and refuting the two former opinions, Barclay's 
 plainly confesseth, that he knows not what to affirm instead of -^p"'"?)', 
 them. For after he hath spoken much, and at last concluded, insi. lib. 4. 
 That the body of Christ is there, and that the saints must needs 3"'' '' ''^"^^ 
 •partake thereof; at last he lands in these words : " But if it he 
 
 asked me, how it is ? I shall not be ashamed to coiifess, that it is 
 a secret too high for vie to comprehend in my spirit, or explain 
 in words. " 
 
 17. "A little before, in the same chapter,* he aceuseth the *Sec. 15, 
 schoolmen among the papists. In that they neither understand 
 
 ■nor explain to others, how Christ is in the eucharist: which 
 shortly after he confesseth himself he cannot do. " How justly 
 do those sayings apply to such. But why dost thou judge thy Rom. xiv. 
 brother'^ Or why dost thou set at naught thy brother? Thou mJI'^^'j 
 which teacheth another, tcacheth thou not thyself? Thou hypo- 
 crite ! first cast criLt theheam out of thine own eye; and then 
 shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote out of thy brother's 
 eye. 
 
 18. Yet these reformers, who neither understood what they 1 Tim. i.e. 
 said, nor comprehended the things whereof they affrmed, must '' 
 needs kindle the flames of discord, foment divisions, seditions, and 
 tumults among the multitude, and breathe the most virulent 
 
 spirit of persecution against all who would not receive their con- 
 tradictory systems of senseless jargon, which they themselves 
 could not understand. 
 
 19. Calvin, however, effected his purposes so far, that an act ecci. ni.s- 
 of uniformity took place, by which the churches of Geneva and j^'''' ^L 
 Zurich, declared their agreement concerning the doctrine of the 
 eucharist. 
 
 20. By the industry of Calvin, the schools and churches of Eng- ibid. p. 363, 
 la7id also, became the oracles of Calvinism, and Geneva was ^'^^'375"' 
 acknowledged as a sister church ; and the system there established 
 
 by Calvin was rendered the public rule of faith in England, 
 without any change in the form of their episcopal government. 
 Thus John Calvin became the principal and established founder 
 of the Calvinistic reformed churches in opposition to those of 
 Luther. 
 
 21. The flames of discord, however, between the Lutherans 
 and Calvinists, were perpetuated with greater violence and fury 
 than ever. They labored hard to bring about peace and establish 
 a union; but the difficulty was, it could not be effected upon the 
 sordid and antiohristian principles of Diotrephes, who loved to 
 have the pre-eminence, and therefore, peace was not for them. 
 
 22. In the year 1552, Westphal, pastor at Hamburg, renewed ibid. p. .35-, 
 with greater vehemence than ever, this deplorable controversy ; l"f "°'' 
 he was an obstinate defender of the opinions of Luther. He pub- 
 
262 
 
 CONTROVERSIES BETWEEN 
 
 B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Eccl. His- 
 tory, p. 35S, 
 and note 
 
 [k.] 
 
 Eccl. His- 
 tory, vol. 
 iv. p.329. 
 
 Ibid. p. 330, 
 331-336. 
 
 Ibid. p. 330, 
 331. 
 
 Ibid. p. 330. 
 note [r.] p. 
 332, note 
 [u.] and 
 333. 
 
 lished a book against the forementioned act of uniformity , which, 
 says Madaine, " breathes the most virulent spirit of persecution." 
 
 23. "This (says Mosheim,) engaged Calvin to enter the lists 
 ■with Westphal, whom he treated with as little lenity and for- 
 bearance, as the rigid Lutheran had showed towards the Helvetic 
 churches. Calvin and Westphal had each their zealous defend- 
 ers and patrons ; hence the breach widened, the spirits were 
 heated, and the flame of controversy was kindled anew with 
 violence and fury." These disputes were augmented, and tumults 
 excited by the controversy concerning the Decrees of God, set on 
 foot by Calvin. 
 
 24. Is it possible, that such violent, furious and aspiring men 
 could have any relation to the peaceable, meek and humble fol- 
 lowers of Jesus Christ? Is it possible, that such ambitious 
 priests as were perpetually blowing the flames of discord, and 
 stirring up strifes and contentions among each other, could re- 
 form any thing for the better ? It could not be. From their own 
 confession, princes, earthly politicians, and civil rulers were 
 perpetually under the necessity of trying to put a stop to their 
 enormities. 
 
 25. Augustus, elector of Saxony, and John William, duke 
 of Saze- Weimar, summoned the most eminent doctors of both 
 the contending parties to meet at Altenburgh, in the year 1568, 
 that it might be seen how far a reconciliation was possible. But 
 such were the furious and antichristian spirits of those reforming 
 parties, as blasted the fruits that were expected from this con- 
 ference. 
 
 26. The princes now undertook another method, and ordered 
 a form of doctrine to be composed, in order to terminate the 
 controversies which divided the Lutheran church, and to pre- 
 serve that church against the opinions of the Calvinists. This 
 form was begun as early as the year 1569, and was completed 
 by six doctors, about seven or eight years after. 
 
 27. In the mean time Peucer, the son-in-law of Melancthon, 
 and other secret Calvinists in Saxony, were aiming to abolish 
 the doctrine of Luther, concerning the eucharist, and the "per- 
 son of Christ, with a design to substitute the doctrine of Calvin 
 in its place, and published their opinions in the year 1571, which 
 produced more commotions and debates. 
 
 28. Augustus, elector of Saxony, first favored those secret 
 Calvinists, who were the disciples of Melancthon; next he 
 changed sides, and committed some of them to prison, and sent 
 others into banishment, and engaged others, by the force of the 
 secular arm, to change their sentiments. Peucer, on account of 
 denying the corporal presence of Christ in the eucharist, was 
 cast into prison, where he lay in confinement ten years, accom- 
 panied with all possible circumstances of severity. 
 
B. VI. THE FIRSI RErORMERS. 263 
 
 29. In this manner the princes shook oif the ignominious yoke chap, v. 
 of tyranny, according to the former exhortations and projects of 
 Luther. It would be endless, and indeed unnecessary, to enu- 
 merate all the cruelties which the Protestants practised against 
 
 each other. Severe laws and punishments, violent tumults and Ecci. his- 
 seditions, imprisonments, banishments, and death, were the fruits jv'p' 341'^ 
 of that spirit by which both the contending parties of the Ke- 342. 
 formation were actuated. Such works were carried on in 
 Germany, and Sioitzerland, where the Keformation first began, 
 and also in England and France, as will appear more fully 
 hereafter. 
 
 30. Tl]iq form of doctrine just mentioned, which was intended ibw. p. .338 
 to promote peace, when finished was called the/orjra of concord ; 
 
 yet, like all the rest of antichrist's specious and deceitful glosses, 
 the title was found to be false, for it proved to be a form of dis- 
 cord, and a source of new tumults, and furnished matter for the 
 most violent dissensions and contests, even among those who in- 
 stituted it. 
 
 31. This /orOT of concord, which condemned the sentiments of 
 the Calvinists, was received by the greatest part of the Lu- 
 therans, as one of the articles of their religion; and "hence ibid. p. 360. 
 (says Mosheim,) arises an insuperable obstacle to all schemes of 
 reconciliation and concord." 
 
 32. Here then was effected that fatal division, upon which 
 the reformed churches of Luther and Calvin were established in 
 opposition to each other, after many years of furious contests and 
 antichristian works of violence, and this division still subsists 
 between these two Protestant parties, and each still claims rela- 
 tion to its first founder. 
 
 33. The /orw of concord, falsely so called, consists of two iwii. p. 3.35. 
 parts. "In t\ie first (says Maclaine,) is contained a system of 
 doctrine drawn up according to the fancy of the six doctors," 
 
 who had received their orders from, and were under the protec- 
 tion of the princes ; for those earthly princes were clothed with ^^^ p- 278 
 the dignity of ecclesiastical, as well as civil supremacy, accord- [f.] 
 ing to the established principles of the Keformation. 
 
 34. "In the second is exhibited one of the strongest instances 
 of that persecuting and tyrannical spirit, which the Protestants 
 complained of in the church of Rome, even a formal condemna- 
 tion of all those who differed from these six doctors." 
 
 35. "This condemnation branded with the denomination of 
 heretics, and excluded from the communion of the church, all 
 Christians, of all nations, who refused to subscribe these doc- 
 trines. More particularly, in Germany, the terrors of the sword 
 were solicited against these pretended heretics, as may be seen 
 in the famous testament of Brentius." 
 
 36. A modern Protestant divine, speaking concerning the 
 
2G4 
 
 CONTROVERSIES BETWEEN 
 
 B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Da vies ser. 
 moiis. vol 
 iii p 403. 
 Ser. 0L\ 
 
 IliW. p. 414. 
 tier. G3. 
 
 Ibid.p 415. 
 
 Doddr. in 
 Loc. New- 
 Ion on 
 Pri>pli. Diss 
 xiv. Hist, 
 of Redemp. 
 p. 431. 
 
 American Frenci war, and referring to the war of the beast 
 against tlie Lamb, spoken of in the bookof Kevelation, says, 
 "Now who can tell, but the present war is the commencement 
 of this grand decisive conflict between the Lamb and the beast, 
 that is, between the Protestant and Popish powers?" 
 
 37. The same divine, in a succeeding sermon to the militia, 
 makes the following remarkable profession of the Protestant 
 religion: ''Follow -peace loith all men, is one of the principal 
 precepts of our holy religion. And the great Prince of Peace 
 has solemnly pronounced. Blessed are the peacemakers." IBut 
 what follows next? The sound of "wars and fightings." 
 Plausible reasonings. "The God of peace proclaims 'To 
 arms ! ' Blessed is the brave soldier ! Cursed is he that keepelk 
 back his sword from blood!" 
 
 38. This may serve as a specimen of the whole Protestant 
 religion from beginning to end. Alluring names and titles, 
 confessions of faith, and forms of concord, manifestly false; 
 specious professions of the religion of the Prince of Peace, the 
 holy religion of the peaceable Lamb ; all contradicted by prac- 
 tice, maintained by violence, and mingled with blood. 
 
 39. Children naturally follow the example of their parents in 
 faith and practice. It is truly painful to a feeling mind to see 
 the contradictory professions of Protestant divines, so called. 
 While on one page of their works you see their plausible pro- 
 fessions of the pure, the peaceable, the holy, the meek and mer- 
 ciful Gospel of the Lamb of God, with a solemn declaration that 
 bloodshed is not the pattern for imitation under the Gospel ; on 
 the next you may see the "important duty of shedding human 
 blood, upon the penalty of falling under the tremendous curse of 
 God." Such is the deceitfulness and contradiction of a false 
 religion. 
 
 40. The Protestants have stated, and that very justly, that 
 the papal power, m being supported by a regular clergy and 
 secular princes, was according to prophetic language, a beast. 
 Names add titles without matters of fact to support them, are 
 shadows without substance. 
 
 ■il. It was the beastly and tyrannical conduct of Constant ine 
 and his successors which supported the Catholic power, arising 
 out of the commotions of the peoples, and multitudes, and nations, 
 and tongues, that constituted the beast that came up out of the 
 sea: and it was the cruelty and insatiable thirst for blood, that 
 constituted the same a scarlet colored (or bloody) beast under 
 the papal power. 
 
 4'2. But there was another beast, which came up out of the 
 earth. Then, as the papal poiver constituted a beast, in being 
 supported by the unnatural combination of the regular clergy and 
 secular principles ; so the Protesta?U power as evidently consti- 
 
B. VI. PARTICULAR CHANGES EFFECTED, &C. 265 
 
 tuted this least, in being supported by the like unnatural combina- chap. vi. 
 tion of secular princes and a regular clergy. 
 
 43. The Reformation was divided into two principal and con- 
 tending powers, each professing the pure and peaceable Gospel of 
 the Lami of God, and supported their cause by shedding blood ; 
 and, while they practised imprisonments, banishments, and putting 
 men to death for their sentiments, and presented the terrors of 
 the sword against those who differed from them, wherein did they 
 differ from the Papists ? 
 
 44. And what, then, was the Protestant poiver, by which they 
 established their dinded and contentious churches, but a fulfil- 
 ment of that prophecy, And I beheld another beast coming up Rev liii. 
 out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he Hi 12. 
 spake as a dragon? And te exercised all the power of the first 
 beast. 
 
 CHAPTER TI. 
 
 PAETICULAE CHANGES EFFECTED BT THE EEFORMATION. 
 
 The first change of importance which the Protestant reformers 
 established, was that which went to supply the office of the pope ; 
 without which the Reformation must have appeared essentially 
 deficient. 
 
 2. Universal experience and observation had confirmed the ne- 
 cessity of a common head of influence. A body without a head 
 is a monster in nature, and no less so in civil or religious society. 
 The titles, offices, and power of the pope, or universal father, 
 were never called in question ; but it was professedly for the per- 
 version of the sacred office, the abuse of power, and the false ap- 
 plication of titles, that the reformers protested against, and sepa- 
 rated from the church of Rome. 
 
 3. Doubtless aU parties agreed that the church ought to have 
 a Lord God, a God on earth, a, judge of all controversies, &c., 
 but the Protestants denied that this dignity belonged to the 
 bishop of Rome; it therefore remained for them to point out, to 
 whom it did belong. 
 
 4. It must be a matter of the utmost importance, for a nation 
 to change their God. The high pretensions of the Roman pontiff, 
 as the vicegerent o^ Ch-^iit on earth, were not to be supplanted 
 
 18 
 
p. 538. 
 
 266 PAKTICTJLAR CHANGES EFFECTED B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. VI. ])y trifles. He had too long bewitcliecl the people, giving out 
 that himself was some great one, and had gained too deep an in- 
 terest in the faith of the multitude, to be rivalled, at once, by a 
 monk or a, friar. 
 
 5. The powerful and superstitious empire had, for ages, been 
 accustomed to receive the word of God, as they supposed, from 
 their prime bishop, their apostolic vicar, by whom kings reigned, 
 and princes decreed judgment; of course, when his authority was 
 disannulled by men of an inferior rank, it behooved them to furnish 
 the people with the true judge of all controversies, the true God 
 on earth, who should deliver the true vjord instead of the old false 
 one. 
 
 6. And what could the natural ^gacity of man devise, so 
 suitable for the purpose as those sacred, and adorable words, 
 which the most ancient Catholic churches received from the pens 
 of the leainedi fat hers, and which Augustin and other great saints 
 denominated the canon of Scripture i * 
 
 Ecci.Re. 7. When the Reformation commenced, it is said, "the igno- 
 searches, rance of the priests was extreme, lumbers could not read — and 
 the very best seldom saw the bible. Many doctors of the Sorbonne 
 declared, and confirmed it by an oath, that though they were 
 above fifty years of age, yet they had never known what a New 
 Testament was." 
 
 8. "Luther never saw a bible till after he was twenty-one 
 years of age, and had taken a degree in arts. Carlostadt had 
 been a doctor of divinity eight years before he read the Scriptures." 
 Now when these very leairned and sagacious doctors had found 
 those inestimable records of truth, it is not easy to imagine how 
 great a field of reformation they would naturally present to view, 
 in their conflicting circumstances. 
 
 9. And what could there be within the comprehension of human 
 reason, that might so justly fill the papal chair, as that which 
 both Papists and Protestants called the word of God. This most 
 plausible rival of the Roman pontiff did not long elude the notice 
 of the reformers ; therefore their appealing to a general council, 
 was but a mere evasion to serve their purpose, for a time; their 
 
 • The Catholic Fathers were the first who had the misguided confidence to 
 chaoge, and cormpt, and ciirtail the Scriptures, in order to satisfy their sordid 
 thirst for honor and dominion. They made use of such of the sacred writingB as 
 were Ulieiy to support them in their carnal reasonings and Tain philosophy, and 
 rejected the rest, which have perished under their usurped dominion. The Fathers 
 themselves declare, That they wrote not what they found, but what they wider- 
 stood — and some they blotted out, fearing lest heretics shovld have abtisedit. 
 " Our Fathers also declare, (siys Barclay) That whole verses were taken otttof 
 Mark, because of the Manicheans. But Lather far surpassed the zeal and con- 
 fidence of his fathers, in changing and corrupting every thing sacred. In order 
 to maintain his inconsistent and pernicious so/j/idiow system of Imputed Righte- 
 ousness, he rejected the whole epistle of James, and called it " an epistle of 
 straw." See the beginning of Jjiither's Works, Barclay's Ap. p. 80, 81. 
 Armin. Mag, vol. ii. p. 283. 
 
B. VI. BY THE REFORMATION. 267 
 
 grand appeal is, more empliatioally, said to have been, to the chap. vi. 
 loord of God. 
 
 10. And as the word of the pope had been heretofore respected 
 as the infailible word of God, and he from whom this word came, 
 was called another God on earth ; in order therefore, to stand 
 upon equal ground with the Papists, the Protestants must re- 
 ceive the canon of Scripture as another God upon earth, seeing 
 that from it they receive the infallible word of God, and must 
 ascribe to their Bible, every office and title which the Papists 
 ascribe to their prime bishop. 
 
 11. The Scriptures had all along been preserved in the Catholic 
 church, according to the edition formed in the Alexandrian school, 
 and never, as yet, had claimed any authority, but as they were 
 expounded and applied by those who were called church guides ; 
 but in the hands of the reformers, they were destined to a place 
 and a name above every name in heaven or upon earth, for the 
 purpose of exalting the Protestant priesthood above all that had 
 gone before them, the pope himself not excepted. 
 
 12. So important an office could never have been assigned to 
 a book, which had for hundreds of years been in use, and at the 
 discretion of men, without its being very much reformed; hence 
 
 the Scriptures had to undergo a new translation, which Luther ecoI. His- 
 commenced in the year 1521, and being afterwards assisted by ^"^dI'm. 
 Aurogallus, a profane author, it was but a little while before all 
 the Protestant states were furnished with this new vicar of St. 
 Peter, this infallible judge of all controversies. 
 
 1.3. But whether a translation of the Scriptures, by an apostate 
 monk, and a profane writer, could claim any greater authority 
 than the former head of the Catholic church, any person of sense 
 may judge from the following assertions of bishop Challoner. 
 
 14. He affirms that, "the first Protestants corrupted the Grounds of 
 Scriptures, in all their translations, to make it chime with their '^'"''' ^°°' 
 errors" — that "they are forced to appeal to a tribunal, at which 
 
 it is not possible that any sectary should ever be condemned. 
 Such a tribunal is the Scripture, interpreted, not by church guides, 
 but by every one's own private judgment ; for this is in effect 
 making every one's private judgment the supreme judge, both of 
 the Scriptures, and all controversies in religion, and authorizing 
 him to prefer his own whimsies before the judgment of the whole 
 church." 
 
 15. Here, then, stands the controversy between the Papists and 
 Protestants ; the latter, upon the authority of the word of God, 
 as they say, anathematize the whole popish hierarchy, and their 
 God, the pope, as antichrist, and the mother of harlots, and every 
 thing abominable and reprobate; while on the other hand, the 
 living God of the Papists, with his old Rhemish and Douay 
 translations of the Scriptures in his hand, rejects the reformers. 
 
268 
 
 PARTICULAE CHANGES EFFECTED 
 
 B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Eccl. His- 
 lory, vol. 
 ii p. 90. 
 note [k], 
 p. Ill Sc 
 p. 475. 
 
 * Scotch 
 Confes. 
 Art. XX. 
 
 and their translation, and condemns them and their whole pos- 
 terity, as an endless spawn of heretics. And who is to he the in- 
 fallihle judge hetween them ? 
 
 16. The Protestants sneer at fhe infallibility of the pope, when 
 they find two of these earthly Gods consecrated at once, hy two 
 jarring factions, or when papal decrees stand in direct opposition 
 to each other. And with no less propriety do the Papists sneer 
 at the pretended infallibility of the Protestant translation of the 
 Scriptures, when they see this infaUille judge formed and re- 
 formed into a thousand shapes, with as many supplies, mistrans- 
 lations, notes, references, comments, paraphrases, and other ap- 
 pendages, as the doctors, with their natural sagacity, think proper 
 to put into it. 
 
 17. But more especially is their mirth excited to see the Pro- 
 testants divided into a thousand parties, no two of them perfectly 
 agreed, ever at war ; and yet each goes into the combat with his 
 infallible judge, his eternal word of God, in his hand or in his 
 pocket. 
 
 18. It will he proper here to notice some of the first exploits 
 of this infallible judge, or what they are pleased to call, "The 
 voice of our only God,"* — and sei how he arose to so high a de- 
 gree of credit among the kings and priests of the reforming 
 party. 
 
 19. King Henry VIII. had taken to wife, Catharine of 
 Arragon, his brother's widow, the mother of Mary, afterwards 
 queen ; but growing weary of so aged a consort, he applied to 
 the pope for a divorce, which the reverend father refused to grant. 
 Henry was much perplexed, and hearing of the great wisdom of 
 bishop Cranmer, he sent for him to help him out of the difficulty. 
 
 20. Cranmer had luckily become acquainted with Luther's 
 vjord of God, and by its power, in the hands of the dexterous 
 bishop, Henry was released from Catharine, and launched into 
 a sea of licentious pleasure ; Cranmer had him also created su- 
 preme head of the church of England, and himself lord-archhishop 
 of Canterbury. Cranmer, after his second marriage, had the 
 honor of martyrdom conferred on him by the Protestants, having 
 been put to death in the reign of queen Mary, by the Papists, 
 for what they accounted the most impious acts of wickedness. 
 
 21. Cranmer, on his trial, being accused of perjury, retorted 
 the same charge upon his judge, the bishop of Gloucester. " And 
 you, for your part, my lord, are perjured, for you sit judge for 
 the pope, and yet you did receive your bishopric from the 
 king, you have taken an oath to be adversary to the realm." 
 To which his lord and his judge replied: "You are the cause 
 that I did forsake the pope, and did swear that he ought not to 
 be supreme head, and gave to king Henry VIII. that he ought 
 to be, and this you made me do." 
 
B. VI. BT THE REFORMATION. 269 
 
 22. Cranmer retorted: "You report me ill, and say not the chap, -yi . 
 truth, and I will prove it here before you all. The truth is, that wrighi's 
 my predecessor, arch-bishop Warham gave the supremacy to Mariyroio- 
 king Henky the eighth, and said that he ought to have it before p. '^92.' "' 
 the bishop of Kome, and that God's word would agree therewith. 
 
 And upon the same was there sent to both the universities of 
 Oxford and Cambridge, to know what the word of God would 
 do touching the supremacy, and it was reasoned upon, and 
 argued at length. So at the last both the universities agreed, 
 and set to their seals, and sent to king Henry the eighth, to the 
 court, that he ought to be supreme head, and not the pope." 
 
 23. Thus the Protestant word of God introduced the Reforma- 
 tion into England. But could there have been a more pre- 
 sumptuous abuse of the name of God and of his word, than to be 
 used by such licentious and deceitful workers, as a pretext for 
 carrying on their political intrigues ? How glaringly do they ex- 
 ppse their deceitful and false foundation, when they acknowledge 
 that they had to send to their universities, to know what the 
 word of God would do ! 
 
 24. And after they had "reasoned upon it, and argued at 
 length," and found which side of the argument had the most 
 votes, then they could impiously set to their seal what the word 
 of God would do ! This is an exact picture of the whole Protes- 
 tant government, from first to last; and upon this plan their 
 reformations have come down, with an uninterrupted career, to 
 the present day : their word of God still allowing them to do 
 just what they please. 
 
 25. Whoever had natural sagacity enough to propose a subject, 
 and influence enough to engage the attention of the priest, after 
 their ungodly reasoning upon it, and arguing at length, could 
 presumptuously say, they had found what the word of God would 
 do in that matter ! Hence every thing sacred has been dtedistor 
 into the last degree of confusion, by their reforming power. A 
 few of the most material points, however,, will be sufficient to 
 show the absolute deception of all the rest. 
 
270 THE CEOSS OF CHRIST EEJECTED B. VI. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE CEOSS OP CHEIST EEJECTED BY THE PEOTESTANT 
 EEEORMEES. 
 
 CHAP. Nothing could furnish' the Protestant doctors with a more 
 VII- popular objection against the pope, than his universal law con- 
 corning the celibacy of the clergy, and the corruption of manners 
 which flowed from that papal establishment. 
 
 2. Though this law recognized the holy example of Christ 
 Jesus and his Apostles, and was thereby intended to check the 
 licentiousness of the priesthood, and to serve as an example of 
 pious restraint to the extravagant corruptions of the multitude; 
 yet, for want of the real spirit of Christ, it became an intoler- 
 able yoke of Isondage ; and therefore, to get clear of the incon- 
 sistency of professing to follow Christ, and not doing it, the 
 reformers renounced every institution that had the least appear- 
 ance of that evangelical purity. 
 
 3. And after reasoning upon it, and arguing the matter at 
 length, in their carnal libertine sense, they set to their seal that 
 it was more consistent to follow the carnal Gorinthians openly, 
 than to pretend to be followers of St. Paul, while living in the 
 gratification of their lusts. In short, that it was better for them 
 to marry than to burn; and this has been their universal law 
 
 ♦See the g^jj,j practice ever since, in opposition to the decree of Gregory 
 Art 32. ' and their mother church* 
 
 4. In this debate, the Protestant priesthood charge their 
 ancestors, the popish clergy, with the vilest hypocrisy, and main- 
 tain that they are the very ones who " departed from the faith, 
 giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking 
 lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot 
 iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats ;" 
 that they are the false Christs and false prophets, the wolves in 
 sheep's clothing, the dogs and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and 
 hypocritical liars, and all the base characters spoken of in the 
 
 co°fe^™'' ^^'^ Testament : In fine, that the papal hierarchy is the " horri- 
 Art. xviii. ble harlot, the kirk malignant." 
 
 5. On the other hand, the popish doctors, who, from a pre- 
 tended Apostolic succession, antiquity, and universal authority, 
 claim the pre-eminence, after very plausibly denying that they 
 forbid to marry, and showing that marriage is held in the highest 
 respect by the church of Rome, as one of her seven sacraments, 
 " a conjunction made and sanctified by Grod himself," retort 
 back upon the reformers, the same charge of apostasy, with all 
 its base and licentious fruits. 
 
B. VI. BY PROTESTANT KEPOEMEES. 271 
 
 6. And indeed, unless the Protestants can prove that dogs and chap. 
 
 wolves can beget harmless sheep, and the true Christ spring out '■ — ■ 
 
 of a false one, and chaste daughters from a mother of harlots, they 
 
 have no reason to refuse taking to themselves every base and 
 abominable character which they have given the popish doctors, 
 by whom they were consecrated. 
 
 7. Therefore it must be with the utmost propriety, even upon 
 their own principles, that they are charged, by the Papists, with 
 producing an endless spawn of heresies. Bishop Taylor himself 
 acknowledges in favor of the church of Kome, "the piety and 
 the austerity of their religious orders of men and women. The 
 single-life of their priests and bishops. All which (says Chal- 
 loner,) the good natured Reformation has laid aside." 
 
 8. How far the first reformers renounced both law and gospel, 
 and every obligation professedly held sacred by their mother 
 church, in relation to chastity, and how wide a door they opened 
 for licentiousness, is suiBciently manifest from their own his- 
 tories. 
 
 9. When Dr. Carlostadt broke his solemn oath of perpetual 
 continence which he bad made to God, what kind of a reforming 
 spirit did Luther manifest ? In his letter to Ainsdorff he very 
 plainly shows what his hypocritical soul was most intent on pro- i.jry.'voi. 
 moting, as appears from the following words: " The nuptials of J,^\^'f?^^' 
 Carlostadt please me wonderfully : I have Itnown the girl : The 
 
 Lord strengthen him in the good example of restraining and 
 lessening popish lust."* 
 
 10. Here this excommunicated monk, let loose from his 
 monastic restraint, expresses his wonderful pleasure at the good 
 example of his companion. And what was it ? Surely not the 
 good example of Jesus Christ, nor any of his Apostles, for they 
 knew neither girl nor woman after the flesh. But the religious 
 pretext was, that his marriage had a tendency to restrain or 
 lessen his popish lust ; yet how grossly did he err even in this. 
 
 11. Lust is lust, and under whatever ceremony or pretext it is 
 gratified, its nature is not altered, restrained nor diminished 
 thereby ; nor is there any difference between the Papist and the 
 Protestant, the monk and the married bishop, as to their motive, 
 or first moving cause; neither have they but one example to 
 follow, and that is the example of their first father Adam. 
 
 12. But as Carlostadt put off his veil of popish hypocrisy, and 
 made a regular and bold provision for the works of the flesh, it 
 
 * The original extract of this letter, in Luther^s own words, runs thus : " Car- 
 lostadii nuptia; mire plaoent : novi puellam : comfortet eum Dominus in tonum 
 exemplum inhibendee et minuendae papisticse libidinis." Shameful aa it may ap- 
 pear, Luther's expression ' inhibendafe &c.," seems plainly to imply that his 
 satisfaction arose from the consideration thit his friend had obtained a decent de- 
 pository for his popish lust, by which means he could dispose of it with more con- 
 venience, and less remorse of conscience than formerly- 
 
272 THE CEOSS OF CHRIST KEJECTED. B. VI. 
 
 •^HAP. y^g^s counted a good example, and Luther himself soon after fol- 
 ' lowed it. He married a nun wliose name was Catharine a Bora, 
 whereby both of them broke their solemn vows of oontinency 
 which they had made before God. 
 Mai. iii. 5. 13. Well said the Lord, by the prophet Malachi : / will come 
 near to you to judgment ; and I will be a swift witness agaimt 
 the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false 
 swearers. Thus antichrist began his work by Simon and other 
 sorcerers, continued it by an endless train of adulterers, and it 
 remained to be completed by perjured persons, or false swearers. 
 Grounds of 14. Bishop Challouer, after stating Luther's general character, 
 ^"54'. ■°°°' very properly adds: "But what was the most scandalous in a 
 pretended restorer of the purity of religion, was his marrying a 
 nun, after the most solemn vows, by which both he and she had 
 consecrated themselves to God, in the state of perpetual conti- 
 nency. In which he was imitated by a great part of the first re- 
 formed ministers." 
 History of 15. "EvenMs most devoted followers (says Dr. Robertson) 
 voi'u^p' thought this step indecent, at a time when his country was 
 340. involved in so many calamities ; while his enemies never men- 
 
 tioned it with any softer appellation than that of incestuous or 
 profane." 
 
 16. Some might try to excuse Lutherihj pleading his former 
 ignorance, while under the reign of superstition ; however, that 
 can furnish but a mean excuse, while they represent him as a 
 man of such uncommon parts. Had he been forced to take such 
 a vow, it might have materially altered the case, but he had done 
 it deliberately, from his own free choice, and that from the'^ost 
 solemn considerations. 
 Ibid. p. 109. 17. " The death of a companion killed by lightning at his side 
 in a violent thunder-storm, made such an impression on his mind, 
 as co-operated with his natural temper, in inducing him to retire 
 into a convent of Augustinian friars, where, without suffering the 
 entreaties of his parents to divert him from what he thought his 
 duty to God, he assumed the habit of that order." So says Dr. 
 Robertson. 
 
 18. And is a popish vow or solemn oath so far inferior to the 
 oath of a Protestant, that, for the gratification of Protestant lust, 
 it can be broken with impunity ? "Where is that court of justice 
 on earth that would make such a distinction, and would not deem 
 it perjury in one as much as the other, to violate what they had 
 solemnly confirmed by an oath ? or that would not, forever after, 
 reject the testimony of such a false swearer? 
 
 19. Yet this same perjured Luther was not only believed as a 
 translator of the sacred Scriptures, but in the most momentous 
 points of doctrine, his creeds were adopted as rules of faith; and 
 he was also practically followed in his example of rejecting con- 
 
B. VI. 
 
 BY PROTESTANT -EBFORMEES. 
 
 273 
 
 tinency and true gospel purity as the doctrine of devils, and of 
 reforming the old works of the flesh under the false pretext of an 
 ordinance of God, and that without regarding even so much aa 
 the restrictions which the law of Moses had laid on the corrupt 
 and beastly passions of man. 
 
 20. " John Calvin was originally designed for the church, 
 and had actually obtained a benefice;" of course he must have 
 come under the common oath of continency ; yet it seems that he 
 was not subject even to the law which saith concerning the high 
 •priest among his brethren, that a widow shall he not take, hut 
 he shall take a virgin of his oruon people to wife. 
 
 21. Nor was he subject to the example of Jesus Christ, nor to 
 his own solemn oath; for " he married the widow of an anabap- 
 tist at Sirasburg." And thus, according to the law, he profaned 
 his seed in the highest degree, by mixing with a people who were 
 condemned, both by Papists and Protestants, as heretics, and 
 counted by Luther himself, no better than mad dogs. 
 
 22. Theodore Beza, Calvin's companion and successor, con- 
 tributed not a little to this part of the Reformation, both by his 
 practice, and his writings. Robinson says that, thirteen years 
 after his conversion, "he published a collection of Latin poems, 
 the most lascivious that can be imagined. There is one epigram 
 which, in licentiousness, surpasses any thing that the most un- 
 guarded debauchees have ever ventured to offer to the public 
 eye."* 
 
 23. From such reforming priests we may descend to the 
 princes, and see how far their popish lusts were restrained or 
 lessened by their reformed gospel. It has been observed that, 
 Henry the eighth obtained a divorce from Catharine, his brother's 
 old widow, whereupon he married Anne Boleyn, a woman of 
 respectable family and connexions. 
 
 24. Her he afterwards beheaded under pretence of adultery, 
 though there appears no proof of her guilt. t Next he married 
 Jane Seymour, who died in child-bed. Again, he married Anne 
 of Cleves, whom he also divorced, and married Katharine How- 
 ard. She was beheaded. And his sixth and last wife was 
 Katharine Parr. 
 
 25. Such were the fruits of that good example which the first 
 reformers set their followers, with which Luther was so wonder- 
 fully pleased, and which was sanctioned by their universities, 
 who set to their seal that this same Henry should be the su- 
 
 CHAP. 
 VII. 
 
 Eccl. His. 
 tory, vol. 
 iv. p. 87. 
 note [a] . 
 
 Lev. xxi. 
 13, 14. 
 
 Eccl. Re- 
 searches, 
 p. 341. 
 
 Ibid. p. 344. 
 
 Hume's 
 History of 
 Eng. 
 
 • Beza's Candida was not his wife, for his wife was never with child, and 
 there are some verses on the pregnancy of Candida in the poems. — Robinson's 
 Eccl. Researches, p. 344. 
 
 f Henry had been for some time enamoured with Jane Seymour, and his marry- 
 ing her the next day after the execution of his queen, is considered as a presump- 
 tive evidence, not only of the queen's innocence, but of the cause which led to her 
 execution. 
 
274 THE CROSS OF CHRIST REJECTED, &C. B. YI. 
 
 CHAP, previe head of the Church, instead of the Pope; and such was 
 
 vu, 
 
 the example of lawless lust and butchery, which this Protestant 
 supreme head openly manifested, which was never equalled by 
 any who supported the title before him. 
 
 26. This does not complete the portrait of the enormous ty- 
 rannical cruelty of this great and bloody reformer. It is generally 
 known (says Blackwood) that Henrt the Till, put seventy-two 
 thousand persons of all religious persuasions to death, on the scaf- 
 fold, during his siugie reign I ! This implacable tyrant would 
 admit of no nonconformity to his sentiments ; although he was first 
 a zealous Catholic, then a Protestant, and also successively 
 espoused the cause of the different parties, into which they were 
 split. Yet, all who differed from him, and would not submit 
 their own judgment to his dictation, let him be then of whatever 
 persuasion, were doomed to death. 
 
 27. Can the human mind conceive of a more horrid, cruel and 
 blood-stained character, than this first founder and supreme head 
 of the Protestant national Church of England? These horrid 
 butcheries of Henry are confirmed by Cobhett, who says: 
 " Amongst his tenets, there were such as neither Catholics nor 
 Protestants could, consistently with their creeds, adopt. He 
 therefore sent both to the stake, and, in order to add mental pangs 
 to those of the body, he dragged them to the fire on the same 
 hurdle, tied together in pairs, back to back, each pair containing 
 a Catholic and a Protestant. 
 
 28. " Was this the way that St. Austin and St. Patric pro- 
 pagated their religions ? Yet, such is the malignity of Btjenet 
 and of many, many others called Protestant " divines," that they 
 apologize for, if they do not absolutely applaud this execrable 
 tyrant, at the very moment that they are compelled to confess 
 
 CoM>ett'3. tjj^j. ijg soaked the earth with Protestant blood, and filled the air 
 103. with the fumes of their roasting flesh ! ! " 
 
B. YI. PROTESTANT DOCTRINES, &u. 295 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PROTESTANT DOCTRINES CONCERNING MARRIAGE AND 
 
 CONTINENCE. 
 
 In tracing the effects of tlie Eeformation in England, we find chap. 
 
 tishop Cranmer making a conspicuous appearance. This ambi- 
 tious primate, instead of prouiotiag purity and truth, began his 
 reforming career by paving the way for a flood of licentiousness, 
 injustice, and corruption. When his crimes are considered, we 
 need not wonder that the Papists accused him with treason and 
 perjury, in giving the supremacy to such a profane and wicked 
 prince as Henry VIII. and for his hypocritical and treacherous 
 conduct in other respects. 
 
 2. This great reformer, on his trial, was charged by Martin, a 
 Popish doctor, that, "being yet free, and before he entered into 
 holy orders, he married one Joare Black, or Bromn, of Cambridge. 
 That he married there one Joan, he granted. That after the 
 death of the aforesaid wife, he entered into holy orders, and 
 after that was made archbishop by the pope." 
 
 3. " That he,:being in holy orders, married another woman as 
 Ms second wife, named Anxie, and so was twice married. That 
 in the time of king Henry VIII, he kept the said wife secretly, 
 and had children by her.* Hereto he also granted, afSrming 
 that it was better for him to have his own, than to do like other 
 priests, holding and keeping other men's wives." 
 
 i. Martin. "Didyouswear obedience to the see of Eome?" 
 Cranmer. " Indeed I did once swear unto the same. Martin. 
 " Tea, that you did twice, as appeareth from records and writings 
 here ready to be showed. At your consecration you took two 
 solemn oaths for your due obedience to be given to the see of 
 Rome, to become a true preacher or pastor of his flock; yet, con- 
 trary to your oath and allegiance, for unity, you have sowed dis- 
 cord; for chastity, marriage and adultery; for obedience, con- 
 tention; and for faith, yon have been the author of all mischief." 
 
 5. " What doctrine taught you when you condemned Lambert, 
 the sacramentary, in the king's presence at Whitehall ?" 
 Cranmer. " I maintained then the Papist doctrine. " Martin. 
 " Then from a Lutheran you became a ZuingHan — and for the 
 same heresy, you will help to bum Lambert, the sacramentary, 
 which you now call the Catholic faith and God's word." 
 
 •The crimiDality of this charge is founded on the violation of Ms oath of con- 
 tinency, wliich he had taken a,s an ecclesiastic; but this reforming archbishop 
 manifested on this as well as on other occasions, that the TiolatiOQ of a solemn 
 oath was bat a small matter with him. 
 
 vm. 
 
276 PROTESTANT DOCTRINES B. VI. 
 
 "vin''' ^- ^rom these sliort tints it is easy to perceive, who bore the 
 
 '■ — highest marks of antichrist, and most evidently filled the character 
 
 of those entire apostates from the faith and practice of Christ, 
 spoken of in the Scriptures. Therefore, Martin, with the highest 
 Catholic authority, addresses Cranmer, as follows. 
 
 7. " Christ foretold there should come against his Church, 
 ravening wolves, and false apostles. But how shall we know 
 them? Why, Christ teaoheth us, saying, 'By their fruits ye 
 shall know them. What are their fruits ? St. Paul declareth, 
 after the flesh they walk in concupiscence, and uncleanhess, they 
 contemn power.' " 
 
 8 "Again: in the latter days there shall be perilous times. 
 Then shall there be men loving themselves, covetous, proud, 
 disobedient to parents, treason-workers. Whether these be not 
 the fruits of your gospel, I refer to this audience; whether the 
 said gospel began not with perjury, proceeded with adultery, and 
 ended in conspiracy." 
 
 9. So much then have the Protestants gained, by endeavoring 
 to prove that the Papists forbid to marry, in order that they 
 might be released from every obligation to chastity, and take full 
 liberty in their incestuous and beastly works ; so that, in this 
 respect, they evidently reformed from bad to worse. 
 
 10. Likewise their charging the pope with forbidding to marry 
 in order to excuse themselves, will be but weakly supported, if 
 
 *See Dod- Tf,Q consider that their translation of^ 1 Tim. iv. 1,2, 3, is, ac- 
 Loc°' " cording to their own critics, much to be disputed.* 
 
 11. But, admitting their translation to be never so correct, it 
 is a question whether the Papists, from a comparison of their 
 
 *SeeRom- doctriues with those of the Protestants on that subject, have not 
 2Cor xr'2' ^^*^ greatest right to charge the latter with forbidding to marry, 
 according to the Apostle's use of the term.* 
 
 12. It is most certain that the people of God always did con- 
 sider marriage to be something very different from what the lost 
 and corrupt nations of the earth conceived it to be ; then, from 
 such a plain distinction, the question would naturally arise, 
 whether those apostates in the latter times would forbid what was 
 called marriage by the people of God, or that which went under 
 that name among the nations of the earth ; and no one need to 
 doubt that the Apostle meant they would forbid marriage in its 
 true order and sense, and not in the corrupt sense of the world: 
 for the world loveth its own, and apostates love the same. 
 
 13. Although it, is evident enough that the papal hierarchy 
 did, by law, oblige their clergy to abstain from marriage, ac- 
 cording to the sense in which the Gentiles consider marriage, 
 which is a plain evidence that their institution of celibacy was a 
 spurious institution ; yet there is not the smallest proof that they 
 forbade marriage, as it was instituted in the innocent st^te of 
 
B. VI. 
 
 CONCERNING CONTINENCE. 
 
 277 
 
 Grounds of 
 C. Doc. p. 
 23. 
 
 Gr. mu3te- 
 rioii. 
 
 xsxix Ar- 
 vicles. 
 
 man, nor (according to their creeds) did tliey fortid it as it was ^^,f7' 
 
 considered by the followers of Christ, relative to their spiritual . '. 
 
 union in the Lord, and with one another. This is manifest from 
 the Grounds of the Catholic Doctrine, as follows. 
 
 14. " Q. When was matrimony instituted ? Ans. It was first 
 instituted by Grod Almighty in Paradise, between our first 
 parents ; and this institution was confirmed by Christ in the new 
 law. Matt. six. 4, 5, 6. where he concludes, What God hath 
 joined together, let not man put asunder." 
 
 15. " Q. How do you prove that matrimony is a sacrament? 
 Ans. Because it is a conjunction made. and sanctified by God 
 himself, and not to be dissolved by any power of man, as being 
 a sacred sign, or mysterious representation of the indissoluble 
 union of Christ and his Church. Eph. v. 31, 32. For this 
 cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined 
 to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great 
 mystery, (fiusrjpiou, a sacrament,") &o. 
 
 16. Now in the Protestant articles of faith it is expressly 
 asserted to the contrary. "Matrimony, &c., are not to be 
 counted for sacraments, for that they have not any visible sign 
 or ceremony ordained of God." With this the Protestant con- 
 fessions universally agree. They scofi: at the popish sacrament 
 
 of marriage, and call it, "a bastard sacrament," and afBrm that National 
 marriage is no sacrament or sacred rite at all, but equally per- ^°^^"™'- 
 tains to all sorts of people who are able with judgment to give Faiih. 
 their consent. 
 
 17. The Jews' bible or book was very difi'erent from a book 
 that was common among all sorts of people, and as difi'erent was 
 their law of marriage, from marriage so called among the profane 
 Gentiles. The same distinction will hold good between that 
 marriage which the followers of Christ called a raystery, and 
 that civil contract which was common among all sorts. 
 
 18. Then if the Protestants did, in any sense, impede, hinder, 
 prohibit or forbid such marriage as God instituted in Paradise, 
 or prescribed by the ministry of angels to the Jews, or that in- 
 nocent, pure, and chaste union in Christ, which implies a state 
 of continency, and is spiritually called a marriage, or being 
 married in the Lord, then it evidently follows, that they are the 
 ones who forbid to marry, in a more important sense than the 
 Papists. 
 
 19. As far as both the Papists and Protestants were unani- 
 mous in persecuting those who bore a practical testimony con- 
 cerning the faith of Christ, and the spiritual union of the saints, 
 so far they jointly fill up the character of those apostates of the 
 latter times spoken of by the Apostle. 
 
 20. It is evident, from the Scriptures of truth that this spiritual 
 union in Christ, and in his Church, is the last marriage that was 
 
278 
 
 PROTESTANT DOCTRINES 
 
 B.VI. 
 
 Geneva 
 Conf. p, 
 2L, 22. 
 
 1st Book of 
 Dis. Doc. 
 1st. 
 
 CHAP, sanctioned of God ; and under tliat name it was held as the most 
 ^'"•' sacred institution, in support of which thousands in the primitive 
 Church were willing to be tortured to death ; and as it was the 
 last order or kind of marriage which was sanctioned by Almighty 
 G-od, it was this that was in a peculiar manner, forbidden by the 
 apostates of later times. 
 
 21. The Geneva and Scotch confessions of faith pointedly 
 maintain, that "A politic magistrate belongs to the church; to 
 whom (say they) it appertaineth to root out all doctrines of 
 devils and men, (among which are ranked) free-will vows of 
 single life, (f-c. The punishment whereof, although God often- 
 times deferreth in this life, yet, after the general resurrection, 
 when our souls and bodies rise again to immortality, they shall 
 be damned to unquenchable fire." 
 
 22. Among other things which they say are to be utterly sup- 
 pressed, and abolished, are, vows of chastity, and difference of 
 meats for conscience sake, and affirm that "All maintainers of 
 such abominations should be punished with the civil sword." 
 
 23. This was the faith established at Geneva, and received 
 and approved by the church of Scotland, in the beginning of the 
 Reformation. Could there possibly be a more pointed forbid- 
 ding of the sacred mystery of being joined ta the Lord in one 
 spirit? And further, what they forbade, they were able to 
 
 *churches. excoute by their politic magistrate, so that their kirks* and king- 
 doms should be wholly purged, as they express it, "from all 
 idolaters and heretics, as Papists, Anabaptists, and such like 
 limbs of antichrist," as would not receive their reformed doctrine 
 of matrimony, which was common to all sorts. 
 
 24. To this Protestant confession of faith may be added their 
 public form of prayer. "Almighty God, from whom all power 
 is derived, we humbly beseech thee to bless thy servant the 
 ior(Z-Lieutenant of this kingdom, and grant that he may use the 
 sword, which our Sovereign (or dread sovereign) Lord, the 
 King, hath committed into his hand for the protection of the true 
 religion established amongst us." 
 
 25. This true religion, as it is called, most positively forbids 
 every obligation to chastity, and all distinction between clean 
 and unclean beasts, under the terrors of the sword, and all pains, 
 civil and ecclesiastical, as will more fully appear. And what • 
 these reformers established under the name of marriage, in the 
 place of all that had been called sacred, is manifest from their 
 own confessions. 
 
 26. In that part of their creed which respects marriage, the 
 name of God is not even mentioned, (except in the negative,) and 
 it is only when they speak of divorce, that the stolen words of 
 scripture, or the name of God is used ; which is a plain evidence 
 that they consider marriage as a thing common, and not as a 
 
 Confes, 
 Sec. iv 
 
 Book of 
 Common 
 Pniyer. 
 
B. YI. 
 
 CONCERNING CONTINENCE. 
 
 279 
 
 sacred institution. This is manifest in their latest creeds,* which 
 shows that their faith has been uniform, on that subject, from the 
 beginning. 
 
 27. "Marriage (say they) is to be between one man and one 
 woman." No account here of that being dead wherein we were 
 held, or of becoming dead to the law by the body of Christ ; that 
 we might be married to another, even to him that was raised 
 from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God. 
 
 28. Again they say, "Marriage was ordained for the mutual 
 help of husband and wife ; for the increase of mankind with a 
 legitimate issue, and of the church with an holy seed; and for 
 preventing of uncleanness. It is lawful for all sorts of people 
 to marry, &c." " Bishops, priests and deacons are not com- 
 manded by God's law either to vow the estate of single life, or 
 to abstain from marriage ; therefore it is lawful for them to 
 marry at their own discretion." 
 
 29. If by marriage, they mean that outward sign or ceremony, 
 which they say was never ordained of God, but which they in- 
 vented to ratify the contract of man and wife, then marriage, in 
 their account, is but a civil rite, with which the true followers of 
 Christ never had any thing to do. 
 
 30. And this will appear most evidently to be the fact, if we 
 advert to the form of marriage, " ratified, rehearsed, allowed, 
 approved, and executed within the realm, by the assent and con- 
 sent of [their] Sovereign Lady Elizabeth, hy the grace of 
 God, of England, France, and Ireland, Queen, defender of the 
 faith, SfC." 
 
 31. In this lascivious ceremony, after the parties have re- 
 peated much senseless jargon after the priest, the man shall put 
 a ring upon the fourth finger of the woman's left hand, and hold- 
 ing it there, and taught by the priest, shall say, " With this 
 ring I thee wed, with my hod,ij I thee worship, and with all my 
 wordly goods I thee endow: In the name of the Father, and of 
 the Son, and nf the Holy Ghost. Amen." 
 
 32. The late American Presbyterian Confession says, "Such 
 as profess the true reformed religion should not marry with 
 infidels, Papists, or other idolaters." An idolater is one who 
 worships an idol, a false god, or a plurality of gods. And are 
 the reformed Protestants no idolaters? Do they worship one 
 God? Yea truly, and the above form of matrimony, without 
 either veil or fig-leaf, shows who it is — DC^ Woman, with my body 
 I thee worship! and with all my worldly goods I thee endow." 
 
 33. "The godly (they say) should not be unequally yoked 
 with such as maintain damnable heresies." Then, according to 
 their creed, it behooves the worshipper, forsooth, to worship the 
 Lord his God with all his heart, soul, strength and might; and 
 to this kind of worship all kinds of people enjoy an equal right. 
 
 CIIAP. 
 
 vm. 
 
 ^'^ee Am. 
 Coiif. o/ F. 
 of Pii. Oil. 
 xxiv. 
 
 Rom. vii. 4. 
 
 xxxix Ar- 
 ticles. 
 
 Book of 
 Common 
 Prayer. 
 
 Ch. xxiv. 
 
 Book of 
 Common 
 Prayer. 
 
280 
 
 PHOTESTANT DOCTKINES 
 
 B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 vni. 
 
 Westm. 
 Direct. Ch. 
 
 »Sce Gal. 
 
 iii. as. 
 
 Westm. 
 Conf. and 
 Amer. 
 Jidit. 
 
 34. They talk of solemnizing holy marriage; but so awful 
 a profanation of words, and so glaring a prostitution of common 
 sense, never was presented to tke human ear, through all the 
 superstition and idolatry of pagan and popish priests ; and there- 
 fore this finishing work of antichrist, not only forbade the pure 
 spiritual marriage of the saints, but remitted and disannulled 
 every restraint that had ever been laid on the carnal lust of man, 
 and thereby corrupted the sacred institution to its very source. 
 
 35. The very idea of solemnizing the matrimonial contract, 
 implies that the Protestants considered it, in itself, void of any 
 sacred or spiritual sanction ; which is plain from their own words. 
 "We judge it expedient (say they) that marriage be solemnized 
 by a lawful minister of the word — that he may pray for a blessing 
 upon them- — entreat the Lord to own and accept them in Christ 
 [*] who are to be joined in the honorable estate of marriage, the 
 covenant of their God. That the Lord would be pleased to ac 
 company his own ordinance with his blessing, particularly with 
 the comforts and fruits of marriage." 
 
 36. Hence they hypocritically pretend that their motive in 
 marrying is, "^o increase the church with an holy seed." But 
 their confession, in the postcript of their creed, is, that they 
 " beget children and keep families, merely for the world andthe 
 
 flesh:" and the same confession says, that their masters of 
 families, moreover, "educate their children for the world and 
 the flesh — betraying the souls of their children to the devil." 
 
 37. Lastly, the end of their holy marriage, they say, is " for 
 preventing of uncleanness : and may be performed at any time 
 except on a day of public humiliation. And we advise that it be. 
 not on the Lord's day." Which is a further evidence that they 
 conceive nothing either sacred or solemn in it. Then it only re- 
 mains to enquire, what uncleanness it is instituted to prevent ? 
 
 38. The reformers have not left in the dark, what they mean 
 by uncleanness in general ; it is the same that Luther called popish 
 lust, or those lawless gratifications of the flesh which have no 
 kind of respect to a posterity. And does the Protestant mar- 
 riage prevent all such uncleanness ? 
 
 39. Does that solemn ordinance (as they call it) bind them to 
 such times and seasons as nature prescribes for conceiving seed ? 
 If it does not, have they sufficient authority to count that clean- 
 ness, which both law and gospel call uncleanness? Are the de- 
 crees of their most dread sovereign, or of their sovereign Lady, 
 and all their church guides sufficient to forbid and disannul that 
 sacred light of heaven, which excludes from the kingdom of Christ, 
 every lustful and lawless propensity? Is there no uncleanness 
 committed between the Protestant man and wife ? 
 
B. VI. CONCERNING MARRIAGE. 281 
 
 40. The fact is, the Reformation opened the very last and most ''^^*''- 
 
 effectual door for the unrestrained and full gratification of every 1_ 
 
 unclean, and worse than brutal lust, both in man and woman, 
 
 under the name of a holy ordinance, by making the woman a 
 proper object of wors"hip, or setting her up, openly and avowedly, 
 above all that is truly called God. 
 
 41. Therefore, according to the Protestant faith and practice, 
 every sacred rule of chastity, every degree of light, tending to 
 continency, or Gospel purity, has been anathematized out of coun- 
 tenance, and driven from their kirks and realms with the most 
 furious zeal. 
 
 42. They have enjoined it iipon all, as a solemn duty to marry, 
 in their ways, and have established marriage in a way which in- 
 dulges the licentious prospect of living in the full gratification of 
 their lusts, with full liberty to defile and abuse each other in the 
 most scandalous, incestuous and debauching manner, without any 
 respect to times or seasons ; not even regarding the dictates of 
 modesty and prudence, and much less those interposing com- 
 mands of heaven, which, under the law of Moses, exempted the 
 woman from every such lawless abuse, while in a state of preg- 
 nancy, and throughout the days of her separation. 
 
 43. Then what have the Protestants to charge upon the 
 Papists? Was it not they themselves that increased unto more 
 ungodliness, and whose words have eaten out the very marrow of 
 the Gospel, as doth a canker; among whom is Hymeneus or 27? 
 Hymen, i.e. the defender of nuptials, and Philetus, the carnal 
 lover ? 
 
 44. And who can be so justly charged with "departing (or 
 standing off) from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and 
 doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy," &o., as those very 
 false swearers, those perjured apostates, who not only renounced 
 the profession of chastity and continence, but publicly declaimed 
 against that innocent manner of life ? 
 
 45. In the heat of their reformed lust, they went on pulling 
 down and destroying those buildings, which both they, and their 
 respected forefathers, and good old mother church had deemed 
 most sacred, and which had been professedly erected, and, in their 
 way, solemnly dedicated for the accommodation of such as chose 
 to adopt the profession of continency. And lastly, to fill up the 
 measure of their character, they have forbidden holy marriage in 
 truth, and out of manifest contempt to everything sacred, have 
 contemned continency, and given the title of holy marriage to 
 their lascivious and vain ceremony. 
 
 46. These charges cannot apply to any civil government, in 
 itself considered ; for the members of such never were, nor ever 
 can be forbidden to marry in their way, by the followers of 
 Christ ; nor have such ever prohibited the marriage and spiritual 
 
 19 
 
 2 Tim. 
 
282 
 
 PEOTESTANT DOCTRINES, &C. 
 
 B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. 
 VIII. 
 
 "Wilber- 
 fnrce on 
 Reli£>ioii, 
 p. 112. 
 
 Wesley's 
 Notes on 
 Mat xix. 
 12. 
 
 union of the saints. It is, therefore, that apostate priesthood who 
 corrupted civil government with their hypocritical and obscene 
 forms of religion, to whom the charge of forhid-ding marriage 
 properly belongs. 
 
 47. Nor is every individual, who has been called by the name 
 of Protestant, to be ranked with those hypocritical liars, who set 
 out to sap the very foundation of truth. Amidst the darkness 
 of established systems, there have been men of candor and dis- 
 cernment, who were willing to give the Scriptures their due 
 weight on the side of Gospel holiness. To instance this, a few 
 sentences from their writings may be sufficient. 
 
 48. " ' Mortify the Jlesh with its affections and lusts' is (says 
 Wilberforce,) the Christian precept; a soft luxurious course of 
 habitual indulgence, is the practice of the bulk of modern 
 Christians; and that constant moderation, that wholesome dis- 
 cipline of restraint and self denial, which are requisite to prevent 
 the unperceived encroachments of the inferior appetites, seem 
 altogether disused as the exploded austerities of monkish super- 
 stition." 
 
 49. Again, says John Wesley, " There are eunuchs who have 
 made themselves eunuchs for the hingdom of heaven's sake — 
 Happy they ! who have abstained from marriage (though without 
 condemning or despising it) that they might walk more closely 
 with God ! He that is able to receive il, let him receive it : — this 
 gracious command [for such it is unquestionably, since to say, 
 such a man may live single, is saying nothing. Who ever 
 doubted this ?] is not designed for all men ; but only for those 
 few who are able to receive it. let these receive it joy- 
 fully!" 
 
B. VI. PROTESTANT DOCTRINES AND DISCIPLINE. 283 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PROTESTANT CHANGES CONCERNING DISCIPLINE, RIGHTS, 
 AND TITLES. 
 
 Pasting is another article of the Eeformation. The Protestants chap.ix. 
 charge the Papists with commanding to ahstain from meats, 
 although they themselves have been as positive in their commands 
 of that kind as the Papists ; but the word commanding in 1 
 Tim. iv. 3 — is put into the text by the translators. 
 
 2. Blackwell, <aii after him Doddridge, ohserves, that ^Hh.e Dodr. in 
 original words contain one of the boldest ellipses in the whole 
 
 New Testament, where a word is to be understood contrary to 
 that which is before expressed." But admitting the propriety of 
 such a bold ellipsis, they can make nothing out of it to condemn 
 the Papists that will not apply to themselves. " To observe days ^^'^' ^'- 
 of fasting {sa,j fhey) we judge both sc7-iptural and rational," a.nd xiv. 
 "a religious fast requires total abstinence from food." 
 
 3. Then if a temporary abstinence from meat or common food i Tim. iv. 
 is meant, the charge falls upon them equally with the Papists. ^' 
 
 If they make it signify a perpetual abstinence, either from meat, 
 or other common food, they will find no people on earth to whom 
 it will apply ; then it must follow that the abstinence respected 
 something else : and what should it more likely be than that from 
 which the followers of Christ universally abstained ? 
 
 4. Upon this principle, that text of Scripture would read with 
 propriety, and in harmony with others, without the bold ellipsis. 
 
 " But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions Acts, xv. 
 of idols, and fornication, and things strangled, and blood. For ^"'^^ 
 it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us — that ye abstain j j.^^^^ ^^ 
 from meats offered to idols, &o. For this is the will of God, even 3- 
 your sanotification, that ye should abstain from fornication." 
 
 5. "Dearly beloved,.! beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, iPet. ii. 
 abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." This ^^' 
 exhortation to abstain from fleshly lusts is mot "forbidding to 
 marry and commanding to abstain from meats," as the transla- 
 tors, in their " bold ellipsis" have it ; and which stands, contrasted 
 
 with what Christ Jesus and his Apostles commanded, or enjoined, 
 for no one could ever obey these injunctions without abstaining 
 from the marriage of the flesh." 
 
 6. The doctrine and practice of the saints, was to marry only 
 in the Lord, or in the spirit — to abstain from fleshly lusts — from 
 fornication, and from meats offered to idols : these were insepa- 
 rably connected ; and both were inseparably forbidden by the 
 
284 PEOTESTANT DOCTRINES AND DISCIPLINE. B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. IX. menacing tone of the Protestant perjured reformers, and their 
 politic magistrates. 
 
 7. No life of continency was tolerated ; no abstinence from 
 fleshly lusts permitted, nor any suffered in the realm, that would 
 
 •Seel Cor. not offer their meats,* yea all their worldly goods to that 
 "■ '*'• insatiable idol, which they set up as an object of bodily worship. 
 Here was the forbidding to abstain from meats which, they say, 
 G-od created to be received with thanksgiving of thorn that believe 
 and know the truth; but they neither knew nor believed the 
 truth nor used the creature of God according to its original end 
 when it was very good. 
 
 8. The meat which Christ Jesus spake of eating, was that of ab- 
 staining from his own will, and doing the will of God! "I came 
 
 .lohn, iv. not to do mine own will," are his words — " I have meat to eat 
 'ss. ' that ye know not of — my meat is to do the will of him that sent 
 
 me." And the same that was his meat, became also the meat of 
 his followers. Their meat was to take up their cross, and ab- 
 stain from fleshly lusts, and do the will of Jesus Christ, as he did 
 the will of his Father. This was the true meat, which God had 
 appointed to be received with thanksgiving by them that believed 
 and knew the truth. 
 
 9. But on the contrary, the meats which satisfied the licentious 
 appetites of the Gentiles, were the gratification of their fleshly 
 
 1 Cor. vi. lusts. Hence said the Apostle to the carnal Corinthians, " Meats 
 for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy 
 both it and them." [Or more Tpro^eilj, fleshly lusts for their 
 pleasures,^ and these pleasures, meats for their fleshly natures; 
 but these things shall God destroy.] For the body is not for for- 
 nication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body." 
 
 10. Therefore the Protestants, in refusing nothing that tended 
 to gratify their fleshly lusts, rejected the cross of Christ altogether, 
 and pretended to sanctify by their word of God and their prayers 
 that which all ecclesiastical writers on the subject, Protestant as 
 well as Papist, have owned and declared to be in its very care, 
 altogether evil and corrupt. 
 
 11. We have explained this subject, to obviate the objections 
 to virgin purity, which are founded on the aforesaid text, accord- 
 ing to the common version, and from which it may be seen by 
 any candid mind that this text, cannot have the least bearing 
 against the course of life adopted by the believers in the second 
 appearing of Christ, for they -have voluntarily chosen to follow 
 
 1 cor.ch. the example of Jesus Christ, which none presume to deny in this 
 
 ch 3d. i. respect. And would St. Paul point out as a prominent mark of 
 
 apostasy, that course of life which he himself had adopted and 
 
 fWhoever compares this sense with what follows to the end of the chapter, msy 
 easily perceive that it is the true sense of the Apostle : besides it is inconsistent 
 with the nature of God to destroy that which is good. Destruction is denonncfd 
 only against that which in its very nature is eril. 
 
 13. 
 
B. VI. PROTESTANT DOCTRINES AND DISCIPLINE. 285 
 
 recommended to all men? And he also calls upon them to chap. )x. 
 follow him, even as he followed Christ. 
 
 12. Now, if such a course of life was a mark of apostasy, then 
 Paul, by setting himself up as an example, and "building again 
 the things which he destroyed," in so sacred a matter, must have 
 
 ■ placed himself as an impostor, and false witness for Christ, and 
 thereby made himself a transgressor of the most sacrilegious See Gal. ii. 
 kind. !«• 
 
 13. But the said translation is contradictory in itself, for the 
 supply words, "and commanding'''' being left out, if the first 
 part of the sentence is i-endered "forbidding," the latter part 
 must also be rendered "forbidding to abstain from meats, which 
 G-od hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which 
 believe and know the truth." 
 
 14. Now, who would say, that this ]a,tter forbidding could be 
 construed into a mark of apostasy ; if it could not be so con- 
 strued, then the former "forbidding''^ is evidently rendered 
 wrong. Doubtless the translators saw this discrepancy, and sup- 
 plied the "bold ellipsis" (as Doddridge calls it,) which they had 
 no good authority to do; and there is much better authority, 
 which will render the whole consistent. 
 
 15. Therefore, if our opponents will have it literal, and apply 
 it to the carnal marriage of the world, we, on our part, are pre- 
 pared to show that they, and not "the followers of the Lamb," 
 are the ones who are condemned by the text in question. 
 
 16. According to their highest and most approved critics, the 
 word koluo, which their translators have rendered in this place, 
 "forbidding " originally and radically signified to confine, con- 
 strain, bind, or sfait up, and that " commanding" is not in the 
 original. . 
 
 17. Therefore, the text in the original reads literally binding, 
 confining, or constraining to marry, to abstain from meats, 
 which God had created to be received with thanksgiving, &c. 
 
 18. Hence, the former applies literally with full force to the 
 Protestants, who, by their established religion, bind or constrain 
 to marry, after the course of the world, and thus "forbid," 
 
 under the terrors of the civil sword, "the marriage of the Rev.xiv.i. 
 Lamb" in his virgin followers. 
 
 19. And the latter [abstainijtg from meats] the Papists and 
 Protestants may continue to divide between themselves, as they 
 have already practically done, by-charging it upon each other, 
 and each partially practising it themselves.* 
 
 20. Nor have the Protestants any reason to reflect on the 
 
 *The aforesaid translation, as we have rendered it, is supported by the Septua- 
 gint, ParkhuTst, Bythur, and More, and is inferred from Blackwell and Dod- 
 dridge; which, if admitted, (and it cannot, on any substantial grounds, be dis- 
 puted,) must settle this matter at once, between the lovers of purity, in the mar- 
 riage of the Lamb, and the lovers of carnal pleasure, in the marriage of the world. 
 
286 PROTESTANT DOCTRINES AND DISCIPLINE. B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. rx. Papists, about their higliand superstitious titles conferred on the 
 bishop of Home ; for the reformers left nothing behind on that 
 score. Besides the common titles that appear in their creeds and 
 confessions, such as Lord — Sovereign Lord — Dread Sovereign 
 Lord, they need but look into their bibles, to find a title as 
 presumptuous as ever the Pope sustained. To the Most High 
 and Mighty Prince James, <^c. Higher than the Most High 
 cannot be. 
 
 21. "The queen's majesty hath the chief power in this realm 
 of England, and other her dominions, unto whom the chief gov- 
 ernment of all estates of the realm, whether they be ecclesiastical 
 or civil doth appertain." This is a part of their reformed creed, 
 which included England, France, and Ireland; and had the 
 bishop of Home ever greater authority in his dominions ? 
 
 22. The Protestants glory over the Papists, in being able to 
 bring their dark abominations to light ; but surely they ought to 
 be ashamed to exhibit those very same, and greater abominations, 
 in the open light, by their own practice. 
 
 23. When the Protestant Supremacy was established, and the 
 law respecting marriage reformed, there remained but one point 
 more to reform, that was of any great consequence to the priest- 
 hood; and that was, as their y!?-*; book of discipline expresses it, 
 
 1 Book of "the whole rents nf the kirk, abused i?i Papistry, shall be re- 
 dj^x™"^' f^''">'^d again to the kirli — that tithes, the uppermost cloth, the 
 clerk mail, thepasch-offerings, tithe-ale ; all friaries, nunneries, 
 chantries, chaplainries, annual rejits, <^c., be reduced to the help 
 of the kirk — the deacons disposing them to the ministry ; and 
 moreover that, merchants and craftsmen in Burg, should con- 
 tribute to the support of the kirk." 
 
 24. Thus they turned the whole current of revenue, which, as 
 they say, had been lavished upon a profuse pontiff, and the various 
 monastic orders, into a regular channel of salary to support the 
 luxury of the new kirk-guides. 
 
 25. As to the great change which the reformed priesthood 
 boast of, in respect to supplying the common people with bibles, 
 this great exploit loses much of its importance when we consider 
 that it was only that sense or meaning which they fixed for the 
 Scriptures, and established by civil authority, that the people 
 were allowed to adopt. 
 
 26. Into this Catholic sense of the Scriptures, they were either 
 drawn by eloquence, driven by civil authority, or frighted by the 
 hideous din of eternal destruction against free-thinkers, free- 
 willers, and all such reprobate heretics as would dare to think 
 differently from the established system. 
 
 27. Their charging the Papists with idolatry, such as the 
 worship of images, relics, &o., was but a further mark of their 
 hypocrisy, while they only re-formed the practice of idolatry into 
 
B. VI. PROTESTANT DOCTRINES AND DISCIPLINE. 287 
 
 another shape. They say, " The true God may not he chap ix. 
 worshipped according to the imaginations or devices of men — Amer. 
 under any visible representation," yet they will use consecrated Conf ch 
 water, wine, and bread in their worship, and affirm that Christ, erCai. q. 
 (who is true God,) is thereby represented, sealed and applied to ''^' 
 believers. 
 
 28. And what have they but the imagination and devices of 
 men, for their songs, their long sermons, and pharisaical prayers 1 
 They acknowledge that Origen was the first who introduced the 
 practice of sermonizing upon the Scriptures; that the oldest 
 psalmody they have, was introduced into the Church, in the 
 reign of Consiantine ; and their own Scriptures prove, that their 
 standing and praying, to be seen of men, is the undeniable mark 
 of a hypocrite ; and yet such are the principal parts of thei» re- 
 formed worship. 
 
 29. And what are their steeple houses but Pagan temples re- 
 formed, and ornamented with pictures, pulpits, bells, and instru- 
 ments of music? And can any thing manifest greater blindness 
 than to call this work, built by their own hands, the Church, and 
 Christ'' s Church, or St. Paulas Church, and St Peter''s Church? 
 Can Christ, or St. Paul and St. Peter have any fellowship or 
 union with such churches ? 
 
 30. Protestants pretend to abhor relics, and images ; but what 
 mean their costly marbles and epitaphs that ornament their bury- 
 ing grounds, and the images of their great ones, with which their 
 coin, their furniture and their houses have been replete ? * 
 
 31. They abhor popish titles : but after forming and re-form- 
 ing, from the most mighty, down the long list of Lords, Knights, 
 Barons, Counts, and Earls, with their corresponding priestly 
 titles, it remains, even to this day, that the most humble grade 
 of the clergy, must be distinguished by the title of Reverend, or 
 Reverend Sir, and the very lowest class of their church members, 
 must be all gentlemen and ladies ; each a Sir, a Mr. a MadMm, 
 or a Miss. 
 
 32. And if the more enterprising among the reformers, occa- 
 sionally introduce the use of common names, or scriptural-titles, 
 
 *To show the wonderful duplicity and horrid cruelty of that '' Sovereign 
 iatZt/," to whom such supreme power wa5 given, it is said; *' All persons were 
 compelled to take the oath of supremacy, on pain of death.'^ To take the oath of 
 supremacy! that is to say — to acknowledge the'Queen's supremacy in spiritual 
 matters, was to renounce the Pope, and the Catholic religion ; or, in other words, 
 to become an apostate. Thus, was a very large part of the people at once con- 
 demned to death, for adhering to the religion of their fathers ! ! 
 
 Besides this act of monstrous barbarity, it was made high treason in a priest, to 
 say mass; it was made high treason in a priest to come into the kingdom from 
 abroad; it was made high treason to harbor or to relieve a priest. And, on these 
 grounds, and others of a like nature, hundreds upon hundreds, were butchered in 
 the most inhuman manner, being first bung up — then cut down, alire — their 
 bowels then ripped up, and their bodies chopped into quarters!! See Cobbett's 
 History of the Reformation, p. 142. vs. 267 and 268. 
 
288 PROTESTANT DOCTRINES AND DISCIPLINE. B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. IX. gj^^ teacli the same to others, the lesson is soon forgotten, and 
 their natural love of worldly honor insensibly leads thom back 
 to the vain ceremony of pompous titles and flattering compli- 
 ments ; so that whatever the world is, the same in substance is 
 the Protestant Reformed Church, with only the superior ad- 
 vantages of a false religion, and the most refined arts of deception. 
 
 33. Virtue never needed the varnish of superstitious ceremo- 
 nies, and atoning rites. It was always vice and corruption that 
 required long prayers, and sermons, and sacraments, and outward 
 shows of sanctity, to change their native appearance, and ward 
 ofif deserved condemnation. Therefore the great work of reform- 
 ing these outward things, was a strong evidence of the increasing 
 depravity of the reformers. 
 
 34. It is written. The testimony of two men is true. The re- 
 formed church beareth witness of herself, and her mother also 
 beareth witness of her, and they both agree in one — that with all 
 her outward changes, and reformations, she only promoted a 
 greater increase of wickedness : and now, in the mouth of two or 
 three witnesses, shall this fact be established. 
 
 •p. 56. 35. In the Grounds of the Catholic Doctrine* it is testified, 
 
 that, " The fruits of the Reformation were such as could not 
 spring from a good tree. 1. An innumerable spawn of heresies. 
 2. Endless dissensions. 3. A perpetual itch of changing, and 
 inconstancy in their doctrine. In fine, a visible change of 
 manners for the worse, as many of their own writers freely 
 acknowledge. And old Erasmus long ago objected to them, 
 Ep. ad vuhur, where he defies them to shew him one who had 
 been reclaimed from vice by going over to their religion ; and he 
 declares he never yet met with one who did not seem changed for 
 the worse." 
 Ecci. Hij- 36. "With regard to the Lutherans, Dr. Mosheim, a member 
 iv!^'. 2S2 °^ ^^^^ branch of the Protestant church, states, that, " the terror 
 283. of excommunication lost its force ; and ecclesiastical discipline 
 
 was reduced to such a shadow, that, in most places, there are 
 scarcely any remains, any traces of it to be seen at this day." 
 
 37. "This change may be attributed partly to the corrupt 
 propensities of mankind, who are t-jturally desirous of destroy- 
 ing the influence of every institution that is designed to curb 
 their licentious passions. This relaxation of ecclesiastical disci- 
 pline (adds the writer) removed one of the most powerful restraints 
 upon iniquity. 
 
 38. " When this is duly considered, it will not appear surpris- 
 ing that the manners of the Lutherans are so remarkably de- 
 praved, and that in a church that is deprived almost of all 
 authority and discipline, multitudes affront the public by their 
 audacious irregularities, and transgress with a frontless impu- 
 dence, through the prospect of impunity." 
 
B. VI. ■ PROTESTANT DOCTRINES AND DISCIPLINE. 289 
 
 39. So far concerning the reformed churcli of Luther. And chap. ix. 
 this, mind, is all the degree of virtue and regularity the 
 Lutheran Protestants had gained, for upwards of two hundred 
 
 years, since their separation from their mother ohurdi. What 
 respects the Calvinistic church may be seen at large in the West- 
 minister Confession of Faith, under the title of, A solemn con- 
 fession of public sins, from which the following is but a small 
 extract. 
 
 40. "We [i.e. Reformed Calvinists, or Presbyterians'] noble- 
 men, barons, gentlemen, burgesses, ministers of the Gospel, and 
 commons of all sorts, do humbly and sincerely, as in his sight, 
 who is the searcher of hearts, acknowledge the many sins and 
 great trausgessions of the land. We have done wickedly, our 
 kings, our princes, our nobles, our judges, our officers, our 
 teachers and our people ; and have broken all the articles of 
 that solemn league and cove7iant which we swore before God, 
 angels and men. 
 
 41. " We have been so far from endeavoring the extirpation 
 of profaneness, and what is contrary to the power of godliness, 
 that profanity hath been much winked at, and profane persons 
 much countenanced, and many times employed, until iniquity 
 and ungodliness hath gone over the face of the land as a flood. 
 
 42. "Nay, even those that had been looked upon as in- 
 cendiaries, and upon whom the Lord had set marks of desperate 
 malignancy, falsehood and deceit, were brought in, as fit to 
 manage public afl'airs. Nay, many of the nobility, gentry, and 
 burghers, who should have been examples of godliness, and sober 
 walking unto other, have been ring-leaders of excess and rioting. 
 
 43. "Albeit we be the Lord's people, yet to this day we have 
 not made it our study that judicatories should consist of, and 
 places of power and trust be filled with, men of a blameless and 
 Christian conversation; by which it hath come to pass, that 
 judicatories have been the seats of injustice and iniquity. 
 
 44. "It were impossible to reckon up all the abominations 
 that are in the land; but the blaspheming of the name of G-od, 
 swearing by the creatures, profaning of the Lord's day, unolean- 
 ness, drunkenness, excess and rioting, vanity of apparel, lying 
 and deceit, railing and cursing, arbitrary and uncontrolled 
 oppression, and grinding the faces of the poor by landlords, and 
 others in place and power, are becoming ordinary and common 
 sins. There be many who heretofore have dealt deceitfully with 
 the Lord, in swearing falsely by his name." 
 
 45. Then, out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou 
 wicked church ! Where is the mark of false-hearted and rotten 
 apostates, in all the New Testament, that is not comprehended 
 in the foregoing catalogue of crimes, publicly confessed by these 
 pretended reformers ? 
 
290 
 
 PROTESTANT DOCTRINES AND DISCIPLINE. B. VI 
 
 CHAP IX. 
 
 Titus i. 16. 
 
 2 Tim. iii. 
 
 46. Their universal crime is perjury, the mark of the beast in 
 the right hand lifted up in confirmation of a false t)ath ; and 
 what remained but for them to fill up the measure of their cup 
 with desperate malignity, falsehood and deceit, uncleanness, 
 drunkenness, excess and rioting, and such abominations as it 
 were impossible to reckon up ? 
 
 47. Thus in the fatal schism between the civil and ecclesi- 
 astical powers, the beast, who was bred in that corrupt and 
 earthly mass, congested together by priests and politicians under 
 the name of a Christian hierarchy, comes up to open view, and 
 cannot be hid. He declares his own progeny, for he speaks like 
 a dragon, and leaves no mark of Rome Pagan, which he does 
 not describe in himself. 
 
 48. Whence proceeded such a flood of ungodliness ? was it not 
 from those judicatories that were seats of iiijustice and iniquity 'i 
 And whence proceeded such universal uncleanness ? was it not 
 from their prohibiting chastity, and destroying every trace of 
 continence and true virtue? And whence their excess and riot^ 
 was it not from their destroying every distinction of meats, which, 
 for conscience sake, had been made ? and have they not thus en- 
 couraged all ranks, rulers and ruled, priests and people to serve 
 their own bellies, instead of the Lord Jesus Christ? 
 
 49. From all which, it is the most manifest judgment of truth, 
 that the reformers and the reformed did, in the fullest perfection, 
 fill up those abominable characters of antichrist, described by 
 Christ and his Apostles ; who profess to know God, but in works 
 deny him, bei?ig abominable, and disobedient, and unto every 
 good loork reprobate. 
 
 50. And it is equally manifest that these same Calvinists,who 
 were counted the most perfect reformers, who called themselves 
 God's elect, and reprobated as vessels of wrath to eternal dam- 
 nation, anabaptists and all others, who were not of the same Ca- 
 tholic kirk, are, upon their own pointed confession, unto every 
 good work reprobate. 
 
 51. By professing to be the followers of Jesus Christ, and ob- 
 servers of the word of God, they most evidently speak lies in 
 hypocrisy, when in reality they are lovers of their own selves, cove- 
 tous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, truce-breakers, incontinent, 
 
 fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high- 
 minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a 
 
 form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Thus tie 
 second beast, under his lamb-like form, exercised all the power 
 of the first beast before him. 
 
B. VI. THE PERSECUTING SPIRIT OF, &C. 291 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 THE PERSECUTING SPIRIT OP THE PROTESTANT REFORMERS. 
 
 However abominable the doctrine of compulsion, and however chap, x. 
 corrupt the source from whence this principle flowed; yet the 
 Protestant reformers retained it in its fullest extent. This is 
 manifest in their delivering over people of different sentiments to 
 be oppressed and punished by the civil powers. 
 
 2. The persecutions of the Priscillianists, by the ecclesiastics 
 of Spain, in the fourth century, were at that time, regarded with 
 abhorrence by the bishops of Gaul and Italy, " for Christians [i.e. 
 Catholics] had not yet learned, (says Mosheim) that giving over 
 heretics to be punished by the magistrates, was either an act of 
 piety or justice." 
 
 3. "No: (says his translator) this abominable doctrine was eccI. His- 
 reserved for those times, when religion was to become an instru- '"7,'/°'''' 
 
 ' o 1 P- 416. 
 
 ment of despotism, or a pretext for the exercise of malevolence, 
 vengeance, and pride." 
 
 4. And it is evident from all the histories of those reforming 
 times, as well as from their own avowed creeds, that the Protest- 
 ant reformers not only retained this doctrine in principle, but 
 confirmed it by their practice ; being actuated by the same per- 
 secuting spirit of vengeance which had influenced the ungodly 
 ecclesiastics, who were raving mad with orthodoxy under the 
 papal power. 
 
 5. The Papal hierarchy being in a great measure broken in 
 pieces by means of the Keformation, and the reforming parties 
 being themselves broken in pieces by their own divisions and 
 perpetual dissensions, it was not possible for the latter to extend 
 the limits of their tyranny so far as the former, except when they 
 all united. 
 
 6. But the persecuting spirit of the Protestants was uniformly 
 one and the same with that which had produced the Spanish 
 
 couTt of inquisition, and fell short of its cruelties only in extent, j,^^, ^^ 
 The same spirit of antichrist which actuated the Papists, actuated searches, p. 
 also the Protestants. ^^^' 
 
 7. Robinson says very justly, "Dominion over conscience is 
 antichrist any where. At Rome, antichrist is of age, a sovereign, 
 and wears a crown; at the meanest meeting house, if the same 
 kind of tyranny be, antichrist is a beggar's baby at the breast; 
 but as conscience every where is a throne of God, so an usurper 
 of his throne is antichrist any where." 
 
 8. "Whatever deranges the equality of Christians, is the spirit ibM.p.isi. 
 
lory, vol 
 iv. p. 302. 
 
 292 THE PERSECUTING SPIRIT OP B. VI. 
 
 ci-iAP.x. of antichrist, all the rest is nothing but "the carcase." Call it 
 truth, or rpietij, or virtue, or the Gospel, or ivhatover you please, 
 the whole stands in direct opposition to the true Christ, so long 
 as that persecuting spirit of tyranny remains connected with it. 
 
 9. It was but a little while after the Reformation commenced, 
 that this beastly work of persecution was set on foot, in order to 
 crush the rising sects in their infancy, to bow down every effort 
 on the side of freedom, and to extirpate every reputed heretic 
 who dared to oppose the reformed plans of corrupt ambition, and 
 more reiined cruelties. And who more fit to set the example 
 than the first reformer, BIabtin Luther ? In him the spirit of 
 antichrist found an able advocate. 
 
 10. His most favorable historian, Dr. Mosheim, speaking of 
 Eeci. His- the bitterness and animosity of the first reformers, says, " Luther 
 
 himself appears at the head of this sanguine tribe, whom he far 
 surpassed in invectives and abuse, treating his adversaries with 
 the most brutal asperity, and sparing neither rank nor condition." 
 Ibid. p. 93. Dr. Maclaine speaks of his '■'obstinate, stubborn and violent 
 iwie [f], temper, rendering him unfit for healing divisions." 
 History of 11. Dr. Robertson says, "His confidence that his own 
 vouirp. ' opinions were well founded, approached to arrogance; his 
 311- courage in asserting them, to rashness ; his firmness in adhering 
 
 to them, to obstinacy ; and his zeal in confuting his adversaries, 
 to rage and scurrility.'" He considered every thing as sub- 
 ordinate to his own opinions under the name of truth, and poured 
 forth against such as disappointed him in this particular, a tor- 
 rent oi invective mingled with contempt.'" 
 Grounds of 12. All of which agrees with the following character given him 
 catK Doc. ]jy -[jisjjop Challoner. "All his works declare him to have been 
 a man of an implacable nature, rigidly self-vnlled, impatient of 
 contradiction, and rough and violent in his declamations asainst 
 those, of what quality soever, who dissented in the least from 
 him." 
 
 13. Silch was the head of influence to the Eeformation; and 
 as every effect must resemble its cause ; so persecution must as 
 naturally flow from such a source, as goodness and mercy pro- 
 ceeded from the meek, the merciful, and self-denying Jesus. 
 
 14. From rage and scurrility, brutal asperity, and an im- 
 placable nature, might reasonably be expected bloodshed and 
 cruelty. Hence this famous reformer began to exercise his 
 beastly power by banishment, and so proceeded. 
 
 Ecci. Re- 15. He fell out with Carlostadt, and had him banished, not 
 sir&'^sia '^'"^y from Wittcmberg, but followed him from place to place, 
 and had him expelled by order of the duke. He disliked Cahin, 
 he found great fault with Zuingle, who were all supported by 
 groat patrons ; and he was angry beyond measure with the bap- 
 tists who had none. 
 
B. VI. 
 
 THE PROTESTANT RErORMERS. 
 
 293 
 
 16. Lictker himself had taught the doctrine of dipping, 
 the article of reforming without him he could not bear. 
 
 "hut CH-^P X. 
 
 This Eccl. Re- 
 
 Ibid.p. 5-13. 
 
 exasperated him to the last degree, and he became their enemy; |s|rclies, p, 
 and notwithstanding all he had said in favor of dipping, he 
 persecuted them under the name of re-dippers, and re-baptizers, 
 or anabaptisls." 
 
 17. "There was a Thomas Muncer, who had been a minister 
 at several places, having been persecuted by Luther, and driven 
 to seek refuge where he could. There was Nicholas Stork, 
 Mark Stuhner, Martin Cellarius, and others. Against all of 
 them Luther set himself. When he heard of their settling any 
 where, he officiously played the part of an universal bishop, and 
 wrote to princes and senates to expel such dangerous men." 
 
 18. Three of these were called prophets, of whom Melancthov, 
 wrote to the elector of Saxony as follows : Your highness is 
 aware of the many dangerous dL?senters, which have distracted 
 your city of Zwickan on the subject of religion. Three of the 
 
 , leaders have come here to [Wittemberg]. I have given them a 
 hearing, and it is astonishing what they tell of themselves, viz : 
 that they are postively sent by God to teach ; that they have 
 familiar conferences with Grod ; that they can foretell events, and 
 to be brief, that they are on a footing with Prophets and Apostles. 
 
 19. "I see strong reasons" continues Melancthon, '-for not 
 despising the men, for it is clear to me, there is in them some- 
 thing more than a mere human spirit ; but whether the spirit be 
 of God or not, none except, Martin can judge." These Pro- 
 phets and their followers, taught and insisted on the principles 
 of a pure Church of Christ on earth, in opposition to the present 
 corrupt hierarchy. 
 
 20. They rejected infant baptism together with all the popish 
 rites and superstitions; and rebaptized all who joined their com- 
 munions; and hence, in Luther's time, they r^eceived the name 
 of anabaptists. But in fact they were the true descendants from 
 the IValdneses, or more properly, they were the revivers of the 
 spirit and principles of those reputed, scattered, and persecuted 
 heretics of the valhys. 
 
 21. Mz'ZTicr says of itif^er " that having been informed of the Note [2]. 
 extraordinary pretensions of these men, he had all along beheld 
 
 their conduct with a. jealous eye." This same Luther whom the 
 judicious Melancthon commends as the only fit judge of the 
 spirits of those men, was their most inveterate enemy ! and hence 
 both Protestants and Papists were united in persecuting the 
 anabaptists, (now so called) with unrelenting cruelties, and with- 
 out au3' distinction ! All history declares this. 
 
 22. Thus it is clear that Luther's unrelenting enmity to these 
 men, arose from ambition, an insatiable desire for pre-eminence, 
 and plainly shows the hypocrisy of his profession. 
 
 Mil. Chh. 
 His, p 341. 
 cb. Vlii. 
 
 Ibid, note 
 [i] vol. ii 
 
294 
 
 THE PERSECUTING SPIRIT OF 
 
 B.TI. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Eccl. Re- 
 searches, p. 
 54 ij. 
 
 Ibid. p. 551. 
 
 Ibid p 537. 
 Eccl. His- 
 tory, vol 
 iv. p. 64,65. 
 notes b. d 
 Hi-tory of 
 Charle?V. 
 ™i. ii p. 
 532. 
 
 Eccl. Re 
 searches, p. 
 537. 
 
 23. It is (says Robinson) very truly said of cardinal Hosius, 
 that Luther did not intend to make all mankind as free as himself; 
 he had not foreseen that other men would apply the same reason- 
 ing to his tyranny over conscience, that he had so successfully 
 applied to that of the pope, and therefore he dethroned him that 
 he might set up himself. His colleague, Carlostadt, found this 
 to his sorrow." 
 
 24. "On Luther's plan there was no probability of freedom 
 flowing to the people. It was only intended to free the priests 
 from obedience to the pope, and enable them to tyrannize over 
 the people in the name of the civil magistrate. Muncer saw this 
 fallacy, and remonstrated against it, and this is the crime which 
 Luther punished with an unpardonable rigoi*, and which the fol- 
 lowers of Luther have never forgiven to this day." 
 
 25. ^'■Muncer, say they, was a man well skilled in the know- 
 ledge of the Scripture, before the devil inspired him ; but then he 
 had the arrogance not only to preach against the pope, but against 
 Master Doctor Martin LwiAer himself : as if Martin, of Saxony, 
 had any better patent for infallibility than Leo, of Rome!" 
 
 26. But the principal occasion which Luther took to vent out 
 his persecuting spirit, was from the insurrections of the peasants, 
 called the rustic war. The celebrated Voltaire, says, "Luther 
 had been successful in stirring up the princes, nobles, and magis- 
 trates against the pope and the bishops. Muncer stirred up the 
 peasants against them. He and his companions went about ad- 
 dressing themselves to the inhabitants of the country villages. 
 They laid open that dangerous truth, which is implanted in 
 every hreast, that all men are born equal ; saying, that if the 
 pope had treated the princes like their subjects, the princes had 
 treated the common people like beasts." 
 
 27. It was enough, then, to draw upon Muncer and his follow- 
 ers, the united vengeance of both Papists and Protestants, that 
 they would neither acknowledge the papal hierarchy, nor the re- 
 formed plans of Luther^ s more refined despotism. 
 
 28. However contrary to the spirit and precepts of the Gospel, 
 the conduct of the peasants, in taking up arms against their cruel 
 and unmerciful oppressors, it is granted, nay, affirmed by the most 
 authentic historians, that the peasants, the common people, 
 groaned under intolerable grievances, which they were no longer 
 able to bear; that the excessive and unsupportable tyranny of 
 the nobility and gentry, was such, as sometimes drove the un- 
 happy people to despair and distraction. 
 
 29. " When these depressed hearts sighed for freedom, divines 
 of all orders agreed to reproach them for their depravity, and to 
 scandalize the first of all human blessings with the odious name 
 of carnal liberty." false divinity ! cruel divinity! At 
 the head of this unjust and cruel tribe appears Luther. 
 
B. VI. 
 
 THE PROTESTANT REFOEMEES. 
 
 295 
 
 searches, p. 
 
 543. 
 
 Ibid p. 552. 
 
 30. ilfMMcer drew up for the peasants a memorial or manifesto, chap, x. 
 which sets forth their grievances, and which they presented to Ecci Re- 
 their lords, and dispersed all over Germany. It is a just piece. 
 Voltaire says, ".4 Lycurgus* would have signed it." 
 
 31. " Luther wrote four pieces on the subject. The first was 
 an answer to the manifesto, in which though he told them that 
 the princes were cruel oppressors, who had no excuse for their 
 injustice, and deserved to he dethroned by God, yet it was se- 
 ditious in the oppressed to resist them. His advice was, that 
 they should not resist evil, but when they were smitten on the 
 one cheek, turn the other also," and so on. " This was the doc- 
 trine of Christ, and .such doctors as taught otherwise were worse 
 than Turks, and inspired by the devil." 
 
 32. This same Luther, who, under the hypocritical mask of a ibid. p. 553, 
 minister of Christ, exhorted the oppressed peasants not to resist 
 
 evil, wrote again to the princes, and endeavored to convince them 
 that it was their duty to kill and exterminate those same peasants 
 as they would mad dogs. 
 
 33. The princes set about the work, agreeable to the instruc- 
 tions of this double-faced reformer, and thousands fell victims to 
 the most cruel and more than savage massacres, in which .both 
 Papists and Protestants became united, and in which the peasants 
 without distinction were involved in one common fate of fire and 
 sword, and suffered with the most undistinguishing barbarity. 
 
 34. "It was in Saxony (says Mosheim) and also in the year ecci. His- 
 1525, that penal laws were first enacted against this fanatical l"""^; Jgg 
 
 tribe. These laws were renewed frequently in the years 1527. 
 1528, and 1534." Chaeles V, also issued out against them 
 severe edicts in the years 1527, and 1529. The magistrates of 
 Zurich also denounced capital punishment against them, in the 
 year 1525. 
 
 35. Thus the united vengeance of both Papists and Protest- 
 ants, was let loose to destroy a people who groaned under intole- 
 rable oppressions, which they were no longer able to bear; and 
 as if this were not sufficient, Protestant historians must also 
 agree to hand down their characters in one common mass, as the 
 most detestable and seditious fanatics, and under all the odious 
 names that the spirit of malice and rage for persecution could in- 
 vent. 
 
 36. But all the art of Protestants, in painting the outrages of 
 the first rustic insurrections, and blending the conduct of those 
 furious abettors of human freedom with the doctrines and senti- 
 ments of harmless heretics, in order to palliate their own crimes, 
 can never clear their church of the deepest stains of blood-guilti- 
 ness, which arose from their unmerciful butchery of the innocent. 
 
 37. The particular circumstances relating to these insurrec- 
 
 *An equitable law-giver among the Pagans* 
 
 note [n]. 
 
296 THE PERSECUTING SPIRIT OF B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. X. tjo^g^ are very foreign from this work. Wtioever wishes to see 
 that matter fairly investigated, may find it at large, in the judi- 
 cious and well authenticated Researches of Robert Robinson. 
 However, that Luther's persecuting rage was mainly directed 
 against those whom he condemned in his writings under the name 
 of anabaptists, and who unjustly suffered without resistance, 
 appears from what follows. 
 Ecci.His- 38. " It is to be observed (says Mosheim) that as the leaders 
 '""■y- ™'- of this sect had fallen into that erroneous and chimerical notion, 
 "' ^' ' ' that the new kingdom of Christ, which they expected, was to be 
 exem-pt from every kind of vice, and from the smallest degree of 
 corruption, they were not satisfied with the plan of reformation 
 proposed by Luther." 
 Ecci. Re- o9. This was enough to kindle the flames of resentment in the 
 searches, p. brcast of the implacable Luther, "who by taking the church as 
 the pope left it, included whole parishes and kingdoms, with all 
 the inhabitants of every description in the church." 
 
 40. That the most cruel resentment was kindled in the breast 
 of Luther against these people, is evident from his famous Augs- 
 burg Confession ; each article of which begins with Bocent ; i.e. 
 
 Ibid. p. 551. they teach ; and ends with damnant, and many of them with 
 damnanl anabaytistas : i.e. they damn the anabaptists. 
 
 41. But what business had he, or any other who had no divine 
 authority, to teach what the faith of another should be ? or to call 
 in question the sentiments of others, and presumptuously damn 
 those who differed from him ? As if Martin Luther had all 
 power in heaven and upon earth ! 
 
 42. It was a horrid crime in Luther's eye, for any to expect 
 a pure and unspotted church, and for that reason to be dissatis- 
 fied with his plans of reformation. If a corrupt and tyrannical 
 church had been the object of pursuit with these reputed heretics, 
 both they and their ancestors found one to their sorrow, long 
 enough before Luther rose up to establish his by the sword of 
 earthly princes. 
 
 43. The fact is, that reputed heretics had, in every age, wit- 
 nessed a good confession, by cheerfully laying down their lives m 
 support of their faith concerning a putre church, in opposition to 
 a corrupt Catholic hierarchy ; and the same undaunted spirit con- 
 tinued to witness against the Protestant reformers, and gave 
 them a fair opportunity to prove that they exercised all the power 
 of t\& first beast. 
 
 Ecci. His- 44. " In almost all the countries of Europe (says Mosheim) an 
 iv%' 435 unspeakable number of these unhappy wretches preferred death, 
 in its worst forms, to a retraction of their errors. Neither the 
 view of the flames that were kindled to consume them, nor the 
 ignominy of the gibbet, nor the terrors of the sword, could shake 
 their invincible, but ill-placed constancy, or make them abandon 
 
B. VI. 
 
 THE PROTESTANT EEPORMERS. 
 
 297 
 
 tenets that appeared dearer to them than life and all its enjoy- 
 ments." 
 
 45. " But Mosheim soon after adds, "It is true, indeed, that 
 many anabaptists suffered death — merely because they were 
 judged to be inmrahle heretics ; for in this century, the error of 
 limiting the administration of baptism to adult persons only, and 
 the practice of re-baptizing such as had received that sacrament 
 in a state of infancy, were looked upon as most flagitious and in- 
 tolerable heresies." 
 
 46. And what greater cruelties did ever the Church of Kome 
 practice, than to cast into the flames such as they judged to be 
 incurable heretics, when no other blemish could be found ? But 
 Mosheim is pleased to call their faith concerning a pure church, 
 an erroneous a?id chimerical notion* and their sentiments 
 errors, and their constancy with which they faced death in its 
 worst forms, ill-placed. 
 
 47. Just so the popish historian, Thuanus, speaks of the 
 Waldenses, "that they were rather slain, put to flight, spoiled 
 everywhere of their goods and dignities, and dispersed here and 
 there, than that convinced of their error they repented." 
 
 48. It is acknowledged by their enemies, that many of these 
 anabaptists were men of the most upright intentions and sincere 
 piety, and that the innocent with those who were counted guilty, 
 suifered with undistinguishing cruelty. 
 
 49. But it is remarkable that all those undistinguishing 
 cruelties, carried on under the cloak of suppressing sedition or 
 heresy, were practised in the same persecuting spirit, and with 
 the same misrepresentations and slanderous accusations that were 
 used by the ancient Pagans against the primitive Christians.! 
 
 50. How inconsistent it must appear to every feeling mind, to 
 hear the title of glorious reformation, applied to that abominable 
 work which was wrought by Martin Luther and his followers, 
 when by gibbet and^re, and sword, they could exterminate their 
 fellow creatures from the earth, as they would mad dogs! 
 Poisoned with a venom cruel as the grave, they applaud the zeal 
 and fortitude of Luther, in addressing the princes to take up 
 arms and destroy these odious and detestable fanatics ! 
 
 51. And besides those undistinguishing cruelties, exercised by 
 the instigation of Luther, what fruits did his reformed gospel 
 produce in his own heart or life ? After he had proved it twenty 
 years, it did not even save him from his out-breaking sins, but 
 directly to the contrary. " He grew daily more peevish, more 
 irascible [more easily provoked to anger] and more irnpaiient of 
 contradiction." So says Robertson. 
 
 52. His whole life of ambition and cruelty, well comports with 
 the character he gives of himself in his last will ; and whether 
 any temporal monarch, or pope, ever discovered the feelings of 
 
 20 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Eccl. His- 
 tory, vnl, 
 i%'. p. '130. 
 
 ".See Epl) . 
 V. 27. and 
 Rev. xxi. 
 27. 
 
 Newton on 
 Proph. vol. 
 ii. p. 175. 
 
 Eccl. His. 
 lory, vol. 
 iv. p. 4.34, 
 435, 43ti. 
 
 tSee Eccl. 
 History, 
 vol.i. p. 73. 
 & note [m] . 
 
 vol. iv. p. 
 (55, 305. 
 
 History of 
 Charles V. 
 vol. iii. p. 
 313. 
 
 Ibid. p. 314. 
 
298 
 
 THE PERSECUTING SPIKIT OP, &C. 
 
 B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Mat. xii. 
 34. Luke 
 xix. S2. 
 
 rSeel 
 John, it. 4. 
 & iii. 8. 
 
 his own ambition more than LvAher, may be seen from what 
 follows. 
 
 53. I am known (says he) in heaven, in earth, and hell, and 
 possess consequence sufficient for this demand, that my single 
 testimony he believed, seeing that God of his fatherly compassion 
 hath intrusted to me, though a damnable man and a miserable 
 sinner, the Gospel of his Son, and hath granted that I should be 
 so true and faithful in it, that many in the world have received 
 it by me as a doctor of the truth, while they contemn with detes- 
 tation, the bans of the Pope, ofCcesar, of ki7igs, of princes, and 
 of priests, yea, of all devils. Why, then, may it not suffice, for 
 this disposal of a small estate, if the testimony of my hand be 
 affixed, andit can he said. Dr. Martin Luther, God's notary, 
 and wittiess of his Gospel, wrote these things* 
 
 54. And such a character as that of a damnable man, and a 
 miserable sinner, will every such imperious and persecuting tyrant 
 as Martin Luther have to subscribe, when, Cain-like, he is con- 
 victed that his own works are evil, and his brother's righteous. 
 Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked strvard ! 
 
 55. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. 
 And he that saith that Grod hath intrusted to him the Gospel of 
 his Son, while his whole life and conduct, and his final testimony, 
 signed with his own hand, declares himself a damnable man and 
 a miserable sinner,^ the same is certainly a liar, and the truth is 
 not in him. 
 
 * The original of this specimen of Luthtr's presumptuous vanity and self-ap- 
 plause, as quoted by iJoftcrJson, runs thus : "Notus sum in ccelo, in terra, & in- 
 ferno, & auctoritatem ad hoc sufficientem habeo, ut mihl, soli credatur, cum Deus 
 mihi, homini licet damnabili, et miserabili peccatori, ex paterna misericordia 
 Evangelium filii sui crediderit, dederilque ut in eo verax & fidelis fuerim, ita ut 
 multi in mundo illud per me acceperint, & me pro Doctore veritatis agnoverint, 
 spreto banno Papse, Caesaris, Hegum, Principum & sacerdotum, imo omnium 
 daemonum odi. Quidni, igitur, ad dispositionem banc, in re exigua, snfficiat, si 
 adsit manus meffi testimonium, & dlci possit bceo scripsit D. Martinus Luther, So- 
 tarius Dei, & testis Evangelii ejus." Seek. lib. iii. p. 651. See Hist. (^ 
 Charles V. vol. iii. p. 314. ( 
 
B. VI. PERSECUTING SPIRIT OF JOHN CALVIN, &C. 
 
 299 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Eccl 
 
 . His- 
 
 lory, 
 
 vol. 
 
 iv. p. 
 
 363. 
 
 lioie 
 
 [ol. t. 
 
 p. 366. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 p. 417. 
 
 THE PERSECUTING SPIRIT OP JOHN CALVIN, HIS FOLLOW- 
 ERS AND OTHER REFORMERS, 
 
 The same persecuting spirit that influenced Martin Luther, in- chap. xi. 
 fluenced also Jokii Calvin. At Geneva he acted the part of a 
 universal bishop, presided in the assembly of the clergy, and in 
 the Consistory, and punished heretics of all kinds with unremitted 
 fury, who had the confidence to object against his ecclesiastical 
 and inconsistent systems of tyranny. 
 
 2. Here were Beghards, and Spirituals, and Lihertiiies, and 
 heretics, and odious ones enough to give Calvin a fair opporturiity 
 of proving that he possessed the same persecuting spirit with 
 which he was brought up in his mother's house. 
 
 3. There was one Gruet, whatever was his character, he was ri)id.p.4i8. 
 charged with denying " the divinity of the Christian religion [i.e. 
 
 the religion at Geneva^ and the immortality of the soul." He 
 also called Calvin the new pope, and other impieties of the like 
 nature, for which he was brought before the civil tribunals, in the 
 year 1550, and was condemned to death. 
 
 4. There were others who could not receive his doctrine of 
 eternal and absolute decrees. " These adversaries (says Mosheim) 
 felt, by a disagreeable experience, the warmth and violence of his 
 haughty temper, and that impatience of contradiction that arose 
 from an over-jealous concern for his honor, or rather for his un- 
 rivalled supremacy." 
 
 5. "He would not suffer them to remain at Geneva; nay, in 
 the heat of the controversy, being carried away by the impetu- 
 osity of his passions, he accused them of crimes, from which they 
 have been fully absolved by the impartial judgment of unpre- 
 judiced posterity." 
 
 6. " Among these victims of Calvin's unlimited power and 
 excessive zeal, we may reckon Castalio, master of the public 
 school at Geneva." He was deposed from office in the year 
 1544, and banished. A like fate happened to Bolsac, professor 
 of physic, whose favorable opinion of the Protestant religion first 
 brought him to Geneva ; but finding himseJf mistaken, he had the 
 assurance, in the year 1551, to lift up his voice, in the full con- 
 gregation, against absolute decrees ; for which he was cast into 
 prison, and soon after, sent into banishment. 
 
 7. But none gave Calvinmore trouble than Michael Servetus, 
 a. Spanish physician, who appeared in the year 1530, and by his 
 abilities, both natural and acquired, had obtained the protection 
 
 Ibid. p. 419. 
 
 Ibid. p. «73, 
 
300 PERSECUTING SPIEIT OF JOHN CALVIN B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. XI. of many personi? of weight in France, Germany, and Italy. 
 Notwithstanding these advantages, Calvin had him imprisoned, 
 and an accusation of blasphemy brought against him by the 
 council. 
 
 Ecoi. Re- 3. Servetus was a man of a free and liberal turn of mind, " he 
 
 0*^527"^' ^^® ^^ original genius (says Robinson) of a manly spirit, bold in 
 his enquiries after truth, and generous as the day in communica- 
 ting his opinions, not doubting that he had as much right to 
 investigate the doctrine of the Trinity, as others had that of 
 trans2ibstantiation." 
 
 Ibid, p. 328. 9_ In tije year 1531 and 1532, he published two books, both 
 intended to disprove the doctrine of the Trinity ; and as they 
 denied the popular notion of persons in Grod, and affirmed that 
 Jesus was a man, they procured him a great number of enemies, 
 and also many friends. He had freely communicated his senti- 
 ments to Oecolampadius and Bucer. 
 
 10. Both these divines had the character of mildness; but 
 Oecolampaiiius thought anger just in this case, and Bucer 
 
 ibid.p 329. declared from the pulpit, that " Servetus deserved to be cut in 
 pieces, and his bowels torn out of him." All the artillery of the 
 orthodox was now directed against this haughty Spatiish blas- 
 phemous heretic ; for so they, whom the greater part of Europe 
 called heretics, had the inconsistency to call Servetus. 
 
 11. Calvin having published his favorite production entitled 
 Christian Institutes : Servettis read this book ; finding in it a 
 great number of mistakes and errors, he took the liberty to inform 
 the author of them. This so irritated Calvin, that he never 
 forgave him, and instead of profiting by the advice, he wrote to 
 his friends, Virei and Farel, "that if ever this heretic should fall 
 into his hands, he would order it so, that it should cost him his 
 life." And so it fell out. 
 
 Ibid.p. 336. 12. Calvin had an admirer at Geneva whose name was Trie, 
 this Trie had a relation at Lyons, a Papist, 'whose name was 
 Arney, who incessantly exhorted his cousin Trie to return to the 
 bosom of the Church. Calvin dictated letters in the name of 
 Wm. Trie, who directed them to Arney, and Arney carried them 
 to Ory, the Inquisitor.* By which means, in the year 1553, 
 Servetus was seized and cast into prison; but four days after 
 made his escape, and could not be found. 
 
 "It was an iniciuitous example which John Calvin set by encouraging the 
 Papists to continue their sport in shedding innocent blood, when •in his letter 
 under the name of Tne, he says, "I thank God that vices are better corrected 
 here than among all your_ officials— with you they support a heretic, who deserves 
 to be burnt wherever he is found. When I mention to you a heretic, I mention 
 one who shall be condemned by the Papists as well as by us, at least he deserves to 
 be so : for although we differ in opinion about many things, we are still agreed, 
 that there are three person? in one essence of God. Yon cruelly bum us : but 
 behold him, who shall call Jesus Christ" an idol, who shall destroy all the fonndar- 
 tions of faith, who gather together aU the dreams of ancient heretics, who shall 
 
B. VI. AND OTHER REFORMERS. 301 
 
 13. The prosecution was carried on in his absence, and he was chap. xi. 
 condemned to be burnt alive, in a slow fire. And seeing his person eccI. Re- 
 could not be found, the sentence was executed in effio-y. " The ^'='S,'!!"="> 
 
 . ^" p. 337. 
 
 ejjigy of Servetus was set in a dung cart, with five bales of his 
 books, and all were burnt together for the glory of God and the 
 safety of the Church." 
 
 14. Four months after, Servetus was discovered, while waiting ibid. p. 33s. 
 for a boat to cross the lake, in his way to Zurich. Calcin got 
 intelligence, and prevailed upon the chief magistrate to arrest 
 
 and imprison him, although it was on the first day of the week 
 or sabbath, when, by the laws of Genera, no person could be ar- 
 rested, except for a capital crime : but Calvin pretended that 
 Servetus was a heretic, and heresy was a capital crime. To 
 prison he was committed, and the same day he was tried in 
 court. 
 
 15. As it was necessary for some one to prosecute Servetus, 
 Calvin employed one of his own family Nicholas dc la Fontaine. 
 Some say he had been a cook, others a valet or servant; but, 
 whatever he had been, he was now a preacher. Short as the 
 notice had been. La Fontaine was ready prepared, and a humble 
 request was presented to the judges, in which Servetus was 
 accused of uttering blasphemies against G-od, infecting the world 
 with heresies and condemning the doctrine preached at Geneva. 
 
 16. Calvin did not blush to say, " I ordered it so that a party 
 should be found to accuse him, not denying that the action was 
 drawn up by my advice." And he expressly afiirms, "La 
 Fojilaine demanded justice against him by my advice." On a 
 future day Calvin appeared in court, and disputed with Servetus, 
 on the words, person and hypostasis: and yet he knew if he suc- 
 ceeded in,convictingthe prisoner of heresy, the crime was capital, 
 and he was doomed by the law to die. 
 
 17. Servetus presented a petition to the magistrates and 
 council. The petition was rejected. The attorney-general 
 observed, that the court ought not to grant the petitioner an 
 advocate, because he himself was thoroughly skilled in the art of 
 telling lies. What chance had Servetus for his life ? 
 
 18. This was his deplorable situation: "Far from his own ibid. p. 310 
 country, fallen into the hands of cruel strangers, all under the 
 influence of Calvin, his avowed enemy, who bore him a mortal 
 hatred ; stript of all his property ; confined in a damp prison, and 
 neglected till he was almost eaten up with vermin, denied an 
 advocate, and loaded with every indignity that barbarity could 
 invent." 
 
 even condemn tlje baptism of little children, calling it a diabolical invention; and 
 he shall have the vogue amongst you, and be supported as if he had committed no 
 fault. Where, pray, is the zeal you pretend to ? And where is the wisdom of this 
 fine hierarchy you magnify so much ?" Roiinson's Ecclesiastical Researches, 
 p. 336. 
 
302 
 
 PEESECUTING SPIRIT OF JOHN CALVIN B. VI. 
 
 Eccl. Re. 
 searches, 
 p. 341. 
 
 Ibid. p. 342. 
 
 CHAP. XI. 19. "The last act of this tragedy was performed at Geneva, 
 ou the 27th of October, 1553. Calvin had drawn up the pro- 
 cess against Servetus ; the magistrates and council had denounced 
 sentence against him that he should be burnt alive ; and on this 
 day, with many brutal circumstances, the sentence was executed 
 to the encouragement of Catholic cruelty, to the scandal of the 
 pretended reformation, to the offence of all just men, and to the 
 everlasting disgrace of those ecclesiastical tyrants, who were the 
 chief instruments of such a wild and barbarous deed." 
 
 20. "Many (says Rohinson,) have pretended to apologize for 
 Calvin: but who is Johri Calvin, and what are his nostrums, 
 which end in tyranny and murder, that the great voice of 
 nature should be drowned in the din of a vain babbling about 
 him?" 
 
 21. " Servetus was not a subject of the Kepublic of Geneva; 
 he had committed no offence against the laws of the state: he 
 was passing peaceably on the road which lay through the city ; 
 he was not a member of any reformed church ; he was an useful 
 and honorable member of society ; he was a man of unimpeached 
 morality ; he was then the admiration of numbers of good judges, 
 who afterwards pleaded his cause." 
 
 22. Cah:in\s hard heart never relented at the recollection of 
 this bloody action. On the contrary, he justified it by publish- 
 ing, after the execution, a book entitled, " A faithful account of 
 the errors of Michael Servetus, in which it is proved that 
 heretics ought to be restrained with the sword." 
 
 23. Castellio or Socinus confuted this book. Beza answered, 
 and justified the doctrine of putting heretics to death. Several 
 endeavored to sanctify the crime by scripture texts, and godly 
 words ; and many have attempted, after these examples, to do 
 the same. They go so far, some of them, as to attribute the 
 destruction of Servetus to a special providence of God. Can the 
 nicest critic tell wherein this differs from the spirit and style of 
 the papal Inquisition ? 
 
 24. "The execution of this man (says Robinson,) occasioned 
 a great many excellent and unanswerable treatises against per- 
 secution. Beza was offended because the authors said he had 
 published a book to justify the murder of heretics ; wiereas he 
 had only wrote one to prove that they ought to bo put to death. 
 They called him a bloody man for exhorting magistrates to put 
 men to death for religion; and he retorted, he had wished, and 
 he continued to wish, the magistrates would serve them so." 
 
 25. The apologists for Calvin urge the example of Melancthon, 
 in proof of the justice of putting Servetus to death. " Melanc- 
 thon himself, (say they,) the most moderate and mildest of all 
 reformers, approves what has been done at Geneva." Then if 
 such was the spirit of the mildest of all the reformers, what kind 
 
 Ibid. p. 343, 
 344. 
 
 Ibid. p. 346. 
 
B. VI. 
 
 AND OTHER REFOIlilERS. 
 
 303 
 
 of men were those wliom the Protestants acknowledge to be men 
 of violeiit, haughty, and brutal tempers ? 
 
 26. Moskeim says, the A?iabaptisls, and those who denied the 
 divinity of Christ, [i.e. those who denied that Jesus was God,] 
 and a trimly ot persons in the Godhead, were objects of common 
 aversion, against whom the zeal, vigilance, and severity of 
 Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists were united, and, in oppos- 
 ing whose settlement and progress, these three communions, 
 forgetting their dissensions, joined their most vigorous councils 
 and endeavors. 
 
 27. He that is joined to an harlot is one body, say the 
 Scriptures. The Lutherans and Calvinists were joined to the 
 Papists in shedding innocent blood ; therefore, their Protestant 
 persecuting churches were indisputably one in spirit, nature, and 
 disposition with the old scarlet whore, their mother church of 
 Rome, as much as the daughters of a harlot are one in spirit, 
 nature, and disposition, with their mother. 
 
 28. The Protestant reformers could encourage persecution, and 
 could set the example, both by their principles and practice, and 
 unite with the Papists, in continuing to shed innocent blood; 
 as if the purple and crimson dye of their mother's attire had not 
 been stained deep enough. 
 
 29. Voltaire, who deplores the death of Servelus, says, " The 
 finishing stroke to this picture of Calvin, may be found in a 
 letter written with his own hand, which is still preserved in the 
 castle of Bastic Rolayid, near Montelimar. It is directed to the 
 Marques d,e Poet, high chamberlain to the king of Navarre, and 
 dated September, SOth, 1561." 
 
 30. "Honor, glory, and riches shall he the reiuard of your 
 pains : but above all do not fail to rid the countj-y of those 
 zealous scoundrels teho stir up the people to revolt against us. 
 Such monsters should be exterminated, as I have exterminated 
 Michael Servetus, the Spaniard." Bloody Cain! "Where is 
 Abel thy brother ? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto 
 me from the ground. 
 
 31. The persecuting spirit of Calvin was not confined to 
 Geneva. Robinson says, he and other foreign divines had many 
 tools in Poland, particularly Prasnicius, a violent orthodox 
 clergyman. With this man, and through him with the nobility, 
 gentry, and clergy, Calvin and Beza corresponded : and many 
 divines of Germany and Switzerland, and even the synod of 
 Geneva, sent letters and tracts into Poland, all justifying the 
 murder of Gentilis and Servetus, and the necessity of employing 
 the secular power to rid the world of such monsters as denied the 
 trinity and infant baptism. 
 
 32. " The advice given by the Consistory of Geneva to prince 
 Radzivil, is a most ignorant and impious attack on the liberties 
 
 CHAP, xr. 
 
 Eccl. IIis- 
 lory, vnl. 
 V. p. 482. 
 
 Eccl. Re- 
 searches, 
 p. 348. 
 Anc. aiid 
 Mod. Hiat . 
 ch. cxiij. 
 
 Gen, ir. 
 
 Eccl. Re 
 searches, 
 p. 584. 
 
 lb id, p. 85 
 
304 PERSECrTING SPIRIT OF JOHN CALVIN B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. XI. and lives of innocent men. They beg his highness, as the first 
 in piety and dignity to use his influence with the nobility of 
 Poland, to engage them to treat the antitrinitarians as they 
 would Tartars and Muscovites." 
 Eoci.His- 33. It was here also, in Poland, that the ^'■Catholics, Lu- 
 iv'p.482 therans, and Qalvinists" were united in one spirit of cruelty, to 
 483. ' crush those who, for the sake of peace had fled there, from their 
 iron arm of persecution in other places. It would be very dis- 
 agreeable, unnecessary, and indeed endless to enumerate all the 
 particular cruelties and unjust measures practised by the first 
 reformers, and through their influence.* 
 
 34. If matters of fact can establish any certainty, then it is 
 
 * We here present the reader with two extracts of letters written by Andrew 
 Dndith, 6f Poland, who had been excommunicated from the church of Rome for 
 heresy. His sentiments favored the Unitarian Baptists, a species of popular 
 heretics who had fled into Poland, for the enjoyment of that religious liberty which 
 was denied them in other places. Dudith corresponded with many of the most 
 noted reformers ; and these extracts clearly discover the spirit by which they were 
 actuated, and may serve to show the light in which that discerning man viewed the 
 conduct of these persecuting Protestants. 
 
 ''Tell me, (says he to Wolff,) my learned friend, now that the Calvinists have 
 burnt Servetus, and beheaded Gentilis, and murdered many others, having ban- 
 ished Bernard Ochin with his wife and children from your city, in the depth of a 
 sharp winter; now that the Lutherans ha.ve expelled Layco, with the congrega- 
 tion of foreigners that came out of England with him, in an extremely rigorous 
 season of the year; having done a great many such exploits, all contrary to the 
 genius of Chrisiianity, how, I ask, how shall we meet the Papists? With what face 
 can we tax them with cruelty 1 How dare we say. Our weapons are not carnal? 
 How can we any longer urge, Let both grow together till the harvest ? Let us 
 cease to boast^ that faith cannot be compelledj and that conscience ought to be 
 free." 
 
 " You contend, (says he to Beza,) that Scripture is a perfect rule of faith and 
 practice. But you are all divided about the sense of Scripture, and you have not 
 settled who shall be judge. You say one thing, Stancarus another. You quote 
 Scripture, he quotes Scripture. You reason, he reasons. You require me to be- 
 lieve you. I respect you; but why should I trust you rather than Stancarus? 
 You say, he is a heretic : but the Papists say, you are both heretics. Shall I be- 
 lieve them ? They quote historians and fathers : so do you. To whom do you 
 address yourselves 1 Where is the judge? You say, the spirits of the prophets 
 are subject to the prophets ; but you say I am no prophet, and I say, you are not 
 one. Who is to be judge? I love liberty as well as you. You have broken off 
 your yoke, allow me to break mine. Having freed yourselves from the tyranny 
 of Popish prelates, why do you turn ecclesiastical tyrants yourselves, and treat 
 others with barbarity and cruelty for only doing what you set them an example 
 to do? You contend, that your lay-hearers, the magistrates, and not you, are to 
 be blamed, for it is they who banish and burn for heresy. I know you make this 
 exome : but tell me have not you instilled such principles into their ears? Have 
 they done anything more than put in practice the doctrine that you taught them? 
 Have you not been the constant panegyrists of such princes a« have depopulated 
 whole districts for heresy? Do you not daily teach, that they who appeal from 
 your confessions to Scripture ought to be punished by the secular power? It is 
 impossible for you to deny this. Does not all the world know that you are a set 
 of demagogues, or (to speak more mildly) a sort of tribunes, and that the magis- 
 trates do nothing but exhibit in public what you teach them in private? You try 
 to justify the banishment of Ochin, and the execution of others, "and you seem to 
 wish Poland would follow your example. God forbid ! When you talk of your 
 Augsburg Confession, and your Helvetic Creed, and your unanimity, and your 
 fundamental truths, I keep thinking of the sixth commandment. Thou shalt not 
 kill." — Ecclesiastical Researches, p. 592, 693. 
 
B. VI. A>"D OTHER KEFOEitERS. 305 
 
 certain, that the two principal pillars of tne reformation, IJartm chap.xi . 
 Luthir and John CalTin, and their confederate rLfomjer=. were 
 influenced by the self-same spirit of cmeltr and injnsticc, wliich 
 had influenced the ecclesiastical tyrants of every age, from Dio- 
 trephis and the AltxandTian p rieithood down t :• the same Luther 
 and Caivin. It will le necessary now to take some notice of 
 the same persecuting spirit in Englavid and Annrica. 
 
 So. The whole life of Hexet VIII, one of the first refcirr-er- , 
 and the principal supporter cf the reformation in Engiand, was Hnme i 
 one continued scene of ambition and cruelty. '-The flattery of e^'^^i"' 
 cotiTtiers. ^says Hunt, i had so ijiflamed his tyrannical arrogiLce, JJ""^- '-■ 
 that he thonjht himself entitled to regulate, by Lis own peculiar 
 standard, the reli^dotis faith of the whole nation." 
 
 36. There was one Lamhirt, a schoolmaster in Eo'udon. who 
 was committed to the flames, because he had dared to differ from 
 the ting in his religious opinions, and openly to prora^'ate his 
 doctrines." "He was burned at a slow fire; his legs and thishs 
 were consumed to the stumps ; and when there appeared no end 
 of his torments, some of the guards more merciful than the rest. 
 lifted him on their haloerts. and threw Mm into the flames, where 
 he was consumed." 
 
 37. ■-.Some few days before this execution, four Dutch Ana- 
 haptisis, three men and a woman, had faggots tied to their backs. 
 at Paul's cross, and were burned in that mat-ner. A man and a 
 woman of the same sect and eountrr. were lumed at Smitr.- 
 fiddy 
 
 3i. Under Edwab-D TI. the son and successor of HE^'RT. rsa-ch-S- 
 heresy was still a capital crime ly the i-ommon law, and sub- 
 jected to the penalty of burning. '■ Though the Protestant 
 divines (says Hume) had ventured to renounce opinions deemed 
 certain during many ages, they regarded, in their turn, the new 
 system as so certain, that they would snfier no contradiction with 
 regard to it; and they were ready to bum in the same fiame^. 
 from which themselves had so narrowly escaped, every one that 
 had the assurance to differ from them." 
 
 ■JC. 
 
 ' A commission by act of coimeil was granted to the 
 
 CrasniEr 
 
 primate, [archbishop,] and some others, to examine and search 
 after aU Anabaptists, heretics, or contemners of the Book of 
 Common Prayer.^'' A woman, called Joan Backer, or Joan of 
 Kent, accused of heresy, was committed tc^ the flames.t After- i^^i"- 
 wards, a Dutchman, called Tan Paris, accused of the heresv 
 called Ariarasm, was condemned to the same punishment." 
 
 • iombert denied the rtcl prestnce of Ctri-t in the enchiri£t, wMch was & 
 doctriije so strenuonslj' maintained by Henry that he would suffer no e:i:rradietion 
 with respect to it. Dr. Bamts, a Lntherac, was the instigator of liiii prosecu- 
 tion, who had IjambtTt STUnmoned before Cranmtr and Latimer. Lcmbert 
 appealed to the king, who, after dirpnting with him tipon his farorite doctrine, 
 ordered him to be committed to tie £iii:es. 
 
306 
 
 PERSECUTING SPIRIT OP JOHN CALVIN 
 
 B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 • Short 
 view of Ee. 
 History, p. 
 273. 
 
 Hume's 
 History of 
 England, 
 ch.41t& 
 EccI His- 
 tory, vol. 
 iv. p 3-2. 
 note [p]. 
 
 Cobbett's 
 History 
 Rsf. p. 185, 
 
 40. Under Queen Elizabeth, whom the Protestants call 
 That bright occidental star; but "the most wicked) says a late 
 writer) that ever was known in any reign.* f " " It was decreed 
 that whosoever, in any way, reconciled any one to the church of 
 Rome, or was himself reconciled, was to be declared guilty of 
 treason. To say mass was subjected to the penalty of a year's 
 imprisonment, and a fine of two hundred marks. The being 
 present at mass was punishable by a year's imprisonment, and a 
 fine of one hundred marks. A fine of twenty pounds for beinf 
 absent from church a month. A severe law was also enacted 
 against Jesuits and popish priests. Some, even of those who 
 defend the queen's measures, allow that, in ten years, fifty 
 priests were executed, and fifty-five banished." 
 
 41. But the most powerful instrument of persecution, as well 
 as the most perfect substitute of Papal cruelty, during this reign, 
 was the Ecclesiastical Court of High Commission, established 
 by John Whitgift, the queen's primate, in the year 1584. 
 Whitgift was archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 42. Hume says, " He appointed forty-four commissioners, 
 twelve of whom were ecclesiastics, to visit and reform all errors, 
 heresies, schisms, &e. ; to regulate all opinions; to punish all 
 breach of uniformity in the exercise of public worship ; to make 
 enquiry, not only by legal methods of juries and witnesses, but 
 by any other means which they could devise, by rack, by torture, 
 by inquisition, by imprisonment, &c." 
 
 t No wonder that the writer gives this idolized and impionsly extolled qtieen such 
 a character. Blackwood, after stating the well known cruelty of Henet VIII, 
 says, *' but ifc is not equally well known that his daughter Elizabeth, had an anay 
 of three hundred heads of persons convicted of high treason, placed on London 
 Bridge, (though according to history, there appears but little or no proof of their 
 guilt, except some offence they might have given to this implacable, tyrant and 
 genuine spawn of her cruel father. Sotne of them had been her most devoted 
 servants, iooluding her cousin and friend Duke Norfolk, and her romantic lover. 
 Earl of Essex (who had been her most successful general) . " And so far from 
 being shocked at the ghastly array, she took the foreign ambassadors to see it, in 
 order to show as she expressed it, ' How we serve traitors in England." 
 
 Blackwood continues : " Protestant historians have recounted with just indigna- 
 tion, that the bloody Mary asist 240 (others say 277) men, women and children 
 into the flames, during her brief, but atrocious reign, but they have not equally 
 and prominently brought forward the fact, which is equally certain, that a still 
 greater number of Catholic priests and partisans, were, by her Protestant suc- 
 cessor, secretly racked to the utmost limits which the human frame can endure, in 
 that awful scene of human agony, the tower of London. 
 
 Such then was the character of this "bright and occidental star." But it is 
 doubtful whether a more audacious and cruel tyrant can be found in history, among 
 all the female sovereigns that ever reigned in the heathen world. Yet such char- 
 acters as Henry and this his daughter, were the first agents who founded and 
 established the present national church of the British realms. Is it possible that 
 rational minds can suppose that a true church and pure Christianity, can descead 
 from such a cruel and abominable source as Henry and Elizabeth, and their 
 coadjutors. Might we not as well suppose that mercy and holiness, can proceed 
 and be propagated from Satan and his infernal crew? As to her maiden virtues 
 Whitaker (a Protestant clergyman, mind) says, that!" her life was stained with 
 gross licentiousness, and she had many gallants, while she called herself a mniifcn 
 queen." Het life as he truly says, " was a life of mischief and of misery." 
 
B. YI. 
 
 AND OTHER UEFORMERS. 
 
 307 
 
 43. "When they found reason to suspect any person, they chap. xr. 
 might administer to him an oath called ex officio, by which he 
 
 was bound to answer all questions, and might thereby be obliged 
 to accuse himself or his most intimate friend. The fines which 
 they levied were discretionary, and often occasioned the total 
 ruin of the oiFender, contrary to the established laws of the 
 kingdom." 
 
 44. The imprisonments to which they condemned any delin- 
 quent, were limited by no rule but their own pleasure. These 
 ecclesiastical commissioners were liable to no control. In 
 a word, this court was a real Inquisitio7i, attended with all 
 the iniquities as well as cruelties inseparable from that 
 tribunal." 
 
 4.5. The spirit of this bloody inquisition continued through the Hume's 
 reign of king James VI. who is canonized, as the Most High, in E,',!l°and°'^ 
 that translation of the bible which he established. " Under this Appemii-x 
 reign (says Hume) no toleration for the different sects. Two '°■'°■^'■ 
 Arians, under the title of heretics, were punished by fire ; and no 
 one reign since the Reformation had been free from like barba- 
 rities." And so they proceed. 
 
 4G. A specimen of the barbarous decrees and tyrannical laws, 
 established in those times, down to the reign of Charles II. 
 may be seen in the Westminster Confession of Faith, and Na- 
 tional Covenant. " The sixty-ninth article, Pari. 6. of king 
 Jajies VI, declares that there is no other face of kirk, nor 
 other face of religion, than was presently at that time estab- 
 lished within this realm : Which therefore is ever styled God's 
 true religion — and a perfect religion; which by manifold 
 acts of parliament, all within this realm are bound to profess, 
 to subscribe the articles thereof, the confession of faith, to 
 recant all doctrine and errors repugnant to any of the said 
 articles." 
 
 47. " And all magistrates, &c., on the one part, are ordained 
 to search, apprehend, and punish all contra veners. That all 
 kings and princes, at their coronation, shall make their solemn 
 oath in the presence of the eternal God — that they shall be careful 
 to root out of their empire all heretics, &c."* DCT^ Could 
 the decrees of that horrible court of the papal inquisition 
 be more manifestly contrary to the spirit and precepts of the 
 Gospel ? 
 
 •In the National Covenant, which was subscribed by king Charles IT. in the 
 year 1650, and 1651, and which all within the realm were bound by an ordinance 
 ©f council to subscribe, it is written : " We promise and swear by the Great name 
 of the Lord our God, to continue in the profession of the aforesaid religion — and re- 
 sist all contrary errors — all the days of our life. And in liliemannerwe promise and 
 swear, that we shall to the utmost of our power, with our means and lives, stand to 
 the defence of our dread sovereign, the king's majesty, his person and authority, 
 in the defence and preservation of the aforesaid true religion." 
 
308 
 
 PERSECUTION OF THE QrAKERS. 
 
 B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. 
 XII. 
 
 48. Such were the dire decrees and bloody resolutions by 
 which they rooted out every appearance of true light, and in their 
 rage for orthodoxy, went on butchering one another, until the 
 testimony of George Fox furnished a common object of perse- 
 cuting cruelty. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Sewel's 
 Histon', 
 25 
 
 Ecol. Hi«- 
 lory. vol . V 
 p. 451. 
 
 Sewel's 
 History, p. 
 335. 
 
 THE PERSECUTION OP THE QUAKERS IN ENGLAND AND 
 AMERICA, IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 The same year in which the National Covenant of persecuting 
 venom was subscribed by Charles, and the defenders of his 
 sovereignty, George Fox, and those who embraced his testimony, 
 received the name of Quakers, from GtERTAS Bennet, a perse- 
 cuting magistrate, on account'of George Fox's bidding him and 
 those about him, treinble at the word of the Lord. 
 
 2. Mosheini says, " It is not at all surprising that the secular 
 arm was at length raised against these pernicious fanatics, for 
 they would never give to magistrates those titles of honor and 
 pre-eminence that are designed to mark the respect due to their 
 authority ; they also refused obstinately to take the oath of alle- 
 giance to their sovereign, and to pay tithes to the clergy ; hence 
 they were looked upon as rebellious subjects, and, on that account, 
 were frequently punished [persecuted] with great severity." 
 
 3. How astonishingly dark must be the state of the human 
 race, when such discerning and otherwise liberal-minded men as 
 Mosheim, with apparent sincerity, utter such a sentiment ! What 
 better reason for persecution was this than the Papists had? 
 
 •4. The unreasonable fines, imprisonments, banishments, and 
 other acts of cruelty which they sufifered, under the united rage 
 of Protestant priests and politicians, may be seen at large in 
 SeweVs History of the People called Quakers; a few particidars 
 of which we shall notice. 
 
 5. After relating many scenes of cruelty, which terminated in 
 the death of the sufferers, the historian says, " Severe persecu- 
 tion raged not only in London, but all over the kingdom [in 
 1662] of which a relation was printed of more than four thousand 
 two hundred of those called Quakers, both men and women, that 
 were imprisoned either for frequenting meeting or for refusing to 
 swear. Many of these were grievously beaten, or their clothes 
 torn, or taken away from them ; and some were put into such 
 
B. VI. 
 
 PERSECTTTION OF THE QUAKEES. 
 
 309 
 
 SewePs 
 riisior>'. p. 
 014. 
 
 stinking dungeons, that some great men said, they would not ^Sn^' 
 have put their hunting dogs there." '— 
 
 6. Some prisons were crowded full of both men and women, 
 so that there was not sufficient room for all to sit down at once ; 
 and in Cheshire, sixty-eight persons were in this manner locked 
 up in a small room. By such ill treatment many grew sick, and 
 not a few died in such jails; for no age or sex was regarded, but 
 even ancient people, of sixty, seventy, and more years of age, 
 were not spared." 
 
 7. " This year [1676] died in prison John Sage, being about 
 eighty years of age, after having been in prison at Ivelchester, in 
 Sotnersetshire, almost ten years, for not paying tithes. And it 
 appeared, that since the restoration of king Charles, above two 
 hundred of the people ealled Quakers, died in prisons in England, 
 where they had been confined because of their religion." 
 
 8. The first of those called Quakers, who really suffered banish- 
 ment, were Edward Brush and James Harding, who were 
 carried to Jamaica. And it is stated as a remarkable fact, that 
 the plague which soon after raged with such violence in London, 
 first broke out in a house next door to where Edvjard had 
 lived. 
 
 9. In the forepart of the year 1665, many of the Quakers were lWd.p.43o 
 sentenced to be transported ; and as the sentences of transporta- 
 tion were multiplied in the course of the following summer ; so 
 
 (as is remarked) the number of those that died of the pestilence 
 much more increased. 
 
 10. In consequence of those cruel sentences, fifty-five Quakers, 
 eighteen of whom were women, were put on board one ship ; but 
 before they were able to proceed on their voyage, the plague so 
 increased that many died on board the ship ; and according to 
 the bills of mortality, in the beginning of August, while the ship 
 was yet in port, upwards of three thousand died in one week in 
 the city of London. 
 
 11. Notwithstanding the number of deaths still increased, and 
 the pestilence raged to that degree, in the latter end of September, 
 that upwards of eight thousand people died in London in one 
 week, and the grass grew in the most populous streets of the city ; 
 yet the Quakers' meetings were still disturbed, and sentences of 
 transportation still continued. 
 
 12. According to the laws of the realm, the penalty for attend- Ibid. p. 403, 
 ing any conventicle or religious meeting, separate from the 
 established worship, was three months imprisonment or five 
 pounds for the first offence, and ten pounds or six months impri- 
 sonment, for the second, and banishment beyond the seas, for 
 
 seven years, for the third offence, or one hundred pounds for a dis- 
 charge, and the additional sum of one hundred pounds more for 
 every new offence committed^ 
 
310 PERSECUTION OP THE QUAKERS. B. VI. 
 
 *^HAP. 13_ ^ji^ in case that any one, being condemned to banishment, 
 — '- — '- — should escape or return within the time prescribed, he should 
 suffer death, and forfeit all his goods and chattels forever. Under 
 this worse than savage system many were fleeced of their whole 
 estates, while the malicious priests exercised their utmost vigilance 
 to detect the innocent, and inflame the civil powers, with whom 
 they shared the spoil. 
 
 14. It would be endless to enumerate the sums unjustly and 
 cruelly extorted from the harmless Quakers, by those greedij 
 dogs. "Among others (says Sewtl) one Henry Marshal, having 
 several benefices — yet how great soever his revenues were, kept 
 poor people of that persuasion in prison for not paying tithes to 
 
 History, p. him : and once he said, from the pulpit, that not one Quaker 
 
 ^''^- should be left alive in England." And the bishop of Peterbo- 
 
 rough said publicly — ' ' When the parliament sits again, a stronger 
 
 law will be made, not only to take away their lands and goods, 
 
 but also to sell them for bond slaves." 
 
 15. Thus the churchmen blew the fire of persecution, and 
 kindled so high a flame in the breasts of uumerciful statesmen, 
 that. Justice Penniston Whallet, who had fined many of 
 those called Quakers for attending their religious meetings, en- 
 couraged the people at the sessions to persecute the Quakers 
 
 ibid.p. 486. without pity, saying, "Harden your hearts against, them, for 
 the act of the thirty-fifth of Q. Elizabeth, is not madeagainst 
 the Papists; since the church of Rome is a, true church, as 
 well as any other church. ; but the Quakers are erroneous and 
 seditious persons." 
 
 16. And again, at the trial of William Penn, the recorder of 
 the court ventured to say, "Till now I never understood the 
 reason of the policy and prudence of the Spaniards in suffering 
 the Inquisition among them. And certainly it will never be 
 well with us, till something like the Spanish inquisition, be in 
 England." The fact is, they never had been without something 
 like it, during the whole progress of the Reformation, as their 
 own histories, creeds, and confessions abundantly declare. 
 
 17. The same histories, creeds and confessions, with the im- 
 partial records of other writers, make it also most pointedly 
 manifest, that there is no essential difference between the spirit 
 and conduct of the Protestant reformers, and those infernal and 
 beastly cruelties practised in the darkest ages of popery, and 
 that they, as well as their Catholic ancestor, gloried in nothing 
 greater than in building up their Zion with blood. 
 
 18. We shall now leave Europe, and trace the conduct of those 
 famous Protestants who called themselves Puritans, who fled 
 from the iron arm of persecution at home, and crossed the 
 Atlantic, to find liberty of conscience in the destined land of 
 American freedom. 
 
B. VI. 
 
 PERSECUTION OP THE QUAKERS. 
 
 511 
 
 Sewel'3 
 Ilisiory, p. 
 157 
 
 19. The persecution of the Quakers in New England, under chap. 
 
 the established hierarchy of governor Jolm Endicot, priests . — '— 
 
 Norton, Wilson, and others, differed from those before mentioned, 
 
 only as a small stream differs from a great flood. The same 
 spirit prevailed, and the same cruelties were exercised : such as, 
 imprisoning, fining, confiscation of goods, banishing, unmerciful 
 scourging, burning with hot iron, cutting off ears, and destroying 
 their innocent lives by the ignominious gallows. 
 
 20. These detestable scenes of more than savage barbarity, 
 began in the month of July, 1656. Mary Fisher and Aym 
 Austin having arrived in the road before Boston, the deputy 
 governor Belhngham, had them brought on shore, and committed 
 to prison, as Quakers. They were stript naked, under pretence 
 of knowing whether they were witches, "and in this search, 
 (says Sewel,) they were so barbarously misused that modesty 
 forbids to mention it." After about five weeks imprisonment, 
 they were sent back to Old England, their beds and bibles 
 being taken by the jailor for his fees. 
 
 21. Scarce a month after, eight others of those called Quakers 
 came ; they were locked up in the same manner as the former ; 
 and after about eleven weeks stay, were sent back. John 
 Endicot bid them " Take heed that ye break not our ecclesias- 
 tical Laws, for then ye are sure to stretch by the halter." 
 
 22. Then a law was made to prohibit all masters of ships from 
 bringing any Quakers into that jurisdiction. Nicholas Upsal, a 
 member of the church, and a man of unblameable character, for 
 speaking against such proceedings, was fined twenty-three pounds, 
 and imprisoned also for not coming to church; next they 
 banished him out of their jurisdiction ; and though a weakly old 
 man, yet he was forced to depart in the winter. Nicholas after- 
 wards met with an Indian prince, who having understood how he 
 had been used, offered to make him a warm house ; and further 
 said, " What a God have the English, loho deal so with one 
 another about their God! " * 
 
 2.3. The following year, 1657, Anne Burden and Mary Dyer it^.p les, 
 were imprisoned at Boston ; and Mary Clark, for warning these 
 persecutors to desist from their iniquity, was unmercifully re- 
 
 * Candid reader, pause and consider, whicli of these conducted the most lilie 
 real Christians, those unmerciful persecutors, or this untutord savage, as they 
 would call him; and which had the best credentials for the liingdom of God, 
 according to the words of Christ. (See Math. xxv. .34, to the end.) Yet the 
 former 1ms been the general characteristic of the spirit of orthodoxy, from the time 
 the term was invented to the present day, and which its votaries have never 
 failed to put in practice, as far as they had the power. 
 
 These cruel persecutors were the Puritan fathers so much extolled, who fled from 
 the land of oppression ; and so it continues, even in the present time, under the 
 professed liberal constitutions of this land ! as facts, though artfully disguised, 
 abundantly prove. And it is evident, that nothing but the divided state of pro- 
 fessors, prevents similar scenes being again enacted in full force, as the horrid 
 tragedy of the Salem witchcraft and the unmerciful persecution of the Quakers. 
 
 169. 
 
312 
 
 PERSECUTION OP THE QUAKERS. 
 
 B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xir. 
 
 * See Rev. 
 li. 10. 
 
 Sewel's 
 History, p. 
 191. ■ 
 
 Ibid. p. 191, 
 192, 
 
 Ibid. p. 193, 
 191. 
 
 warded with twenty stripes of a three corded whip on her naked 
 back, and detained in prison about three months in the winter 
 season. [*] The cords of these whips were commonly as thick as 
 a man's little finger, each having some knots at the end. 
 
 24. Christopher Holder and John Copeland were whipt at 
 Boston the same year, each thirty stripes with a knotted whip of 
 three cords, the hangman measuring his ground and fetching the 
 strokes with all the force he could, which so cruelly cut their 
 flesh, that a woman seeing it, fell down for dead. Then they 
 wefe locked up in prison and kept three days without food, or so 
 much as a drink of water, and detained in prison nine weeks in 
 the cold winter season, without fire, bed, or straw. 
 
 25. Lawrence and Cassandra Southick, and their son Josiah, 
 being carried to Boston, were all of them, notwithstanding the 
 old age of the two, sent to the house of correction, and whipt 
 with cords as those before, in the coldest season of the year, and 
 had taken from them to the value of four pounds ten shillings, for 
 not coming to church. 
 
 26. In the year 1658, a law was made, which, besides imposing 
 heavy penalties and imprisonments, extended to working in the 
 house of correction, severe whipping, cutting off ears, and boring 
 through their tongues with a red hot iron, whether male or 
 female, and such like inhuman barbarities. 
 
 27. The same year, William Brand and William Leddra, 
 came to Newbury ; thence they were carried to Boston, to the 
 house of correction, to work there : but they, unwilling to submit 
 thereto, were kept five days without any food, and then beaten 
 twenty strokes each with a three-corded whip. 
 
 28. Next they were put into irons, neck and heels so close 
 together, that there was no more room left between, than for the 
 lock that fastened them, and kept in that situation sixteen hours, 
 and then brought to the mill to work ; but Brand refusing, was. 
 beaten by the inhuman jailor, with a pitched rope, more than a 
 hundred strokes, till his flesh was bruised into a jelly, his body 
 turned cold, and for some time he had neither seeing, feeling, nor 
 hearing. 
 
 29. The high priest, John Norton, was heard to say, " Wil- 
 liam Brand endeavored to beat our Gospel ordinances black and 
 blue, if then he be beaten black and blue, it is but just upon him; 
 and I will appear in the behalf of him that did so." Bloody 
 priest ! Who will appear in thy behalf, at the great tribunal of 
 Almighty God? 
 
 30. In the same year, John Copeland, Christopher Holder, 
 and John Rous were taken up, and in a private manner had their 
 right ears cut oif by authority. And, as if these inhuman bar- 
 barities were not sufiicient, John Norton, and other priests 
 petitioned for a law to banish the Quakers, on pain of death. 
 
B. VI. PERSECUTION OF THE QUAKERS. 313 
 
 The petition was granted October 20th, 1658, hy the court of chap. 
 Boston. A short extract of the law is as follows. 
 
 31. "Whereas there is a pernicious sect, (commonly called 
 Quakers) who take upon them to change and alter the received 
 laudable customs of our nation, and also to destroy the order of 
 
 the churches, by denying all established forms of worship [*] * See Acts, 
 For prevention thereof, this court doth order and enact, that xvi!'2b*2i. 
 every person or persons, being convicted to be of the sect of the 
 Quakers, shall be sentenced to be banished upon pain of death." 
 
 32. Daniel and Provided Southick, son and daughter to gewei'a 
 Lawrence and Cassandra, not frequenting the assemblies of such History, p. 
 a persecuting generation, were fined ten pounds, though it was 
 
 well known they had no estate, their parents being already 
 brought to poverty by their rapacious persecutors. To get this 
 money, the general court at Boston issued out an order, by 
 which the treasurers of the several counties were empowered 
 to sell the said persons to any of the English nation at Virginia, 
 or Barbadoes, to answer the said fines. 
 
 83. William Maston, at Hampton, was fined ten pounds for 
 two books found in his house, five pounds for not frequenting 
 their church, and three pounds besides as due to the priest ; for 
 which fines he had taken from him, what amounted to more than 
 twenty pounds. Not long after, above a thousand pounds were 
 taken from some, only because they had separated themselves 
 from the persecuting church. 
 
 34. Thomas Prince, governor of Plymouth, was heard to ibici.p.2i9. 
 say. That in his conscience the Quakers were such a people as 
 deserved to be destroyed, they, their wives andj children, their 
 
 houses and lands, without pity or mercy. Humphrey Norton at 
 Neiu-Haven, for being a Quaker, was severely whipt, and burnt 
 in the hand- with the letter H. to signify heretic. 
 
 35. The unjust and bloody sentence of death was executed ibid.p.aae. 
 upon William Robinson and Marmaduke Stephenson, the 27th 
 
 of October, 1659. When they were come near the gallows, the 
 priest [Wilson] tauntingly said to Robinson, " Shall sv,ch Jacks 
 as you come in before authority, with their hats on?" To which 
 Robinson replied, " Mind you, mind you, it is for the not putting 
 ofi' the hat we are put to death ! " 
 
 36. The persons that were hanged, were barbarously used — 
 even their shirts were ripped off with a knife, and their naked 
 bodies cast into a hole that was dug, without any covering. And 
 priest Wilson makes a ballad on them. On the 31st of the third 
 month, 1660, Mary Dyer was sentenced to death by Endicot, ibid.p.264. 
 and the next day executed. William Leddra returned to Boston, 
 
 was cast into an open prison, and locked in chains day and night, 
 in a very cold winter, and was sentenced to death, and executed 
 on the 14th of the first month, 1661. 
 21 
 
314 
 
 PERSECUTION OP THE QUAKERS. 
 
 B. VI. 
 
 CHAP. 
 XII. 
 
 Sewel's 
 History, 
 p. 272, 324. 
 
 Dec. 2Sd, 
 1662. 
 
 * See Jer. 
 XX. 1, 2, & 
 Acts, xvi. 
 24. 
 
 37. Many, both men and women, were stripped naked from 
 the waist and upward, tied to the cart-tail and scourged in the 
 most brutal and barbarous manner, while the priests, who were 
 the principal instigators to such more than savage meanness, were 
 pleased in nothing better than in the exercise of such antichristian 
 and diabolical cruelties. 
 
 38. Peter Pearson and Judith Brown, being stript to the 
 waist, were fastened to a cart-tail, and whipt through the town 
 of Boston. Also Josiah Southick was stript and led through the 
 streets of Boston at the cart-tail, and vehemently scourged by 
 the hangman. The same day he was whipt at Roxbury, and the 
 next morning at Dedham. The whip used for these cruel execu- 
 tions, was not of whip cord, but of dried guts; and each string 
 with three knots at the end. 
 
 39. At Dover, Anne Coleman, Mary Tomkins, and Alice 
 Ambrose, were sentenced to be fastened to the cart-tail, and 
 whipped on their naked backs, through eleven towns, a distance of 
 near eighty miles. Then in a very cold day, the deputy, Waldem, 
 at Dover, caused these women to be stript naked, from the middle 
 upward, and tied to a cart, and then whipt them, while the priest 
 looked on and laughed at it. Two of their friends testified 
 against Walden's cruelty, for which they were put in the 
 stocks.* 
 
 40. The women were carried to Hampton, and there whipt — 
 from thence to Salsbury and again whipt. William Barefoot at 
 length obtained the warrant from the constable and let them go 
 the priest advising to the contrary. Not long after, these women 
 returned to Dover, and were again seized, while in meeting, and 
 barbarously dragged about at the instigation of [a man falsely 
 called] Hate-evil Nutwell, a ruling elder.t 
 
 41. Afterwards, Anne Coleman, and four of her friends were 
 whipped through Salem, Boston, and Dedham, by order of Haw- 
 
 . thorn, the magistrate. Anne Coleman was a little, weakly woman; 
 Bellingham encouraging the executioner while she was fastening 
 to the cart at Dedham, he laid on so severely, that with the knot 
 of the whip he split the nipple of her breast, which so tortured 
 her, that it almost took away her life. 
 
 42. These are a few instances out of many, of those diabolical, 
 beastly, and more than savage cruelties, which were exercised 
 by those who pretended that for conscience sake they had chosen 
 
 ■f The barbarity of their persecutors, on this occasion, exceeds all description. 
 Being seized in meeting, while on their knees in prayer, they were dragged by 
 their arms nearly a mile,through a deep snow, across fields and over stumps, by 
 which they were much bruised. The next day they were barbarously dragged 
 down a steep hill to the water side, and threatened with drowning, and one of 
 them was actually plunged into the water, when a sudden shower obliged them to 
 retreat. At length, after much abuse, these poor victims of orthodox barbarity, 
 were turned out of doors at midnight, and with their clothes wet and frozen, were 
 obliged to suffer the inclemency of a severe winter's night. 
 
B. VI. PERSECUTION OF THE QrAKERS. 315 
 
 the wilderness of America ! And sucli were the fruits of the Pro- chap. 
 testant religion in its greatest purity. Let them cease to ' 
 
 disgrace the name of Jesus ; they never knew him, but were the 
 great-grand children of those who 'persecuted the prophets — they 
 were the posterity of Cain — walking, in the way of Balaau — 
 raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame. 
 
 43. To the above matters of fact may be added the following 
 
 just remark inserted in the History of Redemption. After speak- Hist, of Re. 
 ing of the persecutions and oppressions in the times of the ^|"i'' p- 
 Stuarts, and the tyranny of archbishop Laud and his furious [cj. 
 associates, the writer observes, that "persecution has not been 
 confined to such men : every sect (says he) and some of the best 
 men in each have engaged in this diabolical busi7iess. With what 
 bitterness did the Lutherans, Zuinglians, and Calvinists, and 
 other parties of the reformers, abuse, imprison, and banish each 
 other, is too well attested by ecclesiastical historians of the six- 
 teenth century, to be denied." 
 
 44. "Not to mention the blood of sectaries unjustly shed at 
 home and abroad ; not only did the Episcopalians in England per- 
 secute the dissenters ; but in Scotland, and during the com- 
 monwealth in England, these persecuted the Episcopalians. 
 And what is perhaps more extraordinary, even in New Eng- 
 land, where the first colonists fled from the iron hand of 
 oppression at home, theydpersecuted the Quakers and others 
 who differed from their establishment. How, then (adds the 
 writer) shall we account for these enormities, but upon the 
 principle — that it proceeds from the general depravity of human 
 nature." 
 
 45. And a general depravity it is, when the best men, in all 
 their established sects and parties, are, by the confession of their 
 own writers, diabolical persecutors. And if persecution is a 
 diabolical, or devilish work, well said Christ of such, Ye are of seeJohn, 
 your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do : viii. 33-44. 
 he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the 
 
 truth, because there is no truth in him. 
 
 46. Yet, by all these most horrid cruelties and abominable 
 works, they established, what is called the Christian World, 
 upon the principles of false teachers, corrupted priests, bloody 
 emperors, imperious popes, and diabolical persecutors, including 
 the ecclesiastical tyrants of every age, from Constantine down 
 to John Norton, and the rest of the Protestant priesthood, under 
 Governor Endicot. 
 
 47. But their diabolical works unmask their Christianity, and 
 by the light of the sun of righteousness, the foundations of their 
 
 world are discovered, which have been long kept in store, reserved 2 Peter, iii. 
 unto fire, against the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly ''' 
 men. 
 
316 PERSECUTION OF THE QTIAKERS. E. VI. 
 
 ''xH^' ^^' CJandid reader, let it be engraven on your heart, never to 
 '■ — be erased ; let it be impressed on your mind, never to be forgot- 
 ten; that tbe true cburch, the tr-ue followers of Christ never 
 persecuted any ! 
 
 49. After tracing the long line of succession, through the per- 
 secuting and corrupt hierarchy, from Constantine to the Popes, 
 and from the Popes to laither and Calvin, and from them down 
 to John Norton, and the rest of the persecuting crew under 
 governor John Endicot, what rational mind can believe that 
 true Christianity can, or ever could be propagated, or any true 
 church ever descend from such a horrible and corrupt source ? 
 Nay, never. As well might we believe that Satan can propagate 
 holiness, mercy, and love; and that the peaceable kingdom of 
 Christ can be established by hypocrisy, falsehood, and Mood. 
 
THE TESTIMONY 
 
 CHEIST'S SECOID APPEAEIIG. 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 THE EXTENT AND DURATION OF WHAT IS CALLED THE 
 CHRISTIAN WORLD. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 WORLDLY CHRISTIANS CONTRASTED WITH VIRTUOUS BE- 
 LIEVERS IN CHRIST. 
 
 The disciples of Jesus Christ, or learners of the G-ospel, were first chap. i. 
 
 called Christians at Antioch. Under this name all were, in pro- 
 
 cess of time included, who professed to believe that Jesus was 
 
 the promised Messiah. But when antichrist arose, and assumed 
 
 the name and authority of Christ, he was properly a. false Christ, 
 
 and his disciples of course must be false Christians ; therefore 
 
 the Christian world must mean that world of Christians who 
 
 are the followers oi a false Christ, and who "wondered after the 
 
 beast; " while such as retained a measure of the true Christian 
 
 faith and practice, must be called by some other name. 
 
 2. From what has been already stated, concerning the rise and 
 progress of antichrist's dominion, it appears that after the days 
 of the Apostles, there remained but little room for the pure and 
 undefiled religion of Jesus, on earth. 
 
 3. How far the fire of truth' was extinguished, by those floods 
 of error, which early began to be disgorged by false apostles and 
 deceitful workers, and how extensively the influence of antichris- 
 tian corruption prevailed, is particularly worthy of reflection, in 
 order to discover the real distinction between the multitude who 
 assumed the name of Christ, and called him Lord, Lord, and the 
 virtuous few who were careful to do the things that he taught. 
 
 4. All that the false spirit could engage in his service, from 
 his first rise, he did engage, and all that he engaged in his ser- 
 vice he did corrupt, in the highest degree ; so that in the pro- 
 
318 WORLDLY CHRISTIANS CONTRASTED WITH B. VII. 
 
 CHAP. I. gress of Hs dominion, as far as his influence extended, both men 
 and things were most effectually changed for the worse. 
 
 5. Emperors, kings, and every class of civil rulers, became 
 more tyrannical ; laws and maxims of civil policy more cruel and 
 oppressive ; soldiers more barbarous ; every kind of craftsmen 
 more addicted to deception and fraud ; and every art and science 
 more perverted to the purposes of pride, luxury, and unrighteous 
 gain. 
 
 6. All orders of priesthood were more corrupted, and learned 
 greater arts of imposition and deceit; the sacred Scriptures were 
 corrupted from beginning to end, both in the sense and applica- 
 tion, especially the doctrines of Christ and his Apostles. In a 
 word, everything that antichrist could get hold of, or in any wise 
 attach to his corrupt kingdom, whether it related to soul or body, 
 to faith or practice, to time or eternity, he so corrupted, that the 
 whole creation was, in a moral sense, removed to a much greater 
 distance from God. 
 
 7. Every age improved upon the corruptions of the past, and 
 prepared a greater degree of corruption for the following ; and 
 thus it continued and increased, until all the nations of the earth 
 were corrupted; and, as far as antichrist's claim extended, 
 nothing escaped his poisonous and corrupting influence, save 
 those few enlightened souls who were willing to face death in all 
 its most frightful forms, rather than come under his dominion. 
 
 8. Amidst all the presumptuous claims and high pretensions 
 of the false spirit, by which the world was deceived, God did re- 
 serve the spirit of faith and of true virtue in his own power, and 
 whenever it was poured out upon any people, the life and sub- 
 stance of that spirit was out of the deceiver's reach. 
 
 9. True, he could torture the bodies, corrupt and pervert 
 the words, and maliciously misrepresent the actions of those who 
 possessed that spirit ; but the spirit itself, by which they spake 
 and were actuated, remained uncorrupted and undefiled through 
 the whole of his pernicious reign, and is to this day, wherever 
 it is found, a swift witness against all his deceitful claims to or- 
 thodoxy, and all his beastly works. 
 
 10. Yet it will not be denied that a false Christ often had 
 power to corrupt by flatteries, and draw into his communion, 
 many who had, for a time, been actuated by the spirit of truth, 
 and bore a swift testimony against error and vice. Whole socie- 
 ties of such were frequently overcome by the beast, and swal- 
 lowed up in the general mass of corruption. 
 
 11. But the spirit of truth never could be overcome, nor led 
 captive with them ; but would again raise up others of the same 
 description, separate from the catholic kingdom; and thus a 
 measure of the true work of God, and the fruits of the spirit of 
 truth, from time to time appeared, and stood as a monument, to 
 
B. VII. VIRTUOUS BELIEVERS IN CHRIST. 319 
 
 condemn the universal corruptions of a false religion, which over- chap. j. 
 spread the earth under the name of Christianity. 
 
 12. Therefore, for the truth's sake, we are bound to distin- 
 guish between that spirit which ruled the motley mixture of 
 Pagans, Jews, and pretended Christians, and that very different 
 spirit which, in a separate and distinct people, was all along dis- 
 tinguished by the fruits of mortiiication and abstinence, piety, 
 virtue, innocence, and simplicity of manners. 
 
 13 Cerdon, Marcion, Mani, Novatiaji, Hierax, Priscillian, 
 and those who followed their example, would doubtless furnish a 
 very different history from that of the contending philosophers, 
 emperors, and popes, were their sentiments, their lives, and their 
 actions justly recorded. Even the small traces of virtue, that 
 have been transmitted down through the writings of their adver- 
 saries, are sufficient to show the striking contrast that existed 
 between them and the great Christian hierarchy. 
 
 14. Under the various names of Marcionites, Manicheans, 
 Priscillianists, Bogomilans, Cathari, Beghards, Picards, Wal- 
 deiises, Albigenses, Anabaptists, ^c, there appeared, at differ- 
 ent periods, a people who bore a striking resemblance to each 
 other, both in their faith and manners. 
 
 15. They considered Jesus Christ not as the founder of a tem- 
 poral hierarchy, but as a pattern of piety and virtue : hence they 
 placed religion not so much in doctrines and outward forms of 
 worship, as in purity of heart and a virtuous practice ; and 
 therefore they bore a uniform testimony against vice, and the 
 established orthodoxy of the standing priesthood. 
 
 16. Many of them chose a life of continence, others did not: 
 they allowed each other liberty of conscience, that each might 
 live according to their own faith, and they persecuted Twne 
 who differed from them. They took no oaths, bore no arms, and 
 •patiently endured persecution for the testimony which they 
 held. 
 
 17. And what was all this, but a standing memorial of the nature 
 and tendency of the true Grospel, and a witness against the corrupt 
 religion established by human authority ? Not that either the doc- 
 trine or manners of those virtuous people were formed into any sys- 
 tem, or conveyed, by any external authority, from one to another ; 
 but being influenced by the same invisible Spirit, however discon- 
 nected they might have been, as to external things, their faith and 
 practice were essentially the same in nature, though not always in 
 degree. 
 
 18. Wherever such a faith and practice were manifested, they 
 never failed to reprove and condemn that which was of a contrary 
 nature ; and such was then the true work of God for that pur- 
 pose ; therefore, as vice and wickedness increased among the 
 professed orthodox Christians, virtue was elsewhere practised, 
 
320 -WORLDLT CHRISTIANS CONTKASTED WITH B. VII. 
 
 CHAP. I. uii(ier some other name, sufficient in degree to expose the king- 
 dom of the beast in its proper colors. 
 
 19. Thus, while the door of the Catholic church stood open to 
 all characters, and the universal depravity of priests and people 
 destroyed every real distinction between virtue and vice in that 
 apartment, the people taught by Novation, stood as a living re- 
 
 Ecci.Re- proof of their libertine government. Some exclaimed, "It is a 
 searches, barbarous discipline to refuse to re-admit people into Christian 
 ^' ' communion because they have lapsed into idolatry and vice." 
 Others, finding the inconvenience of such a lax discipline, re- 
 quired a repentance of five, ten, or fifteen years. 
 
 20. But the Novatians said, " If you be a virtuous believer, 
 and will accede to our confederacy against sin, you may be 
 admitted among us by baptism, or if any Catholic has baptized 
 you before, by re-baptism. But mark this, if you violate the 
 contract by lapsing into idolatry and vice, we shall separate you 
 from our community, and, do what you will, we shall never re- 
 admit you. God forbid we should either injure your person, 
 your property, or your character, or even judge of the truth of 
 your repentance and your future state : But you can never be 
 re-admitted to our community without our giving up the best and 
 only coercive guardian we have of the purity of our morals."* 
 
 21. This Novatian discipline, Eusebius says, '■'rent the unity 
 of the church." Truly it showed that the Church of Christ and 
 a wicked idolatrous world could never be united. But when 
 antichrist had completed the union between the civil and eccle- 
 siastical powers, and a whole empire was Christianized at once, 
 by a mere change of human government, the state of the ivorld, 
 thus united to the church, might have appeared unspeakably 
 glorious to the worldly-minded, had not God reserved a people, 
 whose virtuous practice should expose the universal deception of 
 the self-styled Catholics, 
 
 ibid.p.i94. 22. " Certain it is, (says Robinson,) the rhtnons Manicheans 
 thought they were only Pagan schismatics, acting vice in the 
 name of the most virtuous of beings, Jesus Christ, whose char- 
 acter must sink in proportion as theirs rose." 
 
 23. Thus Faustus, the Manichean, said to Saint Augustin: 
 "How dare you call me a Pagan schismatic? The Pagans 
 honor God, they think, by building temples, by erecting altaia 
 and images, and by offering sacrifices and incense. I have quite 
 other notions. I consider myself, if I be worthy, a rational 
 temple of God. I honor Jesus Christ, his Son, as his express 
 image. A well instructed mind is his altar, and pure and simple 
 adoration the acceptable sacrifice to God." 
 
 •According to Jones, in a work written by Novatian, he shows that it was Christ 
 who appeared to the Patriarchs, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, &c. See Jones's His. 
 
 ^r.vy, p. 183. 
 
B. VII. VIETUOTIS BELIEVEES IN CHRIST. 321 
 
 24. "For your parts, you have substituted the ceremonies of chap. i. 
 your love feasts in the place of sacrifices, martyrs instead of 
 
 idols, and you honor them as the Pagans do their deities, by 
 votive offerings. You appease the manes* of the dead by wine * Ghosts. 
 and festivals. You celebrate the feasts of Paganism by observ- 
 ing days: and in regard to their morals, you preserve them 
 entire, and have altered nothing. It is you then, and not we, 
 who are Pagan schismatics, and ?iothing distinguishes you froin 
 the rest of the heathens, but your holding separate assemblies." 
 
 25. "You ask me whether I believe the Gospel? Is that a 
 question to put to a man who observes all the precepts of it ? I 
 might with propriety put the question to you, because your life 
 gives no proof of it." 
 
 26. " As for me, I have quitted father, mother, and children. Ecci. Re- 
 I have renounced all that the Gospel commands me to renounce ; 5^327'''''' 
 and you ask me whether I believe the Gospel. I perceive you 
 
 do not understand the Gospel, which is nothing but the doctrine 
 and precepts of Jesus Christ. You see in me the beatitudes 
 mentioned by Jesus Christ. I am poor in spirit, meek, peaceable, 
 pure in heart. You see me suffer sorrow, hunger, thirst, perse- 
 cution, and the hatred of the world for righteousness sake; yet 
 you doubt whether I believe the Gospel." 
 
 27. "You do not practise the precepts of Christ; and I do 
 practise them. It must be allowed, you have chosen the easy, 
 and I the difficult part ; and that Jesus hath not annexed the 
 promise of salvation to your part; but he hath to mine. He 
 hath said, Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command 
 you; but he hath not said. Ye are my friends if ye believe I 
 was born of a virgin." 
 
 28. The analogy between virtuous believers of every age, may 
 be seen in the general accounts, in history, of heretics, enthu- 
 siasts and fanatics ; and that such had no relation to the Christian 
 world, is manifest from the history of persecutions, from Nero, 
 emperor of Kome, down to John Endicot, Governor of Boston. 
 
 29. To be sewed up in the skins of wild beasts, and worried 
 to death by dogs, or dressed in shirts made stiff with wax and 
 set on fire, was the fate of heretics under the reign of Nero. 
 And for what cause was every additional mode of torture em- 
 ployed by his successors, to extirpate them from the earth ? 
 imprisoning, scourging, racking, searing, burning, drowning, or 
 tearing them piecemeal with red-hot pincers ? The whole ground 
 of their hatred may be seen from a few instances of their cruelty. 
 
322 
 
 VIRTtJOTTS BELIEVERS 
 
 B. VII. 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 VIRTUOUS BELIEVERS, IN EVERT AGE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 ERA, COMPARED WITH WORLDLY CHRISTIAN PROFESSORS. 
 
 CHAP. n. When the persecution in the second century began to rage at 
 
 Lyons, Epipodius, a young man, was brought before the 
 
 governor, and examined 'in the presence of a crowd of Pagans. 
 The governor at length took him aside, and with dissembled 
 kindness, pretended to pity his condition, and intreated him not 
 to ruin himself by obstinacy. 
 
 ^. " Our deities (continued he) are worshipped by the greater 
 part of the people in the universe, and their rulers : we, to 
 honor them, launch into pleasures ; you, by your faith, are 
 debarred from all that indulges the senses. Our religion enjoins 
 feasting, yours fasting ; ours the joys of licentious blandishments, 
 yours the barren virtue of chastity. Can you expect' protection 
 from one who could not secure himself from the persecution of 
 a contemptible people ? Then quit a profession of such austerity, 
 and enjoy those gratifications which the world ajffords, and which 
 your youthful years demand." 
 
 3. To which Epipodius replied: "Your pretended tenderness 
 is actual cruelty ; and the agreeable life you describe, is replete 
 with everlasting death. The frame of man being composed of 
 two parts, body and soul; the first as mean and perishable, 
 should be rendered subservient to the interests of the last. 
 Your idolatrous feasts may gratify the mortal, but they injure 
 the immortal part: that cannot therefore be enjoying life, which 
 destroys the most valuable moiety of your frame : your pleasures 
 lead to eternal death, and our pains to perpetual happiness." 
 For this s-peech jtEpipodius was severely beaten, and then put to 
 the rack, upon which being stretched, his flesh was torn with 
 iron hooks, then taken from the rack and beheaded, April 20th, 
 in the year 179. 
 
 4. About the year 250, " Denisa, a young woman of only six- 
 teen years of age, was (by order of Optimus, proconsul of Asia) 
 given up to two libertines, to become the object of their lust; and 
 having suffered under their brutality half the night, and being 
 miraculously delivered, was afterwards beheaded, by order of 
 the same tyrant." 
 
 5. " Agi/ia, a Cicilian lady, for refusing to gratify the lust- 
 ful passions of Qui?itian, the governor of Sicily, was scourged. 
 
 Ibid. p. 28. burnt with hot irons, and torn with sharp hooks, laid naked upon 
 live coals, and carried thence to prison, where she expired. 
 
 Wright's 
 Manyr. 
 vol. i. p. 21. 
 
 Ibisl. p. 27. 
 
B. VII. COMPARED WITH WORLDLY PROFESSORS. 323 
 
 Theodora, a beautiful young lady of Antiock, on refusing to chap, ii. 
 sacrifice to the Roman idols, was condemned to the stews, that 
 her virtue might be sacrificed to the brutality of lust ; and for 
 attempting to escape, was beheaded and burnt." 
 
 6. Maximilian, a likely youth, about the same time, refusing 
 to bear arms, and saying, " I am already a soldier of Christ and 
 cannot serve any other power" — was beheaded. And for no 
 other cause than for a spirit of peace and purity, were the 
 millions of virtuous believers persecuted to death, in succeeding 
 ages, by those who deceitfully called themselves Christians. 
 
 7. That lying spirit that could convert a vain "philosophy into 
 a gospel, a licentious priesthood into Christian apostles, and a 
 worse than Pagan hierarchy into the Church of Christ, could 
 also corrupt the doctrines of the innocent, by deceitful and 
 mysterious language, and put a false coloring upon the practice 
 of the virtuous, to blind the eyes of the ignorant, and retain the 
 world in the fatal snares of vice. 
 
 8. Thus, the last degree of antichrist's influence, was in taking 
 away the key of knowledge, forming a thick veil of prejudice to 
 cover and hide the only living witnesses of truth, whose faith and 
 practice, many candid men have fully demonstrated, even from 
 the records of their persecutors, to have been, of all others, the 
 nearest transcript of the precepts and example of Christ, in 
 their day. 
 
 9. Br. Horneck, and after him John Wesley, says, " Not a 
 few of them renounced the satisfaction of matrimony, lived sin- 
 gle, forsook all, buried themselves in poor cottages, studied the 
 Scriptures, contemplated heaven, and thus lived to God alone." 
 
 " Some travelled into far countries, preached the Gospel, and when "Wesley's 
 they had laid a good foundation there, went further, and spent ^ra'ry^voi. 
 their time in pains and labors, and doing good. Thousands of ^^i^.p- 
 their virgins, freely dedicated themselves to God, and would 
 he married to none but him — and though many times they 
 were tempted by rich fortunes, yet nothing could alter their 
 resolutions." 
 
 10. The same spirit of virtue is breathed in the words of a 
 Waldensian preacher, as recorded by Reiner, and quoted by 
 Robinson. "They (the Papal clergy) are rich and avaricious, of Ecci. Ee- 
 whom the Lord says, Wo unto you rich, for you have received si^'jj'i^.'''' 
 your consolation : but we, having food and raiment, are there- 
 with content.'''' 
 
 11. "They are voluptuous, and devour widows' houses: we 
 only eat to be refreshed and supported. They fight and encour- 
 age war : and command the poor to be killed and burnt, in de- 
 fiance of that saying. He that taheth the sword shall perish by 
 the sword. For our parts, they persecute us for righteousness 
 
324 
 
 VIETUOTJS BELIEVERS 
 
 B. VII. 
 
 Eccl. Re- 
 searches, p. 
 313. 
 
 '^HAP. II. 12. " They do nothing ; they eat the bread of idleness : We 
 work with our hands. They monopolize the giving of instruction, 
 and wo be to them that take away the key of knowledge : but 
 among us, women teach as well as men, and one disciple as soon 
 as he is informed himself, teaches another. And because we are 
 sincere believers in Christ, and teach and enforce a holy life and 
 conversation, these scribes and pharisees persecute us to death, 
 as their predecessors did Jesus Christ." 
 
 13. It matters not what changing hypocrites, from age to age, 
 have called those harmless people, or what slanderous comments 
 they have formed upon their doctrines and manners. Virtue 
 itself could never be changed into vice, and wherever it appeared, 
 it stood as a testimony against them, the noblest work of God 
 on earth. 
 
 14. Robinson, speaking of those virtuous dissenters, in the 
 twelfth century and onward, says, "They condemn the tyranny 
 and corruptions of a false religion, by a practical Testimony. 
 They could not be charged with perjury, for they had never 
 taken oaths, and one of their maxims was, Swear not at all. 
 Sedition could not be pretended, for they never bore arms. They 
 could not be awed by one another, for they had no masters ; they 
 could not be bribed, for they had no necessitous gentry. Pilled 
 with that auspicious freedom which innocence inspires, they had 
 not even one patron at court, and their whole expectation was 
 placed on the superintending providence of God." 
 
 15. Such was the general character of the people, driven from 
 city to city, from mountain to mountain, and from valley to val- 
 ley, for many hundred years, under as many names of heresy as 
 their adversaries chose to invent. "If they were called Mafii- 
 cheans, (says Robinson,) it was because they denied the Catholic 
 doctrine of the Trinity — and of course believed that Jesus was 
 a man." 
 
 16. Says Rodulph, "Non credunt filium aqualem patri, quia 
 dixit, Pater major me est. i.e. They do not believe the Son to 
 be equal with the Father, because he said, The Father is greater 
 than I." If they were called Cathari or Gazari, it was because 
 of their morals — the purity of their lives. They said A Chris- 
 tian church aught to consist of only good people : The church 
 might not to persecute any, even the wicked." 
 
 Ibid. p. 410. 17. Sometimes they were called Paierf^zes : "This described 
 their condition in life. They were decent in their deportment, 
 modest in their dress and discourse. In their conversation there 
 was no levity, no scurrillity, no detraction, no falsehood, no 
 swearing. They were ehaste and temperate ; not given to anger 
 or other violent passions." 
 
 18. If we compare this character with that of the reformed 
 Ciilvinists, given in the words of their own confession, we need 
 
 Ibid. p. 406. 
 
 Ibid, note 
 [6]. 
 
B. VII. COMPARED ■W:iTH WORLDLY PROFESSORS. 825 
 
 not wonder that tte reformers labored hard to prove their descent chap. ii. 
 from the persecuted Waldenses. Just so the obscene and wicked 
 Catholic priests first founded their authority on a claim to their 
 descent from Jesus and his holy Apostles, and endeavored to 
 cloak their wickedness under his imputed righteous7iess, and 
 condemn their fellow Pagans upon the false presumption of their 
 sublime descent. 
 
 19. In the same manner have the Protestant persecutors 
 endeavored to cover their abominations under the righteous 
 character of those whom their fathers persecuted. While they 
 equal the Papists in all manner of wickedness, they claim the 
 Catholic authority over them, upon pretence that the true key of 
 St. Peter was handed down to them through those innocent 
 people, whom they themselves, on other occasions, will brand as 
 the worst of heretics. To such miserable artifices has antichrist 
 been driven to support his orthodoxy ! 
 
 20. Says Dr. Maclaine, "When the Papists ask us where our Ecci. His- 
 religion was before Luther? We generally answer, Li the Bible; ^9^"^' \fg 
 [i.e. in the Book; a poor kind of religion!] and we answer well, note'fe]. 
 (says he ;) but to gratify their taste for tradition and human 
 authority, we may add to this answer, and in the valley.': of 
 Piedmont ;" i.e. among those persecuted heretics the Walderises. 
 
 21. Such an answer may serve to vindicate a religion that be- 
 gan and continued in false swearing, and is wholly dependent for 
 merit on the righteousness of another. But unhappily for the 
 reformers, there were Piedmontese cotemporary with them. 
 
 22. Who were those heretics that were extirpated like mad 
 dogs, by Luther's advice, but the heirs of that spirit of liberty, 
 of innocence and peace, which had been so happily cherished and 
 preserved, for many ages, in the vallies of Piedmont and the 
 Pyrenees ? Among those persecuted Anabaptists of the sixteenth 
 century, we find the same characters which the old Waldenses 
 and Manicheans supported.* 
 
 23. Authentic records in France assure us, (says Robinson,) ecci. Re- 
 that a people of a certain description were driven from thence ^"'''^''^^i p- 
 in the twelfth century. 33ohemian records of equal authority 
 inform us, that some of the same description arrived in Bohemia 
 
 at the same time, and settled near a hundred miles from Prague, 
 at Satz and Laun on the river Eger, just on the borders of the 
 kingdom. t 
 
 24. Almost two hundred years after, another undoubted 
 record of the same country, mentions a people of the same 
 description, some as burnt at Prague, and others as inhabiting 
 
 *The reader may find an ample and authentic account of those reputed heretics, 
 the ancient Waldenses, in the Researches of Robert Robinson under his history 
 of The Church of Navarre and Biscay, of Italy, and The Valleys of Piedmont. 
 
 ■f This was the time of the most general persecution against the Waldenses oi 
 Picards of the sequestered valleys. 
 
326 VIBTUOTTS BELIEVERS B. VII. 
 
 CHAP. 11. the borders of the kingdom. Above two hundred years after 
 
 this, in the reign of Ferdinand, emperor of Germany, the same 
 
 Ecci, Re- kind of people existed ; and from the account of Carafa the 
 
 searches,?, jgg^jj.^ ^^^^ ^jj^jj twenty thousand lived all together in Moravia, 
 
 and were, by an edict of the emperor, proscribed and banished 
 
 as heretics, under the name of Anabaptists. 
 
 25. " The religious character of these people (says Robinson,) 
 is so very different from all others, that the likeness is not easily 
 mistaken. They had no priests, but taught one another. They 
 had no private property, for they held all ihings jointly. -They 
 executed no offices, arid neither exacted nor took oaths. They 
 bore no arms, and rather chose to suffer than resist wrong. 
 They held every thing called religion in the church of Eome, in 
 abhorrence. They aspired at neither wealth nor power, and 
 their plan was industry." 
 
 26. They lived in forty-five divisions called fraternities, exactly 
 as their ancestors had done before their banishment from France. 
 Each of those little corporations consisted of many families, who 
 held all things common. Under the most aggravated circum- 
 stances of cruelty, they were obliged to abandon their houses 
 and lands just at a time their fields were ripe for the harvesting, 
 and the most deplorable scenes of persecution followed, for seven 
 successive years. 
 
 27. Where, then, appears the difference between those ana- 
 baptists so cruelly persecuted by the Papists in Bohemia and 
 Moravia, and those who were, with equal cruelty, massacred and 
 burnt by Papists and Protestants in Germany ? The fact is, they 
 sprung from one original stock, were precisely of the same char- 
 acter, and were, in every respect, as much one people as were 
 their joint persecutors. 
 
 28. It is acknowledged, even by the reformers, that they were 
 Ecci.His- menof upright intentions. Mosheims3.j%, " their common opinions 
 ?'"'>'' Yk seem to be all derived from this leading and fundamental princi- 
 ple, that the kingdom which Christ established upon earth, is a 
 visible church, or community, into which the holy and the just 
 are alone to be admitted, and which is consequently exempt from 
 
 *Seei»a. "^^^ those institutions and rules of discipline, that have been in 
 xxxv. 8 9. vented by human wisdom, for the correction and reformation of 
 Zeph. lii. the vricked." This the writer calls a '■'■ faiLatical principle.^'"'' 
 ^'^' 29. We learn from the same writer, that some of their des- 
 
 cendants (the Mennonites) would neither ad.mit civil rulers into 
 their communion, nor allow any of their members to perform the 
 functions of magistracy. That they denied the lawfulness of 
 repelling force by force, and considered war, in all its shapes, as 
 unchristian and unjust : and refused to confirm their testimony 
 by an oath, upon this foundation, that the perfect members of a 
 holy church can neither dissemble nor deceive, &c. 
 
B. VII. COMPARED WITH WOELDLT PROFESSORS. 327 
 
 30. These were tlie inciirahle heretics destroyed by the Pro- chap, ir. 
 testants ; and their being called incurable heretics, did not make 
 
 any difference between them and the ancient inhabitants of the 
 Ta.leys: for the same who were called Mantcheans, Faicrines, 
 &c., were moreover denominated heretics, (says Robinson;) for 
 their whole religion implied the belief of some political principles 
 which were accmmted heresy hy popes, prelates, viscounts, and 
 tyrants of every name, aiid which they avowed when they were 
 interrogated." 
 
 31. The influence of antichrist, by the united power of 
 Protestants and Papists went, however, so effectually to extermi- 
 nate the anabaptists of the sixteenth century, that there remains 
 no trace of their faith and power under that name. Mosheim 
 remarks, " that since they have opened their eyes, they acknoic- 
 
 ledge that the visible church is promiscuously composed of the *See Ezo. 
 righteous and the wicked, &c."* t ^ii.ae.a?. 
 
 32. Many of those persecuted people who escaped the fire and 
 sword, and retained any measure of the true heretical faith and 
 practice, retired into Poland, and lived there in peace for several 
 years. But as soon as they began to discover their real princi- 
 ples, the reformed churches renewed their persecuting zeal, and 
 "they were again threatened (says Mosheim) with a formidable Ecd. His- 
 prospect arising from the united efforts of Catholics, Lutherans, iv. p. 483. 
 and Calvinists, to crush their infant sect." 
 
 33. However, having completed a translation of the Bible, and 
 published a summary of their religious doctrines in the year 
 1572, they obtained a name of distinction among the divided 
 parties, and are since known in history under the name of 
 Socinians : yet it was long before the rage of persecution was 
 averted from those liberal advocates of the rights of conscience ; 
 and not till the attention of the Christian world was arrested by 
 the more extraordinary testimony of George Fox and his friends. 
 
 34. About the middle of the seventeenth century, the testi- 
 mony of these people (called Quakers) broke forth with increasing 
 light and power, beyond what had ever appeared among any people 
 since the days of the primitive church. This was manifested, not 
 only by their powerful testimony against the iniquities of the 
 times, the superstitions and vain ceremonies of the established 
 religions, and the vicious lives of the worldly Christians : but by 
 the inflexible course of virtue which they maintained, in the 
 midst of a crooked, perverse and persecuting generation. 
 
 35. The Quakers, so called, besides the charges of heresy 
 common in past ages, such as holding the doctrine of a pure 
 
 I Aye, and since these heretics have had their eyes opened, and hecome like other 
 men, to bear arras and shed blood, and their church could be '^promiscuously com- 
 posed of the righteous and the wicked,^' then could the Protestants begin to dis- 
 own their descent, from the Charch of Rome, and claim their descent from the 
 Apostles, through the descendants of those persecuted heretics of the valleys." 
 
328 THE PRESENT STATE OF B. VII. 
 
 CHAP. HI. church upon earth, refusing to swear, to persecute, shed blood, 
 pay tithes, &c., were particularly branded with enthusiasm, on 
 account of their doctrine of an inward Christ. 
 
 36. To such as had any acquaintance with the writings of the 
 Apostles, the doctrine, simply considered, could not appear new ; 
 but the fact was, the day of Christ's second appearing was near at 
 hand, and these people, by the true spirit of prophecy, had re- 
 ceived an inward sense of it, and as Christ is actually formed in 
 the hearts of his people, they neither knew nor could testify of 
 any other than Christ within. 
 
 37. And for this very purpose they were raised up, by the 
 special power of God, and qualified by the inspiration of the 
 Holy Spirit, not .only to bear a full and pointed testimony 
 against all the corrupt and antichristian establishments of both 
 Papists and Protestants, but also to announce their certain 
 downfall, and the setting up of that everlasting kingdom of 
 Christ which should be established in the latter day. 
 
 38. And, when we consider the sufferings of these people, both 
 in Europe and America, for the honesty and integrity of their 
 lives, the innocence and simplicity of their manners, the marked 
 distinction between them and the great Christian world must be 
 evident, without any other comment. 
 
 GHAPTEE III. 
 
 REMARKS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 WORLD. 
 
 Among the various religions adopted by the lost nations of the 
 
 earth, a profession of Christiaiiity doubtless has the most 
 
 plausible pretence to divine authority, inasmuch as it claims 
 
 for its original author, Jesus Christ, who was manifested as the 
 
 Son of God. But, if Christianity, as professed in the world, 
 
 with all its superior pretensions, has not delivered its subjects 
 
 from the deplorable effects of the fall, it is easy to judge in what 
 
 state the whole world must be. 
 
 Ca™."F. V. 2- ^^^ present popish profession of Catholic faith says: I ac- 
 
 5. hrmwUdge the holy. Catholic, apostolic, Roman church for the 
 
 Conf.F. mother and mistress of all churches. The presept Protestant 
 
 Ch. XXV. confession of faith says : The visible church, which is also Ca- 
 
B. VII. THE CHRISTIAN ■WORLD. 329 
 
 tholic or universal — consists of all those throughmit the world, chap. hi. 
 that profess the true religion, together with their children. 
 
 3. These two great oracles of Christianity have a richt to 
 mark the extent of the Christian world, which, according to the 
 above, must include the church oi Rome, with all her daughters, 
 and all those throughout the world who profess the true religion, 
 (as they call it) with their children. 
 
 4. The very foundation, principles, and progress of Papists 
 and Protestants, and dissenters of past ages, have been already 
 made clear, from their own writings, to have been a very sink of 
 corruption, calamity, and cruelty to mankind : it now remains to 
 examine, after so long a time, and so much reforming, what the 
 present world of Christians possess, that distinguishes them from 
 the past, or from the rest of the human race. 
 
 5. How much soever these Catholic professors differ among 
 themselves, there are certain fundamental principles in which 
 they hold each a visible agreement as to distinguish themselves, 
 and each other, from heathens, infidels, heretics, and incurable 
 fanatics; and these professed general Christian principles are 
 such as respect their faith, their rules of church government, and 
 their morals. 
 
 6. It would be unncessary to make any further remarks on the 
 established faith, government, and morals of the mother church, 
 and her immediate daughters, as they have so abundantly 
 exposed each other, and are so universally known : the only part 
 of the Christian world which can promise any thing better to 
 mankind, are those denominations which have dissented from 
 both, aM have reformed the same Christianity more to the taste 
 of the present times. 
 
 7. Modern Christians, forced by the progress of civil and re- 
 ligious liberty, will acknowledge that their forefathers were very 
 wrong in many things ; but what is their Christianity better, while 
 the same faith, the same principles of government, and the same 
 manners, exist in all their churches ? 
 
 8. In professing the present true Christian religion, so called, 
 it is absolutely necessary to profess a belief of Three 'persons in 
 the Godhead ; of two natures in Christ ; Imputed righteousness ; 
 the Resurrection of all human bodies, the same in substance ; the 
 establishment of a visible kingdom by the imperial power of 
 Christ at the last day ; and such fundamental doctrines as were 
 held sacred by Saint Augustin, Leo the Great, Doctor 
 Martin Ltoher, Bishop Calvin, and the true Catholic church 
 in every age. 
 
 9. These same doctrines that smothered every principle of 
 reason, and inflamed the passions of mankind to fill the earth 
 with bloodshed and cruelty, are considered as the only sound 
 Christian principles of the present day, as may be seen in all 
 
 22 
 
330 
 
 THE PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 B. VII. 
 
 Directory. 
 c liap. va. 
 
 CHAP. Ill, tiieir modern creeds: and no more altered are their present 
 means of christianizing, or their principles of church government.* 
 
 10. All that were bom after the flesh in the mother church, 
 were christened by an outward ceremony. By the outward 
 rite of. baptism, and the sign of the cross on the forehead, they 
 were received as members of the Protestant church; and at 
 present the most reformed institution for christening is, the min- 
 ister is to baptize the child with water, by pouring or sprink- 
 ling it on the face of the child. In this way the church is 
 increased, for every baptized person, who has not been formally 
 excommunicated, is a lawful member. In this, present Christi- 
 anity differs nothing from the past. 
 
 11. As to government, a majority always ruled in the Christian 
 world, the stronger tyrannized over the weaker ; and, upon the 
 same principle, the Christian parties of the present day, only 
 want the necessary means in order to christianize and convert the 
 nations over again after the old fashion. 
 
 12. Every sect and denomination claim the ancient ecclesias- 
 tical power : Presbyterian bishops have been duly con.secrated 
 by the authority of the national kirk of Scotland, whose minis- 
 ters were duly ordained according to the church laws of Geneoa, 
 and her great bishop, Calvin, received his holy orders from 
 the pope. 
 
 13. In the same manner the Episcopalian, or bishop-ruled 
 Methodists are duly ordained by the laying on of the hands of 
 one who was duly consecrated by the laying «n of the hands of 
 John Wesley, whose holy orders were duly transmitted from 
 Bishop Oranmer, who was consecrated by the pope : 'And so 
 of the rest. And what is their laying on of hands without the 
 Holy Spirit, but a mock to God and man ? 
 
 14'. Hence those consecrated rulers not only exercise their sup- 
 posed ecclesiastical powers in their general assemblies, syjiods, 
 presbyteries, consistories, conferences, associations and congre- 
 gational assemlUes,. but by insinuating themselves, or their 
 admirers into the affairs of civil government, on every occasion 
 that offers, they manifestly show their disposition to seize the 
 old despotic reins, and rule the church and world in one, had 
 they only the opportunity. 
 
 15. But until these divided and subdivided dissenters can 
 show other distinguishing marks of their true religion, than those 
 doctrines and powers of government which they received from 
 their mother Protestant or Popish churches, the infidels and free- 
 thinkers of the present day will very justly hold them in suspicion. 
 
 • Although, in consequence of the progress of oivilizationj and the prevalence 
 of civil liberty, there is an abatement of ecclesiastical tyranny and rigorous com- 
 punction; yet human power and human authority are the means used, instead of 
 the authority and power of God ; and the subjects are required to subsciiba hiuna" 
 or«cde, and observe human ceremonies, as the conditions of salvation. 
 
B. VII. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN WORLD. 
 
 331 
 
 * Amer. 
 Conf. F. 
 chap, XXV. 
 Isa. Ixvi 8. 
 perverted. 
 
 16. Forced by the changes in civil government to conform, chap. in. 
 they may give their voice in favor of liberty, and show such re- 
 
 speot to the spirit of the times as to expunge from the creeds 
 and common prayer books of their fathers, those despotic sen- 
 timents, so hateful to every just man ; but in all this they only 
 act the harlot, who willingly changes her dress in order to win 
 the affection of her lovers. 
 
 17. It is well known that the Augsburg confession, the Form 
 of Concord, the true religion at Geneva, of the church of Scot- 
 land, or of Queen Elizabeth, could never be admitted into 
 any republic without a very material change in its outward dress ; 
 but reform and change it as they will, it is still the same true 
 Christian religion, the only face of kirk, out of which there is 
 no possibility of salvation,* (as she says,) and therefore her 
 pitiful crocodile prayer is, O that the civil rulers of the earth 
 would fall in love with me! that a nation might be born in a 
 day, and kingd.oms at once. 
 
 18. But after all, it is a fact that the most polished of those 
 reformers and conformers never granted nor promoted the reli- 
 gious liberty of the present day ; this change was effected, by 
 the order of Divine Providence, in the hearts of the civil rulers 
 of the earth. 
 
 19. When George Washington, that justly respected pat- 
 riot, stood forth at the head of a great nation in the cause of 
 liberty, and Christians on both sides of the Atlantic, implored 
 each their God to go forth with their respective armies, it was 
 not in answer to the prayers of these divided hypocrites that the 
 contest was decided ; but when the European God was obliged 
 to give up his despotic reins, then, indeed, the European creeds 
 must be new modelled by American ecclesiastics, to suit the 
 government of the most powerful deity. 
 
 20. Neither was it in a general council of Christian bishops, 
 but of noble advocates of civil and religious liberty, that the 
 wise and generous Washington, established the rights of con- 
 science by a just and equitable Constitution. And truly, if the 
 rights of conscience are still respected under the present admin- 
 istration, we are not indebted to ecclesiastical tyrants for the 
 privilege; for such never will respect nor promote an establish- 
 ment which has a tendency to diminish the current of their un- 
 righteous gain, by allowing every one to think and act for 
 themselves in matters of religion. 
 
 21. As to doctrine and discipline, the world of mankind never 
 was, nor ever will be benefited by such a consecrated priesthood, 
 nor such a Christian religion. The only remaining point to be 
 considered, is the morals of those who profess this true religion, 
 so called, and their children. 
 
 22. The common objection, even of infidels, so called, against 
 
332 THE PEESENT STATE OF B. YH, 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Christianity, is the immoral influence it has upon the lives oj 
 
 Christian its professois. To which a late writer replies — " If any who 
 
 ^"""P'yi P- take to themselves the Christian name live immorally, it cannot 
 
 he the fault of Christianity." By this kind of reasoning, false 
 
 Christianity has, for many ages, been kept alive amidst all the 
 
 abominations that have overspread the Christian world. 
 
 23. They say, their true religion was in the Bible before Lu- 
 ther ; and if true religion it is, it must be there yet ; for they 
 have never brought it out in their lives, to answer the above ob- 
 jection of the unbeliever. The last covering for their benign 
 gospel, and their saving faith, is to divide the charge of gross 
 immorality among divided sects and party names, so as to pre- 
 serve the common Christian profession unspotted. 
 
 24. The divided sects can reproach one another with the most 
 oprobious names and epithets ; but these hard names and re- 
 proachful terms they seem to think are no discredit to the true 
 Christian religion, so long as it can be kept in the Bible; there- 
 fore, when the Bible and its true religion are rejected by sensible 
 unbelievers at home, they must be sent abroad to convert and 
 Christianize the heathen ; but even the Indians themselves can 
 see the deception ; so that the Christian missionary finds as sen- 
 sible infidels there, as at home ; as appears from the following 
 remarks of a late writer on the Journal of D. Brainerd. 
 
 Hist.ofRe- 25. "Their grand question. What has become of their fore- 
 4o"no?e f'^thers, is not easily answered. They were good men, (say they,) 
 1]. and we will follow them; we doubt not but they were happy 
 
 ivithout this^ new religion, why then should toe embrace it ? But 
 their most important objection (says the writer) is drawn from 
 the vicious lives of nominal Christians. Christian religion! 
 Devil religion! (say they) Christian much drunk; Christian 
 much do wrong, much beat, much abuse others." — "Truly it is 
 a sad sight (says one,) to behold a drunken Christian, and a 
 sober Indian an Indian just in his dealings, and a Christian 
 not so ; a. laborious Indian and an idle Christian, &c. what 
 a sad thing it is for Christians to come short of heathens even in 
 moralities I" 
 _ 26. Then in vain do such Christians try to justify their prin- 
 ciples, while they themselves condemn their own practice. Thus, 
 corrupt manners as evidently flow from their true religion, as 
 practice naturally flows from principle. Nor need they refer to 
 the Bible for their Christianity, for neither the name nor the 
 thing is there ; but it is found in their confessions of faith, which 
 make every provision and allowance for their worse than heathen- 
 ish practices. 
 
 c™7p , '^'^- %o"g™al corruption they say, "we are 2<f;erZy2"n(iwposc(/, 
 
 Chap. vi. disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined 
 
 to all evil"— a.nd, " this corruption of nature during this 
 
B. VII. THE CHRISTIAN WORLD. 333 
 
 life, doth remain in those that are regenerated." And further, chap. in . 
 " no man is able, either of himself, or by any grace received in Larj. Cat. 
 this life, perfectly to keep the commandments of God ; but doth '^' ^^^' 
 daily break them, in thought, word, and deed." 
 
 28. This is called genuine Christianity ; and is a suitable 
 pretext for all the aggravated sins of those Christians v?ho are of 
 riper age, greater experience, or grace, eminent for profession, ibid. Q. 
 gifts, place, office, guides to others, ^c., and which are commit- ^^^' 
 ted as they express it, against means, mercies, judgments, light 
 
 of nature, conviction of conscience, public or private admonition, 
 censures of the church, civil punishments ; and against their 
 own prayers, purposes, promises, vows, covenants, and engage- 
 ments to God or men ; done deliherately, wilfully, presumptu- 
 ously, impudently, boastingly, maliciously, frequently, obstinate- 
 ly, with delight, continuance, or relapsing after repentance ^c, 
 SfC, SfC. 
 
 29. Now go, saith the man of God, write it before them in a isa. xxx. 8, 
 table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come ' 
 
 for ever and ever ; that this is a rebellious people, lying children, 
 children that ivill not hear the law of the Lord. 
 
 30. Professed Christians of the present day have learned the 
 art of dissenting from one another, and new modelling their 
 doctrines so cunningly, that probably many would not openly 
 avow the above articles of faith. 
 
 31. Many of the followers of John Wesley, George White- 
 field, and others, talk of Christian perfection — a possibility of 
 
 living without sin; and doubtless many of them, under the in- 
 fluence of sentiments borrowed from the Scriptures of truth, under 
 deep conviction and ardent struggles, have felt a great deliver- 
 ance, as they supposed, from the power of sin, so as, for a season, 
 to abstain from every appearance of evil in their knowledge. 
 
 32. Yet however, the stream of conviction, or of comfort and 
 consolation, might flow from breast to breast, and whatever tem- 
 porary fruits it might produce, the pool of natural corruption still 
 remained, which is evident from their own prayers to be delivered 
 from the last and least remains of sin. 
 
 33. No stream can rise higher than its fountain-head ; and 
 whether John Wesley himself attained that perfection which he 
 preached, has been a question even among his followers. But if 
 we are to judge from his own writings, it will appear, that his 
 views of himself were very different from what many have enter- 
 tained concerning him. 
 
 34. On his passage from America to E?igland, January 1738, 
 he writes in his journal as follows: " I went to America to con- 
 vert the Indians : But ! who shall convert me ? Who, what is 
 he that will deliver me from this evil heart of unbelief? I have a 
 fair summer-religion. I can talk well ; nay, and believe myself 
 
334 THE PEESENT STATE OF B. VII. 
 
 CHAP. III. -(vliile no danger is near; but let death look me in the face and 
 my soul is troubled. Nor can I say, to die is gain." 
 
 35. The day he landed at Deal, in England, he writes : " It is 
 now two years, and almost four months, since I left my native 
 country, in order to teach the Georgian Indians the nature of 
 Christianity ; but what have I learned myself in the meantime ? 
 Why, (what I the least of all suspected) that I who went to 
 America to convert others, was never myself converted to God. 
 I am not mad, though I thus speak; but, I speak the words, of 
 truth and soberness ; if haply some of those who stiU dream, 
 may awake and see, that as I am, so are they, &c. 
 
 36. This, then, have I learned in the ends of the earth; that 
 I am fallen short of the glory of God; that my whole heart is 
 altogether corrupt and abominable, and consequently my whole 
 life, (seeing it cannot be that an evil tree should bring forth good 
 fruit.")* 
 
 37. Then if this most eminent branch of the church of Eng- 
 land, and his fruit, were both corrupt and abominable (and he 
 
 • Some have objected that these things were written by "Wesley before he was 
 converted, of course, that we have given a mistaken view of his character; bat, 
 whether the mistake is in us or those objectors, the. foUowing extracts from the 
 writings of Wesley and others, will show, -j- John Wesley professed to be con- 
 verted in the year 1725, ten years before his voyage to America, In the year 
 1726, he said: '"I determined to be all devoted to God, to give him all my 
 soul, my body, and my substance." In the year 1729, hesaith: "I saw in a 
 clear and clearer light, the indispensable necessity of having the mind that was 
 in Christ, and of walking as Christ also walked." On January 1st, 1733, 1 
 preached before the university, the being cleansed from sin, from all filthiness, 
 both of the flesh and spirit — to be perfect, as our Father in Heaven is perfect." 
 In 1765, he says : " This is the whole and sole perfection which I have believed 
 and taught, this forty years, &c." 
 
 Now, that John Wesley had true light, and saw the way of God in a measure, is 
 not disputed; but whether he ever set his foot in that way, is the question. 
 That it was his first faith to take up his cross and follow Christ, his own words 
 fully evince ; but, was it Christ that he followed, when in pointed disunion with 
 his brother Charles, &c., he married a widow of an independent fortune, of 
 whom his biographer says — *' Had he searched the whole kingdom, he could not 
 have found a woman more unsuitable." If it was not Christ, but the flesh that 
 he followed in this step, when did he receive the mind of Christ, of which he 
 spake ? Or when did he take up his cross against the flesh, or the honors of the 
 world ? On these points his friends are silent. They tell us of his great talents, 
 learning, and undaunted zeal, but nothing of his real •' sufferings in the flesh that 
 he might cease from sin." Is it, then, to be wondered at, that a man of his 
 light should say, as he did to his friend Bradford, "There are but a few steps be- 
 tween me and death, and what have I to trust to for salvation ? I can see nothing 
 which I have done or suffered which will bear looking at. I have no other plea 
 than this: I, the chief of sinners am. But Jesus died for me.'*J This was his 
 only plea to the last imputed righteousness ! the plea of every profligate professor 
 in the kingdom of antichrist ! Was such the language of St. Paul, when he had 
 "' fought the good fight, finished his course, and kept the faith ?" Nay, verily, 
 but this greaf rtfbrmer, preaching the saint, and living and dying a sinner, begat 
 a numerous offspring, who, like their father, profess the wholesome doctrine which 
 we live, while, in reality, they are as much opposed to the real practice of it, M 
 any other people in the land. 
 
 t See form of discipline, p. 41, 45, and 129. 
 JLife of Wesley, p. 17f, 200. 
 
B. VII. THE CHRISTIAN WORLD. 335 
 
 never was cut off from his union to that church, but lived and ctiAP. in . 
 died in her communion) can any of those branches which have 
 derived their sap and nourishment from him, be any better ? 
 
 38. Thou that talkest of Christian perfection, boast not, for Rom. xi. 
 thou heartst not the root; but the root thee. And this friendly ^*- 
 caution from the root of one of the most flourishing branches of 
 
 the church universal, is according to its original design, inserted 
 here, if haply some of those who still dream their self-flattering 
 dreams, may awake and see that, as the root, so are the branches 
 — altogether corrupt and abominable. 
 
 39. A late author in defence of Christianity, supposes that, christian 
 " degenerate as too many -professing Christians are, Christianity ^on°vii' 
 has nothing to fear from a contrast with unbelievers, in point of 
 morality." Be it so, it certainly has nothing whereof to boast, 
 
 even if it were all true what this writer asserts it has done. " It 
 has — it has introduced, more equality between the two sexes, and 
 rendered the conjugal union Tnore rational and happy. Having, 
 therefore, (adds he) weathered all the storms, and sustained 
 without injury, all the assaults o/"1800 years, what has she now 
 to fear V 
 
 40. She, even she, who for more than a thousand years, was 
 an open public harlot to the kings of the earth, even in the judg- 
 ment of all her Protestant daughters ! SAe who now saith in Rev. xviii. 
 her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widoiv, and shall see no VJ^ ^^"■^ 
 sorrow ! What has she to fear ? but that the same national pow- 
 ers, that supported her, shall hate the whore, and shall make her 
 desolate, and naked, and shall eat her jiesh, and burn her with 
 
 fire ; for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. 
 
 41. In -point of doctrine, of government, and morals, this true 
 Catholic Christianity is all of a kind. Examine it from begin- 
 ning to end, from bottom to top, and from side to side, in all its 
 blanches, it contains the same mystery of iniquity ; and in various 
 degrees, keeps its subjects in bondage to corruption, and under 
 the dominion of their own lusts. 
 
 42. As Christian has descended from Christian by ordinary 
 generation, and the consecrated fathers have christened their 
 children with their own hands, as the certain heirs of a future 
 church; and one bishop (though corrupt and abominable) has 
 ministered to another, with his defiled hands, his supposed autho- 
 rity, it is evident that the whole are still under the darkness and 
 deception of antichrist, and in as deplorable a state of corruption 
 at this day as ever.* 
 
 * *' Who are more wofally lost as to all true godliness ; who are more deeply sunk 
 into sensuality and brutishness, than the generality of so-called Christians ? Nay, 
 among what sort of men are all manner of abominable wickednesses and villainies to 
 be found to rise, so much as among them ? upon which account the name of Chris- 
 tian stinks in the nostrils of the very Jews, Turks, and Pagans. Beastly in- 
 temperances smd uncleanness of all sorts ; the most sordid covetousneas ; wretched 
 
336 PROTESTANTISM, THE SYSTEM B. VII. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PROTESTANTISM THE SYSTEM OF THE SECOND BEAST WHICH 
 " CAKE UP OUT OF THE EARTH." 
 
 CHAP. rv. It may seem a hard saying, that Protestantism, which has been 
 ' established above two hundred years, is the beast of the Apoca- 
 
 lypse that " came up out of the earth ; " but can it be more surpri- 
 sing or more grating, than it was to affirm, that Popery, which 
 for more than a thousand years was deemed the only true reli- 
 gion, was the beast that "came up out of the sea? " 
 
 2. This the Protestants have not only asserted, but abundantly 
 proved; and no less evidently do the marks of the second least, 
 and the number of his name, apply to Luiherism and Calvinism, 
 which more or less extend their influence to every dissenting 
 party.* 
 
 injnstice; oppressions and cruelties; the most devilish malice, envy and pride; 
 the deadliest animosities, the most outrageous feuds, dissensions and rebellions; 
 the plainest and grossest idolatry ; highest blasphemies, and most horrid impieties 
 of all kinds, are in no part of the world more observable than they are in Chris- 
 tendom; nor most of them anywhere so observable. [And we may add, this 
 Christianity haa for ages, been the propagator of the most unjust wars and bloody 
 massacres, far exceeding Turks and Heatliens*'\ Nor can there be an easier task 
 undertaken than to show, that not a few mere Heathens have behaved themselves 
 incomparably better towards God, their neighbors, and themselves, than the ge- 
 nerality of those who are called Christians, '^ Fowler's Design of Christianity, 
 p. 143, 144. 
 
 * The beast which came up out of the earth had two horns like a lamh. The 
 Protestant power was divided into two powers, which had each a separate influ- 
 ence. The power and influence of the beast was in his horns. A Iwrn, in the 
 style of the prophets, signifies any power, civil or religious. Two horns like a 
 lamb, therefore, signify two religious powers into which the beast was divided. 
 But to whom or to what do these horns apply ? Not indiscriminately to any man, 
 or set of men ; hut to the reigning influence of those powers which were propheti- 
 cally represented by two horns. The Gospel of Christ is the power of Go unto 
 salvation, to every one that believeth; yet this Gospel cannot be indiscriminately 
 applied to Jesus Christ, but to that certain power and Influence of which he was 
 the beginning, and which is transmitted to all who believe ; and in proportion as 
 the gospel directs the mind ef a believer, so it influences his will, and leads him 
 into action, and the first moving cause becomes a real and certain power in his soul, 
 which saves him from Sin, and leads him on in the way of righteousness. Hence 
 the title of horn is justly applied to the power and influence of the Gospel ; not 
 &persec%tmghorn,\>\Aa.horn of salvation. Again: The 2if He Aora of antichrist 
 which waxed great, cannot be indiscriminately applied to Leo the Great, but to 
 that certain power and.infiuence which extended down through the line of popes, 
 and which in pope Leo the first, had its beginning. So the two horns like a lamb 
 cannot be indiscriminately applied to Luther and Calvin, but to those certain 
 powers and that religious infiuence which began in them, and of which they were 
 the acknowledged founders and promoters. As far then as Lutherism and Cal- 
 vinism separately influenced the mind and led the subject into action, so far they 
 separately became real and certain powers. And as far as the subjects of these 
 powers professed to maintain the Gospel of the meek and lowly Jesus, so far the 
 beast made his appearance with two horns like a lamb, and being blended with civil 
 government, and supported by the sword, the beast spake as a dragon. Thus, 
 Lutherism and Calvinism constitute, and verily are what is signified by St. John's 
 vision of the beast which had two horns like a lamb, and spake as a dragon. 
 
B. VII. OF THE SECOND BEAST. 337 
 
 3. The second beast was to cause an image of the first to he chap, iv. 
 made ; to give life to the image, and cause that as many as Rev. liii. 
 would not worship the image of the beast, should be killed. This ■'^■'^• 
 did Luther and Calvin, and their followers, by the energy of 
 
 the sword; of which their Form of Concord, their creeds and 
 history of the extirpation of heretics, are an evidence to this 
 day. 
 
 4. The second beast was to do great wonders, and to deceive 
 them that dwell on the earth by reason of the wonders which he 
 had power to do. And what was the Reformation from the time 
 that Luther burnt the laws of his sovereign, but a scene of won- 
 ders ? a late Protestant writer says, in relation to their defending 
 
 their cause by the sword, "They determined not to renounce History of 
 those religious truths, to the knowledge of which they had at- vori|f.^p^' 
 tained by means so wonderful," i. e. full of wonders.* 331. 
 
 5. But how were these wonders and miracles wrought ? Ob- 
 serve, it was in the "sight of men," that he "maketh fire to 
 come down from heaven on the earth;" that is to their view and 
 sense, who were in the nature of the beast, so as to see with his 
 sight ; for it was those who dwell on the earth, in the earthly 
 fallen nature, and covered with the religious profession of the 
 first beast, which under this specious and gilded cloak, made 
 provision for all the corrupt propensities of nature. 
 
 6. To these only did it appear that the second beast made_/5re 
 come down from heaven on the earth, — first by claiming to restore 
 true Christianity, which came down from heaven by divine fire ; 
 and thereby whole nations and people, who were under the 
 dominion of the first beast, were deceived, to make an image, 
 that is, to form organizations, which they called by the specious 
 name of Christian churches. 
 
 7. But though these names were thus delusive, yet it was 
 false, for each of these organizations, was but an image of the 
 universal organization of the first beast, for they all made the 
 same provision for every property of the corrupt beastly nature, 
 as did the first or Catholic beast. Hence his subjects were the 
 more easily drawn into those images,. by the delusive ^/Zaiiej-y, 
 that according to Scripture evidence, which was given by revela- 
 tion, or "fire from heaven," they could, without any additional 
 cross, obtain that salvation which they had learned by experience 
 they could not find under the Catholic beastly image. 
 
 8. "And he had power to give life unto the image of the 
 beast." This was effected, as before stated, first by laying claim 
 
 • Wondera indeed must have greatly abounded, when hlood and fire, dispensed 
 in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, were the wonderful means by 
 which reZigious truths were to be maintained, defended and propagated! Well 
 might if be said of the beast, that he maketh fire come down from heaven on 
 the earth, in the sight of men. Surely such miraculous wonders were never in 
 he power of Plraraoh's magicians ! 
 
338 
 
 PROTESTANTISM, THE SYSTEM 
 
 B. VII. 
 
 See Rev. 
 eh. xiii. 
 
 CHAP. IV. tQ all former revelation, as contained in the Scriptures, which their 
 leaders interpreted according to their own " natural sagacity" 
 of course in, or according to the sight, and in the life, of the 
 beast. 
 
 9. Second. By causing great excitements in the religious feel- 
 ings of the minds of men, and thereby producing what is termed 
 revivals of religion; and when souls are awakened to sense the 
 need- of their being saved from sin, then the influence of this 
 beast is brought forth, to persuade them that salvation can be 
 obtained by joining their churches, and believing in their creeds, 
 which, with an outward profession, cover all the corrupt propen- 
 sities of nature. Thus this religion is the life of the beast. 
 
 10. Therefore, by the means of these operations, those images 
 have been endowed with the living properties of the beast, that 
 is, a religion adapted to nature; and thereby have propagated 
 their own likeness, and perpetuated their names to this day. 
 
 11. Thus they are proved to be the true descendants of t\i6 first 
 beast, and the legitimate daughters of the great whore of Babylon. 
 But those " whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life ;" 
 that is, such as have light to see and live Ithe ife of the Lamb, are 
 not deceived by this delusioe fire, but they are cut ofl", or Tcillei, 
 to all the enjoyment of the world, of which the beast can de- 
 prive them. 
 
 12. He was also, to cause all, both small and great, rich and 
 poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in 
 th.6V[ foreheads : and that no man might buy or sell, save he that 
 had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his 
 name. 
 
 13. By sprinkling a little water or making a sign of a cross 
 Conftlsion" on the forehead, whole Protestant states and kingdoms were 
 
 christianized; and by taking a solemn oath with their right hand 
 lifted up (the oath or sacrament) they were sealed to full mem- 
 bership in the national covenant ; and without these distinguish- 
 ing marks in the forehead, or in the right hand, it is . evident, 
 from all their creeds and confessions, that no one was entitled to 
 any religious privilege. 
 
 14. The armbaptists, for renouncing the mark on the forehead, 
 were decreed to be rooted out of the Protestant dominions. 
 Moreover, the civil and ecclesiastical powers ordain and command, 
 their said confession of faith, ifc, " to be subscribed by all his ma- 
 jesty's subjects, of what rank and quality soever, under all civil 
 pains." They caused all to receive the oath, " all masters of 
 universities, colleges, and schools ; all scholars at the passing of 
 their degrees, — and finally all members of the kirk and kingdom." 
 Thus comprehending under their mark, both small and great, 
 rich and poor, free and bond. 
 
 15. The Protestant mark, [^apayna] character of a Christian, 
 
 Common 
 Prayer and 
 
 AV. Conf. 
 F. Acts of 
 Assembly 
 Sess. 26- 
 1639. 
 
B. VII. OF THE SECOND BEAST. 339 
 
 was always an outward ceremony, oath, or profession; so they chap, iv. 
 caused all, both small and great, to receive that Christian char- Rev. xiii. 
 acter or mark. All masters, and scholar^, and ministers, such ^''i i'- 
 as made merchandise of their Grospel, as well as merchants in 
 hurgh, and all who paid rent to the kirk, must have the true 
 Christian character, the sealing ordinance, the only mark of God's 
 true religion administered and received. 
 
 16. And however formed or reformed, these outward marks, 
 so long as the dispositions and actions of man are beastly, his 
 assuming a Christian character, and claiming a relation to Christ, 
 only distinguishes him, as a wolf in sheep's clothing is distin- 
 guished from other beasts. 
 
 17. Protestants never would admit that man in the present 
 life, could rise to any thing higher than his own fallen nature, or 
 be so united to Christ as to become one with him, he must con- 
 tinue to be fallen man, mere man, a daily transgressor of the 
 commands of God, and to this they must all covenant and swear, 
 and the seal of this character is their distinguishing point of 
 communion. 
 
 18. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count Rev. xui. 
 the number of the beast: and this is easily done, for it is the *®' 
 number [Grr. av^pw*!i, anthropou] of man; not (as many suppose) 
 particular man, as an individual; but Man in his common 
 gender, including male and female. Then, as the number of 
 
 the beast is the number of man, so the character of the beast 
 is the character of man, even beastly man in his natural 
 human depravity, which he established, supported, and ap- 
 plauded, under a profession of the name of Christ; and his 
 name, under this profession, in his common gender, is simply, in 
 the original Greek, x^s, i.e. Chxist ; and his number six hu7idred 
 and sixty-six.* 
 
 • The ancient Greeks as well as Romans, used the characters of their alphabet 
 instead of figures to represent nnmbers. Thus : 
 
 The Ist. character X is in numberj 600, in the letters of our alphabet, Ch. 
 
 The 2d. character g is in number, 60, in the letters of our alphabet, xi. 
 
 The 3d. character S is in number, 6, in the letters of our alphabet, st. 
 
 Then by^putting these characters together they make CHXIST. 
 
 A very specious, but false resemblance of the true CHRIST. 
 
 And by adding the numbers together they make 666. Thus we see that Chxist 
 is the name of the beast, and 666 the number of his name. Let him that hath 
 understanding to compute his pernicious doctrines, horrid blasphemies, and abom- 
 inable cruelties, make the application. Here we see that man under the domin- 
 ion of the beast, ia reckoned by sixes. The five physical senses', seeing, hearing 
 tasting, smelling, and feeling, together with language, which make the six natu- EccI. iii. 
 ral powers that form the organization of all TiafwraZ beings. In this state "man 19. 
 has no pre-eminence above a beast." 
 
 In this state the sacred number seven being left out, signifies that in that state 
 be is not governed by intelligent understanding, which is the seventh and high- 
 est property of his nature, the only recipient of revelation, and that which distin- 
 guishes him from a beast: And he must be numbered with the beast till b** 
 overcomes that beastly nature by the power of revelation. 
 
340 PROTESTANTISM, THE SYSTEM, &0. B. VII. 
 
 CHAP, ry. 19. Thus fallen man, in his most reformed state, is found want- 
 Gen, vi. 5- ing. When God saw the wickedness of man that it was great, 
 ''• it repented him that he had made vian, and he said, I wUl destroy 
 
 .. man. His eyes, in a former beastly appearance, are said to haye 
 2 Pet. ii, 12, been like the eyes of man. And last of aU, the number of the 
 ^*' beast is the number of man, and his name is almost like the 
 
 name of Christ, but it is not Christ, and however near the re- 
 semblance, justice forbids that he should be heir to the promise 
 of everlasting life. 
 
 20. Likewise this beast begins with a great number, and ends 
 with a small; so the Protestants began with christening whole 
 nations, causing all, both small and great to receive a mark, and 
 name, to the letters of which they added naught. Their kirk it 
 is true had, in a nominal profession, some appearance ; but the 
 never could keep the commandments of Christ; like the 
 
 Judges, xii. Ephraimites and their Sibboleth, for Shibboleth, they never 
 '• could frame to pronounce it right. 
 
 21. While they and their kings and nobles, and ministers of 
 the Gospel, professed to bear the cross of Christ, (at least the 
 mark of it in the forehead,) they unhappily betrayed their attach- 
 ment and likeness to the rebellious children of Israel, who had 
 their distinguishing mark only in the flesh of the foreskin ; but 
 the Protestant mark on the skin of the forehead, was neither so 
 deep, nor so dangerous to the beast. 
 
 22. The Protestants and their descendants, like the uncircmn- 
 cised Israelites, glory much in their outward marks, but more 
 in their number; but though the number of these children of 
 Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is only the number of the 
 beast, the number of fallen man, such as Christ called, serpents, 
 a generation of vipers. 
 
 2-3. As the Jews ooniined the favor of God to their mark and 
 their number, so did the Protestants, and so do all the Christian 
 world ; therefore the character and doom of both are well ,de- 
 isa,ixv.ii, scribed by the Prophets : But ye are they that forsake the Lord, 
 ^> ^'' that forget my holy moimtain, that prepare a table for that 
 troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that num.ber. 
 Therefore mil I number you to the sivord, and ye shalt all bovj 
 doivn to the slaughter : for the Lord God shall slay thee and 
 call his servants by another name. 
 
 24. To sum up the whole matter, the Christian world, in its 
 present state, is so universally corrupt, that every orthodox 
 Christian must needs be marked with a significant mark or sign 
 of human depravity, and bound by every obligation that ever 
 was given to restrain vice. 
 
 25. The sexes cannot live together in any order, without a 
 ceremonial covenant ratified and solemnized by a consecrated 
 priest, or civil magistrate ; they cannot be governed without the 
 
B. VII. KEilABKS ON THE PRESENT STATE OP, &C. 341 
 
 compulsive energy of arms and human laws; thev cannot be chap. v. 
 credited without the sanction of a solemn oath, nor agree among 
 themselves without the interference of the civil magistrate to 
 keep them in order ; none of which pertains to the true kingdom 
 of Christ ; and therefore, after the appearance of the Lamb on 
 mount Zion, the angel so justly proclaims with a loud voice : 
 
 26. If any man ivorship the beast and his image, and receive ReT.iiT.9, 
 his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink ^"^ 
 of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without 
 mixture, into the cup of his indignation ; and he shall be tor- 
 mented toith fire and brinutojie, in the presence of the holy 
 angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 REMARKS ON THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OP THE WIT- 
 NESSES OP TRUTH. 
 
 The natural state of man being a state of probation, it became 
 necessary that he should be brought in to judgment, and render an 
 account of all the deeds done in the body; and as wickedness can- 
 not go unpunished, so it cannot be condemned without witnesses ; 
 for this cause, God selected from amongst mankind, men of like 
 passions with the rest ; and endowed them with the light and gifts 
 of his Spirit, to stand as witnesses against the general corrup- 
 tions and abounding wickedness of the world; and no age has 
 been without such, from the beginning to the present day. 
 
 2. " Even Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied against 
 
 the wicked, saying. Behold, the Lord cometh in* ten thousands 'Gr. fv. 
 of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all J'^'^e, 14, 
 that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds which 
 they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches, 
 which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 
 
 3. Noah was a true witness against the antediluvian world. 
 Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Samuel, all bore a swift 
 testimony against sin. The prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, 
 and Daniel, with the lesser prophets, and thousands who received 
 the same Spirit, were witnesses for God, against the growing 
 corruptions of human nature. 
 
 4. Next foUows John the Baptist, by whom was introduced 
 
342 REMARKS ON THE PRESENT STATE OP B. VII. 
 
 CHAP. V. Jesus, the true and faithful witness, who, having finished his 
 testimony, gave the same authority to his disciples. Apostles, and 
 true followers, thousands of whom by the inspiration of the Holy 
 Spirit, knew what was in man, and testified against his depravity, 
 for which they suffered all kinds of. hardships and torture, even 
 to the laying down of their lives. 
 
 5. We have seen also, from the most approved records, that 
 through the darkest ages of antichristian apostasy, God had a 
 people who bore witness to the truth ; a. people who taught the 
 pri7iciples of virtue, and practised what they taught ; who took 
 no oaths, bore no arms, and held the reins of spiritual govern- 
 ment in the strictness of their morals ; which, according to their 
 degree of light, rendered their communion inaccessible to the 
 unrighteous and wicked, and who testified, that, the church of 
 Christ, could be composed only of the holy and the just. 
 
 6. We have stated from the authority of some of the most noted 
 ecclesiastical writers, the general faith and manners of the Mar- 
 cionites, Hicrachites, Manicheans, Novatians, Priscillianists, 
 Basilians, Bogomilans, Catharists, Paterines, Albigtnses, Ana- 
 baptists, Picards, Waldenses, and lastly of thepeople called 
 Quakers. Thousands and millions of whom, evenfrom the begin- 
 
 See Dan. ling of the falling away, to the time of the persecution in New 
 2d.33. England, fell by the sword, and by fire, arid by captivity, and 
 by spoil, many days. 
 
 7. The testimony of truth, which stood against vice through 
 the reign of antichrist, had for its authority both the First and 
 Second appearing of Christ, that which was past, and that which 
 was to come ; and besides, it had for its object the corruption of 
 human nature, both in male and female, so women, as well as 
 men, were authorized to bear testimony to the truth, against vice 
 and corruption ; and as two witnesses were al-yvays counted ne- 
 cessary to establish a fact, therefore they are said to be two 
 
 Rev. xi, 4. witnesses, tvjo olive trees, and two candlesticks, standing before 
 
 zeoh- iv-2, the Lord of the whole earth. 
 
 ' ■ 8. According to the time of antichrist's reign, which was to be 
 
 a time, times, and an half time, which is understood to mean owe 
 
 Rev. xi9, thousand two-hund.red and sixty years ; so were the sufl'erings 
 and death of the witnesses. 
 
 9. Yet those bodies or communities of virtuous believers, 
 although dead to the world, out off from any free exercise in the 
 kingdom of antichrist, devoted to destruction, and banished by 
 oppression to the sequestered valleys, to the mountains, and to the 
 dens and caves of the earth, were not suffered to be buried out of 
 sight, but were continually sought out, reproached, and harrassed 
 by their rapacious persecutors, although the fire of their testimony 
 continued, from age to age, to torment them that dioelt upon the 
 earth. 
 
B. \ii. THB WiTV ESSES OP TRUTH. 
 
 CBj^rv. 
 
 10. These had the only ievs of Divine infinenc-e. " and power 
 
 to siiDi heaTcn that it rain not."' that ihe real gifii of the Holy ^ 
 Spirit should be withheld from the chnjt-h of antickrisi. in the 
 
 days of their prophecy, " and to smite tie earth with jlagnes 
 and troubles as often as they would,'' l-y letting loose tie tor- 
 menting truth among them. 
 
 11. Their tesrimoDT caused the plagues of bitter dissentions 
 and bloody tumults, among their j^rseentors. Also terrible 
 judgmeiits and plagues followed the persecTHioii of the icitTiistes, 
 as all history attests. And even" diseeming mind may see tLat 
 in the conTolsioBS and bloody revolutions that have rolled 
 through " Christendom '' during ages past, those natioiis who 
 have persecuted most, have suffered most ; and the land which 
 has drunV the most blood of martrre, hag also drank the most 
 blood of its inhabitants by means of ttwe terrible ruitaXions. 
 
 li Tet, it seems that mankind will learn but little wisdom 
 by all these evident fects. but still continne to nurse the deadly 
 serpent of pereecuting venom, ready to be let Ic-ose whenever 
 their own views are thwarted. 
 
 13. Can any arguments for the exercke of this pemicions 
 practice cover its naked deformity ? Xay, btit in its advocates 
 the scripture is fidnlled: "They hatch cockatrice eggs, and 
 
 weave the Sfdder's web ; he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and is. lii 5. c 
 that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper,'' ie. Such as 
 partake of this spirit die to virtue, and if they are disapj«inted 
 in their object, or crush their opponent, it p.KMinees » viperous 
 enmity, r«ady to break out on all occasiciis. and the spider's 
 well cannot cover their naked deformity. 
 
 14. The slaying of the witnesses was peculiar to the reign of 
 antichrist. In former ages, before antichrist had the dominion, 
 witnesses were in some measure tolerated, respected, and l>elieved, 
 among the nations ; but in the corrupt, debauched, and tyrannical 
 kingdom of the beast, they were not suffered to live, and were 
 perpetually misrepresented, blackened, and anathematized, as 
 the most odious of all beings, and f.erseeuted unto death: There- 
 fore the slaying of the witneses was to end with the tyranny of 
 antichrist. 
 
 15. For three days and a half their dead bodies were to lie in 
 
 the street of the great city, which spiritually is c-alled Sodom ^^-^^ =■ 
 and Egypt, where also our Lord was erueified : that is. in a 
 CathoUe hierarchy, where politicians are ruled by priests, and 
 where the oppresiion oi Egtfpt, and the sin of Sodom abounds. 
 
 16. And as this' great Babylon was constructed by the obse- 
 quious Mabciastjs, the imperious Leo the Great, and the bar- 
 barons Trings., upon the plan of Jewish priests and Pagan rulere ; 
 so in the street of the same did those dead bodies lie, clothed in 
 sackcloth, under a state of spiritual monming, and held in the 
 
344 REMARKS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF B. VII. 
 
 CHAP. V. utmost contempt and derision, wMle the whole Christian world 
 were rejoicing over them. 
 
 17. And thus it continued until about the beginning of the 
 seventeenth century, when the bloody priesthood lost their bal- 
 ance of power, and politicians, in the order of Providence, began 
 to assume the right of civil government, according to the long 
 neglected dictates of reason ; at which period the power of the 
 beast began gradually to decline. 
 
 18. And from this period it might be said, that the " witnesses 
 arose and stood upon their feet," in point of credit and divine au- 
 ity : and while fearfulness took hold of the antichristian powers, 
 the spirit of the witnesses in the French prophets, arose in a 
 cloud to heaven, in answer to the great voice of eternal truth, 
 which began to be uttered; and they were "heard and received 
 with reverence and awe." And clouds of witnesses have ever 
 since been rising up to testify plainly against the spirit and 
 tyranny of antichrist, and the darkness that fills his kingdom, as 
 well as against the general abominations that overspread the 
 earth. 
 
 19. So that, to this day, light and conviction has been increasing 
 in the earth, and there are many souls on earth, who are both 
 tolerated and credited among the people, as God's witnesses had 
 usually been, before the beastly power of antichrist arose. 
 These have, in a greater or lesser degree, the light and spirit of 
 the true witnesses, and are able to discover and bear testimony 
 against the fraud and inconsistency of those false systems invented 
 by men of corrupt minds, who, for so many ages, have corrupted 
 the earth, and perverted the rights of man. 
 
 20. As long as such witnesses are honest and faithful to testify 
 what is given them of God, they are justified and accepted, and 
 no longer ; this is according to God's manner of dealing in every 
 age. The Spirit of Christ was never committed to man to be at 
 his disposal; God always required that man should be subject, 
 in all things, to the dictates of the Spirit. 
 
 21. Hence it has often happened with many, who have had a 
 good degree of light, and possessed the spirit and power of a 
 living testimony, that whenever they had gained sufficient credit 
 and authority among the people, the self-exalting spirit of man 
 has risen up against God, and perverted the most precious gifts 
 of God to the purposes of building up their own honor : and this 
 has been the procuring cause of so many divided sectaries now 
 on the earth. 
 
 22. The witnesses of God in every age, while they stood in 
 the pure light, testified impartially against the depravity of all 
 nations, and more especially against their own; but whenever 
 they became attached to their own people, so far as to favor and 
 wink at their corruptions, and build them up with an imagination 
 
B. VII. THE WITNESSES OF TRUTH. 345 
 
 that they were better than others, then the whole became cor- chap, v. 
 rupted together, and the true gift was taken from them and 
 committed to others. And it is to be observed, that the former 
 have generally persecuted the latter, as far as circumstances 
 would admit. 
 
 23. The true witnesses, during the reign of antichrist, received 
 not their testimony by a line of succession from the Apostles, but 
 by revelation; they had the spirit and power of Frophets to 
 hear testimony, but iwt of Apostles to build. All such as went 
 to forming systems, to build up separate parties, or to unite with 
 any establishments, in order to shun persecution or gain worldly 
 honor, were deceived by the influence of antichrist, and lost 
 their testimony, and fell under the dominion of the beast. 
 
 24. But such as were neither warped by fear, favor, interest 
 nor affection, and continued to the end, retained their testimony, 
 and were owned and accepted of Grod as true witnesses, and their 
 reward was with the souls of those under the altar, who were Rev. vi. 9. 
 beheaded for the word of God, and for the testimony which they 
 
 held. 
 
 25. The testimony of the witnesses continued to be received 
 by revelation, after the Apostles' days, and through the succeeding 
 ages, down to the Quakers; after which none, of the preceding 
 sectaries who had lost their testimony, could be accepted.* 
 
 26. George Fox came forth with a testimony against all those 
 "thieves and robbers," who had undertaken to defend their cause 
 by written creeds, and outward forms of doctrine and worship, 
 and who, for the purpose of making a covering for themselves, 
 had stolen the good words of the Apostles, or their forefathers, 
 whose testimony had stood equally against all flesh, and who had 
 suffered for righteousness sake. 
 
 27. All agree that George Fox did not receive his senti- Ecci.Hi». 
 ments from Origen, nor the schools. "i?w ignorant and in- p^Yss™'''' 
 elegant simplicity, says one, places him beyond the reach of 
 suspicion in this matter." God generally chose such ignorant 
 
 and inelegant teachers to deliver his messages, of which the fol- 
 lowing is an example. 
 
 28. "These (the professors of Christianity, says Fox,) paint Fox's jou. 
 themselves with the Prophets', and with Christ's and with the ™^' ''■ 
 
 • The authority of a present living witness, must, of necessity, supercede the 
 authority of all preceding witnesses, even admitting the preceding to have been 
 faithful iu their day. This is so plain a truth, that it is surprising that mankind 
 should blunder at it, and blindly reject a present testimony, while they profess to 
 believe in the past. No one will dispute that the present authority of 'a foreign 
 ambassador, clothed with the powers of his government, supersedes the authority 
 of all former ambassadors whose powers have ceased, or who, through unfaithful- 
 ness, have forfeited their authority: and it would readily be acknowledged, that 
 one who, without authority, should assume the name, and demand audience as a 
 foreign ambassador, would meet with contempt from any nation. So wise and 
 discerning is man in things that respect the affairs of this life ; and yet so grossly 
 blind in things spiritual and eternal ! 
 
 23 
 
346 REMARKS ON THE PRESENT STATE OT B. VII. 
 
 CHAP. V. Apostles' words most fair. 'Whited walls, painted sepulchres, 
 murderers of the just you are. Your eyes are double, your minds 
 are double, your hearts are double. Ye flatterers, repent and 
 turn from your carnal ends, who are full of mischief; pretending 
 God and godliness, taking him for your cloak; but he will un- 
 cover you; and he hath uncovered you to his children." 
 
 29. "He will make you bare, discover your secrets, take off 
 your crown, take away your mantle and your veil, and strip you 
 of your clothing ; that your nakedness may appear, and how you 
 sit deceiving the nations. Your abomination and your falsehood 
 is now made manifest to those who are of God ; who in his power 
 triumph over you, rejoice over you, the beast, the dragon, the 
 false prophet, the seducer, the hypocrite, the mother of all har- 
 
 Fox's Jou. lots. This is the generation which God is not well pleased with; 
 179!' ''' fo'" their eyes are full of adultery, who cannot cease from evil. 
 
 These be they that live in pleasure upon earth ; who glory not 
 
 in the Lord, but in the flesh." 
 
 30. George Fox bore a plain and living testimony of truth, 
 according to the will of God at that time. But, unhappily for 
 the Friends, the testimony of truth was exchanged for the illus- 
 trations and comments of great men, to suit the taste of the 
 great and popular ones of the earth : hence the wisfe and learned 
 of this world have had occasion to make the following distinction. 
 
 Ecd. His. 31. "The tenets which this blunt and illiterate man [Fox] 
 Ii^Ts™''^' expressed in a rude, confused, and ambiguous manner, were 
 dressed up and presented under a different form, by the masterly 
 hands of Barclay, Keith, Tisher, and Penn, who digested 
 them with such sagacity and art, that they assumed the aspect 
 of a regular system." And hence it is, that the writings of 
 Barclay and Penn, are more recommended than those of Fox 
 or BxMrrough, because the former were more conformable to the 
 spirit and government of this world. 
 
 32. And what was all this digesting and regulating, but lay- 
 ing another foundation for those very whited walls and faivtei 
 se-pulchres, against which their testimony first came forth? JesTis 
 of Nazareth might have been called a blunt and illiterate man, 
 when among his own nation the Jews, he denounced judgment 
 against both them and their most solemn place of worship. His 
 Apostles were blunt illiterate fishermen ; and such were generally 
 the principal instruments by which God promoted the best of 
 causes; and the true witnesses never attempted to soften the 
 matter, or to suit their testimony to the taste of the great ones 
 of the earth. 
 
 33. The truth is, the Friends were led astray from the power 
 of a living testimony by popularity ; in this case they were de- 
 ceived; and while they clothed themselves with the words of 
 their ancients, thej came under the condemnation of those who 
 
 p. 459. 
 
B. VII. THE WITNESSES OF TRUTH. 347 
 
 had clothed themselves with the words of Christ and his Apostles, chap, v. 
 against whom their ancients testified. 
 
 34. Popularity and persecution could never abide with each 
 other. When the Frie?ids became numerous and popular, and 
 the life and power of their testimony was on the decline, then 
 they were prepared to sue for an establishment as a true Chris- 
 tian sect, worthy of protection under the power of the secular 
 arm ; and here ended both their power, and their extraordinary 
 sufferings. 
 
 35. Many of the petitions, which they presented to King Seweis 
 James II. and also to King Williaji III. and Queen Ann, ^gf^"' ''■ 
 now stand on record. William, Prince of Orareg-e, first estab- 593,599. 
 lished liberty of conscience by law in England, about the year 
 
 1689. To his honor, the Friends partook of that righteous 
 grant, but to their shame, as the witnesses of God, it was granted 
 to them, in particular, upon their humble request, and their re- 
 ligion established by act of parliament. 
 
 36. In the year 1702, William died, princess Ann was pro- ibid.p.sw. 
 claimed queen. To her,- also, the Friends sent many addresses. 
 
 Thus their petitions for the redress of their grievances, were 
 mixed with addresses of applause to the great ones of the earth, 
 until they were placed upon equal ground of respectability with 
 other Protestants; and thus the offence of the cross ceased, the 
 glory of their ancients passed away, and left another people in 
 the outward form, but destitute of the power ; so that chosen 
 witnesses were raised up, among themselves, to testify of their 
 fall and apostacy from their original spirit. 
 
 37. The spirit and power of eternal truth confirmed the testi- 
 mony of George Fox, and many of those who were cotem- 
 porary with him, that they were sent of God as true witnesses. 
 But there is decided proof that a people of the same name 
 followed after, who, as a people, were not the true witnesses : 
 for as God never did raise up one true witness to testify against 
 another; therefore the testimony of John Griffith, whom they 
 acknowledge to have been sent of God, stands as an undeniable 
 proof that their power, as a people, was gone, in about sixty years 
 from the time of their addresses to the queen. 
 
 38. From the many lamentations of this faithful laborer, over Griffith's 
 a backsliding people, it will be sufficient to notice the following : 5°""^' P- 
 " Many under our religious profession (says he) resting in the 
 profession only, is the principal reason that we find divers under 
 
 our name more insensible, harder to be reached unto, and 
 awakened by a living powerful ministry, than any other religious 
 persuasion. This may seem strange to some, but I know it is 
 lamentably true." 
 
 39. On his visiting the Friends in America, he makes this re- itid.p.ios. 
 flection: "When I have considered the low, indifferent, languid 
 
348 EEMARKS ON THE PRESENT STATE OP B. VII. 
 
 CHAP. V. state of those under our name, in many places, both in this and 
 
 other nations, chiefly occasioned by an inordinate love of the 
 
 world, and the things thereof, my soul has been deeply humbled 
 
 in awful prostration." 
 
 Griffiih'3 40. In speaking of the meetings managed by unsanctlfied spir- 
 
 joiir.iai,p. j^^^ j^g g^yg. .,^^g ggg^ of God, which should have dominion in 
 
 all our meetings, is depressed. This spirit, getting in amongst 
 us, in every part of the body or society, cannot fail of laying 
 waste ; therefore let all consider what spirit rules them. It is a 
 mournful truth (adds he) that among the many thousands of 
 Israel, there are but few, in comparison, who really stand quite 
 upright ; who cannot be at all warped by fear, interest, favor, or 
 affection." 
 
 41. How far this character falls below the testimony and ex- 
 pectations of the first true witnesses called Quakers, it is evident 
 from all their writings, especially from those of Edward Bur- 
 rough. The truth is, those hlunt and illiterate men, as they 
 are called, who first broke out with such rude and ambiguous 
 expressions, were never commissioned to found a church, nor to 
 build up any people upon the authority of their extraordinary 
 testimony : for no church or people could be established tiU the 
 reign of antichrist was at an end. 
 
 42. But while they testified against all the false churches, and 
 false systems that existed on earth, they were commissioned from 
 heaven to announce their certain downfall, and the setting up of 
 that church or kingdom which should stand forever; but the 
 work was not given them to do ; their commission extended no 
 further than to declare that God was about to effect it, and would, 
 by means of his own choosing, most certainly accomplish it in his 
 own time. 
 
 43. This will appear most strikingly evident from the writings 
 of Edward Biirrough, who was cotemporary with George Fox, 
 and who, in the year 1662, in the 28th year of his age, died a 
 prisoner in Neivgate, London, for the word of God, and for the 
 testimony which he held. The following short extracts, from his 
 own writings, may show the nature of that testimony for which 
 he patiently suffered unto death. 
 
 Barrongii's 44. " All ye inhabitants of the earth, in all nations throughout 
 20 "247''' ^^^ world ; hearken and give ear, the word of the Lord God, that 
 made heaven and earth is toward you ; he is coming to set up his 
 kingdom and his dominion, which never shall have an end ; and 
 the kingdoms of this world shall be changed, and shall become 
 the kingdom of the Son of God. The kingdom of Christ is near 
 to come, and the kingdoms of this world shall be changed, and 
 none shall have any part therein, but they that are redeemed out 
 of kindreds, tongues, and people : this we believe ; he that can 
 receive it let him." 
 
B. VII. THE WITNESSES OF TRUTH. 349 
 
 45. " This is tBe time in whicli all the men of this generation chap, v . 
 are fallen, and the Scripture is fulfilled ; the night wherein no uurrnugii's 
 man can work is upon the world; and further, this is the time of im'^jn j '"' 
 antichrist's dominion. And also we know, the time is now ap- 
 proaching, that the dominion of the beast is near an end, and the 
 
 holy city shall the saints possess, and the Gentiles shall be driven 
 out of it, according as John said. I say, the time is well nigh 
 expired, and finished, and the Lord God Almighty, and the 
 Lamb is risen to make war against the beast and his image, who 
 hath reigned over the kingdoms of the world. But now the 
 mighty day of the Lord, and the judgment of the whore is ap- 
 proaching, wherein she shall be rewarded according to her 
 works." 
 
 46. " This I have received from God, I say the holy city shall ibid. p. 195, 
 be measured, and she shall be adorned, and as a bride for her ^''' 
 husband she shall be prepared; and God's tabernacle shall be 
 
 with men. The kingdom of the beast must down, and the 
 princely power of darkness must be overthrown, and laws, and 
 times, and things, and powers of men shall be overthrown, and 
 overturned, till he come to reign in the earth, whose right it is 
 to reign over nations and people." 
 
 47. " Thisis written as moved of the Lord, to go abroad through 
 the nations, that all may understand concerning the times, and 
 the changing of times, and how the beast hath reigned in domi- 
 nion — and the kingdom of Christ hath not been known upon the 
 earth. for many generations; but the beast hath been established 
 in his throne of rebellion against Christ Jesus." 
 
 48. " All this traditional worship, and false imitations which ibid. p. 137. 
 have been set up since the Apostles' days, shall be overthrown 
 
 and confounded ; the Lord is risen and will dash down, and over- 
 throw all this idolatry now practised amongst Christians: and a 
 great shaking and confounding shall suddenly come among 
 Christians ; for the Lord will break down that which hath been 
 builded, because it is polluted; and he will pluck up that which 
 hath been planted, because it is defiled; and a mighty work will 
 the Lord work in the earth. And for this state, all that fear God, 
 and love him, are to wait, for this shall come to pass in the 
 world." 
 
 49. "Concerning the things whereof we have testified, these ibid.p. 7613. 
 divers years, I am no way doubtful but our God will fulfill them, 
 neither can my confidence be shaken, by what is or can come to 
 
 pass ; for antichrist must fall, _/ffiZse ministry and ivor ship, false 
 ways and doctrines God will confound, /aZ^e power .mA false 
 church the Lord will lay low ; and truth and righteousness must 
 reign. These things have we prophesied from day to day ; and 
 my faith is constant and immovable, that God will effect these 
 things in his season." 
 
350 KEMARKS ON THE PRESENT STATE OP, &C. B. VII. 
 
 CHAP.v. 50. The epistles and warnings of this faithful witness of 
 Christ, are left as a standing monument of the testimony of truth 
 at that day ; as a controversy of Grod with all the itihabitanis of 
 the earth, directed u?ito all sorts of people ; as a trumpet of the 
 Lord, and " a true -noise of a fearful earthquake at hand, which 
 shall shake the whole fahrick of the earth, and the pillars 
 of its standing shall fall, and never more he set up again. 
 Declared and written by a son of thunder, as a warning to 
 all the inhabitants of the earth. By order and- authority 
 given unto me by the Spirit of the living God.'' So testified 
 Edward Burrough, in the year 1655. 
 
 51. Beginning at the head of the nation, he delivers his mes- 
 sage to Oliver Cromwell, and all his council — to all judges and 
 lawyers — to all astrologers, soothsayers, and wise men — to all 
 generals, colonels, commanders, officers, and soldiers, in Eng- 
 land, Scotland, and Ireland — to all the priests, and prophets, 
 and teachers of the people — to all the Papists, their whole body 
 and head at Rome — to all Protestants of the eldest sort — to all 
 Presbyterians and Independents — to all Anabaptists — to all free 
 willers — to all Ranters — to all seekers and waiters. And lastly, 
 to those who were in the light of eternal life. And two years 
 after, he delivered ten solemn warnings to Friends.* 
 
 52. Those testimonies, which were then delivered from time to 
 ' time, breathe the most evident spirit of prophecy, in regard to 
 
 the end of a corrupt Christian world, and the setting up of the 
 pure and everlasting kingdom of Christ. . 
 
 53. Now certain it is, that the many complaints of worldly 
 mindedness, of deadness and insensibility, of resting on a mere 
 profession, and of receiving a false spirit, which stand against 
 the general body of the Friends, by their own writers, are suffi- 
 cient evidences that they are not that pure, spiritual and heavenly 
 church, of which those witnesses prophesied, whose name they 
 now boar. 
 
 • These addresses may be seen at large in Bunough's Works, p. 96 to lU. 
 
B. Til CONCEBXIXG QUAKXKS, ifcc, 351 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 SESLkRES COXCEKXISlt QUAKERS. FRENCH PROPHEIS, AXD 
 OTHER MODEBX SECTS. 
 
 The Church of Chri?; in the Liiter day. Tras n-r to be compC'sel chap vt. 
 of the woilulr minded — the dead and insensible — or of such as 
 ■would be led away by a f.Jse spirit. ^Neverthele-s. such a dead 
 and insensible state had been foretold tv the spirit of prophecy, 
 through the witnesses of Lxod, together with a declaration of its 
 final overthrow ; all of w'liich wili in dne tiice be accomplished. 
 
 ll. Therefore the dissolution of the Christi/in :ro'-'u. with all 
 its false establishments, was an event as certain as anv that had 
 ever been marked out by the spirit of prophecy ; and tne jarring 
 materials of which it was composed, lost the centre of their at- 
 traction and bands of uniformity, within forty rears after the 
 testimony of Gwef for. Edward B::^'-o:.s'. and the rest, was 
 delivereii; when civil rulers caused the persecuting sword to be 
 put up into its sheath, and began to proclaim lit'ortT for everv 
 one to enjoy his own fiuth unmolested. 
 
 3. The wiiole chain of prophecies, that relate to the heavens 
 and the earth that then were, have been evidently fnlnllinff ever 
 since liberty of conscience was cnmted: sects and r'Srties have 
 not only been dissolving astmder, and reicoving more distant 
 from the mother church, and from eaca other, but the most fun- 
 damental pomts of doctrine, discipmie. ani govemmecr. and even 
 whole creeds, confessions, common prayer bocks. A:c.. are. in 
 many parts of Christendom, passing --away with a sreat noise." 
 •'and the elements ' in which they were composed, are nielrinj 
 '■with fervent heat." 
 
 4. So that every attempt to reform, repair, and unite together 
 the difierent parts of the great Ckrisrian world, can onlv widen 
 the breach, and hasten the final dissolution of the whole. 
 
 0. But again, whrn the Friends, in the declining state of their 
 power, applied to an arm cf desh for protection, and had their 
 religion established by law, and become allied to the government 
 of this world, they united with the remaining power of the beast, 
 through the influence of which they became a dead, lifeless boiv. 
 as a people. 
 
 K'. And, in setting onr to build another o'c hearen church upon 
 the principles of their former light and testimonv, before the 
 time had arrived for their testimony to be accomplished, thev onlv 
 exposed themselves, equally with others, to strfier the loss of all 
 their snperiiuotis labor, in the seneral wreck of false buihiincs. 
 
352 I^CONCERNINO QTJAKBES, B. VII. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 7_ It is *rue they were very cautious as to adopting those 
 forms and ceremonies of worship which pertained to the kingdom 
 of antichrist ; so that in this they are a very distinguished people. 
 Nevertheless, the root and foundation of all false religion, and 
 the very source of this general deadness and insensibility, they 
 did not touch. They spared Agag and the best of the flock. 
 
 8. The lawless works and fruits of the flesh they lopped off in 
 a good degree ; but the flesh itself they carefully preserved and 
 transplanted over into their new soil. So that, when that power 
 failed, by which God is able, of stones, to raise up children unto 
 Abraham, their numbers might still increase by the works of 
 natural generation, and their children be taught by tradition, to 
 say over the words of their forefathers, while totally ignorant of 
 their spirit and power. 
 Fox's Jou. 9. " Their way of marriage (says William Perm) is peculiar 
 vdl^D ^° ^^^™-i o-f^ 2* "■ distinguishing -practice from all other socie- 
 xix. ties professing Christianity. They say that marriage is an 
 
 ordinance of God, and that God only can rightly join man 
 and woman in marriage.'''' But instead of showing how God 
 joins them, they give a lengthy detail of their own proceedings, 
 which are as formal and ceremonial as those of any other profess- 
 ing Christians : and they do not state any thing peculiar in their 
 manner or motive of copulation to distinguish their natural pos- 
 terity as the peculiar people of God more than others. 
 
 10. We appeal to the light of Christ within them, whether their 
 secret motive or manner, in the ground work of this matter, is 
 any thing peculiar and distinguishing from the practice of other 
 professing Christians. And until the Friends can give evidence 
 that they are a peculiar and distinct people in this respect, they 
 must be numbered with that generation, with which their ancients 
 testified, God was not well pleased. 
 
 11. They cannot be numbered with the true followers of the 
 Lamb, because they do not follow him in the Regeneration; 
 and if they ever enter that kingdom of which their ancients so 
 abundantly prophesied, it must be in the same straight and 
 narrow way of complete self-denial with others of the same cor- 
 rupt nature ; otherwise they never will see that kingdom while 
 the earth endureth. 
 
 12. God never intended that the real gifts of the Holy Spirit 
 should be conveyed from one to another by the works of natural 
 generation ; but he intended (and it was so) that every succeed- 
 ing age should be dependent on him for their present gifts and 
 calling. 
 
 13. Admitting that the first witnesses among the Friends had 
 no special command from God, either in regard to natural or 
 spiritual marriage, (as was the case) this can be no reason why 
 the matter should be overlooked in them, by those who now stand 
 
B. VII. PEENCH PROPHETS, &0. 353 
 
 in the spirit and power of that work of which their ancients chap, vi. 
 prophesied. 
 
 14. It may here be particularly observed, that God raised up 
 witnesses indififerent ages, and in divers manners, to effect certain 
 purposes ; and what was sometimes the testimony or practice of 
 one witness, was not always of another ; neither was the testi- 
 mony or practice of one witness to be always the standing rule 
 of faith or practice to a nation or people. 
 
 15. The Friends, according to their account, were charged in 
 open court, that, "they went together like brute beasts," 
 because they would not have their marriages solemnized by a 
 
 priest, or civil officer. So might the Jewish lawyers have fox'sJou. 
 charged the Prophet and his spouse with coming together like ™' "■ p-,*- 
 whoremongers ; and, admitting the charge in either case to be i. 
 ever so well founded, neither of them could be charged with 
 criminality in fulfiling what might have been commanded them 
 in particular. 
 
 16. But to take that which might have been given as a 
 reproof, or at best merely tolerated, and turn it into an example, 
 or precedent, because lawyers or judges pretended to prove it both 
 lawful and Christian, must surely be a grand deception, and very 
 foreign from any thing dictated by the spirit of truth. And 
 therefore the Friends lie under this deception, if they suppose 
 that this outward ceremony or civil rite of marriage, was given 
 as a standing ordinance of God, to the first witnesses, whose 
 name they bear. 
 
 17. The truth is, that George Fox, Edward Burrough, and 
 many of the same spirit, cotemporary with them, were the true 
 witnesses of the Most High God, possessed of his Spirit and 
 power ; and on account of the power in which they stood, and the 
 near approach of that kingdom of which they testified, they were 
 the greatest witnesses that had been since the Apostles. Not- 
 withstanding, there were those, after the Apostles' days, who had 
 greater light and testimony in regard to the hidden works of the 
 flesh, and who suffered more numerous tortures, and ignominious 
 deaths for the practical testimony which they held. 
 
 18. But the first witnesses called Quakers, were not required 
 to bear a full testimony concerning the root of human depravity, 
 but the testimony that was given them of God, most of them 
 delivered faithfully, as true witnesses, and finished their testimony 
 through many sufferings. 
 
 19. And it is also a truth that their natural descendants, as a 
 people, have turned aside in their hearts and practice after the 
 weak and beggarly elements of the world, have made shipwreck 
 of true faith, and are living upon the words and good speeches 
 of their ancients, while destitute of their life and power ; and 
 from true and spiritual worshippers, they have become open and 
 
354 
 
 CONCERNING QUAKEES, 
 
 B. VII 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 *See 
 Griffith's 
 Jourilat, p. 
 61. 
 
 Rev. xi. 8. 
 
 John xviii- 
 3S. 
 
 Mark, iii. 
 24,25. 
 
 View of 
 Religions 
 Art. Fr. 
 Prophets & 
 Chauncy's 
 Works,vol. 
 iii- P 2, 3, 
 4, &c. 
 
 secret idolaters.* And therefore, the remaining few, who still 
 breathe the spirit of uprightness under this fallen condition, are 
 but suffering witnesses clothed in sackcloth. 
 
 20. It is evident that the Quakers, as a body, have continued 
 to grow more and more. into union with the principles and cus- 
 toms of the world, to the present time ; so that now they have 
 honorable stations in the government ; they can be legislators 
 and members of Congress, and take aiiirmations to support the 
 constitution and laws, which make provision for bondage, wars, 
 and bloodshed. Thus they become more and more of the world, 
 an honorable, dead body, " lying in the streets of spiritual Sodom 
 and Egypt," called the Christian world. 
 
 21. Surely, then, they cannot be that kingdom of Christ, of 
 which their ancestors prophesied ; for his kingdom " is not of this 
 world;" neither can his followers ever have a part in a kinedom 
 that is supported by war and bondage. But the kingdom of 
 which they prophesied, was to be an increasing kingdom, growmi' 
 more and more separate from the world. 
 
 22. But this is not the case with those who now claim to be 
 their descendants — themselves being witnesses. Hence they are 
 dividing and subdividing like the other dead professing Christian 
 bodies, one party testifying against the other. Therefore, they 
 cannot keep their ground, their house cannot stand, but must 
 fall, amidst the general wreck of all such buildings. 
 
 23. On this point we shall only observe further, that soon after 
 the Honorable William Penn became governor of Pennsylvania, 
 by a grant from king Charles II. the spirit and testimony of 
 truth was given, in power, to another people, called French 
 Prophets, who formed no systems, nor left any advocates behind 
 them to defend their cause. We shall here add a short account 
 of these people, taken from the records of those who could only 
 judge of them according to outward appearance. 
 
 24. " The French Prophets first appeared in Dauphiny and 
 Vivarais. In the year 1688, five or six hundred Protest- 
 ants of both sexes gave themselves out to be prophets, and 
 inspired by the Holy Spirit. They soon became so numerous, 
 that there were many thousands of them inspired. They had 
 strange fits, which came upon them with tremblings and faintings, 
 as in a swoon, which made them stretch out their arms and legs, 
 and stagger several times before they dropped down." 
 
 25. " They struck themselves with their hands; they fell on 
 their backs, shut their eyes, and heaved with their breasts. 
 They remained a while in trances, and coming out of them with 
 twitchings, uttered all which came into their mouths. They said 
 they saw the heavens open, angels, paradise, and hell." 
 
 26. " Those who were just on the point of receiving the spirit 
 of prophecy, dropped down, not only in the assemblies, crying out 
 
B. VII. PEENCH PROPHETS. &C. S55 
 
 mern, bnt in the fields, and in their own honses. The least of ch-^P- '^■ 
 their assembUea made np four or five hundred, and some of them 
 amounted to even three or four tnousand persons. When the 
 prophets had, for a -vrhile, been under agitations of body ,theT 
 bciran to prophesy." 
 
 27. -'The burden of their prophesies. Amend your lives: 
 repent ye ; the end of all things draws nigh. The hilU re- 
 soniideti with their loud cries for mercy, and with imprecations 
 against the priests, the church, the pope, and against the anti- 
 christian dominion, with predictions of the approaching fall of 
 popery. All they said at these times, was heard and received 
 with reverence and awe.'"' 
 
 2^. -'In the year 1706, three or four of these prophets came 
 over into England, and brought their prophetic spirit along with 
 them : which discovered itself in the same ways and manners, bv 
 ecstacies and agitations, and inspirations tmder them, as it had 
 done in France. And they propagated the like spirit to others; 
 so that before the year was out, there were two or three hundred 
 of these prophets in and about London, of both sexes, of all ages, 
 men, women and children : and they had delivered, under pro- 
 phetic inspiration, four or live hundred prophetic warnings." 
 
 29. • • The great things they pretended by the Spirit . was to give 
 warning of the iiear approach of the kingdom of Gud, the 
 happy times of the church, the Millennial state. Their mes- 
 sage was. that the grand jubilee; the acceptable year of the 
 Lord; the accomplishment of those numerotis scripttires, con- 
 cerning the 7i«c heavens and the new earth ; the kingdom of 
 the Messiah; ike marriage of the Lamb ; the first rt.s-ii.rrec- 
 tion ; or tht new Jerusalem descemding from, abate, were now 
 even at the door." 
 
 30. •■ That this great operation was to be wrought on the part 
 
 of man, by spiritual arms only, proceeding from the mouths* of *c<)nii»pe 
 those, who should by inspiration, or the mighty gift of the Spirit, ?^^- jj|- 
 be sent forth in great numbers to labor in the vineyard : that lii. is. 
 this ndision of his servants should be witnessed to, by signs and 
 wonders from heaven, by a deluge of judgments on the wicked 
 universally throughout the world, as famine, pestilence, earth- 
 qtiakes, &c." 
 
 31. " That the esterminating angels shall root out the tares, 
 and there shall remain upon earth only good com; and the 
 works of men being thrown down, there shall be but one Lord, 
 one faith, one heart, and one voice among mankind. They de- 
 clared that all the great things they spoke of, wotdd be maidfest 
 
 over the whole earth within the term of three years, "t St. t See Jo- 
 John stated the reign of antichrist at forty two months. "Who "^^i"'^- 
 can assert that both these times were not in the same order of tRev. ». 
 reckoning ?i 
 
356 CONCERNING QUAKERS, B. Yll. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 32_ « These Prophets also pretended to the gift of languages; 
 of discerning the secrets of the heart ; the gift of ministration of 
 the same spirit to others, by the laying on of hands ; and the gift 
 of healing. To prove they were really inspired by the Holy 
 Spirit they alleged the complete joy and satisfaction they ex- 
 perienced ; the spirit of prayer which was poured forth upon 
 them; and the answer of their prayers to God." 
 
 33. The particular testimony of the tvjo witnesses closed with 
 the French Prophets, inasmuch as the things whereof they testi- 
 fied, followed in order according to their prophecy. A measure, 
 however, of the same spirit has never since been wanting, but has 
 wrought either internally or by more external appearance.? in 
 divers places. Nor has it been confined to any particular sect 
 of people, but has been a spirit of prophecy in many of different 
 names, who have earnestly looked for the appearing of Christ in 
 the latter day. 
 
 34. This is manifest, not only from the many revivals of 
 religion, both in Europe and America, since the middle of the 
 eighteenth century, but more particularly from the extraordinary 
 
 See "Ken out-pouring of the Spirit of God in the states of Kentucky, Ohio, 
 
 tucky Re- ,ri i ii, l S' > 
 
 vivai." J ennessee, and many other places. 
 
 35. And for several years past, wonderful spiritual operations 
 and prophetic inspirations have been increasing in the world, 
 foretelling a new era of the work of God on earth and that the 
 last dispensation was at hand. But it should be understood that 
 the work of the last dispensation, is always future to those that 
 are not in it. 
 
 36. But it is to be particularly remarked, that, until the things 
 prophesied of were accomplished, and the real work of Kedemp- 
 tion wrought, the purposes of God could be revealed only through 
 men of like passions with the rest, who were in themselves as 
 much lost as others ; and liable, through their own corruptions, 
 to run into wild extremes and groundless imaginations of their 
 own framing. 
 
 37. For the want of true judgment, and a real spiritual dis- 
 cernment, between the testimony of truth and the exalted sensa- 
 tions of depraved human nature, seemingly blended with it, men 
 of natural abilities, and even of upright intentions, have been led 
 to defend that which in the main, was indefensible. And in the 
 final failure of a false prophecy, in some cases, the blind and in- 
 credulous have been left to oppose the truth in others. Occasions 
 of this nature may be seen in a book entitled, " The World's 
 Doo?n, or the Cabinet of Fate unlocked." 
 
 38. But certain it is, that no human errors, mixtures, and 
 false applications, can ever alter the purpose of God, or prevent 
 the main substance of prophecy from taking place : nor can any 
 wild extremes into which the prophet may run, destroy the force 
 
B. VII. FREXCH PROPHETS, &C. 357 
 
 of the prophecy, in the judgment of the wise ; because the fulfil- chap, yi. 
 ment depends not on him that delivers it ; nor is the truth of it 
 founded on his -wisdom or prudence: witness Balaam, the 
 Prophet Jonah, and others. 
 
 39. The Meno?iites and Moravians of the present day, claim 
 their descent from the ancient heretics ; however, by mixing with 
 the spirit of antichristian reformers, and embracing their human 
 creeds, they have degenerated into a formal state without the 
 power ; yet, in many particulars, they retain some shadow of the 
 ancient virtue, in regard to civil officers, arms, oaths, ke. But 
 the purest descendants, and present remains of the ancient 
 witnesses, are the people called Bunlcrs ; some among this 
 people, in a great degree, retain the uprightness, and simplicity 
 of their predecessors. 
 
 40. Under the names of QuaJter.i, Methodists, Xew-light 
 Freshyterians, and others, even under the most permanent forms 
 that have been established during the dominion of antichrist, it 
 is undoubtedly certain, that there are many souls sincerely look- 
 ing for redemption from sin ; and who, according to their light, 
 are laboring to do the best they can. 
 
 41. And such have always been partictilarly noticed of God, 
 as much as the penitent Jews were in their captivity ; and such, 
 with those of the same spirit of honesty and love of truth, God 
 will hide in his pavilion, in the day of visitation, and in the 
 secret of his tabernacle shall they be covered in the day of 
 trouble ; while the kings and great ones of the earth shall cry to 
 the rocks and moimtains to fall upon them; and while the king- 
 doms and nations of the earth are breaking each other in pieces, 
 even as the vessel of a potter is Iroken, 
 
 42. God will not cast off those who truly fear him. He will 
 not reward the righteous according to the works of the wicked : 
 neither will he reward the wicked according to the doings of the 
 just. But each shall have the portion of their own choice, as it 
 
 is written: He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he KeT.n^. 
 that is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, 
 let him be righteous still ; and he that is holy, let him be holy 
 still. And behold, I come quickly ; and my reward is vdth me, 
 to give every man according as his uork shall be. 
 
 11. li 
 
THE TESTIMONY 
 
 OP 
 
 CMIST'S SECOND APPEARMG. 
 
 BOOK VIII. 
 
 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SECOND APPEAKING OF CHRIST; 
 THE FINISHING WORK OF THE NEW CREATION. 
 
 CHAPTEK I. 
 
 REMARKS ON THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY, RESPECTING THE 
 
 TIME OP Christ's second appearing. 
 
 According to the predictions of the Prophets, many have beea chap. i. 
 
 long looking for the commencement of what is called the Mil- • 
 
 lennium, or latter day of glory, when the kingdom of Christ 
 shall be set up and established on earth ; in which all tyrannical 
 and oppressive governments shall be overthrown and destroyed, 
 and mankind enjoy just and equal rights in all matters, civil and 
 religious ; when all wars shall cease, and universal peace be en- 
 joyed by the nations of the earth. 
 
 2. That such a day has long been foretold, and must necessarily 
 take place, is clear from the whole tenor of scripture prophecy; 
 but the time, and circumstances of that day, have been matter of 
 reasoning and debate for many ages; while it was, in reality, 
 out of sight of the most penetrating part of mankind, and 
 was intended to remain so, until the work of the day should 
 declare it. 
 
 3. But let it be understood, that these things cannot be instan- 
 taneously effected ; and that they are the work of the primeiples 
 which will operate in this Millennial day, progressively bringing 
 forth increasing degrees of perfection, according to the order of 
 the work, providentially and spiritually, until the whole purpose 
 of Grod is accomplished. 
 
 4. This has been the manner of God's work, in all dispensa- 
 tions; it has ever begun small, and progressively inereased to jj^^j^ .^ 
 maturity, like the parable of " the seed cast into the ground^ 26, aa 
 
360 REMARKS ON B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. I. ii^Jiick Springs up and is Ir ought forth, first the Hade, then the 
 car, after that the full corn in the ear." 
 
 5. Therefore, the '^ great chain" with which Satan was 
 bound, signifies a long and important series of events, operating 
 providentially in the natural and spiritual orders, by which the 
 tyrannical and persecuting power of the dragon will be more and 
 more bound, in such a manner, that his power (which has de- 
 ceived the nations, by established antichristian and persecuting 
 religions, by which the saints were swept from the earth, or 
 scattered ; so that they were not suffered to build any church 
 according to the order of Christianity) will be gradually taken 
 away. Thus, the liberty of conscience, and the rights of man. 
 
 Rev xiv 6. '^^^^ become progressively established ; so that all will be left 
 & xiii. 17. free to choose the everlasting Gospel. 
 
 6. Nevertheless, although the saints shall live and reign a 
 thousand years, yet, it is evident that they will not then cease to live 
 and reign, any more than Christ will cease to live and reign, when 
 
 fcT'to^ib*' " ^1^ enemies shall be put under his feet." But, during this period, 
 
 1 Cor. XT. the " camp of the saints" will be formed, which is the Church 
 
 23, 25. built up in the Millennium, by the true Christian principles, re- 
 
 vealedin Christ's first and second appearing. And when all nations 
 
 led by Satan, shall compass this camp, and become overthrown, 
 
 then will the saints live and reign, in triumphant power, with 
 
 Christ, in his everlasting kingdom, which shall stand for ever. 
 
 Acts, xvii. -jj- Qq^^ yjjio made the world and all things therein, ie- 
 
 termined the times before appointed, and fixed the bounds of 
 
 man^s habitation, ruled the heavens and the earth as he pleased, 
 
 Dan. iv. 17. gg^g^ down, or exalted the nations according to his own wisdom, 
 
 and permitted the basest of men to rule over them, until the 
 
 times determined were accomplished, which he had reserved in 
 
 his own power. 
 
 8. It was, therefore, impossible in the nature of things, for the 
 most upright men living, in their natural state, to comprehend, 
 in its real and true nature, that which belonged to a future state 
 of things. This belonged to God alone, and therefore could only 
 be revealed to man, by such sensible signs, figures, and simili- 
 tudes, as were adapted to his natural capacity, to excite his 
 rational belief in what was yet to appear. 
 
 9. To say nothing here, particularly, on the different parts 
 which compose the Scriptures ; it is certain that, if any history of 
 past events is to be credited, the historical part of the sacred 
 writings claims the first and highest authority. 
 
 10. And it is equally certain, that many future events were 
 revealed to those who were chosen of God for that purpose, under 
 many and various similitudes, figures, and shadows, while the 
 substances themselves were concealed from the penetration even 
 of those unto whom the shadows were given. 
 
B. VIII. THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY, &C. 361 
 
 11. But as many future events have been revealed by the Holy chap. i. 
 Spirit, under mysterious figures or natural appearances, the ' 
 natural man must naturally form some ideas in his mind concerning 
 
 them. The question then is, whether his ideas are true or false ? 
 
 12. This matter may be at once decided ; for if his ideas are 
 fixed upon natural objects, because the similitudes are familiar 
 to his natural senses, his ideas must be false; and it is evident, 
 that, until the substances themselves are actually manifested, he 
 can have nothing to contemplate them by, but natural similitudes. 
 
 13. And, although the Spirit of Revelation is true, yet, the 
 natural man's ideas concerning the real substances of the things, 
 can be no other than false ; and whether the similitudes are to 
 be literally, or spiritually fulfilled, it is not for him to know or 
 determine, seeing that God has reserved to himself alone, the 
 times and seasons, and of course, the manner of their accomplish- 
 ment. 
 
 14. The whole Jewish state, was, as it were, converted into 
 natural similitudes and shadows of good things to come, which 
 were confirmed to the heirs of promise from time to time, by the 
 most evincing evidences ; yet, how long has that nation persevered 
 in the fatal delusion, that they are the only people of God, and 
 true seed of promise ; while bondage, captivity, death, and the 
 curse of being scattered among the nations, are their most dis- 
 tinguishing evidences ! 
 
 15. And how many hundreds of years has the name Christian, 
 bound whole nations under the same strange delusion, and fur- 
 nished them with a pretext for filling the earth with the most 
 horrid crimes ! 
 
 16. Thousands, no better by nature or practice than others, 
 by virtue of this distinguishing name, have assumed the character 
 of God's children, laid claim to the earth as their lawful inheri- 
 tance, taken up arms against every other name and character, as 
 usurpers; and, by such acts of cruelty and outrage as are shocking 
 to nature itself, have given their fellow creatures the greatest 
 occasion to blaspheme the God of heaven, for sending into the 
 world such a person as Jesus Christ. 
 
 17. These fatal mistakes among mankind, evidently arose from 
 their taking the shadow for the substance ; claiming a right to 
 Revelation, the spirit of which they possessed not ; proposing the 
 manner of God's work, and limiting or extending the times and 
 seasons, which Divine Power and Wisdom had reserved from the Acts, i, 7. 
 knowledge of mortals, until revealed in their own time; and 
 
 fixing their own natural and carnal ideas to the language of the 
 Holy Ghost, by virtue of stolen words ; to the true sense of 
 which, consequently, they could never agree. 
 
 18. Hence came confusion, contentions, and debates without 
 number ; an incontestable evidence that the Holy Spirit never 
 
 24 
 
362 
 
 REMAEKS ON 
 
 B. YIII. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Isa. i. 9. 
 
 Mat. xxiv. 
 36. 
 
 gave them this authority to construe her language : therefore it 
 can be no reasonable objection against the spirit of prophecy, 
 that the substances of what is revealed, was incomprehensible, 
 and could not be known or understood in their true nature, until 
 they were brought forth and exhibited in their_ season; seeing it 
 was impossible in the nature of things, considering their dark 
 state, that it should be otherwise. 
 
 19. The error of deception, therefore, is not in the mysterious 
 language of inspiration, nor in those who were simply moved to 
 foretell, under sublime figures, what God would bring to pas3 in 
 future days ; but in the minds of natural and carnal men, who 
 take upon themselves to limit or extend those times and seasons, 
 which, in the mind of wisdom, were determined to be out of their 
 reach until the times appointed. 
 
 20. Nor could those sublime figures in prophetic language, 
 ever be really and truly understood, or explained, until the very 
 times of their fulfilment ; and even then, by those only, who 
 come into the very spirit of the work, at the day in which it is 
 wrought. 
 
 21. Whatever may be said in opposition to divine revelation, 
 or the spirit of prophecy, certain it is, that fallen man never could 
 have had any sense of his future existence, or the prospects of 
 immortality, but through this medium, whether he received it by 
 tradition or otherwise. 
 
 22.. And it is ec[ually certain, that nothing else has ever kept 
 the world in awe, or given any lasting energy to the impulse of 
 human laws: and nothing but that religion, which contemplatea 
 the objects and scenes of the present life, as the prolonged 
 shadows of a never ending eternity, could ever have exhibited them 
 to the mind, and prolonged those shadows to so great an extent. 
 
 23. It must, therefore, be ascribed to the wisdom of God, in 
 revealing a future state, successive to the present, that man has 
 been excited to that degree of natural virtue, through which his 
 natural state has continued to such a length of time, as to over- 
 take that new creation, which the divine counsel had determined. 
 For if the lawless passions of Cain and the Canaaniles, had 
 universally prevailed, no flesh could have been saved ; this world 
 would long ago, have been like Sodom and Gomorrah, and the 
 cities round about. 
 
 24. Much was said by the witnesses of truth, particularly in 
 later ages, concerning that day in which the mystery of God was 
 to be finished in relation to man ; but after all those prophecies, 
 and all the reasonings of natural men, concerning their accom- 
 plishment, the words of Jesus Christ comprehend the whole : But 
 of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not ' the angeh of 
 heaven, but my Father only. 
 
 25. Previous to the commencement of that day, there were 
 
B. YIII. THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY, &C. 363 
 
 three things respecting it, whioli mankind could not possibly chap. i. 
 know. First, the time ; second, the place ; third, the manner 
 in which it was to commence. 
 
 26. First. The time could not possibly be ascertained, except 
 by Divine wisdom, although it was fixed in definite numbers, by 
 various Prophets. As nothing inferior to man can know the i Cor. li. 
 things of man, save by the spirit of man ; so no man can know ^'' 
 the things of God, but by the Spirit of God, by which the 
 prophecies were given. 
 
 27. Man, as a rational creature., has fixed the times and seasons, 
 according to the changes of this globe, in relation to the sun and 
 moon, and has thereby established the day, the month, and the 
 year ; but inferior beings are not confined to those calculations of 
 man ; much less beings of a superior rank. 
 
 28. Again, man has been accustomed to calculate times by a 
 variety of objects in nature, and to distinguish those calculations 
 by various names, as generations, ages, years, months, weeks, 
 days, hours, and seasons ; but what can he certainly know beyond 
 the limits of his own age ? Nothing at all. Yet the Spirit spake 
 of ages of ages ; he may call this eternity, or what he pleases, it 
 alters it not ; he is certainly lost in the thought, because it ex- 
 ceeds his narrow limits. 
 
 29. Again, in the language of the Spirit, A thousand years 2 Pei. in. s. 
 are with the Lord as one day. I have appointed thee each day j^r.ill. ' 
 for a year. And these nations shall serve the king of Babylon n- 
 seventy years. 
 
 30. Therefore, the natural man may calculate the times to suit 
 his own pleasure ; he may comprise the greatest numbers in a 
 few hours of the natural day, and prove the time of the promise 
 to have been past thousands of years ago. Or if he chooses to • 
 continue in his sins during life, he may put far away the evil day, 
 even to a future period of twenty-five millions of common years ; 
 by either of which he will also prove himself to be totally ignorant 
 of the matter, and altogether in nature's darkness.- 
 
 31. Again, an angel set the time for cleansing the sanctuary, Dim.Tiii. 
 at two thousand three hundred days. But can the natural man 
 certainly tell whether the Spirit meant the days of man, or of the 
 Lord; or a medium between, that is, two thousand three hundred 
 
 of his natural years ? * 
 
 32. Which ever way he may take, it can profit him little. He 
 may out-live the first period of six or seven years, and all the 
 good it may bring. The second is entirely out of his reach ; nor 
 can he tell where it began, or where it will end : and the third is 
 infinitely beyond his comprehension, being not less than two 
 million, or twenty-three hundred thousand years. 
 
 » There can be no 'consistent data for this period, but the date when given; all 
 other calculations will fail. 
 
364 EEJIAKKS ON THE SPIRIT OF, &C. B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. I. 33_ The natural man, or the inspired man (if he chooses to 
 denominate himself so because he has the Scriptures before 
 bis eyes) may acknowledge, that be knows nothing about the 
 time, because the spirit of prophecy, by express declarations, 
 obliges him so to do ; yet he imagines that he can tell the event 
 whenever it shall appear ; but in this he is equally mistaken. 
 
 34. To whom were the prophecies first given ? To whom were 
 given the types and shadows of the Law and the Prophets ? Was 
 
 Rom. iii. 2. it not to the Jews ? Much every way they had the advantage, says 
 the Apostle. 
 
 Dan. ix 85. What then? The Prophet Daniel, had told them that it 
 
 ^^' should be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks unto 
 
 Messiah, the Prince. But how would the Scripture-inspired Jew 
 calculate this ? Would he call it four hundred and eighty-three 
 natural days 1 or four hundred and eighty-three years ? or four 
 hundred and eighty-three thousand years ? Without the very 
 same Spirit which dictated those numbers, and that in the time of 
 their accomplishment, either way, darkness must be his portion. 
 36. Upon the first calculation, he finds nothing to satisfy his 
 mind ; his natural senses comprehend all he beholds. The 
 second calculation, he thinks, will bring the Messiah ; and the 
 plan which he has laid out by his understanding, he thinks, wiU 
 determine the event whenever it comes to pass. 
 
 See Mat. 37. But instead of the Messiah, and the great event he looks 
 
 for, thei'e comes one Jesus of Nazareth, whom they know, and 
 who is more like a beggar than a prince ; who called them a gen- 
 eration or brood of vipers, denounced woes upon them, foretold 
 the destruction of their city and temple, the abolition of their 
 ■fi-hole religious system, and their final extinction as a nation. 
 
 38. Thus the events of his most reasonable calculations take 
 place, and he knows them not ; and beyond this, the calculation 
 of the sixty-nine or seventy weeks must out-run the most distant 
 conception of either Jew or Gentile. 
 
 39. The truth is, natural men could never calculate God's 
 times and seasons, they either come too soon or too late ; and 
 thus, in all their calculations, they have always placed (lod at a 
 great distance from the calculator, either in the past or future 
 tense ; at so great a distance at least, that there remained no 
 probability of his seeing the day of God's power; and the world 
 have been best satisfied to have it so. 
 
 40. They shrink from the thought of their days being num- 
 bered, and their enjoyments in nature, being included within the 
 small compass of a generation ; and yet, upon their own calcula- 
 tion, themselves being judges, men in a state of nature cannot 
 know_ the day of God's power ; it is out of their sight, as far as 
 eternity is out of sight of time. 
 
 41. They cannot see that to which the prophecy alludes, and 
 
 xxiii. and 
 xjdv. 
 
vol. i. p. 
 174. 
 
 B. VIII. PLACE OF Christ's kingdom. 365 
 
 therefore cannot interpret it. The vision of all is to them like chap, n 
 a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, jsa. xxiv. 
 saying, Road this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot, for it is ^^■ 
 sealed. And the unlearned cannot read it because they are not 
 learned. 
 
 42. It is therefore justly observed by Newton, "It is no Diss.xiv. 
 wonder that the fathers, nor indeed that any one should mistake 
 in particularly applying prophecies, which had not then received 
 their completion. The fathers might understand the prophecies 
 so far as they were fulfilled, but when they ventured farther, 
 they plunged out of their depth, and were lost in the abyss of 
 error. Such prophecies can be explained only by the events." 
 
 43. All this is strictly true; to which may be added, that 
 when the prophecies received their completion, none could make 
 the just application but such as were in the spirit and truth of 
 their fulfilment. 
 
 44. The prophecy came not in old time by the icill of man, Sc; a. Pet. 
 neither can it be accomplished by his will, nor agreeable to it ; J],^^'" ™'' 
 and consequently the time of its accomplishment cannot be dated lo. 
 
 by man's wisdom, nor interpreted to serve his private views ; but 
 must be ascertained first of all by the event, and then understood 
 by those who are in it. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE PLACE OP CHRIST'S KINGDOM, AND MANNER OP HIS 
 WORK. 
 
 Secondly. The place, in which the work of Christ's kingdom 
 
 was to be exhibited, is also entirely out of sight of men in a state Ezek. xiiii. 
 
 of nature, and in its real and full sense cannot possibly be com- ''■ 
 
 munioated to the natural understanding, even by the spirit of 
 
 prophecy, any faster than they become truly enlightened by the 
 
 Spirit. 
 
 2. The Prophets spoke of the Lord's descending from heaven ; 
 but natural men cannot call Jesus, Lord, because his kingdom is 
 not of this world; for no man, in truth, can say that Jesus is3 . 
 Lord, but by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 3. Again, they spake of Jerusalem, as being the place where 
 the kingdom of Grod was to appear ; and of a descendant from 
 
366 PLACE OF chkist's kingdom. B. Vill. 
 
 CHAP. II. David sitting there upon Ms throne; but these prophecies, 
 according to the sense of a natural Jew, could not apply to 
 Christ Jesus, nor to his day. 
 
 4. He was not descended as a prince of David, nor born in the 
 palace of any of their princes ; but begotten out of the ordinary 
 course of nature, and brought forth in a stable ; Jerusalem was 
 also in bondage with her children; the sceptre was departed 
 from Judah ; and the throne of David laid waste ; nor did he 
 ever restore or sit upon that throne; how, then, according to the 
 
 iS/ih ^' sense of the Jews, could he be the Messiah ? 
 
 5. The city and temple of God had been particularly described 
 by the prophet Ezekiel, and all the bounds and limits of the 
 Holy Land round about ; and the natural man supposed all those 
 things would be literally established in the land of Canaan, and 
 on the natural mount Zion. But the appearing of Christ Jesus, 
 and the work of God, went directly against all such views ; there- 
 fore natural men, were, in that instance, wholly mistaken as to 
 the place; and why not again? 
 
 6. Since that mistake has been discovered, and the natural 
 Canaan put out of the reach of Abraham's natural posterity, 
 some have become a little more spiritual in their understanding, 
 concerning the place of God's throne and kingdom, and have 
 stated it to be the Church. 
 
 7. But the churches have become so numerous since this 
 principle was discovered, that in this particular, natural men are 
 more divided and bewildered than ever ; and the enquiry, where 
 Lord ? is more than ever out of their reach to determine. 
 
 8. If Christ should appear in one church, all the rest would 
 of course reject him, because he came not where they looked for 
 him. This difficulty was very evident in his first appearing: 
 
 John, i. 46. They object. Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? 
 
 9. The prejudices of nations, kingdoms, churches, and indi- 
 viduals, are such against each other, that unless God should act 
 contrary to them all, he could not open his kingdom or manifest 
 his work of redemption impartially. For were it opened and 
 revealed, according to the ideas and expectations of any natm'al 
 man, church, or na,tion, all the' rest would be offended, because 
 they had not been favored with the first discovery. Such is the 
 very nature' of proud man. 
 
 10. Therefore the throne of God, and the place of the soles 
 of his feet, are, to the natural man, neither at Jerusalem, nor in 
 
 John iv. this mountain; TxeM\ie,x mt\iQ desert, hot secret chamber ; neither 
 21. here, nor there. It is ahaolutelj hid from the wise and pitident, 
 
 26?&^7' ■wbo sought it by their human wisdom, and revealed unto 
 25, 27. spiritual babes. 
 
 11. The powers of nature, in relation to God's spiritual work, 
 are as far short of ascertaining where, as hoio long. Man, by 
 
B. VIII. PLACE OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. 367 
 
 scarohing, may find out where he himself is, in relation to time chap. il. 
 and things ; whether he is in sickness or disgrace ; in poverty or 
 debt ; whether he is in a healthy country, in a kingdom, common- 
 wealth or republic ; whether he is in subjection to the laws of his 
 country, or in secret or open violation of them ; whether he is in 
 war or in peace ; in his own house or in prison. 
 
 12. He may also ascertain the position of other objects in 
 relation to each other. He may know where this earth is, and 
 measure its distance from the sun, and find out all the motions 
 and distances of the moon and planets. The natural heavens and 
 earth are within the compass of his knowledge ; here he may 
 have his god, his favorite object of love, his virtues and vices, 
 Ms good and evil. 
 
 13. But beyond this what doth he know ? Can he tell where 
 his soul is, in relation to the true God, and eternal life? Has 
 he any certain knowledge either of the one or the other ? What 
 place or thing doth he comprehend beyond the use of his natural 
 senses? Deprive him of seeing, hearing, feeling, and where is 
 he? In a pavilion of profound darkness ! 
 
 14. By the use of sensible objects, he may form a thousand 
 places and things in his imagination, which never had, nor can 
 have any reality in them. He may imagine a material heaven 
 beyond the fixed stars, and contemplate its coming to this earth 
 at some certain period far distant. 
 
 15. He may imagine a resurrection of material bodies, and 
 fancy a union to be formed between that remote heaven and this 
 earth. And when his imagination has been stretched to the 
 utmost, he may correct his own errors, and reject revelation, 
 because he supposed it led him into such unreasonable opinions. 
 
 16. Yet after all his fantastic ideas, and consequent disap- 
 pointments, he will find that the error was not in revelation, 
 because he never had it ; but arose out of his own weakness, in 
 trying to bring the sublime things of God within the limits of 
 his own dark and sensual capacity. 
 
 17.- If then, a material heaven cannot pass down to this earth, 
 through the sphere of the fixed stars, the sun, moon and planets, 
 nor a material body ascend thither ; is this any reason why the 
 promise of God should be void, and of no effect ? 
 
 18. " Let God be true, and every man a liar ; " let man deceive Rom. iii. 4. 
 and he deceived, while he imagines that the things of the Spirit, 
 
 are such as he can see with his natural eyes, and handle with his 
 natural hands. 
 
 19. While he is willing to put far away the day of God, and 
 abuse the scripture words and numbers, by his carnal reason, let 
 him try to ascertain by his human wisdom, whether Christ will 
 come first to old Jerusalem, or to some of the churches ; whether 
 in an army of natural troops, or of rational arguments ; and 
 
368 
 
 PLACE OF CHEIST'S KINGDOM. 
 
 B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Luke, ivii. 
 37. 1 Cor 
 iii. 12. 
 
 Job, 
 
 xxvjii. 20, 
 31. 
 
 Amos, V. 
 IS. 
 
 Isa, Ix. 1, 
 2. 
 
 T.sa. liii . 2, 
 3. 
 
 whether his kingdom will most resemble that of king Solomon, 
 the Pope, Bonaparte, or that of the Word. 
 
 20. He may fix it either way, hut very little depends on the 
 conclusion of his carnal mind ; the purpose of God remains un- 
 changeable in all the operations of his work, and he will do his 
 pleasure. 
 
 21. When Christ spake to his disciples of his second coming, 
 they asked him, where Lord ? Jesus did not answer. In Jeru- 
 salem, or among such a body of nominal Christians, or lo here, 
 or lo there ; but. Wheresoever the body is. For as the 
 body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of 
 that one body, being many, are one body ; so also is Christ. 
 
 22. Neither did Jesus expressly tell them what, or where that 
 body should be. Whence then cometh wisdom ? and where is 
 the place of understanding ? seeing it is hid from the eyes of aE 
 living. 
 
 23. Thirdly. The manner of the work of God in the latter 
 days, was also to remain concealed from the comprehension of 
 mankind, until the event should declare it, being promised under 
 prophetic figures and similitudes, as opposite to each other as 
 fire and water, light and darkness. 
 
 24. The natural figures which were used to describe the day 
 of the Lord, after holding forth the future prospects, were more 
 calculated to blind than to enlighten the natural sense. This 
 the Prophet knew, when he said. Woe unto ymi that desire, the 
 day of the Lord ! the day of the Lord is darkness and not light. 
 
 25. And again, when Zion shall arise and shine, and the 
 Lord shall be her everlasting light, and her God her glory ; then 
 darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people. 
 
 26. Natural men could look for natural appearances of great- 
 ness and glory, while both the similitudes of future events, and 
 the events themselves, confounded their human wisdom. Thus, 
 Jesus Christ was denominated a King; but his appearance in 
 reality was as mean as that of a beggar, " without form or comeli- 
 ness, that any one should desire him." 
 
 27. Here the natural man fell short in looking for a king, like 
 the great ones of the earth, when the work of this ' ' King of kings," 
 was to humble himself and become obedient unto death ; and hy 
 his self-denying example, lay a foundation for supplanting all the 
 kings and kingdoms of the earth. 
 
 28. This the natural man could not comprehend, however 
 plainly substantiated ; still he looked for a king higher than all 
 the kings of the earth, sitting upon some visible throne, such as 
 his carnal eyes could behold, while, in the purpose of God, there 
 was nothing for his carnal reasonings but eternal disappointment. 
 
 29. The ruling elements of the day of God he could not un- 
 derstand from natural figures. The Holy Spirit was compared 
 
B. YIII. PLACE OF CHBISl'i KIXGDOil. 369 
 
 toSre: an i tlie same was often comyaied lO water. L not t^.v ch^^P-H- 
 irord like a fire, saith the L'jtc. The disciples of Jesus Tvaatei 
 to call down real lire from heaven ; bui they mistook :iie figure lor i-<Ae, is, 
 the sutstacoe. and knew not what manner of si-rit toey were of. 
 So. And the same misiaie remains with all natural men, while 
 they look for a natnral Jesus to deseeni from the namral 
 iseaTeus. in flames of natnral fire, taking Tengeaisee on their 
 natnral enemi^ : bni their natnral eyes shall never see it. 
 
 31. Tht wir.d blmeeih where it listcl'': — a dry icir.c — afidl John,!!:. s. 
 wind shall come — r.e shall arnie i:p as doucs — citd {he irhsd shell i^\^' "' 
 cirri themall awa-^ — I will pour water vvon i; ■; that is thirst v. '»- 1 i- 16. 
 a\u jioods upon t--: dry groi-i^d : I trill pcur my S::rit upon M:_. i'^;. 
 thy sfid. and my blcssias upon thine oifsprins — ,'ic is like c n- i^^'^ ^"^"' 
 fintr'sf.ri — le shall come inthe dcvds. 
 
 32. In these, and many other rlaees. the same thiDg is denomi- 
 natei by opposite elements, and the same elemeEts made nse of 
 to denominate oprosite thinirs : how, then, eoalithe natnral man 
 comprehend it ? If tie Spirit that was to be pottred out, was 
 both fire and water, both hot and cold, it conld not. to his sense. 
 posibly be one: and how could he know it ? He might be lo.k- 
 ing for water, and behold fire eometh ; or he might be lookins 
 for fire, ani there eometh water : so that he could not possitlv 
 tell which to expect. 
 
 33. Bnt he think.g he xerily believes the Scripttu-es. which 
 cannot be broken, and these testify, that --when thev shall sav, i Ties. t. 
 ptace Q^<d ss'ity. then sudden destruction eometh." So O'rntTarv ^ 
 
 are the imaginaiions of men to the tluE^s of Go-i in fhttiritr. 
 Bnt, to the candid and spiritnally mind«l, there is a clear and 
 consistent meanins in all these fisnres. 
 
370 MANNER OP B. VIII. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE MANNEK OF CHRIST'S SECOND APPEARING. 
 
 CHAP. III. The signs giveu by the spirit of prophecy, are also out of sight 
 
 of the natural man ; such as the visible changes in the things of 
 
 Joel ii. 31. nature. The sun shall he turned into darkness, and the moon 
 
 29°'' ^^'^' into blood. The stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of 
 
 the heavens shall be shaken. 
 
 2. These things were, in a certain sense, fulfilled on the day 
 of Pentecost ; but was the natural sun really turned into dark- 
 ness ? was the moon converted into blood ? or did the natural 
 stars fall from the natural heavens ? No such events ever did 
 take place ; and who can say they ever will? * 
 
 3. Then the natural man may say, This spirit of prophecy is a 
 lying spirit ! This by no means follows ; for the same spirit in 
 the Apostles, testifies concerning the Prophets, that not unto 
 themselves, but unto us they did minister the things that were 
 then reported, by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. 
 
 4. Men of different occupations, call very different things by 
 the same name; as a wheel among clock-makers, a wheel among 
 coachmakers, a wheel among mill-wrights ; all of which are 
 denominated wheels, though very different in their use, appear- 
 ance, and manner of operation. 
 
 5. The human body, a political body, a body of troops; the 
 society, the church, the nation, have each their particular heai. 
 The light of the sun, the light of reason, the Zz'^Af of revelation, 
 are very different objects, yet each is called light. Adam fell 
 from a state of innocence, Judas fell from the Apostleship, 
 Eutychus/eZZ from the third loft; each is denominated a, fall. 
 
 6. Eutychus was raised up, so was Lazarus, and so was Christ 
 Jesus ; but their rising was very different. Eutychus was 
 raised up by the power of others, from where he fell; Lazarus 
 was raised up by Jesus, from where the buriers had laid him, 
 and was subject to be laid in the same place again: but Christ 
 
 See Eph. Jesus arose from the lower parts of the earth, where he had 
 iv. 9, 10. descended, and that by his own power ; wherefore Ms rising was 
 very different from all others. 
 
 7. If the spirit of prophecy, did beforehand, minister to those 
 who were heirs of salvation, in words, which at the time the minis- 
 
 • The sun may be said to be darkened, when its light is excluded from tho 
 e,^rth by a cloud or an eclipse, or by any supernatural means, as the darkness orer 
 the land of Egypt in the time of Moses, and the darkness at the crucifixion of 
 Jesus ; yet no person can reasonably suppose that the sun itself was ever turned 
 into darkness ; and whether it ever will bo, is entirely unknown to man. 
 
B. VIII. 
 
 cheist's second appearing. 
 
 371 
 
 tration was given, represented other objects, those heirs of salva- chap. hi. 
 
 tion,when they received the true substance of the thing signified, 
 
 could then bear witness that the ministering Spirit was a Spirit 
 
 of truith. And natural men, who had not received the same 
 
 Spirit, but had deceived themselves, by falsely using the words 
 
 of prophecy in a natural sense, could have neither understanding 
 
 nor right to interfere in the matter. 
 
 8. An ignorant man may use and pervert the words of philoso- 
 phers ; he may call the light of the sun, the light of reason ; he 
 may use the words of mechanics, and call the crown wheel of a 
 clock, the hind wheel of a coach, or the rag wheel of a saw-mill; 
 or he may use the words of divines and politicians, and call a 
 body of divinity, a corporate body, or a body of troops. 
 
 9. But as the light of the sun is not the light of reason ; so 
 neither is the light of reason the light of revelation. And the 
 heavens and the earth, used in the figurative language of the 
 Prophets, are in substance, no more the natural heavens and 
 earth, than a body of religious doctrines is a body of national 
 troops. 
 
 10. And if the Prophet Joel, and others, had used the words 
 sun, moon, and stars, blood, fire, and vapours of smoke, to de- 
 scribe certain characters, things, and operations, that were to 
 appear and take place in a future day ; it belonged to Peter, 
 who had received the Holy Spirit, to say whether it was natural 
 stars that were to fall from the natural heavens, or whether the 
 falling respected another species of lights; and whether the dark- 
 ness, trembling and quaking, spoken of, respected another kind 
 of heavens and earth. 
 
 11. But natural men have always "erred, not knowing the 
 
 Mat. xxii. 
 29. 
 
 Scriptures nor the power of God;" and deceived themselves, 
 by fixing their own natural ideas of natural things to the letter 
 of the Scriptures, while they are wholly ignorant of the Spirit 
 who dictated them; and hence the endless debates concerning 
 their true meaning. 
 
 12. Even the disciples of Jesus themselves, until they received 
 the Holy Spirit, could not be made sensible of spiritual things : 
 
 How is it, said Christ that ye do not understand'? O fools, and Lukexxi 
 slow of heart to believe! They marvelled at his sayings, and '^• 
 were afraid to ask him. Yet, proud, natural men, tenfold 
 darker than they, presume that ihey can understand all about it; 
 although they have fixed the living Saviour at a greater distance 
 from them, than the most distant regions of the fixed stars. So 
 foolish is the wisdom of this world ! 
 
 13. How little did the disciples of Christ Jesus comprehend 
 from his words, the design of his death, the nature of his resur- 
 rection and future glory! He told them that "the Son of man 
 should be delivered up to the Gentiles, that he should be mocked. 
 
 I.uke xviii. 
 32-34. 
 
372 
 
 MANNER OF 
 
 B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. iir. 
 
 Mark, ix. 
 10. 
 
 ICor. 
 9, 10. 
 
 2 Pet, iii. 
 10, 12. 
 
 1 Thess. iv. 
 16, 17. 
 
 and despitefully entreated, and spit npon — that they should 
 scourge him, and put him to death, and that he should rise 
 again." 
 
 14. But they did not understand him, although his* words 
 were as plain as words could be. And what was the reason? 
 Did they not know who the Gentiles were ? Had they never 
 known of any who were put to death ? Had they not been in- 
 formed of numbers who had been raised from the dead before? 
 Had they not, with their own eyes, seen Lazarus and others, 
 raised from the dead ? Did they not know what it was to be 
 spitefully entreated, to be mocked, and scourged? Did they not 
 know what it was for one man to spit upon another ? 
 
 15. They were undoubtedly men of common sense, and knew 
 as well as other natural men, what these things naturally signi- 
 fied. But as to the true spiritual meaning, they were at a loss. 
 The thing was hid from them ; they questioned among themselves 
 what the rising from the dead should mean. Nay, more, thaj 
 understood none, of these things — neither knew they the things 
 that loere spoken. 
 
 16. Then if the disciples themselves, from the living testimony 
 of the Spirit, could not understand this rising from the dead, nor 
 any of these things when they were so near, how should natural 
 men understand them from the letter, at so great a distance ? 
 Nay, it cannot be, any more than they can span the heavens, or 
 find out the bounds of a never ending eternity. 
 
 17. But after the Holy Spirit was given to the Apostles, then 
 indeed, what they knew, they knew in reality and truth, although 
 they knew hut in part ; for they still prophesied of things to 
 come, having not received the fulness. Hence, said the Apostle 
 Paul: We know in part, and we prophesy i7i part. But when 
 that which is perfect is come, then that lohich is in part shall 
 he done away. 
 
 18. The Apostles still spoke of the coming of Christ, as future ; 
 and of their "looking for, and hastening unto the coming of that 
 day, in which the heavens being on fire, should be dissolved, and 
 the elements melt with fervent heat, and when the earth and the 
 works thereof should be burnt up." 
 
 19. In the same prophetic manner, they testified that "the Lord 
 himself should descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice 
 of the archangel, and with the trump of God; that the dead 
 in Christ should rise first ; and that those who were alive and 
 remained, should be caught up together to meet the Lord in the 
 air."* 
 
 20. Here the same figures are still continued to describe his 
 coming, that had been used by the Jewish Prophets, although 
 
 * This air according to the original, signifies spirit, or spiritual element. 
 
B. VIII. CHEIST'S SECOND APPEARING. 373 
 
 they had' testified that he had come, and they had seen him after chap, hi. 
 he had finished the work that was given him to do. 
 
 21. But in all that they had testified, how they had seen, and 
 learned, and heard, and known, what was there that could open 
 the matter, in its true light, to the natural man? Chiist told 
 them that he came to bring fire on earth ; but who over saw any 
 material fire in the case ? 
 
 22. What changes iu the material world were visible to the 
 natural eyes ? What blood or fire or pillars of smoke had they 
 to show ? They saw in part, but what had they to show to 
 others '. what part of a now heaven or a new earth ? what other 
 sun was in part risen? or what new stars created? or what 
 natural body was in part risen, so that the natural eyes of man \^°^-^''- 
 could behold a kind of first frvAts of them that slept '^ 
 
 23. They neither had, nor pretended to have, any thing of the 
 kind to show. The same earth, air, fire, and water, continued 
 just as they had been from the beginning ; no burning, nor 
 drowning, nor sweeping away by windy hurricanes, or any thing 
 of the kind. 
 
 24. But after bringing cei'tain strange things to the ears of 
 mankind, concerning "one. Jesus, who was dead, and whom they See Acts, 
 affirmed to he alive," their writings were enlarged upon the same ^^^' 
 prophetic subject, and in the same prophetic language they pre- 
 dicted the great day of the Lord yet to come. 
 
 25. Then, from what has been said, it may appear evident, 
 that neither the time, place, nor manner of Christ's coming can 
 possibly be fully known or understood by any, until it is declared 
 by the event itself, and that even then, it cannot be really and 
 truly known and declared, but by and through those who have 
 received the same spirit, which first foretold the event, and are 
 in the very light and work of the day. 
 
 26. For there is a path which no fowl laiovjeth, and which Job,-Mviii. 
 the vulture's eye hath ?iot seen: The lion's whelps have not ' 
 trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed it. And that path which 
 
 no fowl knoweth, cannot be in the natural heavens ; therefore, 
 the way of Christ's coming cannot be through the natural heavens ; 
 neither can it be from the desert, the paths of which have not 
 eluded the feet of the lion. 
 
 27. Whence then cometh true wisdom? and where is the place v. 20, ai, & 
 of understanding? seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, ]S°''^'^^' 
 and kept close frovt the fowls of the air. The same path is 
 equally hid from the carnally wise and cruel. No philosopher 
 
 hath discovered it ; nor bloody tyrant trodden it. It remains 
 unknown to those eager pursuers of natural wisdom and human 
 power, of whom the fowls of the air, and the lions of the desert, 
 are but a figure. 
 
 28. In vain then is the path of wisdom, or the way of Christ, 
 
374 MANNER OF, &C. B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. III. sought for, until liis Divine Spirit declares it; and to this pur- 
 jgj^^ .^,.jj pose his own words stand recorded. 1 hwio whence I came, and 
 14, 43. u-hither I go. But ye cannot idl whence I come, or ivhither I go. 
 Mat.xi. 27. Iproceeded and came forth from God. jSo man hioweth the Son 
 but the Father; neither knoiveth any man the Father, save the 
 Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. 
 
 id. Is then Christ revealed in the atmosphere, to the birds of 
 the air ? Is he revealed in the secret chambers ? or is he revealed 
 in the desert, to the beasts of the forests ? Nay, in no wise. 
 
 30. He therefore, that would learn and know whence Christ 
 Cometh, and where he is revealed, let him seek for him where he 
 is to be found, and where he has promised to set up his 
 tabernacle, and to establish his throne and abide forever. 
 
 31. That is, in his body, the true Church, which, by its mani- 
 fest fruits, gives evidence that Christ is the life of its members; 
 this is a sure criterion, given by Jesus Christ himself, which 
 cannot be mistaken, even by the natural man, if he exercise his 
 rational understanding. 
 
 32. But, in order to have just views upon the all important 
 subject of Christ's Second Appearing, let the following facts be 
 
 Joim,,xiv. -well understood. Jesus Christ testified: " Yet, a little while, 
 
 19 
 
 a7id the world seeth me no more ; but ye see me; because I lire, 
 ye shall live also." 
 
 33. This efifeotually destroys the doctrine of a carnal resurrec- 
 tion of the natural body ; for, if the natural body of Jesus Christ 
 did arise from the tomb, and did ascend into heaven, then did 
 the disciples, with their natural eyes, see him go up ; and, if he 
 comes again with the sa7?te body, all men may see him with their 
 natural eyes ; this would contradict the testimony of Christ Jesus, 
 that the world should see him no more. Then it conclusively 
 follows, that his personal presence will never more be seen by 
 the world. 
 
 34. Again, when he ascended into heaven, the angels declared, 
 Acta, i. 11. "that this same Jesus (that is. Saviour) which is taken up from 
 
 you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner as ye have seen 
 him go into heaven!" The Apostles, with their spiritual eyes, 
 saw his spiritual body ascend into heaven ; but, certain it is, 
 that the world never saw him go into heaven, hence, if he comes, 
 in like manner, in his Second Appearance, he can never be seen 
 by the eyes of the world, except, through the medium of his 
 saints. 
 
 35. And as the world never knew that he had ascended to 
 heaven, except through the medium of his witnesses, so, in like 
 manner, he must descend, and be known, when he comes again 
 to earth. Therefore, it is evident that the Second Appearing of 
 Christ can only be the manifestation of the same Divine Spirit 
 in his saints ; and the world will never know that he has de- 
 
B. VIII. THE TRUE CHAKACTEE, &0. 375 
 
 soended from heaven to earth, hut hy the testimony of his wit- chap, iv . 
 nesses, who live in Mm and, he in them, and that the promised Heb. vU. 
 Saviour is there with his saints as his true body. "By their ^■'• 
 fruits the world shall know them." 
 
 36. And, as in all the dispensations of the work of Grod, the 
 increasing revelation always began in one chosen agent, and the 
 first agent through whom every succeeding dispensation has 
 begun, has always exceeded, in divine light and heavenly glory, 
 all that ever came before ; hence, Jesus far exceeded all that 
 
 ever came before him. Therefore, if the second manifestation of See Juo, x. 
 Christ were through the male order, that male agent, must in- 
 contestably exceed Jesus in greatness and glory. 
 
 37. But, if the second appearance of the Divine Spirit of 
 Christ, commences through the order of t\ie female, though the 
 work should be seven times greater, and more glorious in its re- Seeisa. 
 suit than that of his first coming, yet, this would not make the which evi- 
 female agent greater than the first preceding male agent in jj^miyai- 
 Christ. For the man is the head of the woman in Christ, as Christ's Se. 
 well as in nature. From these premises it is evident, that the T^'^i^?' 
 second oominK of Christ, must commence in the line of the fe- ^^ee i 'cor. 
 male. And, that this all important period, which has, in this 
 manner, been Lishered into the world, has commenced, is clearly 
 proved, by incontestable evidence. 
 
 CHAPTEE ly. 
 
 THE TRUE CHARACTER OP THE CHURCH OE CHRIST. 
 
 The Church of Christ is composed of such as are called and 
 chosen of God out of the spirit and practice of the world. And 
 in obedience to that call, they are separated from all the rest of 
 mankind, and united in one body, constituted a holy and peculiar 
 people, actuated by one holy Spirit, and are devoted to the cause 
 of truth and virtue. 
 
 2. The Church of Christ is called the kingdom of heaven, 
 because it is under the government of heaven, and is a state, 
 habitation, or society, necessary to prepare mankind for the hap- 
 piness of heaven itself ; and such is that line of order and dispo- 
 sition of things in the spiritual world, extending from the source 
 of true happiness, to this world, that no soul can enter heaven, 
 but through that kingdom, or Church of Christ. 
 
376 ' THE TRUE CHARACTER OP B. VIIL 
 
 CHAP. IV. 3. Hence, the Churoli is called the light of the world, 
 Mai. V. 13, inasmuch as the men of the world can receive no true saving 
 "• light, but in and through the Church. It is also the salt of the 
 
 earth, as none upon earth can be saved but by the Church: It is 
 See^Mat. therefore plainly, the saviour of all who are tndy uruted with 
 that body. 
 
 4. The Church is properly the house or habitation of Grod on 
 
 earth, which signifies that God is not to be found any where else 
 
 Ezek. xiiii. on earth. * As it is written : Son of man, the place of my 
 
 ul.^w!"' throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, ichere I will dwell 
 
 in the midst of the children of Israel forever. Great is the 
 
 mvstery of godliness : God manifested in the flesh. 
 
 b. The essential properties of the Church of Christ are -purity 
 and unity. The Church is one in faith and practice ; one in 
 doctrine, discipline, and government ; and one in the mutual and 
 equal enjoyment of all things, both spiritual and temporal. And 
 where this oneness doth not exist, there is neither fruit nor evi- 
 dence of the true Church of Christ; for Christ is ?iot, nor can 
 he be divided. 
 
 6. The Church has but one faith, and that is the faith of 
 Christ, the faith of the Son of God, which overcomes the nature 
 and spirit of the world, enlightens the understanding, influences 
 the will, and purifies the heart. It is oyie in doctrine, which is, 
 according to godliness, sound, pure, wholesome, and free from 
 error ; inasmuch as it makes no provision for the flesh or any 
 evil, or any sin great or small, and leads only to the practice of 
 
 27^"^ ^™ true godliness, unspotted piety, and sound virtue. There shall, 
 in no wise, enter into it, any thing that defileth. 
 
 7. The Church has but one government, because all the mem- 
 bers are governed and influenced by one Spirit, which is the 
 Spirit of Christ, who is the Head of the body, and the centre of 
 
 isa. lii. 8. influence to the members. They shall lift up their voices together 
 
 Ibid. chap. — they shall see eye to eye: It is one in practice, which is righte- 
 
 ix. 21. ousness and peace. Thy people also, shall be all righteous. 
 
 7. ' He that doeth righteousness, is righteous. It is therefore by 
 
 doing right, that the Church is risrhteous : and of the Church all 
 
 must learn righteousness, who will be righteous. Let your light 
 
 so shine before men. 
 
 8. The Church is of one united interest, as the children of one 
 family, enjoying equal rights and privileges in things spiritual 
 and temporal, because they are influenced and led by one Spirit, 
 
 Ada, ii. 44. and love is the only bond of their union. All that believed were 
 together, and had all things common — and were of one heart, 
 and of one soul. 
 
 * God may be seenin the order and works of his creation and providence ; yet 
 he can be found for the salvation and redemption of mankind, only where he has 
 revealed himself for that purpose, and that is in his Church. 
 
 IV. sa. 
 
B. VIII. THE OHURCH Or CHRIST. 377 
 
 9. And therefore, in the sense of an aspiring and selfish chap, iv. 
 nature, there is neither Jew nor Greek, high nor low, rich nor oai. m as. 
 poor, bond nor free, male nor female ; for they are all one in 
 
 Christ Jesus. But the Church claims no relation to that which 
 is the most highly esteemed, as the common interest and princi- 
 ple, and common enjoyment to the children of this world ; 
 namely, to the works of the flesh. 
 
 10. In this respect, the Church is perfectly united — they have 
 one common cross, which is the cross of Christ Jesus — they cru- 
 cify one root of evil, which' is the flesh with all its affections and 
 lusts; and hence they possess one common salvation from all sin. 
 Where there is not a common salvation from all sin, there is 
 neither Christ nor his Church ; for his name was called Jesus, i.e. Mat. i. 21. 
 a Saviour, because he saves his people from their sins. 
 
 11. As all have sinned, and none can be fully saved from their 
 sins out of the Church; so all that come to the Church must 
 needs come in their sins; and by bringing their deeds to the 
 light, that is, by confessing and forsaking all their sins, they 
 may find their relation to the Church, according to the degree 
 of their faith and obedience to the light which they receive. 
 
 12. But they cannot hold that relation, nor become as "pillars, 
 in the temple of G-od, to go no more out," in any other way, than 
 by receiving a ministration of that gift and power of God, which 
 abides in the Church, and in obedience thereto, resisting and 
 overcoming evil, and growing up in all things into Christ, who is 
 the Head. Therefore, all are not the Church, who at first find 
 their relation to the Church, untU. their souls become purified in 
 obeying the truth. For the temple of God is holy. 
 
 13. But persons may, for a time, receive faith and light, and 
 the gifts of God through the Church, and by being unfaithful and 
 disobedient, may fall away ; but the Church itself can never fall, 
 nor be shaken ; because the foundation thereof is everlasting, 
 being laid by the revelation of God, in the unchangeable nature 
 and order of his own eternal power and Divine majesty ; and the 
 building itself has been raised according to the unchangeable 
 purpose of God, which he purposed in wisdom, to accomplish in 
 the fulness of times. 
 
 14. And although there was a true Church, according to the 
 light in the' days of the Apostles, yet it was supplanted and 
 trodden under foot ; because the order in the foundation of the 
 building, was not completed, according to the purpose of God in 
 the fulness of times, nor could it be, until Christ made his second 
 appearing. 
 
 15. And if there were in the succeeding ages, after the 
 Apostles, false and divided churches, it was because they sprang 
 from false-hearted and divided men. And if there is one church 
 now on earth, faithful, holy, and righteous, it is most certainly 
 
 25 
 
12, 13. 
 
 378 THE TRUE CHAEACTER OF, &C. B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP, iv . the offspring of a faithful, holy, and righteous God, who created 
 Eph; iii. 9, the Church and all things therein, both visible and invisible, by 
 Col i 16 Jssus Christ. 
 
 16. And as certainas the only true God did promise to estab- 
 lish a holy Church, in the latter day, in which He wouM dwell, 
 so certain that Church is brought forth, and contains the principles 
 of all that was promised, as pertaining to the Church, temple, 
 tabernacle, house or habitation of God, 'in the latter day. 
 
 17. A house or habitation is built to contain the property and 
 furniture, as well as the person of the builder : so the Church of 
 God contains all the unsearchable riches, and treasures of wisdom 
 and knowledge, pertaining to -the redemption of man, which God 
 
 Col. i. 17, hath treasured up in Christ, who is the head of the Church, and 
 '8- who is before all things therein, and by whom all things therein 
 
 consist! 
 
 18. The Holy Spirit was promised, and dwells in the Church, 
 with all her gifts, powers, and diversities of operations. The 
 gifts of faith, wisdom, knowledge, discerning of spirits, gifts of 
 healing, miracles, prophecy, tongues, and so on. All which gifts 
 of the Holy Spirit are given to the Church, for the manifestation 
 
 Ephjv. 11, of the spirit— for the perfecting of the saints — for the work of 
 the ministry— and the edifying of the body of Christ, till they all 
 come into the unity of the faith — ;unto the measure of. the stature 
 of the fulness of Christ. 
 _ 19. Thns.by his Holy Spirit, God has sanctified and cleansed 
 
 chap. V. 27. liis Church, that he might 'present it to himself a glorious 
 Church, not having spot, or wfinlde, or any such thing; but 
 that it should be holy, and without blemish. 
 
 20. The law and the covenant were proinised, and are in the 
 i»a. ii. 3. Church. The law shall go forth out of Zion. . Christ is the 
 
 head of his body, the Church, which is the light of the world. I 
 chap, xiii, will give him for a covenant of the people, for a light of the 
 ^- Gentiles. The word of God was promised and is in the Church 
 
 Heb. iv. 12. — that word lohich is quick and powerful, a disixrner of the 
 
 thoughts and intents of the heart — and liveth and abideth 
 
 forever. 
 
 21. Eepentance and temission of sins were promised, and are 
 Acts, V. 31. in the Church. Him hath God exalted — a Prince and Saviour, 
 
 for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. The 
 son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins. This power is 
 John, XX. given to the Church: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are re- 
 mitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are re- 
 tained. 
 
 22. Salvation and redemption are in the Church, and no where 
 w'lixlb D^®" ^ '"^^^ P^'^'^^ salvation in Zion for Israel, my glory. The 
 
 Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from 
 transgression in Jacob. 
 
B. VIII. THE P'OTJNDATION PILLAES OF, &0. 379 
 
 23. In a word, the whole mystery of God, and of the Father, <^hap. v. 
 and of Christ, and all that pertains to eternal life and godliness, 
 are, in and through the Church, revealed and progressively mani- 
 fested, and according to the order of God in the fulness of times, 
 are to be received and acknowledged for the purposes of Re- 
 demption, and. the perfection of the dispensation of the fulness of Epii.1.10. 
 the times. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE POTTNDATION PILLARS OP THE CHTJKCH OP CHRIST. 
 
 The Church of Christ has its foundation in the revelation of 
 God, and that foundation is Christ. But who, or what is 
 Christ ? The name Christ Jesus signifies anointed Saviour. Mat. i. 21. 
 Thou shalt call his name Jesus ; for he shall save his people 
 from their sins. And as the man Jesus was, for that very pur- 
 pose, endowed with the spiritual unction or anointing power of 
 the Holy Spirit of Christ, which proceeded forth and came from 
 God; therefore being baptized into the divine nature he was icor. xii. 
 called Jesus Christ, i.e. the anointed. 
 
 2. Hence the Church is called the body of Christ, which 
 signifies the body of the anointed, or the body of those who have 
 received the Holy Spirit, and have been baptized into the one 
 spiritual body ; therefore the Church of Christ is the Church of 
 the' anointed. Christ Jesus was not the body of the anointed, 
 but the Head; and as the body hath many members, so also is 
 Christ, or the anointed. These members are those human beings 
 
 in which the anointing spirit hath its abode. And hence it is 1 Joim, ii. 
 written : The anointing which ye have received of him abideth co'i. i. 27. 
 in you — which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 
 
 3. Therefore, Christ or the divine anointing in the body, or 
 Church, is not a man or woman, but the unction or anointing of 
 his Holy Spirit, of which the anointing oil with which the Jew- 
 ish kings and prophets were formerly anointed, was a figure. 
 Neither is the arwinted one member, but many : not a particular 
 person only, but a body of people. And as every thing must 
 have a foundation or first cause, so the body of the anointed 
 Originated from one, and this one must be considered as the 
 foundation pillar or first father of all who constitute that body. 
 
380 THE rOTTNDATION PILLARS OF B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. V. 4. The world is not one person, but many ; yet aU the world 
 sprang from one man, who is therefore considered as the founda- 
 tion pillar or first father of the human race. But as the first 
 man was not alone in the foundation of the old creation; so 
 neither did Christ Jesus, in his single person, complete the order 
 in the foundation of the new creation. 
 
 5. Had there never been any written account of the founda- 
 tion of human society, or the constitutent order of the world, the 
 world itself would be a standing monument of the essential parts 
 of which it is composed, namely of man and woman ; the father 
 and mother of all living. And as every individual in the world 
 sprang from a father and mother, the conclusion is self-evident, 
 that the whole sprang from one joint parentage, or first father 
 and mother, as the foundation pillars of human society. 
 
 6. And upon the same principle might the foundation pillars 
 of the anointed be discovered, were there no written or verbal 
 account of the beginning of such an order; for no effect can 
 exist without a cause, and by the effect, the cause which pro- 
 duced it is made manifest : and this truth is stiU more evident 
 since the pointed predictions of the ancient prophets are recorded, 
 and fulfilled in the Church of Christ in the present day. 
 
 7. Then first, as the Church is constituted of mankind, who 
 are anointed with the Holy Spirit, and separated from the world, 
 it follows that 7nan, anointed with the Holy Spirit, was the first 
 foundation pUlar of the Church. And second, as the Church is 
 not composed of the man without the woman, but both are united 
 in the Lord by an inseparable bond of spiritual union, it follows 
 of course that such a union and relation sprang from a first man 
 and woman who were thus united. 
 
 8. And this man and woman, united in the bond of an ever- 
 lasting covenant, and anointed with the same spirit, must be the 
 foundation pillars of all who are thus united by the same anoint- 
 ing. And whether they are immediately and personally known 
 or not, yet, by the spirit of harmony and union flowing throngh 
 the anointed, there is a relative knowledge of their nature and 
 union ; as much as the world relatively know, by experience, the 
 nature and union of their first foundation pillars, or parentage, 
 whose image they bear. 
 
 9. And as the order in the foundation of the old creation could 
 not be complete by the first man without the first woman; so the 
 order in the foundation of the new creation could not be complete 
 
 i^Cot. IV. in the man alone ; for the man is not without the woman in the 
 Lord, nor the woman without the man. 
 
 10. In the natural creation, the man was first formed, and 
 afterwards the woman, who was <Ae mother of all living; and the 
 man was not of the woman, but the woman of the man, and bj 
 the woman, was the order in the creation of man completed; 
 
 u. 
 
B. VIII. THE CHUECH OF CHRIST. 381 
 
 and the first covenant was between them both, for the increasing chap, v. 
 glory of the natural creation. 
 
 11. Christ Jesus, that is the anointed Jesus, was the second 
 man, the beginning of a new creation of God: but, as has been 
 observed, no order in the creation could be completed by one 
 alone ; therefore, according to the invariable order and relation 
 of things, the ultimate display of the n|^ creation required a 
 corresponding female, that the new covenant might stand between 
 them both, for the increase and glory of the new creation. 
 
 12. The first man was created male and female jointly, but 
 neither was male nor female separately, until the woman was taken 
 out of the man ; so in the first appearing of Christ, that spirit of 
 anointing which constituted Christ, was male and female jointly, 
 but not separately in visible order : Nor could any abiding and 
 perfect spiritual union and relation exist in order, between the 
 sexes, until the woman was raised up, in her appointed season, 
 and anointed to complete the order in the foundation of the new 
 creation, for the -redemption of both man and woman. 
 
 13. The woman was the first in the transgression, and there- 
 fore must be the last out of it, and by her the way of deliveranpe 
 must be completed. Nevertheless, by her faith, and in her sub- 
 jeetion to the man, she was justified and accepted in the primitive 
 Qhurch ; but her true order could not be gained ; but only in 
 the line of prophecy, as relating to the second appearing of 
 Christ, was she allowed to teach, until the time of her redemption 
 came. 
 
 14. Before the first woman was taken out of the man, he had 
 a work given him to do. He gave names to every beast of the 
 field; but among all those animals, there was not found for him 
 a help, according to that order which was hefnre him : so, after 
 Jesus was created, and.his body, the Church, was anointed, every 
 
 beast received from him, his name,* so that the kingdom of the •See Mat. 
 heast became full of names ; but there was none among them all, Stiii. 33. 
 a help to the first-born in the wew cre«<zo?2. 5°^'-^i 
 
 15. Nor could the real spiritual work of his kingdom be set in xxu. w. 
 order, until the names and characters of those beasts (i.e. every 
 
 sect and denomination in the beastly nature) were filled up, which 
 was at the end of the beast's dominion, about the middle of the 
 eighteenth century. 
 
 16. When the persecuting power of the beast ceased, the body 
 
 of the true witnesses, who had received an emanation from the zech. xiii. 
 spirit of the two anointed ones, fell into a deep sleep ; and out of 
 that body was the woman taken, by the Spirit of life from God, 
 and by the operation of his creative power she was purified, and 
 raised up, as a foundation pillar, and the first born in her order, 
 to stand as a help with the first born of many brethren, in the 
 administration of the covenant of redemption. 
 
 4. 
 
3S2 THE FOtrNT)ATION PILLABS OF B. VJUl. 
 
 CHAP.v. 17. From what hath heen observed on the covenant made 
 with Abraham ; the law of Moses ; the state of man at the first 
 appearing of Chi-ist ; what was wrought in the days of Christ 
 Jesus and his Apostles ; and all that followed, through the reign 
 of antichrist, it is evident that the covenant of eternal life was 
 yet lacking in a very essential point. 
 
 IS. For as everyfijrm, or appearance of a covenant, that ever 
 God made with nianf stood between Uco, ani required two to 
 fulfil it ; so it is evident, not only from the nature of things, but 
 also from every promise and prophecy, which related to the 
 covenant of eternal life, that it equally required two, iu order to 
 its final accomplishment. 
 
 19. Then as the first covenant was established between the 
 first man and woman, in the creation of man, and the order and 
 relation of man was completed by the woman ; so, by the woman, 
 is the order and relation of the man Christ Jesus completed, and 
 a perfect union and equality according to their order established, 
 for the purpose of fidl redemption, and the increase of that mutual 
 glory and happiness, which God, according to the covenant of 
 eternal life, promised to accomplish in the latter day. 
 
 20. This covenant relation is between them both; for as the 
 first covenant between the male and female was broken, and the 
 whole creation was thereby marred ; bo no restoration could take 
 place without a,-neic covenant rdation between male and female; 
 and therefore it was necessary both in the purpose of Grod, and 
 in the order of things, that Christ should make his first appear- 
 ing in the man, and his second in the woman. 
 
 21. It was reasonable that the man Jesus, who became the 
 the Lord .or Christ Jesus, the beginning and first pillar in the 
 new creation, should not be begotten in the ordinary course of 
 nature; had it been otherwise, he could not have wrought any 
 deliverance from sin in the earth, because he was alone ; and there 
 was none before him of the human race, whq had ever done it. 
 
 ita. bdii. 3. / have trodden the wine press alone ; and of the people there teas 
 omive. with me. 
 
 22. Yet, if he had not been begotten through that medinm 
 by which he partook of the nature of sin, he could not have 
 destroyed death, which came by sin, nor established the founda- 
 tion of man's redemption. For he would not have been of the 
 
 Heb.ii. 11, human race, therefore they could not have followed his steps by 
 i7.il Pet suffering in and rising out of sinful flesh, nor cotild he have 
 been their example, having no part in common with them. 
 
 23. By his perfect obedience to the law and counsel of his 
 Col. ii. 10. Father, and the perfect law of righteousness and truth which he 
 PhSli's"' es*^ablished, and by offering uj) his own life a sacrifice, through 
 10. ' sufferings, he became the first bom of every cieatuie in the uew 
 
 creation, the first begotten from the dead. 
 
B. VIII. THE CHUaCH OF CHEIST. 383 
 
 24. Jesus was evidently bom under the death of a fallen chap, v. 
 nature, and had to he begotten and raised therefrom by the ~ 
 Divine Spirit of Christ. Hence he was the first that ever received 
 
 the new birth,* therefore Grod hath highly exalted him, and * See Rev. 
 given him a name in the new creation above every name, not only '' *' ^^' 
 in this world, but in that which is to come, so that in all things coi. i is. 
 he hath the pre-eminence. 
 
 25. And therefore, when the foundation of man's redemption 
 was laid by the work of Christ's first appearing, the way began 
 also to be prepared for his second appearing, to make a final end 
 of sin, and to bring ia everlasting righteousness. For, although 
 the foundation was laid, yet there could be no complete redemp- 
 tion from sin, until the revelation of Christ, for its final destruc- 
 tion, should be made where sia first took its seat. 
 
 26. As sin first took its seat in the woman, and thence entered 
 the human race, and as Christ in taking upon him the nature of 
 &llen man, in Jesus, to purify and redeem him, made his first 
 appearing in the line of the male only ; therefore the mystery of 
 iniquity or man of sin was not fully revealed, nor the mystery 
 of Grod finished, in Christ's first appearing. 
 
 27. And therefore, it was also necessary, that Christ should 
 make his second appearing in the line of the female, and that in 
 one who was conceived in sin, and lost in the fulness of man's 
 fall ; because in the woman the root of sin was first planted, and 
 its final destruction must begin where its foundation was first 
 laid, and from whence it first- entered the human race. 
 
 28. Therefore, in the fulness of time, according to the un- 
 changeable purpose of G-od, that same Spirit and word of power, 
 which created man at the beginniag- — which spake by all the 
 Prophets — which dwelt in the man Jesus — which was given to 
 the Apostles and true witnesses .as the holy Spirit and word of 
 promise, which groaned in them, waiting for the day of redemp- 
 tion — and which was spoken of in the language of prophecy, as 
 " a woman travailing with child, and pained to be delivered," 
 was revealed in a Woman. 
 
 29. And that woman, in whom was manifested that Spirit and 
 word of power, who was anointed and chosen of God, to reveal 
 the mystery of iniquity, to stand as the first in her order, to ac- 
 complish the purpose of God, in the restoration of that which was 
 lost by the transgression of the first woman, and to finish the 
 work of man's final redemption, was Ann Lee. 
 
 30. As a chosen vessel, appointed by Divine wisdom, she, 
 by her faithful obedience to that same anointing, became the 
 temple of the Holy Spirit, and the second heir with Jesus, in 
 the covenant and promise of eternal life. And by her sufferings 
 and travail for a lost world, and her union and subjection to 
 Christ Jesus, her Lord and Head, she became the first horn 
 
384 THE FOUNDATION PILLARS OP, &C. B. VIII. 
 
 cHAP.v. oj rffiany sisters, and the true Mothee 0/ all living in the 
 new creation. 
 
 31. Thus the perfection of the revelation of Grod, in this latter 
 day, excels, particularly, in that which respects the glorious 
 part in the creation of man, namely, the woman. And herein is 
 the most condescending goodness and mercy of God displayed, 
 not only in redeeming that amiable fart of the creation from 
 the curse, and all the sorroius of the fall, but also in condescend- 
 ing to the lowest estate of the loss of mankind. 
 
 32. So that by the first and second appearing of Christ, the 
 foundation of God is laid and completed, for the full restoration 
 and redemption of both the man and the woman in Christ, ac- 
 cording to the order of the new covenant, which God has es- 
 tablished in them for his own glory, and the mutual good and 
 happiness of each other, and their spiritual posterity. 
 
 33. And in this covenant, both male and female, as brethren 
 and sisters in the family of Christ, jointly united by the bond 
 of love, find each their correspondent relation to the first cause 
 of their existence, through the joint parentage of their redemp- 
 tion. 
 
 34. Then the man who was called Jesus, and the woman who 
 was called Ann, are verily the two first visible foundation pUlars of 
 the Church of Christ — the two anointed ones — the two first heirs 
 of promise, between whom the. covenant of eternal life is estab- 
 lished — the first Father and Mother of all the children of regene- 
 ration — the two first visible Parents in the work of redemption — 
 and in whom was revealed the invisible joint Parentage in the new 
 creation, for the increase of that seed through which " aU the 
 families of the earth shall* be blessed." 
 
B. VIII. THE PARENTAGE OF, &0. 385 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE PARENTAGE OF THE CHtTUCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 Evert thing that exists has a correspondent relation to the chap, vi . 
 cause of its existence. Thus, there is a correspondence between 
 the creature and the Creator ; the redeemed arid the Eedeemer ; 
 the sanctified and the Sanctifier; and if there were no creature, 
 there could exist no such attribute as Creator. 
 
 2. He that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all Heb. ii. ii. 
 one : that is, in the order of correspondence. In the same sense, 
 
 the ruler and the ruled, the father and son, the mother and 
 daughter, are respectively one in a correpondent relation, or in 
 a correspondence of attributes. 
 
 3. Without which union or correspondent relation, neither can 
 have real existence. So that the very existence oi father depends 
 upon son, as much as the existence of son depends upon father. 
 Andfrom this correspondence in the nature and existence of things, 
 arises every attribute of God and Christ, which are known to man. 
 
 4. And for the want of an understanding of the true nature 
 and cause of that union and relation, which constitutes the differ- 
 ent attributes in spiritual objects, wrong-headed men have run 
 into the inconsistency of ascribing a Trinity, or three distinct 
 personalities to the Divine Majesty, and thus forming a pliirality 
 of Grods. 
 
 5. This supposition hasno foundation in either reason or reve- 
 lation, for there is nothing in heaven, nor oil earth, which has 
 any corresponding analogy to it. But the existence of a Creator 
 and the order of Deity, are clearly Seen by the corresponding 
 analogy of the visible works and order of creation, as is incon- 
 testibly shown, both by reason and Scripture. 
 
 6. Hence, take away every created object, and all those attri- 
 butes ascribed to Deity cease; as the attributes of greater light Cen. i.ia. 
 and lesser light yrovldi end, if the sun and moon were annihilated : 
 
 for it must be from a correspondence with the lesser, that the 
 greater, receives its attribute of greatness ; and so of the rest. 
 
 7. Therefore, if no son or daughter exist, there can be no 
 father or mother, it no female, then no male; destroy the exist- 
 ence of the woman, and the attribute of the man ceases and falls 
 into oblivion, and all the order, glory, and perfection in the 
 visible creation of man, falls with it ; for the existence of man 
 depends upon woman, as really as woman's upon man. 
 
 8. Upon these plain and self-evident principles, itfoUows that 
 those attributes of Trinity, Godhead, and their correspondent ap- 
 
386 THE PARENTAGE OF B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP VI. pellations, which men have ascribed to the Deity, are not ia his 
 Divine Essence ; but they arose from misconceptions of the terms 
 used in Scripture, to express the diiferent orders of manifestations 
 from the eternal Source of Divine intelligence, and these have 
 been construed, according to comparisons, drawn by the human 
 mind, between corresponding objects in time.; butr by reason of 
 human depravity, and the want of true light and revelation, those 
 objects have been perverted, and with them every true attribute 
 of Deity. 
 
 9. As Grod is eternal, immortal and infinite ; so the Divine 
 Job. xi.7. Essence or Being cannot be comprehended, but by the revelation 
 i^Tim. VI. ^j ^^.^ Spirit, and by the things that are made, and their corres- 
 Rom, i. 20. pondent relations. And as none of those corresponding attributes 
 
 could exist but from a first cause ; so it is proper to receive the 
 knowledge and contemplate the glory of the invisible first cause 
 through those correspondiag objects that visibly exist. 
 
 10. In the same sense that God received the attribute of 
 Creator tiom the existence of creation; so the Creator, in the 
 sense of mankind, received the attribute of Father, from the ex- 
 istence of the first man, who was called the Son of God, in the 
 
 Lukem. natural ereation. Nor could such an attribute as Redeemer, 
 See Jer. ever have existed in the mind of man, had not man become a 
 
 2UUU.il. . ,. 
 
 captive to his enemy. 
 
 11. Then, as nothing can exist without its correspondent re- 
 lation, and the attributes of God are so evident from the invar 
 riable union of things in the natural creation, and as the new and 
 spiritual creation was intended to display the glory of God in a 
 superior manner ; therefore, it will be proper here, to consider 
 the union and correspondence of the different parts of the new 
 creation, by which the divine perfections are most eminently dis- 
 played. 
 
 12. It hath been observed, that the perfection and glory of 
 the natural creation was not completed until the woman was 
 taken out of the man, and placed in her proper order. Whatever 
 essential glory man might have possessed, yet it could not have 
 been declarative, so long as he existed alone ; that is, it could 
 not have been declared, revealed or manifested, without a suitable 
 correspondent object, to increase or augment his glory. And, 
 
 Mar. Bib. 'therefore, the Lord God said: It is not good that the man 
 heip<i''be^.' ^^ould be alone; I will make him an help according to that 
 fore him, Order which is before him. 
 
 13. Upon the same principle it was not good for Christ Jesus 
 to be alone in the glory of his kingdom, and the perfection of 
 that victory which he gained over the spirit and power of the 
 fall. Nor could the true glory of what he gained ever have been 
 declared, or made manifest, without a correspondent object united 
 to him in a joiat relation. • 
 
B. Till. THE CHURqH OP CHRIST. 387 
 
 14. Therefore, as the first man was not without the woman, chap.vi. 
 nor the woman without the man in the natural creation; so 
 neither is the man without the woman, nor the woman without 
 
 the man in the Lord. Man cannot exist without woman, any 
 more than father can exist without son. Jesus, in the first 
 appearing, did not exist without a woman. He was "made of a 
 woman;" and, from the natural and visible correspondence be- 
 tween mail and woman, he received the attribute of man. 
 
 15. And as no higher order of woman existed than natural, he 
 could be known only as a natural man ; but as a spiritual man, 
 and one standing alone in the beginning of a new and spiritual 
 creation, he could not be revealed or known, in reality, without 
 a spiritual woman, any more than the first natural man could, in 
 reality, have been declared as such, when God created male and 
 female, two m one, and called their name Adam, in the day 
 when he created them. 
 
 16. As the natural woman could not exist but from her cor- 
 respondent union and relation to the first man ; so neither could 
 a spiritual woman exist but in a correspondent union and relation 
 to a spiritual man ; and each must receive the distinguishing at- 
 tribute of man or woman from its relation to the other. 
 
 17. Then, as the natural woman was separated from the man, 
 and placed in her distinct order before the glory and perfection 
 of the man or the woman could be displayed ; so it was necessary 
 in the work of redemption, that, the spiritual woman should be 
 taken out of man, and placed in her corresponding order, before 
 the perfection and glory of the new creation could appear. 
 
 18. The man Jesus, through the medium of a woman, inherited 
 
 the seed of Abraham, the nature of human depravity, with Heb. ii. is, 
 which he entered the world, and in all things was made like unto ^'' 
 his brethren ; yet, by perfectly following the divine light, he was, 
 in every sense, taken out of, separated from, and placed above john viii. 
 every correspondent attachment to all that was carnal in woman, 28. 
 which came by the fall. 
 
 19. And by the energy of that eteriial word, which he received 
 from his Father, he overcame the spirit and power of human de- 
 pravity, and was sanctified and set apart in the work of redemp- 
 tion,, as the first born in the new creation. And by that word 
 which liveth and abideth forever; he was constituted an high 
 
 priest forever over the household of God, after the order of Mel- Heb.vi 20. 
 chisedec. 
 
 20. And all who came into him, that is, not into the natural 
 body of Christ Jesus, but into his divine nature, were in him, 
 and by him, through the energy of that same eternal word, taken 
 out of their correspondent relation to the depravity of the fall, 
 and constituted the spiritual body of the second Adam, compre- 
 hending male and female, as the body of Christ. And this was 
 
388 THE PARENTAGE OF B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. VI. the vrork of Christ in his first appearing, to make in hhnself, of 
 Eph. ii. 15. twain (i.e. of man and woman) one new man; so making peace. 
 
 21. Then the Churoh, which was the body of Christ in his first 
 appearing, did constitute one new man, consisting of man and 
 woman ; but that body alone could not increase and multiply, after 
 the order of the new eoTcnant (any more than the body of the.first 
 male and female, while in the state in which G-od first created 
 them, when he called their name Adam) until the spiritual 
 woman was taken out of the spiritual man, and placejj, in her own 
 proper order and correspondent relation to her spiritual head. 
 
 22. This was the reason why the Apostle, speaking of Christ's 
 second appearing, and of the Church's increase in that day, says: 
 
 2The«8.ii. That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, 
 and that man of sin be revealed, even the mystery of iniquity. 
 Hence, it follows, beyond all contradiction, that the work of re- 
 demption was not yet complete. 
 
 23. Therefore, the work of Grod, in the first mother of the new 
 creation, was to reveal the mystery of iniquity where it first 
 entered, and to separate the woman from her correspondent re- 
 lation in the flesh, after the order of the old covenant, and to 
 place her in her proper order as a spiritual woman, according to 
 the new covenant, in a correspondent relation to the first spiritual 
 man. 
 
 24. As it was by the revelation of Christ, and the energy of 
 that same eternal word which liveth atid abideth forever, that the 
 woman was taken out of, and separated from her correspondent 
 relation to the fallen state of man, and made a spiritual woman ; 
 so in her, and by her, the glory and perfection of the spiritual 
 man, Christ Jesus was revealed. 
 
 25. It was only by the spiritual man, Christ Jesus, and her 
 corresponding relation to him, that she could receive the attribute 
 of spiritual woman. And it is only from the certain existence of 
 sons and daughters, or spiritual children, that those who begat 
 and brought them forth, can receive the attributes of father and 
 mother, or spiritual parents. So that if the son has a correspond- 
 ing relation in the new creation, so likewise has the daughter. 
 
 26. It is not to be understood in the spiritual wort of God, 
 that one natural body, either of man or woman, is either taken 
 out of, or joined to another; but as man and woman are terms 
 used to express the joint body and relation in the natural crea- 
 tion of man ; so they are used in regard to the spiritual work of 
 God. 
 
 27. To this spiritual relation the Apostle refers, and brings 
 Eph. T. 31, the natural as a figure of the spiritual, when he says-, For this 
 ^- cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall he 
 
 joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. And 
 therefore, as the very essence of male implies also the female, the 
 
B. VIII. THE CHITKCH OT? CHRIST. 389 
 
 same applies to the woman, to leave mother and father, and he chap, vi . 
 joined to her corresponding relation in the same spiritual work. 
 
 28. This, says the Apostle, is a great mystery ; but I speak 
 concerning Christ and concerning the Church. To the same 
 
 thing he refers, when he says, He that is joined to the Lord is ^f^"^- "• 
 one Spirit. And from such a union and correspondence, arises 
 the substance of all those spiritual attributes in the new creation, 
 or work of redemption, such- as the bridegroom — the bride, the 
 Lamb's wife — brethren and sisters, and the sotis and daughters 
 of God. 
 
 29. Hence the Apostle, speaking of the final separation 
 between Christ and Belial, light and darkness, the believer and 
 infidel, saith. Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye 2 Cor. vi. 
 separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing ; and ' 
 
 I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall 
 be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 
 
 30. Then, if the Church, which is called out, and separated 
 from the unclean, is composed of sons and daughters, they must 
 needs have both a father and mother, and these must be the first 
 foundation pillars, and joint parentage of the Church. 
 
 31. Therefore, as there was a natural Adam and Eve, who 
 were the first foundation pillars of the world, and the first joint 
 parentage of the human race ; so there is also a spiritual Adam 
 and Eve, (manifested in Jesus and Ann, the first joint visible 
 Parentage) who are the first foundation pillars of the Church, and 
 the invisible parentage of all the children of redemption. And 
 as the world, truly and properly, proceeds from father and 
 mother, in the line of generation ; so the Church as truly and 
 properly proceeds from father and mother in the line of regenera- 
 tion. 
 
390 TYPES AND PEOPHICIES FULFILLED IN B. VIII, 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 TYPES AND PROPHECIES FULFILLED IN THE TWO FOUNDA- 
 TION PILLARS. 
 
 • 
 
 CHAP. The work of Redemption, being spiritual, could not be ushered 
 "^"- in with such ocular evidence to the natural man, as accompanies 
 the changes in the things of nature ; neither was man formed to 
 be influenced solely by such kind of evidence. 
 
 2. But as man is a natural creature, endowed with a spirit and 
 rational faculties, therefore the spiritual work of God must be 
 exhibited in a spiritual light ;• and although the natural eyes may 
 often be the medium through which the truth of natural things 
 is conveyed to the mind, yet it must be the mind, and not the 
 natural eyes, that receive* the conviction of its truth and reality. 
 
 3. And as the new creation was to have respect to the soul and 
 spirit of man, it is only by the spirit that the work itself can be dis- 
 covered in its true nature; and therefore the evidence by which 
 it is discovered, is addressed to the mind, and not to the bodily 
 senses. 
 
 4. A Saviour was born for souls that were lost in their sins, 
 and only such as were absolutely saved, could know or rightly 
 name him ; and unto such as were waiting for redemption in the 
 latter day, Christ was to appear the second time without sin, and 
 none but such could possibly know him, or give him his true and 
 just titles. 
 
 5. And nothing could possibly recommend him to the mind of 
 man, with greater evidence, than his first . giving them types, 
 figures, prophecies, and visions, of. his future appearance, and 
 then coining in such a manner as expressly to fulfil them, and to 
 render any other fulfilment of them absolutely impossible : this 
 we certify has been the case. 
 
 6. And when those types and prophecies are stated, with their 
 true accomplishment, the matter may be at once decided, that 
 such as do not acknowledge Christ in his second appearing, must 
 either deny the truth of the Scriptures, or they are not looking 
 for redemption, but are in pursuit of some other object that has 
 blinded their understanding. 
 
 7. We have already shown the similitude between the first and 
 second Adam, in a number of particulars, which prove that the 
 second Adam could not be the antetype of the first, short of ex- 
 isting as spiritual male and female, being both male and female in 
 a spiritual sense. 
 
B. VIII. THE TWO FOUNDATION PILLARS. 391' 
 
 8. And as the Apostle expressly affirms that the first Adam is '^^fi' 
 the figure of him who was to come, it cannot be denied, that he 
 
 who was to come, should be male and female, unless it be denied E<"n"-''3- 
 that he who was the figure, was male and female in the day that 
 he was created. 
 
 9. The same remark will apply to every other person who was 
 chosen as a type of Christ. So that the woman must appear in 
 Christ, in her proper order and lot ; unless the utmost violence 
 is used in distorting the natural similitude, ^nd forcing her out 
 of her proper place there, and consequently from her just 
 and equal correspondent union and relation in the work of re- 
 demption. 
 
 10. Volumes might be written on thLs subject, were it neces- 
 sary to trace out the correspondence between the shadow and the 
 substance in every particular. However, the present work will 
 not admit of enlarging; and such as are in any measure 
 acquainted with the Scriptures, and really desire the truth, will 
 be able to make the application, from the slightest comparison. 
 
 11. As figures or similitu,des come the nearest to the natural 
 understanding, we shall first notice a few particular things, by 
 which Christ was represented ; and next, a few leading prophecies, 
 which may serve as a key to all the rest. 
 
 12. Abraham and Sarah (whose names signify great father, 
 and princess of multitude) were particular figures of Christ in 
 his first and second appearing, inasmuch as Christ the promised 
 seed was called in Isaac, their joint issue, who was begotten by 
 promise, in which Sarah was jointly and inseparably included 
 with Abraham. 
 
 13. The same may be said of Isaac and Kebekah, Jacob and See Gen. 
 Kachel. Hence the Apostle speaks of the female as well as the ^J; ?^:|*" 
 male, when he mentions the patriarchs as types of Christ. And 
 
 had not Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel, conceived by faith, and in 
 the line of one 'promise, the posterity of the Patriarchs, in point 
 of figurative goodness, would not have been distinguished from 
 the rest of mankind. 
 
 14. So that the only distinguishing goodness that ever was, or 
 can be manifest on this earth, has first come in the natural order 
 through woman's conceiving according to promise. And there- 
 fore, whoever denies this, must deny the distinction between the 
 seed of Hagar and Sarah, of Leah and Eachel, and either suppose 
 that the Patriarch, including the/ree woman was a type of Christ, 
 without any regard to his seed, or that he was no type at all. 
 
 15. Moses also, in his mission for Christ, was an eminent type 
 
 of Christ's first and second appearing: A prophet, said he, vnll Acis, iii. 
 the Lordj your God raise up unto you, like unto me, him shall ^^ 
 ye hear. Many striking things wherein Moses resembled Jesus, 
 this Prophet, have been stated by many writers. 
 
392 TYPES AND PEOPHECIES FULFILLED IN B. VIII. 
 
 ■ 
 
 ^^f- '■ 16. But the most important similitude, was his being raised 
 
 '— up to deliver Israel, from the bondage of Egypt ; a most striking 
 
 figure of Jesus Christ delivering his people from the worse than 
 Egyptian bondage of this world. Yet Moses, in the order. of 
 his work, could not be a perfect type of Jesus Christ : but many 
 other similitudes were necessarily shown under the Law to com- 
 plete the typical representation of the Messiah and his work. 
 
 17. One in particular, may be mentioned, in connection with 
 him. Zipporah, in, forsaking her own people, and her father's 
 house, and following Moses, suffering in the perils and toUs of 
 the wilderness, while journeying to the promised land, and thus 
 becoming conjoined to him as it were a mother to Israel, was an 
 eminent type of the chosen female, who forsook her own people 
 and her father's house, and followed Jesus Christ, through the 
 sufferings, perils, and toils of the wilderness oi this world, for the 
 kingdom of heaven's sake, and thus became conjoined with him, 
 the Mother of the spiritual Israel. 
 Heb. vii.7. 18. The Lord seethnot as man seeth. Jesus, in whom Christ 
 ^*' first appeared, " was reckoned from Judah, of which tribe 
 
 Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. ' ' Thus the priesthood 
 was changed, and Christ dame out of their .sight ; and thus he 
 went away ; and so^ in like manner, must he come again, 
 
 19. The truth is, Christ cdmeth not by observation, first nor 
 last ; neither lo here, nor lo there, from this tribe, nor that tribe j 
 but by being revealed and made manifest in his true character, 
 according to the types, promises, prophecies, and visions of his 
 appearing, which God has given from age' to age, and from tune 
 to time. 
 
 20. Not only typical persons, both male and female, were 
 many, but numerous typical things, in the order of two, were 
 exhibited throughout the law and the Prophets. The law was a 
 
 Heb i. 1. shadow of good things to come ; and in the most striking particu- 
 lars, pointed out two dispensations of the appearing of Christ. 
 
 21. The first appearing of Christ, and the great apostaoy 
 which followed, was signified by the two first -tables of the cove- 
 Exodus, nant, upon which the law of Grod was written. The tables were 
 xxiii. 16, written with the finger of God — and the fables were the work of 
 i^' God, and the writing, was the writing of God, graven upon 
 
 the tables. These prefigured the revelation and the law of G-od, 
 given to Christ J esus, who was neither begotten nor bom after 
 the flesh, nor by the will of man, but by the power of God. 
 
 22. These two tables were broken in pieces, as they approached 
 nigh unto the camp of Israel, by reason of idolatry. So the 
 truth was trodden under foot, and the power of the holy people 
 scattered, by the setting up of a false worship after the Apostles' 
 days, although the kingdom of heaven had come nigh unto 
 them. 
 
B. VIII. THE TWO FOUNDATION PILLARS. 393 
 
 23. Then, after the first tables were broken, the Lord said '^^[^• 
 
 uato Moses, Hew thee two tables like unto the first ; and I will 
 write upon the tables the words that were in the first tables, Exodus, 
 which thou brakest. 
 
 24. Which signified, that the revelation of Grod in Christ's 
 second appearing, should be given to one who was begotten and 
 born after the flesh, in the common course of nature. And as God 
 wrote iu the second tables, the same words that were in the first, it 
 signified that the work of Christ's second appearing, should be 
 bmlt upon the foundation of his first appearing, and that the 
 work of both should be united in one, and under the inspiration 
 of one Spirit. 
 
 25. The tabernacle also, was a striking figure of the manifes- 
 tation of Christ. It was separated by a vail in two apartments, 
 the holy and most holy, which is also called the sanctuary. The 
 tabernacle was movable, and typified the tabernacle of human 
 nature, in which Christ first appeared; it also typified the 
 Church of his first appearing, which was movable from place to 
 place, and was not abiding; and the two dispensations of his 
 work, in his first and second appearing, were sigilified by those 
 two apartments. > 
 
 26. " The priests went always into the first tabernacle, accom- Heb. ii. 6, 
 plishing the service of God : but into the second went the high ^■ 
 priest alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for 
 himself, and for the errors of the people : The Holy Spirit this 
 signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet 
 
 made manifest, while the first tabernacle was yet standing" 
 
 27. And this further signified, that Christ could not make his 
 second appearing, to establish his Church without spot or wrinkle, 
 while the visible order of the then Gospel Church was yet stand- 
 ing : and as the second temple was built after the pattern of the 
 first, so the Church is properly the antetype of the temple in its 
 completed order. 
 
 28. The Apostle, speaking also of those things within the vail, 
 
 says, of which we cannot now speak 'particularly. The true Heb. ii.s. 
 reason why the Apostle could not speak particularly of that part, 
 was, that it had not yet received its accomplishment. 
 
 29. Jesus, in the first appearing of Christ, when anointed 
 with his Spirit, was the true antetype of the first part of the ta- 
 bernacle; and, when his work was finished, the vail of the second Mat. xxrii. 
 temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom : which sig- ?J- \p"^ 
 nified the entrance of Jesus Christ into the holiest of all, through Heb. k. 20. 
 the vail, to prepare the way for Christ's second appearing, in 
 
 which he would reveal the order of the second tabernacle, when 
 the vail, that is to say, thefiesh, should be taken away. 
 
 30. Therefore, as Jesus Christ is revealed in the second part 
 of his manhood, and has completed the order of God pertaining 
 
 26 
 
394 TYPES AND PKOPHEOIES PtJLPILLED IN B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP, to the work of redemption, we may take some further notice of 
 ^"' those things in the tabernacle, by which the true order of God 
 
 was particularly typified. 
 
 31. The tabernacle, including the holy and most holy places, 
 was in length thirty cubits, in breadth ten cubits, and in height 
 ten cubits, and the vail or partition, made twenty cubits for the 
 holy place, and ten for the most holy. So that the first sanctuary 
 was oblong, not perfect in its order. But the most holy was 
 four-square ; the length and breadth, and height of it were equal. 
 Yet the latter was only separated from the former by a vail, and 
 the former was preparatory to the latter. 
 
 32. "Within the vail, was the ark of the covenant, the length 
 of which was two cubits and a half, the breadth one cubit and a 
 half, and the height one cubit and a half. And upon the sides 
 were two staves to bear the ark, and these staves were not to be 
 taken away from it. 
 
 33. And in the ark were put the two tables of the covenant. 
 And over the ark was the mercy-seat of pure gold. And upon 
 the ends of the mercy-seat, were two cherubims of beaten gold, 
 and their wings were stretched on high, so that they covered the 
 mercy-seat with J.heir wings. 
 
 Ex.xiv. 34. Thus the Lord said unto Moses, " In the ark thou shalt 
 
 ^'" ^^' put the testimony that I shall give thee : and there I will meet 
 with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy- 
 seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of 
 the testimony." 
 
 35. These things were patterns of things in the heavens, hut 
 they were not the heavenly things themselves : They were given 
 of God, to show forth his unchangeable purpose, in the order and 
 
 Heb.viii.5. work of man's redemption: for see, said he to Moses, that thou 
 make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the 
 mount. 
 
 36. The testimony of the covenant, being engraven by the 
 finger of God in the two tables of stone, typified the new cove- 
 nant written in the hearts of the two first Heirs of this everlasting 
 covenant. The mercy-seat upon the ark over the testimony, and 
 between the cherubims, typified the place of God's residence and 
 throne, in the midst between the two, the man and woman 
 anointed with the holy Spirit of Christ. 
 
 37. The testimony of the covenant, being written in the two 
 tables, and concealed under the mercy-seat, typified the invisible 
 law and revelation of God upon which the Church is built ; and 
 the visible administration of that law and testimony by two, was 
 typified by the two cherubims. 
 
 38. These two cherubims were of wrought gold, of beaten, 
 work, "beaten out of one piece," which signified that they pro- 
 ceeded from the one pure Spirit of Christ, manifested in the order 
 
B. VIII. THE TWO FOUNDATION PILLARS. 395 
 
 of two, male ani female, and thus representing the original order chap. 
 of that Divine Spirit from which they proceeded, they being of "' 
 beaten work, was figurative of the mortification and sufferings, 
 which the two anoi7ited ones, in Christ's first and second appear- 
 ing, were to pass through, in order to prepare them for the work 
 whereunto they were anointed. 
 
 39. Their being placed on the two ends of the mercy-seat, and 
 their faces looking towards each other, and towards the mercy- 
 seat, their wings touching each other, signified the unity of the 
 two anointed ones, looking towards the perfection of the divine 
 
 work in the meroifal displays of salvation, by the laws and work seoEze. 
 of purity and holiness among mankind. Their wings being spread chap, li 
 out on high, covering the mercy-seat, signified that their whole 
 work was in mercy to raise souls heavenward. 
 
 40. As gold is tried and purified by fire, and wrought under 
 
 a hammer ; so the Spirit and word of God is both a fire and a ^,'' """' 
 hammer, by which all things must be tried and wrought, that 
 will ever stand in God's spiritual building. 
 
 41. Solomon's temple, which was the brightest figure of the 
 spiritual house of God that ever was presented to the human eye, 
 consisted of two parts, the holy and the most holy ; representing 
 the Church of Christ in his first and second appearing, in a more 
 striking manner than it had been represented by the tabernacle. 
 
 42. The whole length of the temple was sixty cubits, in breadth 
 twenty cubits, and in height thirty cubits ; and the most holy 
 within the temple, was again four-square, being twenty cubits 
 each way ; its length and breadth and height were equal. 
 
 43. The cherubims in the most holy place of the temple, were 
 each ten cubits in height, of one measure and of one size: and 
 the wing of the one cherub touched the wall of the house on one 
 side, and the wing of the other touched the wall on the other 
 side ; and their wings touched each other in the midst of the 
 house ; and the mercy-seat was placed between the two cherubims. 
 
 44. These things represented the extent of Christ's dominion Psai ixxii. 
 on both sides, in man and woman, as from sea to sea, and showed li'^'' 
 the correspondent relation in the two anointed ones, between 
 
 whom is placed the testimony and the covenant of everlasting 
 life, where mercy and truth are met together, and righteousness 
 and peace kiss each other. 
 
 45. Besides these figures in the most holy place, tvjo pillars 
 were also reared up in the porch of the temple ; the first was 
 called Jachin, i.e. he that strengthens and makes stedfast ; and 
 the second was called BoAZ, i.e. in strength. So that when the 
 temple was finished, it could not be entered but between tzoo. 
 Thus, Christ in his first appearing, was a pillar, strong and i Kings, 
 steadfast ; and his second appearing was in the strength of the '"' ^^" 
 first. 
 
396 TYPES AND PROPHECIES FULFILLED IN B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. 46. It is also attested, in ancient records, that the entrance 
 
 ""^- into the temple was by a door, on the right hand post of which, 
 
 was written, Father ; and on the left hand post. Mother. So 
 
 that the temple could he entered only hy going between the 
 
 two. 
 
 47. Thus, typical persons and typical things, in the most 
 striking particulars, evidently show the purposes of God, in regard 
 to the order of the spiritual work in Christ, to be in the order of 
 two dispensations, and by two anointed ones; which, beyond all 
 reasonable dispute, have had the beginning of their accomplish- 
 ment, and have been confirmed by many infallible proofs ; first 
 through Christ Jesus, and in the Church which he established at 
 his first appearing ; and second through MoJAer .4?zn, and in the 
 Church v^hich, through her, was established in this day of Christ's 
 second appearing. 
 
 48. But to these types, no antetype can be found in the anti- 
 christian world: for they have rendered every comparison de- 
 fective, by excluding the woman from her proper lot and order in 
 Christ, and from her joint and correspondent relation, and true 
 heirship in the work of redemption. _ • _ 
 
 49. This appears evident from their doctrine of three distinct 
 personalities in the Diety, aU in the masculine gender: First, 
 the Father ; second, the Son ; and third, the Holy Ghost ; He 
 proceeding from Father and Son, from everlasting, without the 
 attribute of either Mother or Daughter. To complete their 
 heterogeneous system, they unite two distinct and contrary- 
 natures in the Son of God ; and finally look for the mystery of 
 God to be finished in the odd number of three males. 
 
 50. Where is there any similitude, which applies to this human 
 invented scheme, among any of the works of God, either in 
 heaven or on earth ? Where is there any type or shadow, vision 
 or prophecy, of things animate or inanimate, that ever God gave, 
 from the creation of the first man, through aU the Law and the 
 Prophets, down to the present day, that bears any relation to 
 such an unnatural, unscriptural, and inconsistent proposition of 
 attributes, without their corresponding relations? And where 
 then is the correspondent cause of the woman's existence. 
 
 51. But we can testify of a truth, that Christ has verily ful- 
 filled the Scripture types, in such a manner, that they can never 
 be fulfilled by any thing else, while the world stands: And the 
 more reasonable and unprejudiced the mind of man becomes, the 
 more exactly, in every particular, wiU those figures appear to 
 have their accomplishment in the spiritual Father and Mother of 
 the true children of promise. 
 
 52. We might further observe, that the same things were 
 shadowed forth under the Law by typical ceremonies; among 
 which the two goats for the expiation of sin, is very pointed. 
 
B. VIII. THE TWO FOUNDATION PILLAES. 397 
 
 Two goats were chosen, and presented before the Lord, to make ^™^" 
 atonement for the whole congregation of Israel. 
 
 53. The first was taken by lot and slain, and the blood of it ^"'•*"- 
 taken within the vail to make an atonement, which typified 
 
 Jesus Christ, who died on account of the sins of the world, having 
 been born into its sinful nature, and by sacrificing it and dying 
 thereto, rose out of it, and entered into the holiest of all, that is, 
 into heaven itself, through the vail, which was his flesh ; and thus 
 made an atonement for all who would sacrifice that nature as 
 he had done. 
 
 54. Afterwards the high priest returned, typifying a return iTim. ii. 
 of the spirit power and authority of the Divine High Priest, to 
 
 take away sin, in the final appearing of Christ, when all the 
 iniquities and transgressions of the children of Israel were con- 
 fessed over the head of the scape-goat, and taken away into a 
 land not inhabited. 
 
 55. The Holy Spirit thus signifying, that sin could never he Heb. ix. 8. 
 Unally taken away, by all the blood that could be shed, until 
 
 Christ should come in the flesh of woman, to destroy and take 
 away sin from where it first entered; and therefore, the full and 
 perfect order of confessing sin, once for all, was never established 
 until Christ's second appearing. 
 
 56. In Christ's first appearing, Jesus died for and to the sins 
 of the world; but there was none who remained in a joint and 
 corresponding relation and equality with him, to receive the con- 
 fession, and to bear them away. And therefore the first gift and 
 revelation of Grod through Mother, for the final expiation of sin, 
 was a full and final confession of sins, and a full salvation from 
 all sin as the consequence. 
 
 57. So that in the first and second appearing of Christ, both 
 in the man and in the woman, the figure of the two goats was 
 perfectly fulfilled, and which never was, nor can be fulfilled in 
 any thing else. 
 
 58. It is worthy of special remark that the last standing law 
 given by Moses, which represented a spiritual work, was a sacri- 
 fice in the line of the female. The waters of purification were to 
 be made of the ashes of a red heifer "put into running water." 
 This, after a practical confession to the priest, was to be used by 
 him, to sprinkle and purify all persons and things whatever, that 
 were counted unclean, under the law ; and no sacrifice, nor pass- 
 ing through the fire, could finally cleanse any thing under the Num. ch. 
 law without the application of this purifying water This was a ^^<gj 
 statute to Israel forever. 
 
 59. How clearly does this prefigure that it must be by confes- 
 sion, and the application of the same purifying sufferings, and 
 baptism of the holy waters of life, which the first redeemed 
 female passed through, that can finally take away sin ; for the 
 
398 TYPES AND PROPHECIES FTJLFILLED IN, &C. B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP, heifer being red, and passing through both fire and water, signi- 
 ' fies tbat it is by tKe fire of tribulation, the waters of repentance, 
 and the wasting of regeneration, that aU tHs is effected; so that 
 sin could never be finally cleansed from the soul until the Dis- 
 pensation of the/6OTffiZe. 
 
 60. As this was the finishing type of the figurative work of the 
 law, to prepare the people to enter the sanctuary ; so the sub- 
 stance is the finishing spiritual work of the Gospel, to prepare 
 souls for the heavenly state. 
 Num. 1. 8- 61. To these typical things may be added the two silver trum- 
 11- "pets, which the Lord commanded Moses to make, of onit whole, 
 
 piece, and which were to be used among the children of Israel on 
 occasion of assembling themselves together in separate assemblies ; 
 in their journeyings, and in their wars with their enemies; on 
 gathering together the whole congregation to the tabernacle; and 
 on all such important occasions they were to be a memorial before 
 God, and an or dinance forever througJumt their generations. 
 
 62. These two tnimpets were also typical of the two dis- 
 pensations of the Gospel, or Christ's first and second appearing. 
 The Gospel or testimony of Jesus is compared to a trumpet. 
 In the first appearing of Christ, the first Gospel trumpet was 
 sounded; and in his second appearing, the second trumpet is 
 
 Joel, ii. 1. sounded, which is called the last trumpet — ^by which the alarm 
 is sounded in God's holy mountain, and by which the Gospel of 
 salvation is sounded, and the gatherijig together unto Christ is 
 effected. These are alsp typical of the trumpets of the everlast- 
 ing Gospel, which wiU be sounded to a lost worid, both by male 
 and female Gospel heralds. 
 
 63. Thus, were it necessary, it might be shown wherein the 
 whole typical and ceremonial law has its full and final accom- 
 
 isi. vm. 20. piighment in the second appearing of Christ. To the Law and 
 to the testimony of the Prophets ; if they speak not according to 
 this word, it is because there is tio light in them. 
 
B. VIII. PKOMISES FULFILLED IN, &C. 399 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PROPHECIES AND PROMISES PrLPILLED IN THE PARENTAGE 
 OP THE NEW CREATION. 
 
 The prophecies concerning the two foundation pillars in the work chap. 
 of redemption, are, to the mind that is in any degree spiritual, ^™' 
 still more plain, copious and convincing, than the types and 
 shadows given in the Law. Were we to bring all that the Pro- 
 phets have uttered on this particular subject, and to state every 
 thing in its proper light of correspondence, a large volume would 
 contain but a very small portion. A few particulars, however, 
 are necessary to be noticed at this time. 
 
 2. David, by the spirit of prophecy, in the forty-fifth Psalm, 
 speaks expressly of the male and the female, in Christ's first and 
 second appearing, in the following words : " My heart is inditing 
 a good matter : I speak of the things which I have made touch- 
 ing the King : my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Thou 
 art fairer than the children of men : grace is poured into thy 
 lips : therefore God hath blessed the forever." 
 
 3. " Grird thy sword upon thy thigh, most Mighty, with thy 
 glory and thy majesty. And in thy majesty ride prosperously, 
 because of truth, and ?neekness, and righteousness ; and thy right 
 hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in 
 the hearts of the King's enemies ; whereby the people fall under 
 
 thee. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: the sceptre of Heb. i. 3. 
 thy kingdom is a right sceptre." 
 
 4. This has long been applied to Jesus Christ, the Son of 
 God ; but this is not all : as distinct a character relating to the 
 Daughter, as the first in the line of the female is evidently de- 
 scribed, as follows : 
 
 5. "King's daughters were among thy honorable women. Upon P»ai.iiv.9, 
 thy right hand did stand the Queen in gold of Ophir. Hearken, 
 
 O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear ; forget also; 
 thine own people, and thy father'' s house; so shall the King 
 greatly desire thy beauty : for he is thy Lord ; and worship 
 thou him. And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift : 
 even the rich among the people shall entreat thy favor." 
 
 6. " The king's daughter is all glorious within ; her clothing 
 is of wrought gold. She shall he brought unto the king in rai- 
 ment of needle work : the virgins, her companions that follow 
 her, shall he brought unto thee; with gladness and rejoicing 
 shall they he brought : they shall enter into the king's palace. 
 Instead of thy fathers, shall he thy children, luhom thou may est 
 
400 PROMISES FULFILLED IN B. VIII. 
 
 c^P- make princes in all the earth. I will make thy name to be re- 
 
 '- — membered in all generations : therefore shall the people praise 
 
 thee for ever and ever." 
 
 7. As it is sujSiciently evident that the prophecy concerning 
 the Son, alluded to a particular person, and not to any collective 
 body called the Church ; so it is as evident, that the Daughtei- 
 must have as particular allusion, and so must her children, the 
 virgins, her companions that follow her. 
 r«a. ix. e. 8. And as the one was to be a child born, a son given, whose 
 name should be called, the everlasting Father ; so the other was 
 to be as expressly fulfilled in one who should be called the ever- 
 lasting Mother : for she that hath children and companions that 
 follow her, must be both a mother and a leader. 
 
 9. Therefore, the truth is, that the prophecy has had its com- 
 plete fulfillment, in such a manner as entirely to exclude every 
 other comment or application ; being first of all fulfilled in Christ 
 Jesus, the Father, and secondly in Ami Lee, the anointed Mother 
 of our redemption, and the followers of her example, who were 
 begotten and brought forth by the word of life as her spiritual 
 children, and who constitute the Church of Christ in this day of 
 his second appearing. 
 
 10. The promise of God. through the Prophet Jeremiah, in 
 regard to salvation by Christ, was also expressly made to be ful- 
 filled in the order of the male and female : first distinctly to one 
 male ; and secondly, to the male and female in their correspondent 
 relation. 
 
 11. Of the first he saith: "Behold the days come, saith the 
 Lord, that / tvill raise unto David a righteous branch, and a 
 king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and 
 justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and 
 Israel shall dwell safely ; and this is the name whereby he shall 
 
 6,'«""' *6 called. The Lord our EiGHTEorsNESS. 
 
 12. And of the second he says : " Behold, the days come, saith 
 eh. xxiiii. the Lord, that I tvill perform that good thing which I have pro- 
 i*-is- mised unto the house of Israel, and to the house of Judah. In 
 
 those days, and at that time, I will cause the branch of righteous- 
 ness to grow up unto David ; and he (she) shall execute judgment 
 and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, 
 and Jerusalem shall dwell safely : and this is the name where- 
 with SHE shall be called. The Lord our Righteousness. 
 
 13. Doubtless, it appeard very new and strange to the Jews, 
 to apply the first of these prophecies to the son of a carpenter ; 
 and no less strange it may appear to the great and wise of the 
 present day, to apply the second to the daughter of a blacksmith. 
 But as certain as the carpenter's son, as they called him, was 
 the he, who set the example of righteousness for all men ; so 
 certain the blacksmith's daughter was the she, who has set the 
 
B. VIII. THE PARENTAGE OF THE NEW CREATION. 401 
 
 example of righteousness for all women ; andin her proper order, *S^' 
 
 is the Lord our righteousness, or the manifestation of God in the . — 
 
 flesh, according to the promise of the latter day. * 
 
 14. And, therefore, as the righteousness of the latter day was to 
 be infinite ; comprehending both he and she, male ^'oA. female, it 
 could not enter but by something new and strange : as it is written 
 of the new creation by the same ProTihet: " The Lord hath created , 
 
 1-'11 777 ^^ XXXI. 
 
 a new thing m the earth, a woman shaLL compass a man. 22. 
 
 15. After the kingdom of Israel had risen to its height of tem- 
 poral glory, and the spiritual temple, or Church of Christ's first 
 and second appeariug, had been typified by the temple at large, 
 the people fell into idolatry, which brought on the Babylonian 
 captivity. 
 
 16. By this was typified the spiritual captivity, or falling away 
 from that power and order in which the primitive Church stood, 
 as had in part been signified by the breaking of the first two 
 tables of the covenant made with typical Israel ; and this spirit- 
 ual captivity, and treading under foot the holy city, would con- 
 tinue until the time for the building of the perfect Gospel Church, 
 which was typified by the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem. 
 
 17. Then, at the return from the captivity, the second temple 
 was built upon the foundation of the first ; but not in every 
 respect in full imitation thereof: for the substance of that was 
 shortly to be fulfilled by the coming of Christ, to set up a spiritual 
 temple ; but in outward imitation of the inward temple, or most 
 holy place, which pointed to the Chiirch of Christ in his second 
 appearing. 
 
 18. And therefore the second temple was built more complete 
 in its outward form, and more extensive in its size, being in length 
 sixty cubits, in breadth sixty cubits, and in height sixty cubits, 
 in form four square, t This still pointed to God's spiritual 
 
 * AVhatever application may be made of these passages of Jeremiali, by natural 
 men, whose learned sagacity is confined to the letter of Scripture, and who con- 
 sequently confine the pronouns he ana she to the names Israel and Jerusalerti 
 as the antecedents, certain it is, that no just application can be made contrary to 
 that which is here given : for, as the people of Israel and the city of Jerusalem 
 were typical of God's Church and people, who are the offspring of the male and 
 female in the work of regeneration ; so, in their salvation, they can ascribe the 
 glory to the parents of their redemption, knowing that, through them, the way 
 of righteousness is made manifest; and therefore, it is with the greatest propriety 
 that both he and she, are called the Lord our righteousness. 
 
 fit is proper here to remark, that all those extraordinary patterns, which, in the 
 inner court of the first temple, and most holy place of the tabernacle, had pointed 
 out the order and glory of God's spiritual building, were not in this second temple. 
 The ark with the two tables of the covenant were lost by the captivity ; the two 
 cherubims and cloud of glory, which overshadowed the mercy-seat ; the Urim and 
 Thummim (i.e. light and perfection) were also lost, and the fire from heaven upon 
 the altar, was no more. This fire, it is said, was restored by Nehemiah. So in 
 the captivity of the saints, in spiritual Babylon, (which continued during the reign ■ ^-ftTg^ 
 of antichrist,) the true order of the Church, and all that pertained to it, were lost '' ^^'■^• 
 or trodden under foot. Hence their place was supplied by prophetic revelation, 
 in the second temple. See Haggai and Zecb, 
 
402 
 
 PROMISES TOLPILLED IN 
 
 B. Tin. 
 
 CHAP. 
 VIII. 
 
 Hag. ii. 
 6,7. 
 
 Zech. iv. 
 2, 3, 6, 9. 
 See mar. 
 Bible. 
 Rev. iv. 5. 
 
 t Zerubabel 
 i.e. a stran- 
 ger at Bab- 
 ylon or dis- 
 persion of 
 confusion. 
 
 Exo. XXV. 
 37. Rev. i 
 4.V.6. 
 
 building, the holy city of the latter day, as the most holy place 
 in the tabernacle, and first temple, had done before it. Its 
 length, and breadth, and height were equal; signifying universal 
 justice and righteousness. 
 
 19. That the building of the second temple alluded to the 
 building of God's spiritual house in the latter day, may be under- 
 stood from the Prophet Haggai. "Thus, saith the Lord of hosts, 
 yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and 
 the earth, and the sea, and the dry land. And I will shake all 
 nations, and the DESIRE * of all nations shall come, and I will 
 fill this house with my glory, saith the Lord of hosts." 
 
 20. Then as this temple, prefigured the spiritual house of God 
 in the latter day, and those extraordinary patterns, which per- 
 tained to the first temple, were now lost by the captivity, 
 therefore they were again supplied by vision and prophecy, and 
 other things of the same nature added, at the building of this 
 second temple. 
 
 21. Eor this purpose was the remarkable vision of the Prophet 
 Zechariah, which is particularly worthy of notice. Thus in reply 
 to the angel he said : "I have looked, and behold a candlestick all 
 of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps (in the 
 original, seven sevens) signifying the seven spirits of God, in the 
 order of both male and female, united in the same work thereon, 
 and seven pipes to the seven lamps — and two olive trees by it, one 
 upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side 
 thereof." 
 
 22. And the angel said, "This is the word of the Lord unto 
 Zerubbabel, t saying Tiot by might nor by power, [not by the 
 carnal weapons of an army] hut by my Spirit, saith the Lord of 
 hosts. The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this 
 house, his hands shall also finish it : and thou shalt know that 
 the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you." 
 
 23. The candlestick of gold, signified the truth and revelation 
 of God, by the light of which his Church or spiritual house is 
 built ; and supplied the place of the ark of the covenant, which 
 contained the law of God, under the mercy-seat. And the bowl 
 upon the top of the candlestick, between the two olive trees, pre- 
 figured the Church, the receiver of the oil and life, for all souls, 
 the same as did the mercy-seat between the two cherubims. 
 
 24. And the seven lamps are the seven spirits of God, which 
 are before his throne, and answer to the seven golden candlesticks 
 of perpetual light before the ark, by which the ministers per- 
 formed the service of God in relation to the people. And the 
 seven pipes to the seven lamps, signified the various gifts, through 
 which the ministrations of the spirit should be conveyed to the 
 
 * In Hebrew a noun singnlftr of the feminine gender, as the best grammaiuuu 
 agree. 
 
B. VIII. THE PARENTAOE OF THE NEW CKEATION. 
 
 403 
 
 members of the Clmrch, and through them in the same order *^yi^' 
 to the world. — 
 
 25. The too " olive trees'" answering to the " two cheruhims" 
 signifying the Christ, in the combined order of male and female. 
 By their spirit the "■two witneises" prophecied. And they are 
 the foundation pillars of the Church in the divine order. 
 
 26. And besides these "two olive trees" are "two olive 
 branches," which, through "two golden pipes," empty the 
 "golden oil out of themselves" these "two olive branches," 
 represented Jesus and Ann, who are the "two anointed ones who 
 stand by the Lord (or Christ) of the whole earth." 
 
 27. Therefore, through these two Branches the Divine Spirit of 
 Christ was revealed on earth, according to the true order in the 
 heavens, as typified by the two olive trees. And the "golden 
 pipes" through which the two olive branches emptied the golden 
 oil out of themselves, are the two chosen ones in the order of male 
 and female, which continue in the same line, to empty the pure 
 oil into the golden bowl, or Church, to supply the lamps with the 
 light of revelation ; and thus will ever continue to do. 
 
 28. Now that the purpose and.promise of God, in relation to 
 the ttoo anointed ones, or foundation pillars of his spiritual build- 
 ing, were to be fulfilled in the order of male and female, may be 
 clearly understood from the following prophecies unto Joshua, 
 the type of Jesus the Saviour. 
 
 29. "And the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua, say- 
 ing, Thus saith the Lord of hosts. If thou wilt walk in my 
 ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also 
 judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give 
 thee places to walk in among these that stand by." 
 
 30. The charge here given to Joshua, typically related to the 
 Mediators of the first and second appearing of Christ, and which 
 Jesus punctually fulfilled during his ministry on earth, accord- 
 ing to his own words: / have kept my Father's commandments. 
 I do always those things that please him. I have finished the 
 viork which thou gavest me to do. By which he laid and estab- 
 lished the foundation of man's redemption ; and God appointed 
 him to be the Head, and first Heir of all things to his Church, and 
 the Judge and Ruler in his spiritual house. 
 
 31. But the promise of God in Christ Jesus, respected also 
 another, in a joint relation with the first. ' ' Hear now, Joshua Zech. iii. 8, 
 the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee ; for they ■'''• 
 
 are men wondered at : for behold, I loill bring forth my servant 
 
 the Branch." " In that day saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call Micah, it. 
 
 every man his neighbor under the vine, and under the fig tree." *" 
 
 32. This prophecy concerning the Branch, alludes particu- 
 larly to Christ's coming in the latter day, to set up his kingdom 
 and complete the order in the foundation of his spiritual build- 
 
 Zech. iii. 
 6,7. 
 
 John, viii. 
 29, XT. 10 
 XTii. 4. 
 
404 PROMISES FULFILLED IN E. VIII. 
 
 ^^^ ing, when the promise of God should be fulfilled in both the 
 ' anointed ones. Therefore, the same charge was also to the iraTJcA, 
 which was completed by the female, who punctually fulfilled it 
 during her ministry ; and the same charge and promise wiU re- 
 main to their successors forever. 
 
 33. Again, the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying, 
 u'w " "' Take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon 
 
 the head o/ Joshua. And speak unto him, saying: "Thus 
 speaketh the Lord of hosts — behold the man whose name is the 
 Branch ; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall 
 build the temple of the Lord." So that Zerubbabel and the 
 Branch are typically one and the same. 
 
 34. Even they shall build the temple of the Lord; and they 
 shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne ; and 
 they shall be priests upon their (this is the plain reading, accord- 
 ing to the contest) throne : and the council of peace shall be 
 
 Ibid. 13. BETWEEN THEM BOTH." 
 
 35. Here, then, are ttvo particular and principal persons spoken 
 of. The first is Joshua, that is, Jesus ; and to him, and in him 
 was the promise of the second, who was called the Branch, who 
 ■was to grow up out of his place and build the temple of the Lord. 
 
 36. The_^r5if, as has been observed, is called He, the Lord 
 our Eighteousness ; and the second, She, the Lord our 
 Righteousness. These are the two olive Branches, proceed- 
 ing from the two olive trees, through which the Church of Grod is 
 nourished and supplied with the oil of life and joy, and from 
 which the meek are beautified with salvation. 
 
 37. These are The Two Anointed Ones, who stand by the 
 Lord of the whole earth ; and the counsel of peace is between 
 them both. And by, and through these, the male and the 
 female find each their correspondent relation to the great First 
 Cause, from whom all order and perfection flows, and their joint 
 union and relation to each other in the work of eternal redemption. 
 
 38. And through these two a-iwinted ones, between whom the 
 counsel of God is placed, God has promised, saying, and they 
 
 itai. ixi. 9. that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord. 
 And their seed shall be Tcnown among the Gentiles, and their 
 offspring anumg the people ; all that see them shall acknow- 
 ledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed. 
 
 39. To the same spiritual union and relation alludes the 
 prophecy of Micah: "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though 
 thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall 
 
 Micah T. 1, he come forth unto me, that is to be Ruler in Israel." This part 
 of the prophecy particularly alludes to Jesus, in Christ's first 
 
 iPet. 1, 2. appearing, through whom the going forth of the Divine Spirit 
 into the world, was manifested for an endless increase. 
 
 40. Therefore will he give them up, [i.e. they shall fell 
 
B. VIII. THE PARENTAGE OP THE NEW CREATION. 
 
 405 
 
 away] until the time that She which travaileth hath hrnught 
 forth ; then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the 
 children of Israel ;" that is, those who have been faithful to 
 keep the testimony of the two witnesses — such will gather to the 
 true Israel of G-od. This part of the prophecy particularly alludes 
 to Ann Lee, in Christ's second appearing. " And he * shall 
 stand and feed in the strength of the Lord his God ; and Thet 
 [that is, He and She, the Two Anointed Ones] shall abide : 
 for -now shall he {they) he great unto the ends of the earth." 
 
 41. The same ]?rophet Micah, also speaks of the most import- 
 ant parts of the prophecy as being fulfilled iii the line of the 
 female, which had not their accomplishment in Christ's first ap- 
 pearing ; but are gradually and progressively accomplishing in 
 this day of his second appearing. 
 
 42. "And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the 
 daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first domi- 
 nion ; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. 
 Be in 'pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like 
 a looman in travail; for now shalt thou go forth out of the 
 city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to 
 Babylon ; [literally fulfilled in the Babylonian captivity, and 
 spiritually in the dominion of antichrist ;] there the Lord shall 
 redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies." 
 
 43. " Now, also many nations are gathered against thee, that 
 say, let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. But they 
 know not the thouglits of the Lord, neither understand, they his 
 counsel : for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor. 
 Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion ; for I will make thine 
 horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass ; and thou shalt beat 
 in pieces many people ; and I will consecrate their gain unto the 
 Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth." 
 
 44. This is a most perfect description of the work wrought 
 through the Mother in Christ ; for many people have been beaten 
 and broken in pieces from the ties of the flesh, from all selfish 
 interests, and the honors and pleasures of the world, and have 
 thus consecrated themselves, and all their gain and substance 
 to the Lord, in a united capacity, to be enjoyed by the house- 
 hold of faith, so that all fare alike, and there are none rich or 
 poor ; showing, thereby, that practical love, by which all men 
 may know that they are Christ's disciples. 
 
 45. Where this order cannot be maintained, there is no evidence 
 of a true Church of Christ. But it has been established and 
 maintained for more than sixty years among the spiritual children 
 of Mother Ann. Who, then, can deny that she is the daughter 
 here prophesied of? 
 
 » This word he, according to the context, should evidently be th«y, and eo on n 
 the line last. 
 
 CHAP. 
 Yin. 
 
 See Dan. 
 ix. 26. xi. 
 31. xii7. 
 & 2 Thej. 
 i. 3. 
 
 Micah, iv. 
 2 10 13. 
 
 See also 
 Jer li. 20 
 to 23. com- 
 pared with 
 Zecti. xii. 
 9 to U. & 
 Malt. xxir. 
 19, 30. and 
 Rev. i. 7. 
 
 Jno.l3. 34. 
 
a. 
 
 406 PEOMISES FULFILLED IN B. VIII. 
 
 *^HAP. 46. Also the Prophet Zephaniah : " For then icill I turn to 
 
 ! t/ie people a pure language, that they may all call upon the 
 
 Zeph. iji. name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent. From beyond 
 ' " the rivers of Ethiopia, my suppliants, even the daughter of my 
 dispersed, shall bring mine offering." 
 
 47. It is further evident, not only from the writings of the 
 Apostles, but from the parables and testimony of Christ Jesus 
 himself, that his second appearing was to be in the order of the 
 
 Matt. xxii. female. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, 
 *' which made a marriage for his son. 
 
 48. Here the God of heaven is likened to an earthly king, and 
 his Son, to the son of a mortal. But wherein does this likeness 
 consist? The similitude is so natural and pointed, that it cannot 
 be mistaken, nor misapplied, without the greatest perversion. 
 
 49. It was Jesus Christ's usual manner to speak in parables, 
 and to condescend to the state of mankind, and convey the nature 
 of spiritual things by natural similitudes ; and therefore, to speak 
 after the manner of men, had the anointed Son of God remained 
 in his first capacity, without completing the order of his manhood, 
 there could have been no similitude in the case of which he 
 was speaking. 
 
 50. Christ Jesus entered the world in the morning of a great 
 day, which was a day of preparation for his marriage, and the 
 setting up of his everlasting Mngdom : and that day was to pass 
 away before the solemn scene could commence : his oxen and 
 fatlings were to be killed, and all things made ready. 
 
 51. Souls were not invited to come immediately into that 
 kingdom ; but they were taught to pray for it to come ; and were 
 invited to le ready, against the time when he should appear in 
 his glory. And they were warned to watch and pray, and not to 
 
 Luke, xxi. be overcome with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this 
 ' life, lest that day should come upon them unawares, like a 
 
 thief. For as a SNAKE, said Jesus, shall it come on all them 
 that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 
 
 52. To the same import is also the parable of the loise and 
 foolish virgins, who, while the bridegroom tarried, all slumbered 
 
 Matt. XIV. and slept. There was to be a going forth to a spiritual marriage, 
 1 '° !*■ after which the door was to be shut. 
 
 53. The wise and foolish virgins are not imaginary beings ; 
 they are real persons, wise and foolish professors of the Christian 
 name, who equally expect Christ to make his second appearing. 
 
 54. The wise virgins are such as know that Christ is a Spirit, 
 who never was, nor ever could be seen with the natural eye, and 
 are obedient to the Spirit ; therefore, they have oil in their ves- 
 sels with their lamps ; their understandings being enlightened, 
 by the spirit of God, to discern the bridegroom at his coming. 
 The foolish virgins are those, who, being asleep in their dead 
 
B. VIII. THE PARENTAGE OP THE NEW OEEATION. 407 
 
 professions, trust to their own human wisdom, in a false hope of '^S/^T' 
 seeing the Bridegroom according to their own carnal expectations. — 
 
 55. The Bridegroom hath been long ascertained, to wit, the 
 Lord Jesus. But who is the Bride ? She is neither the wise nor 
 the foolish virgins, but a peculiar object distinct from both ; an 
 object which lay hid, until the fulness of time, when the reveal- 
 tion of God made her manifest, at the Bridegroom's coming. 
 
 56. It may be said, that the Church is the bride ; the Church 
 is the daughter of Zion ; the Church is the daughter of Jerusa- 
 lem ; the Church is the woman clothed with the sun, and so on. 
 It is granted that the Prophets and Apostles frequently spake of 
 the Church in the feminine gender. 
 
 57. " Ye also are become dead to the law by the body of 
 
 Christ (says the Apostle) that ye should be married to another, 2Cor.xi!2! 
 even to him who is raised from the dead. I have espoused you to L*'"- ^''■ 
 one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 
 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." 
 
 58. Then, let it be considered, that God never accomplished 
 any work on the earth, but what had a beginning. And that 
 Church, which was collectively called the body of Christ, and as 
 a virgin espoused to one husband, had, notwithstanding, its be- 
 ginning by a single person. 
 
 59. And therefore, as it will be granted that the Bridegroom 
 was a single person, who contemplated a marriage or spiritual re- 
 lation, which should be cotemporary with the setting up of his 
 kingdom in the latter day ; so it follows, beyond any reasonable 
 dispute, that the manifestation of his glory at his second appear- 
 ing, was to be in this spiritual relation with his Bride ; from whom, 
 in a particular manner, the Church is spoken of as feminine. 
 
 60. And that this Bride was to be a peculiar object, an indivi- 
 dual person, and as distinct from the body, the Church collectively, 
 as Jesus himself was distinct from his body, the Church, in his 
 first appearing, and no more so. To this the Law and the Pro- 
 phets all point, from beginning to end, and which is also consonant 
 with the plainest dictates of reason. 
 
 See Luks, 
 
408 REVELATIONS RELATING TO MOTHER. B. VIII. 
 
 CHAPTEK IX. 
 
 VISIONS AND REVELATIONS RELATING TO THE MOTHER OF 
 THE NEW CREATION. 
 
 CHAP. rx. The same spiritual relation of Ctrist in the latter day, which had 
 been pointed out by the Law and the Prophets, was still more 
 clearly confirmed, by the revelation of Jesus Christ, unto his 
 _ ^ ^ servant John, and shows what should be ushered into the world, 
 6, 7." in the time of its accomplishment. " The Lord Grod Omnipotent 
 
 reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him : 
 for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made 
 herself ready." 
 
 2. The Spirit says not, the Church hath made herself ready, 
 as a body collectively ; nor yet, his wives have made themselves 
 ready. But as the Lamb is oJie, and is the Bridegroom ; so it is 
 said of one which is the Bride — his ivife hath made herself ready. 
 And after this, it is spoken of the Church, or holy city collectively, 
 chiip.ixi. " ^nd I John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming dawn 
 ^- from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her 
 
 husband." Not that the city was the Bride, but that it was pre- 
 pared and adorned as a bride. 
 Luk6 \x. ^" Jssus Christ, in the first appearing of the Divine Spirit, 
 26. ' spake much of his coming in his own glm-y and in the glory 
 of his Father, and all the holy angels. But what was that glory, 
 in which he was to come ? The Apostle, in the Spirit of Christ, 
 i or. XI. . expressly says, the woman is the glory of the man. And the 
 Prophet, Isaiah, also, speaking of the Branch of the latter day, 
 • Mariiiai ®*y^' ^" ^^'^^ ^'^y ^^°'^^ ^^^ branch of the Lord be beautt and 
 
 Bibl"^"' GLORY.* 
 
 4. Then, as the man is the head of the woman, and the woman 
 is the glory of the man, and as Christ did verily make his first 
 appearing in the man, which was the first part of his manhood, it 
 remained (according to the types and shadows of the law, and 
 the prophecies, visions, and promises of God, given from time to 
 time) that Christ was to make his second appearing in the woman, 
 the second part of manhood ; and this is the glory in which he 
 was to appear, with the glory of his Father, and all the holy angels. 
 
 5. And without this, the types are not answered, the prophe- 
 cies are not fulfilled, and the order, glory, and perfection of the 
 new creation, even in its external appearance, must fall short of 
 the old, at least one half, which cannot be. And therefore, in 
 any thing else, Christ could not be known, in his second appear- 
 ing, as the promised Saviour of the world. 
 
B. VIII. REVELATIONS RELATING TO MOTHER. 409 
 
 6. In him was the manifestatimi of the Divine Majesty : as chap. rx. 
 said the Apostle, God hath in these last days spoken unto us by 
 
 his Son — who being the brightness or shining forth of his glory, Coi. u. 9. 
 and [Gr. 5fa»axrii| T»is iTosatfsojs aj-raj the type or character of his ° ''' '"' 
 lot, standing, or correspondent relation. 
 
 7. Thus, by ascending from the less to the greater, it may 
 appear evident, that as the woman was taken out of the man, 
 and is the glory of the man, and as the manifestation of the 
 Divine 3Iajesty dwelt in Jesus Christ, who manifested the char- 
 acter of the Father's standing or correspondent relation, and by 
 the Holy Spirit possessed the brightness of the Father's glory ; 
 so Holy Wisdom was the glory and perfection in the order and 
 correspondent relation of the Divine Majesty, and who was as 23°^'™'' 
 one brought up with him from everlasting. 
 
 8. And as the brightness of the Father's glory was in Christ 
 Jesus in his first appearing, as woman was in man when God 
 first created him male and female, in his own image, and after 
 his own likeness ; so, in order to Christ's coming in his own 
 glory and the glory of his Father, it was necessary that the 
 brightness of his glory should have its abode in the first-bom 
 woman, in the new creation, as the brightness of the Father's 
 glory had in the first-born man. But this could not be until 
 the fullness of times. 
 
 9. The rib, as it is called, or binder, was first taken out 
 of man, of which the Lord God formed woman, and brought her 
 to the man, and set her in her corresponding relation to him, 
 according to the order that existed in the Deity before him, and 
 after whose image and likeness man was made. 
 
 10. So that brightness of the Father's glory, which was in 
 the man Christ Jesus, and which was to constitute his future 
 glory, was given to his followers, after his departure, at the day 
 of Pentecost, as the Spirit of Promise, which was to abide with 
 them forever ; and by which the Church as his body, had power 
 on earth to bring forth the truth, to remit and retain sins ; and 
 whatever they bound o?i earth was to be bound in heaven. 
 
 11. It is evident from the testimony of Jesus Christ, that he 
 
 was in the Father, and the Father in him; that the Father John.xiv. 
 
 spoke by and through him, and did the works which he wrought ; ^'*" " 
 so that through him was the manifestation of the Father. 
 
 12. And Jesus promised saying, I will pray the Father, and ibiixTi. 
 he will send you anather Comforter — even the Spirit of truth, ^' 
 which should guide them into all truth, and show them things 
 
 to come. This clearly implied that one Comforter had already 
 come ; and that this other Comforter, the Spirit of truth, even 
 the Holy Spirit, (evidently in the female order) should finish the 
 work of Christ, and take up her abode and be manifested in and 
 through the woman, as the Father had been manifested in and 
 
410 EETELATIONS EELATING TO MOTHER. B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. IX. through the man; or, in other words, as the Father had been 
 manifested by the Son, so should the Mother be made manifest 
 by the Daughter. 
 
 13. Therefore, as Christ Jesus in the first part of his man- 
 hood, was the type, character, or representative, and filled the 
 lot or correspondent relation of the Eternal Father, in regard to 
 man's redemption; so that the order of heaven might be dis- 
 played in the second part of his manhood, the woman must he 
 the representative, and fill the lot or correspondent relation 
 of the Mother. And without this manifestation, the true 
 order and perfection of the Eternal Parentage could never he 
 known. 
 
 14. And therefore the followers of Christ, as his true body, 
 received the Holy Spirit, ''the Comforter,'" which was to them 
 
 Rom. Tiii. a Spirit of Promise, and led them into all truth, by which they 
 Kph.i 13 '''^'^^ sealed unto the day of redemption, and in which they 
 11- ' ' groaned in travail, wazJiTZjO' /or iAe (Zf^oyfzora, to wit, the redemp- 
 tion of the whole body, female as well as male. 
 
 15. And as this redemption could be effected only in the 
 display of Wisdom by the Holy Spirit in the fullness of times, 
 yet future ; therefore she appeared in a vision to St. John, under 
 
 R«v. lii. the similitude of a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon 
 under her feet, and upon her head a crown oftioelve stars. 
 
 16. This signified that she was clothed with the light, and 
 glory of Grod, the Divine Majesty, as the sun is the light and 
 glory of the universe ; that her abode was above the corruptions 
 of an earthly fallen nature ; and that her crown and dominion 
 was composed of the twelve virtues of true godliness — the 
 essence of the Divine Being. 
 
 17. And although she brought forth the man-child, the first- 
 born Son in the new creation, who was to rule the nations ; who 
 was caught up to Grod and his throne, out of the reach and power 
 of the dragon; yet certain it is, that in that dispensation, no 
 greater degree of order and perfection could be gained in the 
 Church, until tYie first-born Daughter should appear. 
 
 18. After the ascension of the Son, the Holy Spirit of Pro- 
 mise, the Comforter, was in the Church ; and after the decline 
 of the Church, in the night' of apostacy, and wUderness state of 
 the truth, the Spirit of revelation moved upon the confused chaos, 
 called Christian, as upon the face of the waters, or great deep of 
 depraved human nature. This, ecclesiastical historians call 
 "troubling the Church!" 
 
 19. But instead of multiplying and increasing the true spiritual 
 seed, the Woman is represented as fleeing into the wilderness, 
 and abode with these persecuted witnesses, who fed her there 
 for the space of twelve hundred and sixty days, or years, during 
 the dominion of the beast. 
 
B. VIII. REVELATIONS RELATING TO MOTHEB. 411 
 
 20. But while the Witnesses were hearing their testimony chap. ix. 
 against the growing corruptions and vices of a false Church, and 
 
 in support of virtue and righteousness, there was war in heaven : 
 Michael [i.e. Perfect, who is like God,] and his angels fought 
 against the dragon and his angels; that is, the perfect and 
 united spirit of the Two Witnesses, having received power, 
 began to contend for that perfect and full redemption which God 
 had promised in the latter day. And they overcame the dragon 
 hy the hlood of the Lamh, that is, by living his life, and by the 
 word of their testimony ; and the dragon, that old serpent was 
 cast out of the sanctuary, which had been so long trodden under 
 foot; for the time gf its cleansing had come. 
 
 21. And therefore, in the issue of this war the way was pre- 
 pared, and the time had fully come, the same Holy Spirit of the 
 woman clothed with the sun, and who brought forth the man- 
 child, was revealed in the "woman" as her daughter and repre- 
 sentative, to whom "were given tiao wings of a great eagle, that 
 she 7night fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she was 
 flourished for a time and times, and half a time, from the 
 face of the serpent." 
 
 22. And this same Holy Spirit of the woman, "clothed with 
 the sun," having now been revealed in this woman, the chosen 
 and second " Anointed One," and having purified and redeemed 
 her, and united her to the first spiritual man, or first " Anointed 
 One," in the work of final redemption, then and not till then, 
 
 was it truly and unequivocally said, "Now is come salvation and Rev. lii. 
 strength, and the kingdom, or the dwelling place of our God, i"- 
 a7i.d the power of his Chrisi: " which never' could properly and 
 truly be said before. 
 
 23. For as the man hath not power of his own body, but the i cor. ™. 
 woman; hence, by the woman, is the power of the man made • 
 perfect. So Christ in man alone, could have no power of his 
 
 body, the Church, for full redemption but by the Woman. 
 
 24. And therefore the woman, in the work of redemption, is 
 strictly the power of Christ Jesus in the fullness and perfection 
 of his order ; and by this union of the Holy Spirit, between the 
 man and the woman, the accuser of the brethren was cast down, 
 and both male and female overcame him, and all his false and 
 foul accusations, by jointly living the life of the Lamh, and by 
 the word of their testimony. 
 
 25. Then, as the same Spirit and Word of life, that brought 
 forth the first man in the new creation, brought forth also the 
 first woman in the' same divine nature ; so the enmity of the 
 dragon was equally stirred up against the woman, as it had been 
 against the man. Therefore, to the woman were given two Rev. lii. 
 wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, ^^ 
 into her place. This applies particularly to the woman we have 
 
4].2 REVELATIONS BELATING TO MOTHEK. B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. IX. described as tte Mother of tlie new creation; and in her it was 
 fulfilled in the most clear and positive manner. 
 
 26. "When she was brought forth into the new creation, for 
 salvation and strength, the same persecuting spirit by which 
 Jesus was put to death, raged ILkeSrise against her — by distress, 
 false judgment, and repeated imprisonments ; but by the protec- 
 tion of God, she was delivered from the hands of her enemies. 
 He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and was taken away 
 
 *Heb. dis- by distress * and false judgment. So in him, that prophecy was 
 
 MargS spiritually and literally fulfilled; and in her, it was also fulfilled 
 
 B'Wi^'.. both spiritually and literally. 
 
 Ua. liii. 7, 2^^ S-coxD. the prison of the wicked, and from the judgment of 
 antichrist she was taken ; and on the wings of liberty and indepen- 
 dence, she flew into the wilderness of America, where God intended 
 to establish the foundation of this spiritual building, which he had 
 promised to accomplish in the latter days ; and there, in her 
 appointed place, (in a remote part of Niskeuna,) she was nourished 
 
 Rev. xii. 6, for a time, times, and half a time, or three years and a half, 
 
 14. &ixi. xmtil the opening of the testimony of "the eve? lasting gospel " 
 in America, in the year 1780. 
 
 28. Let it be observed here, that the woman clothed with the 
 sun, who fled into the spiritual wilderness for the space of twelve 
 hundred and sixty days, or yiears, and the woman who flew into 
 the literal wilderness for a time, times, and half a time, are 
 distinctly two; and the periods of time also, are two distinct 
 periods — the latter period commencing after the former closed. 
 
 29. It was at the close of the latter period, that the woman 
 last mentioned, was called forth out of her excluded retreat from 
 the world, and openly arrayed in her true spiritual apparel, 
 fine linen, clean and v:hite; which is the righteousness or [Sixaiu- 
 
 (Aara] the righteous acts of the saints. 
 Rev. lix. 30. And then was heard, in truth and reality, a great voice of 
 1-8- much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia ! Salvation, and glory, 
 
 and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God — For the niarri- 
 
 age of the Lamb is come, and the Bride, his wife, hath made 
 
 herself ready. 
 
 31. Marriage is for the purpose of multiplying seed, and rais- 
 ing up a family; therefore, as she was now a queen, and the 
 
 Psai. xiv. mother of the king's children, it was- said, She shall be brought 
 
 ^- "^ ^*- unto the king, in glorious apparel, in clothing of wrought gold, 
 
 in rairHent of needle work. And after being brought, with the 
 
 virgins her companions, in robes of needle work, the angry 
 
 dragon soon commenced a war of malicious words with the 
 
 Bev. xu. remnant of her seed or children, who keep the commandments of 
 
 "• God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. ] 
 
 32. They that are joined to the Lord are 07te spirit; for two, 
 saith he, shall be one. And the two who become one spirit in 
 
B. VIII. REVELATIONS RELATING TO MOTHER. 413 
 
 the Lord, are man and woman, redeemed and purified from the chap.ix. 
 power and influence of the fall, and these tVM agree in one, and 
 that in which they agree, is the one ivord of their testimony. 
 
 33. Hence there are three that bear witness on earth, namely, 
 the first Father and Mother of redemption, and the one word of 
 their testimony, which liveth and abideth forever; and these 
 three are one, and bear a perfect correspondence to the three 
 
 that bear record in heaven, namely, the Father, and Wisdom, i John, t. 
 and the Holy Spirit of divine power and influence, which is the '^' 
 word of life proceeding from the two, and by which all things 
 were created that are created. 
 
 34. Nothing in nature can be begotten without a begetter, and 
 nothing can be conceived without a conceiver, and nothing can 
 be either begotten or conceived, without a corresponding influence 
 between two ; and hence there are three that hear witness in i John. v. 
 earth, the spirit, the water, and the blond: and these three ^' 
 agree in one. And by these three, all things are begotten, con- 
 ceived and brought forth into existence, in regard to time : this 
 
 is a true type of the work of regeneration. 
 
 35. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is 
 greater. If there be a correspondent relation of one thing with 
 another, in regard to the things of time, much more so in regard 
 to the things of eternity ; and if the primitive order and perfection 
 of the natural and visible creation of man was glorious, the order 
 and relation of the spiritual and invisible is much more perfect 
 and glorious. 
 
 36. Then as the three that bear record on earth, bear a cor- 
 respondence to the three that bear record in heaven ; so each 
 derive their attributes from that mutual correspondence. The 
 first spiritual Father of man's redemption, is the image and 
 likeness of Him that was from everlasting. The first spiritual 
 Mother is the image and likeness of Her that was with Him from Pro''- ™- 
 everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. 
 
 37. And the spirit of life, in the one joint testimony or word 
 of the eternal Father and Mother, by which their spiritual 
 children are begotten, conceived, and brought forth in the new 
 creation, and by which all things are created anew in Christ 
 Jesus, is the revealed glory and correspondent power and wisdom prov. i. i, 
 of that Word which proceeded and came forth from God, which j'^^^. ; ^ 
 was in the beginning with God, and which was God, and by 
 
 which all things were made that were made, and without which John, i. 3. 
 was not any thin^ made that vjas made. 
 
 38. Therefore, according to the unchangeable purpose of God, 
 which he purposed in himself before the foundation of the world, 
 he hath brought forth the foundation pillars of the new creation ; 
 the correspondent agents and declarative glory of the Eternal 
 Parentage ; who have finished and completed the foundation of 
 
414 EVIDENCES ACCOMPANYING B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. X. Grod's spiritual building in heaven and on earth; and which 
 spiritual building, is founded in the Divine Natitre by lihe 
 most infallible evidences. 
 
 39. And therefore, until the whole order of heaven be sup- 
 planted and overthrown, the foundation of the church can never 
 be moved, nor the pillars thereof shaken ; but according to that 
 promise, Yet once more, the work and building of God wUl go 
 on to the final removing of those things that are shaken, as of 
 
 Heb.xii. things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken 
 
 97 
 
 may remain. 
 
 3U. 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 EVIDENCES ACCOMPANYING THE SECOND APPEARING OP 
 CHRIST. 
 
 The work of God, in relation to the redemption of man, being 
 beyond human comprehension, has been always mistaken by the 
 most wise and penetrating, in their natural state ; and therefore, 
 it is not surprising, that such should wholly mistake the nature 
 of that evidence, b}' which it is confirmed to those who are actually 
 in it. 
 
 2. In this, however, as well as in every thing else, vain man 
 has assumed the authority of prescribing to God ; and, without 
 regarding the presumptuous mistakes of former generations, every 
 one is ready to lay out, in his own imaginations, what evidence is 
 necessary to accompany a living testimony, in order to give it 
 divine credit and authority. But the truth never was acceptable 
 to sinful man, nor can any evidence^ even of his own choosing, 
 bind him to believe and obey it. 
 
 3. The greatest external wonders that ever God wrought in 
 confirmation of his word, were followed by the greatest and most 
 aggravated unbelief, and hardness of heart ; as is evident from 
 the history of Noah's posterity after the flood, and the Israelites 
 in the wilderness. 
 
 4. The greatest objection against the testimony of Christ, in 
 John, Ti. his first appearance was, want of evidence. What sign shewest 
 
 thoti that ice may believe ? They pretended that they would 
 believe upon the evidence of such mighty works as their fathers 
 had seen in the wilderness ; but their hatred of the truth, and 
 their fondness to find objections against it, proved that they had 
 
B. VIII. THE SECOND APPEAKING OF CHRIST. 415 
 
 the same spirit as their fathers, who for forty years, provoked chap. x. 
 God in the wilderness, with their objections and cavils. 
 
 5. Hence the Spirit of truth, that was then grieved, and pro- 
 voked, by a generation of proud Pharisees, and deceitful hypo- 
 crites, predicted by the mouth of Saint Paul, that when Christ 
 should make his second appearance, to reveal the man of sin, 
 
 even him, whose coming is in theTn that perish, after, or [G-r. sThes. iL 
 xarct] according to the working of Satan, with all power, and ' ' ' 
 signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of un- 
 righteousness; because they received not the love of the truth, 
 that they might be saved. This man of sin the Lord would con- 
 sume with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy with the bright- 
 ness of his coming. 
 
 6. And for this cause God should send (or suffer them to 
 choose,) strong delusion, to believe a lie, that they might be 
 damned, who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in un- 
 righteousness. Nothing but a principle of love to truth, and 
 obedience flowing from that principle, ever saved any soul ; nor 
 were any of those visible miracles and wonders, which are left on 
 record, wrought for the immediate purpose of saving the soul. 
 
 7. Yet, in condescension to mankind, in their imprisoned state 
 of darkness and sensuality, God has, in every dispensation of his 
 grace, addressed their external senses with evidences of his 
 Divine power, for the purpose of strengthening the faith of the 
 weak believer, in that which was saving, and to stop the mouths 
 of gainsayers. 
 
 8. And however grossly the present testimony, and work of 
 Christ, has been misrepresented, and stigmatized, as an unfounded, 
 and incredible invention of the worst of human characters, it has 
 by no means been lacking in such kind of evidence, as sufficiently 
 demonstrated its intimate and close relation to the work that was 
 manifested in the primitive Church, even to the external senses 
 of natural men. 
 
 9. The spirit is unchangeably one and the same at all times ; 
 but the manifestation of the spirit may be various, by means of 
 supernatural and extraordinary gifts. Many extraordinary gifts 
 were in the primitive church : such as gifts of healing ; working 
 of miracles ; prophecy ; discerning of spirits ; divers kinds of 
 tongues ; the interpretation of tongues, &c. ; yet all these were 
 not for salvation, but for the outward manifestation of that in- 
 ward spirit, by which salvation is wrought. 
 
 10. Such evidences have existed in the Church of Christ from 
 the first opening of the Gospel to the present day ; as such out- 
 ward gifts have been abundantly ministered through our Mother, 
 and the first witnesses, and from them to others, and frequently 
 
 used on various occasions. Mat.Tii.23. 
 
 11. It is true, wicked men have often had extraordinary gifts, 
 
416 EVIDENCES AOCOMPANTINQ B. YIII. 
 
 CHAP X . yvrjjjgjj jjave given occasion to their pride'and vanity, from Vfhich 
 offences have arisen against the true exercise of a Divine Power; 
 and therefore such things are not to he the most earnestly- 
 coveted ; nor is the real internal saving work of the spirit therehy 
 certainly evidenced. The Spirit is known by its fruit, and the 
 fruits of the Spirit, which are invariably the same in all, are very 
 different from those extraordinary gifts which are severallv 
 divided, and may exist even where the real fruits of the Spirit are 
 not to be found. 
 
 12. However, as these gifts originally flow from the Spirit, and 
 belong to the Church, they are of importance in their proper 
 place, and have been abundantly used in the first opening of the 
 Gospel in America. Therefore, it may not be improper to notice 
 here, a few instances of that miraculous power, by which the 
 most stubborn unbelievers were confounded, and the faith of 
 others strengthened, who continue to be living witnesses of the 
 truth, to the present day. 
 
 13. It has been remarked that Pharoah's wise men and sor- 
 cerers could mimic the miracles of Moses, in such things, as were 
 productive of evil ; but those evils they could not remove, which 
 showed that the evil spirit had neither power nor disposition to 
 do good. Hence such miracles as were of benefit to mankind, 
 have been most generally considered as a distinguishing confirma- 
 tion of the spirit of goodness and truth ; and upon this principle, 
 the gift of healing has been the most universally ascribed to the 
 Spirit of Christ. 
 
 14. Therefore, although a multitude of facts of a like extra- 
 ordinary appearance, might have been collected from the living 
 witnesses of the present work of God ; yet, to the candid and 
 honest friend of truth, the following particulars may be sufficient 
 to show that the same Spirit, which wrought by Christ Jesus and 
 his Apostles, was made manifest for the confirmation of the truth 
 in this latter day.* 
 
 15. Noah "Wheaten, of New-Lebanon, in the State of New- 
 York, aged sixty-four years, testifies : That shortly after he had 
 received the faith in the testimony of Christ's second appearing, 
 in the year 1780, near the beginning of July, (according to the 
 best of his remembrance,) being employed in clearing land, about 
 forty or fifty rods from his own house, and being thirsty, he left 
 
 * The manner in wHcli we have stated these miiacolons gifts, is not snch as would 
 have been the most agreeable to our own feelings, were our testimony to be con- 
 fined to our friends and those who are personally acquainted with our people. 
 Among ourselves, a plain and simple statement of the truth is sufficient, without 
 the formal ceremony of an affidavit, to enforce it. But the world of mankind have 
 become so faithless towards each other, that they cannot believe, nor be believed, 
 without something like legal attestation ; therefore, in conformity to general 
 practice, we have stated these evidences, after the manner of depositions, signed 
 and witnessed ; and we are willing that any who are desirous of further informa- 
 tion, should make personal enquiry. 
 
B. VIII. THE SECOND APPEARING OP CHRIST. 417 
 
 his work to go to a spring on the opposite side of a fence, near chap, x . 
 hy, to get some drink. That having mounted the fence, which 
 was very high, in jumping off, by a mis-step, dislocated his ancle 
 outwardly, and split or. broke the outer bone, of his leg, just 
 above the ancle joint. 
 
 16. That after groaning and wallowing in this situation a 
 while, he crawled to the spring, and back to the place where he 
 had been at work. That although he was unable to go on with 
 his work, he was yet unwilling to return to his house, or to make 
 his case known, on account of the enmity of his unbelieving 
 neighbors, to whom he had often testified his faith, as he had 
 nothing to expect from them but derision. 
 
 17. That his ancle began to swell, and the pain increased, yet 
 there he continued, tumbling and rolling about, for the space of 
 two or three hours, in great distress of mind as well as pain of 
 body. That at length he crawled home on his hands and knees, 
 aud although under extreme mortification of spirit for this mis- 
 fortune, yet he was full of faith and confidence in the gift of 
 miracles, which he bad before strongly testified to his unbelieving 
 neighbors. 
 
 18. That he felt the trial of his faith now come, and was, 
 therefore, resolved not to mar his testimony by flinching from it, 
 in the hour of trial ; but feeling full confidence in the gift of Grod, 
 he refused to have a doctor called, or any attempt made to set 
 the bone, or even any outward application, for the mitigation of 
 his pain. That, consequently, his ancle and leg swelled greatly, 
 turned black, and was excessively painful. , 
 
 19. That, while in this situation, numbers of his unbelieving 
 neighbors came to see him, and also several of the believers; 
 but still confident in the faith of a miraculous cure, and desiring 
 to confirm bis testimony to his neighbors, he would not submit 
 to the ordinary means of relief.* That thus he continued, from 
 about two o'clock in the afternoon till the evening of the follow- 
 ing day ; during which time, his mind was in agonizing labor to 
 G-odfor a miraculous cure; which, with his extreme pain, forced 
 the sweat in plentiful effusions, from every pore of his body. 
 
 20. At length, as his family, consisting of ten in number, were 
 assembled at their evening worship, in the room where he was 
 then sitting upon a chest, the power of God came suddenly upon 
 
 * To some who are strangers to NoaK Wheaten, Jiis perseverance in refusing tte 
 ordinary means of relief, may seem incredible ; -while others may be ready to im- 
 pute it to enthusiastic madness ; it may therefore be proper to remark here, that, 
 as a man in nature, he was well known to be a person of singular courage, and in- 
 vincible fortitude. He was formerly a seafaring man, and employed as a captain 
 of a vessel, mostly in the whale fishery ; and having passed through many trying 
 scenes, he often had his courage and fortitude put to the severest test. _ And as his 
 enterprising zeal was not easily frustrated, in wordly adventures ; so in his faith, 
 he could not be readily brought to yield his testimony to the enemies of the cross 
 of Christ. 
 
418 EVIDENCES ACCOMPANTINQ B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. X. jjim^ anij ]ie tras instantly hurled from his seat, and set upon his 
 feet, and whirled swiftly round, like a top, for the space of two 
 hours, without the least pain or inconvenience. That he then 
 retired to rest, well and comfortable, and the next morning, arose 
 in health, took his team and went to plowing. 
 
 21. The said Noah Wheaten further testifies, as a remarkable 
 fact, that his unbelieving neighbors, who were knowing to this 
 dislocation of his ancle, hearing of his miraculous cure, came to 
 his house and desired to see his ancle. That, accordingly, he 
 uncovered it before them ; at this instant, a sharp pain, like the 
 piercing of a dagger, passed through his ancle, and that this was 
 repeated as often as he showed it, for several days afterwards. 
 That otherwise he has suifered no inconvenience from it, from 
 that time to this ; but that ancle has remained as sound as the 
 other. 
 
 22. That happening afterwards to mention this circumstance 
 to Mother, she said. It vias their unbelief which pierced his 
 ancle, and that he had no business to show it to them. 
 
 Taken from the mouth of the said Noah Wheaten, the 21st of 
 April, 1808. In presence of Richard Spier, Stephen Munson, 
 Daniel Goodrich, and Seth Y. Wells. 
 
 Signed, NOAH AVHEATEN. 
 
 2.3. Sarah Kibbee, of New-Lebanon, testifies : That when a 
 child, she was very weakly; that her weakness finally settled 
 in her left foot. That, beside other medical attendance, she was 
 Tinder the care of Doctor Millard, during one whole summer, and 
 found no relief. That her foot and leg withered, and seemed to 
 perish. That the cords of her ham were so contracted, that she 
 was unable to straighten her leg, or set her foot to the floor. 
 That for the space of a year and a half, she used cratches 
 altogether. That sometime about the middle of March, 1781, 
 being then in the 16th year of her age, she went with Noah 
 Wheaten from Hancock, where she then lived, to Niskeuna, 
 (now Watervliet) where Mother and the elders resided. 
 
 24. That here she was left, though much against her will. 
 That being a cripple, and young and bashful, she was treated 
 with great kindness and gentleness. That she had no faith in the 
 testimony of the people, nor any convictions of sin, although her 
 parents had believed before. That labors were made with her, 
 and after a few days she received faith, and confessed her sins. 
 That the next day, being the first day of the week, as she was 
 sitting in a chair. Elder William Lee came into the room, took 
 hold of her foot, and stroked it with his hands, saying. According 
 to thy failh, so be it unto thee. That, soon after. Mother came 
 into the room, and bade her, put away her wooden staves, and 
 lean upon Christ. 
 
B. VIII. THE SECOND APPEARING OP CHRIST. 419 
 
 25. That she immediately received strength, laid away her ohap. x. 
 crutches, and has never used any since, but was restored to per- 
 fect soundness, so that her foot and leg, which before was, at least, 
 
 one quarter less than the other, was, in every respaot, restored 
 equal with the other. That she went forth in the worship of Grod, 
 afterwards to work, and has never felt the least symptom of her 
 old infirmity from that day to this. 
 
 Taken from the mouth of the said Sarah Kibbee, April 21, 
 1808. In the presence of Hannah Chauncey, Amos Slower, B. 
 Goodrich, and S. Y. Wells. 
 
 Signed. SARAH KIBBEE. 
 
 26. Hannah Gogsmvei,!,, oi New-Lebanon, testifies: that the 
 above mentioned Sarah Kibbee's miraculous cure was wrought 
 in her presence. Noah Wheaten also states, as a remarkable 
 instance of obstinate unbelief and determined opposition in the 
 world of mankind against the truth, that having often labored 
 with two men, his neighbors, (by name, Gideon and Simeon 
 Martin,) to convict them of the truth of the testimony which he 
 had received. And that they, knowing that the people professed 
 faith in the gift of miracles, had said that, if the Shakers would 
 cure Sarah Kibbee, they would believe in them. 
 
 27. That, accordingly, after her miraculous cure, these men 
 having seen her, he reminded them of their promise, as they must 
 now be convinced that Sarah Kibbee was restored. That they 
 replied, that if they should see the Shakers cut a man in two, 
 and put him together again, and heal him, they would not believe. 
 
 28. Phebe Spencer, of New-Lebanon, aged seventy-three, 
 years, testifies : That in the year 1781, in the month of November, 
 (according to the best of her remembrance,) having been in the 
 faith about two months, and living then in Stephentown, she 
 went in company with her husband Jabesh Spencer, (since 
 deceased) to see a young woman, about fifteen miles distant, and 
 that on their return home, (being the first day of the week) in 
 crossing a bridge, within about twenty rods of their own house, 
 a part of the bridge gave way, her horse fell through, and she 
 falling backwards, came with her right side upon one of the 
 string-pieces of the bridge, was taken up senseless, and carried 
 into the house by Jabesh and others, who assembled at the place. 
 
 29. That, soon after, she came to herself, and perceived that 
 her ribs were broken in such a manner that she was unable to 
 speak, or breathe without screeching. That she could sensibly 
 feel and hear the broken ends of her ribs grate against each 
 other, at every breath she drew. That her neighbors, who had 
 assembled on the occasion, urged her to send for a doctor to let 
 blood, or to do something for her; but although she was in 
 extreme pain and distress, she could not feel freedom of mind to 
 do it. 
 
420 EVIDENCES ACCOMPANYING B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. X. 30. That Jabesh was also urged to get a doctor ; which, on 
 account of her feelings, he also declined. That this unwilling- 
 ness in her, was considered by her neighbors as obstinate wilful- 
 ness, and they said that, because she was a Shaker, she had set 
 herself against receiving help from doctors, and earnestly pressed 
 her to send for one ; but she still refused, and thus continued, 
 without any mitigation of distress, till the Tuesday following, 
 when Jabesh came into the room, and reminded her of the 
 
 Jm.v. 14. Apostle James' advice. Is any sick among you, let him call for 
 the elders of the Church, <f-c. ; he proposed to send for Hezekiah 
 Hammond, and others of the Believers. That she immediately 
 consented. Aocordipgly, Hezekiah Hammond and Jcel Pratt 
 were sent for, and came about sunset. 
 
 31. That they entered the room, where she sat bolstered up 
 in her bed ; that Hezekiah came and took hold of her hand, and 
 bade her labor for the power of God, and take faith. That she 
 was immediately seized with a shaking, like one in a strong fit 
 of the ague, which so far released her, that she was able to speak 
 and breathe without difficulty ; but that her pain still continued, 
 and she was yet unable to move or help herself; that she, how- 
 ever, rested some that night. That the next morning, after 
 breakfast, Hezekiah came again in the room and assembled all 
 the family, that were then at home, consisting of her husband, 
 two sons, and seven daughters, and desired them aU to kneel 
 down with him. 
 
 32. That they accordingly kneeled, which was very, contrary 
 to the feelings of her children, as they were all in opposition to the 
 faith. That after continuing on their knees a few minutes, they 
 arose, and Hezekiah came to the bed side,- took her by the hand, 
 and desired her to get up. That, with some difficulty, she got 
 up and sat in a chair. That they again kneeled in a circle round 
 her, after which Hezekiah bade her stand up ; which she accord- 
 ingly did. That he then put one hand upon her head, and the 
 other upon her side, at which she felt such a glow of the power 
 of God, as she was unable to describe, which first struck her 
 head, and then ran down her right side ; instantly she felt her 
 ribs sensibly press outward against his hand, and her side was 
 immediately healed. 
 
 83. That he then led her several times across the floor; but 
 having taken no nourishment since her fall, she was weak. That 
 he bade her sit down and take food, which she did. That after- 
 wards he bade her walk herself, and she walked, and felt well and 
 comfortable. That after some salutary advice he left her. That, 
 at evening, a number of the believers came to the house, and she 
 assembled with them, and went forth in the worship of God with 
 greater power than she had ever done before. 
 
 34. That she has continued from that day to this, without the 
 
B. VIIl. THE SECOND APPEAEING 01' CHRIST. 421 
 
 least symptom of pain or inconvenience, arising from her fall ; chap, x. 
 and that this miraculous gift of God struck conviction all around, 
 and was a means of bringing her whole famUy, and many others 
 into the faith. 
 
 Taken from the mouth of the said Phebe Spencer, April 22, 
 1808. In presence of Sarah Slosson, Amos Stower, D. Good- 
 rick, and Selh Y. Wells. 
 
 Signed, PHEBE SPENCEK. 
 
 N. -B. Mary and Salome Spencer, daughters of the said Phehe 
 Spencer, testify to the truth of the above account ; and that it was 
 the means of bringing them into the faith, and also many others. 
 
 35. Richard Treat, of New-Lebanon, testifies : That in the 
 year 1781, sometime in July, (according to the best of his re- 
 membrance,) his son Truman, then about fifteen months old, 
 having been, for about ten days, violently sick, appeared to be 
 perfectly senseless and near dying. That being distressed in 
 his mind for the child, he went over the mountain to Hancock, 
 to see Elder John Hocknell, and requested of him that he would 
 home and lay his hand upon the child ; for he had faith that he 
 could heal the child. 
 
 36. That Elder Hocknell, having labored in his mind a few 
 minutes, was seized with the power of God in outward operations, 
 came up to him, and struck him on the hand several times, then 
 bade him go home, nothing doubting, and lay his hand upon 
 the child, and he should see tlie glory of God. That this threw 
 him into great tribulation, fearing lost his faith should fail him, 
 and he should not be able to heal the child. That he returned 
 home, praying every step of the way, that God would strengthen 
 his faith. 
 
 37. That he came into the house, and walking the floor in 
 great tribulation, was suddenly seized with the power of God, in 
 the same manner that Elder Hocknell had been ; and going to 
 the child, who then lay in his mother's lap, he first laid his hand 
 upon the child, then took him from his mother, placed him upon 
 his arm, and holding him with his other hand, carried him several 
 times around the room. That the child immediately came to his 
 senses, laughed, and appeared hright and lively. That he then 
 returned him to his mother, lively and well ; and that he con- 
 tinued so, without any return of his disorder. 
 
 Taken from the mouth of the said Richard Treat, April 22, 
 1808. In the presence of John Farrington, Daniel Goodrich, 
 and Seth Y. Wells. 
 
 Signed, EICHARD TEBAT. 
 
 N. B. Sarah Treat, the mother of the child, gives the same 
 account of this miraculous cure, which was wrought in her pre- 
 sence, and in the presence of several of the family. 
 
422 EVIDENCES ACCOMPANYING B. VIII. 
 
 ^'^^^^ ^ 38. John Faeeington, of New-Lebanon, testifies: That at 
 the age of four or five years, being at school, about two miles 
 from home, he had his left ancle put out of joint, and was carried 
 home in great pain and distress. That two or three days after- 
 wards, he was carried to Dr. Thompson's in Somers, State of 
 Connecticut. That the doctor being absent, his wife (who also 
 professed some skill in bone-setting,) undertook to set the ancle ; 
 but it being greatly swelled, was not effectually done, which 
 occasioned a continual weakness afterwards, and was, at times, 
 very painful. 
 
 39. That at the age of twenty, (being the year 1780,) he 
 heard and embraced the testimony of the Grospel ; but was stiU 
 subject to lameness, and often to that degree, that his whole lee 
 would swell up to his knee, and be very painful. That having, 
 for some years, expected it to terminate in a fever sore, he 
 applied to Calvin Harlow, who was then a physician among the 
 Believers ; and that outward applications were made, from time 
 to time, but to no effect. 
 
 40. That in the month of December, 1789, his lameness 
 having greatly increased, he was in much tribulation about it. 
 That both himself and the doctor had great apprehensions that he 
 would remain a cripple during life. That his leg was greatly 
 swelled, attended with a high fever, so that he was confined to 
 his room for several days. 
 
 41. That as he was sitting one evening, with his leg across his 
 knee, his hand clasping his ancle, which was then in extreme 
 pain, [William Safford being present,) Eleazar Rand came 
 suddenly into the room, and without speaking, placed a chair 
 near him. Perceiving that Eleazar had a, gift of God for him, 
 he immediately removed his leg from his knee into the chair, and 
 Eleazar, at the same time, taking another chair, sat down by 
 hLm, placed his leg upon his (i.e. John's) leg, and sat in that 
 position three or four minutes, then rose up and left the room; 
 but soon returned, sat down and placed his leg in the same man- 
 ner the second time. 
 
 42. That this was done seven times, without a word spoken by 
 either of them. That the pain ceased, the swelling abated, and 
 his leg was immediately restored \diole and sound as the other, 
 and has continued so from that da^ to this. 
 
 43. "William Saffoed, of New-Lebanon, being present, 
 testifies to the truth of this miraculous cure. The said John 
 Farrington and William Safford also testify. That they were 
 afterwards informed that Elder Henry Cluff, Job Bishop and 
 Eleazar Rand, were, at the time mentioned, sitting in silence in 
 a room in the upper part of the meeting house, near by : that Job 
 Bishop suddenly rose out of his seat, and bade Eleazar Rand, go 
 and lay his leg on John's leg, without saying, what John, or where. 
 
B. VIII. THE SECOND APPEARING OF CHRIST. 423 
 
 44. That Eleazar instantly obeyed, and was led, by the power chap, x . 
 of Grod, to the house, and into an upper room, where the said 
 
 John Farringion was then sitting, as before mentioned ; and 
 that, returning to the meeting house, he was met by Job Bishop 
 at the head of the stairs, who bade him go again till seven 
 times, which he accordingly did.* 
 
 Taken from the mouths of the said John Farringion and 
 William Saffor.d, April 22, 1808. In presence of Daniel Good- 
 rich and Seth Y. Wells. 
 
 Signed, JOHN FAERINGTON, 
 
 WILLIAM SAPFORD. 
 
 45. Jennet Davis, of Hancock, testifies: That in the month 
 of May, 1783, (being then in the twenty-first year of her age,) 
 she had a tooth extracted from her lower jar, on the right side; 
 and it being the furthermost tooth, the jaw was much injured by 
 the operation, and was very sore, which afterwards terminated 
 in an issue which occasioned a very offensive breath. 
 
 46. That some time in August following, she took cold in her 
 jaw, which occasioned it to swell very much, and was attended 
 with a high fever and great pain. That outward applications 
 were made for her relief, but without efiFect : That the swelling 
 still increased, till her face, and neck, on that side, was swelled 
 nearly even with her shoulder, her head turned over her opposite 
 shoulder, and her jaws set, in such a manner, that for the space 
 of six days, she could take no nourishment, except what she 
 sucked through her teeth. 
 
 47. That one afternoon, about the beginning of September, 
 Elder John Hoclcnell came to the house where she then lived, 
 [in Richmond near Hancock, Berkshire county, Massachusetts,^ 
 and tarried till evening, when the people assembled to the num- 
 ber of forty, and went forth in the worship of Grod with great 
 power: That she attempted to unite, but was scarcely able to 
 move, when Elder Hocknell came up to her, put his hand upon 
 her face, and bade her labor for the healing poiuer of God; that 
 her face immediately felt warm, and the pain left her, so that she 
 went forth and labored in the worship of God with great power. 
 
 48. That after meeting, she retired to rest, and slept comfort- 
 ably, which she had not done for many nights before. That the 
 next morning she awoke, well and comfortably — the swelling was 
 entirely gone, and she arose in perfect health ; and that she has 
 had no return of the disorder from that time to this. 
 
 Taken from the mouth of the said Jennet Davis, April 23d, 
 
 * Since the first edition of this work wag publialied, the testimony of Job Bishop, 
 of Canterbury, in New-Hampshire, has been given in confirmation of these 
 particnlar oircnmstances. 
 
424 EVIDENCES ACCOMPANYING B. VIII, 
 
 CHAP X. 1808. In the presence of Mary Southioick, Daniel Cogswell, 
 Daniel Goodrich, and Seth Y. Wells, R. Clark, J. Demndng, 
 J. Southwick. 
 
 Signed, JENNET DAVIS. 
 
 49. Makt Southwick, of Hancock, testifies: That about the 
 beginning of August, 1783, (being then in the twenty-first year 
 of her age,) she was healed of a cancer in her mouth, which had 
 been growing two years, and which, for about three weeks, had 
 been eating, attended with great pain and a continual running, 
 and which occasioned great weakness and loss of appetite. 
 
 50. That she went, one afternoon to see Calvin Harlow, to 
 get some assistance; that Mother being at the house, Calvin 
 asked her to look at it. That she accordingly came to her, and 
 put her finger into her mouth upon the cancer ; at which instant 
 the pain left her, and she was restored to health, and was never 
 afflicted with it afterwards. 
 
 Taken from the mouth of the said Mary Southwick, the 23d 
 day of April, 1808. In presence of Jennet Davis, Rebecca 
 Clark, Daniel Cogswell, Daniel Goodrich and Seth Y. Wells, 
 Signed, MARY SOUTHWICK. 
 
 51. Jerusha Bigblow, of Hancock, in the month of Octo- 
 ber, 1785, was taken suddenly sick with the canker-rash, which 
 increased to such a degree that her life was despaired of. She 
 was senseless for some time ; had a very high fever ; her tongue 
 swelled and cracked open. One Friday evening, the famUy ex- 
 pecting that she would die before morning, had made preparations 
 to lay her out. 
 
 52. On Saturday morning, her father went for Anna Good- 
 rich, who lived about a mile distant, having faith to believe that 
 Anna could cure his daughter. Annaxa-me, and after kneehng 
 by the bed side, and praying to Grod for a gift of healing, which 
 receiving, she laid her hand upon Jerusha, (who appeared to be 
 near dying,) and her fever left her, and she felt herself im- 
 mediately well, rose from her bed, and walked into another room, 
 and in a short time recovered her strength. 
 
 So testifies, 
 
 JERUSHA BIGELOW, 
 ELCE BIG-ELOW, 
 ANNA GOODRICH. 
 
 In presence of Daniel Goodrich, Seth Y. Wells, and a num- 
 ber of other witnesses. April 23, 1808. 
 
 53. Enoch Pease, (now living at Enfield, in Connecticut,) 
 when about two years old, was taken very sick, and senseless, 
 and like to die. Joseph Markham went to see the child, felt a 
 gift to kneel down, with several of the family, by the side of th 
 
B. VIII. THE SECOND APPEARING OF CHRIST. 425 
 
 cradle where the child lay ; and laying his hands upon the child, chap, x . 
 
 he was immediately restored to health, and soon after went to 
 
 play with the rest of the children. 
 So testifies 
 
 JEMIMA PEASE, and 
 JOSEPH MAKKHAM. 
 
 In presence of D. Goodrich, S. Y. Wells, and others. 
 Hancock, April 23d, 1808. 
 
 54. Susannah Cook, of Hancock, testifies: That in the 
 spring of the year 1783, (according to the test of her remem- 
 brance,) she was healed of an issue or fever sore, under which 
 she had suffered very much for the space of seven years, and 
 could find no relief from doctors, though much labor and pains 
 were taken for her recovery. 
 
 55. That having faith to be healed by a gift of God, she went 
 six miles, to Luther Cogswell's, where a number of the brethren 
 and sisters were assembled. That her feelings led her to apply 
 for a healing gift to Anna Nortkmp, who was then laboring under 
 great power of God. That she received a healing gift from 
 Anna's hand, which instantly restored her. 
 
 56. That previous to her receiving this gift, she was not able 
 to walk one mile without great difficulty, and greatly increasing 
 her disorder ; but that she was never troubled with her old com- 
 plaint afterwards. That soon after, she traveled about forty 
 miles on foot, [to Watervliet,] and could travel any distance on 
 foot without any inconvenience. 
 
 Taken from the mouth of the said Susannah Cook, the 23d 
 day of April, 1808. In presence of Daniel Goodrich, Seih Y. 
 Wells, and others. 
 
 Signed, SUSANNAH COOK. 
 
 57. Mart Turner, of New-Lebanon, testifies : That her son 
 Jonathan, (since deceased,) being about nine or ten years of age, 
 was chopping wood, at some distance from home, and by a stroke 
 of the ax, received a very bad wound on the top of his foot : [his 
 father, Gideon Turner, testifies that he could lay his finger, at 
 length, in the wound.] That he was brought home, and she see- 
 ing it bleed excessively, was greatly troubled, not knowing what 
 to do for it. 
 
 58. That she went into another room, kneeled down and cried 
 to God, and soon felt the power of God run down her arm, and 
 into her right hand— instantly her hand seemed to be filled with 
 the power of God, accompanied with such a delicious balsamic 
 smell, as she was unable to describe. That feeling confident 
 that it was a gift of healing for her son, she returned directly 
 into the room and put her hand on the wound, and it instantly 
 
 28 
 
426 REMARKS ON THE EVIDENCE OF B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. XT. ceased bleeding. She then walked the floor; came again and 
 laid on her hand a second time ; this she repeated seven times, 
 gently stroking the wound, during which time, it closed up and 
 was healed, leaving only a small seam. 
 
 59. That she then bound it up. This being Saturday after- 
 noon, the next morning she unbound it, and found no other 
 appearance of the wound than a small white seam, resembling a 
 white thread ; after which he attended meeting, went forth in the 
 worship of Grod, was fully restored, and found no inconvenience 
 from the wound afterwards. 
 
 60. Gideon further testifies, that while Mary (the child's 
 mother) was stroking the wound, he saw the flesh gradually 
 gather and close up, leaving only a small red streak, about the 
 size of a knitting needle; and that he was restored as above 
 described. 
 
 Taken from the mouths of the said Mary and Gideon, April 
 25th, 1808. In the presence of Daniel Goodrich, Seik Y. Wells 
 and others. 
 
 Signed, MARY TURNEll, 
 
 GIDEON TURNER. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 REMARKS ON THE EVIDENCE OP CHRIST'S SECOND 
 APPEARING. 
 
 There were many instances of miraculous cures of diseases, of 
 almost every kind, which never were published" abroad, being 
 known at the time, only among the people themselves. The in- 
 stances inserted in the foregoing chapter, are but few out of 
 many, which were of such a nature as could not be hid ; most of 
 them were circumstantially known to the world, and of which 
 there are many living witnesses to this day. 
 
 2. Tet such was the bitter opposition of the generality to the 
 way of Grod, that many either impiously denied, and contradicted 
 abroad, what they knew to be facts, or maliciously slandered 
 what they could neither contradict nor deny. 
 
 3. This, however, was but little regarded by the Believers, 
 as such extaordinary and occasional gifts made no essential part 
 
B. VIII. Christ's second appearing. 427 
 
 of the foundation of their faith ; and knowing, also, that such chap.xi. 
 kind of evidence would decrease and be withdrawn from the 
 world, in proportion as the true spiritual substance of the Gospel 
 increased. 
 
 4. It was not that miraculous power which operates upon the 
 body, but that which purifies and saves the soul from the nature 
 of sin, that the truly wise and discerning believer esteemed the 
 most ; yet for every operation of the power of God, they were 
 thankful, and nothing which they received was in vain. 
 
 5. And doubtless the end was answered for which those 
 miraculous gifts were given, inasmuch as they confirmed the faith 
 of the weak, removed the prejudices of many who were doubtful, 
 and took away every just ground of objection from the enemies 
 of the cross of Christ. 
 
 6. Yet some might pretend to object, that the miracles wrought 
 by Mother, and by the first elders and others, through her min- 
 istration, were neither so numerous nor so great as those that 
 were wrought by Jesus and his Apostles. But who is to be the 
 judge of the nature, number, or greatness of those miracles ? 
 
 7. If natural men are to judge according to their outward 
 senses, the objection will also apply to Christ's first appearing; 
 and upon the same rule of judging, it wUl apply equally to every 
 manifestation of the power of God since the flood of Noah ! 
 
 8. Eor in every dispensation, since that period, those visible 
 miraculous operations, which have attended the testimony of God, 
 have continually decreased in the esteem of natural men, and 
 become less and less wonderful and affecting to their outward 
 senses; insomuch that many of their wise men, while they admit 
 the facts, deny any supernatural divine agency in the case ; but 
 account for the most extraordinary appearances, as springing 
 from certain causes in nature, before unknown. 
 
 9. To whatever cause natural men are pleased to ascribe the 
 miraculous operations of the power of God, it is certain, they 
 have always thought they had good reason to object to the pre- 
 sent, from its inferiority to the past. It is granted, according to 
 
 their sense, that John the Baptist, who was the greatest of all John, x 4i. 
 the Prophets did no miracle. That in some places, Jesus him- 
 self did not many mighty works, because of their unbelief; and Mat. liii. 
 that in his own country, and among his own kin, he could do no ^^• 
 mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, 4^" '^' 
 and healed them. 
 
 10. That his baptism at Jordan, was not so wonderful as 
 Joshua's dividing Jordan, and leading through the thousands 
 of Israel dry shod ; nor the darkness at his crucifixion so aston- 
 ishing as Joshua's stopping the sun and moon in their progress. 
 
 11. That his walking upon the sea was not so astonishing, and 
 universally convicting to the outward senses, as the dividing of 
 
428 KEMAEKS ON THE EVIDENCE Off B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. XI. the sea by Moses, in the view of six hundred thousand Israelites, 
 and all the Egyptian host ; neither was his feeding five thousand, 
 with a few loaves and fishes, to he compared with the feeding the 
 whole nation of Israel, forty years, with bread from heaven. 
 
 12. In a word, the adversaries of Jesus could see nothing, in 
 all his life and ministry, so evidential of the power of Grod as 
 what was recorded of their forefathers, j^nd how were their 
 forefathers affected with what ihey beheld ? Had they not the 
 same ground of objection? and did they not soon forget every 
 wonder that they had seen, and provoke G-od with their unbelief? 
 
 13. It must be granted to these unbelievers too, that the 
 testimony of Moses was not attended with so convincing evidence 
 as the preaching of Lot : That drowning some of the inhabitants 
 of Egypt with water, was not so great a miracle as the destruc- 
 tion of the Sodomites and their cities, with a total overthrow by 
 fire from heaven ; and that all those other miracles, which were 
 soon withdrawn, and had no greater visible monument left than 
 a pillar of stones, were far inferior, in point of standing evidence, 
 to Lot's wife, turned into a pillar of salt. 
 
 14. But how were Lot's posterity affected by all these wonders? 
 Did the incestuous Moabites and Ammonites cease to do wickedly? 
 By no means. Doubtless they had as good reason for rejecting 
 their father's testimony, for want of evidence, as any other set of 
 unbelievers : and, upon equal principles, it must be granted them, 
 that a small eruption of fire, either from the earth, or clouds, 
 was more easily accounted for, and less astonishing, than a flood 
 of waters over the whole earth, fifteen cubits above the highest 
 mountain ; and that the destruction of a few Sodomites was not 
 to be compared with the total overthrow of the whole antedeh- 
 vian world. 
 
 15. So that the only miracle that can silence the cavils or stop 
 the objections of the unbeliever, is that which envelops him, and 
 all his kind, in destruction. It was, and still is the language of 
 
 Mauxxiii. the wicked, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would 
 not have been partakers with them. 
 
 16. But could unbelievers of the present day have been in all 
 the dispensations that are past, they would have taken part with 
 the antediluvian world against Noah ; with the Sodomites against 
 Lot; with the rebellious Israelites against Moses; with the 
 Scribes and Pharisees, against Jesus and his followers ; and with 
 the persecuting kingdom of antichrist, against the heretics, from 
 
 Acts, vii. the same selfish motives, with which they do always resist th 
 Luke,vu. operations of the Holy Spirit, and reject the cmnsel of God 
 30. ' against themselves, revealed in the present testimony of Christ, 
 against the world, the flesh, and all evil.* 
 
 • The spirit of unbelief is the same in all ages ; it never was willing to acknow- 
 ledge the present work of God in any age ; and the power of that spirit is strength- 
 
B. VIII. Christ's second appearing. 429 
 
 17. The believer and tlie unbeliever stand directly in contrast, chap, xi. 
 let the dispensation of God, or the outward evidence attending it, 
 
 be small or great ; and it is a noted truth, that the more spiritual 
 and powerful the day and work of God is, for the destruction of 
 sin, and the brighter and more glorious the evidence to the 
 believer, the darker and more doubtful it appears to the wicked, 
 because it is the more pointedly against them. 
 
 18. The unbeliever may be driven by fear, but the believer is 
 drawn by love ; and hence such a striking distinction between the 
 operations of God under the Gospel, and those under the dark 
 dispensations that preceded it. A man can receive nothing, ex- jnhu, jIj. 
 cept it be given him from heaven, was a true saying of John; '■^''•^-S"' 
 and I can of mine own self do nothing, was as true a saying of 
 Jesus. 
 
 19. Then as Jesus did not come into the world of himself, and 
 it was not given him to destroy men's lives, but to save ; therefore 
 his miracles, however small in the eyes of the great, yet, to the 
 believer, they unspeakably surpassed any thing that had ever 
 been wrought before. 
 
 20. His gift of power was not' exercised over all winds, and 
 
 seas, and fires, but over all flesh; and therefore, as far as the johii, xvii 
 body of man is more noble in its creation, than the natural ^• 
 elements of the globe, in their inanimate state; so much more 
 excellent were even the gifts of healing given to Christ Jesus, 
 than any gift that ever pertained to the dispensations that were 
 before, though much greater in outward appearance. 
 
 21. And as much as the soul or spirit is more excellent than 
 the body of man ; so much greater is the gift and power of God, 
 in this day of Christ's second appearance, which is a power over 
 all spirits, and bringeth salvation to all that believe and obey. 
 
 22. Christ Jesus had a sufficient gift of power, over all winds, 
 and seas, and natural elements, to prove to his disciples, that he 
 descended from that God who had wrought wonders by Moses 
 and Elias, or Elijah ; and for a similar purpose, the same power 
 over diseases, which Jesus and his Apostles manifested, was 
 given to Mother, with other Apostolic gifts ; and they sufficiently 
 proved, to all who lay open to conviction, that her commission 
 was from no other than the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 23. But as Jesus neither wrought the same, nor so great 
 
 ened and increEised, in proportion to the increase of light and troth in the earth ; 
 so that its subjects are harder to he wrought upon than they were in past ages. 
 Jesus testified to the unhelieverg of that day, that if the mighty works done among 
 them, had been done in Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon, they would have repented ; by 
 which he plainly indicated what part they would have taken, had they lived under 
 former dispensations. The same testimony may be applied to unbelievers of the 
 present day; for surely that spirit of unhelief, which can oppose the light and 
 evelation of God in the present day, would never have yielded to the testimony of 
 past ages. 
 
430 EEMARKS ON THE EVIDENCE OF B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. XI. miracles in the eyes of the world, as were wrought by Moses; 
 so neither were all the same, nor so great outward miracles, 
 wrought by Mother, as had been wrought by Jesus and his 
 Apostles. Nothing has been exhibited in this latter day, in the 
 opinion of the multitude, equal to raising the dead body of 
 Lazarus from the sepulchre ; hence the unbeliever may say, like 
 
 Luke xvi. ^^^ Ijiig ™h glutton in the parable, If one went unto them from 
 
 30' the dead, they will repent. 
 
 24. But if they love not the truth, and are determined not to 
 obey it, they have their answer in the words of Abraham, or 
 rather of Christ ; Neither will they he persuaded, though one 
 rose from the dead. But the more the truth is confirmed, the 
 more they will hate and oppose it ; as did the unbelieving Jews, 
 and as many have evidently done in the present day. 
 
 25. Whatever gifts have been, and still are, in the Church, it 
 is certain, that the main gift of God towards mankind, in this 
 day, is that which respects the redemption of the soul from sin, 
 and is therefore great, in proportion as the worth and value of 
 the soul is great, in comparison to every other created object. 
 And as the work of redemption is a substance, and no sign, 
 
 Markjviii. therefore the substance and rui sign shall he given unto t/iis 
 ^- adulterous generation, as evidence of the truth and reality of the 
 
 work. 
 
 26. That which established the testimony of Christ in his first 
 appearing, is neither necessary nor proper to be repeated in con- 
 firmation of the work of his second appearing : but the testimony 
 itself is a sufficient confirmation of the work ; as much as the 
 tree is a confirmation of the fruit which it bears, and not the 
 particular operations, by which the tree was planted and estab- 
 lished. 
 
 27. For as the tree is known by its first fruits ; so the fruit 
 of the second year, is known by its correspondence to the estab- 
 lished tree, and its fruit of the first year. Therefore, whoever 
 denies the fruits of righteousness, in this day of Christ's second 
 appearing, must deny the doctrine and testimony of Christ in his 
 first appearing, and every sign, wonder, and gift of God, by 
 which that doctrine or testimony was established. 
 
 28. But he that doeth the works of Christ in this day, hath 
 not only the immediate evidence of the word of Christ, but also 
 the confirming truth of all the signs, miracles, and gifts of the 
 Holy Spirit, that ever were given, in confirmation of that word 
 in all ages. 
 
 29. Therefore, upon the plainest principles of truth, and 
 according to the very nature of things, it cannot be that the 
 words of Christ are to be commended in his second appearing, 
 by signs and wonders, for this has been sufficiently done ; but his 
 works are commended to the acceptance of mankind, by the 
 
Xll. 
 
 B. VIII. Christ's second appeaking. 431 
 
 simple authority of his doctrine or testimony, already established : chap. xi. 
 
 " A GOOD TREE CANNOT BRING FORTH EVIL FRUIT." Mat.vii. 
 
 30. Hence it is, that the signs and wonders of Christ, among ^^■ 
 his followers, in this day, are not immediately to the world; but 
 his words are to the -ntorld, and each of his followers can say. 
 Though ye believe not me, believe the works : or else believe me, John, x. 
 FOE THE VERT work's SAKE ; a work which has been pro- ^ *'^' '"' 
 ductive of righteousness, justice and goodness, with every fruit 
 
 of eternal life, by which it has been evidenced or shown out, 
 with a continual increase from the first visible appearance of the 
 Church, till the present day. 
 
 31. Neither has God ever left the Church without sufficient icor. ch. 
 evidence to convince any candid mind that the Divine Spirit con- 
 tinued to work among his people, by "diversities of operations." 
 For, in all stages of their travel, there have been more or less 
 manifestations of Divine and heavenly gifts, operating internally 
 and externally, to enlighten the understanding, to strengthen the 
 feeble, confirm the weak in faith, and to comfort and edify the 
 faithful ; which has enabled the Church as a body, progressively, 
 to grow in grace, and treasure up the knowledge and power of 
 the Grospel, for themselves and other souls. 
 
 32. In the year 1837, the fiftieth after the gathering of the 
 Church commenced, a remarkable Divine manifestation, as had 
 been previously predicted, began, and shortly spread through all 
 the societies of Believers in the land. 
 
 33. This work was attended with marvelous operations of 
 divine power, accompanied with many extraordinary signs and 
 wonders. Many were exercised in visions of the spiritual world, 
 and of the beautiful order and glories of the heavens ; also with 
 revelations and discerning of spirits. Many were endowed with 
 the gift to hear the melodious songs of the angels, and spirits of 
 the just ; many beautiful songs were given in this way. Others 
 were exercised by inspired gifts of instruction, warning, reproof, 
 and encouragement, &e. 
 
 34. These heavenly gifts were adapted to all states and circum- 
 stances, whereby much new light was revealed on many import- 
 ant subjects; and many principles which were not fully under- 
 stood before, were clearly revealed. 
 
 3.5. Many prophetic gifts were given, fortelling future events, 
 which would take place among Believers, and also in the politi- 
 cal, providential, and spiritual orders of the world ; and likewise 
 many wonderful phenomena and convulsions of nature, which 
 have taken place, were clearly predicted. So that the discern- 
 ing mind may see that these prophetic revelations were truly 
 emanations from the Divine prescience. 
 
 36. It was frequently foretold, that when the extraordinary 
 Sowings of those spiritual gifts should in a great measure cease 
 
432 REMARKS ON THE EVIDENCE OF, &C. B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. XI. among Believers, those same manifestations would go into the 
 world, and operate among them in a manner adapted to their 
 state. The manner of those spirit manifestations, which have 
 been operating, and so rapidly spreading in the world, during the 
 last few years, was clearly foretold : " that it would spring up 
 in places where, and in manners and ways that no mortals 
 could foresee, nor account for." 
 
 37. That it would confound all natural philosophy and wisdom 
 of man; also that it would progressively spread through all 
 nations, and produce the most extraordinary revolution in the 
 religious and moral state of mankind, that had ever been effected 
 since the creation of man. And although much that was errone- 
 ous would be brought forth, yet much good would be finally 
 accomplished to the human race. 
 
 38. To gain a proper understanding of the nature and design 
 of this spiritual work, let it be realized, that in all the dispensa- 
 tions of Grod's work, when by the operations of his Spirit, any 
 people were called and raised up as subjects and witnesses of a 
 higher order of light and power, than was previously operating 
 in the world, among their cotemporaries, so long as that people 
 maintained the principles revealed to them by the light which 
 they had received, the work among them was supported by suc- 
 cessive inspired gifts and revelations. 
 
 39. But, when any such order of people began to deviate from 
 the duties required of them, and to flinch from the cross, then 
 the spirit would warn them of their danger, but if they refused 
 to heed the warning, the spirit would withdraw, and spiritual 
 gifts would cease. And in all ages when inspired revelations and 
 spiritual gifts have ceased, among any people, and they depended 
 upon the letter ; however great their former light, and whatever 
 written rules they may have formed ; that people would certainly 
 lose their former light and pow«r, and fall back into the dark- 
 ness and elements of the corrupt world : such are liable to fall 
 into utter infidelity. 
 
 40. These premises are fully verified by the dead and formal 
 state of Christian professors ; and by the rapid increase of in- 
 fidelity in the world for ages past, which has been more and more 
 extending in the present age. The professors of religion having 
 shut out all belief in present inspired revelations, and spiritual 
 commuuications, they have in their dogmas, confined all spiritual 
 knowledge to the records of what was revealed in former ages. 
 
 2 Cot iu. Therefore, as "the letter kUleth " and the believers thereia are 
 ^ constantly clashing, as to its meaning, it fails to convince the 
 
 soul, and give it that light and power it feels the need of, to 
 
 know and do the will of God. 
 
 41. On this ground, many fall back, in despair of knowing 
 spiritual truth, and become infidels. Thus verWying the Scrip- 
 
B. VIII. PEOGRBSS OF THE CHUBCH, &C. 433 
 
 turea, "where there is no vision, the people perish." That is, *^5^^' 
 
 where there is no present spiritual manifestations and gifts, '■ — 
 
 whatever light the people may have had, they perish from spiritu- !['"'■■ ^^^"• 
 ality, and fall under the power of the natural earthly principles 
 of this fallen world. 
 
 42. Witness the awful fall and destruction of the Jews, when 
 they were no more worthy of revelation. Also, the primitive 
 Church fell to "the earth, " when the light of the sun of re vela- Rev. vi. 12. 
 tion was covered from them. On the same ground all revivals, 
 
 up to the dispensation of Christ's second appearing have failed. 
 
 43. For these reasons, God in his own way and time, in mercy 
 and condescension to the human race, has opened the doors of 
 spiritual communications and gifts, in this day, in a marvelous 
 manner, adapted more and more to all orders and states of man- 
 kind. And we confidently believe that these manifestations will 
 continue to spread in various ways, until they shall extend through 
 all nations, to rescue mankind from their deplorable infidelity; 
 and ultimately prepare the way for the increasing growth of 
 
 the EVERLASTING KINGDOM OP GOD. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE CHURCH IN GOSPEL ORDER. 
 
 As Christ Jesus came into the world, not to condemn the world, 
 bat to redeem and save the world from the nature and effects of 
 the fall, by which their whole life and practice, stood in direct 
 enmity against God ; consequently, and of unavoidable necessity, 
 his whole life and testimony, stood in opposition to the life and 
 practice of the world. 
 
 2. And hence the words of Christ, "The world hateth me, john, vii. 
 because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil." And as Ji^'J!?'^^' 
 the second appearing of Christ was to complete that which was 
 begun in his first appearing, it could not, in the nature of it, be 
 different from the first. 
 
 3. It was hard to the disordered senses of a lost and corrupt 
 world, to bear the light of the divine nature manifested in Je.sus, 
 who, in a certain sense, stood remote from all mankind, having 
 descended out of the ordinary course of natural generation ; and 
 
 18, 19. 
 
434 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. 
 XII. 
 
 Isa. ii. 11. 
 xxii}, 9. 
 
 who contrary to their exalted expectations of the Messiah, made 
 his appearance in the form of a servant. And so trying was the 
 manifestation, that Divine Wisdom saw it would not be received, 
 without a preparatory work of the Spirit, to make ready a people 
 prepared for the Lord. 
 
 4. But how much more painful must it be to the disordered 
 senses of a lost world, and how much more contrary to the ex- 
 alted expectations of mankind, when the same fulness of this 
 divine nature is manifested through a woman, of like passions 
 with others, and that in the form of a handmaid, for the dis- 
 covery of man's total depravity, and for bringing him into judg- 
 ment for every secret action of his life. 
 
 5. A manifestation of God, so near, so deep and piercing to 
 the pride of fallen man, that nothing could seem to be left remain- 
 ing, of what Grod had promised by the mouth of his Prophets, to 
 accomplish in the latter day, for the destruction of iniquity, and 
 for the salvation of his people. 
 
 6. And herein may be understood the following express 
 declarations : The lofty looks of man shall he humbled, and the 
 haughtiness of men shall he bowed dovm. For the day of the 
 Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, 
 and upon every one that is lifted up, and he shall be brought 
 low. The Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of 
 all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honorable of the 
 earth. 
 
 7. And upon the same principle that a work of preparation 
 was necessary, in order to the manifestation of Christ in his first 
 appearing, it was required in a more extraordinary manner in his 
 second, to convict mankind of their sins ; to break and humble 
 them ; to enlighten and encourage them to look for salvation ; 
 and to bring them under a sacred obligation, from their own 
 prayers and solemn vows, to accept of salvation in the order of 
 God, through whatever means he would please to send it. 
 
 8. Therefore it was, that soon after our blessed Mother, and 
 her companions, came over into America, with the treasures of 
 the everlasting Gospel, the spirit of Elijah was sent forth, and 
 began, in a remarkable manner, to prepare the way of the Lord. 
 
 9. The work of preparation in America first began at New- 
 Lebanon, in the county of Columbia, and State of New-York, 
 and at Hancock, in Berkshire county. State of Massachusetts, in 
 the year 1779, with the operations of a remarkable revival of 
 religion, or outpouring of the Divine Spirit, (as has preceded 
 the planting of the Gospel in every other place.) 
 
 10. Preachers and people were generally awakened under the 
 mighty power of God, and multitudes flocked to their assemblies, 
 from the adjacent parts around, and were struck with conviction 
 of their sins. Many received the gift of visions and prophecies, 
 
B. VIII. IN GOSPEL ORDER. 435 
 
 by whicli they saw and testified that the day of full redemption ^^^' 
 was at hand. '■ — 
 
 11. Their testimony was against all sin, and was attended with 
 great power ; and the various exercises and gifts of the Spirit 
 among the people, manifested the most convincing evidences of 
 a real work of God. Some, under deep conviction of their sins, 
 were crying for mercy; others, filled with unspeakable joy, were 
 carried out in visions and revelations of the glory of the latter 
 day ; of the coming of Christ ; the setting up of his kingdom, 
 and the nature of his government, which was to put an end to wars 
 and fightings, and restore peace to the earth ; make an end of 
 sin; bring in everlasting righteousness, and gather the saints 
 into one harmonious communion. 
 
 12. The subjects of this work testified, that all their former 
 experience in religion had left them short of real salvation, that 
 is, it had never saved them from their sins, and that nothing short 
 of full salvation could constitute a true follower of Christ ; and 
 further, that the day of judgment, the day of full redemption, and 
 the coming of Christ were nigh, even at the door. 
 
 13. The work among this people was powerful and swift; yet, 
 as to outward appearance, it was of short duration. In about 
 eight mouths time, their visions and prophecies ceased, and the 
 extraordinary power of their testimony seemed to be at an end, 
 and none of those things whereof they had testified, as yet 
 appeared. While in this situation, they were in great distress, 
 and applied to their leaders for help, who, being in the same con- 
 dition, candidly confessed that they were unable to lead them any 
 further. 
 
 14. Notwithstanding, the people retained their integrity ; and 
 in full confidence of seeing their earnest desires accomplished, 
 they continued their assemblies ; and from time to time, by such 
 as were moved thereto, received mild and encouraging exhorta- 
 tions to hope and wait, with earnest expectation, for the day of 
 their redemption, which was near at hand. Their cries and 
 prayers were incessant to God for deliverance, beseeching that he 
 would raise up instruments to lead them out of all sin ; in this 
 situation they continued about four months. 
 
 15. This was the state of the people in the spring of the year 
 1780, when, having heard a report by Talmage Bishop, a sub- 
 ject of the revival, and others, concerning a very strange people 
 who lived in an obscure place, in the wilderness, northwest of the 
 city of Albany, they appointed Calvin Harlow to go and make 
 dilligent search, who and what these people were, and report 
 accordingly. 
 
 16. Calvin Harlow went, and returned ; but neither the people 
 nor himself being fully satisfied, he went again, in company with 
 Joseph Meacham, Amos Hammond and Aaron Kibbee. The two 
 
436 PROGRESS OF THE CHURCH B. VIII. 
 
 CKAP. former were preachers of the Baptist order, to which belonged 
 '■ — the greater part of the people in the revival. 
 
 17. These four persons returned, being now fully convinced, 
 and established in their own minds, that what they had seen and 
 heard was the work and truth of Grod. Whereupon the people 
 at large were also encouraged to go and examine for themselves, 
 as these had done, and each one to conduct in relation to those 
 strange people and their testimony, as they thought proper. 
 
 18. Accordingly, during the latter part of the spring, and in 
 the course of the ensuing summer and fall, great crowds, both of 
 men and women, from different parts, resorted to the place 
 (then called Niskeuna,) to see and hear, and judge for them- 
 selves. And it was found, beyond all doubt or contradiction, to 
 every candid inquirer after truth, that God had verily raised him- 
 self up witnesses, and endowed them with all those gifts of the 
 Holy Spirit that were given to the Apostles and primitive Church, 
 in the day of Christ's first appearing. 
 
 19. The light and power, and gifts of the Holy Spirit were so 
 great, especially in the Mother, attended with the word of pro- 
 phecy, in so marvelous a manner, that every heart was searched, 
 and every rein of them that heard, was tried. The loss of man 
 was opened from its foundation ; and the way of salvation by 
 Christ, as a straight and narrow way, a way of self-denial a,nd 
 the cross, was opened by a testimony accompanied with the most 
 convincing evidence. 
 
 20. Many believed with all their hearts, and according to the 
 requirement of Grod, manifested to them through the Mother, 
 confessed their sins one by one, and showed their former deeds, 
 and made restitution of all things wherein they had wronged any 
 one in times past, and set out, once for all, to become a harmless, 
 just, and upright people. 
 
 21. Many who believed from the heart, and were obedient to 
 the light and revelation of God, made known unto them through 
 the witnesses, received the gifts of the Holy Spirit; such as 
 tongues, and revelation, and visions, and prophecies, and many 
 extraordinary gifts of healing. And all that were honest hearted, 
 without exception, received the internal power of salvation from 
 all sin. 
 
 22. These were the gifts and evidences accompanying the 
 testimony, at the first opening of the Gospel in America. And 
 from this small beginning at Niskeuna, (now Watenliet,) the 
 work of God increased and spread to different parts in the States 
 of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New- Hampshire, and Maine. 
 And the multitude of all who believed and were faithful, were 
 filled with great joy and gladness; increased in faith, in power, 
 and in wisdom; and being led by one Spirit, they became of 
 one heart, and of one soul. 
 
B. VIII. IN GOSPEL ORDER. 437 
 
 23. The opening of the testimony continued about four years ^Jij"'' 
 
 successively ; after which it was closed, and withdrawn from the 
 
 world, and a work of preparation continued among the Believers, 
 
 under the ministry of Elder James Whittaker, and others, for 
 about three years longer, by which they were prepared to come 
 together, as a united body, in Gospel order. 
 
 24. As the kingdom of heaven is compared to a net that was f^^^ ^-ji; 
 cast into the sea, which gathered of every kind ; so the testimony 47. 
 
 of the Gospel was open and free to all, without exception. It 
 took souls as it found them, all in their sins, of various disposi- 
 tions and intentions, some honest hearted, faithful and true to 
 their own salvation, others insincere, rotten hearted and deceitful. 
 
 25. And as, when the net is full and brought to shore, there 
 is a separation made between the good and bad, and the bad are 
 cast away, and the good cleansed and gathered into vessels and 
 saved ; so in the internal and increasing' work of the Gospel, there 
 was a constant separation between good and evil, sin and holi- 
 ness; and while the evil was purged away, the good remained. 
 Like the shaking of a fan, when the chaff is shaken out and 
 carried away with the wind, and there remains only good wheat. 
 
 In this the words of Christ were fulfilled, that he would gather Mat. uii. 
 out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do 41- 
 iniquity. 
 
 26. Every thing that has life and growth, from a law initself, 
 hath its beginning from a seed planted in its proper season ; so 
 the word and testimony of Christ is the seed of God, by which 
 the Church is begotten, conceived and brought forth; and as 
 many as receive the word and testimony of Christ, and are thus 
 begotten and conceived, in any opening of the testimony, are the 
 seed of one distinct body, to be bom in due season, in their pro- 
 per order, as members of Christ. 
 
 27. The Church is compared to the human body, which has a 
 head and many members united therewith ; or to a tree, which 
 hath many branches united to the root : as every part of the tree 
 is first formed under ground, and the body has all its parts in 
 the womb of her that is with child ; so the Church is first formed 
 out of sight, by the invisible operations of the word and testi- 
 mony proceeding from the Divine spiritual Parentage, and the 
 joint and corresponding influence of the two first-bom in the 
 new creation. And as there is a travailing and bringing forth, 
 in the natural case ; so there is also in the spiritual. 
 
 28. No individual member of the human body can be bom 
 separate and distinct from the rest ; therefore it is not by uniting 
 members that are separately born, at sundry times, that the 
 human body is formed. But as the whole body is brought forth 
 at one birth, and in order, with all its corresponding parts, so 
 also is the birth of the Church brought forth in its original order, 
 
438 PROQEESS OF THE CHURCH B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP, by tlie unity of the Spirit in all its members. And this is 
 ^^' effected in and by the joint power and influence of the two first- 
 born, which is the word of their testimony. 
 
 29. By this the Church, as the visible body of Christ, is jointly 
 and invisibly begotten and conceived, and visibly brought forth, 
 one body, perfect in its order, and in all its corresponding parts, 
 as the offspring of Grod, coming forth from the order of heaven ; 
 rooted, settled, and grounded in the Divine nature; sound and 
 unshaken in her faith ; pure and exemplary in her morals ; un- 
 polluted and unstained by the flesh ; and separated and unspotted 
 from the world and from all sin. And in the same manner mast 
 every individual be born again, who is ever born in the Church, 
 for the Church is perpetuated by souls being born in her, through 
 the Mother Spirit. 
 
 30. Hence the work of regeneration and salvation, respects 
 souls in a united capacity ; for no individual can be regenerated 
 nor saved in any other capacity than in a Church relation, any 
 toiore than a hand or foot can be born separate or distinct from 
 
 I Cor xii ^^^ human body, and united to some other body after it is sepa- 
 11, 12. rately born ; for no soul can be saved out of the body of Christ. 
 iJohn i. ^l- -^f ^* walk in the light, as G-od is in the light, we have 
 s, 7. fellowship one with another, and the blood (or life) of Jesus Christ 
 
 his Son cleanseth us from all sin. And without this light and 
 fellowship there can be no salvation. Therefore, the first work 
 of the Spirit of preparation, in this day of Christ's second appear- 
 1 John V '''S' ^^^ *" convince those who committed sin, that they were 
 18. ' not born of God; for whosoever is born of God sinneth not. 
 ^ 32. And as many as were thus convinced, and were willing 
 
 and desirous to confess and forsake their sins, and to find salva- 
 tion from them, came into the testimony, confessed their sins, 
 and Set out to travel in the work of regeneration and redemp- 
 tion. So that all who were faithful, gradually, and progres- 
 sively, traveled out of an evil nature, by mortification and the 
 cross of Christ; and became separate from the world, and in 
 their spiritual relation, as much out of sight of the world as is 
 the seed of a plant under ground, or the infant in the womb. 
 
 33. And after having gained a sufficient degree of deliverance 
 from the nature of lust, covetousness, selfishness, and the various 
 branches of an evil nature ; and having that growth and maturity 
 
 Gal. V.22, in the principles and " fruits of the Spirit, which are love, peace, 
 
 ^^- meekness, gentleness, long-suffering, faithfulness, goodness, 
 
 temperance," benevolence and such like ; they were then enabled, 
 
 practically, to come forth in outward visible order, proceeding 
 
 from the order of that which is invisible. 
 
 34. Accordingly, in the month of September, in the year 
 1787, the Believers began to gather together with one con- 
 sent ; first at New-Lebanon, and shortly after in other places, 
 
B. VIII. IN aoSPEL ORDER. 439 
 
 for the purpose of supportiug one joint union and interest in all ^^h^' 
 things, spiritual and temporal, for the mutual benefit and com- " 
 fort of each other, and for other pious and charitable uses, 
 according to the light of Grod they had received, and their under- 
 standing of a Church in the true order of the Gospel. 
 
 35. And it was revealed, and manifested to the Believers at 
 large, that first, Joseph Meacham, and afterwards Lucy 
 Wright, were raised up, prepared and appointed, by the gift 
 and power of God, each in their own order, to take the first lead 
 and spiritual concern in the order and government of the Church ; 
 and they were mutually acknowledged by all, as our beloved 
 Parents, standing in the visible order, and relation, of the first 
 Father and Mother of our redemption, who are the invisible first 
 Pillars upon which the spiritual house of God is built. 
 
 36. And by these, (^Father Joseph and Mother Lucy, who 
 were the first in spiritual relation,) with others as helps in the 
 ministry, the Church was established, and set in that order and 
 correspondent relation, under which every member, both male 
 and female, as brethren and sisters of one family, and members 
 of one united body, enjoying their free and equal rights and 
 privileges, pertaining to the spiritual travel, increase, and up- 
 building of the whole in all things. 
 
 37. Ministers were likewise raised up and appointed by the 
 revelation of God, and sent forth from the Church, by the Minis- 
 try, to labor among distant believers, in word and doctrine, to 
 purge out iniquity, to reprove wrong, to strengthen and encourage 
 the weak, and confirm the faithful. And by the same gift. Elders 
 were appointed, of each sex, to stand in their proper order, as 
 leading members of their different families, or circles of the 
 society. 
 
 38. Deacons and Deaconesses also, in their proper gift, order, 
 and office, in the temporal affairs of the Church, and each, ac- 
 cording to their gift and talents for usefulness, were felt and 
 mutually acknowledged by all, according to the order and gift 
 of God by which they were appointed. 
 
 39. Therefore, as each member of the body is dependent on 
 another, and as " the light of the body is the eye;" so the whole 
 body, that came forth into visible Church order, were subject to 
 the visible head, the joint Parentage, which stood in Christ the 
 invisible head, as the medium through which the whole visible 
 body is full of light. 
 
 40. And as both the eyes in one head, centre in one, and see 
 every thing alike, and as the true watchers, when the Lord 
 should bring again Zion, were to see eye to eye; so, according to jsa.m. s. 
 that one light which flows from Christ the Head, through both the 
 
 man and woman, all things were disposed, regulated, and set in 
 order, in a perfect law of righteousness, justice, and truth. 
 
440 PROGRESS OF THE CHURCH, &C. B. VIII. 
 
 <^gAP. 41. ^g tiie work of redemption is a great work, even from its 
 
 '■ — beginning until its final accomplishment; so all iniquity was not 
 
 purged away at once, nor was the complete order of the Church 
 obtained in an instant. 
 
 42. In the preparatory work and building of the Church, the 
 Believers passed through many scenes of mortification, trial, 
 tribulation, and temptation, in which all the faithful were united 
 from the eldest to the youngest, as the heart of one man. Sharp 
 reproofs against the flesh, and all sin, and every band and tie of 
 a carnal nature, were continually rolling like peals of thunder ; 
 and the word and testimony of eternal life, like perpetual flames 
 of fire, sat upon each of them, until a complete victory, over the 
 nature and practice of evil, was mutually obtained. 
 
 43. And as sin and confusion was removed, and every thing 
 contrary and offensive to the pure nature of the Grospel was pur- 
 ged out; so purity, order, and righteousness were established. 
 Every thing that could be shaken, was shaken ; and that which 
 could neither be shaken nor moved, still remained, rooted and 
 grounded in the foundation of eternal truth. 
 
 isQ. ir. 3, 4. 44. In all this work was the promise of Grod fulfilled, relating 
 to the work of Christ in the latter day — "And it shall come to 
 pass, that whosoever is left in Zion, and remaineth in Jerusalem, 
 shall be called Holy, every one written among the living in 
 Jerusalem : when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of 
 the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jeru- 
 salem from the midst thereof, by ike spirit of judgment and by 
 the spirit of burning." 
 
 Mai.iii. 2, 45. " But who may abide the day of his coming? and who 
 shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refinerh fire, and 
 like fuller's soap : And he shall sit as a refiner and a purifier 
 of silver : and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them 
 as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering 
 in righteousness. 
 
 46. Such in reality, was the nature, and spirit of the work, 
 which was wrought in the Believers, and by which they were 
 severally, mutually, and jointly prepared to stand as a united 
 body, fitly joined together in all its corresponding parts, so as to 
 form a pure and spiritual relation in the building of tie Church. 
 And thus from faith to faith, and from one attainment to another, 
 there was a gradual and continual increase of unity, purity, and 
 order, until the present order of the Church was fully established. 
 
 3. 
 
B. VIII. THE CHTTRCH ESTABLISHED, &C. 441 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE CHURCH ESTABLISHED IN GOSPEL ORDER. 
 
 The present Gospel order of the Church was established in the chap. 
 year 1792, although the gathering and preparatory work began ^^^- 
 some years sooner. Most of the members of the Church at New- 
 Lebanon, were gathered in the year 1788. At which time they 
 entered verbally into covenant with each other, to stand as one 
 joint community in Church relation. 
 
 2. In this Covenant they freely devoted themselves and 
 services, with all their temporal interest, to God, for the main- 
 tenance of the Gospel, and the mutual support and benefit of 
 each other, and for other charitable uses, according to the light 
 and revelation of God which they had received, and which was 
 there and then, and from time to time afterwards, revealed 
 and made known, in regard' to the order and building of the 
 Church. 
 
 3. After seven years experience, the said Covenant was com- 
 mitted to writing, in form, for the security of their just and 
 natural rights, and for the more perfect information of all whom 
 it might thereafter concern. And five years after this, the Cove- 
 nant was again renewed. 
 
 4. It may therefore be proper here, for the better understand- 
 ing of our faith and practice, in regard to the united interest and 
 equal rights of the Church, to state the conditions and most 
 essential particulars of this Covenant, as they are taken from the 
 written form of the Covenant itself; they are as follows: 
 
 5. "In the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and 
 eighty-eight, the year in which most of the members of the 
 Church were gathered, the following order and Covenant, was 
 then, and from time to time after, made known and understood, 
 received, and entered into, by us members of the Church, agree- 
 able to our understanding of the order and covenant of the Church 
 in Gospel order. 
 
 6. " It then was, and still is our faith, being confirmed by our 
 experience, that there can be no Church in complete order, 
 according to the law of Christ, without a joint interest and union, 
 in which all the members have equal rights and privileges, accord- 
 ing to their calling and needs, in things spiritual and temporal. 
 
 7. "For in this we have greater privilege and opportunity 
 of doing good to each other, as well as to the rest of mankind ; 
 and of receiving according to our needs, jointly and equally, one 
 with another, agreeable to the following articles of Covenant. 
 
 29 
 
442 THE CHURCH ESTABLISHED B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. 8. "First. All, or as many of us, as were of age to act for 
 
 ourselves, who offered ourselves as members of the Churcli, were 
 
 to do it freely, and voluntarily, as a religious duty, and accord- 
 ing to our own faith and desire. 
 
 9. "Second. Youth and children, being under age, were not 
 to be received as members, or as being under the immediate care 
 and government of the Church, except by the request, or free 
 consent, of both their parents, if living ; but if they were left by 
 one of their parents to the care of the other, then by the request, 
 or free consent, of that parent ; but if the child had no parents, 
 then by the request or free consent, of such person or persons as 
 had just and lawful right in the care of the child, together with 
 the child's own desire. 
 
 10. " Third. All who were received as members, being of age, 
 who had any substance or property, and were free from debt, or 
 any just demand from those that were without, such as creditors, 
 or heirs, were allowed to bring in their substance, as their natural 
 and lawful right ; and to give it as a part of the united interest of 
 the Church, according to their own faith and desire ; to be under 
 the order and government of the Deacons or overseers of the 
 temporal interest of the Church, for the use and support of the 
 Church, or for any other use that the Gospel might require, 
 according to the understanding and discretion of those members 
 with whom it was intrusted, and who were appointed to that 
 office and care. 
 
 11. "Fourth. All the members who were received into the 
 Church, were to possess one united interest, as a religious right; 
 that is, all were to have just and equal rights and privileges, 
 according to their needs, in the use of all things in the Church, 
 without any difference being made, on account of what any of us 
 brought in, so long as we remained in obedience to the order and 
 government of the Church, and were holden in relation as members. 
 All the members were, likewise, equally holden, according to their 
 abilities, to maintain and support one united interest, in union and 
 conformity with the order and government of the Church. 
 
 12. "Fifth. As it was not the duty, nor purpose of the 
 Church, in uniting into Church order, to gather, and lay up an 
 interest of this world's goods ; but what we became possessed of 
 by honest industry, more than for our own support, was to be 
 devoted to charitable uses, for the relief of the poor, and such 
 other uses as the Gospel might require. Therefore, it was, and 
 still is our faith, never to bring debt nor blame against the 
 Church, or each other, for any interest, or services which we 
 have reduced to the united interest of the Church ; but freely to 
 give our time and talents, as brethren and sisters, for the mutual 
 good one of another, and other charitable uses, according to the 
 order of the Church. 
 
B. VIII. IN GOSPEL ORDER. 443 
 
 13. " The foregoing is the true sense of the Covenant of the chap. 
 
 Church, in relation to the order, and manner of the possession, L_ 
 
 and uses of a joint interest, understood, and supported by us the 
 members. 
 
 14. " And we do fully, and freely, in the most solemn manner, 
 acknowledge and testify, in the presence of each other, (and are 
 free and willing to do it before all men if required,) that is is 
 that which we have kept and supported, according to our under- 
 standing, from the time of our first gathering; and still mean to 
 support, as that which we believe to be both our privilege and 
 duty. 
 
 15. ''And we have had the experience of seven years labor 
 and travel, and having received a greater confirmation and estab- 
 lishment in our faith, we believe that the order and coven- 
 ant which we have solemnly entered into, is a greater privilege, 
 and enables us to be more useful to ourselves and* others, than 
 any other state within our knowledge ; and is that which was 
 required, and is accepted of God; and which we feel in duty 
 bound, according to our faith and understanding, in the most 
 conscientious manner to support and keep." 
 
 16. The foregoing are the most essential particulars of the 
 Covenant in form, which was verbally entered into by the mem- 
 bers of the Chiirch, in the year 1788 ; and committed to writing, 
 and signed by the members at large, in the year 1795; and 
 renewed, on account of further provision in the order of Deacons, 
 in the year 1801, and is closed in the following words: 
 
 17. "And we do, by these presents, solemnly covenant with 
 each other, for ourselves, and assigns, never hereafter to bring 
 debt or demand against the said Deacons, nor their successors, 
 nor against any member of the Church, or community, jointly or 
 severally on account of any of our services, or property, thus 
 devoted and consecrated to the aforesaid sacred and charitable 
 uses. 
 
 18. "And we also covenant with each other, to subject our- 
 selves in union, as brethren and sisters, who are called to follow 
 Christ in regeneration, in obedience to the order, rules and 
 government of the Church : And this Covenant shall be a suffi- 
 cient witness for us before all men, and in all cases relating to the 
 possession, order, and use, of the united interest of the Church. 
 
 19. In testimony whereof, we have, both brethren and sisters, 
 hereunto subscribed our names, in the presence of each other, 
 this twenty-fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord, one 
 thousand eight hundred and one." This covenant has been since 
 renewed, and more fully illustrated, but according to the estab- 
 lished principles of the original. 
 
 20. It may here be understood, that this covenant which was 
 entered into in the year 1788, immediately respects the Church 
 
444 THE CHUKCH ESTABLISHED B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP, of New-Lebanon, as the first in Gospel order, in tUs day of 
 ___,J.^ Christ's second appearing. And, after the example and order of 
 the first, the Church was shortly after established in several of 
 the principal places where the word and testimony of the Grospel 
 had been planted, and such of the Believers as were scattered 
 in different parts, gathered at those places. 
 
 21. Particularly at Watervliet, near Albany, in the State of 
 New-York;, at Hancock, Tyringham, Harvard, and Shirley, 
 in the State of Massachusetts ; at Enfield, in the State of Con- 
 necticuL ; at Canterbury and Ntw-Enfield, in the State of New- 
 Hampshire ; and at Alfred and Sabbath-day pond, (now New- 
 Gloucester,) about 30 miles from Portland, in the State of Maine. 
 
 22. Hence the whole body of Believers was placed in distinct 
 societies or communities, and those again into large families, 
 situated according to circumstances, for convenience in life; each 
 family, in their own order, having their own government in their 
 temporal economy ; and in spiritual matters, having their imme- 
 diate head of influence in their own order and community; and 
 each particular community having their corresponding relation to 
 the Church at Lebanon, which is the centre of union to all who 
 believe. 
 
 23. All the Believers, who came together in the full order and 
 covenant of a Church relation, possessed all things jointly; 
 neither said any of them that aught of the things- which he pos- 
 sessed was his own ; but every thing was possessed in a perfect 
 law of justice and equity, by all the members. 
 
 24. However, there were some, who gathered together into 
 large families, and stood in a family relation, whose circumstances 
 did not immediately admit of a joint union and interest in all 
 things ; and who devoted their services, and the use and improve- 
 ment only, of their temporal substance, for the joint support and 
 up-building of each other ; while their real and personal estates 
 remained in substance, as they were at the time of their coming 
 together. / 
 
 25. Such were not considered as standing in perfect Gospel 
 order, but held a certain relation to the Church according to the 
 order in which they stood. It may, therefore, be proper to make 
 a few remarks on the nature of the Church Covenant, in which 
 alone the perfect order and equality of the Gospel can be en- 
 joyed. 
 
 26. First. As one of the most essential principles of the 
 Church, was to maintain a perfect law of justice and equity, both 
 in relation to themselves and others ; therefore parents, who had 
 estates, and children under age, could not bring their substance 
 into the united interest of the Church, after it was established, 
 unless the inheritance of heirship was secured to them until they 
 became of age. 
 
B. VIII. IN GOSPEL ORDER. 445 
 
 27. And provided the parents or children were gathered, with ^^A''- 
 
 their substance, into any family, in the like capacity, the inheri- . '- — 
 
 tance of the children was secured until they became of age. And 
 
 it was an established principle in the Church, that children who 
 were faithful and obedient to their parehts until they became of 
 age, were then entitled to their natural and just portion. 
 
 28. Second. As the Church was established upon the princi- 
 ples of Gospel liberty and freedom, and as no one could bo bound 
 contrary to their own faith and desire, having a perfect under- 
 standing of the nature of their undertaking ; therefore, children in 
 minority, could not be fully considered as members of the Church, 
 until they became of mature age to judge and act for themselves. 
 
 29. Nevertheless, children who had faith, and who were 
 wrought upon by the Spirit of light from God, (of whom there 
 were many that received faith with theip parents,) enjoyed equal 
 rights and privileges of all things in the Church, according to 
 their needs, and the measure of their faith and understanding. 
 
 30. Third. As the gathering together of the Believers, into 
 the order and liberty of the Gospel, immediately respected their 
 separation from the perplexing cares and entanglements of the 
 world ; therefore such as were under obligations to creditors or 
 heirs, were not considered in full membership in the Church, 
 until they were perfectly free from all just demands of those who 
 were without. Yet, all such as were dUJgent in paying their just 
 debts, and faithful in all matters according to their light and 
 understanding, were as really owned in their order, and accepted 
 in their relation to the Church as any others. 
 
 31. Fourth, As the gathering of the Church, was not from 
 any worldly motives, to lay up in store of this world's goods, but 
 solely as a religious duty and privilege, for mutual benefit ; there- 
 fore, all had an equal right as members, jointly, in the use of all 
 things in the Church, and according to their several needs, 
 whether they brought in any temporal substance or not. And in j.^.^ ^^-^ 
 those who brought in substance, more 01*, less, was that Scripture is. 
 fulfilled. He that gathered much had nothing over, and he that 15.°'^'™'' 
 gathered little had no lack. 
 
 32. Fifth. As all the members of the Church are equally 
 holden, according to their abilities, to maintain and support one 
 united interest, in. union and conformity to the order and govern- 
 ment of the Church ; therefore, all labor with their hands, to main- 
 tain the mutual comfort and benefit of one another by honest 
 industry and acts of kindness — not by compulsion, but of choice, 
 from a principle of faith, justice, and equity. 
 
 33. Minister's, Elders, and Deacons,, all, without exception, 
 labor with their hands; excepting at such times as are taken up 
 by each in their particular gifts and callings, which all tend to 
 the mutual increase and benefit of the whole. And no member 
 
446 THE CHURCH ESTABLISHED B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP, or members are required by any law or custom in the Church, to 
 
 ' go beyond their abilities, or to act contrary to their own faith. 
 
 But all are equally holden by the unity of the Spirit and their 
 
 covenant, to conform to the established principles and rules of 
 
 the Church, or they cannot keep their union. 
 
 34. Sixth. As the Gospel is perfectly free, and the free exer- 
 cise of conscience can in no wise be retarded; therefore, all 
 who believe in the Gospel of Christ's present appearing, ever 
 remain in perfect liberty, without any breach of order, to use and 
 improve their own temporal interest as a separate possession, or 
 to unite with others of the same faith, in one joint union; either 
 of which must be according to their own faith and discretion, pro- 
 vided they maintain the true faith of the Gospel. 
 
 35. Seventh. The order and regulation of the Church, in all 
 spiritual matters, is entrusted, by the unity in the gift of God, to 
 the Ministry and Elders, or elder brethren and sisters, of each 
 community and family. To them also is committed the charge 
 of sending out ministers to preach the Gospel to the world of 
 mankind. 
 
 36. None of the Ministry hold any title to lands or property, 
 as individuals, more than any other members ; nor have they any 
 pensions or salaries ; but whatever they need for their support at 
 home, or expenditure abroad, they receive at such times as they 
 need it. 
 
 37. The concern and regulation of the temporal matters of the 
 Church is entrusted to the Deacons, appointed to that office by 
 the joint union of the body. To them, their assigns and suc- 
 cessors in the Gospel, appointed to the like office, is entrusted 
 the whole of the joint interest of the Church, to support and 
 maintain the same in behalf of the Church, and their heirs in the 
 Gospel forever. 
 
 38. And their office and care it is, to have the principal con- 
 cern in dealing with those who are without ; and to provide all 
 things necessary for the comfortable support of the Church, 
 jointly and equally, according to the number and need of each 
 family in the Church. 
 
 39. Besides the first order of Deacons and Deaconesses, there 
 are also Deacons and Deaconesses in each family, whose care b 
 to see that every member in the family, from the eldest to the 
 youngest, enjoy their just and equal rights, according to their 
 several needs, of all temporal things possessed in the family. 
 
 40. In the order and government or regulation of the Church, 
 no compulsion or violence is either used, appproved, or found 
 necessary. So that, according to our faith, in the full and per- 
 fect establishment of Christ's government among his people, no 
 kind of corporal punishment is or can be exercised on any person, 
 among those who stand in the first order of Gospel liberty. 
 
B. VIII. IN GOSPEL ORDEB. 447 
 
 41. Neither Ministers, Elders, nor Deacons, nor any others, ^A^' 
 
 either in spiritual or temporal trust in the Church, are appointed '. 
 
 to their several callings by their own individual choice, nor by a 
 majority of votes among the people; but by a spontaneous spirit 
 
 of union, which flows through the body, by which every useful 
 talent is brought into exercise for the time being, for the benefit 
 of all concerned. 
 
 42. Unto every Tnember of the body is given a measure of the i Cor. xil. 
 Spirit of Christ to profit withal, in which, by a faithful improve- ^■ 
 ment of their created talents, every member becomes prepared, 
 
 and thus grows up into a fitness to fill that place and order, 
 in the spiritual house of God, for which they were created; 
 and their real qualifications appear and be'come mutually useful 
 to the body, so that every improved talent and gift of God, 
 given to individuals, thereby becomes a real gift of God to the 
 whole. 
 
 43. As there can be no arbitrary appointment of members in the 
 human body, to which the body of Christ is compared, and no 
 one member can be appointed to fill the place or ofiice of another, 
 but each member fills its proper place and office, by a spontane- 
 ous influence and a mutual concurrence of every other member ; 
 so is the appointment of members in the Church of Christ. 
 
 44. But as the human body has a leading part, which is the 
 head, by which all the other members of the body are directed, 
 and as the head directs and governs by the general consent of 
 the members, so it is with the Church or body of Christ. 
 
 45. The revelation and gift of God is given to the Ministry, 
 as the head of the body, in relation to lots of office and trust, 
 and other matters of importance ; and through these, communi- 
 cated to the other members. Yet nothing is considered as 
 established in the Church until it receives the general consent 
 and united approbation of the body ; and thus, by the body, in 
 union with the head, every thing important is established. 
 
 46. And each member of the body throughout, is also depend- 
 ent on another. The eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no i oor. lii. 
 need of thee; nor again, the head to the feet, I have no need of 21,22. 
 you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to 
 
 be tnore feeble, are necessary. 
 
 47. Such as are entrusted with the greatest care, are the 
 greatest servants ; and such as feel care, concern, and labor for 
 
 the welfare of the whole, are verily the servants of all, and are j fj^^ ^ 
 
 the more highly beloved and esteemed for their works' sake, and 17. 
 counted worthy of double honor. 
 
 48. Those little, simple, and very comprehensive words of 
 Christ Jesus. Whosoever will come after me, let him deny him- Maik, viii. 
 self, and take wp his cross and follow me, were received and Luke, xiv. 
 established among the people of God, as a foundation and lovely 26, 27. 
 
448 
 
 THE CHURCH ESTABLISHED 
 
 B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. 
 XIII. 
 
 JameF, ii. 
 18. 
 
 principle, from the time they first heard and received the Grospel 
 of Christ's second appearing, unto the present day. 
 
 49. Hence no true member of the body sought to obtain the 
 pre-eminence, or to usurp authority over another ; but each to 
 build up, and support the welfare and comfort of the other, and 
 consequently all were busy, peaceable, and happy; and every 
 blessing, spiritual and temporal, ensued, as naturally as rays of 
 light flow from the sun, or the fruits of harvest from the heat 
 and moisture of summer. 
 
 50. From the year 1780, until the present time, 1856, includ- 
 ing a period of seventy-six years, there never has been an 
 instance of any brother going to law with brother, in any case. 
 Nor has there been any such thing as a general council, or even 
 a Church meeting, to settle any difference among the members ; 
 because there never were any differences, or debates, or divisions 
 in the Church, that ever required any such thing. 
 
 51. The very Spirit of the Gospel, which was received from 
 God, through Mother Ann, and through the first witnesses of her 
 testimony, was that from the beginning, by which all the true 
 and honest-hearted who received it, became of one faith, of -one 
 heart, and of one soul ; and which in its certain consequences, 
 was productive of peace and good will, humility and temperance, 
 condescension and obedience, order and harmony, with every 
 other fruit of righteousness, and eternal life. 
 
 52. Such in reality, is the nature and consequence of that 
 testimony which we received and obeyed from the heart, and 
 have, according to our understanding, carefully and conscienti- 
 ously maintained and supported from the beginning, and in the 
 practice of which we now live, a-t this present day. 
 
 53. And such is the nature of the work of God, in all its 
 corresponding parts, both visible and invisible, and such the 
 certain effects, which are manifest in all its fruits, that it cannot 
 be imitated, so as to stand, by any human wisdom or power on 
 earth, separate from the Spirit and power of the living and true 
 God. 
 
 54. Since the testimony of the Gospel of Christ's second 
 appearing, was first opened in America, from the year 1780, to 
 the present period, there never has been any such thing as a 
 Church Creed, or Confession of Faith committed to writing, to 
 limit or hind the Church from a further increase. 
 
 55. All the affairs, in the order, government, or regulation of 
 the Church, are transacted according to the present circumstances, 
 or an immediate and present gift of God ; and everything ia 
 strictly observed from a principle of faith, implanted in the heart 
 of every individual, jointly and severally. 
 
 56. Their Confession of Faith, if it may be so called, is to 
 show their faith by their works, in doing justice and loving 
 
B. VIII. IN GOSPEL ORDER. 449 
 
 mercy ; being fully persuaded, that where there are no doers of ^S^^' 
 
 the very works of righteousness, there is neither a true faith nor — 
 
 a true Church, nor any fruits or evidence by which the true 
 Church may be known or distinguished from the false, by those 
 who are without. 
 
 57. It may be observed, that the Covenant which was entered 
 into by the Church, was kept and maintained as an internal law, 
 during seven years ; and it was afterwards committed to writing, 
 in form, on account of those who were without, and to convey an 
 understanding of the faith of the Church in relation to a united 
 interest ; and to confirm it beyond dispute, as the mutual faith and 
 practice of the Church, to all whom it might concern, it was 
 signed by the members at large. 
 
 58. But this/o7-??z of the Covenant, is not the Covenant itself. 
 The internal spirit and substance of the Covenant is more than 
 ever was, or ever will be written with paper and ink, being the 
 fulness of the law of Christ, written by the Spirit of God, in the 
 heart, and on the mind of every true member of his Church ; and 
 is by them kept and maintained as an internal law of liberty, 
 justice, and equity. And although the spirit and substance of 
 the Covenant is not contrary to the form, yet it is exclusive of, 
 and entirely distinct from any written form whatever. 
 
 59. Thus the promise of God by his Prophets, concerning 
 Christ, is fulfilled: I will give thee for a covenant of the people, isa. xm. 6. 
 for a light of the Gentiles. Behold the days come, saith the 3i''3^^''. 
 Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. Heb.viii. 8. 
 / will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their 
 
 hearts ; and I will he their God, and they shall be my people. 
 
 60. Christ, in his first and second appearing, has made mani- 
 fest the whole spirit and substance of the law, in the two tables 
 of the New Covenant ; and the two Anointed Ones, or two first- 
 born in the new creation, have finished this work, between whom 
 the covenant of eternal life is established ; hence the spirit and 
 substantje of this new Covenant, in its fulness, is written in the 
 hearts, and on the minds of all their spiritual children. 
 
 61. And therefore, in the gathering, building, increase and 
 establishment of God's spiritual house, all the members of the 
 Church, both male and female, as his sons and daughters, 
 brethren and sisters of one family, according to their lots and 
 several abilities, possess and enjoy one mutual interest, and one 
 united inheritance, in regard both to the things of time and 
 eternity. 
 
 62. However humiliating to the pride of fallen man, the pre- 
 sent work of God may be, in disannulling their human systems, 
 and forms of Worship ; yet the work has commenced, and wUl be 
 accomplished. Already have we ourselves suffered the wreck of 
 all our own carnal works and inventions ; yet we have had, and 
 
450 
 
 INCEEASING WOEK OP 
 
 B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Heb. i. 31. 
 
 still have, the greatest cause of thankfulness to Almighty G-od, 
 for that work which is accompanied with the real and abiding 
 treasures of salvation and eternal life ; and have therefore 
 received joyfully the spoiling of our goods, and have received, 
 even in this life, an hundred fold, according to the promise of 
 Christ. 
 
 63. And certain it is, that by those means which seemed fool- 
 ish to the wisdom of this world, has God, according to his own 
 unchangeable purpose, completed the foundation of his spiritual 
 building, and established that law of order, harmony, peace and 
 righteousness in the earth, that will stand forever ; and which, 
 in its increasing operations, will, in the end, be an everlasting 
 blessing to all nations. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Iw.ix. 7. PROFHECIES AND PROMISES FULFILLING IN THE PRESENT 
 INCREASING WORK OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. 
 
 Hosea, xii. 
 10. 
 
 Mark, iv. 
 30. 
 
 Luke, liii. 
 18. 
 
 Known unto G-od are all his works from the foundation of the 
 world; and as far as possible, invisible spiritual things have 
 been revealed by the things that are made ; therefore said the 
 Lord by the Prophet Hosea, I have multiplied visions, and used 
 similitudes, by the ministry of the Prophets. 
 
 2. Christ Jesus, the first who received the substance of the 
 promise, seemed often at a loss for means to convey an under- 
 standing of spiritual things to souls that were lost in their sins : 
 and therefore he had recourse to similitudes, and compared 
 spiritual things with natural, as the most striking means of con- 
 veyance. " Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or 
 with what comparison shall we compare it 1 Unto what is the 
 kingdom of God like ? and whereunto shall I resemble it ? " 
 
 3. When Jesus compared the kingdom of G-od to a grain of 
 mustard-seed, to leaven hid in three measures of meal, or to a 
 net cast into the sea, he could not mean that there was any re- 
 semblance in the case to the view of the natural eye. And 
 therefore, it must be a false imagination that will look for the 
 spiritual object to appear in the natural form, or shape of those 
 things to which it may have been compared. 
 
B. VIII. Christ's kingdom. 451 
 
 4. It would be very unnatural and unreasonable to look for a ^^^' 
 
 kingdom to appear in the shape or form of a net, or of a piece of '■ — ■ 
 
 leaven ; yet in the spiritual mind there is a true sense, in which 
 
 these things in nature have a resemblance to the spiritual work 
 of God. And this is particularly made manifest, in the present 
 day, in and by the Church of Christ, which is built according to 
 the fore-knowledge of God, answerable to all the similitudes that 
 were ever drawn by the Spirit of Christ, in Prophets or 
 Apostles. 
 
 5. The Church of the latter day was represented by the Pro- 
 phets, under the similitude of a kingdom, a city, particularly 
 Jerusalem, Mount Zion, the temple, and such like objects of 
 visible glory ; and the gathering and uniting of God's people into 
 Church order, is compared to the gathering of the Israelites, from 
 the countries in which they were dispersed, and establishing them 
 in the possession of their own laud. 
 
 6. But to frustrate the carnal mind, Christ and the Apostles 
 represent the same spiritual work, by things directly contrary ; 
 so that the proud and aspiring have as good reason to look for 
 the promise to be fulfilled in planting a grain of mustard-seed, as 
 in setting up a great visible kingdom ; for thereunto is the king- 
 dom of heaven likened. Therefore, it is necessary to consider 
 the true signification of the promises of God to his Church and 
 people, and wherein they have been fulfilled. 
 
 7. Whatever the promise of God literally referred to, whether 
 to a kingdom, a new city, or a new heaven and earth, it doubtless 
 alluded to men and women, living on the earth, in and among 
 whom the work of God was to be wrought, and to whom the pro- 
 mises were finally to be fulfilled, for the establishment of ever- 
 lasting righteousness and peace; therefore, such must constitute 
 the true Church of Christ, the only antetype of every figure, and 
 the substance of every blessing promised. 
 
 8. We shall take notice of a few general promises, which com- 
 prehend all the particular ones, relating to the Church of the 
 latter day, together with their plain and pointed accomplish- 
 ment; and first we shall consider what was promised through 
 the Prophet Daniel. 
 
 9. By the fate of the image which was shown to Nebuchad- Dan.ii, 29, 
 nezzar, and of the four beasts which appeared to Daniel, both si-ss&vu. 
 representing four great empires, God did particularly promise 
 
 and show the final dissolution of those tyrannical governments, by 
 which mankind were bound in ignorance and wickedness. 
 
 10. In the fourth and last of these empires, antichrist would 
 have his reign, in which the civil and ecclesiastical powers would 
 be divided, like the feet and toes of the image, and into which 
 the existing powers of government would gather, for the support 
 of the whole system. 
 
452 INCREASING WORK OF B. VIII. 
 
 ^HAP. 11. A stone was also cut out of the mountain without hands, 
 
 '- — '. — and smote the image on his feet, which were part iron and part 
 
 clay, and broke them to pieces, and continued to break and bruise 
 every part of the image, until the whole was broken in pieces 
 together ; and the wind carried them away, and no place was 
 found for them ; and the stone that smote the image, became 
 a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. 
 
 12. It was thereby expressly shown, and promised, that all 
 tyrannical powers should be weakened, in the latter end of anti- 
 christ's reign, by a mixture of republican principles ; that is, the. 
 
 Dan. ii. 43. seed of men, where all, however divided, have equal power and 
 authority, and where those antichristian and republican principles 
 should be blended together, like hard iron and soft clay ; there 
 God would smite them both together, by bis providential work, 
 
 _ which will prepare the way for the everlasting Gospel, given by 
 
 6, 7. inspiration from heaven. 
 
 13. All this Grod is particularly fulfilling in this latter day; 
 for, as stone grinds and wears away iron and brass, silver and 
 gold ; so the truth of God is superior to all the most polished 
 systems and principles of men, and must in the end, grind and 
 wear them away till no place be found for them. 
 
 14. And as monarohial and republican principles are mixed 
 with antichristian principles in every department ; so this mixed 
 government is partly strong and partly broken, and the different 
 parties help to weaken and break each other. And as neither 
 are founded on the revelation and spiritual work of God; so 
 neither can stand, but in the end must fall together; and only 
 by a proper relation to the spiritual work of God, can the prin- 
 ciples of real and true freedom be finally established. 
 
 15. For neither empire, nor republic, founded in the corrup- 
 tions and depravity of the fall, can stand in the shaking of this 
 last and great day of God Almighty ; and therefore the perfectly 
 just and peaceable kingdom of the Messiah, is opened as a refuge 
 for all that would escape the promiscuous wreck and ruin of the 
 antichristian world. 
 
 16. This was also included in the same prophecy through 
 Dan. ii. 44. Daniel. "And in the days of these kings, [that is, in the time 
 
 of the fourth empire, before the kingdom of antichrist is at an 
 end,] shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall 
 never be destroyed : and the kingdom shall not be left to other 
 people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these king- 
 doms, and it shall stand forever." 
 is'ii™'^' 1'^- ^^^ further, says the same Prophet, "I beheld till the 
 thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit. I saw 
 in the night visions, and behold, the likeness of* the Son of Man 
 
 ' The word one fas in tlie present version,) is not in the original, the meaning 
 is, the likeness of the Son of man, in and with his saints. 
 
B. VIII. Christ's kingdom. 453 
 
 came vritk the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, ^?A^' 
 
 and they brought him near before him. And there was given ■ 
 
 him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations 
 and languages, should serve him ; his dominion is an everlasting 
 dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which 
 shall not be destroyed." 
 
 18. "And judgment was given to the saints of the Most Dm.™. 22, 
 High ; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. ^''■ 
 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the king- 
 dom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the 
 
 saints of the Blost High, whose kingdom is an everlasting king- 
 dom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." 
 
 19. Hence the breaking and demolishing of that which was 
 corrupt, and the setting up of that which should stand forever, 
 was not only promised as an event most certainly to take place ; 
 but also the time when it should take place was revealed and pro- 
 mised by the same Prophet. 
 
 20. " Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said Dan.Tiii. 
 unto that certain saint which spake, how long shall be the vision ^3, 14. 
 concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, 
 
 to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot 1 
 And he said unto me, unto two thousand and three hundred 
 days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." 
 
 21. This vision of Daniel is dated 553 years before the j.^.^^ j^ 5 
 Christian era, which taken from 2300, leaves 1747, as the year 0. 
 
 for the promise to be fulfilled, counting a day for a year in the 
 first given number, as is usual with the Prophets. 
 
 22. Man is the temple or habitation of God, in both parts of 
 his manhood, male and female, and the female is the medium 
 through which all enter into manhood ; but as both parts of man 
 were defiled by sin, so that none could enter into manhood with- 
 out partaking of a sinful nature ; therefore, in cleansing and 
 purifying the female, the cleansing of the sanctuary was com- 
 pleted, and the veil of the flesh which shuts souls from the 
 heavenly order was taken away; thus was the way into the 
 holiest of all fully made manifest, where God promised to dwell 
 for ever. 
 
 23. Here began the sounding of the seventh trumpet, and thus 
 the cleansed sanctuary of the saints was manifested, and the 
 temple of God was opened in heaven, and ike ark of his testi- 
 mony was seen, and made accessible to man. And, from this 
 time the lightnings of truth have been increasing in the world, 
 and the voices from the powers above have been more and more 
 heard, awakening souls to a sense of the oppressive and corrupt 
 state of all the systems of men, and calling them to reform and 
 come out from among them. 
 
 24. And, the " thunderings " of Divine power, and the " earth- Rev. li. 19. 
 
454 
 
 INCREASING WORK OP 
 
 B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. 
 XIV. 
 
 Isa. i. S5, 
 26. 
 
 chap. vi. 13. 
 
 Joel, iii. 17. 
 
 Zech. viii. 
 3. 
 
 Isa. ii. 2-4. 
 & Mich. iv. 
 1-4. 
 
 • Lowth's 
 Transla- 
 tion. 
 
 Ezek. xliii, 
 12. 
 
 Ezekiel, 
 xlviii. 35. 
 
 Isa. U. 13, 
 
 U, 18, 21 
 
 quakes" of his judgments have been rolling through the earth, 
 shaking and breaking in pieces the great image in all its 
 branches, and wUl contine to increase, until all these prophecies 
 are fulfilled. 
 
 25. Hence the promises so universally allude to the purging 
 away of sin and uncleanness, rooting out and destroying that 
 which is evil in human nature, and implanting, promoting, and 
 building up that which is virtuous, holy, and good. As the 
 whole law is fulfilled in one word, namely, in obedience; so all 
 the promises of God are contained in one word, namely, in 
 righteousness. 
 
 26. And hence such plain promises as the following : " I will 
 turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge a^ay thy dross; 
 afterwards thou shalt be called The city of righteousness, The 
 faithful city. As a teil-tree, and as an oak, whose substance is 
 in them, when they cast their leaves ; so the holy seed shall be 
 the substance thereof. Then shall Jerusalem be holy, and 
 there- shall no strangers pass through her any more. And Jeru- 
 salem, shall be called a city of truth ; and the Mountain of the 
 Lord of hosts, the Holy mountain.'''' 
 
 27. "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the 
 mountain [or foundation] of the Lord's house shall be established 
 in the top of the mountains, [that is, above the power and light 
 of every other building,] and it shall be exalted above the hills ; 
 and people shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and 
 say. Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to 
 the house of the Grod of Jacob ; and he will teach us of his ways, 
 and we will walk in his paths : for out of Zion shall go forth the 
 law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." 
 
 28. "And he shall judge among the nations, and shall loork 
 conviction in many peoples; * and they shall beat their swords 
 into plow-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks ; nation 
 shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn 
 war any more. But they shall sit eveiy man under his vine, 
 and under his fig tree: and none shall make them afraid." 
 
 29. And — OC?" " This is the law of the house; Upon the top 
 of the mountain, the lo'hole lirail thereof round about shall be 
 most holy. And the name of the city from that day shall be, 
 The Lord is there. The glory of Lebanon shall come unto 
 thee ; to beautify the place of my sanctuary ; and all they that 
 despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; 
 and they shall call thee. The city of the Lord, The Zion of the 
 Holy One of Israel." 
 
 30. " Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor 
 destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls 
 salvation, and thy gates praise. Thy people also shall be all 
 righteous ; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my 
 
B. VIII. CHRIST'S KINGDOM. 455 
 
 planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. That ™^' 
 they might be called Trees of righteousness, The planting of the 
 
 Lord, that he might be glorified." i^''- 1^'- «• 
 
 31. All these and such like promises, are expressly to the 
 Church and people of God, in this latter day. If true believers 
 are called a city, it is because they are joined and compacted 
 together by the spirit of union and order ; if they are called 
 Jenisalem, it is because the name is expressive oi peace; if they 
 are called Mount Zion, which signifies high and clean, it is be- 
 cause they are raised above the low and base corruptions of 
 human nature ; and if they are called Trees of righteousness, it 
 is because they are fruitful in every good work. 
 
 32. In a word, all the prophecies were descriptive of that 
 state of purity and holiness, justice and righteousness, in which 
 God would meet and dwell with his people forever; according 
 
 to what was revealed last of all to Saint John. "And I saw a Rev.xii. 
 new heaven and a new earth, wherein (according to Saint Peter) l'^-^^ jjj 
 dwelleth righteousness. And I John saw the holy city, new 13. 
 Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a 
 bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out 
 of heaven, saying. Behold the tabernacle of God is with men." 
 
 38. "For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath acor. vi, 
 said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them ; and I will be their ^^■ 
 God, and they shall be my people. And I saw no temple there- 
 in : for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of Rev. ui. 
 it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that ' ''^^' 
 defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a 
 lie ; but they which are written in the book of the life of the 
 Lamb." 
 
 34. "And he shewed me a pure river of the water of life, clear Hev. xxii. 
 as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the '• 
 Lamb: " That is, purity of life, or true righteousness, flowing 
 
 from the throne of God to and through the saints. For, Prov. li. 
 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. And out of his joim, T,i. 
 belly shall flow rivers of living water. 38. 
 
 35. "And on either side of the river, (he shewed me) the tree Rev. xiii. 
 of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit ^• 
 every month." Thus the river was represented as flowing 
 between two trees, which were of one nature, and typified the 
 
 same two as the two olive trees in the vision of Zechariah. 
 
 36. But here the matter is more full and plain; and that 
 which was represented by the golden oil, is here a river of the 
 water of life, having two sides, relating to male and female and 
 their respective tree of life on each side ; and that covenant by 
 which both man and woman live the life of the Lamb, is here 
 represented as established between them both ; so that eternal 
 life is no where to be found but in that covenant and correspon- 
 
456 
 
 INCREASING WORK OF 
 
 B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Rev. ixii. 
 3. 
 
 Ezekiel, 
 xlvii 7. 
 
 Isa. Ix. ! 
 
 chap, liv. 1, 
 5, 13, 14. 
 
 Mat. xxiv. 
 19. 
 
 Jer. zxxi. 
 8,9. 
 Luke, 
 xxiii. S9. 
 Jer. xxxi. 
 12, 13. 
 
 * Lowth's 
 Transla- 
 tion of Isa. 
 \xv. 20. 
 Psal. xxii. 
 29-31. Ic 
 chap. 
 Ixxivii. 
 
 dent union which flows between the two; which is like a river 
 for multitude, made up of many drops ; for power, which cannot 
 be stopped in its course ; and for perpetual motion, which flows 
 day and night. 
 
 37. And there shall be no more curse. By the disobedience 
 of woman in and through the work of generation, the curse 
 entered ; and so by her obedience to the cross of Christ, the 
 antetype of the circumcising knife, which cuts her oflF from the 
 work of generation, with all its uses and abuses, it is, and oidy 
 can be, flnally taken away ; and she become a tree of life, on her 
 corresponding side of the river of life, answerable to the life of 
 Jesus. The same was also signified to the Prophet Ezekiel, in 
 his vision of the holy waters, with an increase of very many 
 t?ees on the one side and on the other; which is according to the 
 promise of God, A little one shall become a thousand, and a 
 small one a strong nation : I the Lord, will hasten il in his 
 time. 
 
 38. Therefore it is written, "Sing, barren, thou didst not 
 bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou didst not 
 travail with child ; for more are the children of the desolate, than 
 the children of the married wife, saith the Lord — For thy Maker 
 is thine husband ; the Lord of hosts is his name ; and thy 
 Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel ; the God of the whole earth, 
 shall he be called. And all thy children shall be taught of the 
 Lord ; and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righte- 
 ousness shalt thou be established ; thou shalt be far from oppres- 
 sion." 
 
 39. But, " Wo unto them that are with child, and to them 
 that give suck in those days ! They shall come with weeping, 
 and with supplications will 1 lead them : They shall say. Blessed 
 are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps 
 which never gave suck. Therefore they shall come and sing in 
 the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the 
 Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of 
 the flock and of the herd; and their soul shall be as a watered 
 garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all." 
 
 40. " Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young 
 men and old together : for I will turn their mourning into joy, 
 and will comfort them, and make them to rejoice from their 
 sorrow. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, neither 
 shall they generate a short lived race.* This evidently alluded 
 to a spiritual generation, and a spirit work, both in this and the 
 spirit world. 
 
 41. But I say, did not Israel know'? Did they not understand 
 when such prophecies had gone forth into all the earth, and the 
 words of the Prophet unto the ends of the world? Nay, verily 
 the sound they heard, but the sense they wholly mistook : for they 
 
B. VIII. Christ's kingdom. 457 
 
 were united to the first Adam, and multiplied after the covenant ^?/!^ 
 of the flesh. . ' — 
 
 42. Therefore "Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy Rom. i. is 
 by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger '9- 
 you." And such is the Church of Christ in the present day, 
 
 who claim no relation to the works of the flesh ; they are there- 
 fore counted as no people, among the peoples and kindreds of 
 the earth. .A foolish nation; that is, a nation not founded on, 
 or supported by human science or learning : for God hath made 
 foolish the wisdom of this world, since it has pleased him, by the 
 foolishness of preaching CArz's? crMcz^etZ, to save them that believe. 23. ' 
 
 43. Where there is no sin, there is no curse; and where there 
 is no curse, there is no need of any altar, atoning sacrifice, or 
 temple service ; and therefore the Lord God Almighy and the 
 Lamb appeared as the only temple of the New Jerusalem ; which 
 leaves no place for making atonement for the uncleanness of man 
 or woman. '*But the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be 
 
 in it ; and his servants shall serve him : and they shall see his Rev xiii. 
 face, and have his name in their foreheads." ^'*- 
 
 44. The servants of God are sealed unto the day of redemp- 
 tion. " And I heard the number of them that were sealed — an 
 hundred and forty and four thousand ; " the same number as those chap, vii.4. 
 with the Lamb upon Mount Zion. But the first number were andxiv. i. 
 those who were sealed by their faithfulness in the first appearance 
 
 of the Lamb, and reserved from the judgments which were sent 
 
 upon the earth, after they were all sealed. 8.°^ ™^ 
 
 45. The first mission of Christ, was to the remnant of Israel; 
 hence, the faithful in that day, were numbered as the tribes of 
 Israel, and were sealed unto the day of redemption ; thus are 
 they united with the virgin followers of the Lamb, in his final 
 appearance on Mount Zion. Rev. liv. i. 
 
 46. As the female is the mother, or bringer forth of all living 
 into life ; so all such prophecies pointed, for their accomplish- 
 ment, to the appearing of Christ' in the female. In the light of 
 Christ's first appearing, his followers could suffer and be in pain ; 
 but it could be only in his second appearing that any could live 
 and reign with him on earth. 
 
 47. Hence said the Prophet, "Like as a woman with child, 
 
 that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth jsa. mti. 
 out in her pangs ; so have we been in thy sight, Lord. We i^, is, w. 
 have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were 
 brought forth wind ; we have not wrought any deliverance in the 
 earth, neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen" by the 
 truth. 
 
 48. And so it continued, through all generations, until the 
 present appearing of Christ; in which it follows, that as the 
 inhabitants of the old creation fall ; so those of the new arise. 
 
 30 
 
458 
 
 INOEEASING WORK OP, &C. 
 
 B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Rev. XX. i. 
 2 Pet. iii. 8. 
 
 Rev IX. 5. 
 
 Psa. 1. 4, 5. 
 
 See Ezek. 
 xxxviii & 
 xxxix. 
 
 Hag. ii. 6, 
 7, 22. 
 
 Zech.xii.4. 
 
 Therefore it was said, " Thy dead men shall live, together with 
 my dead body shall they arise. And they lived, and reigned 
 with Christ a thousand years; " which is the year of the re- 
 deemed, or "the great day of God Almighty." 
 
 49. Christ in this day, is the author of eternal salvation tp all 
 them that obey him ; they are quickened together with Christ, 
 live as he lived, and reign over all that he reigned over. -'But 
 the rest of the dead lived not together until the thousand years 
 were finished." 
 
 50. Thus, while the people of God are brought forth and 
 united in the life of Christ, the disobedient and gain-saying are 
 more than ever divided, and will never find any thing into which 
 they can gather and unite until the day of redemption and sepa- 
 ration is over. 
 
 51. Therefore the psalmist, speaking of the second appearing 
 of Christ, says, " He shall call to the heavens above, and to the 
 earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together 
 unto me : those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. 
 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness." The saints 
 are first gathered to Christ in a covenant ; and by thus becoming 
 the habitation of God, the new heavens wherein dwelleth righte- 
 ousness, they declare his righteousness. 
 
 52. And as the true and faithful are gathered unto Christ, in 
 the covenant of righteousness and peace, by the testimony of 
 unchangeable truth, which was designated by the voice of the 
 archangel and the last trump of God ; so, during the voice of this 
 trumpet, and the gathering of the saints, the devU and Satan is 
 bound, that he cannot deceive the nations with any established 
 system of false religion, as he has done under the reign of anti- 
 christ. He can furnish nothing to imitate the truth, as a pre- 
 tended revelation from God, sufficient to influence the nations, or 
 unite them to one common head. 
 
 53. But when the year of the redeemed is finished, and the 
 elect, or those who believe and obey the truth, are gathered of 
 all nations ; then shall the wicked also be gathered, according to 
 those figures and prophecies which respect their final doom : this 
 however, is not the work of the present day. 
 
 54. But while the new heavens are building up, the old are 
 dissolving, according to all that the Prophets have spoken, par- 
 ticularly the Prophet Haggai, " I will shake the heavens, and the 
 earth, and the sea, and the dry land. And I will shake all 
 nations. And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I 
 will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathens ; and I 
 will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them ; and the 
 horses and their riderfe [i.e. all political and ecclesiastical institu- 
 tions and their supporters,] shall come down, every one by the 
 Bword of his brother." 
 
B. VIII. A CALOTJIiA.TION OF PROPHECIES. 459 
 
 55. This prophecy, with others of the like nature, has evidently "^SA^' 
 
 been fulfilling ever since the present order of the Church was '- — 
 
 established, in the year 1792, by the increasing commotions and 
 revolutions among the nations of the earth; which afford the 
 strongest evidence that peace will never be restored to the earth, 
 
 until every purpose of God, towards the fallen race of man, be 
 fully executed. 
 
 56. The dissolution of the kingdom of antichrist, was also 
 signified by all the threatnings against old Jerusalem for her 
 abominations, and was particularly signed out by the destruction 
 
 of that corrupt city, by the army of Titus Vespasian, so that not Mat. ixiv. 
 one stone of their temple was left upon another, according to the 
 words of Christ. 
 
 57. And as the seat of that corrupt religion which stood in 
 opposition to Christ in his first appearing, wasted away, by slow 
 degrees, through their own divisions, and the superior power of 
 a foreign people ; so in the second appearing of Christ, that 
 which lets or hinders the progress of his work, will be taken out 
 of the way by a similar overthrow. 
 
 58. Therefore, let them which be in Judea, flee unto the 
 mountain of the Lord's house. And Blessed are they that do Rev. xxii. 
 his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, ^*' 
 and may enter in through the gates into the city. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A SHORT CALCrLATION OE THE PRINCIPAL PROPHECIES 
 RELATING TO THE LATTER DAT. 
 
 As the time for the fulfilment of the prophecies respecting the 
 latter day, or Christ's second appearing, was not to be known, nor 
 the manner of it understood, until the event itself should declare 
 it ; and as those prophecies were given by the Spirit of inspira- 
 tion, and can be properly understood only by the same ; there- 
 fore, when the revelation of God is given, and the events have 
 taken place, there the prophecies may be rightly calculated and 
 truly understood, by those who are in the event itself, so far as 
 the things are revealed and made known, and no further. 
 
 2. And as the time fixed in many of the principal prophecies, 
 
460 
 
 A CALCULATION OP PROPHECIES. 
 
 B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. 
 XV. 
 
 Dan. xii. 7. 
 vii. 2i-i25. 
 viii. n, 12, 
 13, & xi. 
 31. 
 
 Mat. xxiv. 
 15, & Rev. 
 xi. 2, 3, & 
 xii. 6. ■ 
 
 Dan. viii. 
 14. Sc xii. 
 11, 12. 
 
 t See Mar-' 
 ginal Bible. 
 
 is certainly run out, and tlie principal events, as to their com- 
 mencement, Have taken place ; therefore the events are certainly 
 known, by those .who are in the Spirit of their fulfilment, at this 
 present day. 
 
 3. The . prophecies of Daniel include the time, and principal 
 events, of all the other prophecies, which in their order, were to 
 be fulfilled at three different periods as follows: For a time, 
 times, and' an half, he shall have accomplished to scattei the 
 power of the holy people: That is, three years and a half, which 
 contain forty and two months, or at least 1260 days, a day for a 
 year, the same period that the woman continued in the wilder- 
 ness. This was foretold to be the particular period of antichrist's 
 dominion, in which the witnesses prophesied in sackcloth. 
 
 4. The second period is, Unto two thousand and three hun- 
 dred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. And from the 
 time that the- daily sacrifice shall he taken away, (which is at the 
 commencement of the 1260 days) and the abomination of desola- 
 tian set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety 
 days. These two, in their expiration, refer to one and the same 
 period. Then follows the third. Blessed is he that waiteth, and 
 Cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. 
 
 5. As all the different periods have expired, and the principal 
 events, to which all the three prophecies allude, have taken 
 place, as they arose in the order of times; it is therefore proper 
 to state those numbers in order, as they arose, with their several 
 accomplishments; by which" both the commencement and expira- 
 tion of the most noted periods may be easily understood.* 
 
 6. The 2300 years include the reign of antichrist, as at the 
 end of that period the sanctuary was to be cleansed; and there- 
 fore, by taking from that number, the 553 years before Christ, 
 at which time the prophecy was given,! we have the period 
 alluded to in the Christian era, 1747, at which time the present 
 work of God began in England. 
 
 7. From the setting up of the abomination of desolation, there 
 was to be 1290 years, which period must also expire at the clean- 
 sing of the sanctuary ; and therefore by taking 1290, from 1747, 
 we have the time in which the reign of antichrist began, namely, 
 
 • In' 2300 days, or years, the sanotuaiy was to be cleansed. 
 553 years before Christ this prophecy was given. 
 
 1747 the ministry of James Wardly commenced. 
 1290 years of desolation. 
 
 457 the abomination of desolation set np under Leo I. 
 1335 years of waiting for the f uUness of the promises. 
 
 1792 the Church established in Glospel order. 
 1747, 
 
 45 years of gradual increase from 1747 to 1792. 
 
B, VIII. A CALCULATION OF PROPHECIES. 461 
 
 in the year 457, under Leo I. (commonly called Leo the Great,) ^^^' 
 bishop of Rome, at the death of the emperor Marcianus ; as has — — — - 
 been circumstantially stated.* 
 
 8. The reign of antichrist was to continue 1260 years, which See book 
 being added to 457, brings that period down to the year 1717; *"?■'■ 
 but as there was a gradual preparation in civil government, be- 
 fore the time of the prophecy (alluding to the beginning of anti- 
 christ's reign,) commenced; so there was also a gradual prepara- 
 tion in the same, by which his kingdom was weakened. 
 
 9. For several centuries, a series of the most bloody and dis- 
 astrous wars were carried on, between the Turks, and the powers 
 of .the '^Christian world" in which the Turks, by their power, 
 threatened to devour all Europe. But, near the close of the 
 seventeenth century, the Turks were stopped in their progress, 
 and their power was brought to a stand, and has never advanced 
 since. These wars have been the main support of the tyrannical 
 and persecuting power of the professed Christian rulers. 
 
 10. The people were made to believe that it was necessary to 
 sacrifice their own rights, and submit to the exactions of their' 
 governments, in order to defend Christendom from being over- 
 thrown by the infidel Mohammedans, But, when Christian 
 Europe (so called) became relieved from this general fear, from 
 that time many liberal minded men began seriously to investi- 
 gate " the rights of man," and more and more light was displayed 
 on the subject oi freedom. So that the rights of man, and -the 
 liberty of conscience, continued to gain ground, and the tyran- 
 nical power of the governments to grow weaker, from that period 
 to the present. 
 
 11. Liberty of conscience, a deadly wound to antichrist, was 
 in part established by William III, prince of Orange, in the 
 year 1689; which gradually increased till about the year 1717. 
 
 Near this time, Peter the Great, of Russia, established liberty of History of 
 conscience in his vast empire, which was a great incentive to its Great, 
 progressive increase in the world. His final edict, which com- 
 pleted what he had been several years in preparing, was dated 
 January, 1720. Hence, about this time, the kingdom of anti- 
 christ was sufficiently weakened to establish the above period, 
 answerable to the prophecy. 
 
 12. But as the fullness of time was not yet come for the clears- 
 ing of the sanctuary, the rising of the holy people, and the 
 setting up of the kingdom of Christ; therefore, in another pro- 
 phecy, 30 years more are added to the 1260, which brings the 
 1290 .years to the. year 1747. 
 
 13. By this time, in the order of Providence, the principles of 
 
 • There may possibly be an error of. a few years, in the period of those dates, 
 bnt that would not alter the snbstance of these calcolations, nor their length of 
 time. 
 
462 A CALCtTLATION OP PROPHECIES. B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP, freedom and the rights of conscience, were so far established as 
 
 __-! — to weaken the powers of persecution in the kingdom of antichrist, 
 
 and make room for the present work and testimony of God; in 
 
 which was expressly fulfilled that prophecy, The earth helped the 
 
 16. woman. 
 
 14. Then as the true order of the primitive Church was wholly 
 lost, and the great apostacy established as early as the year 457 ; 
 therefore the 1335 years of waiting, and coming unto the days 
 of blessedness, commenced at that period, and expired in the 
 year 1792, by which time the Church was established in its pre- 
 sent order, as the antetype of the second temple, to which the 
 
 Hag. ii. 7. desire of all nations was to come. 
 
 15. So that the expiration of the 1335 years, or year 1792, 
 was the period for the fulfilment of that prophecy, and the com- 
 mencement of all the blessedness, spoken of by all the Prophets; 
 and beyond this, no given period of prophecy extends, as thence- 
 forward unto the end, in conformity to the beginning, all things 
 will be fulfilled, pertaining to the salvation of mankind, and all 
 the glory and blessedness of the latter day. 
 
 Acts; i. 22. 16. The work of Christ in his first appearing, is considered as 
 3i''33 '' ^' beginning from the baptism of John, until by his ministry, the 
 way was prepared in the people, and one was found standing 
 among them, whom neither John, nor the people had before 
 known. So the second appearing of Christ is considered as 
 beginning from the preparatory work in the people, under the 
 ministration of James and Jane Wardley, from about the year 
 1747, and onward, until the Mother was baptized among them, 
 and received the Holy Spirit, by which she was anointed, and 
 sent forth of God, to bear her testimony to a lost world. 
 
 17. And therefore, by taking 1747 from 1792, there are 45 
 years of gradual increase, from the commencement of the pre- 
 sent work of God in England, until the building and establish- 
 ment of the Church in America; within this period all the 
 transactions occured, relating to Mother Ann, and the work under 
 her ministry, as they are circumstantially stated in the appendix. 
 
 18. For although the 2300 years, for the time of cleansing the 
 sanctuary, expired in the year 1747; yet as the work was of a 
 gradual nature, it could not be completed at once. Therefore 
 the real blessedness, which was to flow from it, was not dated at 
 the period when it began, but 45 years later, when the work of 
 cleansing and purifying was to be in such a manner completed, 
 that the way into the Holiest of all should be made manifest. 
 
 19. And therefore it was said. Blessed is he that waiteth md 
 Cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days: 
 which evidently expired about the year 1792, when the Church was 
 established in the present order of the Gospel. 
 
 20. Much time has been spent in calculating the foregoing 
 
B. VIII. A CALCULATION OP PROPHECIES. 463 
 
 prophecies, under the dark night of apostaey, particularly in the ch\p. 
 latter ages, by the learned and wise men of this world; but as 
 
 men cannot see to read in the dark, and none of the wicked, were Dan. xU. 
 
 to understand; therefore the events could not be seen, nor the "^"^ 
 
 manner of their fulfilment searched out, until it was revealed by 
 
 the light of Christ, at his second appearing, and even then only 
 
 by those who received him, and who were ready and watching at Mat. xxIt. 
 
 the time appointed. *^- 
 
 21. The most favored Prophet could not read his own pro- 
 phetic numbers. Go th]/ luay, Daniel : (said the angel,) for the Dm. xii. 9- 
 woris are closed up and sealed till the time of the end — thou 
 
 shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. (i.e. in 
 the real and final work of his order.) Nor were the curious in- 
 quiries of the disciples to be answered, in regard to the times and Acts, i. 7. 
 seasons, which the Father had put in his own power. 
 
 22. The present work of God must always be seen in and by 
 its present light ; not through the telescopes of human wisdom, 
 nor by the treasures of human knowledge, which the wise and 
 prudent of this world have treasured up to themselves; nor 
 according to the conceptions of the proud and lofty. 
 
 23. They may discern the face of the sky; but they will never 
 know the signs of the times, until they come down to Christ 
 
 where he is manifested, according to his own counsel : Take my Mat. li. ». 
 yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lovily in 
 heart ; and ye shall find rest to ymir souls. 
 
 24. The learned scribes and Pharisees sat in the seat of Moses, 
 in whom they trusted ; but these hypocrites clearly manifested 
 that they regarded neither Moses, nor the Messiah of whom he 
 wrote; for they disbelieved the former, and totally rejected the 
 
 latter. Had ye believed Moses, said Jesus, ye would have John, v. m. 
 believed me ; for he wrote of me. 
 
 25. They professed great veneration for the ancient Prophets, 
 by garnishing the sepulchres of those whom their fathers had 
 killed, and saying, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we Mat. xiiu. 
 would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the 29,30. 
 Prophets; while they themselves, denied the holy one, and the 14, vii.si, 
 just, of whom they were the betrayers and murderers ; and by ?• 
 
 so doing they made a jest of the oracles of the Prophets, tram- Josephta. 
 pled upon their prophecies, and denied both the time and manner 
 of their fulfilment. 
 
 26. It was the manner of Jesus to teach in the synagogues of 
 the Jews on the sabbath days. On one of these occasions, in 
 his own country, where he had been brought up, he read the 
 words of the Prophet Isaiah: The Spirit of the Lord (God) is upon ^^^^ ^^ 
 me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the 16-29.' 
 poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach 
 deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind. 
 
464 A CALCTILATION OF PBOPHECIES. B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. iQ ggt at liberty them that are bruised; to preach the acceptable 
 — '. — year of the Lord. 
 
 27. In that day, and at that time, was this scripture fulfilled 
 in their ears. So testified Jesus. But who, of all those of the 
 synagogue, believed that this scripture was fulfilled in him? Or 
 who of them believed that this was the acceptable year of the 
 Lord, and that God had anointed and sent him to proclaim it ? 
 Not one. 
 
 28. They scorned to stoop so low as to acknowledge such a 
 mean character, to their sense, whom they so well knew as the 
 son of a carpenter, brought up among them, and with whose 
 kindred and parentage they were so well acquainted, instead of 
 that extraordinary personage whom they expected to come in 
 
 Mat liii. great power and splendor as the Messiah. Whence, say they, 
 
 54, 55. Iiath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works ? Is not this 
 
 the carpenter's so?i? And they were offended at him. 
 
 29. But Jesus said, " Ye will surely say unto me this proverb. 
 Physician heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard doner in 
 Capernaum, do also here in thy own country." But he testified 
 to them of a truth, that many widows were in Israel, in the days 
 of Elias, when there was a great famine throughout the land; 
 but unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto a widow of 
 Sidon; and that many lepers were in Israel, in the time of 
 Elisha; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman, the 
 Syrian. And the true reason why their widows were not visited, 
 nor their lepers cleansed, was, that they were a stiff-necked and 
 gainsaying generation, who killed the Prophets, and stoned those 
 who were sent unto them. 
 
 30. But what effect had the truth on the descendants of those 
 unbelievers? Truly, the same effect that it had on their stiff- 
 Acts, vii. necked and rebellious forefathers — they always resisted the Holy 
 
 Spirit : as their fathers did, so did they : For aU they of the 
 synagogue, when they heard the truth, were filled with wrath, 
 and rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him to the 
 brow of the hill, that they might cast him down head-long. 
 
 31. This was the manner in which the Saviour of mankind was 
 treated in his first appearing ; and there never was a time since 
 man fell from his first rectitude to the present day, that the work 
 of God was not objected against, and the testimony of his wit- 
 nesses rejected by all hypocrites and unbelievers. 
 
 32. But the objectors and gainsayers of the present day, 
 would flatter themselves that they are not unbelievers, and that, 
 if they had been in the time, and enjoyed the privilege of those 
 wicked Jews who denied' Christ, they would not have been par- 
 takers with them in their evil deeds ; while there never were any 
 gainsayers to the work of God, in any dispensation of his grace, 
 but what Were of that perverse and gainsaying generation, 
 
 SI. 
 
B. VIII. A CALCULATION OF PROPHECIES. 465 
 
 who do always resist the Holy Spirit, by their objections and *^5v^' 
 
 cavils. — 
 
 33. The unbelieving Jews were always ready to charge Jesus f°^'^^' 
 of Nazareth with great pride and presumption, in applying to him- 
 self, and to the time then present, the title and dignity of the 
 Messiah, and the fulfilment of that superior power and authority 
 
 of his mission, spoken of by the Prophets. 
 
 34. They objected against him on every side. They objected, 
 
 " We know this man, whence he is : but when Christ cometh, no john, vii. 
 man knoweth whence he is. Search and look : for out of ^''i ^^■ 
 G-alilee ariseth no Prophet." He had not only broken the sab- chap. v. is. 
 bath, but said also, that God was his Father, making himself 
 equal with God. Art thou greater than our father Abrahara ? Tiii. 53. 
 said they ; whom makest thou thyself? For a good work we i. 33. 
 stone thee not ; but for blasphemy, and because that thou, being 
 a man, makest thyself God. 
 
 35. Thus those gainsayers denied not only the person whom 
 Grod anointed, but also denied his mission, together with the time, 
 and place, and manner of his appearing. And while they spent 
 their time in objecting and cavilling against the propriety of 
 Christ's testimony, aiming to prove that this was not the appear- 
 ance of the Saviour whom the Prophets had pointed out, they 
 wasted the day of their visitation, and only proved that they were 
 yet servants to sin; and that it was their choice and intention to 
 continue such, under the hypocritical mask of professing to 
 believe in Abraham, and Moses, and the Prophets. 
 
 36. In the same situation, and actuated by the same gain- 
 saying spirit, are those who, at this day, would labor to prove, See Hag i. 
 that the day of the Lord is not yet come, and that Christ has not fii^^4^^'' 
 made his second appearing, but all things continue as they were ; 
 because they have not allotted for themselves, that the purpose 
 
 of God should be accomplished in this their day, but in some 
 future day ; nor have they prepared their hearts to believe that 
 the manner of God's work would be contrary to all the plans 
 devised by their human wisdom. 
 
 37. And therefore, while they labor to prove that the time is 
 not yet come for Christ to set up his kingdom on earth, they only 
 eventually prove, that they are still under the dominion of 
 antichrist, that they are the willing subjects of his kingdom, 
 
 and are the scoffers of the latter days, of whom the Scriptures 2Pet. iii. 3. 
 have testified. 
 
 38. And while they profess to believe in Christ, and in the 
 time and manner of his first appearing, but deny this day, and 
 reject both the time and manner of his second appearing, they 
 evidently speak lies in hypocrisy. For had they believed in 
 Christ's first appearing, they would believe in his second : for he 
 testified of it. And had they believed in the Prophets, they 
 
466 A CALCTIIATION OF PROPHECIES. B. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XV. 
 
 would believe in the fulfilment of their prophecies : for they hare 
 all prophesied and written of this day. 
 
 39. The words of the prophecies were closed up and sealed till 
 the time of the end. At the time of the end the seals were to 
 be taken off, and the time and events were to be known by those 
 who should then be in them. But it never was the purpose 
 of God to reveal these things to the wise and prudent of this 
 world, for if these had been revealed to such, they would have 
 abused and perverted them ; but they are revealed to such only 
 as are candid and honest hearted before God, and are willing to 
 stoop down to the times and terms of his own appointment : for, 
 Psa. iiv. The secrets of the Lord are with them that fear him, ; and he 
 
 will shevj them his covenant. 
 Matxi. 25. 40. Hence said the meek and lowly Jesus, I thank thee, 
 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these 
 things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto 
 babes. Even so. Father ; for so it seemed good in thy sight. 
 
 41. And however humiliating and debasing to the pride of 
 fallen man, the purposes of God may prove ; yet they are un- 
 changeable and will stand; and in their appointed times and 
 seasons, wUl accomplish all that whereunto they are purposed, 
 and none can disannul or hinder it. 
 Eze.ivii. 42. ATid all the trees of the field shall huno that I the Lord 
 isa. liv. i, have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have 
 iL In. 3, 4. ^jrjgii jj^p ffig green tree, and have made the dry tree tofi/nirish ; 
 I the Lord have spoken and have done it. 
 
THE TESTIMONY 
 
 CHRIST'S SECOm APPEARING. 
 
 BOOK IX.— Part I. 
 
 THE ORDER OF DEITY, AND THE CORRESPONDING ORDER 
 OF CHRIST, REVEALED. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE REVELATION OP THE ETERNAL AND DIVINE SPIRIT. 
 
 God, is the eternal unity — the Creator of the heavens and earth, chap. i. 
 
 "and all the hosts of them," — the supreme Spirit and Intelli- 
 
 gence ; the original Prototype of all intelligent formations in their oen. i. 26-- 
 creations ; for these are declared to be the express image of this ^. 
 eternal unity. The existence of a supreme Creator is shown by 11,23. 
 the creation. Of all the visible works of creation, man is the ^°''' '' ^' 
 superior. He alone is able to use all natural elements to sub- 
 serve his purposes, and to conquer and govern all other creatures. 
 Yet many other animals are superior to him in size and physical 
 strength ; but his superior power arises from his rational intelli- 
 gence, which is invisible, and only known by its effects. 
 
 2. But man, with all his superior powers, cannot originate a 
 single atom of the material world. And hence it is evident that 
 man did not create himself, nor was it ever in his power to 
 originate that intelligence which makes him superior to all other 
 visible beings. Therefore, man's intelligence must be derivative ; 
 and, as no derivative can equal the original, his intelligent 
 power must be derived from a superior intelligent power. Hence, 
 as the intelligence of man is invisible, it is conclusive that the 
 intelligence from which it is derived is invisible. 
 
 3. From these premises, it is evident that man is the only 
 real representative of the supreme Intelligence in the visible 
 world. Therefore, as man is an organized being, (otherwise he 
 
468 
 
 THE REVELATION OF THE 
 
 B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 John, XX. 
 17. 
 
 Gen- XXX. 
 53. 
 
 Exod iii. 
 14, 15. 
 
 Exod Ti. 8. 
 
 Luke, , 
 22 
 
 could not be the repository of intelligence) it is self evident that 
 the source from .whence this organization is derived, is a supreme 
 organization, from whence are derived all organizations in his 
 creation. This is what we call Grod, or Deity. But the spiritual 
 element, power, and intelligence of this supreme Being, extend to 
 infinity. In this manner G-od works by agencies, and thus his 
 ■name is in them, which is clearly set forth in Exodus, xxiii. 20, 
 22, and other places. 
 
 4. The male and female order of this creative and superintend- 
 ing Deity, is clearly seen by all the works, which proceed from 
 eternal Power and Wisdom. For all the existences in the crea- 
 tion, came forth and are propagated in the order of male and 
 female. Hence, it is impossible that this universal order should 
 have been derived from any other source than the supreme crea- 
 tive Intelligence. 
 
 5. The manifestation of this order is not derived from the 
 Scriptures, but from the works of creation; nevertheless, the 
 Scriptures are a true and faithful witness of its reality. There- 
 fore a few Scripture revelations are here stated, to show their 
 harmony with the manifest works of God ; and, on succeeding 
 pages of this work will be found, still more full and explicit 
 statements and evidences on this interesting and important 
 subject. 
 
 6. Jehovah, the G-od and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 was known unto the Patriarchs as the God of Abraham, and the 
 God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ; and therefore as Jacob 
 abode in the fear of his father, he could swear by none greater 
 than by the fear of his father Isaac: But as pertaining to 
 spiritual children, except in a comparative sense, or by promise, 
 God was never known by the true attribute of Father until the 
 Son revealed him. 
 
 7. Unto Moses the Lord declared saying, "Thus shalt thou 
 say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you — 
 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob — 
 This is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all gene- 
 rations." Therefore until the genealogies of generations ceased, 
 in the work of regeneration by Christ, none of the true attributes 
 of Jehovah were ever fully known. 
 
 8. Hence God said unto Moses, " I appeared unto Abraham, 
 unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty; 
 but by my name Jehovah was I not known unto them." 
 Whatever names or attributes were applied to God before Christ 
 appeared, they were only significant of the substance, which 
 never was really known untU the Father was revealed by the Son. 
 
 9. Hence said Jesus Christ, " No man knoweth who the Son 
 is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he 
 to whom the Son will reveal him. No man hath seen God at 
 
B. IX. ETERNAL SPIEIT. 469 
 
 any time; the only begotten Son, whioli is in the bosom of the chap, i. 
 Father, he hath declared him." John, i. is. 
 
 10. Therefore the true attribute of Father, in Deity, was 
 never known until it was revealed by the Son; and as the 
 mystery of iniquity was only in part revealed by the Son ; so 
 only in part could the mystery of God be by him revealed in that 
 day. 
 
 11. But it has been promised that in the days of the voice of 
 the seventh angel, when he should begin to sound, the mystery 
 
 of God should be finished ; because then should that wicked be Rev n. 7. ■ 
 revealed, and taken fully out of the way, and consumed by the 7^^°°'"' 
 Spirit of the Lord's mouth, and destroyed by the brightness of 
 his coming. 
 
 12. Every thing must have a beginning before it can be 
 finished. Hence the mystery of God began to be revealed in the 
 days of Christ's first appearing, and will be finished in his second. 
 When the Father was revealed in and by the Son, in whom dwelt 1 Tim iU. 
 the fulness of the manifestation of Deity, it was a great mystery, coi. u.. 2. 
 Great is the mystery of Godliness, God manifested in the flesh. 
 
 The mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ. 
 
 13. God was named by the name of JEHOVAH, and owned 
 as the Creator of all things, for ages before the name of Father 
 was named ; but the true attributes of JEHOVAH, which imply 
 the full perfections of the deity, the first and the last, began first 
 
 of all to be made known by promise. Thus the Prophet Isaiah, l»a. ix. 6. 
 Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given : his name shall 
 be called, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The 
 Prince of Peace. That is, the everlasting Father of the new 
 creation, and the supreme manifestation of God therein. 
 
 14. This particularly, alluded to Christ Jesus ; and although 
 the Word states it in the present tense, yet there were in truth 
 and reality, no such attributes pertaining to God, whereby he was 
 actually revealed, until the Son was actually manifested through 
 Jesus ; but his name forever, and his memorial through all gene- 
 rations, was God Almighty, until the work of regeneration com- 
 menced, and the Father was actually revealed in and by the Son. 
 
 15. Christ Jesus had the Father dwelling in him, and had 
 received the holy anointing Spirit, and as he was sent into the 
 world; so he sent his disciples into the world; saying, "Go ye Mat.xxviii, 
 therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of '^>20- 
 the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching 
 
 them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." 
 And as the Holy Spirit descended upon, and abode in Jesus, by Luke, iii. 
 which he revealed the Father ; so the same was also given to his ^; 
 followers. 
 
 16. As Christ Jesus was the Son of God, the first bom of 
 every creature in the new creation, and the first begotten of the 
 
470 
 
 THE REVELATION OP THE 
 
 B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Rev. i. 5. 
 
 1 Cor. 3CV. 
 
 20. 
 
 James, i. 
 
 18. 
 
 Rev. xiv. 
 
 4. 
 
 Eze. xlvii. 
 
 12. 
 
 Rev. xxii. 
 
 2. 
 
 Rom. i. 20. 
 
 Isa xlviii. 
 1-8. 
 
 Jer. xvii. 9. 
 
 dead, and was therefore the " first fruits of them that slept ; " so 
 those who were, through him, begotten by the word of truth in 
 that day, were a kind of first fruits of his creatures, or crea- 
 tion, which was exhibited in the line of the male. 
 
 17. But when the vision of St. John came to be fulfilled, the 
 perfect first fruits unto G-od and the Lamb appeared, completed, 
 both in the order of the male and female ; which was included in 
 the vision of the holy waters, with very many trees on both sides 
 of the river, whose leaf (it was said) should not fade, neither 
 should the fruit thereof be consumed. 
 
 18. The invisible things of Grod from the creation of the world, 
 are clearly seen, being understood by the things tkut are made, 
 or created; even his eternal power and divinity. Therefore, 
 although many things, from the beginning of the visible creation, 
 were declared beforehand, and suddenly fulfilled in a figure ; yet 
 nothing was known of the Creator, in reality, until their actual 
 existence. 
 
 19. And although many things were seen, and spoken, and pro- 
 phesied of, concerning the divine perfections of JEHOVAH; 
 yet in reality and truth, those perfections could not be known, 
 until their actual accomplishment and revelation by Christ, in 
 the fulness of times, in his first and second appearing. For if 
 the fulness of the perfections of JEHOVAH had been revealed 
 in the days of Christ's first appearing, there would not have been 
 another day spoken of; and until the fulness of time, it was in 
 the mind of infinite wisdom to keep them concealed. 
 
 20. Hence God speaks by the Prophet Isaiah, " Hear ye this, 
 
 house of Jacob — which swear by the name of the Lord, and 
 make mention of the G-od of Israel, but not in truth, nor in 
 righteousness. For they call themselves of the holy city, and 
 stay themselves upon the G-od of Israel." 
 
 21. "I have declared the former things from the beginning — 
 
 1 shewed them ; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass. 
 Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron 
 sinew, and thy brow brass ; before it came to pass I shewed thee ; 
 lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them." 
 
 22. "I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hid- 
 den things. And thou didst not knov; them. They are created 
 now, and not from the beginning — lest thou shouldest say, 
 Behold I knew them : for I knew that thou wouldest deal very 
 treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the ivomb." 
 
 2B. And because the heart of fallen man is deceitful above all 
 things, and desperately wicked, and because he is a very treach- 
 erous dealer, and a transgressor from the womb ; therefore it is, 
 that the hidden things of God were not given unto man to know, 
 any faster than in the fulness of times, appointed in the order of 
 God's unchangeable purpose. 
 
B. IX. ETERNAL SPIRIT. 471 
 
 24. Hence it was of greater benefit to mankind, that the time, chap, i. 
 place, and manner of Christ's second appearing should he totally 
 concealed from them, than the revelation of it would have been. 
 
 While such stiff-necked corrupters are endeavoring to limit the 
 Holy One, and corrupt every thing which comes within the com- 
 prehension of their blind senses, God suddenly, and unawares, 
 accomplishes his own purposes out of their sight, in such a man- 
 ner as their human wisdom can neither comprehend, nor their 
 power supplant. 
 
 25. As it is only by the things that are created now, and made 
 manifest in their present and actual existence, that the invisible 
 things of God can be truly known ; and as it was only in and by 
 the Son, in his manifest existence, that the Father was revealed 
 in Christ's first appearing; therefore by the things which are 
 now created anew in Christ Jesus, and which truly exist in the 
 present day, the perfections of JEHOVAH are truly revealed, 
 made manifest, and certainly known.* 
 
 26. Before the substance was made known by the actual mani- 
 festation of the Son, in Christ's first appearing, the anointing 
 power (which constituted Christ) dwelt in the eternal Word, 
 which was communicated to the Patriarchs and Prophets by the 
 ministry of angels; so in the same manner was the Holy Spirit 
 given unto the Apostles and true witnesses, as a Spirit of pro- 
 mise, until the substance should be revealed by the Daughter, in 
 Christ's second appearing. 
 
 27. And as in the fulness of time the Spirit of God descended 
 and abode in the Son, in whom dwelt the fulness of the Deity, 
 pertaining to man's redemption, who thus came in the male 
 order, to reveal the Father ; so also in the fulness of time, the 
 Holy Spirit, even the Daughter, descended and took up her abode 
 in that chosen female, in and by whom, united in a correspondent 
 relation to the Son, the perfection of order in the deity was made 
 known, and the mystery of God finished, pertaining to the founda- 
 tion of man's redemption. 
 
 28. It has been observed, that the universal law implanted in 
 nature in the first creation of man, has established the order and 
 relation for the increase of his posterity after the flesh, by a 
 
 • '' God declared to Moses, that he was not known by the narae of Jehovahj 
 [which is literally, a noun of the feminine gender,] to Ahraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; 
 and yet God is called by the name of Jehovah, in Gen. xv. 7 ; xxvi. 24=. This is 
 not to be understood of the name, but of the thing signified by that name. For that 
 denotes all his perfections ; and among others, the constancy, and immutability of 
 his nature and will, and the infallible certainty of his word and promises. And, 
 though this was believed by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, yet God had not given 
 any actual being to his promises, for their deliverance by the accomplishment of 
 them ; for they only saw the promises afar off. This expression may likewise be 
 understood comparatively ; they knew this but darkly and imperfectly, which was 
 now to be made kno^vn more clearly and fully." So says Cruden, Concordance, Art. 
 God. 
 
472 THE REVELATION OP THE B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. I. mutual correspondence between two ; in wliicli it invariably 
 descends from generation to generation, proceeding from the first 
 father and mother, the joint parentage of all the human race. 
 
 29. And no less is the law of the new creation established, 
 between two, for the increase of a spiritiial posterity, by the 
 eternal and unchangeable purpose of JEHOVAH, according to 
 his divine and immutable perfections, which existed in his divine 
 essence before all worlds, which were kept secret through all 
 ages and generations ; but now are made known unto the saints 
 of the present day, for the full and final accomplishment of what- 
 ever G-od promised in Christ, by the mouth of all his Prophets, 
 since the world began. 
 
 30. The Father is first in the order of the new creation, and 
 the Mother is the second ; the glory, wisdom and perfection of the 
 Father. And in and by the Son and Daughter, or Christ mani- 
 fested in his first and second appearing, the Father and Mother 
 are both revealed and made known, through the mutual influence 
 of tte eternal Word proceeding from both ; who are one in essence, 
 nature, and union, but two in their office and manner of operation. 
 
 31. Yet neither the attribute of Father nor Son, Mother nor 
 Daughter, existed from all eternity; but derived their existence 
 from the Creator, by those things which actually exist in the 
 order of the old and new creation, which is created by the eternal 
 Word, proceeding from an everlasting source ; as the jiver of the 
 waters of life proceeding from the sanctuary and throne of God 
 and the Lamb, and flowed between the tree of life on either side 
 of the river. 
 
 32. ^^ From all eternity'''' is a term invented by blind guides, 
 and conveys no true idea at all in relation to the things of Grod 
 having neither beginning nor end. But everlasting, is that 
 which expresses the immutability of the Divine perfections, being 
 that which never dissolves, nor comes to an end. And hence, 
 beings created at any certain period, may be everlasting, because 
 proceeding, and coming forth from an everlasting substance. 
 
 33. It has been observed, that the attribute of Father depends 
 upon the existence of Son as much as the attribute of Son depends 
 upon the existence of Father. Therefore said the Prophet, 
 They are created now, and not from the beginning — lest thou 
 shouldst say, I knew them. 
 
 34. In the records of Truth, before the EVERLASTING 
 FATHER, we see JEHOVAH; and before JEHOVAH, we 
 see I AM ; and before I AM, we see GOD ; and before GOD, we 
 see the beginning. In the beginning, God created the heavens 
 and the earth ; for without a beginning God could not be known 
 to exist, and therefore could not exist in relatiun to things that 
 
 Job.M.7. have a beginning. Canst thou by searching find out God? catist 
 thou find out the Almighty unto perfection'? 
 
B. IX. ETERNAL SPIRIT. 473 
 
 35. At the begiuning of the new creation, the Son of God chap. r. 
 declared that he was in the Father, and the Father in him ; and 
 
 to the Jews he said. No man hath ascended up to heaven, hut j„i,n xiv. 
 he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is °' '"■ 'i- 
 
 • • & iii 13 
 
 in heaven. This he said while on the earth, where the Father 
 was, necessarily to be revealed. 
 
 36. Moses had written the history of the natural creation from 
 the beginning, and not the history of the new creation ; but the 
 Evangelists wrote the history of the new creation, and not that 
 
 of the old, having been eye witnesses of the work of Christ Jesus Luke, i. 2, 
 from the beginning, and having received the Word, by which 25'Heb"ii 
 the foundation of that world was laid, and by which they were s. 
 created anew in Christ Jesus, who was the beginning of that 
 creation. '•^,' 
 
 37. "In the beginning was the-'Word, [of Kevelation] and the 
 Word was God : the same Word was in the beginning with God. l"^"^' '• 
 Every thing was * by him, and without him was not any thing made Eysvs- 
 that was made. In him was life ; and the life was the light of ^^ 
 men." Andthe Word was revealed by Christ Jesus in the flesh, and existed or 
 dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the fg^ih^'" 
 only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 
 
 38. That Word by which Jesu^ spoke, by which the ages were 
 set in order, and which Jesus testified should judge the world at 
 the last day, proceeded from the .everlasting substance of the 
 Father, and Holy Wisdom ; and hence the Father, the Word, 
 and Holy Wisdom are one, in essence, in nature, and ia union 
 everlasting. 
 
 39. But does this imply "three persoiu, of one substance, 
 power, and eternity? " or that "The Son is eternally begotten 
 of the Father? " Or does it imply that the Son is "very and 
 eternal God, equal with the Father? " No such thing. I can of John,v 
 mine ovyn self do nothing, said Jesus : The word which ye hear |^ ^" ^*' 
 is not mine, but the Father'' s which sent me ; for my Father is 
 greater than 1. 
 
 40. And does not nature and reason, as well as the whole 
 order of creation, witness, that he who begets must be before him 
 that is begotten ? and that the Father is therefore greater than the 
 Son ? and that the Son must have had a beginning ? How can the 
 Son be eternally begotten? If he is eternally hegotten, then the 
 Father must be eternally begetting him, and consequently, of 
 eternal ?iecessity, he must be eternally in the womb, and was 
 never brought forth, never came to the birth, nor ever can while 
 eternity endures. 
 
 41. But if the Father had a Son, he was certainly begotten; 
 and if begotten, then certainly brought forth ; and as certainly 
 he had a beginning ; and that beginning was not all eternity; 
 but the operation of God at a certain period of time ; yet his 
 
 31 
 
474 REVELATION OP THE, &C. B. 15. 
 
 CHAP. I. descent was from everlasting, being begotten, conceived, and 
 
 John, viii. brought forth from an everlasting source. 
 
 ^^- 42. Jesus Christ said to the Jews, " Your father Abraham re- 
 
 joiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad." Buthowdid 
 Abraham see his day ? Was it to him present, past, or future ? 
 The truth is, it was not to him real, but only by faith in the 
 promise, the fulfilment of which was yet future : for he looked 
 
 Heb.xi. 10. for a city whose builder and maker is Grod: And what a man 
 
 Rom. viiL seeth, why doth he yet hope and look for ? 
 ' 43. Again said Christ Before Abraham was, I am. This 
 
 was strictly true. Hence said John the Baptist, the greatest 
 
 John, i. 27, 0^ ^ the Prophets, He it is, who coming after me, is preferred 
 
 30- before me — for he was before me. 
 
 44. Again, Christ prayed for the glory which he had with 
 the Eather before the world was, saying, And now, Father, 
 
 John, xvii. glorify thou me, with the glory which I had with thee, 
 
 before the world was. Agreeing with his word, " I proceeded 
 
 John, Tiii. forth, and came from God." To whom applied the words which 
 
 ^2- David spake by the Spirit of God, saying, "Thou art my Son, 
 
 this day have I begotten thee ; " also, " The Lord said unto my 
 
 Psa. u. 7. Lord, sit thou on my right hand, untO. I make thine enemies thy 
 
 Ps. ex. 1. footstool." This was spoken in the present tense, many ages 
 
 before Jesus came into the world. 
 
 45. David then prophecies, "The Lord shall send the rod of 
 thy strength out of Zion; rule thou in the midst of thine 
 enemies." This ro(^, evidently alluded to Jesus, (agreeing with 
 many other prophecies,) "through whom all nations should be 
 overcome, and be brought to bow to the Son." From all which 
 it is manifest, that Christ existed as a Divine ministering Spirit in 
 
 i^cor. X. ^J2 a.gea. But was not manifested as the quickening spirit of the 
 
 1 Pet. 1.11, second Adam, until revealed in the man Jesus. 
 
 1 Cor. XV. 46. Therefore, though Christ existed with the Father bef6re 
 
 *5. the world was, yet, in the order of times, in relation to man's 
 
 redemption he was not known among men before the first man 
 
 Adam who was of the earth " earthy," but long after. For, in 
 
 that order, that which is spiritual is not first, but that which is 
 
 1 Cor. XV. natural, and afterwards that which is spiritual." 
 
 46, 47. 
 
B. IX. 
 
 REVELATION OP JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 475 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE REVELATION OP JESUS CHRIST, THE BEOINNING OP 
 THE NEW CREATION OP GOD. 
 
 Cor. 
 45^17. 
 
 "There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body; " and chap. u. 
 as there is a natural birth to the natural body, so there is a ' 
 
 spiritual birth to the spiritual body, which is produced by the 
 work of regeneration, and is called the new birth, or being bnrn 
 again. Hence it is written, The first man Adam was made a 
 living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. How- 
 beit, that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is 
 natural; and afterward that vjhich is spiritual. 
 
 2. The living soul of the first man was a spiritual body, and 
 occupied the natural body of the^rs^ Adam, and constituted the 
 first natural man. The quicke?iing spirit, the second man, the 
 Lord from heaven, who regenerated, and resurrected the spiritual 
 body (or soul) of Jesus, a lineal descendant of the first man, 
 (Adam) and constituted him the first spiritual man — a Son of 
 God — the first redeemed, and the anointed head of the human 
 race, the Father of all the children of the new creation. There- 
 fore, to as many as received Christ, the quickening Spirit, 
 through him to them, gave he power to become the sons of 
 God. 
 
 3. That natural body, or tabernacle, in which the Lord Jesus 
 dwelt, was visible to the human eye, like the natural bodies of 
 other men; but his spiritual body, in which Christ the Lord was 
 revealed, who being invisible, was seen and known only by reve- 
 lation to those who received his Word ; and no man could call 
 him Lord, but by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 4. How greatly, then, are they mistaken, who suppose that 
 the virgin Mary was the true and real mother of Christ, the Son 
 of God; whereas, she was but the mother of the medium, or 
 vessel, through which Christ, the second Adam was revealed. 
 "Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifices 
 and offerings, thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared 
 for me." 
 
 5. Such as have considered Mary as the real Mother of Christ, 
 by falling into that mistake, have equally mistaken every thing- 
 else concerning Christ. They have admitted that Mary was a 
 fallen creature, possessed of the same corrupt nature with other 
 women. And thus they have supposed that Christ was the off- 
 spring of a holy God and a sinful woman, and possessed the nature 
 of both God and man, in two distinct natures, having the nature 
 
 John, 1. 12. 
 
 ] Cor. 
 3. 
 
 Heb. 
 
476 EEVELATION OF JESUS CHEIST. B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. II. of both his Father and mother, "united in one person, and that 
 ■ without any change, mixture or confusion." 
 
 6. From this notion has arisen the inconsistent and ahsurd 
 doctrine, that good and evil are united in the children of God; 
 that "the corruption of nature, during this life, doth remain ia 
 those that are regenerated." And consequently the first fol- 
 lowers of Christ were at least half-blooded sinners, and degen- 
 erated, from age to age, on the mother's side, until they could 
 scarcely tell whether they had any thing of God in them or not. 
 Daily transgressors, never able to keep the commandments of 
 God during^ the term of life ; when the pointed truth is, that, 
 
 1 John, iii. Whosoever sinneth, hath neither seen Christ, nor knovm him. 
 
 7. It is evident, that in Christ Jesus was no sin, that he did 
 no evil, neither vjas guile found in his mouth; therefore it 
 follows, that he owned no part of the fallen sinful nature which 
 he derived from a natural woman in a fallen state. That fallen 
 nature, which he seceived through the medium of a woman, 
 he never owned as any part of Divine substance, but crucified it 
 unto the death. 
 
 8. And as Christ was manifested as being the full and perfect 
 Son of God, by the spirit and fruits of holiness produced in 
 
 Rom. viii. " t^c first born among many brethren;" therefore the above 
 29. opinion is founded upon a misunderstanding of the true lineage 
 
 of his holy Son, which was not partly Divine and partly human, 
 but fully and perfectly Divine in both parts of his Parentage. 
 But, as the Son came into the world to reveal the Father, there- 
 fore the mistake could never be rectified till the Mother was 
 revealed by the Daughter. 
 
 9. The Evangelists and others wrote according to the best of 
 their knowledge ; and hence there is such a diversity in their 
 writings at different periods respecting the genealogy of Jesns. 
 For seeing that Messiah was to come of the seed and lineage of 
 David, and knowing for certain that he had come; therefore 
 they gave his genealogy in that line, through Joseph and !Mary, 
 as his supposed parents; when at the same time, they all agree 
 that J oseph was not his real father, although he was his legal 
 Father ; for Joseph was legally espoused to Mary, of the family 
 
 See Mat. of David, before she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. 
 '■ ^^' Of this family of David, Joseph then stood as the head direct 
 
 from the line of Solomon. 
 
 10. In accommodation to the blind prejudices of the Jewish 
 nation, the Apostles showed that Jesus came in the line of 
 Joseph and Mary, according to the flesh : but at the same time, 
 they prove that Christ Jesus did not come after the flesh at all. 
 
 acov. V. Though we have known Christ after the flesh, (says Paul,) y«f 
 ^* nmo henceforth know we him no more. 
 
 11. The common people made no distinction ; they say, h not 
 
B. IX. REVELATION Off JESrS CHRIST. 477 
 
 this Jesus the son of Joseph, ivhose father and mother we know? chap. ii. 
 
 But Christ in Jesus, who knew all things from the beginning, 
 
 says. Ye judge after the flesh — Ye are from beneath; I am John, vi. 
 
 from above. I proceeded forth and came from God. The 15, 23, ^2'. 
 
 Evangelists, who wrote to the common people, speak of Joseph 
 
 and Mary as the supposed parents of Jesus. "Being (as was Luke, lii. 
 
 supposed) the son of Joseph." 
 
 12. "Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year to the ihid. ii 48, 
 passover." But when they found him in the temple, with the ■*S- 
 doctors, hearing and asking them questions, "His mother said 
 
 unto him, Son, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing." 
 But Jesus gave them to understand that Joseph was no more 
 than his supposed father. " Wist ye not, (said he) that I must 
 he about my Father's business? " 
 
 13. In the natural order of the work of Grod, both in the 
 Patriarchal and Mosaic dispensations, the progression was through 
 the medium of natural generation ; nearly or quite every increas- 
 ing degree, was brought forth by an agent, who, by Divine 
 influence, either generated in a good degree according to the 
 original law of nature, or was born by promise, up to the birth of 
 John the Baptist. And it was expressly said " both his parents 
 were stricken in years," which doubtless implies that they wera 
 both past generating ; hence, he was born by the power given 
 them by the angel. Here, nature, in the line of generation, had 
 arisen to its greatest perfection, and hence, John, was the highest 
 production of natural generation. 
 
 14. Therefore, when Jesus was born, who was to be the 
 medium of a new and spiritual creation, he was brought forth 
 without the generating agency of man. But the generative 
 powers of nature were conaentrated by supernatural influence in 
 a proper and chosen medium, and thus created him a complete 
 natural man. 
 
 15. Hence, he was the proper medium for a higher manifesta- 
 tion of Divine power and life in man, than could ever before have 
 been diffused into the world. This also showed, that the work of 
 natural generation had come to its height, that it must hence- 
 forth decrease, and the work of spiritual regeneration must in- Luke, vii. 
 crease until it supplanted the former ; even as John the Baptist, ?^7^^- 
 the highest offspring of natural generation said, "He," (Jesus) 30. ' 
 "must increase, but I must decrease." 
 
 16. Father and Son do not imply the perfection of that order in 
 which Grod created man at the beginning, and which is manifest 
 in the visible creation; and much less can those attributes of 
 Father and Son imply the perfection of that order which was 
 essentially in the Deity, and was relatively signified by the order 
 in which God created man at the beginning, when it was said, God 
 created man in his ovm image — male and female created Ae them. 
 
478 REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST. B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. II. 17. j^nd without this relative distinction in the order and per- 
 fection of the Deity, as the true first cause of man's existence, 
 the things that were created, could only in part, claim a relation 
 to the Creator, while a very important part must exist without 
 relation to any correspondent cause. For it 'wUl be granted, that 
 God is distinguished by the title of Father, in relation to man ; 
 and that man, in the perfection of his order, includes more than 
 Father. 
 
 18. The first man Adam was the first natural father of all 
 the human race ; but he was not alone, his manhood was made 
 complete by the woman, who was bone of his hone, and flesh of 
 his Jlesh, and they two were called Adam, being joint agents of 
 that one body ; and the woman was called the mother of all 
 living. 
 
 19. And if the attribute of mother pertains to man, in the 
 perfection of his order, from whence could this attribute flow ? 
 or with what did it correspond ? If the attribute of Father and 
 Mother, in the creation of man, can flow from Father alone, the 
 effect is superior to its cause, and Mother must flow from where 
 Mother is not, and the female part of creation can know no cor- 
 responding cause of her existence. 
 
 20. But as father and mother, or male and female, do exist 
 in the creation of man, and are essential to the glory and per- 
 fection of that order, and are declared to have been created in 
 the image and after the likeness of God; therefore, if no such 
 relative distinction is admitted in the first cause of their exist- 
 ence, then it plainly follows, that the perfection and glory of the 
 creature is superior to that of the Creator. This is an inconsis- 
 tent and absurd supposition. 
 
 21. But the truth is, that as God created man male and female, 
 in his own image and likeness, and called their name Adam — 
 two in their order and manner of operation, but one in their 
 nature and union, constituting one entire man, perfect and com- 
 plete in the order of his manhood ; so man in his first creation, in 
 both parts of his manhood, relatively showed forth the order, 
 glory, and perfection whioh essentially constituted the First Cause, 
 and was a pattern of that order and perfection which was to be 
 revealed by Christ in the new creation. 
 
 22. But man, in his natural state, could never know the per- 
 fections of the invisible First Cause, until they were revealed in 
 the new creation, by Christ in his first and second appearing; in 
 which the Father is revealed by the Son, and the Mother by the 
 Daughter; and the true order and perfections of Jehovah are 
 made known by those things that are created, revealed, and 
 made manifest, in which God becomes all in all. 
 
 23. Therefore, by the first appearing of Christ, in and hythe 
 anointed Son, was the revelation of God, pertaining to the tme 
 
B. IX. REVELATION OP JESUS CHRIST. 479 
 
 order of the eternal Father, who was everlasting before all chap, ii . 
 worlds ; and hy the second appearing of Christ, in and through 
 the anointed Daughter, is the revelation of Holy Wisdom, per- 
 taining to the true order of the eternal Mother, who was with Him g"^'™'' 
 that is Everlasting. 
 
 24. As the name Almighty, expresses the substance, but not 
 the order of the Father ; so the name Wisdom, also expresses the 
 substance, but not the order of the Mother. And as the true 
 order and office of the Father was not known, until revealed by 
 the Son; so the true order and offiioe of the Mother was not 
 known, until revealed by the Daughter. 
 
 25. And therefore, by whatever name Holy Wisdom was 
 called, under the dispensations which preceded her revelation, 
 She is unchangeably one with the Father, in union and essence, 
 and is distinguished by her co-operations, everlasting with the 
 Father, before ever the world was, or the ages set in order: 
 which is according to her own testimony of unchangeable truth, 
 under the title of Wisdom. 
 
 26. " She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her ; and Prov, lii. 
 happy is every one that retaineth her. The Lord by wisdom ' 
 hath founded the earth ; by understanding hath he established 
 
 the heavens." 
 
 27. "She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in chap. nii. 
 the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of 
 
 the city, at the coming in at the doors : Unto you, men, I call, 
 and my voice is to the sons of man." 
 
 28. " I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge 
 of witty inventions. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil ; pride 
 and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I 
 hate. Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom : I am understanding. 
 I have strength. By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. 
 By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth." 
 
 29. "I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the 
 paths of judgment : that I may cause those that love me to in- 
 herit substance : and I will fill their treasures. The Lord pos- 
 sessed me in the beginnitig of his way, before his works of old.. 
 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the 
 earth was." 
 
 30. "When there were no depths, I was brought forth ; when 
 there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the 
 mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth ; 
 •while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the 
 highest part of the dust of the world." 
 
480 ILLrSTBATION OP B. IX. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 AN ILLrSTRATION OP THE PEODTJCTION OP PRETEENATTJEAL 
 BIRTHS — THAT IS, BIRTHS, BY DIRECTION OP StTPERNA- 
 TURAL AGENCY, OR THOSE IN THE CHOSEN LINE OP 
 PROMISE. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 CHAP HI. The supernatural conception and birth of Jesus, who called 
 himself both the Son of man, and the Son of God, has been a 
 subject of doubt and dispute in greater or less degrees, as to the 
 matter or manner, among Christian professors and others, for 
 many ages. Therefore, to set forth the light of reason, and re- 
 velation upon this important subject, to render the doctrine more 
 clear and intelligible to the ratioaal and candid mind, is the de- 
 sign of this chapter. 
 
 '2. The objections appear to be, that the supernatural forma- 
 tion of Jesus, without the co-operation of man, must be contrary 
 to the principles or laws which the Creator has implanted in na- 
 ture ; and that the Author of nature would not thus contravene 
 his own laws and order of production. Therefore, it is inconsist- 
 ent to believe this tenet. 
 
 3. But it must be admitted by every reasonable mind, that 
 the Author of nature is superior to nature, and that in its highest 
 dignity, it is only a machine through which creative Power and 
 Wisdom effects their natural works. Hence, it is self-evident 
 
 hat the machine in no stage of its existence, can bind or control 
 its maker; as all its powers are placed therein by the maker 
 thereof, he can, to our finite perception, alter and re-arrange 
 their operations and productions, at any time, according to his 
 will, as he sees fit, to answer his purposes for the time being. 
 
 4. This man can do with any machine which he has the power 
 to form; if, then, we do not admit the aforesaid position, we do 
 not grant that God has equal power in His sphere, to man in his. 
 A glaring absurdity, indeed ! for certainly man derives all his 
 powers from the Author of nature, and in the above respect, is 
 His representative, as Creator, in the most special manner. 
 
 5. Therefore, as God is almighty, and all-wise, it is clearly 
 evident that the purposes originally designed by his wisdom, 
 cannot be prevented, but these purposes must include the free 
 agency of all intelligent beings, for otherwise they could not be 
 self-beings, but mere machines, impelled by foreign power. 
 Hence, by self-agency, their just reward, individually, depends 
 upon their own free action, as say the Scriptures: " Say ye to 
 the righteous, it shall be well with him : for they shall eat the 
 
B. IX. 
 
 PRETERNATURAL BIRTHS. 
 
 481 
 
 CHAP. HI. 
 
 Isa. iii. lOj 
 
 11. 
 
 Rev. xxiL 
 
 12. 
 
 Isa. xxix. 
 U. 
 
 fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked ! it shall be ill with 
 him : for the reward of his hands shall be given him." And the 
 last promise of God to man in the Scripture is, " Behold I come 
 quickly ; and my reward is with me, to give every man accord- 
 ing as his works shall be." 
 
 G. The Creator evidently works by instruments and means 
 adapted to the purpose intended, through successive orders and 
 gradations, many times out of sight of the wisest mortals. All 
 must admit that the wisest of men know little as yet, of the in- 
 herent powers of nature and what it may bring forth, when all 
 its powers come to the full. Still less can they scan and set 
 limits to the power and ability of the Eternal Unity; and such 
 as attempt to do it, bring on themselves similar destructive loss g^e Psa. 
 as did those rebellious Israelites who conducted after this i^™i. 'ti. 
 manner. 
 
 7. All must admit that many things take place in nature, 
 which no man can foresee, and which he cannot account for, on 
 any other ground than the work of invisible creative power. 
 Therefore, because of the marvellous work and wonder, which 
 the hand of the Lord does, " The wisdom of their wise men 
 perish, and the understanding of the prudent is hid;" Their un- 
 derstandings cannot comprehend it. Let them, then, learn this 
 wisdom, to know that they can only understand the power and 
 works of the Most High, as far as these are manifested by Divine 
 revelation, and by actual accomplishment. 
 
 8. Doubtless the supernatural creation of " the man Jesus," 
 was as marvellous a work, and as great a ivonder as ever took 
 place on earth, to the sense of natural wisdom ; but is it any 
 more so, than was promised by the Prophet many hundred years 
 before it was effected? As before stated, God's eternal purposes 
 are planned in supreme wisdom ; and their ultimate design cannot 
 
 be prevented. Therefore, the fall, or spiritual death of man, SeeBookl. 
 which, as before has been proved to be an undeniable fact, both °' "'' 
 by Scripture and reason, could not prevent the purpose of the 
 Creator, that the race of rational beings might ultimately, by 
 their own free agency, rise into that superior life and state of 
 being designed in the beginning, 
 
 9. For the progression of the works of God, attest the truth 
 
 of the Apostle's words, that the earnest expectations of the Rom. Tiii. 
 creature (man) waited for the manifestation of the sons of 1^-23. 
 God ; and that the whole creation groaned and travailed in pain 
 together until that time. And why until then? Evidently, 
 because never before was there a mediator born in the human 
 race, through whom the power from the heavenly orders above 
 could be dispensed, sufficient to redeem man from under the bond- 
 age of that death; therefore, the manifestation of any real Son 
 of God, had never been known on earth until Jesus, who became 
 
482 ILLtrSTEATION OF B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. Ill, tjjg gon of God by the regenerative birth. Hence the creation 
 groaned and travailed to bring forth this birth, whereby it might 
 be delivered, and the children of God might then begin to be 
 manifested. 
 
 10. For, though man died to the Divine law and order im- 
 planted in nature, for its guidance in propagation, and thereby 
 
 Rom. V. 12. " death passed upon all men," yet the Creator had (i.e. retained) 
 Mat.il. 15. „j.j^g residue of the spirit," the godly seed. Therefore the law 
 and order of nature did not die; but God reserved the spirit and 
 elements of life in his own power, to be supernaturally adminis- 
 tered in his own way and time, to subserve his own wise purposes. 
 It is of primary importance that those purposes should be clearly 
 understood, in order for a right understanding of the progres- 
 sive nature of the Divine work. 
 
 11. The purposes to be effected thereby, were firstly, to bring 
 forth witnesses of the law and order which the Creator intended 
 for the direction of his natural and rational beings, in order to 
 be justified in that state, and be rightful heirs of the higher order 
 of creation, when it should be manifested ; that these things 
 might be a warning aild seal of judgment to mankind in their 
 consciences, which, by this law thus kept alive. Would bear wit- 
 
 SeeEom ness : "and their thoughts in the meanwhile, accuse or excuse 
 iii5. each other." 
 
 12. And secondly, to raise up a succession of preternatural 
 births, (i.e.) births supernaturally directed in the generative order ; 
 a chosen seed and line of promisa, in which human nature should 
 progressively grow into higher and higher degrees of perfection, 
 until it should reach such maturity as to bring forth, by Divine 
 ministration, a man complete in the fulness of all the properties 
 and powers of nature, soul and body. 
 
 13. Such a one only could be a proper medium for the Divine 
 Spirit of Christ to enter into the world, in that superior state of 
 qualities which, when brought into the heavenly order of the 
 new creation of God, could overrule and subject all the powers 
 
 iit^u. ^"' and properties of the world, thus to be the Head of, and over, all 
 beings and spirits that ever proceeded from nature : and from him 
 in completed order, the true Church proceeds, which is the new 
 
 See Eph. i. Order of creation. " The kingdom of heaven upon earth, which, 
 
 20, 22. & as fast as it supplants the natural, builds up the spiritual order 
 
 5. ' of creation, and makes all things new." 
 
 14. It may be asked, why could not the real Christ be mani- 
 fested in the world, by some agent, before Jesus ? We answer, 
 because there never before was a man of sufilcient magnitude in 
 powers of creation, to be able to bear the light and power of the 
 Divine Spirit of Christ in that fulness which was necessary to re- 
 deem the human race. But Jesus received his spirit without 
 measure. 
 
 Jno. iii. 34. 
 
B. IX. PRETERNATURAL BIRTHS. 483 
 
 15. For before Um there was no man who could endure the chap, m. 
 warfare and sufferings necessary to overcome the strong and g^ggrpj^ 
 mighty enemy that held mankind "captive at his will." And ii. 26. 
 without this warfare and conquest, the promise could never be 
 fulfilled. " The Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him jer. xxxi. 
 from the hand of him that was stronger than he." And it was u. 
 foretold, ages before, that no one before Jesus would be able 
 
 to do this work, for he would have to tread the wine-press alone isa. ixiu. 3, 
 and of the people there would be none with him : and his own arm ^■ 
 would bring salvation. Though the language is figurative, 
 yet the substance was evidently fulfilled in Jesus, and with no 
 propriety can it be said in any other man. 
 
 16. Therefore it is evident that this work could never be 
 effected until a branch of human nature had risen to the ultimate 
 concentration of powers, that its properties were capable of bear- geeiieb-x. 
 ing; this was effected in the man Jesus. Hence, he. was the 5. 
 prepared medium for the new creating life of Christ. Thus, the 32" ^' ^ 
 kingdom of heaven was in and by him begun among men. 
 
 17. If any man could clearly understand the principles and 
 operations by which a line of superliaturally directed, or preter- 
 natural, births were brought forth in the generative order, which 
 evidently prepared the way progressively for the miraculous 
 creation of the man Jesus ; he would not think that event to be 
 so great a mystery as he would otherwise suppose, but would be 
 prepared to view it as the ultimate of that progression ; for the 
 generative germ of man in the lower order must be cut off from 
 him in his creation, or he could not be the medium of the higher 
 order of creation. 
 
 18. For, according to Scripture, and the writings of Josephus,' 
 there was evidently, from the beginning, a chosen line over whom 
 a measure of supernatural agency was exercised in the work of 
 generation. Thus before the flood although the great mass of 
 mankind was running down lower and lower, that is, further and 
 further from the Divine law and order for nature, and sinking Gen. vi. i, 
 deeper and deeper into depravity, yet the immediate line of fii.a^^'*''' 
 the Patriarchs and those who followed them, who were called the 
 children (or rather the servants) of God, were, by supernatural 
 influences, restrained in the generative order, at least so far that 
 
 they appear in a good degree practically to have kept the law of 
 nature as it was originally given, so as to regard proper times 
 and seasons for procreation. 
 
 19. First: This is evident; for the Scriptures find no fault 
 with the line of the Patriarchs on that ground ; but represent 
 them as waiting to full maturity, before entering into that work ; 
 and to act in it, only for the propagation of offspring. Second : 
 The Divine Spirit did not withdraw its striving and protect- 
 ing influence from the world, until that order fell away, and 
 
484 ILLUSTRATION OF B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. Ill, mingled with the seed of Cain, (who were called the children of 
 men) and like them, took wives of all they chose of their bewitch- 
 ing daughters; and went in unto them to please their carnal 
 lusts, with no supernatural direction; and regardless of an-j law 
 or order of God. 
 
 20. Here is the plain distinction between the two orders of the 
 See Jos. world. And in this Josephus confirms the Scriptures. Then 
 i^hap°'i^ the Lord said, "My spirit shall not always strive with man." 
 "i- "And all flesh had corrupted his way." And it is evident that 
 
 unbridled lust was the primary cause of this universal depravity, 
 See Gen. for which God withdrew his protecting Spirit, and sent the flood, 
 vi. & viii. .^yhich swept away the ungodly race from the earth. 
 
 21. There is still further evidence of such preternatural 
 influence and direction in the generative order shown in the case 
 of Enoch,~who "walked with God" in procreating his ofl'spring; 
 that is, he was obedient to supernatural direction given to him 
 
 See Gen v according to that natural state ; for this was the only way that 
 22, 24. he could walk with God. Of Noah, it is expressly said, that 
 "He was a just man, and perfect in his generations ; according 
 to all that the Lord commanded him, so did he." In this man- 
 Gen, vi 9, ner he walked with God, and produced a posterity under super- 
 ^'' natural direction. And thus, by preternatural agency, the dis- 
 
 tinction between the two orders of mankind was clearly marked. 
 
 22. Therefore, those who obeyed supernatural direction in the 
 generative order, were, in that, witnesses of the original law and 
 times for natural procreation; thus, as they vyere restrained in 
 the strongest passion of corrupt nature, they were the more 
 easily enabled in a good degree to govern the lesser passions ; 
 
 See 2 Pet. hence, these were just men, being "preachers of righteousness," 
 "■ ■ and thus "condemned the world of the ungodly," who were led 
 
 by their own lusts, to seek pleasure, instead of seeking to fulfil 
 the generative law ; by which means, the effects of pride, ambition 
 and selfishness came rolling in like a flood, and deluged the earth 
 with its abominations, injustice, and cruelty, until they were over- 
 whelmed with the flood of destruction. 
 
 23. But from this state of the corrupt world the faithful 
 witnesses of God were saved. Enoch was translated from the 
 
 iT7'&°i3 '^°''l'^' "'f°'^ ^o'^ t°°-'^ him; " thus was he taken from the evil to 
 come, in God's own way and time. And righteous Noah, and 
 his family were miraculously saved in the ark from the destroy- 
 
 See 1 Cor. iug flood. These things " were written for our instruction ; " and 
 are a serious lesson and warning of the like effects from like 
 causes in all ages. Here we may remark, that all the special 
 manifestations of the Divine Spirit, and all protecting power, 
 was, throughout this time, dispensed to and through those who 
 were under preternatural restraint in the generative propensity. 
 
 24. After the flood, the preternatural directing influence was 
 
 Z. 1] 
 
B. IX. 
 
 PKETERNATUKAL BIRTHS. 
 
 485 
 
 displayed in a higher order, in the production of births, who 
 were all witnesses of, and instruments in, the progressive degrees 
 of the Creator's works. First, God raised up Abraham, as the 
 first father of the typical chosen people, who were to prefigure the 
 spiritual chosen people, in his final work, through Christ. And to 
 him He promised a son, for whom he had to wait many years. 
 
 25. But at length it was preternaturally fulfilled, and the son 
 was born after his mother was past age, and who had ever been 
 barren. Hence a preternatural power had to quicken nature and 
 enable her to bear ; and they were also expressly directed. The 
 angel messenger said, "I will certainly return unto thee accord- 
 ing to the time of life; and lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son." 
 "Therefore sprang there of one, (and him as good as dead) so 
 many as the stars of the sky in multitude." This plainly signi- 
 fies that the whole Hebrew nation sprang from a miraculous 
 birth, which was equivalent to raising the dead, the most eminent 
 type ever given of the origin of spiritual Israel. 
 
 26. This son was a typical seed of promise, which prefigured 
 Jesus, who was the real promised seed of the woman, that should 
 be supernaturally created, and born of a virgin, without the 
 generative will or co-operation of man. "Behold, a virgin shall 
 conceive and bring forth a son; " an utter impossibility by the 
 knowledge of man, for the first act would have destroyed the 
 character. Second : Jacob and Esau were generated and born 
 under preternatural liberty and direction. Thus the circum- 
 stances of their births and lives, as Jacob supplanted Esau, pre- 
 figured, that the spiritual man, and the superior order of the 
 new creation in Christ should connectively follow the natural. 
 And although rising from the- same natural medium, would 
 finally supplant and do it away. 
 
 27. Third: The birth and preservation of Moses, was by pre- 
 ternatural directing influence. And, in his birth and preserva- 
 tion, and in his refusing the honors and royalty of Egypt, and 
 especially in his delivering Israel from the bondage of Egypt, 
 he was the most eminent type of Jesus the Saviour in the 
 like preservation ; and was the most evident type ever exhibited 
 of the Saviour's deliverance of his people from the worse than 
 Egyptian bondage of the world. This type is clearly declared 
 in Deut. xviii. L5, &c. 
 
 28. Fourth: Sampson, whose mother was naturally barren, 
 was enabled, by preterliatural influence, to bring forth this son, 
 who, in birth and miraculous strength, and laying the founda- 
 tion for the deliverance of his people from their enemies, pre- 
 figured that man who was miraculously brought into the world, 
 and whose power was superior to all the strength and powers of 
 nature, and who thereby laid the foundation of the deliverance 
 of his people from their spiritual enemies. 
 
 CHAP. HI. 
 
 Gen. xviii. 
 10. 
 
 Heb.xi. II, 
 12. 
 
 Gal. iii. 16. 
 
 Isa. vii. 14. 
 
 Gen. XXV. 
 21, 23. 
 
 See 2 Esd. 
 VI. 8, 9. 
 
 Ex. cli. ii. 
 Heb. xi. 23. 
 Also, Jose- 
 phus' Anls. 
 book ii. c. 
 
 .Tudges,xiLi. 
 3, &c; Jo- 
 bephu.*' 
 Am. book 
 V. chap, 
 viii. 
 
486 ILLUSTEATION OF E. IX. 
 
 cpiAP. III. 29. And his being overcome, shorn of his strength, and his 
 See 1 Sam. eyes put out, also being bound under the power and service of his 
 ch. VI. vii. enemies, until his strength grew again to such a degree that he 
 pulled down the pUlars^ and thereby overthrew their idol 
 temple, which ultimated in the" miraculous deliverance of his 
 people from their enemies; prefigured the spiritual blindness 
 which came upon the Christian Church, by falling under the 
 power of their enemies, through the delusive charms of a carnal 
 nature, and being bound under the service of the world, -until 
 their spiritual strength grew again to such a degree that it pulled 
 down the pillars of the idol temple of antichrist, and which will 
 ultimately overthrow the whole antichristian building, and effect- 
 ually deliver spiritual Israel. 
 
 30. The fifth of this progressive preternatural order, was Sam- 
 See 1 Sam. uel, for his birth was produced by prayer of her who was barren ; 
 k'Sie^Vst ^ii'i ^7 tlie blessing of the high priest. And he was a Prophet 
 account of arid a judge of Israel ; and miraculously effected their deliver- 
 order. ance from their enemies ; also he began a new order in Israel, 
 v^oJaII. *^® school, of the Prophets; and which produced those called the 
 book V. cii children of the Prophets, so often mentioned in the Old Testament. 
 ^' 31. Thus he began a new era; for, from this order was raised 
 
 up a succession of Prophets in Israel, which was continued until 
 they were scattered among the nations ; these, by prophetic reve- 
 lation, kept alive the knowledge of the branch in whom Christ 
 would appear, and by this ministration, nourished and promoted 
 its growth. And, even after Israel was scattered, a measure of 
 the same spirit, raised up divers Prophets to foretell their return, 
 as figurative of the restoration of the true Church, in Christ's 
 second appearing, after the falling away. 
 
 32. In all these things he, in a most peculiar manner, pre- 
 figured Jesus Christ in his supernatural birth in a good degree, 
 and in an eminent manner prefigured his spiritual office and work, 
 in the deliverance of spiritual Israel for a tune, and raising up an 
 order of inspired Prophets and teachers among his people, and 
 continuing, by his Spirit, to inspire witnesses, after "the power 
 
 Dan. xi. 12. of the holy people was scattered." 
 
 33. There were several others, according to the Scriptures, 
 whose generative births were in a measure directed by preter- 
 natural infiuence, to prefigure certain events, both providential 
 and spiritual, such as the Shunamite's son, (see 2 Kings, iv. 16, 
 17,) the son of Isaiah, (Isa. viii. 1, 4,) also the children of Hosea, 
 (see Hosea, chap. 1.) All of them pointing more or less to 
 
 Jer.xxiii. "the Branch of righteousness," and thereby helped to keep alive 
 
 5^& xxxiu the spiritual elements, which promoted its growth. But none 
 
 of these, though witnesses of preternatural power above the 
 
 ordinary course of nature, began a new era, in the increasing 
 
 work of the Creative Unity. 
 
B. IX. 
 
 PKETEENATUEAL BIRTHS. 
 
 4S7 
 
 
 CHAP. HI. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 
 THE SUBJECT FtTETHEU ILLUSTEATED. 
 
 
 34. Having illustrated the preceding orders, we now come to 
 the sixth and highest order of preternatural agency in the pro- 
 duction of offspring in the generative work. This was mani- 
 fested in John the Baptist, whose parents "were both stricken Luke, i. 7, 
 in years," and who never had posterity; and were then past ^'^' 
 producing 'any offspring, after the course of nature. John was 
 evidently the highest production of human nature that ever was 
 
 or could be brought forth by the natural generative work, even 
 preternaturally influenced in the highest possible degree ; for in 
 this case it appears that the procreative faculty had to be quick- 
 ened into life, in both male and female ; and if there could have 
 been any higher production, it must have taken place before the 
 production of the Messiah. 
 
 35 . Yet John could not be the medium of the kingdom of heaven ; See Mat. 
 for the ordinary line of procreation in him was not cut off, although ^' ' ' 
 he was preternaturally produced. The degree of his birth and 
 work, was the immediate precursor of the Messiah and his work. 
 
 The branch of human nature which had been successively 
 nourished, and thus progressively kept growing in the line of the 
 promised seed, having now come to its greatest height of sub- 
 sistence, by the diffusion and operation of the creative energy, 
 brought fortLthe proper offspring to be the medium between the 
 natural and heavenly worlds — the old and new creation. This 
 was Jesus, the son of man, ihe true branch of righteousness ; Jer. xxiii. 
 who was the seventh and last, for he was the transition medium *• 
 between the old natural creation, and the new and heavenly 
 creation of God. 
 
 36. This fulfilled the prophetic promise, " There shall come im. xi. i- 
 forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow ^■ 
 
 out of his roots : and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him ; 
 the spirit of wisdom and understanding," &e. This was fulfilled 
 at his baptism, by the descent of the Divine Spirit of Christ leeJota,!. 
 which abode upon him. Observe, this does not signify that this 
 branch shall be produced as the posterity of Jesse, but " shall 
 come forth and grow out of his roots ; " a peculiar mode of ex- 
 pression, which evidently must signify' that though it sprang from 
 the roots of human nature, (the line of Jesse being counted the 
 most noble line of the race of man,) yet it came forth, not in the 
 natural orHer of the generative work, but grew and came forth 
 by creative progression. 
 
 37. We may further remark, to show the importance of this 
 line of preternatural births, that all the inspired revelations from 
 
488 ILLUSTRATION OF B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. in. God, to form a new era for tte progress and direction of man- 
 kind- into higher and higher orders of perfection, have been pro- 
 duced through the line of the agents Of preteriiatural births, and 
 such offspring and their descendants. No new dispensation, nor 
 special order of the increasing work of God, up to the coming of 
 Christ in the son of man, has ever come in any other line, as all 
 scripture and history attest. 
 
 38. Witness the revelations to the Patriarchs — the origin of 
 typical Israel, who were all the descendants of such births ; and 
 the law to them by Moses, amd through them, the knowledge of 
 the true God, and of the moral law, have been maintained and 
 extended to all nations. And above all, the Divine law of 
 eternal life, by Jesus Christ was revealed through him who 
 was pre-eminently brought forth above all others, by the opera- 
 tive energy of Divine Power and Wisdom. 
 
 39. From these premises, it is evident that, until the entrance 
 of the Divine Spirit of Christ into the w.orld, through his pre- 
 pared medium, the son of man ; no new revelation that produced 
 any important era in the progressive work of God, ever came in 
 any line but the aforesaid. Por there was no appropriate mediator 
 in the world in which the Spirit of Divine light and truth could 
 take up its abode in a sufficient measure to effect any such era. 
 
 40. Nearly all the spiritual knowledge and maxims of the 
 moral law in the world, may be traced to the aforesaid source. 
 Hence we may with propriety learn, that the design of God was, 
 by those progressive orders, to improve and concentrate the 
 elements of the world in this superior line or branch, until it 
 necessarily, according to the Divine purpose, brought forth its 
 highest fruit — the medium of the new Creation, which would be 
 
 Seeijeb. eternally abiding. This is the "Anchor of hope, both sure and 
 ' ■ steadfast," to the true Christian. And this or'der can only be 
 found in ' the elements of Christ, manifested through the afore- 
 said medium. 
 
 41. It is evident, from the Scriptures, that the child Jesus was 
 created by the co-operative influence and energy of the same 
 creative Spirits in the order of male and female, that created the 
 world in the beginning, and who formed man "in their own 
 image. ' ' This was evidently predicted by ancient prophecy, and is 
 the universal testimony of Scripture ; and the manner was plainly 
 declared to the Virgin Mary, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon 
 thee, and i^e^poiuer of the Highest shall overshadow thee; " thus, 
 by the united co-operation of these spiritual powers, the child 
 Jesus was formed in and of a proper earthly medium ; and there- 
 fore he was created of human nature, soul and body. 
 
 42. Thus plainly showing, that an influx of the creative bear- 
 ing spirit, should come upon her, to enable her to conceive and 
 bear ; and the power of life from the originating Spirit of the 
 
B. IX. PEETEKNATUEAL BIETHS. 489 
 
 Creator should overshadow her, to diffuse and implant a coneen- chap, hi . 
 tration, or seed of the primary element of offspring. 
 
 43. These two orders of supernatural spirits were manifested 
 as the creative and producing powers of all things in the begin- 
 ning. For the moving, (or in the original) brooding Spirit, and Gen. i. 
 the originating Spirit, are distinctly declared as bringing forth all 
 things, in progressive orders. But when man was created, it 
 
 was expressly stated that he was "formed of the dust of the 
 ground." 
 
 44. That is, he was formed of the elements of the natural world, 
 spirit and matter, as they then were, being brought to that 
 maturity that such a being could be produced of their substance. 
 But this could not have been effected until those natural elements 
 had come to such maturity that the world could bring forth, by 
 creative energy its highest natural production in the primary 
 order of creation. This is evident, from man being the last 
 natural production brought forth. 
 
 45. As Adam was " a figure of him that was to come," in the 
 nature and order of his creation, therefore, from this similitude 
 it is evident that Jesus, the Head of that superior creation, of 
 which the natural was only a figure, could not, consistently with 
 creative order, have been produced by the energy of the Divine 
 Spirits, from and of the living elements of human nature, until that 
 nature had come to such maturity, that it could of its substance, 
 produce its highest possible fruit. Nay, until the noblest branch of 
 human nature, had risen to the utmost height of its powers and 
 properties, that was possible in the natural order, this produc- 
 tion could not be effected. 
 
 46. But, when that growth was attained, then, by Divine 
 Agency, the elemental seeds could be, and were gathered and 
 concentrated in that virgin medium, who was of the highest 
 
 order in the preternatural line of natural offspring, * and through * See Apo- 
 her, this seed was nourished by the natural elements in like TSament. 
 manner as in the ordinary course of physical production, and was 
 thereby brought forth a living being. 
 
 47. Hence, Jesus was formed of all the elements and proper- 
 ties of human nature ; but in the high order, as to subsistence and 
 qualities, in which his mother stood. He therefore must have 
 inherited all the subsistent powers and propensities of human 
 nature in their highest degree. But not those low grovelling 
 passions, which defile the ordinary state of the flesh, and are no SeeJude. 
 constitutent part of man, but are engendered by pernicious ^'^'■*^" '' ^' 
 and polluted habits ; for these, whatever might have been his 
 temptations, he always abstained from. 
 
 48. In the primary creation of man, there was a breath, or 
 element of life ; that is a spirit air,* from the Spirit and dual 
 
 • This the original word spirit signifies. 
 
 32 
 
490 ILLUSTKATION OF B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. Ill, order of his Creator, breathed or inspired into Ms soul, whicli, 
 when he grew into its life, mad^ the natural father of the race 
 of man, an intellectual, rational being. This, no other animal crea- 
 ture ever possessed. This was the meaning of man's becoming 
 a living soul ; for he was thereby joined to an emanation from 
 the next order above, and knew God and a future state. 
 
 49. So also, after this similitude, Jesus, the J'ather of the 
 spiritual race of man, had the living element or breath of life, 
 from the supernatural order of his Creator, breathed or inspired 
 into his living soul ; and, by his obedience, this was continually 
 infused in the same manner, which made him a heavenly and 
 Divine man, in the very image and subsistent likeness of the 
 Divine Christ, which no other being ever was before him ; hut 
 not until by his own free agency he grew .into its real life, and 
 came to maturity in the Divine powers thus infused. In the same 
 manner Jesus Christ infused his living elements into his disciples. 
 
 Mat. 1.1. when he sent them forth to preach, and gave them, power 
 over unclean spirits, and to heal all manner of sickness and 
 disease, and especially when he breathed on them, and said, 
 
 john,xx. " Receive ye the Holy Spirit," and enabled them to infuse the 
 
 22. same life. 
 
 50. Nevertheless, the words of the angel to the Virgin Mary, 
 do not signify that the child Jesus was created by the immediate 
 operation of the Eternal Parentage. But there were two cor- 
 responding spirits distinctly declared as operating in his produc- 
 tion, through the Virgin, without any co-operation of man: 
 namely : the spirit that came upon her, and enabled her to re- 
 ceive by a spiritual infusion the germinal seed or life of human 
 nature. This spirit evidently operated in the female order, 
 therefore tnust be a mother spirit. And the spirit power, which 
 overshadowed her, must be in the male order, hence was evident- 
 ly a father spirit. 
 
 51. But it was not declared that the Highest, but the power 
 of the Highest should overshadow the Virgin. Neither was it 
 said that Eternal Wisdom or the Eternal Mother came upon her, 
 though both emanated from the Creative Unity, and dispensed 
 creative power and life, but not immediate, but mediately, dif- 
 fused through proper spirit agents. Doubtless the Angel or su- 
 pernatural messenger was the agency to administer this creative 
 power, according to the will of God; for it is expressly said that 
 "His angel was sent,"&c. 
 
 52. Therefore he could dispense this life-giving power, in like 
 manner as Jesus and his Apostles dispensed the iSe-giving power 
 of the Holy Spirit ; and as the power of God and divinely ope- 
 rating life has been often administered by visible agency ; as is 
 abundantly attested in the Scripture, and by many other witnesses. 
 Also many times miraculously operating powers are administered 
 
B. IX. PRETERNATUEAL BIRTHS. 491 
 
 wholly by invisible agency to human beings, in diversities of chap. m. 
 operations and gifts, by the same Spirit." , icoTiiT 
 
 53. Among those various gifts, the gifts of healing are evi- 
 dently of the same order as that creative power by which man 
 was first brought into living existence. For this power has been 
 dispensed to such a degree as to raise the dead to life ; i.e. to call 
 
 back the departed soul into a dead body, and thus bring it to life. Kings, xvii. 
 Then, is it not reasonable to believe that the power that could eJptacea*' 
 raise the dead to life, qould as easily bring forth, through a pro- 
 per medium, a living being, composed of the elements of human 
 nature ? Certainly the former appears fully equal to the power 
 of creating a new being through the proper living medium of 
 human life, where the Divine energy was dispensed for that 
 purpose. 
 
 54. Therefore, we may see that, as Jesus was the agent to 
 dispense the power to raise the dead to life, including one Mat. iii. 9. 
 " who had lain four days in the grave," through the reanimation See John, 
 of their souls by the power of Christ, it is equally consistent to <=h.xi.&c. 
 believe, that the same Spirit could and did, through appropriate 
 agency, bring hirn, soul and body, into natural being and life, 
 
 to subserve the purpose of Eternal Wisdom, in beginning 
 thereby the new and higher order of creation. Thus it appears 
 evident that the foregoing premises, so far from contravening the 
 laws, or rather the principles, implanted in nature by the Crea- 
 tive Unity, are the progressive unfolding of the same, and 
 thereby effect the ultimate purpose for which they were given. 
 
 55. But it should be considered that no order nor production 
 in the creation was perfected at once, but began small, like a 
 seed, and increased to its ultimate, by growing in progressive 
 stages, and must be governed by laws and acting powers accord- 
 ing to the present stage of successive growth, all being directed 
 by invisible power, to promote and effect the ultimate designs of the 
 Creator. Therefore man is utterly incapable of deciding what the 
 principles of creation can or will ultimately produce, any faster 
 than as they are manifested. All must rationally admit that the 
 first man could have no other origin than to be brought forth by 
 a spiritual agency, through the medium of the earth, and was 
 formed of its properties by invisible power. 
 
 56i Thus, if supernatural agency could create the first father 
 of the natural creation of man, through the medium of the inani- 
 mate earth, and make him of its properties, it must be a great 
 absurdity to deny that the same Creative Agency could form 
 that man who became the first Father on earth of the new and 
 spiritual creation of man, through the medium and of the natural 
 substance brought forth by a living woman. Hence St. Paul 
 says, " He was made of a woman, made under the law." By Gai.iy,4. 
 this means, Divine Wisdom plainly manifested that here ended 
 
492 ILLtJSTEATION OF B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. III. the progressive increase in the generative order, and that the re- 
 generative order began in the man Jesus. 
 
 57. For, as the ordinary generative work of natural life ceased 
 in the production of Jesus, and was cut off entirely in him, hy 
 the regenerative life, thereby the regeherative elements and 
 life were implanted in human nature. Therefore, aU who 
 receive and are led by his Spirit and Divine elements, must cease 
 from the generative work and life, and thus rise by the regenera- 
 tive work, into the life of the heavenly creation. And they will 
 
 ^. si^ss' thereby become "as the angels of God in heaven." Such are 
 truly " the children of Grod." This is the true resurrection. 
 
 58. According to Josephus and other ancient records, the suc- 
 cessive production of preternatural births, in the chosen lin«, as 
 has been stated, were so well known and so fully attested, that it 
 was the general belief of the ancients, that such births had many 
 times taken place ; though some of them were fabulous ; yet aU 
 were doubtless founded on these fects. And the prophetic pre- 
 dictions were so plain on the birth of the Messiah, as to make it 
 the established expectation of all Jewish people, nearly or quite 
 universally, that he would be born of a virgin and supematurally 
 formed without the co-operation of man : and this is their expec- 
 tation to this day. 
 
 59. And that it was the general, if not universal, testimony of 
 all the Christians of the early ages, that Jesus was so brought 
 forth, is fully attested, not only by the Scriptures, but also by 
 all their authentic writings of those times. Also this sentiment 
 of the Christians is confirmed by all the authentic writings of 
 several of the earliest centuries, whether friend or foe, whether 
 Christian, Gentile, or Mahometan. And it is likewise- attested, 
 by tradition, among all orders of people. There is no historical 
 event that we know of, which is supported by such a mass of 
 uniform testimony of all kinds.* 
 
 60. There are passages of Scripture that may appear to some 
 to support the sentiment that Jesus was the original Christ, the 
 first begotten Son of God. But these are of a mixed character ; 
 
 * In agreement with, and corroboration of, the ahove, it may be proper here to 
 state, that the history of the different sects into whieh the Christian Church was 
 divided, during the first three or (bur centuries, testifies, that those of them who 
 lived the purest lives, (i.e. who renounced matrimony, and all carnal indulgences, 
 and kept themselves separate from the governments of the world, as the Gnostics, 
 Nazarenes, Ac, all of whom lived and died without hearing or even thinking of 
 the doctrine of the Trinity,) although not perfect in their knowledge of all that 
 pertained to Jesus Christ and his Gospel, held that Jesus was horn of a virgin 
 and that Christ, the everlasting Son of God, was a distinct personal being, mysteri- 
 ously united to Jesus. The Tatianists, Valentinians, and Cerinthus and his fol- 
 lowers, and others, held that Christ, the Divine Son of God, descended from heaven, 
 at the baptism of Jesus by John in Jordan, and that then and there the union took 
 place. And not one of all the sects believed in the resurrection of the body. The 
 Nazarenes and Gnostics rose about the time of the Apostles, and must Uiercfore 
 have known the primitive faith of the Church . Their sentiments have been handed 
 down in a direct line. 
 
B. IX. PRETERNATURAL BIRTHS. 493 
 
 the distinction is not made between the manifester, and the chap. hi. 
 manifested. But upon the ground that they "knew in part, and i cor liii 
 prophesied in part, and when that which is perfect is come, that 9, lo. 
 which is in part shall be done away." These all may be rendered 
 consistent with the tenet, that Jesus was the Tnanifester ; that is 
 the mediator, through whom the Divine Spirit of the original 
 Christ, (to us *) the first begotten Son of Grod, and the primitive *^t^l^l' 
 medium of all his works was manifested. ' Cor. viii. 6. 
 
 61. But on the other hand, there are many passages that are 
 direct and positive, which, consistent with language, must be 
 construed in such a manner as to declare the pre-existence of the 
 primitive Son of God, "before the world was," and who was Joto. xvii. 
 beloved "before the foundation of the world." Such as. First, ' 
 
 " God has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he Heb.i. 1,2. 
 hath ordained Heir of all things ; by whom also he made the vs. 8, 10. 
 worlds." Second, And of the same Son it is said "And thou 
 Lord in the beginning, hath laid the foundations of the earth ; 
 and the heavens are the work of thine hands." 
 
 62. Third, Again, of the Son by the inspired Apostle it is 
 
 said, "Who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of Coi.i. 15, 
 
 every creature. For by him were all things created, that are in 
 
 heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether 
 
 they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers : all things 
 
 were created by him, and for him." The Prophets spake by the 
 
 Spirit of Christ many ages before Jesus was born. See t Pet.i, 
 
 63. No one of these texts can, with any propriety, be applied to i^Jj^^ ^'"?>' 
 Jesus the Son of man; for he " was made a little lower than lar texts. 
 the angels for the suffering of death." Therefore this could ^l^^' "' ^' 
 not possibly apply to the Divine Son of God, who was the Agent 
 
 of creating all things in the beginning, and "who was 
 before all things," and the He.ad over all things ; for he (Jesus) 
 " was made lower than the angels," not before, but long after gee 2 Es- 
 an "innumerable multitude" of them, and untold millions of dras, vi. 3. 
 men were created, t 
 
 64. But it is perfectly consistent to consider that, in these 
 texts, an allusion is conjointly made to Jesus as the medium, or 
 manifester, through whom the Divine Son, the first Anointed in 
 heaven, was revealed on earth, and manifested by his Spirit 'as 
 man ; and by whose anointing life Jesus was brought forth in, 
 
 the first Anointed, or Christ, in the human race, and the first born See i Cor. 
 
 of the new and spritual race, or Church. Therefore, Jesus was ^' ^^' 
 the manifester, and the Divine Christ the manifested, with creative 
 
 power and energy, to make all things new in the heavenly order. 2 Pet. iii.is. 
 
 t " When the foundations of the earth were laid, the morning stars and Sons of 
 God sang together and shouted for joy." These must have been spiritual beings, 
 that then existed, and doubtless were in the order of female as well as male ; and 
 of the primeval and highest order of that innumerable multitude of angels. See 
 Job, xixviii. 4, 1. 
 
494 ILLUSTRATION OF, &C. B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. III. 65. ^nd of tte children of this new creation, in the elements 
 of Christ, Jesus becoming the immediate offspring, (when rightly 
 understood,) is not improperly called by his Tiame, any more than 
 a son is improprely called by the surname of his father. And we 
 may consistently see that he often spake in that name, but never 
 called himself the Son of God till after he was divinely anointed, 
 and thus became so, by the Christ birth. 
 
 66. Therefore he was the prepared medium through which the 
 spirit of Christ was planted in the world. When this seed had 
 thus taken root in the elements of human nature, it never could 
 be rooted out ; but bebg nourished by special revelations, in higher 
 and higher degrees, which progressively brought forth more and 
 more co-operative agents in the female line, it continued to 
 germinate and take deeper and deeper root, until it brought forth 
 the manifestation of Christ in the female order, through a chosen 
 vessel who was redeemed from the strongest bands of a carnal 
 nature. This completed the manhood of the spiritual Parentage 
 of aU the children of the regeneration ; for thereby all souk, 
 whether male or female, may be redeemed from the strongest 
 bands of their carnal nature, and be born into the heavenly 
 nature of eternal life.* 
 
 67. Thus the completed order of Christ, revealed as male and 
 female, according to the order of Deity, brought to its con- 
 summation the manifestation and design of that unity of beings 
 in the creation of God, as male and female, which had descended 
 in a direct line, by revelation and creative power, from those celes- 
 tial spirits who existed before the earth was. For, " when the 
 foundations of the earth were laid, the morning stars sang 
 together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. These must 
 have been spiritual beings who then existed in the image and 
 likeness of God, and therefore in the order of male and femde, 
 which is further manifested by their different manner of exercise, 
 shouting as appropriate to males, and singing to females. Hence 
 they were evidently the prototypes of the human race ; and in 
 their image and likeness, man, as male and female, in a medial 
 line, is descended. 
 
 N. B. As a corroboration of tlie sentiments contained in thiswork^ respecting 
 tBe Parentage and manifestation of Chriat in the order of male and female, tlie 
 reader may examine Bunlavy's Manifesto, 2nd edition, particularly last page, 
 (486.) 
 
 * It is worthy of special notice, that Jane Wardley was the first agent in the 
 spirit of that revival work, by which Ann Lee was baptized, prepared and divinely 
 anointed for her mission ; therefore this was evidently the spirit of John the Bap- 
 tist, or "Elias," operating in the female line, to prepare the way for the second 
 appearing of Christ in the order of the female. We may further remark, that in 
 the latter part of the seventeenth century, the aforesaid work was preceded by the 
 revelations of one Jane Leads, a Prophetess, (in England,) who plainly foretold the 
 future manifestation of the "Bride of the Lamb" in a woman, "over whom virgin 
 "Wisdom should draw her spotless veil of purity, expressly to personate herself." 
 Thus was brought forth a harbinger of that preparatory work, which ushered in 
 the fulfilment of this remarkable revelation. 
 
B. IX. THE COMING OF CHRIST, &C. 495 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE COMING OF CHRIST A SPIRITUAL WORK. 
 
 Coming has a two-fold signification : First, when any thing is chap. iv. 
 brought forth in the order of the visible creation, it is said to 
 come. In this sense, every thing that has life, is said to come 
 into the world. Second, when anything removes from one place 
 to another, it is said to come to that place to which it removes. 
 
 2. In this sense, created visible objects move to and fro, in 
 relation to each other, and can only exist in one place at one and 
 the same time; whereas in the former sense, an object may 
 come, and exist in a thousand places, at one and the same time ; 
 as is plain from the coming of the day, the summer, or the har- 
 vest. Christ is not only a spiritual being, but there also exists 
 an element which is the true anointing, the spirit and power of 
 salvation called Christ, and this will be the manifestation of God, S"'/'^ ''■ 
 in the flesh, to man, until the work of redemption is completed, id. 16. 
 
 3. Hence the figures that are used to describe his coming: 
 
 " Behold the day cometh, that shall hum as an oven. — Ye know Mai, iv. 2. 
 that summer is nigh. — Say not ye, there are yet four months, ^%'^^ 
 and then cometh harvest'? — The harvest is the -end of the world. i^-3s. 
 The end is come upon the four corners of the world. — On whom icor.x.ii! 
 the ends of the world are come." 
 
 4. Then, as the coming of Christ is compared to the day, the 
 summer, and the harvest, and every one knows that such things 
 in nature, are not material bodies, that go from place to place; 
 therefore it is evidept that they must be grossly mistaken, who 
 look for Christ to come into the world from some other part of 
 space, in some external form or bodily appearance. 
 
 5. But, as the day is brought forth in its order, and succeeds 
 the night, in the revolution of things ; and as summer and harvest 
 succeed the fall and fruitless winter, in the order of the seasons ; 
 so is the coming of the Son of man, and the entering in of that 
 Divine influence which shall make an end of sin, and establish 
 everlasting righteousness. Such is the nature of Christ's coming, 
 from which the manner of it may be clearly understood. 
 
 6. To illustrate this subject more clearly, it may be proper to 
 observe, a little further, the analogy between the first and second 
 Adam. Each was created in his order by the Word, and the 
 difference lay in the nature and quality of the second causes, 
 through which they were brought into being, and revealed. The 
 natural heavens and earth existed before the first man, and out 
 of the heavens and earth he was created, a body and soul united, 
 
496 THE COMING OF CHRIST B. IX. 
 
 CHAP, IV. -nrJiicli constituted the heavens and the earth in the highest, and 
 
 most refined sense then existing. 
 Jas. iii. IS, 7. And although man, hy his fall, became ^^ earthly, sensual, 
 ""'■ and devilish,'''' and was said to be flesh, because the flesh, which 
 
 was his animal part, reigned over his living soul, which was an 
 emanation from heaven, in and by which he could hold any degree 
 of communion with God ; yet the heavens and the earth, as mani- 
 fested in man, the most noble and refined part of the natural 
 creation, continued as they were, through all generations, until the 
 new creation began. 
 
 8. And, as man in his first or natural creation, was superior to 
 the first visible heavens and earth ; so it could not be out of the 
 first, but out of that which was more perfect and noble, that the 
 new creation could, in the true order of things, come forth. 
 
 9. And therefore, all that is said by the Prophets, concerning 
 the heavens and the earth, and the great confusion in both, at 
 the coming of Christ, is not to be understood as particularly 
 applying to the first heavens and earth, which existed before man 
 was created ; but as relating in substance to the soul and body 
 of man, which is heaven and earth, in the highest sense, pertain- 
 ing to the natural creation. 
 
 10. And as Jesus, the Son of man descended from the line of 
 the first Adam, and was the completion of the natural man, in 
 whom human nature came to its height, he was destined, ulti- 
 mately to ascend, in glory and dignity, above the natural earthly 
 generative order, called the old creation. So in human nature, 
 or in the souls and bodies of mankind, all those things were to 
 be finally accomplished, to prepare the way for the coming of 
 Christ,- which were spoken of concerning the heavens and the 
 earth. Such as, ^^ I will shake the heavens and the earth. The 
 heavens being on. fire shall he dissolved, and the elements shall 
 melt with fervent heat." 
 
 11. And, as both the old and the new creations, were by the 
 energy of the Word, it will be proper to notice more particularly 
 what that Word is. A word translated from one language to 
 another, is liable to be corrupted ; but God is of one mind and 
 who can turn him ? and the Word of God is simply his purpose or 
 will, revealed and made known in the co-operations of certain 
 causes, the effect of which is properly his work. 
 
 12. Then, however the Word of God may be expressed in 
 different languages, the sense is unchangeably the same in all. 
 And however different it may be expressed in Hebrew, Greek, 
 or Latin, or any other language, in plain English, from first to 
 last, it is. Let — not to hinder, but. Let it be, in the mind or 
 purpose of God, and it was or came to pass accordingly. This 
 will appear evident to be the Word, from the beginning of 
 Genesis to the end of Revelations. A few examples may suffice. 
 
B. IX. A SPIRITUAL WORK. 497 
 
 13. God said, Let there he light, and there was light ; Let chap, iy . 
 there he a firmament, and it was so ; -Let the waters be gathered Gen. i. 
 together, and Let the dry land appear, and it was so ; Let the 
 
 earth bring forth grass, and it was so; Let the waters bring 
 forth — Let the earth bring forth the living creatures, and it was 
 so; Let us make man, so Grod created man. 
 
 14. Here we see the Word, according to its operatioti on 
 things natural. Thus the worlds were framed by the Word of 
 God ; and man constituted the world in its highest sense; Hence 
 Peter, speaking of the heavens and the earth, that were in the 
 
 time of Noah, says, " The world that then was, being ove7-flowed a Pet. iii. 6, 
 with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth which are ^i^^- 
 now, by the same Word are kept in store, reserved unto fire 
 against the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men. 
 When the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved." 
 
 15. Observe, it was not the first heavens and earth, or first 
 . natural world, that perished by water ; for this was all very 
 
 good, and had never committed any offence against the Creator; 
 while the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, 
 summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease. 
 
 16. But it was the world of the ungodly who perished; the 
 heavens and the earth that then were ; and by the same Word 
 the heavens and earth were kept in store, reserved unto the day 
 of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men. Therefore said 
 Jesus Christ : For judgment am. I come into the loorld. 
 
 17. And how did he come into the world for judgment ? It 
 was by the energy of the same Word, operating in and upon the 
 heavens and the earth, or -world, which had not come into the 
 work of the new creation ; that is, pertaining to the human soul 
 
 and body, to arraign man before this superior light. When the joiin,iii. is, 
 fulness of time was come, G-od sent forth his Word through ■'^''• 
 which the Son of man was brought forth by means of a woman. 
 Mary said unto the angel, Behold the handmaid of the Lord, Be 
 it, or Let it be, unto me according to thy Word : and it was so. Luke, i. ]3. 
 
 18. And the Word of God grew and multiplied : which is the 
 Word of faith. And as many as received the Word, to them 
 gave he power to become the sons of God ; who became such, 
 not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, 
 but of God. And hence the Word became Jlesh, or rather the 
 
 Word was manifested in the flesh ; * and the Word was. Let it be, * original, 
 and God divided the flesh from the Spirit, and the flesh he called J°''"i »■ 
 flesh, and the Spirit he called Spirit : and it was so. 
 
 19. Now the Lord is that Spirit : Because ye are sons, God it. °"^'"'' 
 hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts. Hereby ?^J- "■■? 
 
 1 TIT . 1 .1 . 1 ■!<-.•■ 1-111 >i- John, 111. 
 
 we know that he abideth m us, by the Spirit which he. hath given 24. 
 us. Hence it is truly and properly expressed : The Spirit dwelt 
 in us, " and we beheld his glory, (not the glory of the flesh, but 
 
498 THE COMING OF CHRIST B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. IV. of t]jg Spirit,) the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, 
 full of grace and truth." 
 
 20. And as the sons of God did not come forth of the flesh, but 
 of the Spirit, therefore the Word was, to take up a cross against 
 the flesh, by which the flesh was divided from the Spirit. Hence 
 
 Mat.xvi. said Jesus, Let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and 
 24. XIX. ]3. fojjo^ j^g_ jjg ^-j^^^ jg j^^ig ^Q receive it, Let him receive it : and 
 
 it was so. 
 
 21. This was the Word of liberty, under which every thing 
 might act out its own disposition, without being obstructed by any 
 arbitrary or opposite power. And thus, while the Word opened 
 the prison doors for souls that were bound by the flesh, it afi'orded 
 equal liberty to those who loved those fetters of death, to con- 
 tinue in darkness under the bondage of sin. 
 
 22. And so it continues, equal liberty on both sides, even 
 until the last vision of the second appearing of Christ. And 
 here the Word is the same that it was in the beginning : '' He 
 that is unjust, (or chooses to be unjust) Let him be unjust still; 
 he which is filthy. Let him be filthy ; he that is righteous. Let 
 him be righteous ; and he that is holy, Let him be holy. And 
 the Spirit and the Bride say. Come.. And Le< him that heareth. 
 
 Rev. xxii Say, come. And Let him that is athirst, come. And whosoever 
 11, 17. -^iii, j,ef iiij)i take the water of life freely." 
 
 23. From all which it is evident that the coming of Christ was, 
 and is, in man. And although the heavens and earth in human 
 nature shall be shaken and set in commotion by his coming, and 
 
 Luke xxi. ^^^ ^^^ {ala& systems and institutions of man will be eventually 
 25-27*. shaken and broken to pieces ; yet all that is finally to be wrought 
 or accomplished by his coming, is simply to be effected through 
 such a Divine agency of the Word as affords the soul liberty and 
 power to act according to the light and revelation of God, 
 therein manifested. 
 Luke, xvii. 24. And hcnce the kingdom of God cometh not by observa- 
 ^'- tion. Neither shall they say Lo here ! or lo there ! for the king- 
 
 dom of heaven is within you, or among you. For as the shining 
 light, [Gr. asja*!),] or brightness [alluding to the dawning of 
 Mat. xxiv. the day and the rising of the sun] cometh out of the east, and 
 shineth even unto the west ; so shall also the coming of the Son 
 of man be* 
 Mai.iv.2. 25. Thus the prophet Malachi: "Unto you that fear my 
 name shall the Sun of righteousness arise, with healing in his 
 wings." And St. Paul: At the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 with all his saints ; he shall come to be glorified in his saints. 
 
 And Jude : Behold the Lord cometh i?i ten thousand of his saints. 
 
 • 
 
 * This is improperly translated "lightiiing," for there is no general principle ij 
 which lightning comes out of the east, hut it as often comes out of the west, and 
 never shines many miles. Hence, as we have rendered it, the text is more original 
 and consistent. 
 
 27. 
 
B. IX. 
 
 A SPIEITUAL WORK. 
 
 499 
 
 26. Hence the saints are compared to clouds. Then shall 
 they see the son of man coming in a cloud : They shall see the 
 Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven : AYe shall he caught 
 up together in the clouds ; which is the same as m/r gathering 
 together unto him : Behold he cometh with clouds : Seeing we 
 also are compassed ahout with so great a cloud of witnesses : In 
 this coming and gathering together to him, the saints are cov- 
 ered, not in the natural clouds, but in the spiritual clouds of 
 heaven, as under the shadow of his wings, hy which Christ in 
 them is hid from the eyes of the natural man. 
 
 27. Hence it is evident that Christ's coming was to he in and 
 with his people : both the nature and manner of which was pre- 
 dicted hy the Prophet Joel, agreeable to the predictions of the 
 other Prophets, of Christ Jesus himself, and his Apostles. 
 
 28. " The day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand. A 
 day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick 
 darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains ; a great 
 people and a strong ; a fire devoureth before them, and behind 
 them a flame burneth : Before their face the people shall be much 
 pained ; all faces shall gather blackness : They shall enter in 
 at the windows like a thief." 
 
 29. " The earth shall quake before them ; the heavens shall 
 tremble ; the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars 
 shall withdraw their shining ; for he is strong that exeeuteth his 
 Word : for the day of the Lord is very terrible, and who can 
 abide it." This prophecy wiU doubtless be fulfilled both in the 
 order of Providence and grace ; the former, preparatory to the 
 latter, and has already been in a measure fulfilled. 
 
 30. 'Thus, while the day of the Lord is a day of darkness and 
 terror to the wicked, Christ is glorified in his saints ; and to 
 them his coming is the rising of the Sun of Righteousness. 
 Hence the Apostle also speaks of the coming and working of 
 the man of sin, in opposition to Christ ; and of the efieets of 
 the working of that tricked in those who received not the love 
 of the truth, that ihey might be saved, for which cause God 
 would send, or rather suffer them to choose stro7ig delusions ; and 
 hence, while those who received the truth were in the light, 
 those who rejected it were in darkness. 
 
 31. Therefore it was said of the time of Christ's second com- 
 ing : Then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall 
 consume with the Spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with 
 the brightness of his coming : even him whose coming is after 
 the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying won- 
 ders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them 
 that perish." 
 
 32. How justly then was Christ represented as coming in the 
 clouds of heaven, in a day of clouds and thick darkness, seeing 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Luke TTi. 
 
 27 
 
 TVIal. xxiv. 
 
 30. 
 
 1 Thess. iv. 
 17 
 
 2 Tliess. ii. 
 1. 
 
 Rev. i. 7. 
 
 Psa. xxxvi. 
 
 7. 
 
 Psa. sci. 1. 
 
 Heb. xii 1. 
 
 Joel, ii. 
 compared 
 with Psa. 
 xviii. 77. 
 Mai. xiiv. 
 
 2 Thess. ii. 
 &-10. 
 
 Mat.iii. 24. 
 
500 
 
 THE COMING OF OHEIST 
 
 B. rx. 
 
 CEAP. IV. 
 Amos V. X3. 
 
 Eso. xiv. 
 20. 
 
 1 Cor. i. 27. 
 
 Heb. iii. 
 Luke, XXL 
 35. 
 
 Mat. xxiv. 
 30. Rev. i. 
 7. 
 
 Zech. xii, 
 10, 11, Ice. 
 
 1 John, ii. 
 16. 
 
 Psa. xviii. 
 15. Ixxvii. 
 16. 
 
 that clouds and darkness are figures of trouble and blindness of 
 mind! And therefore said the prophet Amos, " Wo imto jou 
 that desire the day of the Lord ! to what end is it for you ? the 
 day of the Lord is darkness and not light." This was plainly 
 represented by the cloud which separated between the Egyptians 
 and the Israelites, which was a cloud and darkness to them, but 
 it gave light by night to these. 
 
 33. Then the coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven, im- 
 plies no visible appearance of either power or glory to the world 
 but the contrary; seeing "God hath chosen the foolish things 
 of this world to confound the wise ; the loeak things of the 
 world to confound the things that are mighty ; and hose things 
 of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen 
 and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are; 
 that no flesh should glory in hispresence." 
 
 34. And therefore, to those who are in the flesh, that in whict 
 Christ appears is both dark and contemptible ; and herein is the 
 hiding of his power ; and hence it is, that he should come as a 
 snare upon all them that dwell upon the face of the whole earth. 
 Then nothing is more evident than that the manner of Christ's 
 coming is not according to the expectations of man ; for in Tain 
 is the net spread in the sight of any bird. 
 
 3-5. Therefore, when Christ speaks of his coming in the clonds, 
 he also says. Then stiall all the tribes of the earth mourn. 
 And again it is said. Behold he cometh with douds, and everr 
 eye shall see him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wgd 
 because of him : even so. Amen. 
 
 36. But why should they mourn and wail because of him ? It 
 is evidently because of the way, the truth and the life, which is 
 so contrary to their life, and which not only shakes the heavens 
 and the earth, but discovers the foundations of the world, and 
 that upon which it stands, and all that is therein, namely, the 
 lust of the flesh, the Ivst of the eyes, and the pride of life. 
 
 37. " Then the channek of the waters were seen, and the 
 foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, Lord, 
 at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. The waters saw thee, 
 God, the waters saw thee ; they were afraid ; the depths also 
 were troubled," 
 
 38. Christ promised again and again that he would come as a 
 thief in the night ; and therefore he again and again solemnly 
 warned his disciples to watch, and not to be overcome with stit- 
 feiting and drunkenness, or cares of this life, lest that day shauU 
 come upon them unawares. 
 
 39. And more striking figures could not be used than those 
 of a snare upon all them that dwell upon the face of the whole 
 earth, and that of a thief in the night, to signify the manner of 
 his coming. Which agree perfectly with what the angels toldiis 
 
B. IX. A SPIRITUAL WORK. 501 
 
 disciples on the mount : "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gaz- chap. iv. 
 ing up into heaven ? This same Jesus, which is taken up from Act?,i. 9- 
 you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen n- 
 him go into heaven." 
 
 40. And the manner in which they saw him go, was, that a 
 cloud received him out of their sight ; which shewed them that 
 as in the cloud he was invisible, so by coming in the clouds he 
 would come out of sight. Although the " same Jesus whom the 
 heavens were to receive, until the restitution of all things," did 
 doubtless come again, according to the word of the angel, in a 
 cloud of other saints, as their Leader, at the sounding of the 
 seventh trumpet ; yet this is not to be confounded with the 
 second appearing of Christ, the second Adam, in the order of the 
 female. For the female in whom the order of the Bride was 
 manifested, was constituted the Bride of the Lamb; therefore, 
 his Spirit was revealed in union with her in all her works, being 
 the invisible Father of all her children. 
 
 41. It is strictly true that every eye shall see him ; and be- Mni. xxv. 
 fore him shall be gathered all nations ; and he shall separate ^' 
 them, one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from 
 
 the goats. But it is in the course and progress of his work that 
 every eye shall see him, either to their everlasting joy or sor- 
 row, not by external sight, but by the eyes of the soul, operat- 
 ing upon the mind : For, as the brightness of the rising sun 
 commenceth in the east, and shineth even unto the ivest ; so shall 
 the coming- of the Son of man he, gradual and progressive, until 
 the whole earth is enlightened with his glory. 
 
 42. But it was foreseen and foretold by the spirit of pro- 
 phecy, that man, wholly under the influence of visible objects, 
 living in earthly pleasures, and under false teachers, walking 
 after their own lusts, should deny Christ at his second coming ; 
 because they would not see those visible changes in the natural 
 creation, which, in their blind senses, they had formed, and which 
 they vainly imagined ought to take place, to answer their plans 
 of the manner of his coming. 
 
 43. It is true, say they, wars, and rumors of wars, and com-- 
 motions are great in the earth, but this has always been more or 
 less the case, and there is nothing new. The G-entiles are not 
 yet converted, say they, nor the Jews gathered to old Jerusalem ; 
 nor do we see the dead bodies rising up out of their graves, and 
 bone coming to its bone ; nor do we see the heavens on fire, or 
 the earth burning up ; nor the sun darkened, nor the moon turned 
 into blood, or any of the stars falling from heaven ; but all things 
 continue as they were from the beginning. 
 
 44. Thus that Scripture is fulfilled, " Knowing this first, that 2 Peter, i,i. 
 there shall come in the last days scoffers, tvalking after their 
 own lusts, and saying. Where is the •promise of his coming ? for 
 
 3,4. 
 
502 THE COMING OF CHEIST, &C. B. IX. 
 
 CHAPiV- since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were 
 from the beginning of the creation.'^ 
 
 45. All Sf which is hut the greater confirmation of the words 
 Mat. xxiv. of Jesus Christ : " For as in the days that were before the flood, 
 ^'^^' [that is, while the ark was preparing, which was said to be 120 
 
 years,] they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving 
 in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark; and 
 knew not until the flood came, and took them all away ; so shall 
 also the coming of the Son of man he." 
 
 46. Therefore, as the manner of Christ's coming was certainly 
 and undoubtedly to be as a snare upon all flesh, and as a thief 
 in the night; say not in thine heart, I shall see his coming, 
 unless thou watch and pray, and have thy lamp trimmed, and 
 light burning. 
 
 47. The nature of his coming is likened unto the coming of 
 Rev liv. harvest, and no person of common sense will say, Who shall 
 ^^' ascend into the clouds to bring down harvest from above? or 
 
 who shall descend into the earth, to bring up hM^est from 
 beneath? (for the seed is nigh thee, already in the earth, and 
 according to the appointed seasons, must grow up to maturity, 
 before the harvest can in reality appear.) , 
 
 48. Therefore, " Say not in thine heart. Who shall ascend 
 Rom, X. 6- into heaven ? (that is, to bring Christ down from above ;) or Who 
 
 shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ agam 
 from the dead.) But what saith it ? The Word [or seed of 
 Christ] is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart ; that is, the 
 Word of faith which we preach." 
 
B. IX. THE ORDER OF DEITT, &C. 503 
 
 PART II. 
 
 A COMPENDIOUS VIEW OF THE OEDER IN DEITT AS RE- 
 VEALED IN THE SECOND APPEARING OP CHRIST. 
 
 Mat. xi. 27- 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ORDER OF DEITT, MALE AND FEMALE, IN WHOSE 
 IMAGE MAN WAS CREATED. 
 
 The sul^ct of the order in Deity., as male and female, and chap. i. 
 
 the corresponding order in Christ, has been set forth and 
 
 illustrated, at considerable length, in the preceding pages ; but in 
 various places, not immediately concentrated, being adapted as 
 explanatory of the various subjects with which it is connected. 
 Hence, this important subject may be more clearly understood 
 in a compendious form. 
 
 2. All who profess the Christian name, mutually believe in 
 one God, the eternal Father, the Creator of heaven and earth ; the 
 original Father of spirits, of angels, and of men. They also believe 
 in the first begotten Son of God in man; the Saviour of the 
 world; the Redeemer of men. By the Son, the true being and iTuke, x.22. 
 true character of the Father, was first revealed : and, the exist- ^q*"'' ^"' 
 ence of the Son, while it proved the existence of the Eternal 
 Father, proved also the existence of the Eternal Mother. 
 
 3. Neither argument, nor illustration, would seem necessary 
 to prove this ! For, without both a father and mother, there 
 can be neither son nor daughter; either natural or spiritual, 
 visible or invisible ! The visible order of male and female, by 
 which all animated creation exists, proves the existence of the 
 order, in the invisible world, from which our existence is pri- 
 marily derived. "jFor the invisible things of God, from the 
 creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the 
 things that are made, even his eternal Power and Divinity ; so Rom. i. 20 
 that they are without excuse : because that when they knew ^^• 
 God, they glorified him not as God." 
 
 4. For "God said. Let us make man in our image, after our Gen. i. 26, 
 likeness." " So God created man; male and female created he ^''' 
 them, in his own image, and after his own likeness." To whom 
 
 did God say, " Let us make man in our image? " Was it to the 
 
504 
 
 THE OEDER OP DEITT, 
 
 B. IX. 
 
 CHAP 
 
 , I. 
 
 See John, 
 xvii. 5, and 
 Job, 
 xxxviii. ]7. 
 
 See Prov. 
 
 Prv. viii. 
 23,32. 
 
 Son the Father spoke, as the divines (so called) have long taught, 
 and still teach ? How then came man to be created male and 
 female ? /ffiZAer and son are not male and female; \>vA, fathtr 
 and mother are male and female, as likewise are son and 
 daughter. It was in this order that man was created. It was 
 the order that existed in Deity, and superior spiritual intelligences 
 before him, even " before the world was ; " and in the image and 
 after the likeness of which he was made, and placed as a proba- 
 tioner on the earth. 
 
 5. But it was not the Son with whom the Father spoke or 
 counselled ; or with any other being, angel or spirit, save only 
 with the Eternal Mother ; even Divine Wisdom; the Mother of 
 all celestial beings ! It was the Eternal Two who thus counselled 
 together, and said, " Let us make man in our image, after our 
 likeness. ' ' This is the same Eternal Mother who was with the 
 Father, whom the " Lord possessed in the beginning of his way, 
 before his works of old; even from everlasting, before ever the 
 earth was.'" 
 
 6. And this was, and is, the voice of the Eternal Mother, 
 through the inspiration of her holy spirit : When the Lord pre- 
 pared the heavens, I was there : When he appointed the found- 
 ations of the earth, then I was by him as one brought up with 
 him;* and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.t 
 Now, therefore, hearken unto me, my children;!: for blessed are 
 they that keep my ways." 
 
 7. Thus we may see the true order and origin of our exist- 
 ence, descending through proper mediations, not only in the 
 state of innocent nature, but in the state of grace ; proceeding 
 from an Eternal Parentage ; the Eternal Two, as distinctly Two, 
 as Poioer and Wisdom are Two ; and as the Father and Mother are 
 two ; yet immutably, unchangeably, One Spirit : One in Es- 
 sence and in substance. One in love and in design ; and so of the 
 whole spiritual relationship in the new creation and household 
 of God, Father and Mother, Son and Daughter, Brother and 
 Sister, Parents and Children; of which the order in the natu- 
 ral creation is a similitude. 
 
 8. And without this relationship there can exist no order in 
 creation! Without a father and a mother we can have no exist- 
 ence, either in the old creation, by the first Adam, or in the new 
 
 • " TMn I was by him, as one brought up with him." The German transla- 
 tion reads, " Da war ich der werkmcister bey ihm: " that is, " Then was I the 
 chief co-worker with him." And this conveys the most correct idea, showing 
 that She was a co-worker with the Father, in all his -works. 
 
 t " / was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him." This clearly shows 
 that She is the glory of the Father," as, in the similitude of man's creation and 
 existence, ''the woman is the glory of the Tnan." (1 Cor. zi. 7.) 
 
 } " My children," I have here preferred the German reading, "mxine kinder," 
 as being more correct than " O ye children," the latter implying other children 
 besides her own. 
 
B. IX. MALE AND FEMALE. 50b 
 
 creation, by Christ the second Adam ! For all beings having '^hap. i. 
 life, in either the natural or spiritual creation, have both a father 
 and a mother, according to the natural or spiritual state in 
 which they "live, move and have their being;" whether 
 that father, or that mother, bo to them known, or unknown, 
 visible, or invisible. This ground is indisputable. This posi- 
 tion is unchangeable in all its bearings. And to this the 
 very existence of man, in the order of male and female, bears 
 witness. 
 
 9. Now, the Lord promised to create " nev; heavens, and a new isa.ixy. ir, 
 earth, wherein dwelleth 7-ighteousness," which shall abide for- jjan^vh.ii', 
 ever ; and that the old heavens and earth shall pass away, and 27. Rev. 
 come to an end. It is evident that this new creation, or kingdom a Pet iii. 
 of righteousness, shall be effected by the work of redemption i">i3- 
 and regeneration through Christ, who , was, and who is, the iii''9;"iv. ' 
 beginning of this ne;w" creation; emphatically called, the " Crea- 24. Cni iii- 
 tion of God." i.i.'u. 
 
 10. It will be proper to remark here, that, although Christ, by 
 Jesus, commenced the work of the new creation in his first appear- 
 ing ; yet, the promises, in regard to the perfect order of that 
 creation, were not then fulfilled. Nor could the everlasting king- 
 dom of righteoustiess be '-set up " and established in the earth, 
 until the " time appointed " of the Father, when the Mother Spirit 
 in Christ should be revealed, which completes the "desire of all 
 nations," when the second Eve should be made manifest on earth, 
 in the second "Anointed one:" 
 
 11. Thus, when "that which is perfect is come," and the „ „ . g 
 order of male a?id female, in the spiritual work of regeneration 7. ''zecli.' 
 should be completed; then, and not till then, could Christ's r^J'^''!; 
 kingdom of righteousness and peace be set up and established 1 Cnr. xm. 
 on the earth. These things concerning Christ, having to be ful- J'dhu, iu. 2, 
 filled in a future day, was the very reason why that Divine Spirit ^ Heb, ix. 
 should come the "second time." ' 
 
 12. Nothing could be more inconsistent, than for any one to 
 suppose that this new and spiritual creation, which is to abide 
 forever, can in any respect, be inferior to the order and glory of 
 the old, or natural creation, which is to ^axs away. The noblest 
 part of the creation is man. But the man alone, without the 
 woman, could not be the noblest work of Grod, because he would 
 be imperfect. 
 
 13. It was therefore necessary that he should have an help- 
 meet for him, a companion congenial to his being, and according 
 to the perfection of that order which existed before him. And, 
 as his creation could not be perfect without the woman ; so neither 
 could his redemption be perfect without the woman. 
 
 14. When the Lord Grod had created the heavens and the 
 earth, and all the hosts thereof, when he had formed the man, 
 
 33 
 
506 THE OKDEE OF DEITY, B. IX. 
 
 '^HAP. I. and made him lord alone, over all the earth, " God saw every- 
 thing that he had made, and behold it was very good." What, 
 then, could there be wanting ? Why, the very subject of our 
 present inquiry; the very object of our discourse; the woman 
 was still wanting ! There was yet this one thing lacking, and it 
 Gen. i. 31, was not good that it should be so. " The Lord God said, it is 
 "■ '^ Tiot good that man should be alone, I will make him an help meet 
 
 for him." 
 
 15. And when Adam had given "names to all cattle, and to the 
 Gen. ii. 20. fowls of the air, and to every beast of the field, for Adam there 
 
 was not found an help meet for him." And this was the lonely 
 condition of Jesus Christ, in his first appearing ; and hence the 
 isa ixiii. 3. words of his Holy Spirit by the Prophet : "I have trodden the 
 winepress alone, and of the people there was none with me." 
 But the Lord promised that he should have a Bride, for his 
 helper ; and this promise, at the time appointed of the Father, 
 has been fully verified, as will be seen in the sequel. 
 
 16. It is not very material what opinions we may form, as to 
 what might have been the state and condition of Adam and Eye, 
 provided they, or either of them had not transgressed. But it 
 is of importance that we consider the first or natural creation to 
 be a similitude of the spiritual, " the first man Adam of the 
 earth a figure " of the second man, or last Adam, " the Lord from 
 heaven." 
 
 17. As, then, the first Adam was not complete, in the order of 
 natural generation, without Eve, the first mother of the human 
 race and children of this world ; so neither could the second 
 Adam be complete in the order of spiritual regeneration, with 
 out the second Eve, who of course would be manifested in the 
 "first begotten of the dead," in the line of the female, and be- 
 come the first mother of the redeemed, the childi-en of the king- 
 dom of promise. 
 
 18. It is written, "As in Adam all jdie, even so in (not out 
 of) Christ shall all be made alive," How, even so in Christ 
 shall all be made alive ? Was it not through the disobedience of 
 the first woman Eve, that in th6 first Adam we all die ? Certainly 
 it was. Even so, then, through the obedience of the first woman 
 in the work of redemption in Christ, the second Adam, shall all 
 be made alive. 
 
 19. For, as the first Adam and Eve, and the line of their 
 progeny were one flesh, and "they that live after the flesh shall 
 die; " even so Christ, the second Adam and the second Eve, are 
 one Spirit, and they who, through that Spirit, mortify the deeds of 
 
 John,xi,s6. the flesh, shall live; and living they shall never die, because 
 they are born of the Spirit, through a spiritual Parentage, a 
 spiritual Father and a spiritual Mother. 
 
 20. The woman was the first in the transgression, but the 
 
B. IX. MALE AND TEMALE. 507 
 
 man was equally in fault, if not more so, he teing the Stronger "^hap. r. 
 vessel ; and, it would be inconsistent with all the attributes of 
 Eternal ^Visdom, that the daughter of earth, a being made in 
 her own image, and after her likeness, and designed to be on 
 earth, the glory and perfection of all the works of G-od, should 
 by one act of disobedience plunge herself and all her posterity 
 into sin and misery ; 
 
 21. And yet, that, she in her own line and order, should for this 
 one act be forsaken and forgotten of her Lord and Creator, and 
 thus be prevented having any agency in the work of restoration 
 and redemption. We say, that, should such be the case, it would 
 be entirely inconsistent with all the attributes of the Eternal 
 Father and his Holy Wisdom. 
 
 22. But such is not the case : God promised, that, in the rest?'- 
 tution of all things, a woman should stand in her proper lot 
 and order, as the first Mother in the new creation, as Bride of the 
 Redeemer, and co-worker with him in the work of man's redemp- 
 tion, and thus, according to the promise of God, she now really Im Uv. i- 
 stands. "' 
 
 23. It is but true, however, that proud and fallen man with 
 vain and fleshly applause, and for no other than his own sinful 
 purposes, worships and adores the wonlan, and extols her even 
 above himself; and yet, that he has excluded her from having 
 any lot or agency in the work of his redemption. So inconsistent 
 is lost man. 
 
 24. And to this purpose he has been taught and supported, 
 by false religion, to misapply and pervert the inspired and pro- 
 phetic writings, which peculiarly and emphatically relate to the 
 woman, and to her lot and standing in the new creation, ia the 
 Zion of God's likeness in the latter days. This they do, by in- 
 discriminately applying those prophecies to a personal Christ in 
 the male order ! or, as indiscriminately to a mixed, impure and 
 compound body of males and females, called "the Church," or 
 to something to which the spirit of the Prophets had no kind of 
 allusion. 
 
 2.5. The first promise God made for the restoration of man 
 from the effects of the fall, was made to be accomplished through 
 the woman: That "she and. her seed should crush the serpent's 
 head." Yet, plain and distinct as his promise is, "blind guides " 
 have perverted both the words and their meaning, by applying 
 the promise to " Christ" as being the seed of the woman. 
 
 26. How can Christ be the "seed of the woman? " Of what 
 woman was He the seed? Was Christ the seed of 3Iary, the 
 Mother of Jesus ? That is impossible. But Jesus was created of 
 the nature of fallen man, the seed of Abraham, through his preter- 
 nattiral Mother, Mary, in order that, through the power of 
 Christ manifested in him, he might crucify and put the serpentine 
 
508 
 
 THE ORDEK OF DEITY, 
 
 B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 I-Ieb. ii. 
 
 14, 15. 
 Juhn, viii. 
 37,44,Kom. 
 iv. 13, IX. 7, 
 8. 1 Cor iv 
 21. GaJ.iii. 
 10-14, iv. 4, 
 5. Eph. ii. 
 
 15, 10, & 
 Heb. iv. 15. 
 Gen. iii. 15. 
 
 Rev. xii. 1, 
 2. 
 
 Luke. six. 
 12, 15. 
 
 Rev. xiL14. 
 
 nature to death, by nailing it to the cross ! And thus did he open 
 the way of redemption from '^sin and death" and from the curse 
 of the law." 
 
 27. And the Lord said to the serpent: "I wUl put enmities 
 between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: She 
 [and her seed] shall crush thy head and thou shall lie in wait for 
 her heel. * 
 
 28. However, the ages of the world may pass away before all 
 the promises of God shall be fulfilled : yet his faithfulness can 
 never fail. Four thousand years had passed away before the 
 Messiah appeared — still he did appear as predicted of him, and 
 finished the work which the Father had given him for the time 
 being. 
 
 29. And in like manner, thousands of years had passed away, 
 since the promise was made in the garden of Eden, concerning 
 the woman; and the promised Saviour had come, and gone again 
 from mortal view, when by the revelation of Jesus Christ to his 
 beloved John, there was shown in vision, the particular and 
 peculiar character of the " woman and her seed," unto whom the 
 promise was made. 
 
 30. Here was seen, "A woman clothed with the sun, and the 
 moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars; 
 and she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to 
 be delivered." This vision represented Holy Wisdom, the 
 Eternal Mother, who brought forth the " man-child," the Christ, 
 who first appeared in the male order; and which the Dragon 
 sought to devour. 
 
 31. The Dragon here represented the spirit of persecution, 
 which began in Herod's seeking to destroy the child, and con- 
 tinued to operate in various stages with increased violence, until 
 the primitive Church was cast down to the earth. Then this 
 Christ Spirit was caught up from the apostate Church io God and 
 his throne, out of the reach of the serpent, ready (iu due season) 
 to appear the second time, in and with his Bride. 
 
 32. And after the war of Michael and his angels, by which the 
 Dragon and his angels were cast out of heaven, that is from the 
 regions where Christ had established his kingdom, in the world 
 of spirits ; then the Eternal Mother brought forth hef own like- 
 ness and representative, the Mother Spirit of Christ, in the 
 woman, to whom " was given the two wings of a great eagle, that 
 she might fly to her place, from the face of the serpent." 
 
 33. This is the woman, the Daughter, in the likeness of the 
 Eternal Mother, even as the Son was in the likeness of the 
 Eternal Father. And when this Daughter, who had now become 
 
 • We have preferred the " Douay " translation of this text, because it is tte 
 most correct, and easy to bo understood. The brackets contain the true and full 
 meaning. 
 
B. IX. MALE AND FEMALE. 509 
 
 the Mother of the new creation, had escaped from the serpent's chap, r. 
 power, she was nourished in her place in the wilderness, until the 
 time of her manifestation. 
 
 34. But here likewise, we shall see the enmity of the serpent, i^^v xii. 
 for the Dragon was wroth, and went to make viar against that 
 woman, aild against her seed, which are plainly described, and 
 testified to be those " whjch keep the commandments of God, and 
 
 have the testimony of Jesus Christ." This is the woman, and 
 these are her seed, who should " crush the serpent's head." 
 
 35. No figure, no similitude, no language need be stronger than 
 this, to show that the true followers of Jesus Christ are the true 
 seed of the woman : and that they have not only a Father, but 
 that the;^ likewise have a Mother who consequently is one of the 
 " two Anointed Ones," — the first Mother in the new creation, and 
 of the children of the promise ; the Bride of the Lamb, and hence 
 the first Mother of the children of the regeneration, or second birth. 
 
 36. And this woman who should be, and who has been made 
 manifest on the earth, '■'■and dwelt among us," was declared to 
 be the chosen and anointed of Grod, by signs and mighty power, 
 and by " many infallible proofs." The evidetices of these truths 
 are established in the lives of all true hearted and understanding 
 believers in the present manifestation of God, and remain as a 
 growing witness, and a living testimony to all people. 
 
 37. It is a great error to suppose, as the expositors of the 
 Scriptures have done, that the woman clothed with the sun "is 
 the Gospel Church." What Gospel Church'? Why, the "One 
 Catholic Universal Church," who profess the Christian name 
 throughout the earth, no doubt ! But how can this Church, this 
 compound body of male and female, who are joined together in 
 "one flesh," who live after the common course of the world, in 
 the lusts of concupiscence, and works of natural gerieration, and 
 who bring forth seed " after the flesh :" > 
 
 38. We ask, how can such a compound body "in the flesh," 
 be the '• woman Clothed with the sun ? " How can such a Church, 
 be with child of a sp'iritual seed? and how can it bring forth 
 "spiritual children, which keep the commandments of God, and 
 have the testimony cf Jesus Christ?" There can be no such 
 thing. 
 
 39. But when the Church shall be clothed viith the " Sun of 
 Righteousness ; when Christ shall loalk and dv;ell in her, and 
 she in him ; when she has the lust of the flesh, the lust of the 
 eye, and the pride of life," with all the elements of an earthly, 
 sinful and fallen nature, under her feet ; and when moreover she 
 has on her head a croion of dominion and government, composed 
 of all the twelve virtues of pure and genuine Christianity ; then 
 indeed, (and not till then), -will she be the true Church of Christ, 
 the " pure Gospel Church." And then, indeed, will she be the 
 
510 
 
 THE OEDER OF DEITY, 
 
 B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Rev. XXI. 2. 
 Gal. iv. 26. 
 
 Sf e Isa. 
 xxviii. 36. 
 Bph. ii 20. 
 Col. i. 16, 
 18. 
 
 See Mat. 
 43 ) Pet. 
 U. 4, 9. 
 
 Zion of God's likeness on earth, and the true offspring of the 
 " woman clothed with the sun." 
 
 40. There is likewise another great error in these natural 
 expositors of the Scriptures. They say, the "Holy City, New 
 Jerusalem," is the "Bride, the Lamb's wife;" that the Bride of 
 the "Church," and that this Church is the "Mother of the 
 saints! " How can all that be ? How can that holy city, that city 
 with walls and gates, be the Bride ? If the Bride be a walled 
 city, then with the strictest propriety and reason, the Bridegroom 
 must also be a walled city. Otherwise, what must become of the 
 harmony which is so manifest in all the works of (ptoi ? 
 
 41. But what man on earth, (whether he be a wise man or a 
 fool), would ever think of looking out for a city to be his bride, 
 his wife ? what man on earth, who would not look out for a more 
 consistent companion ? an object more like himself; more agree- 
 able to his own nature, and more congenial to his oWn existence 
 and happiness ? 
 
 42. No man on earth, would ever dream of espousing a city 
 to be his bride, even though the city, like the heavenly Jerusa- 
 lem itself, were "pure gold," its walls of " precious stones," and 
 its gates of " pearl." And yet these expositors, commentators, 
 and priests, have palmed upon the " everlasting Father " of the 
 " new creation" a city for his Bride. 
 
 43. Instead of the true Bride, they have palmed upon the true 
 Bridegroom, a false and fictitious bride, of their own invention; 
 and hence they have "robbed him of iiis glory." They have 
 palmed upon him for his Bride, a city, of which he, the Bride- 
 groom himself, was and is the "beginning, the foundation, and 
 chief corner stone .' " or Head of the corner in this living building. 
 How then could the Bridegroom be his own Bride ? 
 
 44. The true meaning of " Bridegroom," is, a man newly 
 married, or a man about to be married." And the true meaning 
 of "Bride," is, a "woman newly married, or espoused, or con- 
 tracted to be married." All well know what is meant by the 
 words Bridegroom and Bride. 
 
 45. How, and why is it then, that these divines so called, these 
 learned expositors, commentators, and priests, have so rudely 
 perverted these words from their proper and well known meaning? 
 They seem to think that in the Scriptures, the word Bridegroom 
 means but little or nothing. 
 
 46. They tacitly allow the Bridegroom to be a Father, but 
 without a corresponding Mother, and that in Scripture the word 
 Bride means but a stone ! or at most a city ! For this is the 
 amount of all the expositions and comments concerning the Bride- 
 groom and Bride. The Bridegroom, to be sure, is a Father, who 
 of course has children ; but these children have no Mother, except 
 a city ! A walled city for a Mother ! 
 
B. l'^. MALE AND FEMALE. 511 
 
 47. But O, 7w ! ttese expositors will say, we do not mean '^'n^^- 1- 
 to be understood to say that the city, (New Jerusalem) merely 
 
 itself, is the Bride, but the inhabitants of the city, "the saints 
 and Church are the Bride," and the " Church and saints are the 
 Mother!" But how does this better the case? The saints 
 constitute the Church, and the question is, how can the saints be 
 their own Mother ? 
 
 48. The saints, it will not be denied, whether in the body or 
 
 out of the body, are male and female, who are redeemed out of R?J- ■>• 9, 
 all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues." These are 
 the inhabitants of the holy city, New Jerusalem. These con- 
 stitute the true Church, and are the body of Christ, and mem- icor. xii. 
 hers in particular, every member in its own proper place and office ; ^' If^j^f' 
 and of which body, Christ himself, the true Bridegroom, is the is, &, 
 Head. 3(f.32. 
 
 49. Now, how can these saints, male as well as female, and of 
 every nation and kindred, who constitute the body of Christ, or his 
 Church, how can these various members of his own body be his 
 Bride? Are they not his children? Are they not in him, and 
 by him begotten with the "Spirit and word of life ?" and is he 
 not therefore their Father? Unquestionably he is. As, then, the 
 saints, the true children of the regeneration have in Christ a spir- 
 itual Father, by whom they are begotten, from '• death unto life;" 
 so must they likewise have in Christ, a spiritual Mother, by whom 
 they are "born again," and brought forth in the new and spirit- 
 ual birth. 
 
 50. That the new creation might be complete in its orders, was 
 the veryreason why the "marriage of the Lamb " with his Bride 
 was contemplated and promised. This marriage, or spiritual 
 union and oneness, between the Bridegroom and his Bride, was 
 to constitute, and did constitute a spiritual and heavenly Parent- 
 age, the ancestry and true origin of all the children of the 
 regeneration. For without this spiritual Parentage, none of 
 the fallen race could ever have been "regenerated," none could 
 
 ever have been " born again," none could ever have seen "the John, lii. 3. 
 kingdom of God." 
 
 51. If we do not admit the consistency of a full and complete 
 Parentage, Father and Mother, in the new creation, as well as in 
 the old, how could there be any offspring, or increase in the family 
 of Christ? How can the saints and Church, who must pass 
 through the second birth, be the Mother? Can the children of 
 
 ' the regeneration and of the new birth, be their own Mother ? Can 
 the saints have a Father, and at the same time be their own 
 Mother? Can they be the Mother of their own existence? 
 There can be no such thing. While, therefore, we rationally 
 believe in the distinct existence of a Father, why should we not 
 as rationally believe in the distinct existence of a Mother ? 
 
512 
 
 CHRIST MANIFESTED IN' THE 
 
 B. IX. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CHRIST MANIFESTED IN THE ORDER OP MALE AND 
 FEMALE. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Mark, 
 18-20. 
 
 Mat. XXV. 
 6,10. 
 
 Mat. xxii. 
 
 2. 
 
 2 Cor. V. 19. 
 
 Rev. xix, 
 
 7,9. 
 
 It cannot be denied that Christ Jesus was a Bridegroom, in 
 the true and spiritual sense of the word ; and that he contem- 
 plated and designed a future marriage and union with his 
 Bride. His various parables on that subject, and the declara- 
 tions of his Spirit afterwards, are too plain and interesting to be 
 overlooked. All the allusions are to a future day ; particularly 
 to his second coming. 
 
 2. The disciples of John and of the Pharisees, came to Jesus 
 and asked him, " Why d6 the disciples of John and of the 
 Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? Jesus answered, 
 "Can the children of the bride-chamber fast, while the bride- 
 groom is with them ? But the days will come when the bride- 
 groom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast 
 in those days." This shows that the time would come when he 
 would be absent from his people or witnesses ; and has particular 
 reference to the long reign of antichrist and days of desolation, 
 which followed the fall of the primitive Church. 
 
 3. But at the end of those days, at the second coming of 
 Christ, at midnight, i.e. in the most gloomy time of antichristian 
 darkness, there was aery made, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; 
 go ye out to meet him." " The Bridegroom came ; and they that 
 were ready went in with him to the marriage." Again, "The 
 kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a 
 marriage for his son: " Who was that certain king, but God 
 manifested in Christ, the quickening Spirit; "God was in Christ, 
 reconciling the world unto himself: " and who. was that Son but 
 Christ, as manifested in Jesus, who, when he had received the 
 new birth of that Spirit, became the Bridegroom ? 
 
 4. And again, " Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to 
 him,; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his loife hath 
 made herself ready. And said the angel, write, Blessed are 
 they which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he 
 saith unto me. These are the true sayings of God." There is not 
 another prophecy in all the sacred book more positive than this 
 of the "marriage of the Lamb," nor any prophecy more 
 solemnly confirmed. 
 
 5. It is surely evident, that, as the Bridegroom is the Head of 
 his spiritual body, the Church ; and as the Head of the body s 
 pre-eminently distinct from all the other members of the body; 
 
B. IX. OEDEE OF MALE AND FEMALE. 513 
 
 SO likewise must be the Bride : for the Bridegroom and his Bride chap. ii. 
 can form but the oue Head of the body of Christ : even as in a " 
 
 natural family, the father and mother in strict propriety, constitute 
 conjointly, and in union, but the one and only proper head of that 
 family. But the children who compose the family cannot be 
 the father, nor can they be the mother. So neither can the 
 children of the family of Christ be the Bridegroom, nor can they 
 he the Bride, the Lamb's wife. 
 
 6. It cannot be denied that the woman, in her own proper 
 place and order, is as peculiarly an object of distinction in God's 
 creation and government, as the man. Nor can it rationally be 
 denied, that in the Church, or body of Christ, the Bride is as 
 peculiarly an object of distinction, as the Bridegroom. 
 
 7. And therefore all the members of the body of Christ, con- seeiCor. 
 stitute but one body ; and each member being in its own proper ^"- 12 20. 
 place and of&ce, like the members of the human body, no one 
 member can assume the place and oflSce of another. Thus the 
 Father has his place and office in the body, as the Head ; and 
 
 so, conjointly with him, in unity and in one Spirit, has the 
 Mother her place. 
 
 8. Now the life of the body, the quickening Spirit, which is Seei Cor. 
 Christ, proceeds from the mutual existence and influence of the ^^' '^^' 
 Eternal Parents ; and therefore being its life, pertains equally to 
 
 the female as to the male ; or, in other words, Christ, the Anoint- 
 ing Spirit, proceeding from the Eternal Parents, and being male 
 and female, "pertains equally to the first begotteti Daughter in 
 the new creation, as to i^iQ first begotteji Son." And from them 
 as the Head and joint Parentage, the same holy Anointing Spirit, 
 proeeediflg to their children of the regeneration, they become 
 baptised into Christ, and constitute his only true body, both in 
 heaven and on earth. 
 
 9. To this spiritual union and correspondent relation, between 
 the two first Parents in the new creation, the Scripture pro- 
 phecies, have many and particular allusions. Many sublime and 
 prophetic figures were used to point outthis imion and relation 
 between the two, in the work of redemption which were to be 
 accomplished in ages then to come, as the two cherubims, whose ei. xkv. 
 wings covered the mercy seat, between which the Lord would ^^i ^~- 
 commune with his chosen people. 
 
 10. Likewise, the two olive trees, the two olive branches, the Zech. iv. 3, 
 two golden pipes, the two anointed ones. Also, the two witnesses, ^^^ ^.j 3 
 the two candlesticks ; and the "tree of life" in two orders, one 4; feutii. 
 " on either side of the 7-iver of the water of life." ' 
 
 11. To no individual person, nor to any personages whatever, see iTim. 
 from the beginning to the end of time, can these prophetic pg^ ^^^ g 
 figures be applied ; save only to Christ, the quickening Spirit, and 17. ' 
 
 to their first born Son and Daughter, the Lord Jesus and Mother 
 
514 CHKIST MANIFESTED IN THE B. IX. 
 
 CHAP, IT . j^fifi^ ^ho of God are blessed foreyermore — yea, forever and 
 ever. 
 
 12- By this spiritual union and relation, between the Tioo 
 Gal. iii. 23. Anointed Ones, it may be seen how it is, that in Christ, there is 
 neither Jew nor Greek, neither hond nor free, neither male nor 
 female (according to the flesh). Because, they that are in Christ, 
 See Rom. and Christ in them, are risen into nevmess of life."' "They 
 2 Cor V 17. tlirough Chrfst are dead to the rudiments of the world,'''' and 
 (Joi. ii. 20, therefore there can be no more any union or relationship, after 
 ''^^'"'- the flesh. 
 
 13. And hence it is, that the union and relationship, between 
 the male and female, after the flesh, is forever abolished and 
 dissolved, by their union with Christ, through the baptism of that 
 one anointing Spirit, by which all in Christ are created anew; 
 and by which baptism of the Holy Spirit, the union and relation- 
 ship between male and female is made as much superior to the 
 union and enjoyment of beings in the state and order of a cor- 
 rupt and fallen nature, as the finest gold is superior to the 
 meanest dross. 
 
 14. For all who are not fully baptised into Christ, (that is, 
 aU who are not baptisedinto the Spirit of the two Anointed Ones), 
 but remain in the nature, fellowship and works, of male and 
 
 Rom. viii. female after the flesh, remain also under the power of sin and 
 
 13- death. Whereas, all that are baptised into the fullness of Christ, 
 
 with both the male and female spirit of the iwo Anointed Ones, 
 have their union and fellowship vnth God, in the order of celestial 
 beings, who are redeemed from the earth, and whose conversation 
 is in heaven. 
 
 Phil. iu. 20. 15. We have seen, that in the natural creation of man, he 
 was made male and female, and that these two were one flesh. 
 But by the breath of life from his Creator, he became a living 
 soul, and being made in the image of G-od, male and female and the 
 
 1 Cor. XT. figure of the second man Adam, who is a quickening Spirit; " all 
 
 ' ■ that are baptised into Christ, male and female, are no more one 
 
 in the flesh, but one in ,the spirit. And as through the spirit 
 
 1,^. ° ' they are one loith the Father and the Son. So likewise are they 
 one with the Mother and Daughter. 
 
 16. For, as the second Adam is a quickening Spirit, so conse- 
 quently is the second Eve a quickening Spirit. And therefore, 
 when we speak of the Father and Mother of our redemption, 
 we allude not to the natural personages of the two Anointed Ones, 
 except as manifesters, but we allude to the Father Spirit, by 
 which we are begotten, and to the Mother Spirit, by which we 
 are conceived and brought forth in the new creation and spirit- 
 ual state, and prepared for a celestial state of existence, which 
 Spirit was revealed in them. 
 
 17. As it is not possible that there can be any offspring or 
 
B. IX. ORDER OF MALE AND FEMALE. 515 
 
 increase in the human family, without a natural mother, so chap. ii. 
 neither is it possible that there can he any offspring, or any in- ' 
 crease in the family of Christ, without a spiritual Mother ; since 
 the natural is a iigure of the spiritual, and Deity is in that order, 
 and all the works of creation came forth accordingly. 
 
 18. Not the existence of male and fevLale in the man alone, 
 but all creation, in both the animal and vegetable kingdoms, the 
 fishes that swim in the seas, the birds that ifly in the air, yea, the 
 very herbs and flowers of the field, all demonstrate and establish 
 this fact, namely: That all living creation is supported and 
 advanced through the female order. 
 
 19. And that therefore the female is the crowning glory, and 
 perfects the creative works of God. Hence also, in the work of 
 man's redemption from the fall, without the co-operating influence 
 of the female, the way of full redemption could never have been 
 known ; nor could any soul ever have been born again, nor have 
 inherited the kingdom of God. 
 
 20. It is believed and acknowledged that we must be born 
 again, or never see the kingdom of God, that is, to see and 
 experience it in our own souls. It is believed and acknowledged 
 likewise, that Christ the second Adam is, and must be, the Father 
 of all who are born again — of all the children of the second or 
 spiritual birth ; but how can these be born again, without a 
 Mother ? Can a father beget and also conceive, and bear, and 
 bring forth children ? There can be no such thing, either in 
 heaven or on earth. 
 
 21. In the day that God created man, in the image and like- Gen. i. a?, 
 of God made he him ; male and female created he them ; and "' ' 
 called their name Adam." What can be plainer than this, to 
 
 show that the male and female are one. That they are one in 
 nature and essence, in the likeness of their Creator ? What can 
 be plainer than this, to show that man could not, and consequently 
 did not exist without the woman ? 
 
 22. As therefore the first Adam was a figure of Christ, the Rom. v. 14. 
 second Adam, how could it be otherwise than that Christ, 
 
 the second Adam, should also be made manifest in the order of ^"Jnany'^'' 
 male and female ? He likewise being in the likeness, and " after places, 
 the image of Him that created him." 
 
 23. If it could be consistently shown how Adam could have 
 both begotten and brought forth children, and peopled the earth 
 viithout Eve, or before the time that the woman should stand in 
 her own proper lot and order, as the "mother of all living ;" then 
 it might be consistently shown, how Christ the second Adam, 
 without the woman, could both beget and bring forth a spiritual 
 offspring, to people the "new heavens and the new earth," by 
 the "second birth." But this can never be shown. 
 
 24. AH the order and laws of creation, natui-al and spiritual, 
 
516 CHRIST MANIFESTED IN THE B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. II. establisli and confirm, not the oxistence merely, but the lot and 
 office of the Mother, as distinctly as that of the Father. There- 
 fore, no walled nor un walled city, no inhabitants or any mixed 
 multitude of any city, no associated or compound body of males 
 and females, called the Church, can constitute or be this Mother. 
 Nor can any of these be the "Bride, the Lamb's wife." 
 
 25. It is true the female is frequently used as a figure, to rep- 
 resent a whole people, a nation, or a city, as daughter of Egypt, 
 daughter of the Chaldeans, daughter of Jerusalem, &c. But 
 this is no reason why every particular prophecy alluding to 
 Christ's second coming in the female, should be so construed 
 and applied, as blind guides, commentators, and priests have done, 
 and still continue to do. 
 
 Rev. XXI. 26. In John's vision of a '■'■nexa heaven and, a new earth" he 
 
 ^' ^' saw the holy city. New Jerusalem, '^prepared as a bride adorned 
 
 for her husband." And the angel who conversed with John 
 
 ver. 9, 10. said, " Come hither, I will show thee the Bride, the LamVs wife." 
 And he carried him away in the spirit to a great and high moun- 
 tain, and showed him that '■'great city, the holy Jerusalem, 
 descending out of heaven from God." 
 
 27. But this great and holy city was no more the Bride than 
 it was the Bridegroom. It was no more the harnVs wife than it 
 was the Lamb himself. The city was adorned, to be sure, " as 
 a bride for her husband." But what was that adorning? Why, 
 
 See Ezek. such as was becoming the place of God's throne. It was adorned 
 
 xiiii. 7. with a wall garnished with all manner of precious stones, with 
 
 gates of pearl, and the streets transparent gold. And it wag 
 
 adorned, moreover, with the light and, glory of God, and the 
 
 Lamb. 
 
 28. This is the adorning and description of the beloved city. 
 But let it be observed that the adorning, and the attire of the 
 
 Rev. XIX. 8. Bride, had been before described. " To her it was granted that 
 Psa.xiY.ii, j^g should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine 
 linen is the righteousness of saints." She was adorned with 
 beauty, her clothing ivas of wrought gold, her raiment of needle 
 work, and she was, moreover, all glorious within. What dis- 
 tinction between any two objects can be more evident than the 
 distinction between the holy city and the Bride, the Lamb's wife ? 
 
 29. There can be no doubt, that the beloved John, in his 
 vision of the New Jerusalem, when he saw there the Lamb, he 
 
 Rev. xxii. saw there his Bride also ; for the Spirit, i.e. Christ and the Bride 
 
 ^t- were there, calling souls to partake of the waters of life freely. 
 
 Nor can we have any reasonable doubt, that at the marriage in 
 
 John,ii. u. Cana of Galilee, when Jesus '^ manifested forth his glory," \^ 
 
 there took occasion to give his disciples a spiritual view of his 
 
 Bride, and of his own future marriage ; and his disciples believed 
 
 ■ on him. 
 
B. IX. ORDEK OF MALE AND FEMALE. 517 
 
 80. There is no dispute that the prophecy and the dosoriptions chap. it. 
 given in the forty-fifth psalm, from beginning to end, allude to 
 Christ and his kingdom. But commentators have committed a 
 great error in applying to the Church, the latter part of the 
 prophecy, concerning 'WAe Daughter." 
 
 31. The prophecy is in two distinct parts ; the first part alludes 
 to the "King," or that 'particular and individual personage who 
 
 is called the "Son," as was confirmed by St. Paul. The second Heb. i, 8. 
 part alludes as distinctly to the " Quee7i," as to another par^mi- 
 lar and individual personage, who is called the Daughter. 
 
 32. The descriptions given by the holy Spirit of prophecy, 
 first of the Son, and then of the Daughter, are so plain and 
 distinct, as in their accomplishment to admit of no manner of 
 doubt in their application. While allowing the Son here spoken 
 of to be the Christ or the Anointed of God, in the male order, 
 and allowing also that he is the Father and first Founder of his 
 Church, both in heaven and on earth, it is the extreme of incon- 
 sistency, an egregious error, at the same time to suppose, as 
 commentators and priests have done, that the Daughter here 
 spoken of is that Church. But " charit/ shall cover a multitude 
 of errors." Bor how could any know the true Bride until she 
 was revealed ? 
 
 33. This prophecy concerning, the Daughter, is peculiarly in- 
 teresting to Believers of the present day, as it not only particu- 
 larly alludes to the Mother and her children, but also because 
 of its immediate and intimate connection with the most important 
 prophecies that relate to the work of redemption, and the increase, 
 purity, order, beauty, and glory of the Church of Christ in the 
 latter day. It may not be amiss, therefore, to pay some atten- 
 tion to the most essential passages, as beyond all doubt or con- 
 tradiction, have been fulfilled, and are still being fulfilled in this 
 our day, as follows : 
 
 ,34. "Hearken, O Daughter, and consider, and incline thine psa, x-v. 
 ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house; so i") ''''■ 
 shall the King greatly desire thy beauty ; for he is thy Lord ; 
 and worship thou him. * * * The King's Daughter is all 
 glorious vrithin ; her clnthing is of wrought gold. She shall 
 be brought unto the King in raiment of needle work ; tJie virgins 
 her companions that fotloio her, shall be brought unto the King. 
 With gladness and- rejoicing shall they be brought : tliey shall 
 enter into the King's palace. Instead of thy father's, shall be 
 thy children, ivhom thou mayest make princes in all the earth." 
 
 35. These are the words of the Divine Spirit of prophecy, in 
 relation to that peculiar personage "whom we call "Mother." 
 And in her, and in her spiritual offspring of the present day, they 
 were and are fulfilled, and are still tjeing fulfilled. In obedience 
 to the revelation and will of God, and in love to the Lord her 
 
518 
 
 CHRIST MANIFESTED IN THE 
 
 B. IX. 
 
 Hoseaj ii. 
 ]4, 15. com- 
 pared with. 
 Rev.xii. 14, 
 Ex. XV. 20. 
 Jer. xxxi. 
 12, 13. 
 
 Isa xxii. 
 32. 
 
 Jer. xxxi. 
 32. 
 
 CHAP. 11. Kedeemer, whom she worshipped and served, she did forsake her 
 own people and her father's house. She left also the land of 
 oppression, and fled to this wilderness, the land of freedom, as the 
 Lord directed her. 
 
 36. In this particular, G-od fulfilled through her, the promise 
 made to his Church and people of the latter days: '■'■Behold I 
 will allure her, and, bring her into the ■wilderness, and speak 
 comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from 
 thence, and the valley of Achor," [the confession of sins,] "for a 
 door of hope; and she shall sing there as in the days of her 
 youth." 
 
 37. By her faithfulness and her toils j by her cross-bearing 
 and self-denying life ; by the persecutions, and deprivations, and 
 imprisonments, she endured for the testimony of Christ against 
 the hidden works and abominations of fallen man ; and by her 
 sorrows and sufferings of soul ; her incessant tears and cries to 
 G-od ; she became a sanctified and " chosen vessel unto the Lord; " 
 to "do his work, his strange work ; and bring to pass his act, 
 his strange act : " and that in her, the word of Grod, by the Pro- 
 phet Jeremiah might be fulfilled, which says, " The Lord hath 
 created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a 
 man." 
 
 38. Through the valley of humiliation and sufferings she was 
 brought ; in the furnace of affliction she was tried, until her soul 
 became cleansed and purified; and being thus prepared, she 
 became the fit tabernacle and the abode of the "only begotten" 
 Daughter of the Most High, the faithful witness ; and the true 
 representative of the Eternal Mother." 
 
 39. Hence she was filled with the power and gifts of God; 
 with charity and love ; with the gifts of visions, of songs, of 
 tongues, of revelation, and of prophecy ; with the gift of wisdom, 
 and the fear of the Lord ; with the gift of discerning spirits, and 
 the moral state and condition of man; as also, with the gift of 
 repentance, and of the knowledge of the mind and will of God. 
 
 40. Being thus endowed with the gifts of God from above, and 
 clothed with the garments of salvation ; she was consequently 
 "all glorious within," and her "beauty" became the desire of 
 the King, her Husband — her Spouse ! 
 
 41. "Her clothing was of wrought gold," the bright emblem 
 of purity, of truth, of "durable riches and righteousness," 
 obtained (from her Holy and Eternal Mother) through the 
 furnace of affliction, trials, and sufferings. " Her raiment was of 
 needle work," the emblem of industry, of skill, of faithfulness; 
 with all those heavenly virtues with which she was adorned, and 
 which insured her union and acceptance with her Lord the King, 
 
 Zeoh. ix. 9. who is the "King of Zion." 
 
 42. " The virgins, her companions that follow her, shall be 
 
B. IX. 
 
 ORDEE OF MALE AND FEMALE. 
 
 519 
 
 Rev. iii 21. 
 
 .Tohn, xvii. 
 21. 
 
 brought unto the King." This shows that she is a Leader, and chap, ii. 
 a Gruide, in union and in fellowship with Jesus Christ the Saviour, 
 her Kedeemer, the King of kings, and Lord of lords. And that 
 her followers are his followers, for " they shall enter into the 
 King's palace," and " they shall sit with him in his throne." 
 
 43. Besides, the virgins her followers, being her companions, 
 show that oneness of spirit and interest, throughout the family 
 of Christ, for which he so earnestly prayed, " that they all may 
 he one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also 
 may bo one in us." 
 
 44. " The whole of this beautiful prophecy, goes to show the 
 influence and dominion of the "Daughter," in connection and in 
 fellowship with the " Son." " Instead of thy Fathers, shall he 
 thy children, whom thou may est make princes in all the earth." 
 What can be plainer than this, to show that she is indeed a 
 Mother? What can be more clearly expressed, to show that her 
 children are the same ; that her followers are the same — the very 
 same, and no other, than those who through Christ the anointing 
 
 of the Holy One, "are made unto God kings and priests; and SeeHev. i. 
 shall reign on the earth." ^ '"■ i";,*^ 
 
 45. Hence it was that the Holy fepint gave utterance concern- 27. 
 ing the Mother — the Queen, who is the likeness of the only 
 begotten Daughter of the Most High, and stands with the King : 
 "I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations; 
 therefore, shall the people praise thee forever and ever." And 
 even thus it is; for if her children, the virgins — her cross-bear- 
 ing, and self-denying followers; "if these should hold their 
 peace, would not the stones immediately cry out? " And let it 
 
 be remembered, that all things concerning Christ, whether in the 
 
 line of the male or the female, which were written in the Law ^^^ T-'^'^e, 
 
 of Moses and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, must be ^v 44 
 
 fulfilled." 
 
 46. We have thus reviewed that important and interesting pro- 
 phecy concerning the " Daughter" — the Mother of the children 
 of the regeneration, in order to have a fair and correct view of 
 the character through which Christ must needs manifest himself 
 at his second coming. And the proofs and evidences, that he 
 actually and truly has come the " second time," and at the time 
 and in the manner predicted of him, are as strong and " infallible " 
 as they were of his first coming ! " 
 
 47. The Daughter did " hearken." In obedience to God, and 
 as a true and faithful Mother to her children, she left the land 
 of her fathers, and her father's house: And her children — her 
 followers, who have believed and embraced her testimony of the 
 way of life, and received her Spirit; these are the living monu- 
 ments of the existence, and of the true character of their Mother; 
 and the living witnesses also, of the truth of God and of his pro- 
 
520 CHRIST MANIFESTED IN THE, &0. B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. IT. mises, that they (her children) have been made "princes in the 
 earth," as to the followers of Christ it was promised that this 
 should be. 
 
 48. For, it will not be disputed, that this princely dominion 
 promised to the saints, at the setting up of Christ's kingdom in 
 the latter days, is the dominion over all the powers of evil; a 
 
 John, i. 29. dominion over sin and death [the sins of the world] ; over hell 
 and the grave ; a dominion in Christ's kingdom of righteousness 
 and peace ; a dominion which the princes and nobles of the earth 
 have never obtained ; and which neither they, nor any of the 
 fallen race can ever obtain, except they be converted, and become 
 as " a little child;" except they become "regenerated;" ex- 
 cept they find the " second birth," and are " born again" of the 
 Spirit, and through the agency of a spiritual Parentage: a 
 spiritual Father, and a spiritual Mother. 
 
 49. HoTT strange it is ; indeed, how marvellous it is, that the 
 man shall possess such love and veneration for the woman, as to 
 forsake his father and his mother, and all his natural kindred, 
 and even the land of his nativity, and that he should forego all 
 earthly comforts besides, for the sake of her enjoyment, and yet, 
 that he should scorn the idea of her having any eminent agency 
 in the work of his redemption. 
 
 50. How strange it is, that any man possessing a religious 
 education and belief, should be so inconsistent and unmanly as 
 not to allow the woman the privilege and right given her by Grod, 
 (in promise) to wipe out the stain from herself and posterity 
 which her first transgression had caused, and in which trans- 
 gression and the consequent guilt, the man himself was, and con- 
 tinues to be a partaker. 
 
 51. But it is still a greater marvel that woman-kind, (any 
 woman), should be so 'far lost from her primary state of inno- 
 cence, as to harbor and maintain a spirit ot opposition to the 
 plan devised by the Holy and Eternal wisdom, for her redemption 
 
 Gen, iii 16. from the fall, and from the curse ! 
 
 52. It is marvelous indeed, that either man or woman, pro- 
 fessing faith in the Scriptures, and in the promises of G-od, 
 should be so wilfully blind, as not to see the undeviating harmony 
 in all the predictions of the Prophets, and from beginning to 
 end of the sacred book, in relation the lot and office of the 
 woman, in the work of man's ultimate and final redemption. 
 
 53. That, as in one spirit, in fellowship, and as a co-worker 
 s^isa.iiv. yj^^j^ ^jjQ Lord her Head and Redeemer, she should stand in 
 
 her own proper lot and order for the redemption of the fallen 
 race ; that she and her seed should crush the serpenfs head; 
 that she should he a Queeti, the Bride of the King of kings; 
 that she should be a Mother, luhose children should all be virgins, 
 whom she might makd ^'princes in the earth," and who should 
 
B. IX. APPEARING OF CHMST, &C. 521 
 
 be made "kings and priests unto God." Strange, we say, that chap, iii . 
 any man or -woman living, should be unwilling to see all this. see Rev. 
 
 54. How could predictions have been more plain ? How ''■ i"- 
 could prophecies have been more consistent and sure, to show, 
 that, as the first manifestation of Christ commenced in the person 
 of a male, his second manifestation, or coming should commence 
 in the person of a, female? For thus alone could the promises of 
 God, in regard to man's final redemption, ever have been fulfilled : 
 And thus alone, could the order, beauty and glory of the new 
 creation, ever have been accomplished and brought to perfection. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 REVELATIONS CONCERNING THE APPEARING OP CHRIST, 
 IN THE LINE OP THE FEMALE. 
 
 Many are the prophecies recorded in the Scriptures in relation 
 to that day called the "latter day of glory," in which Christ 
 should appear in the " clouds of heaven," (the element of bis 
 saints) "with power and great glory;" and this manifestation 
 of Christ should commence in the line of the female. For, as 
 his first coming was manifested in the male line, his work could 
 only advance in that order during that Dispensation. 
 
 2. And from this cause it was, that the woman was not 
 permitted to have her proper share in ministration and govern- 
 ment in the primitive Church. But in the second appearing of 
 Christ, and in the fulfillment of the prophecies in relation to the 
 proper lot and standing of the woman in the new creation, that 
 barrier is removed. She, by her obedience, bein^ " redeemed 
 from under the curse," and released from under the " bondage of 
 the flesh," which her disobedience and transgression had caused. 
 
 3. In addition to the prophecies relating to this interesting 
 subject we have had in review, there are a few more (among the 
 many) which are worthy of some particular notice. That remark- 
 able prophetic passage, " The Lord hath created a neio thing in Jer. ixxl. 
 the earth, a woman shall compass a man," has been rudely mis- ^^ 
 construed, and misapplied. The learned Protestant commen- 
 tators, say, that "The Virgin Mary compdssed a vian, when she 
 conceived, retained in her womb, and brought forth the Son of 
 
 God in our nature." 
 
 34 
 
522 APPEAEINQ OP CHRIST B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. III. 4_ What astonishing blindness and inconsistency ! What man 
 was ever brought forth into the world, since the creation and 
 fall of Adam, who has not been compassed by a woman'? and 
 brought forth in " our nature" (the nature of the fallen race,) 
 in the same manner? And what of all this, is. it the creating a 
 new thing in the earth ? 
 
 5. Every human being, male and female, have been " con- 
 ceived, retained in the vjomb, and brought forth'' ^ into the world 
 by the woman ; the mother of all living ; " and the Virgin Mary 
 with the rest. What truth or consistency, then, is there in apply- 
 ing this prophecy : A woman shall compass a man, to the Virgin 
 Mary? Not the least.- Besides, neither the Virgin Mary, (nor 
 any other woman) ever conceived and brought forth a man, but 
 a child', even the "child Jesus." And if Mary at any period, 
 and in any sense of the word, could be said to have co7/ipassed 
 the " child Jesus," it cannot in reason and truth be said, that she 
 ever compassed the "man Christ Jesus." 
 
 6. The learned Catholic commentators, in their Douay trans- 
 lation of the Bible, have not ventured any opinion or comment on 
 the above noted passage of prophecy ; but they have placed the 
 words, " A woman shall compass a man," in large capitals, from 
 which it is inferred, that they likewise, as well as the Protestants, 
 suppose it to allude to the Virgin Mary, and that in her it was 
 fulfilled. 
 
 7. But it has just been shown, that this idea is without any 
 ground of reason ; very distant from the truth ; a weak and in- 
 consistent supposition. If however, we will bear in mind the 
 
 See lea. li. V^^ "f great darkness from which toe ourselves have been dug; 
 
 !• If we consider the many ages in which antichrist has had his 
 
 dreary reign over the souls of men, by falsely assuming the name 
 and profession of the true Christ, we shall not so much wonder 
 at the extreme blindness of commentators and priests, while 
 under antichrist's dominion. And in this too, are the prophecies 
 fulfilled, as well as in regard to the particular subject we are 
 
 isa. ix. 2. upon: For "darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness 
 
 chap*Siii. ^^^ people." And so it was in Christ's first appearing, and so it 
 
 & xiiv. in should be in his second coming. 
 
 with the 8. It is evident, from prophecy, that the character and "ico- 
 
 Propheia. man," here prophesied of, is a peculiar and leading object in the 
 new creation, or work of redemption : And it is the truth, that 
 she is the same object, the s^me character, with the woman rep- 
 resented as the "Daughter" the "Queen" the "Bride, the 
 Lamb's wife." And that she is in consequence, the first Mother 
 of the redeemed in the "neio heavens and new earth, wherein 
 dwellelh righteousness." , 
 
 9. What is mea,nt by the prophecy, " A woman shall corn-pass 
 a man," is surely not difficult to understand; it is simply neither 
 
B. IX. IN THE FEMALE ORDER. 523 
 
 more nor less than this: to discern, to comprehend, and to chap.iii. 
 Imow by the gift of Grod what is in mail ; to discern and know see Joim. 
 the thoughts and motives of the heart, and the true state and "• ^i, -a- 
 condition of his soul. 4. ' ' ' 
 
 10. "Jesus knew all men; and needed not that any should 
 testify of man; for he knew lohat was in man." And that this 
 gift — the spirit of comprehension and discemmetit, and of the 
 knowledge of mankind, was as proper and necessary to be pos- 
 sessed by the Daughter as by the Son ; by the female as by the 
 male, no reasonable person will attempt to deny. 
 
 11. Much is said in the Prophets concerning the "Branches," 
 which unquestionably alludes to Jesus Christ and Mother Ann, 
 and to their great and glorious work of redemption in the earth, 
 to be accomplished in the line of both the male and the female. 
 For, as the female is a constituent part of the male; and man 
 could never have been complete in his manhood without her. So 
 his state and condition could never have been "happy" or 
 "glorious," withcrut the correspondence of the female, in a state 
 of nature, and much less in a state of grace. This is a self- 
 evident matter. 
 
 12. Now, as the man is the image and glory of God, and the 
 woman is the glory of the man, and as the man is not without iCor. li. 7, 
 the woman, nor the woman without the man, in the Lord; there- "^ ' 
 
 fore, "the man [Christ Jesus,] whose name is the Branch," is 
 not Without the constituent and perfecting part of his manhood, 
 namely: the woman, standing in a correspondent spiritual rela- 
 tion to the man, in dignity and ofiice. 
 
 13. We see the two olive trees, and two olive branches, which 
 are the two anointed ones ; and the Lord promised, saying, 
 "The counsel of peace, [which is the river and water of life], 
 shall be between themjjoth." Thus it is that the "two Anointed 
 ones," are in spirit but one; even as the Eternal Father and 
 Mother are' one; and which is also signified by the one "tree of 
 life, on either side of the river of the waters of life." 
 
 14. And likewise, the " crowns," (not in the singular, but in 
 the plural number, crowns), of silver and gold, set upon the 
 head of Joshua," who is here a prophetic type or figure of the 
 Saviour, in the fullness and perfection of his manhood, male and Read diii. 
 female, and which crowning of Joshua with crowns, implies and fompa™'' 
 signifies the crowning of the "two Anointed ones," as King and Zech. jii. s, 
 Queen of Zion, who by the one Anointing Spirit, Christ, Joshua ii,'i2,'i4;' 
 the Saviour, whose name is "the Branch," shall "build the tern- Ti' Vji'^'m 
 pie of the Lord," in the latter days, when "ye shall call every Rev. xi. 4, 
 man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree." &xxii.i,2. 
 
 15. Let it be particularly observed here, that the first 
 "Anointed one" is in the male order, and is called the "chief 
 corner stone," in this spiritual temple. And that the second 
 
524 
 
 APPEARINa OF CHEIST 
 
 B. IX. 
 
 Isa. iv. 2- 
 
 See Zech. 
 vi. 13. 
 Has;, ii 7. 
 
 CHAP. III. "Anointed one" in this building is in the female order, and ia 
 Isa. xxrai. called the "head, or cap stone," which "shall be brought forth 
 y- , . » with shouting, grace, grace, unto her." * 
 
 16. These prophecies concerning " the branches " are both 
 important and very interesting, as they most particularly allude 
 to the work of God, and the Dispensation of his grace, in the 
 day in which we now live ; therefore, it is here worthy of our 
 particular notice and regard, that the final work of ttod could 
 never be accomplished in its beauty and glory," until that day 
 when the second branch of the Lord, representing the female, 
 should be established on earth, and the two should be united in 
 one. 
 
 17. That being thus united, the woman is the co-worker in 
 building up the temple of the Lord, and in the upbuilding and 
 advancement of his kingdom, and that therefore, being a true 
 and faithful co-worker, she " eats her own bread and wears her 
 own apparel," agreeably to the predictions of the Prophet. 
 And it is also worthy of further notice here, that the union be- 
 tween the two Branches is neither more nor less than the marriage 
 of the Lamb and his Bride. To this union of the male and 
 female in the "Branch of righteousness, and counsel of peace 
 between them both," the desire of all nations centered, and to 
 this all the Prophets pointed. 
 
 18. Among the many worthy and interesting prophecies con- 
 cerning the " Branches," there is one or two more, immediately 
 
 Jer.iiiii.5, connected with our subject, we wUl notice. "Behold the days 
 come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous 
 Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute 
 judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be 
 saved, and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is his name whereby 
 he shall be called: The Lord our righteousness." 
 
 19. And again, " Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that 
 I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the 
 house of Israel, and to the house of Judah. In those days, and 
 at that time, I will cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up 
 unto David, and He shall execute judgment and righteousness in 
 the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem 
 shall dwell safely ; and this is the name wherewith She shall be 
 called: The Lord our righteousness." 
 
 20. This is a very plain and pointed prophecy, and less obscure 
 than many others ; and will therefore require but a few short 
 remarks or explanations. It is in two distinct parts ; or in other 
 words, it was given in two distinct periods of time, in the days 
 of the Prophet Jeremiah. 
 
 21. The second or last part of the prophecy was given some 
 nine or ten years after the first, and appears to have been given 
 
 • This is according to the original. 
 
 Jer. TTTJii 
 14-16. 
 
B. IX. IN THE FEMALE ORDER. 525 
 
 as a seal of confirmation to the first ; and for the further wise chap, hi. 
 purpose of showing that the promised " Branch of righteousness " 
 was not one alone, but two in one. For the Hebrew word, (in 
 which tongue the prophecy was given), is " JehoYah-^Tsidkenu,'" 
 and which being expressive of both the masculine and feminine 
 genders, is therefore, in our English language, correctly translated 
 "He and She shall be called the Lord our Kighteousness." 
 
 22. It must appear evident to every discerning mind, that the 
 allusions in this prophecy, are pressing to the latter day for their 
 accomplishment; and that the promises contained in this pro- 
 phecy are not to be fulfilled to the house of Israel and Judah, 
 literally, nor yet to the literal Jerusalem, all these being used 
 figuratively ; but that it was to the spiritual house of Israel and 
 Judah, and to the heavenly Jerusalem from above, that the 
 promises were made. Or in other words, the promises were made 
 to those only, who through faith and obedience should become 
 the true Israel of God, and consequently the true heirs of his 
 promises. 
 
 23. Whatever may be the extent of that great and mighty 
 work, which shall " execute justice and righteousness in the earth," 
 either to the house of Israel, to the Jews, or to the Gentiles, or 
 until "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as 
 the waters cover the sea;" certain it is that this work is the 
 work of the "new creation of God," of a " new heaven and a 
 new earth." 
 
 24. And certain it is that this new creation has had a begin- 
 ning, and it is equally sure that the beginning of this new creation 
 was in those two " righteous Branches," who being united in one, 
 were made, ordained, and constituted a new and spiritual Parent- 
 age. Hence the first Father and Mother in the new creation are 
 the two first foundation pillars in God's spiritual building, and the 
 "two Anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth." 
 
 25. Through these "righteous Branches," then whose inherent, 
 creative and productive properties and powers, are both male and 
 femg,le in the Divine nature, and in the Divine law and order, 
 
 shall righteousness " grow and prosper," till " all the ends of the isa. xi. 5; 
 earth shall see the salvation of God." •"■ ^''• 
 
 26. From all the foregoing predictions concerning the second 
 coming of Christ, and the setting up of his kingdom on earth, 
 how can it be otherwise than evident, that this kingdom could 
 never appear until the time appointed of the Father, when the 
 "marriage of the Lamb with his Bride" should take place? 
 How can it be otherwise than that this kingdom is a spiritual 
 kingdom, a kingdom of righteousness? and this marriage of the 
 Lamb and Ms Bride, is a spiritual union between the " two 
 Anointed ones" whom God had chosen and anointed King and 
 Queen of Zion ? 
 
526 APPEARING OP CHEIST B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. III. 27. And what can be more evident, from all the prophecies on 
 that subject, thah that this King and Queen of Zion, are the first 
 Father and Mother of all the children of the regeneration ? and 
 that this first father and mother are the beginning of the " crea- 
 tion of God" of the " new heavens and the new earth? " What 
 can be more consistent with the Divine wisdom and goodness, 
 than these prophecies and promises of God, that the- woman 
 should be raised to her proper lot and order, as an helper-meet, 
 and a co-worker with her Lord, in the work of man's redemption ? 
 
 28. "Where is there a plainer declaration in all the sacred 
 records than this: that God created the first man Adam, "male 
 and female, in his own image, and aft&r his likeness ? What 
 declaration can be plainer than : that the first man Adam of the 
 earth, was a figure of Christ the second Adam, the Lord from 
 heaven ? And what, then, can be a more scriptural, true, and 
 rational conclusion, than that Christ the second Adam, is also 
 male and female? ' 
 
 29. Yet notwithstanding all these plain prophecies and prom- 
 ises, and also these plain and unequivocal declarations of the 
 Almighty; such now is, and such for many ages has been, the 
 blind and lost condition of by far the greater part of what is 
 called the "Christian world," that being led on in darkness by a 
 blind priesthood, the clearest oracles of God have become per- 
 verted, and the very order of Deity subverted and falsified. 
 
 30. And from age to age, one blind priesthood after another, 
 have followed in the footsteps of their predecessors, who, in the 
 place of truth and reason, have substituted a Deity of their own 
 invention; a " Triune God! " a " Trinity of three male persons 
 in the Godhead!" and which withal, is the most unseriptural, 
 the most inconsistent, incoherent and imaginary of all anti- 
 ehristian dogmas. 
 
 31. From whence came this blindness? From whence origin- 
 ated this perversion of the Prophets and Apostles, and their sacred 
 writings ? From whence this subversion of the pure law and order 
 of God, to the exclusion of the female from her equitable right and 
 participation with the male in the order and government of God's 
 household, the same, as if in God, the female had no existence? 
 
 32. From whence, we ask, is the origin of all this blindness ? 
 The answer is plain and ready. The origin of all this blindness 
 and evil, is Satan, that old serpent, the devil, the adversary of 
 God, and all the work of his hands. For no sooner had the Son 
 of God appeared with the "glad tidings of salvation," and the 
 Sun of Righteousness arisen with "healing in bis wings," than 
 
 See Mat, Satan, through his emissaries, stood ready to resist him, and to 
 u. 13. 16, seek occasion for his life. 
 
 33. And no sooner had the Apostles and first Founders of the 
 primitive Church finished their labors, and closed their days on 
 
B. IX. IN THE FEMALE OEDEE. 527 
 
 earth, than "devouring wolves" — a corrupt and aspiring priest- chap. hi . 
 hood began to take the dominion; and under the assumed name 
 of Christ, and a false profession of his Ohuroh, they supplanted 
 the truth and simplicity of the Gospel, both in doctriqe and 
 practice ; and substituted in its place their own carnal reasonings, 
 the vain philosophy of the Gentiles, their self-invented and in- SeeCoi. ii. 
 coherent dogmas; with endless contentions about God and ^' 
 Christ ; about spirit and matter, and seons and demons, and so 
 on ; sufiioient to fill the whole Christian world with proud ambi- 
 tion, perplexity, discord, confusion and strife ! 
 
 34. This was the gloomy state and condition of the Church, 
 (falsely called the primitive Christian Church,) which in the 
 beginning of the fourth century, after more than one hundred 
 years of wrangling on the subject, this Church, by a council of 
 her 318 lordly bishops, who under imperial authority at the 
 council oi Nice, in the year 325, decided and decreed: — 
 
 35. That there was a "Godhead," and that in this Godhead 
 were "three distinct male pers-Ons," the "Father, Son and Holy 
 Ghost; " which is understood to mean, He the Father, He the 
 Son, and He the Holy Ghost; and that these three male persons 
 were "One Triune God!" a "Holy Trinity 1 " And whoso- 
 ever did not believe and acknowledge this as the only true and 
 fundamental doctrine of Christ and his Apostles, were decreed 
 heretics; and heretics must be persecuted and banished, and in 
 process of time, were put to death. 
 
 36. But the faith and integrity of all men were not so easily 
 subdued ; various opinions were still held forth by the contending 
 parties; and the growing authority of a corrupt and aspiring 
 priesthood, not being fully and sufficiently established at the 
 council of Nice, to suit their views of ghostly dominion over the 
 consciences and conduct of men, they, the priesthood of an apostate 
 Church, held a second general council, in order to establish more 
 permanently their rudimental doctrines, and thereby more effect- 
 ually to detect and suppress all heresies that might exist, or rise 
 up, "to trouble the Church!" 
 
 37. This second general council, also, under imperial authority, 
 consisted of 350 bishops, assembled at Constantinople, in the 
 year 381; fifty-six years after the famous and much celebrated 
 " council of Nice." In this second general council, the doctrine 
 of the Trinity, of three male persons in one God, was fixed, 
 decided, and decreed in a more full and determinate manner than 
 what the council of Nice had formerly done. It was decided and 
 decreed, that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, are in substance, 
 in glory, and in majesty, co-equal and co-eternal ! That the 
 Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God ; 
 and that Christ the Son of God, is " perfect God," and " perfect 
 man ! " 
 
528 INCONSISTENCY OF THE B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 38. And this, the doctrine of the " Holy Trinity," of " three 
 male persons in the Godhead, " was contrived up, and established, 
 let it be remembered, by the lordly and aspiring bishops, and 
 earthly rulers, in the fourth century. It was the result of long 
 and bitter contention, among the priesthood, and the decisions 
 and decrees of the dominant party were established by the 
 imperial authority of the Roman emperors. And hence the doc- 
 trine of a " Trinity," of " three male persons in the Godhead," 
 has been taught and supported as the rudimental doctrine of the 
 "Christian religion" by all the professed orthodox of the 
 Christian name, throughout the dismal reign of antichrist, from 
 the beginning of the fourth century to the present time. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 INCONSISTENCY OE THE DOCTRINE OE THE TRINITY WITH 
 ALL THE MANIFESTATIONS OP GOD. 
 
 The foregoing remarks on the origin of that doctrine called the 
 "Holy Trinity," may appear at first sight as a digression from 
 our main object concerning the " Mother; " but by a farther view 
 of the matter, the propriety of this digression, if such it is, will 
 readily appear. 
 
 2. We should here recollect that immediately after the &11 
 of our first parents, in the garden of Eden, the Lord God, in 
 displeasure, denounced their disobedience and sin; yet he pro- 
 mised, notwithstanding, that "the woman and her seed should 
 crush the serpent's head; " and declared, moreover, that the ser- 
 pent "should lie in wait for the woman's heel." No prophetic 
 passages of Scripture have been more truly verified than these 
 two. 
 
 3. That the serpent should lie in wait for the woman's heel, b 
 neither more nor less, than that he should be continually lying in 
 wait, and watching as it were, at the back doors of corruption, 
 the heel, that which is out of sight, but near and very sensitive 
 to earthly eflFects, and thus prefigures the secret poison, injected 
 by the serpent in the fallen nature, among the weeds of strife 
 and contention, in the hidden manners and cunning of the ser- 
 pent, for opportunities to injure the woman ; and especially to 
 
B. IX. DOCTRINE OF TRINITY. 529 
 
 frustrate, and if possible, supplant and overthrow, the designs chap, iv. 
 and promises of the Almighty, concerning her and her seed. 
 
 4. It was here, among the corrupt priesthood, among the sons 
 of strife," the lordly bishops of the fourth century, that the old 
 serpent, the devil, found a convenient and suitable opportunity to 
 form his plans, for frustrating the designs of Grod, and of making 
 void his promises to fallen man. It was here, in a very special 
 manner, that Satan found place and opportunity to -*' change the j^,^ j-j 
 truth of God, into a lie," for he was a "liar from the beginning." 44. 
 
 5. The Lord God in the beginning, decreed to make man 
 "male and female, in His own image and likeness;" and he 
 did so create him. But Satan, that old serpent said, and his 
 willing and obedient subjects decided and decreed that it was 
 false; that the image and likeness of God was not male and 
 female ; but that it was a " Trinity of three male persons, in 
 one God! the Son proceding from the Father," but without a 
 Mother! and the Holy Ghost (He) "proceeding from both the 
 Father and the Son." 
 
 6. This is the true " Catholic faith" and doctrine, established 
 by the blinded ecclesiastical and civU. powers of the fourth cen- 
 tury; and, as the decree says, "which faith, except every one do 
 keep whole and undefiled ; without doubt he shall perish ever- 
 lastingly." What chance, then, for the lives and well-being of 
 any mortal who, in future, should believe or think differently. 
 This monstrous doctrine of a "Trinity," being established by 
 both ecclesiastical and civil powers, became the criterion of or- 
 thodoxy, and the test by which the thoughts and opinions of all 
 men were to be judged, acquitted or condemned. And thousands 
 upon thousands, in succeeding ages, suffered the consequences 
 and the penalty, with their fortunes and their lives. 
 
 7. And here it may be proper to remark, that in the fourth 
 century, scarcely a vestige of the true spirit and simplicity of 
 the Gospel, and of the first primitive church, in the Apostolic 
 age, was now remaining with the dominant party, who claimed 
 both the name and authority of Christ, and who styled them- 
 selves the Catholic, the only orthodox, and the only true Chris- 
 tian Church ! " And let it be kept in mind, that this doctrine of 
 the " Trinity," established by this dominant party in the Chris- 
 tian name, was the " opening wedge," and the "battering ram," 
 into the dominions of the " beast ; " the " key " into the kingdom 
 of antichrist, and his long and deplorable reign, which was near 
 at hand. 
 
 8. That Satan, the adversary of God and man, had in- 
 fluenced the devising and establishing this absurd trinitarian 
 doctrine, must appear evident to every spiritually discerning 
 mind. For, although it was long since, did not the old serpent 
 know and well remember what the Almighty had declared to 
 
530 INCONSISTENCY OP THE B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. IV. iiim in the garden of Eden, that " woman and her seed should 
 yet crush his head? " Undoubtedly he did. 
 
 9. And when those contending priests and bishops were met 
 in a grand and general council, from all parts of the then known 
 Christian world, Asia, Africa and Europe, to settle and decide 
 on their long continued disputes and wrauglings about Grod, and 
 the personalities of their Deity ; what could be more consistent 
 with the enmity, nay, with the cunning and subtilty of the ser- 
 pent, than to inspire these lofty dignitaries with ideas and views 
 that would keep out of sight, the "woman?" that should exclude 
 the female from having any part or attribute in the existence of 
 Deity, or any participation in the work of man's redemption? 
 
 10. What could be more agreeable to the disposition and 
 enmity of the serpent, than to improve this favorable opportunity 
 for forming doctrines and decrees in the name of God and Christ, 
 which might frustrate the design of God, in regard to the "wo- 
 man, and her seed," who were yet to supplant his power? What 
 more cunning and deeply devised plan could Satan have inven- 
 ted, to subvert the true order of God, to exclude the female from 
 her proper place and rank in the " new creation," than that of es- 
 tablishing, as a fundamental article of the Christian faith and prac- 
 tice, that monstrous doctrine of" three male persons in one God?" 
 
 11. Thus it was that the serpent deposited his eggs of false- 
 hood and lies, concerning God, in the spawn of contention, strife 
 and bitterness ; and these eggs of the serpent were brooded over, 
 and hatched out by the priesthood, the lordly bishops of the 
 fourth century, who in their sittings and councils, brought forth 
 that inconsistent and mischievous doctrine of the "Holy Trinity!" 
 And all this, notwithstanding the plainest and most express dec- 
 laration of the Creator, to the contrary. 
 
 12. When, therefore, this doctrine became established, as the 
 test of all religious opinions, as the very basis of Christianity ; 
 and, when the same doctrine was inculcated from the cradle to 
 the grave, and to be enforced by penal laws, and statutes, through 
 succeeding ages, as the only true orthodox doctrine of Christ and 
 his Apostles ; how distant, in the course of so many ages, must 
 have been the views and thoughts of the " Christia,n world" 
 generally, with regard to the reality and consistency of the 
 female having any agency in the work of man's redemption. 
 
 13. Let us look for a moment at the consequences of this long 
 established doctrine of "three male persons in God." The first 
 consequence was, that mankind were taught Twt to believe the 
 word of the Creator, when he said that he made man mah 
 and female, after his own likeness. That they were iwt to be- 
 lieve that the first Adam of the earth, was a "figure of Christ, the 
 Lord from heaven." The further consequence was, and is, 
 agreeable to the device of Satan, that the female, as to her having 
 
B. IX. DOCTRINE OP TRINITY. 531 
 
 any leading agency in the work of redemption, was kept out of chap, iv . 
 sight, as in that work, the serpent dreaded the "bruising and 
 crushing of his head by the woman and her seed." 
 
 14. And hence, according to these false creeds, the female 
 forming no part or likeness of the Divine Being, of what use 
 was her existence but for earthly purposes ? What of rank, or 
 station is permitted or allowed her in the spiritual work and 
 callings of God, preparatory to a future state ? And what, from 
 these long established, and long received antichristian creeds, 
 must be the true spiritual state and condition of the female ? Is 
 she not still under the "curse 1 " 
 
 15. And by her being excluded, according to those creeds, 
 from any part, or participation in the order and government of 
 the "house of Grod," to what purpose is her existence, but that 
 she might remain a servile subject to the sinful desire and lusts 
 of men; and thus the "broadway" of sin and destruction, of 
 carnal pleasure and ruin, might be left open to fallen man. And 
 all this was the device of Satan in the first establishment of 
 antichrist's kingdom. 
 
 16. We need not wonder, then, at the blindness and opposition 
 of mankind, to the idea that the female is united with the male 
 Christ, as an helper-meet, and as a co-worker in man's redemp- 
 tion. Nor need we wonder at the perpetual confessions of pro- 
 fessed Christians, especially of those nominal creed-making and 
 creed-loving Christians, that they are yet sinners. 
 
 17. It is admitted by all, that it was the woman the old ser- 
 pent, by his cunning, first deceived and decoyed into sin, and that 
 by the same cunning the woman decoyed the man, and thus sin 
 was brought into the world. Now, as the woman ■jras the first 
 in sin and transgression, what could be more consistent ? what 
 would be more just, equitable, and right with the Almighty and 
 his eternal Wisdom, than that the woman should be the medium 
 to bring forth that light which should fully reveal the man of sin, 
 the "mystery of iniquity," and the secret workings of ^Ae serpent 
 in the human heart ? 
 
 IS. It isfrom these causes, combined with the enmity of the ser- 
 pent, and his secret workings on the human heart ; infusing corrupt 
 inclinations and evil desires to enjoy the pleasures of sin, that the 
 offence is taken at the manifestation of Christ through the female. 
 
 19. But it must needs be that "offences will come," for no way 
 in which the Lord God ever revealed his will, has suited the car- 
 nal mind, nor even human wisdom. And hence it is written, 
 " Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, a tried stone, a •precious 
 corner stone, a sure foundation." But (mind) it shall be for 
 " a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence" to the disobedient 
 and them that "stumble at the word." And they " stumbled at ic.*^'""' 
 the stumbling stone." 
 
532 INCONSISTENCY OF THE, &C. B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 20. And therefore, such as are willing to consider the Christ, 
 the Anointing Spirit, and true Son of God, in any other light 
 than as a being of flesh and blood ; and that he cannot manifest 
 himself in the manner and form as pleases him best, whether in 
 and through the male or the female, or through both, such are 
 sure to be offended, such are sure to stumble ! 
 
 21. This " stone of stumbling," this " rock of offences," is 
 laid in Zion. It is laid a " sure foundation " because it is laid in 
 both male and female, of which the true Zion of God and of his 
 likeness is composed ; and will therefore never be moved nor re- 
 moved. And consequently such as are for stumbling, will lack 
 no occasion to stumble, and they may as well stumble at Ann 
 Lee, the Blacksmith's daughter, in the day of Christ's second 
 appearing, as both Jews and Gentiles stumbled at Jesus, whom 
 they called the Carpenter's Son, in the day of Christ's first ap- 
 pearing. The first was accused of " blasphemy," and why not 
 the second ? 
 
 22. For there never was any dispensation of the favor and 
 grace of God to man, but what has been met with opposition and 
 contempt from the greater part of the fallen race, however 
 infinite in wisdom his dispensations were planned ! And it would 
 seem that no dispensation of the goodness of God to mankind 
 will ever be acceptable to such, in whatever form or manner it 
 may appear, unless it comes agreeably to their own wUl and 
 pleasure. And therefore there is no other alternative with the 
 Almighty in the performance of his promise after dispensing a 
 fair offer in mercy, than by a dispensation of his rolling judg- 
 ments to svjeep the vncked and rebellious from the earth. 
 
 23. It is upon those who enjoy the greatest privilege of know- 
 ing the will of God, in the day and dispensation of his grace 
 in which they live, and their despising the same, that the heaviest 
 judgments of God wiU fall. And in these, especially the " des- 
 pisers" of the work of God, in the "Last Day," must that 
 Scripture be fulfilled, "Behold ye despisers, arid wonder and 
 
 Acts. xiii. perish ; for I work a work in your days, a work in which ye 
 shall in rm wise believe, though a man declare it unto you," 
 
B. IX. StJMMAEY REMAEKS ON THE, &C. 533 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SUMMARY REMARKS ON THE ORDER IN DEITY; AND CONSE- 
 QUENT MANNER OF MAN's REDEMPTION IN CHRIST. 
 
 The foregoing treatise, concerning the order in the existence of chap v. 
 Deity, the order in which man was created, and the corres- 
 pendent manner of man's redemption, may he comprised in the 
 following words ; as from time to time, has been made known by 
 the revelation of Christ, in this day of the second manifestation 
 of that Divine Spirit, with infallible proofs of their truth and 
 reality, namely : 
 
 2. That in the Almighty Being, whom we call God, there 
 existed, before man was created, and before the worlds were 
 formed, an Eternal Two in One Spirit; who, in plain Scrip- 
 ture language are termed Almighty Power and Infinite 
 Wisdom. That the first holds the seat or throne of the Eternal 
 Father; and the second, that of the Eternal Mother; and 
 that by the union of these Eternal Two, the heavens and 
 earth were created and set in order ; and by their united power 
 and wisdom they are sustained. 
 
 3. Secondly. That before the world or order of creation was 
 formed, and before man was created on the earth, there existed, 
 in the Christ element, an order of spiritual beings, male and 
 female, designated Sons of God, and Moriiing Stars, in union job, 
 with the Eternal Father and Mother from whose living essence ^^'""- ^■ 
 
 ^ they were a proceeding ; and who were the prototypes of the 
 human race. And, after the earth, and every living creature 
 thereon were formed, God, through means adapted to the end, 
 created man, two in one nature, ''male and female, created He 
 them, after his own image, and in his own likeness," and called 
 their name Adam. 
 
 4. Third. That, notwithstanding Adam, the first man and 
 woman that God created on the earth, by disobedience to the 
 laws of their Creator, fell from the rectitude in which they had 
 been placed ; and their posterity following the example of their 
 parents in transgression, having likewise fallen, the design of 
 God to raise man to an elevated spiritual order, was not thereby 
 thwarted; but, that his purposes in that respect, might be 
 accomplished, He mercifully, at sundry times, and in divers 
 manners, promised a restoration and redemption through the 
 agency of his Divine Son and Daughter, and mediators of his 
 own choosing. 
 
 5. That this promise, which continued to be renewed for many 
 
534 SUMMARY REMARKS ON THE B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. V. successive ages, was couched or involved in prophetic language, 
 
 See Hosea, in tjpes and shadows; in allegories; in obscure sayings, and 
 
 XI- ID- dark similitudes, which were not, and could not he understood 
 
 by mortals, until the "times mrid seasons " in which God would 
 
 fulfill his promise, and accomplish His work of restoration. And 
 
 these times and seasons, as well as the order and manner, in the 
 
 Mat.'^vi.'' accomplishment of his work, the "Father reserved in his own 
 
 38 power." He suffered n6t man to have the knowledge of this: "?jo, 
 
 3-2" ' ' not the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only." 
 
 G. Fourth. That in the fulness of time, the Father sent into 
 
 the world his beloved Son; the true representative of his 
 
 character, the "express image" and likeness of the Eternal 
 
 Father, to redeem the fallen race ; He was revealed in Jesus of 
 
 isa. lix. ao. Nazareth, who existed in the form of a servant, and. was the 
 
 Gal. iv. 4, " hody prepared for him," which was " made of a woman," as the 
 
 17. ' ' ' Apostle expresses it, and as. has been clearly set forth. 
 
 7. It was hence, in this line of life, that the Spirit like a dove 
 descended upon him, (Jesus) with a voice and a testimony ',' This 
 is my beloved Son, hi whom I am well pleased." This, was the 
 Christ, the Arwinting Spirit of the Holy One; the Son of the 
 living God, of whom the voice spake. Thus Jesus became the 
 author of eternal salvation, the "first begotten from the dead." 
 The "beginning and first Father of the new heavens, and the 
 new earth, wherein dv:ellelh righteousness." 
 
 8. Fifth. That the Son revealed the character and wiU of his 
 heavenly Father; and that, for the day and time being, "he 
 finished the rvork his Father gave him to do." But there 
 was still a far greater work for him to do in a future day. The 
 time for the " setting up of his kingdom " on earth had not yet 
 come ; and he must needs go away ; but at the time appointed 
 of the Father, he would come ; he would come in " his own glory, 
 
 20. ' and in the glory of his Father, and of the holy angels." 
 
 9. That the time for his " marriage " should come, when the 
 "Bride should have made herself ready ; " and that, at his com- 
 ing again, he would appear in union with his Bride. Until that 
 time, his kingdom could not be " set up " and established on 
 
 Isa. ix. 7 earth; nor could that happy period advance, when, " Of the 
 increase of his government and peace there shall be no end;" 
 when " nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither 
 
 Micaii,iv3. shall they learn war any more." Then, and not till then, 
 should his kingdom appear. 
 
 10. Sixth. That it was not possible for the kingdom of Christ 
 to be established on earth, and for him to appear in " power and 
 great glory," as he promised, until the two Anointed ones; the 
 Son and the Daughter ; the two first foundation pillars of that 
 kingdom, should both be made manifest on earth, and the 
 testimony of their witnesses established among men. 
 
 Luke, ix. 
 
B. IX. OEDEU IN DEITY, &C. 535 
 
 11. That tte Son having been made manifest, and the testi- chap, v. 
 mony of his witnesses established, (but not so of the Daughter,) 
 
 it was necessary, therefore, that tho " heavens must receive hhn, Acts, iii 20. 
 until the times of restitution of all thhigs, luhich God hath spoken 
 by the mouth of all his holy Prophets since the world hegan." 
 
 12. The "times of restitution of all things" had not come. 
 The woman, that congenial and essential part of man's existence 
 in the new creation, (as well as in the old,) had not yet been 
 restored to her proper place and order. Therefore, the order 
 of Grod in the work of man's redemption, and the restitution of 
 all things, was not, and could not be completed in the day of 
 Christ's first appearing. 
 
 13. It was for this very reason, that he had to come, and pro- 
 mised to come, the " second time." And it was from this very 
 cause, and the long distance of time between the two advents, or 
 Christ's first and second coming, that the adversary (Satan) took 
 the advantage and " scattered the power of the holy people; " 
 and the sanctuary of the saints became " trodden under foot" 
 
 for the space of " forty and two months," or at least, 1260 years, seo Daj>iel. 
 
 14. The true Church of Christ, and its saving power, was 
 supplanted ; a false Church, (and finally innumerable false 
 Churches,) false doctrines, and corrupt power and dominion, 
 under the Christian name, were established on its ruins," and 
 prevailed, even until the time when the promise drew near, 
 for "Christ's second coming," and the "cleansing of the 
 sanctuary." 
 
 15. Seventh. To accomplish the order of the new creation, and 
 the order of man's redemption in both the male and female line, 
 when the fulness of time had come, according to promise, God, 
 the Eternal Father and Mother, sent forth into the world their 
 beloved Daughter in the chosen one prepared, who descended, 
 not from the princes and nobles of the earth ; but she appeared 
 in the '■'■form of a handmaid." 
 
 16. Who, being the " chosen vessel " of God's will, became 
 subject to the death of a carnal nature by the cross, through 
 obedience and sufferings, and was invested with the power of 
 God, and " excellent majesty from on High ; " and was " clothed 
 in the glory and brightness of her Lord and Redeemer, and 
 with the garments of his salvation- Hence she was th^ second 
 Heir, in the covenant of promise of eternal life; " and having 
 received the " Anointing of the Holy One, she was the true 
 representative of the Daughter, the Mother Spirit in Christ, the 
 " express image and likeness of her Eternal Mother ; " and by 
 the same anointing, the Christ, abiding in her, she became the 
 first Mother of the children of the regeneration. Of this Parent- 
 age, the " whole family and household of God, in heaven and on ^|° '^i'*'"'' 
 earth, is named." 
 
536 SrMMAET EEMARKS ON THE B. IX. 
 
 CHAP. V. 17. As the testimony of Christ first appearing, in and with tte 
 Son of man, was confirmed by many witnesses, in all of whom 
 we believe, with unwavering faith and confidence, even so it is 
 now. The testimony of Christ's second appearing in and with 
 the Daughter, is also confirmed by many living witnesses ; by 
 thousands, who, through her ministration and Spirit, (derived 
 from the Son) have received the power of salvation from all sin, 
 and daily partake of the bread and waters of eternal life. These 
 are they, who follow Jesus Christ in the regeneration ; and that 
 have "forsaken all for Christ, and the kingdom of heaven's sake." 
 " Bij their fruits ye shall know them." 
 
 18. And finally, after the Son and Daughter, the Two Anoint- 
 ing Ones, the first and Divine Parents of our redemption, had 
 both, in their appointed times, been revealed on earth, in the form 
 of those whom they came to redeem, and after they had finished 
 the work on earth which the Eternal Parents had given them to 
 do, they then left, with their first born Son and Daughter and 
 their cross-bearing children, their united spirit and counsel for 
 building Zion. 
 
 19. And when, by the power of their united testimony and 
 example, they had laid the foundation for the "second (spiritual) 
 temple," conjointly with the first, and the " Desire of all nations" 
 had come ; then, and never till then, could the Church, the beloved 
 city, New Jerusalem, begin to appear as " coming down from God 
 
 Eev.iii.2. out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." 
 
 20. All these things have come to pass in their proper times 
 and seasons as predicted by the Prophets. The evidences of this 
 fact, of its truth and reality, are before the world. " And the light 
 shineth in darkness, and the darkness coraprehendeth it ttot." 
 The Divine Son and Daughter, through these two Anointed ones 
 of the Most High, have appeared, and have been made manifest 
 on earth. Not in earthly pomp and splendor, according to the 
 lofty and vain imagination of "blind guides," did, or was Christ 
 to appear, either at his first or second coming; but in low 
 
 Seeisa.iiii. humility and sorrow of soul did he come, both the first and second 
 1, 3, & iiv. ^jjjjg . jj^ ^jjg jji^ig^ and in the female. 
 
 21. These, the two Anointed ones of Grod's own choosing and 
 appointment, have borne their testimony, and left the example of 
 forsaking all for the kingdom of heaven's sake ; of confessing 
 and forsaking every sin, and every sinful thing ; of living a pure 
 and holy life of self-denial, and bearing a daily cross against aU 
 the allurements, temptations, and propensities of an evil and 
 corrupt nature ; of renouncing the world, and crucifying the 
 flesh with all its affectio^is and lusts, which is crucifixion and 
 death to all the elements and rudiments of the fleshy, sensual and 
 sinful nature of fallen man. 
 
 22. And thus, by the united spirit and testimony of the two 
 
B. IX. 
 
 ORDER IN DEITY, &C. 
 
 sac 
 
 Anointed ones, tliey liave broken asunder the bands of death, 
 and brought "life cmdimmoriality to light.'''' To the "willing 
 and obedient," both man and woman, they have brought salvation 
 and deliverance from the bondage of sin and corruption. 
 
 23. They have, moreover, visited their children, their true 
 and faithful crossbearing followers, with their spiritual presence, 
 bestowed upon them of the rich treasures of the invisible world, 
 and endowed them with the power atid gifts of God from on high. 
 They have established the Zion of God's likeness upon earth, 
 the beloved city, the Heavenly Jerusalem, wherein no unclean 
 thing can enter and abide. And they have adorned Zion with 
 the elements of order and beauty, harmony and love. Hence 
 her walls are salvation; and virtue and truth, righteousness and 
 peace, reign within her borders. And this beloved city can 
 never be overcome. 
 
 24. These are the "marvellous works" of the Lord our Grod, 
 which he promised to perform in the latter days. And thus, be- 
 yond all doubt, will Grod, in his own due time, fulfil all his word, 
 and accomplish all his purposes, and his work, with all the 
 nations and inhabitants of the earth. 
 
 ■ 25. Although the day has actually come, that shall "burn as 
 an oven," and the judgments of Grod are rolling on the earth with 
 increasing calamity, while devouring fires, and destroying fioods, 
 while earthquakes, and hail, and wars, and famine, and "pestilence, 
 are stalking through the earth, to punish the world for its iniquities. 
 And also while the proclaiming angels of God, through marvel- 
 lous signs, and wonderful providential and spiritual operations, 
 which are more and more increasing in the age and day in which 
 we live, are loudly calling, and solemnly warning the inhabitants 
 of the earth that God is drawing near to visit the world by 
 "pouring out his Spirit," in mercy, as well as in judgment. 
 (See Kev. xviii. 1-4, xix. 17-21.*) Still the children of men 
 do not know the day of their visitation. 
 
 26. Tet, to them that "fear his ?iame, shall the Sun of 
 righteousness arise with healing in his wi?lgs." They that 
 "Hunger and thirst after righteousness shall he filled." They 
 that, in true humility and sincerity of heart, desire and look for 
 Christ's second coming, to them will he appear the "second 
 time," to their ^oy and salvation; and the " knowledge of the 
 Lord and his glory shall yet fill the earth, as the waters cover 
 the sea." Amen. 
 
 * The conjunctive voices, powers, and influences of these two angels, are evi- 
 dently the supernatural agencies which cause the extraordinary phenomena of 
 this age and time, and which, in their strange manifestations, have confounded 
 all the natural wisdom of man. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 See Rpv. 
 XX. 7-1U. 
 
 See Luke, 
 XIX. 41-44. 
 
 Mai. iv. a. 
 
 See !\Ial. V. 
 
 6. 
 
 Heh. ix 28. 
 
 Hab. 11. 14. 
 
 Isa. ix. 9. 
 
 35 
 
THE TESTIMONY 
 
 CHRIST'S SECOro APPEARING. 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 PRACTICAL PRINCIPLES -OF BELIEVERS IN CHRIST'S 
 SECOND APPEARING. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ORDER OE GOD IN THE CONFESSION AND POEGIVENESS 
 OF SINS. 
 
 That all mankind have sinned, and that none can be justified, chap. i. 
 accepted, and saved, without forgiveness, none who believe the 
 Scriptures of truth will pretend to deny ; and it is a truth 
 equally undeniable, that without a confession of sins, there can 
 be no forgiveness. 
 
 2. " He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso Prov. 
 confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. If we say we ^ j™^ "' 
 have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. s-io. 
 Or, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the 
 
 truth is not in us." This is the same as to cover sins. " But 
 if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just' to forgive us our 
 sjns, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 
 
 3. Agreeable to this are the words of the Prophet Ezra, "Let 
 
 not the sinner say he hath not sinned : for God shall burn coaJs 2 Esd. xvi. 
 of fire upon his head, which saith before the Lord God and his 53,63,66, 
 glory, I have not sinned. Surely . the Lord God knoweth your 
 inventions, and what ye think in your hearts, even them that sin, 
 and would hide their sin. What will ye do ? or how will ye hide 
 your sins before God and his angels ?" 
 
 4. Then, as it is impossible for any sinner to hide his sins from 
 God or his angels, and as there is no possibility of forgiveness 
 with out confession, and as it is with the mouth that confession is 
 
 made unto salvation ; therefore the coming of Christ with his holy ^°"'' ^''*'' 
 
540 
 
 THE CONFESSION OF SINS. 
 
 B. X. 
 
 CIIA.P. I. 
 
 Mat. ix. 8. 
 
 Isa. xxix. 
 15 ; XXX. ] 
 
 angels, or in tis saints, is to give mankind, who are weary of sin, 
 the privilege of confessing their siiiS to God, by Christ the Medi- 
 ator, in his saints, where he is actually revealed and made manifest, 
 as the only true light of the ivorld ; and which is the only door 
 of hope that ever was, or ever will be open for real salvation. 
 Ecci. xii. 5. God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret 
 
 John xii thing. And, Now is the judgment of this loorld. If I regard 
 31. ' iniquity in viy heart, says David, the Lord will not hear me. 
 
 ^^a. xvi. ^^ J ^gar /^'wrZ^e, says Christ Jesus. And the Son of man hath 
 '[Wn"'iv n"' P°^^'>' °™ earth to forgive sins." 
 
 6. All must admit, that all sins are worhs of darhiesi, conse- 
 quently that they proceed from the tempting influence of the 
 powers of darkness ; that it is the aim of sinners to keep their 
 works in the dark, and cover them from all who have spiritual 
 light to condemn them. But upon all in that state, the Lord 
 pronounces the woes of condemnation, "Woe unto them that 
 seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works 
 are in the dark. Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, 
 that take counsel, but not of me ; that cover with a covering, 
 but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin." 
 
 7. Such is evidently the nature of sin and sinners. Therefore, 
 all who are induced honestly to uncover and confess their sins 
 before those who are agents of Divine light, must certainly be 
 actuated by the Spirit of light. Hence, this honest feeling pre- 
 pares the heart and opens the door for the seed of the Gospel to 
 be sown in the soul, and to bring forth the fruits ef salvation. For 
 it is those who receive the word or seed of the Gospel in a " good 
 and honest heart," "that bring forth fruit." From these pre- 
 mises, every candid mind will have a clear evidence of the pro- 
 priety and necessity of confessing sins in the order of God. 
 
 8. The first Divine appointment for the confession of sins, re- 
 corded in the Scriptures, was given through Jacob, the father of 
 the tribes of Israel. After the affair of the Sheehemites, Jacob 
 feared that the inhabitants of the land would rise and destroy 
 him and his household. And God said' to him, "Arise and go 
 up to Bethel, and make there an altar unto God." Then Jacob, 
 as elder of his household, preparatory to the institution of 
 sacred worship, required them all to "put away their strange 
 gods, and change their garments, that they might be clean." 
 
 9. And in obedience they gave up their strange gods to him, 
 with all their ear-rings and ornaments : and Jacob hid them in 
 the earth, whence they originated. And they having changed 
 their defiled garments, were made clean and clad with new rai- 
 ment, according to the work of the day ; and the blessing of God, 
 and protection from their enemies attended them. Thus it is 
 clear, that all who owned Jacob as their leader, had to give au 
 account of all those things, which, aecording to the then present 
 
B. X. THE CONFESSION OP SINS. 541 
 
 degree of the work of G-od, were not owned of him. This was chap. i. 
 done by an open and practical confession. 
 
 10. After this work was eifected, Jacob built an altar, where 
 he and all his people could offer their sacrifices, and worship the 
 true God, which could not be done before. Here the foundation 
 was laid for Israel to be the true worshippers of God, in the figu- 
 rative order, as a type of spiritual Israel, and the worshippers of 
 the true God, " in spirit and in truth." 
 
 11. This was the first established worship, divinely appointed, 
 for any people, recorded in Scripture. And this foundation was 
 laid by means of an honest confession to their elder, of sin, ac- 
 cording to the light of the day, and giving up their strange gods, 
 and all that belonged to them ; for these were the idols that the 
 world then worshipped, and were its prevailing sins ; and they 
 could not be accepted as the worshippers of the true God, until 
 they had confessed and put them away. 
 
 12. Then God appeared to Jacob, and changed his name to 
 Israel, that is, princely prevailer with God, and thus instituted 
 his descendants as the covenant people of G-od, in figurative order, 
 to be typical of his true Israel, who are the -princely prevailers 
 with God,, by overcoming the fallen nature of the first man, and 
 
 him that had the power of it. Such will compose God's cove- ^xv*^i-i5 
 nant people, in his everlasting kingdom. 
 
 13. Therefore, if the work of 9,n honest confession, and putting 
 away all the idols of the world, ajid hiding them in the earth, 
 was necessary to bring souls into the figurative work of God, by 
 which they were saved from their outward enemies, how much 
 more important must this work be, in the perfect dispensation, in 
 order to become the pure children of God, and be saved from 
 their spiritual enemies^ and thereby find an inheritance in his 
 heavenly kingdom, of which the land promised to natural Israel 
 was but a figure.' 
 
 14. By such a confession and sacrifice, the sins and idoh of 
 souls are put away, and buried in the world from whence they 
 came, never more to be brought up against them, if they continue 
 honestly to serve the true, God. Thus their defiled garments of See i John, 
 sin will be stripped off, and they will be clean, and become clad l^j^^ ^^ 
 with robes of righteousness, and thereby be acceptable worshippers 22. 
 
 ■of God, "in the beaicty of holiness." Rev.nx.s. 
 
 15. This order of the confession of sins was marked out under 
 the law, by the command of God to Moses, and established as an 
 abiding statute for Israel. And, although the outward and cere- 
 monial part of the law ceased at the appearing of Christ, such 
 as offerings and sacrifices for sin; yet confessing and forsaking 
 
 sin did not cease : For all the Prophets and the Laiv prophesied m^'- ^i- 13. 
 until John. And they of Jerusalem and all Judea, and the Marki.i. 
 region round about Jordan, were baptized of John in the river 
 
24, 
 
 542 THE CONFESSION OP SINS. B. X. 
 
 CHAP. I. Jordan, confessing their sinS; wHch was the beginning of the 
 Gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 
 iTim. V, 16. Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to 
 
 judgment. Which i^s in no other way than by an open and free 
 confession, or bringing their deeds into the judgment, where the 
 judgment is given unto the saints. But some men's sins follow 
 after. For a confession made in the dark, where the sin is com- 
 mitted, or in the desert, or some secret chamber, without any 
 evidence or witness, is no confession at all ; nor is anything laid 
 open in the sight of God, or brought to the light thereby, for all 
 things are naked and open before him, and nothing can be covered 
 from him, nor anything brought to the light of his All-seeing 
 eye. 
 
 17. The order of God in the confession of sins was marked 
 out in a shadow, under the Law ; and Christ came not to destroy 
 the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfil ; and he came into the world 
 for judgment, so the substance was in a measure fulfilled, in the 
 work of his first appearing; but, according to the testimony of 
 Christ in that day, the Law and the Prophets were to be more 
 especially fulfilled in his second appearing, which, on that ac- 
 count, was spoken of as the judgment of the great day. 
 
 18. That the order of God for the confession of every particular 
 sin, was established under the Law, is evident from the whole 
 Law : a few passages of which may suffice for example : " And 
 
 Num. V. the Lord spake unto Moses saying, speak unto the ciildren of 
 ^''' Israel ; when a man or woman shall commit any sin that men 
 
 commit, to do a trespass against the Lord, and that person be 
 guilty : then they shall confess their sin which they have done : 
 and he shall recompense his trespass with the principal thereof, 
 and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him against 
 whom he hath trespassed." 
 Lev. iii. 19. Por the time then present, there w«re always certain per- 
 
 3-9. sons appointed, according to the order of God, to hear and judge, 
 
 X. s>-i7. ' and to direct' the transgressor how to make restitution; which 
 served as a shadow of future things under the Gospel. And the 
 confession of every particular sin was accompanied with an offer- 
 ing and a sacrifice, to be offered at the door of the tabernacle. 
 Lev.ivii. 20. And if any one offered an offering, or a sacrifice, in any 
 *'°' other place than at the tabernacle, where God had expressly 
 
 placed his name, it was counted sacrificing unto devils, and that 
 soul was to be " cut off from among his people." Which had a 
 particular allusion to the work of Christ in his first and second 
 appearing, showing that it would not be lo here ! and lo there ! 
 Luke,xvii t^at God would be found to acceptance ; but as Christ expresses 
 3'- it, Wheresoever the body is : that is, where he should pitch his 
 
 true tabernacle in his people, and expressly place his name, for 
 salvation. 
 
B. X. THE CONFESSION OF SINS. 543 
 
 21. The high priest went into the holiest of all once a year, ^hap. i. 
 and that not without blood ; for two goats were to be brought iieb. iv. 7, 
 one was to be slain and sacrificed, to make an atonement for the ^'^' 
 whole congregation of Israel ; which typefied Jesus in Christ's 
 
 first appearing, when by his own blood, or life, having opened 
 the way of atonement, for the sins of the world, as a Mediator 
 he entered into heaven itself; from whence he was to appear the 
 second time, to complete the work of redemption. 
 
 22. But it should here be particularly observed, that the sins of 
 the people were not taken away until after the high priest returned 
 out of the holiest of all, having prepared the way of atonement 
 for the sins of the whole congregation, by the blood of the first 
 goat which was slain. So Jesus, by offering up his own life, 
 opened the way of final atonement for the sins of the world; 
 yet sin was not wholly taken away in Christ's first appearing, ; but 
 the promise remained : JJnto them that look for him shall he ap- 
 pear the second time without sin unto salvation. Which was to 
 make a final end of sin. 
 
 23. Again, it was commanded, saying, "Aaron (after return- Lev. xvi. 
 ing from within the vail) shall lay both his hands upon the head '^''>2'i34' 
 of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the 
 children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sinS, 
 putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him 
 
 ■away by tjje hand of a fit man into the wilderness." This was 
 to be an everlasting statute unto the children of Israel, for all 
 their sins, once a year. 
 
 24. This order of a full confession of sins over the head of the 
 scape goat, had a particular allusion to the second appearing of 
 Christ, to make an end of sin, by a full atonement and remission, 
 in the order of full and final confession, and a final forsaking. 
 
 25. This law respecting the order of atonement for the high 
 priest and congregation of Israel, was one of the most important 
 figures of the Law. For the sacrifices of the high priest for him- 
 self, and his entering into the holy place with the ofi'erings of 
 incense, did not make atonement for, nor take away sin from, 
 the congregation, nor from any individual, without doing their 
 own work, as appointed by that law. 
 
 26. All that the high priest could do for them, was to act as 
 a mediator ; and through that medium a waywas prepared, and 
 an order establi^ed, whereby all those who would confess their 
 sins to the appointed order of the priesthood, and sacrifice the 
 flesh of beasts by fire, typifying the sacrifice of a fleshly nature, 
 and through the medium of the high priest, offer their offerings 
 
 of incense, which prefigures the offerings of repentance, prayers. Rev. vffi. 
 
 and intercessions; such, and such only, were ceremonially for- |. s- 
 
 given, their sins taken away, and an atonement made for them, ivi. 
 BO they were accepted according to the law. 
 
544 THE CONFESSION OF SINS. B. X. 
 
 CHAP. I. 27. Therefore, according to this plain figure, the sacrifice of 
 Je&us Christ, for himself and the human race, and his entering 
 in 'through the vail," with the offerings and incense of prayer, 
 repentance, and intercessioni, cannot take away "the sins of the 
 world," nor make an atonement for the sins of any soul, without 
 such doing their own work, according to the law of Christ. 
 Hob. xii. 28. Jesus Christ was- the spiritual High Priest, and " Media- 
 
 -■*• tor of the new covenant." And by his sufferings and sacrifice 
 
 of his own life, and by his offerings of prayers, and intercessions 
 in the holy, heavenly place, and returning again, he opened the 
 way for souls whereby they might find salvation, by honestly con- 
 fessing their siits in the order which he established, and by sa- 
 crificing the beastly propensities of the flesh, in the fire of the 
 Holy Spirit, and through the medium of that order, offering the 
 sincere incense of their repentance, prayers, and intercessions ; 
 all such might find mercy and forgiveness, and become " At one," 
 with God. This is the true meaning of atonement. But Jesus 
 Christ being at one with God, does not make any other soul at 
 one with Him. 
 
 29. Therefore, it is a great deception to- suppose that the suf- 
 ferings and death of the Saviour could make an atonement for 
 souls, unless they partake of the same sufferings and death, and 
 
 iPei. iv. 1. do their own work; as says Peter," Forasmuch then, as Christ 
 hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same 
 mind ; for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from 
 sin." And without passing through this wovk, salvation esu 
 never be obtained. 
 
 30. A particular example of confessing sins to God, is given 
 osh. vii. in the case of Achan. "And Joshua said unto Achan, give, I 
 
 19-26. pray thee, glory unto the Lord God of Israel, and make confes- 
 sion unto him; and tell me what thou hast done, hide it not 
 from me." And Achan answered Joshua, saying, " Indeed 1 
 have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus 
 have I done." 
 
 31. In this case, as the sin was of a public nature, and 
 affected the whole congregation, Joshua stood, figuratively, in 
 the order of a mediator, to hear the confession ; for Achan could 
 make no confession to the Lord God of Israel, or to his accept- 
 ance, but where He was then manifested, which was in his ser- 
 vant Joshua, as the first leader of Israel ; but where -the sin 
 was of an individual nature, the confession was made to the 
 priest appointed to that ofB.ce, as the Elder of the people. In 
 this instance, as Achan's sin was sacrilegious rebellion, against 
 
 JoBh. vii. *^® express command of God, it required the death of the 
 19. offender, as a warning, and an atonement for Israel. 
 
 32. Therefore, when he had related to Joshua, thing by thing, 
 what he had done, Joshua said, " "Why hast thou troubled us? 
 
B. X. 
 
 THE CONFESSION OF SINS. 
 
 545 
 
 the Lord shall troable thee this day. And all Israel stoned him 
 with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones, 
 wherefore the name of that place waS called the Valley of Achor 
 (i. e. the valley of trouble) unto this day. The destruction of 
 the sinner and all that belonged to him, in this case, under the 
 Law, prefigured that there is a sin unto death, under the Gospel, 
 by which the soul may be wholly cut off from the true Israel. 
 
 33. Hence the Lord speaking, by the Prophet Hosea, of the 
 work of Christ in the latter day, refers to this circumstance, as 
 particularly to be> fulfilled, in its full design and signification, 
 upon the very cause and principle of sin, when he says, " Behold 
 I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, a,nd speak 
 comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from 
 thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope." 
 
 34. Without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better : 
 and therefore such as receive the power of salvation and real 
 acceptance with God, must receive it through that medium 
 appointed in the order of God, before them ; and by finding their 
 union and relation to the order of God's appointment, they find 
 their relation to God, which was ever his manner of working, in 
 every dispensation of his grace, according to the word of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 35. Hence those who came to John, and were baptised of him, 
 confessing their sins, justified God; while the Pharisees and 
 lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being 
 not baptised of him. For as John was sent of God,, so what- 
 ever was done unto John was accepted as done unto God, accord- 
 ing to the extent of his mission. 
 
 36. The power and authority of Christ, both in the person of 
 Jesus, and in the order of the primitive Church, has been 
 already sufiioiently stated to show that there was no other medium 
 through which mankind could find access to God, than that in 
 which he was manifested, which was in his faithful and true 
 witnesses. 
 
 37. Hence said Jesus to his chosen followers, " Ye are the 
 salt of the earth — Ye are the light of the world. He that 
 receiveth you, receiveth me ; and he that reoeiveth me, reoeiveth 
 him that sent me. Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be 
 hound in heaven ; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall 
 be loosed in heaven. Whose soever sins ye remit, they are 
 remitted unto them ; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are 
 retained." 
 
 38. "The glory which thou gavest me I have given them. 
 As my Father hath sent me into the world, even so send I you. 
 The Father judgeth no man ; but hath committed all judgment 
 unto the Son. If any man hekr my words and believe not, I 
 judge him not : He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ] John, V, 
 10, 17. 
 
 Hnsea ii. 
 14, 15, &,c. 
 
 Mat. i. 40, 
 41. 
 
 Luke vii. 
 29, 30. 
 
 Mat. V. 13, 
 14, X. 40, 
 
 xviii. 18. 
 
 John XX. 
 23. 
 
 xvii. 22, 
 XX. 21. V. 
 
 22, xii. 47, 
 48. 
 
546 
 
 THE CONFESSION OF SINS. 
 
 B. X, 
 
 John, xvii. 
 14. 
 
 Mark xiii. 
 
 11. 
 
 2 John. 9. 
 
 1 Cor. iii. 
 
 1 6, and vi. 
 
 19. 
 
 Acts, xix. 
 
 IS. 
 
 Mat. xsiv, 
 
 26. 
 
 CHAP. I. ]ja,tli one that judgeth him : the Word that I have spoken, the 
 same shall judge him in the last day." 
 
 39. It was the Word, dwelling in the saints, which was to 
 judge the world at the last day; accordingly Jesus said, " I have 
 given them thy v)ord. It is not ye that speak, but the Holy 
 Spirit." Hence it is written, "He that abideth in the doctrine 
 of Christ, hath both the Father and the Son. Know ye not that 
 ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of Grod dwelleth 
 in you ? " 
 
 40. And therefore, Christ, dwelling and abiding in his saints, 
 did, in and by them, hear and judge of all things pertaining to 
 salvation. And as there was no other name given under heaven 
 among men, whereby any could be saved, but by Christ, and Christ 
 dwelt in his saints, and they in him ; so there was no other medium 
 under heaven, where God could be found to salvation, or where 
 true remission of sins could be obtained. 
 
 41. As God is all-seeing, and knows the most secret thoughts, 
 words and actions of all men ; so in this respect, nothing can be 
 covered from him, nor uncovered before him ; therefore when 
 many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds, 
 they did not go into the desert, or some secret place to find God, 
 and confess their sins, as many do now-a-days ; but they came to 
 the Apostles, who were "the light of the world," and brought 
 their deeds -to the light, and shewed them. 
 
 42. In this was substantia,lly fulfilled, according to the mea- 
 sure of that dispensation, what was so abundantly spoken of, in 
 the Law and the Prophets, about confessing sins to God. Hence 
 said Christ, "Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither 
 cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he 
 that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made 
 manifest, that they are wrought in God." 
 
 4.3. The greatest power that Christ has is that which per- 
 tains to the remission of sins, and salvation. And as the Son 
 of man had power on earth to forgive sin." ; so he gave the same 
 2Cor.iv.7. power unto his followers, whom he had chosen to give the know- 
 ledge of salvation to the world, which treasure was committed to 
 earthen vessels. "Whose soever sins they remitted, they were 
 remitted unto them ; and whose soever sins they retained, they 
 were retained. 
 
 44. ThLs was the true order and power in which the primitive 
 Church stood. And, although the power of the holy people was 
 scattered, and the true order in the confession and forgiveness of 
 sins was perverted and lost; during the reign of antichrist; yet 
 according to the most pointed testimony of both Prophets and 
 Apostles, the same power, and greater, was to be restored and 
 given unto the saints in the latter day. 
 
 45. Agreeable to the vision of Daniel, Judgment was given 
 
 John, iiL 
 20, 21.J 
 
B. X. THE CONFESSION OF SINS. 547 
 
 to the saints of the Most High. And according to Obadiah, cuaf. i. 
 Savimcrs shall come wpon mount Zion, to judge the viount of Dau. ra. 
 Esau, and the kingdom shall he the Lord's. Oba^ai''^' 
 
 46. The judgment of Esau, which is Edom, or old Adam, is 
 
 thus described by the Prophet Jeremiah: "I have made Esau Jer. xUx. 
 hare, I have uncoTered his secret places and he shall not be ^"'^ 
 able to hide himself. And at that day shall the heart of the men 
 of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs." That is, 
 pained to be delivered of those abominations which they know 
 mnst come to the light. 
 
 47. The same thing was testified by all the Prophets who 
 spake of the work of the latter day, from Enoch the seventh 
 from Adam, to John the last of the inspired Apostles; as it is 
 written. Behold the Lord cometh in ten thmisa7id of his saints, J^''«) !<■ 
 to execute judgment upon all. — And I saw thrones, and they 'sat Rev. xx. 4. 
 upon them, and judgment was given unto them. 
 
 48. So universally believed and known was this matter, among 
 all who ever stood in any light or order of Grod, that St. Paul ex- 
 presses it as a matter of astonishment that any should be so 
 ignorant as not to know it: Do ye not know that the saints shall icor. vi.2. 
 judge the world. 
 
 49. Then, as the revelation of God is given in this day of 
 Christ's second appearing, by which the secrets of the heart are 
 searched out, and the real power of salvation administered: so 
 this Word of salvation is sent unto all that are weary of sin, and 
 desire to be stripped of all that is contrary to the pure nature of 
 Christ, and released from the bondage of corruption. 
 
 50. Every one that doeth truth, cometh to the light, confess- 
 ing and shewing their deeds, that their deeds may be made 
 manifest that they are wrought in Grod. And as sin is ever a iJuo.iii.4. 
 transgression of the law, and not one jot or tittle of the law can 
 
 in any wise fail, till the whole be fulfilled ; so, in order to obtain 
 a final forgiveness, an honest and full confession of every sin, in 
 the order of God, will forever be indispensably necessary, while 
 one sin remains concealed in the earth. 
 
 51. No person living will freely and honestly confess all their 
 most secret sins before another, as in the sight of God and his 
 witness, but from the most sincere and upright principle. And 
 there is no person of feeling and candor, but will acknowledge, 
 that the principle which would lead any one, honestly to bring 
 their dark deeds to the light, and to witness against them, is not 
 the same principle which led the person to commit sin and keep 
 it concealed. 
 
 52. Eor as it is the nature and disposition of fallen man to 
 commit sin in the dark, and keep it concealed ; so it is the nature 
 of the Spirit of God, and the disposition of those who are led 
 thereby, to bring every secret abomination, and hidden work of 
 
548 
 
 THE SUFFEUINGS OP JESUS CHRIST, 
 
 B.X. 
 
 CHAP. n. 
 
 Zeph. i. 12. 
 
 Luke.xii. 2. 
 
 1 Tim. 5, 
 24,25. 
 
 Prov. 
 xxviii. 13. 
 
 Roni.vi. 11. 
 & 1 John, 
 ii 6. 
 
 darkness to light ; and the former is as contrary to the latter as 
 midnight darkness is opposite to the brightness of the meridian 
 sun. 
 
 53. Hence the Lord promised to "search Jerusalem -with 
 candles." And Jesus expressly declares, "There is nothing 
 covered that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be 
 known." So sure then as his words are truth, eyerj secret sin 
 will yet come to light, either in mercy or judgment. Happy are 
 they, whose sins go beforehand to judgment, that they may not 
 follow after to condemnation ; for such shall have mercy. No soul 
 can cover his sins from God, but he may cover them from His 
 appointed order ; but such as do this shall not prosper ; and they 
 will be sure to be brpught to light by the just judgments of 
 God. 
 
 54. And therefore, in the present day, all such as receive the 
 grace of God, which bringeth salvation, first honestly bring their 
 former deeds of darkness to the light, by c(»ifessing all their sins, 
 with a full determination to forsake them forever. By so doing 
 they find justification and acceptance with God, and receive that 
 power by which they become dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto 
 God, through Jesus Christ, and are enabled to follow his example, 
 and walk even as he walked. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE STTPFE^INGS OF JESTJS CHRIST, IN THE WORK OP 
 REGENERATION. 
 
 Prom what has been stated concerning the coming of Christ, it 
 is evident that every step of his coming, from first to last, was 
 contrary to the wisdom of this world ; and, although he was in the 
 world, yet the world knew him not : and as little did they know 
 whence he came, or whither he went when he departed out of the 
 world. 
 
 2. Instead of descending through the air, from some unknown 
 region, in a splendid appearance, and ascending in like manner, 
 he first was revealed in the Son of man, who came forth from 
 such a cloud as all other infants come from ; and at whose 
 departure, a cloud received him out of sight. The truth is, Jesus 
 was born into the world, and he was born out of it ; and his being 
 
B. X. IN THE WORK OF EEGBNEEATION. 549 
 
 born into the world was one birth, and his being born out of it chap, it . 
 was another, 
 
 3. And, although millions had been born into the world before 
 him, yet he was the first who was actually born out of the world. 
 And as the world Were dead in trespasses and sins, and as Jesus 
 was descended from that nature, for he was "made of a woman, 
 made under the law," and rose out- of it by the travail of re- 
 generation, he was therefore properly called the first-begotten 
 from the dead, and the first-horn of many brethren. For being 
 found in fashion as a man, with all the propensities of mankind, 
 and in all things made like unto his brethren, in things natural, 
 and being tempted in all points as they were, it was necessary 
 
 that he should be Divinely begotten, and conceived by the ' 
 
 Holy Spirit, in relation to a second birth, or being born again. 
 
 4. And by him the Holy Spirit of Truth first practically 
 taught the doctrine of the second birth. " Marvel not that I said Johniii.7. 
 unto you. Ye must be born again. Verily I say unto you, that gg. 
 
 ye who have followed me [or rather, who shall have followed me,] 
 in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne 
 of his- glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the 
 twelve tribes of Israel." 
 
 5. Here then was the true design of Jesus coming into the 
 world, not to continue in the nature and spirit which, in behalf 
 of man's redemption, he received, through the medium of 
 a fallen woman ; but to overcome and be regenerated, or born 
 out of it, into a state of immortality and eternal life, that others 
 
 might follow him in the same example. Thus he became the Heb. ii. is. 
 Father of all the children of the regeneration. 
 
 6. It is expressly said, that Jesus was the first-born, (in 
 Christ) and that he was to be followed in the regeneration; and 
 as he came into the world by water and blood, as other infants 
 do, by which means he being of the seed of Abraham, he inherited 
 the nature and enmity of fallen man, and in this sense millions 
 were born into the world before him ; therefore it is to be cer- 
 tainly understood that he was regenerated and born again : for in 
 truth, he could not teach others to follow him in a way which he 
 
 did not walk himself: and he expressly testifies, Except a man johniii..';. 
 be born of water, and the Spirit, hekannot enter into the king- 
 dom of God. 
 
 7. Accordingly Christ Jesus himself opened the way into the 
 kingdom of God, by a real spiritual birth ; and all who ever 
 possess that kingdom, must enter in by the same way, after his 
 example ; therefore it is in vain for any to stand gazing up into 
 the natural heavens, in -hopes of seeing the sons of God a«cend 
 or descend, seeing the children of God come forth into his family, 
 by being born again, as much as the children of this world are 
 born into the society of men. 
 
550 THE SUFFERINGS OF JESUS CHEIST, B. X. 
 
 CHAP. II. 8_ ^ji^ ag tije spiritual birth is as real as the jiatntal, and 
 the manner of the one is as expressly declared as the other, 
 and as certainly known by the spiritual man; so from the 
 time that the new man is begotten, he as really grows up into 
 the nature and likeness of him that bqgat, as the natural man, 
 from his conception, grows up into the nature and likeness of his 
 father. ' 
 
 9. As the natural man is conceived in a body, and while in the 
 generation consists of two parts, and those two parts are .fully 
 and finally separated, in his actual birth, so that ,the tie by which 
 they were united, is cut off forever, and the inner part comes 
 forth in perfect shape, with all the features of the father; so jn 
 the regeneration there are two, called the fleshi and Spirit, both 
 in the same body, and the one is enclosed in, and bound by the 
 other, from which it must come forth, and be separated, and 
 wholly cut off, before it can enter the kingdom of Grod. 
 
 10. And as the natural infant, within the second veil,, in the 
 womb of its mother, is in a state of ignorance of what passes 
 among the living, until it has been brought forth, progressively 
 matured, and borne upon the sides, and dandled upon the knees, 
 and comes to sufficient age for knowledge; so is the natural 
 man, covered up in the womb of nature's darkness, wallowing 
 in the blood of his nativity, and is in an ignorant state of the 
 spiritual birth, any further than he is brought forth, separated 
 and cut off from the tie of the flesh, by which his soul is held 
 in bondage. 
 
 11. Hence the Lord by the Prophet, speaking figuratively of 
 Ezek.xvi. Jerusalem in her natural state, and of the second birth or new 
 
 creation, says, "Thy nativity, in the day thou wast born, thy 
 navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple 
 thee: thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. And 
 when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, 
 I said unto thee in thy blood. Live ; yea, I said unto thee in thy 
 blood. Live." 
 
 12. Such, in a true spiritual sense, is the highest perfection of 
 man in his natural state, like an infant unloosed, wallowing in 
 the blood of its nativity, and without a deliverance, and final 
 separation from that in which he is held, must perish without 
 remedy. 
 
 13. As nothing is born without a separation, and no separa- 
 tion can take place without suffering ; so that -which bears must 
 suffer in proportion to the nature and quality of that which it 
 bears, and that which is born is liable to suffer in proportion to 
 the natural or inherent relation in which it stands to that which 
 bore it, until it is weaned from that relation. 
 
 14. And as that which beareth is first in the order of things, 
 and not that which Ls bom ; and as that is first which is natural, 
 
B. X. IN THE WORK OF EEGENEEATION. 551 
 
 and not that whicli is spiritual ; therefore, that which is natural chap, ii. 
 and earthly suffers death in the work of regeneration, while that 
 which is spiritual, and heavenly, is quickened and made alive in 
 the soul ; and the soul can only suffer in proportion to the 
 connexion, the near or distant relation in which it stands to 
 that which is natural, until the natural is overcome by the 
 spiritual. ' 
 
 15. The inner or new man in Christ Jesus, was home by the 
 outer man, or in other words, that which was spiritual was with- 
 in that which was natural, and was brought forth out of that 
 which was natural and old; And hence, as sin captivated the 
 soul, and occupied that which was natural and old, and the suf- 
 ferings of Christ Jesus for the redemption of souls, began in 
 Christ's ffrst appearing,; therefore the sufferings must continue 
 in his second .appearing, until the work of regeneration is com- 
 pleted, and that which' is natural and old, is finally overcome by 
 the new. 
 
 16. Upon this distinction between the natural and spiritual 
 body, hangs the whole of the Apostles' doctrines ; take away that 
 distinction, and the whole New Testament must appear, to 
 every man of common sense, as the most absurd and incredible 
 romance. 
 
 17. But admit that the Apostles meant as they wrote, that 
 there was a natural body and a spiritual body then esisting, 
 and that the natural was first in the order of visible things, and 
 afterwards the spiritual, the whole may be understood in the most 
 perfect consistency. 
 
 18. This distinction between the natural and spiritual body, 
 is variously expressed, by the old man and the new 'man; 
 the first Adam and the second Adam; which in substance 
 make one and the same distinction. And as each body must 
 have a mind, or centre of influence, from whence proceeded 
 all its operations; so the Apostles as plainly distinguish be- 
 tween the carnal mind, or mind of the fiesh, which is enmity 
 against God, and the spiritual mind, or mind which was in 
 Christ. 
 
 19. And as the first, or carnal mind decreased, the second 
 or spiritual mind increased; as the second was set at liberty, 
 the first became a captive; as the first suffered, the second 
 triumphed; as the first died, the second revived; and finally, 
 when the first was completely dead, being crucified, the second 
 was completely alive and glorified, and in the full and perfect 
 stature of a new creature, self-existent aud wholly independent 
 of the old forever. 
 
 20. From this principle of a distinction and separation, between 
 that which is natural, and that which is spiritual, the fundamental 
 doctrines relating to the sufferings of Jesus Christ, arise ; which 
 
552 
 
 THE SUFFERINGS OF JESUS CHRIST, 
 
 B.X. 
 
 Mat, xxii. 
 41,45. 
 
 CHAP. II. g^yg stated in sucli plain terms, through the New Testament, that 
 no candid and enlightened mind can mistake the sense. 
 
 21. Those who do not make a clear distinction between Christ 
 as the Divine Spirit, and Jesus as a man, equally confound the 
 flesh and Spirit, generation an3. regeneration, the old man and 
 the new man, and even good and eoil ; for the idea that Christians 
 cannot live out of sin, arises from the want of this distinction. 
 Jesus plainly showed the diiference between himself as a man, 
 and the original Christ, the Divine Spirit that anointed and dvielt 
 with ]iim. 
 
 22. While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked 
 them, " What think ye of Christ ? whose son is he ? " They say, 
 "The son of David. " He saith, " How then doth David in spirit, 
 call him Lord, The Lord said to my Lord, sit thou on my right 
 hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. If David then 
 call him Lord, how is he his son?" No wonder that no man 
 was able to answer him, for they knew no distinction between the 
 "quickening Spirit, the Lord from heaven," and the earthly 
 man; nor have most professors understood any better to this 
 day. 
 
 23. And doubtless Jesus here designed to show that Christ, 
 the real Son of God, was not the offspring of flesh and blood, 
 and thus to make' a plain distinction between the first Anointed 
 of heaven, and the first Anointed on earth; that it might he under- 
 stood in the fullness of time. But the distinction is still more 
 plainly declared, "I am the root and the offspring of David." 
 This could not refer to the man Jesus only; for if he was the 
 offspring of David, it is impossible that he should be his root. 
 
 24. But if it is understood that the Christ was the original 
 Son of God, then it is evident, he was the root of all the human 
 race, especially of those in the line of the promise, which David 
 represented; and also that this Spirit dwelt with. Anointed, and 
 inspired Jesus, in the work of redemption. Then we may see 
 the propriety of the foregoing saying. 
 
 25. For Jesus was the offspring of David ; he was the Son of 
 man, or the trite heir of man, as originally created of Grod, and 
 being anointed with the fulness of the Divine Spirit, he was 
 the first Anointed of the human race, therefore, he was their 
 Kedeemer. But the Divine Christ was the Son whom God had 
 appointed Heir of all things. 
 
 26. The birth of Jesus is stated as being in the natural 
 appearance of common humanity ; that he grew in stature, and 
 in favor with God and man; that he was subject to his supposed 
 parents until he was of age ; that he received the Holy Spirit, 
 suffered and died, as to the common course and principles of 
 nature ; that he became obedient to his heavenly Father, even 
 unto death ; that he learned obedience by the things he suffered ; 
 
 1 Tim. Ti. 
 14, 15. 
 Rev. xxii. 
 16. 
 
 Heh. ].2. 
 
B. X. IN THE WORK OF REaENERATION. 553 
 
 that he was made perfect through sufferings ; that he suffered in OJ^'^^- "■ 
 the flesh, hu.t vrna quKke/ied, ox made alive in the Spirit ; that iPet. iv. i. 
 he died unto sin; but was made alive unto God. 
 
 27. That having finished his work on earth, in that liuman 
 form which was put \,o death by the Jews, he departed, and 
 afterwards appeared again, in different forms, to his disciples, and 
 showed himself alive, by many infallible proofs, in his spiritual 
 state of existence, until he vanished wholly out of their sight, as 
 .to natural appearance; that they suffered and died as he did, 
 
 after his example, and spiritually they rose, and sat together ivith Eph. ii. o. 
 him in heave?Uy places. 
 
 28. Therefore it is a positive deception, that many have lain 
 under, who have imagined that the holy, harmless, and undefiled 
 Son of God, suffered and died in the room and stead of sinners, 
 to rescue them from that death and punishment which they 
 deserved ;,and that his sufferings and death fully satisfied Divine 
 justice ; so that no further sufferings were necessary for the sal- 
 vation of mankind. 
 
 29. What mind, upon the slightest reflection, could admit that 
 Jesus of Nazareth suffered and died in the room and stead of the 
 patriarchs and prophets ? when it is testified that they had trial 
 of cruel mooMngs, and scourgings, of bonds and imprisonment : 
 
 that they were stoned, were sawn asunder, were tempted, were Heb, xi. 
 slain with the sword ; that they wandered about in sheep skins 
 and goat skins, in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and 
 caves of the' earth, being destitute, afflicted, and tormented. 
 
 30. As well might Jesus have, argued, that the fathers had 
 died in his room and stead, that he might live as a universal 
 monarch upon earth, as that any of his followers should draw 
 such an inconsistent and groundless inference from his sufferings. 
 For it is clearly manifest from his discourses to his disciples, that 
 a great part of his doctrines, as well as the whole of his, example, 
 was expressly to encourage them to tmdergo the same sufferings 
 which he suffered, and to die the death that he died. 
 
 31. And, as the sufferings exhibited in the bringing forth of 
 the first-born, were designed as a perfect example, and were but 
 the real beginning ; so it was the highest aim of his true follow- 
 ers to copy after that example, in enduring the same sufferings 
 which he also suffered ; being fully persuaded, as the Apostle 
 expresses it, that. If we are dead with Christ, we shall also iTim. ii. 
 live with him : If we suffer with hirti, we shall also reign with Ij''^'^' ..j 
 him. And again. If so be that luc suffer locth [or in conformity 17. 
 
 to] him, that we may be glorified together. 
 
 32. This is the whole tenor of the doctrines of the Apostles, 
 concerning the sufferings of Jesus Christ; that as he suffered, so 
 did they ; and as the body is not complete without the Head, so 
 neither is the Head complete without the body ; and each mem- 
 
 36 
 
554 THE SUPFERINflS OF JESUS CHRIST, &C. B. X. 
 
 CHAP, n. ijer of tlie body suffers in a just proportion as the members bear 
 a proportion to the Head : so that in all things, the first-born had 
 the pre-eminence. > 
 
 38. Therefore, Christ Jesus having suffered his proportion as 
 the Head, every member of the body, according to their several 
 lots and offices, fill up their proportion of the sufferings of Christ, 
 that the whole may be perfected and glorified together. Hence 
 
 Col. i. 24. saith the Apostle to the Collossians, "Who now rejoice in my 
 sufferings for you, and fill up that which is left behind of the 
 afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his body's sake, which is 
 the Church." 
 
 Rom vi. 3, 34. And to the Romans he says : " Know ye not, that so many 
 
 ^' ^' of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his 
 
 death? Therefore we are buried with (or in conformity to) him 
 by baptism into death. Knowing this, that our old man is 
 crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that 
 henceforth we should not serve sin " 
 
 35. But the sufferings and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, both in 
 relation to the Head and members of the anointed body, were, 
 strictly speaking, the crucifixion, sufferings, and death oi the flesh, 
 the old man of sin, who was crucified and put to death by a daily 
 
 Gal. iii 13. cross. " Christ hath redeemed US from the curse of the law, 
 iPet.ji.24, (saith Paul,) being made a curse for us. Who his own self hare 
 
 our sins in his own body on the tree, (saith Peter,) Gy whose 
 
 stripes -ye were healed." 
 
 36. But how was he made a curse for them 1 how did he bear 
 their sins ? and how were they healed by his stripes ? was it 
 without suffering as he did, in the works of regeneration ? 
 In nowise. The history of their whole life and testimony 
 witnesses to the contrary. But it was by following his example, 
 and walking in his steps, that souls were, or ever can be, 
 redeemed from a fallen nature, and consequently from the curse 
 of the law. 
 
 iPetii.2i. ^^- Hence, says Peter, " For hereunto were ye called; hemise 
 IV. 1, 2. Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye 
 should follow his steps. Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered 
 for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind ; 
 for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; that 
 he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh, to the 
 lusts of men, but to the will of God." 
 
 38. Thus the sufferings of Christ do not merely respect Jesus, 
 the Head, or first-born of his, body, as having ceased from sin by 
 suffering in the flesh ; but eVery member of his body, who hath 
 suffered in the flesh, after his example, hath ceased from sin: 
 For if the root be holy, so are the branches; and being cruci- 
 fied, in conformity to the example of Christ Jesus, they are dead 
 unto sin, and cannot live any longer therein. 
 
B. X. THE NEW AND SPIRITUAL BIRTH. 
 
 555 
 
 39. But what kind of a body would it be to have sin wholly ^^^^- '" 
 abolished out of the Head, and the enmity reigning in all the 
 members ? A pure Head, and members wholly corrupt. "A 
 Head obedient unto death, and heels kicking against heaven." Boston. 
 Can such be the body of Christ ? Nay verily. " If one mem- i cor xii. 
 ber suffer, all the members suffer with [or in conformity to] it." f 
 And all the members are partakers of these sufferings, and have 13 
 a fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his ^'' 
 death. 
 
 26. 
 
 1 Pet. iv. 
 
 13. 
 
 Phil. iii. 10. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE NEW AND SPIEITUAL BIRTH. 
 
 The Head of every man is Christ, and the Head of Christ is God. 
 So when Christ oometh into the world, his language is, "Lo, I Heb. x 
 come to do thy will, O God." By which will we are sanctified, ^"^ ^''■ 
 (says, the Apostle,) through the offering of the body of Jesus- 
 Christ, once for all ; that is a final offering. And thus by one 
 offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. But 
 the offering up of th,e body once for all, is more than the offer- 
 ing up of the Head, it includes the whole body, from the Head to 
 the least member. 
 
 2. And as Christ Jesus was sanctified by being obedient to 
 the vjill of his Pathet and Head, in offering np himself; so each 
 member of his body is sanctified by the same will, in being 
 obedient to their Head, and in offering up themselves oiicefor all : 
 and thus the whole body is sanctified and perfected forever, by 
 one offering, which, is one and the same in relation to the Head 
 and the members. 
 
 3. The Captain of our salvation was made perfect through 
 sufferings, and became the author of eternal salvation to all them 
 that obey him ; and as he was obedient unto death, even the 
 death of the cross, and died to all and every part of that fallen 
 nature ; so that nature became eternally dead as to him. 
 
 4. Hence the Apostle justly concludes, that wo who live, 
 should hencefortb not live unto ourselves, but unto him who set 
 this example of dying, and who was by Christ raised from the 
 dead. " Wherefo're, henceforth know v:e no man after the 2Cor. ■ 
 flesh : and expressly adds. If any man he in Christ, he is a new ■'^' '^' 
 
556 THE NEW AND SPIRITITAL BIRTH. B. X. 
 
 CHAP. Ill , creature : old things are passed away ; behold, all things are 
 
 become new ; and all things are of God." 
 2. Tim. i. 5. Then it was not Christ, the quickening Spirit, the Lord 
 
 Eph. ii. 15 fr""!- heaven, that died ; hut on the contrary, he abolished death, 
 16. and brought life and immortality to light, having abolished in 
 
 his f.esh the emnity. But Jesus, on account of that sinful 
 Eph. ii. 15. nature which he had in his flesh, to slay and abolish, frequently 
 
 suffered pain and sorrow of soul, both in relation to himself 
 
 and those whom he came to redeem ; until he gave up his life 
 
 in sufferings. 
 
 6. Hence we read of his being tempted of the devil ; spend- 
 ing whole nights in prayer to God who was able to deliver him ; 
 weeping over Jerusalem ; and of his 'sufferings in the garden, 
 when in an agony he cried, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto 
 death. Such was the nature of his sufferings in the flesh, until 
 that enmity which was in his human nature was slain, and that 
 death abolished, as to him : and hence he rose triumphant over 
 " death and the grave." 
 
 7. Therefore it was not he who abolished death and slew the 
 enmity, that finally suffered or died ; but that enmity which, in 
 his own flesh, he abolished and slew, by a daily cross ; and 
 whereby he set the example for others to slay the enmity in their 
 own ffesh, as he had done in his. 
 
 8. From all which it is most evident that it was not the Son 
 of Grod that suffered the wrath of his Father ; nor was there any 
 design in the case to release the sinner from the punishment 
 
 Heb. ii. ij. which was his just desert. But on the contrary, "As the child- 
 ren are partakers oi flesh and Mood, so Jesus hiniself likewise 
 partook of the same : that through death he might destroy Mm 
 that had the power of death, that is the devil." 
 
 9. But there was no changing the nature of things in the case, 
 or converting holiness into sin, or life into death ; for that which 
 he received he inhabited and possessed, and that which he pos- 
 sessed he destroyed, and in destroying it he destroyed that part of 
 death which he received, and him that had the power of it : but he 
 did not destroy himself, nor was it either Grod, or the Son of 
 God, that either died or was destroyed on the occasion. 
 
 10. But this is evident, that it was flesh and blood, sin 
 and death, (neither of which can enter into the kingdom of God,) 
 which, according to the Apostles, strictly speaking, suffered 
 and was destroyed. Not that all sin and death was by him 
 destroyed, which has reigned in the world ever since ; hut so 
 far as the first-bom in the new creation bears a proportion to 
 the whole of that creation, or as the Head bears a proportion to 
 the whole body. 
 
 11. He died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, J^e Uveth 
 unto God. And unto whatsoever he died, unto the same he also 
 
B. X. THE NEW AND SPIRITUAL BIKTH. 557 
 
 suffered ; and therefore it was unto that which had the nature chap, hi- 
 and root of sin that he suffered. Not that innocence and justice 
 suffered in the room and stead of sins, therefore the same that 
 finally suffered also died; and that which died never did, and 
 never will rise again to life. 
 
 12. And therefore the plain and pointed contrast is continued, 
 and the death is said to be once, or final, and the coming forth 
 into life parallel on the other side, being put to death in thejlesh, 
 and coming forth in the Spirit. Which is perfectly the same as 
 crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts, and vialking 
 after the Spirit ; or putting to death that which is fleshly, 
 sensual and devilish, and. bringing forth into eternal life that 
 which is spiritual, pure, and of Gnd ; and not bringing to life 
 again the same that was put to death : For if I build again the 
 things that I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 
 
 13. And thou that sayest, God died for sinners, and rose 
 again, what advantage could it be for a holy Being to be made 
 flesh and sin, and as such to suffer and die, and as sueh to rise 
 again, that the sinner in the flesh and in sin, might lie wallowing 
 in the blood of his nativity in reconciliation with God ? 
 
 14. As the human and Divine natures, or rather the sinful 
 nature, and that of holiness, met together in Christ Jesus, doubt- 
 less it was necessary that one or the other should suffer and die ; 
 either that which was natural, pertaining to flesh and blood, or 
 that which was spiritual and of God. 
 
 15. But as that which was natural was the earthly part, and 
 that which was spiritual was the Lord from heaven, it could not 
 be the quickening Spirit, or Spirit of Anointing, which consti- 
 tuted Jesus the Lord and Saviour, that suffered and died ; but 
 that which was natural, fallen, and earthly, which the Lord Jesus 
 overcame and abolished. 
 
 16. And speaking exclusively of the sinful nature, that the 
 natural paTt, which was subject to weariness and pain, did 
 die, is indisputable ; and if the Lord from heaven died, then 
 neither obtained the victory ; nor could either be said to be 
 immortal; for, in the strictest sense of death, that which is 
 imlnortal cannot die; nor can it suffer, except as a consequence 
 of its being joined to that which was its opposite, and, in reality, 
 deserves both to suffer and die. 
 
 17. Thus, in the person of Jesus, the flesh and Spirit, or 
 the nature of sin and holiness, strove like blood and fire upon 
 the altar, until the blood was consumed by the fire ; so the 
 flesh or nature of sin was overcome and consumed by the 
 Spirit. 
 
 18. But it would seem that the suffering and death of God, 
 in the room and stead of sinful flesh, was a doctrine reserved 
 for those latter times of departing, qr standing off from the 
 
558 
 
 THE NEW AND SPIKITUAL BIRTH. 
 
 B. X. 
 
 Walls. 
 
 Eccl. ix. 4. 
 
 CHAP, in. faith, and bringing in damnable heresies, even denying the only 
 Lord Godj and our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 19. If "God the Mighty Maker died for man the creature's 
 sin ; or if God himself comes down to be the offering — " and 
 is a sacrifice or sin offering, well might the beast and the 
 false prophet rejoice at his death : for it must bo the living 
 that have the dominion ; and the living myist be superior to the 
 dead. 
 
 20. According to the trua proverb, "a living dog is better 
 than a dead lion." And, upon the same principle, a living man 
 is better than a dying or dead God. For that which is dead can 
 never raise itself to life ; andif the dead are raised, it must be 
 by the power of the living. Therefore, if sinners were real 
 enemies to God, and he actually died in their stead, that they 
 might live in sin, and in their blOod, during life, and be saved 
 from punishment hereafter, it certainly depended on the living 
 whether the dead should ever rise. 
 
 21. Wa to' him that is alone, for if he fall who shall help him 
 up ? Hence the necessity of another link in this chain of dark- 
 ness, " Behold a God descends and dies." That is, one of the 
 Gods dies, to satisfy the justice and appease the wrath of the 
 others, in behalf of sinners ; and the others, as soon as they were 
 satisfied, raised up the dead one : and the dead one, after he was 
 raised up, stood day and night, perpetually showing his wounds, 
 and pleading before his Father, that he suffered and died in the 
 room and stead of sinners, as a satisfaction to his justice. 
 
 22. But what God, or what justice, could take satisfaction in 
 beholding the marks of cruelty in the innocent, while the guilty 
 went unpunished ? Such black and infernal darkness, is too dis- 
 gusting to the reason of man, and too distressing to any enlight- 
 ened soul, to merit a serious investigation ; but must be sent 
 back; with the beast and false prophet, to the bottomless pit, from 
 whence it arose. 
 
 23. The truth is, that as two contrary natures, the flesh and 
 Spirit, the seed of the serpent and the seed of God, met in one 
 visible human form, both were included under one common 
 name, until they were gradually separated, and the serpentine 
 nature suffered and died. 
 
 24. From this mysterious contrariety of two natures, in one 
 external form, the Apostles are frequently under the necessity 
 of using appa;rent contradictions: Thus St. Paul, "It is Christ 
 that died, yea, rather that is risen. I am crucified with'Christ: 
 nevertheless Hive; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." 
 
 25. So Christ Jesus is said to have two natures in him, not 
 united, but at pointed variance ; and, when it is said that Christ 
 Jesus suffered aijd died, and rose again, and ascended up into 
 glory, these things are plainly and expressly ascribed to those 
 
 Rom. viii. 
 
 34. 
 
 Gal. ii, 20, 
 
B. X. THE NEW AND SPIRITUAL BIETH. 559 
 
 distinct natures respectively, according to the character and just chap.iii . 
 desert of each. 
 
 26. So that the sufferings and death of Christ Jesus,^ both in 
 relation to the head and members of his body, in the strictest 
 sense, applies to that old nature of the first Adam in its fallen 
 state, which is a state of death, out of which the new man 
 arose, and from which he became fully and finally separated, 
 and ascended into the Divine nature and likeness of his 
 Father, as the first-born and first-fruit in the work of redemp- 
 tion. 
 
 27. And, as the redemption of Christ's body had respect to the 
 full Headship and membership of the redeemed, or all who should 
 be regenerated and born again ; and as his second appearing was 
 to be in the second part of man's fallen nature ; therefore, the suf- 
 ferings of that nature could never be filled up, in their full and 
 perfect measure, as to the order of both male and female, until 
 'the second appearing of Christ actually took place in the order 
 of the female. 
 
 28. And therefore, the blessed Mother of our redemption, iu 
 Christ, suffered her due proportion, and died, upon the same 
 fundamental principles that the sufferings and death of Jesus, 
 the Father of our redemption, were necessary in Christ's first 
 appearing. 
 
 29. And in that she died, she died unto sin, once for all, as he 
 did, and revived, and rose again, and ascended into the same 
 Divine nature and everlasting union in the Spirit ; and being re- 
 generated and born but of the corrupt nature of the first woman, 
 she was the first-born and first-fruit unto God in the order of 
 the female, having in all points been tempted like as they are ; 
 but after she was called, through the power of Grod, she never 
 yielded to the tempter, that she might be able to succor those 
 that are tempted. 
 
 30. And as the sufferings of Christ, or of the anointed body, 
 "the Church," were, not filled up in his first appearing, hence 
 
 said the Apostle, " I reckon that the sufferings of this present Rom. viu. 
 time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall ''^i ''> '^> 
 be revealed in us. Fpr the earnest expectation of the creature 
 waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For we know 
 that the whole creation groaneth, and travaileth in pain together 
 until now. [That is, until this glory should be revealed, and the 
 sons of God manifested.] And even we ourselves groan ititliin 
 ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our 
 body." 
 
 31. So far then, were the Apostles from teaching that any 
 one individual suffered in the room and stead of another. 
 They state the plain undeniable fact, confirmed by the history 
 of all ages, that truth and virtue were never preserved in the 
 
560 
 
 THE NEW AND SPIRITUAL BIKTH. 
 
 B. X. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Davies' 
 Poems. 
 
 Erskine'3 
 tioniiets. 
 
 2 Cor i, 5, 
 
 6. 
 
 2 Tim. ii. 
 
 10 
 
 earth, but througli a constant succession of suffering saints and 
 martyrs. 
 
 32. From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias, which 
 was shed between the porch and the altar ; and again, from the 
 blood of John the Baptist, to the blood of William Robinson, 
 and others, which cries to heaven, even from this American 
 paradise of freedom, virtue was ever attended with a proportion- 
 able degree of sufferings. 
 
 33. Could justice be satisfied, and yet millions, from age to 
 age, suffer and die, by increasing agonies and modes of torture 
 before unknown? And, if the groans and dying pangs, ^& 
 pain^ and blood of an "incarnate Godhead," as Davies expresses 
 it, could not be withstood : or if the burning throne had been 
 sufficiently cooled off, by the blood of Jesus, and he had "drunk 
 hell dry," as Erskine expresses it, what then? had justice no 
 power to stop the prosecution ? Or, on the other hand, from 
 whence could those seven vials full of the wrath of God be' 
 collected, which John saw in vision, long after the death 
 of Jesus, preparing to destroy the kingdom and seat of the 
 beast ? 
 
 34. The truth is, justice never was, nor ever will be. satisfied 
 with any thing short of the total destruction of sin : and there- 
 fore, while the nature of sin remained, it had to suffer in those who, 
 after the example of Jesus Christ, took up their cross against it. 
 And while the enmity raged in the children of disobedience, those 
 who took up their cross against sin, had always to endure out- 
 ward afflictions, and persecutions, which turned to them for a 
 testimony, in every age. 
 
 35. And as the work of redemption was to become full and 
 effectual in Christ's second appearing, and the man of sin to be 
 wholly consumed and destroyed; so in the accomplishment of 
 that work, the sufferings of Christ's body must necessarily be 
 filled up, in their full and perfect measure through which the 
 fruits of righteousness will appear in their full perfection, with 
 eternal glory. 
 
 36. And as all the faithful witnesses suffered, to suppor tthe 
 cause of truth in the earth, and in confirmation of their testimony 
 concerning that day ; so justice, both in heaven and among men, 
 is satisfied, when sin and death are abolished through suffer- 
 ings, and righteousness, truth, and eternal life grow up in their 
 place. 
 
 37. This was manifestly the Apostle's meaning When he said, 
 " The sufferings of Christ abound in us. And whether we be 
 afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, vjhich is effectual 
 in the enduring the same sufferings, which we also suffer." And 
 again, "I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may 
 also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal 
 
B. X. THE NEW AND SPIRITUAL BIKTII. 561 
 
 glory." Which is according to the words of Jesus, " Ye. shall c hap iii . 
 indeed drink of my cup, and he baptized with the baptism that Max. xi. 
 I am baptized with." '^' 
 
 38. Then as that Spirit of truth and holiness, which gave 
 occasion to the sufferings of the saints in the flesh, continued to 
 flow from witness to witness, and from age to age; so all the 
 afflictions which they endured, remained as a witness with God, 
 against those lusts and abominations of a fallen nature, by which 
 the earth was corrupted, and against which they took up their 
 cross. ' X 
 
 39. And therefore, iustead of using the blood of Jesus, or any 
 of his followers, to pacify an offended Deity, and reconcile him 
 to the beast, the false prophet, or the devil; the whole of that 
 
 blood is represented as stored up in seven vials, [referring to the Rev. xv. & 
 ages,*] and all of it to be poured out, to execute his righteous ^"' 
 vengeance on the workers of iniquity ; that such as had shed the 
 ' blood of saints and Prophets, should have blood to drink, because 
 they are worthy. 
 
 40. Hence the proud, and all that do wickedly, are compared 
 
 to stubble, and it was expressly said, The day that cometh Mai. iv. i. 
 
 [referring to Christ's second appearing] shall burn them up, that 
 
 it shall leave them neither root nor branch. A day in which 
 
 God promised to open a fountain for sin and uncleanness, and Zech. liii. 
 
 bring his people through the fire, and refine them as silver is 
 
 refined, and try them as gold is tried. 
 
 41. To this period the words of God by the Prophet Zecha- 
 
 riah allude : "1 will pour upon the house of David, and upon the '^^'^h ^'' 
 inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplications ; 
 and they shall loolc upon me whom they have pierced, and they 
 shall mourn for him." 
 
 42. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusa- 
 lem: and the land shall mourn, every family apart ; the family 
 of the house of David apart, and their wives apart ; the family 
 of the house of Nathan apart and their wives apart ; all the 
 families that remain every family apart and their wives apart." 
 
 Here is the true cause why Christ said. Then shall all the tribes JJ^'-^'^i^- 
 of the earth mourn. That is, because of the separation from all Rev.i. 7. 
 the ties and works of the flesh, which centre in the selfish nature 
 
 •Chronologers have generally admitted that the Scriptures and records of history 
 have pointed out seven successive ages in the progressive developement of the 
 world : and that the seventh general age is now in operation. But they have 
 made a great error, in beginning the third age at the call of God to Abraham. 
 
 This is an arbitrary division without propriety ; for that was only the transition 
 from the second to the third age, and if called an age, it leaves no age for the 
 second appearing of Christ, or "the latter day of glory," which is far the most 
 important age of all ; for it is the consummating work of all the preceding ages ; 
 this being, evidently, "the voice of the seventh trumpet, when there shall be 
 time no longer. But the mystery of God shall be finishedj in the displays of its 
 various degrees to the race of man. 
 
562 THE KESURUECTION, NOT OP THE B. X. 
 
 CHAP. rv. of generation. Thus this mmirning is " apart from husbands 
 and wives" and utterly excludes that relation. 
 
 48. Therefore, as Christ Jesus, and his Apostles and true wit- 
 nesses, patiently suffered to preserve the cause of truth and 
 righteousness in the earth, and by sealing the truth with their 
 blood, conveyed and confirmed the «ame to others, unto whom 
 the truth was made effectual in the enduring of the same suffer- 
 ings ; so all the benefit of their sufferings meet and centre in 
 this day of full redemption, which is the end of their faith, for 
 which they»suffered, and in which every one will receive a reward 
 according to his works. 
 
 44. Therefore, all who receive the mercy and grace of God, 
 in this day of his final visitation, are verily benefited by the 
 sufferings of Christ, both in his first and second appearing, and by 
 the sufferings of all the saints and martyrs who have ever suffered 
 for their testimony, having with them obtained the end of their 
 faith and promises, and a full and final resurrection into the 
 kingdom of Grod, which is everlasting. ^righteousness, peace, and 
 eternal life. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE RESURRECTION, NOT OP THE BODY, BUT OF THE SOUL; 
 NOT CARNAL, BUT SPIRITUAL. 
 
 The truth of God, in all the principles pertaining to the salva- 
 tion of mankind, is established in this day of Christ's second 
 appearing; in which all things will have their full and final 
 accomplishment, according to all that the Prophets and Apostles 
 have spoken since the world began. 
 
 2. It will be proper, therefore, to take particular notice of 
 what the Apostles taught concerning the Resurrection ; which, 
 according to what hath been stated respecting the sufferings of 
 Christ, was also founded upon the distinction between the natural 
 body and a spiritual body, the natural world and a world of 
 spirits. 
 
 3. The natural bodies of all men are mortal, and subject to 
 dissolution, like the bodies of all other animals ; and when dis- 
 solved back to their native elements, they rise no more in the 
 
B. X. BODT, BUT OP THE SOTJL. 563 
 
 same form. The natural body is called the earthly house of this chap, iv. 
 tabernacle, which is the first part of the natural man, of the 2Cor. x. i. 
 earth, earthy. Dust it is, and unto dust it returns. 
 
 4. But, as everything was created in its order, to serve some 
 higher purpose than its own self-interest ; and as man was 
 peculiarly designed for the service of God, and was endowed 
 with a reasonahle soul or a spiritual subsistence, an heir of 
 immortality ; therefore it is only the soul of man that is the proper 
 subject of the Resurrection, and is capable of being raised to a 
 higher use, and more noble enjoyments than pertain to the 
 present state. 
 
 5. Everything in nature that has life and growth, has a seed 
 in itself, which serves a twofold purpose ; first, to promote its 
 own species ; and second, to bring forth fruit to some higher order 
 of beings. 
 
 6. Thus God said unto man in his first creation, ''Behold I Gen. i. 29, 
 have given you every herb bearing seed, and every tree in the 
 
 which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed ; to you it shall be for 
 meat. And to every beast of the earth, to every fowl of the 
 air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein 
 there is life, I have given every green herb for meat." 
 
 7. Then, as nothing liveth to itself, or merely for its own sake, 
 so it was intended that man should live and bring forth fruit 
 unto God ; and this fruit was that which pertained to his living 
 soul, as it is that by which God is truly worshipped and served ; 
 and therefore the Apostles so frequently speak of a seed, and of 
 every seed having its own body. 
 
 8. AU nature teaches that the stalk or tree which bears 
 seed, when it falls back to the earth, and is dissolved, the same 
 never rises again into the same form; and no more does the 
 natural body of man rise again. 
 
 9. And it is evident that the seed which was put into the 
 earth for the purpose of promoting its own species, never 
 rises to anything higher than it was ; but that which is gathered 
 as fruit, when it is taken and changed from its natural state, and 
 dressed for food, ill such a manner as best suits him for whom it 
 is dressed, that alone answers the highest end for which it was 
 created. 
 
 10. And as man, in preparing bread for his own use, does 
 not raise up the withered stalk upon which the grain grew ; but 
 separates the pure flour from all that to which it had been 
 united: so, in like manner, is the resurrection. It is the soul 
 that is to be redeemed from all iniquity, and purified unto God 
 
 in a peculiar manner. Thus said Christ, I am the bread of Joim.vi.ss. 
 life. And again the Apostle, For we, being many, are one ^'^"'■^■i''' 
 bread, and one body ; for we are all partakers of that one 
 bread. 
 
564 THE KESUREECTION, NOT OF THE B. X. 
 
 CHAP. IV. j]^_ ^^jj(j further, as seed that falls back to the earth, and 
 takes root, and grows there, is forever lost from any higher ase ; 
 so it is with the soul that, upon a deliberate choice, rejects the 
 Grospel, and chooses to remain in his natural state, after the com- 
 mon course of the world, and enjoy the pleasures of sin for a 
 season. 
 Rom. viii. 12. "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; bilt if through 
 ■'^' the Spirit ye mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." Thus 
 
 life and death is set before every individual soul, upon the most 
 plain and reasonable terms. 
 
 13. As man, by his fall and apostacy from God, became fleshly, 
 (or carnal,) so as to be wholly captivated by that inferior prin- 
 ciple, or law in his members, by which he served himself, and 
 no higher purpose ; therefore, until the way of ^redemption was 
 opened from that self-pleasing, and self-promoting nature, there 
 never could be any resurrection. 
 
 14. And hence, through all the ages of corruption and depra- 
 vity, the promise of God had respect to another seed. Thty 
 
 Kom. ix. 8. which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of 
 God ; hut the children of promise are counted for the seed. 
 
 15. And as Christ Jesus was the first who died a final death 
 unto sin, and did not his own will, but the will of his Father; 
 therefore he was the first fruit of the Resurrection, the fijst fruit 
 
 1 Cor. XV. unto God, with which he was well pleased. Every one in his 
 ovm order, Christ the first fruits, afterwards they that are 
 Christ's at his coming. 
 
 16. Herein then consists the true nature of the Eesurrection : 
 When man ceases from man, whose breath is in his nostrils ; 
 when he dies to himself and lives to God only ; when he ceases 
 from his own works and does the work of God ; when he 
 renounces the will of the flesh, and is subject to the wiU of the 
 Spirit ; then he is raised from a death of sin to a life of right- 
 eousness; and this is his resurrection. Such is the seed which 
 God hath chosen, to bring forth fruit unto himself, and such are 
 
 John, XV. 2. the branches of the true vine, which he will purge, that they 
 
 isa. ii. 22. '"^"■V bring forth more fruit. Thus, by a 'progressive growth 
 
 *^.i J°tai in the Spirit, they will come forth perfect in the Resurrection 
 
 ■' ' ■ of life, in the very nature of Christ. This is being born of 
 
 God. 
 
 17. But this precious doctrine of the Resurrection, like all 
 others that were taught by Christ Jesus and his Apostles, has 
 been wholly perverted by antichrist, and instead thereof, a false 
 and senseless superstition has been imposed upon mankind, which 
 would be too absurd to deserve any notice, had not those dark 
 ages of antiquity and antichristian authority in which it was 
 invented, given it a kind of sanction, from which even the present 
 age is not released. 
 
B. X. 
 
 BODY, BUT OP THE SOUL. 
 
 565 
 
 AVeslmin- 
 sler Cate- 
 chism. 
 
 Besides, Mat.xxii. 
 
 ' 32. 
 
 18. In direct opposition to the doctrine of Christ Jesus, it has chap, iv. 
 heen, and is yet maintained, that it is not the soul of man, but his 
 natural body, which is the subject of the Resurrection : That, 
 
 "th^ souls of believers are, at their death, made perfect in holi- 
 ness, and do immediately pass into glory, and their bodies, being 
 still united to Christ, do rest in their graves, till the Resurrection." 
 
 19. The inventors of this groundless doctrine, ought to have 
 known that the souls of true believers never die ; and there- 
 fore, their being made perfect in holiness, and passing into glory, 
 is not to be dated at their death, nor is it at any time, imme- 
 diately, but through the medium of the Gospel, (by which they Eph. iv. is. 
 grow up, in all things, into Christ,) that they are made perfect 
 
 in holiness^ 
 
 20. Nor is it a dead corpse thatis united to Christ, or to God, 
 For God is not the God of the dead hut of the living. 
 many of the dead bodies of believers were not suifered to be put 
 into graves ; and if they had 'been, the grave could never pre- 
 serve a dead corpse from dissolving, and blending together with 
 the common elements of the globe; being, in this respect, nothing 
 superior to the bodies of other animals. 
 
 21. So that such an imaginary resurrection is altogether a 
 lying vanity ; in following which, the deceived soul forsakes its 
 own mercy, and from which it must be delivered, or perish for- 
 ever in its own corruption : for God never promised to invert his 
 own order of things, nor to revoke his own express declaration 
 in this particular : Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return. 
 
 22. And as, with us, that is not first which is spiritual, but 
 that which is natural, and afterwards that which is spiritual and 
 eternal ; so the Apostle's doctrine, from beginning to end, has 
 the most plain and pointed allusion to the spiritual body and 
 spiritual world, and not to that which is natural. 
 
 23. When the Sadduoees, who denied the resurrection of the 
 soul, and the very existence of the spiritual world, questioned 
 with Jesus concerning the woman who had been the wife of seven 
 husbands, whose wife she should be in the Resurrection ? His 
 aijswer was, " The children of this world marry, and are given in Luke, xx. 
 marriage : but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain ^^• 
 that world, and the resurrection from the dead., neither marry, 
 
 nor are given in marriage. Neither can they die any more: for 
 
 they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, ^'^gj]^'"^' 
 
 being the children of the Resurrection." 
 
 24. The advocates of the resurrection of the earthly body, 
 
 assert that both the righteous and the wicked will be thus raised,; See John, 
 if this were true, then the wicked become the children of God, ''^ 
 equally with the righteous. This is utterly inconsistent. 
 
 25. Observe, it was not after they had obtained that world, 
 and the Resurrection, but whenever they were accounted v:orthy 
 
25. 
 
 John.vi. St 
 
 566 THE KESURRECTION OP THE SOTJL. B. X. 
 
 CHAP, iv. ^Q obtain it ; that is, when they were begotten by the word of 
 faith, they began to crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts, 
 to die unto sin, and to live unto God, and therefore could not 
 die any more, being the children of the Resurrection. 
 
 John, xi. 26. Hence said Christ, on another occasion, " / am the resur- 
 
 rection and, the life; he that believeth on me, though he were 
 dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth, and believeth in 
 me, shall never die." And again, " I am the living bread which 
 
 viii, 50 53. came down from heaven : If any man eat of this bread, he shall 
 live forever.''' And again, "Verily, verily, I say imto you, if a 
 man keep my saying, he shall never see death." 
 
 27. This was a great stumbling-block to those who denied the 
 Resurrection and the life. Hence said the deceived hypocrites, 
 "Now we know that thou hast a devil. Art thou greater than 
 our father Abraham, which is dead? and the Prophets are dead: 
 whom makest thou thyself? " 
 
 28. Hence it is evident, that the true doctrine of the Eesur- 
 reetion was misunderstood and opposed by a blind and supersti- 
 tious priesthood, from the, beginning; for by these the common 
 people were taught. 
 
 29. Xor was it truly understood even by the disciples of Jesus 
 Christ, who had been misguided and corrupted by those blind 
 guides, until they received the Holy Spirit of life from the dead, 
 
 Col. ii. la ^^^ themselves came into the Resurrection, being dead with 
 20. iii. 1. Christ Jesus from the rudiments of the world, and risen with him, 
 through the faith of the operation of Grod, who had raised him 
 from the dead. 
 
 80. Then, and not till then, were all things brought to their 
 remembrance which Jesus had taught them, and by which they 
 understood the many infallible proofs, which they had received 
 of the real resurrection of the S'on of God, in the Spirit, and 
 knew what his rising from the dead should mean. 
 
 31. And they never learned, nor taught to others, that Christ 
 Jesus re-assumed the same natural subsistence of sinful flesh, 
 which was laid in a new tomb ; for if they had, the most glaring 
 contradictions must appear through the whole account. 
 
 32. But they spoke of his being quickened in the Spirit, and 
 seen, in the Spirit, and not in the flesh; therefore the contradic- 
 tion falls upon those who deny his resurrection iji the Spirit, and 
 endeavor to prove that sin and the curse [for such he was made 
 as to the flesh] were raised ugain to life everlasting. 
 
 33. To sum up the whole matter : If Christ is the Resurrection 
 and the life, then those who come into Christ, partake of his life, 
 and, in reality, partake of the true resurrection and eternal lift. 
 This cannot be controverted. Thus are the words of Christ 
 
 john,x. 27, Josus fulfilled, " IVIy sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and 
 they follow me; and I give unto them eternal life." 
 
B. X. INCONSISTENCY OP, &c. 567 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE INCONSISTENCY OF A CARNAL EESUERECTION. 
 
 It is clearly manifest, according to the sense of the Gospel, that chap. v. 
 the rising from the dead had no respect to the resurrection of the 
 natural body or tabernacle of Jesus, nor of any of his followers, 
 inasmuch as it was testified that he was the first-hegotten and Coi. i. is. 
 first-horn from the dead. 
 
 2. In the natural sense of a resurrection, some had been raised 
 from the dead, among the Jews, before Jesus ; so that he could 
 not be the first. Elijah had raised the widow's son ; and Elisha 
 had raised the Shunamite's son; Lazarus had been raised, and 
 the widow's son at Nain. So that if the Apostles had intended 
 to testify that the dead corpse of Jesus had been raised to life 
 again, they had more sense of the truth than to say that he was 
 
 t\i& first-fruits of them that slept, or \h& first that should rise icor. v. 29. 
 from the dead,. 
 
 3. The truth is, that Jesus was formed in the state of those who 1 Peter, iii. 
 were dead in trespasses and sins ; and it was out of this state of i^- "^ ''■ ^• 
 death that he arose, and not again in the likeness of the same 
 
 sinful flesh. 
 
 4. Who is he that ascended, but the same also that descended ? 
 It was not therefore the natural body and soul of Jesus that 
 ascended, for this was brought forth by a natural woman; and 
 as it never deseetided from heaven, so neither was it that which 
 ascended; but his soul and spirit rose by regeneration, in the Heb. iv. 14. 
 resurrection of Christ, and ascended to the heaven of heavens. 
 
 5. The Apostles further testified that they were dead and Rom. vi. 3. 
 buried, and risen with Christ, and sat together with him in |;,^ ;; g 
 heavenly places; therefore it must be a very great mistake to '"-^ 
 suppose that they had any reference to a natural death, (as it is *^°'"' ''• 
 called,) or to any carnal resurrection of the same natural body, 
 
 when their very existence, like that of other men, must have con- 
 tradicted their own testimony. 
 
 6. It would seem a wonderful argument with some, that it 
 was the same wounded body of Jesus, that arose from the dead ; 
 because he appeared unto his disciples with his wounds, and eat 
 and drank with them ; while they arc ignorant that his spiritual 
 body was capable of assuming any form or appearance that might 
 encourage the faith of his disciples. 
 
 7. But how much soever the inconsistent inventions and false 
 systems of antichrist, may have blinded the minds of natural 
 men ; yet that order can never be inverted, in which God has 
 
568 
 
 INCONSISTENCY OP 
 
 B.X. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Mat. 
 xxviii. 2, 4. 
 
 Deul. 
 XXXIV 6. 
 Jude, 
 See also 
 Josephus, 
 
 Rom. vi. 
 23. 
 
 1 Cot. XV. 
 22. 
 
 created things natural and spiritual, the one for time and tem- 
 poral use, and the other for eternity. 
 
 8. The spiritual body, while in the natural, is confined to 
 time, space, and natural things ; ■ but when separated, and 
 released from it, the natural is of no further use ; nor can they 
 ever be reunited without the grossest subversion of every order 
 and law of Grod. 
 
 9. And if the same natural body that was crucified of the 
 Jews, arose from the dead, and could enter into the house when 
 the doors were shut, why did not the same body come forth out 
 of the tomb without assistance ? "Where was the necessity of 
 striking the keepers of the sepulchre with terror, that they might 
 become like dead men, and rolling away the stone from the 
 tomb's mouth. 
 
 10. The truth is, no one material substance can pass through 
 another, without making a breach ; and therefore, in order that 
 his spiritual body might enter a close room while the doors 
 were shut, the natural body was taken care of by the angel, 
 who rolled away the stone from the door of the sepulchre ; and 
 thus, in the order and nature of things, one thing was taken out 
 of the way of another, that the everlasting substance might 
 appear. 
 
 11. The Lord took care of the body of Moses, and no man 
 knew of his sepulchre unto this day : Yet Satan had the 
 temerity to dispute with the angel about the body of Moses. 
 And in the same manner, at this day, Satan has the temerity to 
 dispute about the body of Jesus. 
 
 12. In the accounts given of all the different forms in which 
 Jesus Christ appeared after his passion, there is not the smallest 
 evidence of his possessing the same natural body. His standing 
 in the midst, the doors being shut — vanishing out of their sight- 
 assuming the appearance of a gardener — theii of a stranger— 
 and again, of a lamb with seven horns and seven eyes ; these, 
 and many such appearances, were as different from the body 
 which had been nailed to the cross, as any one thing can be from 
 another. 
 
 13. The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is 
 eternal life ; therefore death and life cannot both be adminis- 
 tered to one and the same person; for this would be giving 
 eternal life to sin. But as it is the mystery of iniquity that 
 worketh in man, who merits death as his wages, and as sin 
 rules and reigns in man, before he receives Christ ; so it mnst 
 certainly die, in order to his receiving thegift of eternal life. 
 
 14. Hence the plain conclusion of the Apostle: As in Adam 
 all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive : or more properly, 
 As all in Adam die, so all in Christ shall be made alive. 
 Therefore it is not all, nor any part in old Adam, that is made 
 
B. X. A PHYSICAL EESTJRRECTION. 569 
 
 made alive after death ; but as every thing in him and of him chap. v. 
 
 dies, or in other words, as the old man is put off with his deeds, 
 
 so the nmi mayi is put on, vjkich afler God, is created in Eph. iv. 
 
 righteousness, and true holiness. But it is tha,t which comes by ^' 
 
 a fallen, corrupt nature, which dies. The personal identity of 
 
 the real intellectual man, is retained entire as' may be clearly ;f'U'te,^xiv. 
 
 seen, by the personal identity of Jesus, after his resurrection. 
 
 15. The whole error of ' antichrist, concerning the true llesur- 
 rection, is founded in a total ignoranie of the spiritual world. 
 Let the soul be quickened to a sense of its immortality, and its 
 capacity for an intercourse with a world of spirits, and the doc- 
 trine of a physical resurrection will appear as it really is, the 
 oifspring of darkness and ignorance. 
 
 16. Let the man come to himself, and find out what he is, that 
 he is not a mere lump of flesh and blood, but an immortal being, 
 that must be seen in his full shape, when the clay that he 
 animates is crumbled to atoms, and blended with the common 
 elements of the globe. Let him be convinced of the heinousness 
 of sin, and the enmity of his fleshly nature to the pure and holy 
 nature of Grod, and he can bfe no longer anxious about what be- 
 comes of that mortal frame which he inhabits. 
 
 17. Nor is it the far-fetched arguments and pretended evi- 
 dences of a future resurrection of old useless bones and rotten 
 flesh, that can entertain the soul; but a fellowship and increasino- 
 communion with the Resurrection ,and eternal life that now 
 is, and which is sensibly felt and enjoyed by those who are 
 in it. 
 
 18. "But (according to the Apostle) sonae will say, how are icor.- 
 the dead raised up I And with what body do they come ? Thou s^-ss.' 
 fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die." If 
 this means the dead body which is put into the grave, then to 
 effect the resurrection, that dead body must die, or it never can 
 be quickened mto Wie. How absurd the sentiment! But Paul 
 adds, "that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that 
 shall be ; but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and 
 to every seed his own body." 
 
 19. The body of a grain of corn, when put into the earth, has 
 its own first principle of life in itself; and as the body of the 
 grain dies, so the seed which is the life of the body, is quickened, 
 and oomes forth, and produces a body again, whose seed is in it- 
 self after its own kind. 
 
 20. But this is very far from being the case with a dead corpse, 
 which, when put into the ground, has not the least principle of 
 life in itself, by which it can ever be re-animated, or that can 
 ever be quickened and come forth out of it ; but it remains 
 a lifeless lump of clay, and, like the dead bodies of all other 
 animals, meets with a total dissolution forever. 
 
 87 
 
 '.XV. 
 
570 INCONSISTENCY OF B. X. 
 
 CHAF.v. 21. Therefore, when the Apostle says, "It is sown a natural 
 body, it is raised a spiritual body," he has no allusion to the 
 matter of a dead corpse when it is put into the earth ; but to the 
 human soul in its natural state, which, through the operation of 
 God, becomes dead with Christ, from the rudiments of an earthly 
 nature, out of which it ascends, and is raised a spiritual body. 
 
 22. Then the soul as the life or seed of loth the righteous and 
 wicked, have each their own body. Hence the words of Christ : 
 
 John, V. 29. " They that have done good (shall come forth) unto the resurrec- 
 tion of life ; and they that have done evil, to the resurrection of 
 damnation." That is, they who continue in the course of good, 
 or evil, until this work is accomplished. 
 
 23. Who can be so blind and perverse as to imagine that the 
 millions who have suffered unto death, for the truth's sake, endured 
 those extreme sufferings in hopes of being restored again, in some 
 future day, to the same bodies in which they suffered every 
 imaginable torture ? 
 
 24. It must be acknowledged by all who pay any respect to 
 their testimony, that it was a present love of virtue, salvation, and 
 immortal glory, and their faith in a future increase of the same, 
 that animated them to face the most frightful flames and bodily 
 tortures. 
 
 25. The blindeS Jews denied the Eesurrection, not knowing 
 the Scriptures nor the power of G-od. They supposed their 
 fathers were dead ; and would never rise until the last day. But 
 Jesus knew better, hence he testified that the Fathers were alive, 
 
 Mat. xxii. inasmuch as the Lord was their God, and that he was not the 
 
 31, 32. Q.Q^ gf j.}jg jgg^^^ ^j^^ pf j.jjg i^jj^^g. and his Apostles, after they 
 had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, knew better, because 
 their conversation was in heaven, where they were; and they 
 
 lin^, ii. ^°e^' according to the Scriptures, that they had slept, but had 
 
 10, 11, 43. not been dead. 
 
 Mat. xxvii. 26. Hence they testified, that the graves [the states of the 
 
 S2, 53. departed] were opened ; and many bodies of the saints which 
 slept arose, and went into the holy city, [not bloody Jerusalem,! 
 and appeared unto many. They appeared unto such as had eyes 
 to see them. 
 
 Luke,™. 27. Upon the same principle Jesus testified. The maid is not 
 dead, but sleepeth; but they laughed him to scorn, knowing that 
 she was dead. That is, knowing, in their own carnal imagination, 
 that he was a liar and a deceiver. 
 
 John, xi. 28. In like manner Jesus knew that Lazarus had fallen asleep, 
 and it was merely in condescension to their dark understanding, 
 that he said plainly, Lazarus is dead ; and he could as well have 
 called him forth without his tabernacle as with, had they been 
 possessed with eyes to see him, as the disciples saw Moses and 
 Elias talking with Jesus on the mount. 
 
 52, 53. 
 
 11 
 
B. X. 
 
 A PHYSICAL RESUKEECTION. 
 
 571 
 
 29. Prom all which it is evident, that it is the separate 
 state of the wicked only, which is, or ever was counted a state 
 of death, and that of the righteous a state of sleep ; and accord- 
 ing to the distinction in their state of separation, so is their 
 Kesurreetion. 
 
 30. The rising of those who sleep in Christ, being first in 
 order, is called the first Resurrection. And the quickening 
 or bringing forth of the wicked into the state for which they 
 have prepared themselves, by their works, although sometimes 
 called a Resurrection, is more properly denominated, the second 
 death. 
 
 31. Then as it is by the power of Christ Jesus, that the dead 
 are raised, and as he ivas baptized for the dead, with the power 
 of the Holy Spirit, both in his first and second appearing, and 
 therefore quickeneth whom he will, it is beyond all controversy 
 that the dead are raised, and do come up out of their graves — crut 
 of all their dwelling places; wherein they have sinned. 
 
 32. And as Christ, who is the Resurrection and the life, dwells 
 in the members of his body, and as he is, so are they in this 
 world ; therefore they ask, and he giveth them life, for them that 
 sin iwt unto death, even eternal life; and they are raised up in 
 this last day, and do enter into the holy city, and are seen and 
 kpown of many, and serve God day and night^^in his temple. 
 
 33. And while they go forth and worship before God, in the 
 heauty of holiness, they look upon the carcases, that is, the 
 dead bodies of formal professors, of them that have transgressed, 
 and continue to worship the heast : for their worm shall not die, 
 and their fire is not quenched. For that fire is kindled among 
 men, that will destroy all these dead and/aZse systems. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 John, V. 59 
 
 Rev. sii. 
 12, 15. 
 1 Cor. XV. 
 
 Ezekiel, 
 xxxvii. 12, 
 33,23. 
 
 1 John, iv. 
 17. V. 16. 
 
 Ps. xxis. 9. 
 Rev. xiv. 2. 
 Isa. btvi. 
 24. 
 
 Mark, ix. 
 44. 
 
572 A PEOBATIONAET STATE B. X. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 UATIONAL AND SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES OP THE GOSPEL 
 BEING PREACHED, AND A PROBATIONARY STATE, IN THE 
 WORLD OP SPIRITS. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 CHAP. VI. It is evidently the nature of all principles and elements, in their 
 
 operations, first to plant a seed of their own substance, in any 
 
 other substance which has a nature capable of receiving it. For 
 we see that every natural element will extend and operate as far 
 as it has the power, and will infuse its own nature wherever 
 there is a vacuum or avenue open where it can enter. 
 
 2. And then the combined operations of all the prinoiplea 
 which meet in that seed, and can operate upon it, continue until 
 the seed springs up ; and it is then still nourished by all the ele- 
 ments and principles, whether spiritual or temporal, that meet in 
 the nature of the substance in which it has taken root; these 
 operations never cease until the production of the seed comes to 
 maturity. And unless those operations are hindered or impeded 
 by superior power, no seed, when once properly planted, can be 
 hindered from bringing its appropriate fruit to maturity. 
 
 3. Therefore, until the fruit of any seed gets ripe, that is, 
 comes to full maturity, so that it becomes a seed in itself, of the 
 same nature as the original, it is not possible to put such fruit to 
 its proper use ; for, if it is gathered in an unripe state from the 
 plant that produced it, it is either entirely lost, or at least of 
 small value, to what it might have been. Hence nothing that 
 exists can be placed in its proper order, until it comes to matu- 
 rity ; nor be gathered and put to its proper use. This is indis- 
 putably the case with all seeds planted in the natures of this 
 world, and thus by " the things that are made we understand the 
 invisible order," as says St. Paul. 
 
 4. Man is evidently a seed planted first in this world, with 
 properties of all elements and principles in the creation, other- 
 wise he could not be endowed with principles to be the superior 
 and lord of the natural world; nor could he have in him a 
 rational intelligence that never can be satisfied with anything 
 that this world can give, as every rational being witnesses is the 
 case. 
 
 5. Mah must, therefore, be operated upon by all the principles 
 and elements that meet in the world, until he comes first into 
 conscious existence, as a being in the natural world ; and then 
 
B. X. IN THE WORLD OF SPIRITS. 573 
 
 he is evidently but a living seed of a being to be developed in the chap. vi. 
 spiritual world ; for all his movements and the higher senses of 
 his nature, show that the superior powers of his mind just begin 
 to bud and expand in time. 
 
 6. Hence says St. Paul, "he (or It, meaning the rational 
 spirit of man) is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual 
 body." "Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but 
 
 that which is natural; and afterwards that which is spiritual." 44 45.^"' 
 This, however, only relates to the creation of man, and not to 
 original principles. "God is Spirit," and He is anterior to all 
 his beings. 
 
 7. But man is a being composed of natural and spiritual ele- 
 ments and principles, yet he comes forth first in an organized 
 body, in the natural world ; but, unless his most noble faculties 
 and powers are to perish and be annihilated, his spiritual ele- 
 ments must be raised into a superior state ; that is, they must be 
 organized into a spiritual body, in the spiritual world ; when 
 
 they have done with the natural body, for " There is a natural l^°'-^"'- 
 body, and there is a spiritual body." 
 
 8. To suppose that the rational spirit or soul of man has no 
 sensible existence after the dissolution of the physical body, is 
 supposing that the dissolution of an inferior, annihilates a supe- 
 rior ; for if a sensible power is so disorganized that it never has 
 any more sense or knowledge, it must annihilate it ; while the 
 material body which only acted as its instrument, is not annihi- 
 lated, but still exists in his own elements. But, if it be said that 
 the sensible life in like manner returns to its original elements, 
 this is all that is contended for. But it being now a systematic 
 organized sense, it must still remain so, and rise into a higher 
 order, or fall into a lower state ; because it is now spirit, that is 
 real life, and hence must be active, and, of course, growing 
 forever, in good or evil ; for if action ceases, life must cease. 
 
 9. Therefore we see that man, in his natural state, can be no 
 more than the seed of a future and far more important state and 
 life. Hence all the principles and elements that meet in him, 
 and that can operate upon him, must necessarily have all the 
 operation that his nature and sphere will admit of, before he can 
 come to maturity, and be finally ripe for the harvest. This, 
 therefore, must all take place, in the order of times and seasons, 
 before he can reach his destiny, and be put to his final use, and 
 come into his final order and place, according to his creation. 
 
 10. This seems to be clearly shown by our Saviour's parable of 
 the tares, " The sower soweth the seed in the field, or world ; the 
 tares are the children of the wicked one." These children must 
 be produced by the seeds or principles of the wicked one, sown in 
 the nature of man, for they were " sown while men slept." And 
 he says, " Let both grow together until the harvest; then I will 
 
574 A PEOBATIONAET STATE B. X. 
 
 CHAP. VI. gay to the reapers, gather the tares and bind them in bundles to 
 Mat. xiii. be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn." &c. 
 25,30. II Therefore, as he declares that " The harvest is the end 
 
 of the world," and that all the seeds sown, whether good or 
 bad, must come to maturity before they can be gathered ; we see 
 that the final destiny Of no soul can be settled until the harvest, 
 which cannot be until "the end of the world" comes to them, 
 and this does not come to any soul so long as they are in a 
 natural state, whether they are in the body or out of it, makes 
 no difference in this respect. 
 
 12. And this end cannot come until the true gospel is preached 
 and the Spirit of Christ is thereby made manifest to the soul, for 
 
 Rev. xiv. this is the "sharp sickle by which the earth is to be reaped." 
 11-18. Eternal principles never till then begin their proper work, for 
 Jesus Christ was the first man that ever received them, and was 
 created in the eternal order by them, therefore he styles himself 
 " The beginning of the creation of G-od," and this Spirit is the 
 only power that ever can or ever did offer this final work to any 
 being. 
 
 13. Hence it is that there never was the least intimation that 
 "the ends of the world had come" upon any, until Christ 
 appeared, and the Gospel of eternal life was preached, and Ms 
 Spirit was thereby offered to man ; then the Apostle shows that 
 
 icor.x.ii. on such the ends of the world had come. " These things were 
 written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world 
 are come." This could have no allusion to the ends of this ter- 
 restrial world, for that since that time has lasted near 1,800 years. 
 
 14. The same Apostle declares, that, before the Gospel was 
 preached to the Gentiles, they were " without God, and without 
 
 Eph. 11.12. jjQpg jjj jjjg -vforld." It follows then, conclusively, that until 
 the G-ospel is preached tmto natural ma?i, he is without God, 
 that is, without the knowledge of the true God, and without the 
 hope of salvation in that state. Of course, if he can be saved 
 without the preaching of the Gospel of Christ to him, he can be 
 saved without God, and without hope : this is too absurd for any 
 
 24. ' ' reasonable being to believe ; "for we are saved by hope." 
 
 15. For this reason, Christ commanded, "Go ye into all the 
 world, and preach the G-ospel to every creature." Thus, then, 
 we -See that, if Christ's positive command and commission to 
 his followers is to be obeyed, his G-ospel must not only be 
 preached to every rational being in all the world, but it must 
 be preached by his followers, and also, that "the end can- 
 Mat. xxiv. not come" to any soul until this is fulfilled: for he says, "This 
 
 Goepel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the, world, for a 
 witness unto all nations; then shall the end come." 
 
 16. Therefore, as it is a well known fact, that far the greatest 
 part of the human race have died and do die without ever hear- 
 
 14, 
 
B. X. IN THE WORLD OF SPIRITS. 575 
 
 ing the name of Christ, much less the preaching of the true chap, vi 
 Gospel ; it indisputably follows, that it must be preached to 
 them after death ; for all such souls are still in the spirit of the 
 world which is its very substance, as much as the soul is the 
 substance or life of the body, so that they are still natural and 
 in the world. 
 
 17. Now, to suppose that the small, glimmering light which 
 may be, in this life, in the mind of the heathen, is the preaching 
 of the Gospel alluded to, is a gross inconsistency ; for, in the 
 first place, it contradicts the above Scripture, that until the 
 Gospel was preached unto the Gentiles, "they were dead in 
 trespasses and sins, without God, and without hope in the 
 world." And secondly, if the Gospel can be preached by the 
 glimmerings of moral light in the natural man, it could just as 
 well have then been preached to them by it, especially as Christ 
 had finished his mission on earth a number of years before the 
 Gospel was preached to them ; there would not then, or ever 
 afterwards, have been any need of its being preached by his 
 followers. 
 
 18. And in the third place, it still more manifestly disannuls 
 and renders void the command and mission of our Saviour, given 
 expressly to his followers, to prfeach the Gospel to every creature 
 in all the world. No account hgre of any other preaching. 
 Again, if in a natural state they are without God, as the 
 Apostle declares, who is there, or what is there, with them, that 
 
 can preach the Gospel to them ; surely if any such Gospel is Rom. i. l. 
 thus preached, it cannot be "the Gospel of God." 
 
 19. Jesus Christ himself first set the example, as well as gave 
 the precept, of preaching the Gospel to souls in the world of 
 Spirits, as proved by the Scriptures. Thus St. Peter says, "For 
 Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, 
 that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, 
 but quickened by the Spirit, by which also he went and preached 
 to the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient, when 
 
 once the long sufi'ering of God waited, in the days of Noah, i Pet. iii. 
 while the ark was preparing," &c. ^^"^''' 
 
 20. One might suppose that this had decided the matter with 
 all who believe the Scriptures ; but such is the darkness in the 
 world, and they have it so firmly fixed in their minds, that natural 
 death decides the fate of the soul, ^;hat they seem unwilling to 
 believe the plainest proofs of Scripture, and plainest dictates of 
 reason to the contrary ; but try to " wrest " them, to support their 
 
 dark ideas. Hence they will say that Christ had preached to 2 Pet. iii. 
 those spirits through Noah before the flood. is. 
 
 21. But the words of the Apostle by this construction, would 
 he rendered without consistent meaning ; for these show, if words 
 can do it, that it was not any thing that had formerly taken 
 
576 A PROBATIONAEY STATE B. X. 
 
 CHAP. VI. place anterior to iis sufferings and death. ' ' For Jesus Christ 
 also hath once suffered, being put to death in the flesh, but 
 quickened by the spirit, by which he we7it and preached to the 
 1 Pet. iii. spirits in prison, &c." He assumes his sufferings, and being put 
 ■'^"^''' to death in the flesh, &c., as the antecedent, and after this he 
 was quickened in the spirit, by which he went (not had been) and 
 preached, to the spirits in prison. 
 
 22. But surely, had he meant to show that Jesus Christ hai 
 preached to them through Noah, to have used consistent language, 
 he must have said, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened 
 in the spirit, by which he had been and preached to the inhabitants 
 of the world, &c. But, in that case, what reason would there have 
 been in saying, " to the spirits in prison," for they were no more 
 spirits-jn prison in the days of Noah, than all other natural men 
 are, but they were "men in the flesh;" nor were they any more 
 in prison than are all others. 
 
 23. But, in another place, the same Apostle gives the reason 
 plainly, why the Gospel was preached to these spirits. Thus, 
 
 iPet. iv. 6. "For this cause was the Gospel preached to them that are dead, 
 (or rather according to the original, '■'to the dead") that they 
 might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live accord- 
 ing to God in the spirit." Some may argue that it meant the 
 dead in trespasses and sins, but all the children of men in this 
 sense, according to Scripture, are thus dead. 
 
 24. And further, had this been his meaning, there would have 
 been no contrast set forth, in the case, between the living and the 
 dead, or between " men in the flesh," and spirits in prison. But 
 there is in the whole context, a plain contrast meant to be set 
 forth: "Who shall judge the quick and the dead, for this cause 
 was the Gospel preached to the dedd, that they might be judged 
 according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the 
 spirit." 
 
 25. Now, common sense teaches, that had they been men in 
 the flesh, they could not have been judged according to men in 
 the flesh, for they would have been really men in the flesh, and 
 must have been judged as such, and not according to them; for 
 it is an absurdity of language to say, that any thing is according 
 to such a thing, when it is the thing itself; so that such a sup- 
 posed interpretation would destroy itself. 
 
 26. The Apostle's evident meaning was, to show his brethren 
 the universal mission and charity of Christ; that it was not 
 wholly confined to those in the flesh, (which in this case is put 
 for the body in an earthly state, as contrasted with a spiritual 
 state of existence,) but that it extended to those out of the body, 
 in the world of spirits. And therefore, he declared that the same 
 Gospel was preached to them, that they might be judged by the 
 same judgment, and have a privilege to live unto God, in the one 
 
B. X. IN THE WORLD OF SPIRITS. 577 
 
 same Spirit, (that is, the Spirit of Christ, which only can teach chap, vi- 
 the true God,) in the same manner as those in the flesh. 
 
 ^7. Thus the work of Christ was shown to be impartially ex- 
 tended to those in the body, and those out of it ; not excepting 
 those who had been bound in prisons of darkness, for their dis- 
 obedience to the light of God in former dispensations, as well as 
 the unrighteous or sinners in this world, whom Christ expressly 
 declares that he came to call. 
 
 28. Therefore Christ Jesus, whilst he was in "the heart of 
 the earth, three days and three nights," before his resurrection, 
 began this benevolent work of mercy, by preaching to the souls 
 of those who were disobedient before the flood; because, although 
 they had, by their disobedience to the preaching of Noah and other 
 messengers of God, lost the light of God, according to their day, 
 and were bound in prisons of darkness ; yet they could not sm 
 against the light of the Gospel, because it had never been offered 
 10 them, 
 
 29. Hence they were entitled to have it preached, and freely 
 offered to them, as much as the disobedient in this world ; other- 
 wise the ways of God could not be rendered just ; for we can- 
 not suppose that the light of Noah, was greater than the light of 
 the Law; nor that their disobedience was greater than that of 
 the rebellious Jews, to whom Christ freely oifered salvation. 
 For, according to the express words of Jesus Christ, "If the 
 mighty works that were done among them, had been done in Mat.xi. 20- 
 Sodom, it would have remained to that day." ^' 
 
 30. Surely then, they must be entitled, by the justice and 
 mercy of God, to a free offer of the same : for, according to this 
 testimony, it is evident that they would have been more likely to 
 have made a good use of it, than the Jews ; and we have no 
 evidence that those before the flood were worse than they. There- 
 fore, all who have not had a free offer of the Gospel, in this world, 
 must, consistent with the justice and benevolence of God, have 
 it in the world of spirits, "that they might be judged according 
 to men in the flesh, (and be enabled) to live unto God in the 
 spirit." That is, be judged by the same principles, and find 
 justification, or final loss, in the same manner. 
 
 31. It may be proper here to remark, that Jesus Christ, said, 
 
 "As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the Mat. xii.40. 
 whale, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in 
 the heart of the earth." Now this could not allude to his human 
 body, for no one dan say that this was ever in "the heart" of 
 the literal earth ; nor if we admit, that being in the tomb was 
 synonymous, (which is not the case,) would it alter the matter, 
 for it was not there more than about thirty-six hours before it 
 was taken away. 
 
 32. But reckoning the time from the evening when "he 
 
Acts, ii. 24. 
 
 578 A PROBATIONART STATE B. X. 
 
 CHAP, vi. ■began to be exceeding sorrowful, and said, my soul is exceeding 
 John, XX. sorrowful, even unto death," until the evening when he appeared 
 ^'- in the midst of his disciples, "the doors being shut," and said, 
 
 " Peace be unto you, as my Father hath sent me, even so send I 
 you." "We find it precisely three days and three nights. Where 
 was he all this time ? We answer, where his Father had sent 
 him, viz : preaching and administering the Gospel to the souls, or 
 spirits, in prison. 
 
 33. Thus his soul and spirit descended into the center of 
 human nature, that is, in the_depth of the loss of earthly man, 
 which is the heart of human nature or living earth, whence is the 
 spring of all his actions ; no other heart, and no other earth, was 
 concerned in this work. Here he opened the way of salvation, 
 and, "having loosed the bands of death, because it was not pos- 
 sible that he should be holden of it." 
 
 34. Therefore he then rose triumphant and ascended to his 
 Father ; and then he came and bequeathed his final legacy of 
 peace to his disciples ; and sent them to follow up and finish 
 
 Mark, xvi. that work of mercy and judgment which his Father had sent him 
 ^^' ^^- to commence, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel 
 to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be 
 saved, but he that believeth not, shall be damned." It follows 
 then, beyond reasonable dispute, that, until the Gospel of Cheist 
 is preached to every creature in all the world, and such souls 
 have a free oiFer to be baptized with his Spirit, in which is the 
 only power of salvation, neither final salvation, nor damnation, 
 can ensue. 
 
 SECTION XL 
 
 THE SUBJECT PUBTHBR ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 35. As a further illustration of this subject, we may remark, 
 that it is impossible to vindicate the justice of God, unless the 
 same Gospel is preached, and freely offered to all souls, whether 
 in the body or out of it ; because, if a part of natural men can he 
 saved, without the requirements of the Gospel, and a part must 
 come to those requirements, which are so crossing to the propen- 
 sities of nature, or be damned ; the ways of God cannot be equal, 
 and therefore cannot be just. But God says, " Are not my ways 
 
 Ezek.xvm. gq^al? are not your ways unequal ? " 
 
 36. But the doctrine that excludes this benevolent display of 
 God's grace and mercy from being extended equally to all, 
 makes the way of God, unequal ; yet the inequality never came 
 from God, but is the unequal way of man, which God reproves. 
 
 37. For if all must come to the requirements of the Gospel or 
 be damned, as is evident from the Scriptures, and it is equally 
 
B. X. IN THE WOBLD OF EPrEITS. 579 
 
 eTident that far the greatffit part of mankind ncTer so much as cbap.tI- 
 Iieaid ike name of Ckrist in this world much less haTe ha.i an 
 opportunitj to obey the real Gospel, the only '-power of God 
 tmto salvation;" then, of course, if thej do not have an opjor- e.;io.j- is- 
 ttmiiy in the world of spirits, far the greatest part of men, must 
 be damned foTever, for not ohejins the Gospd which thcT never 
 heard, and never had an opporraidty to obey: this would be in- 
 finitely tmjtist. 
 
 38. But, if Tve consider that the sotil, oi Ejirit contains the 
 ohIt principle in ttihh capable of immortality; and is therefore, 
 the only iinal object of the Gfspel, that this will, in God's time, 
 be freely oifered to all, and that it jnak^ no difference in this 
 Tesp.eet, whether in the tody, or in the world of spirits ; also, 
 that the soul, when offered the Gospel, will have its own free 
 choice, to accept or reject it, and will have its reward aceoru- 
 ingly : we then see that all the ways and works of God are 
 eqnal, consistent, and jnst; and in this view of the stibjeet. we 
 can join the heavenly choir in their joyfol and stiblime aspira- 
 tions of praise: '-Great and marveUons are thy works. Lord BeriT. 3. 
 God Almighty, just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints." 
 
 But this aspiration of praise could never be jiistly given, without 
 the aforesaid gracious work of Christ to poor beiiighted souls in 
 the world of spirite. 
 
 39. Xerertheless, it is highly necessary, to prevent delusive 
 hopra, to consider that the Gospel day of each soul is brought 
 about by the providence of God, as much as the day of natural 
 life; and that if they do not do the appropriate wori of that dav, 
 while it lasts, they can have no promise of another Gosp.el day, 
 any more than another day of natural life. Just as Jesus Christ 
 says, "I must work the works of him that sent me, while the 
 day lasts, the night cometh when no man can work." 
 
 40. Therefore, in like manner, every soul will have his day to 
 work tJie inorks of God, and he must work when his spiritual 
 day comes ; that is when the work of righteous judgment comes, 
 which brings on him " the ends of the world ; " which alwavs 
 comes when the Gospiel is ofiFered to his understanding and 
 capacity ; for wherever Christ is manifested, there is the judg- 
 ment of this world, as fer as it extends. This was declared by , . 
 Hi m in his first appearing : " ZSow is the jtidgment of this world; 31. 
 now shall the prince of this world be east out. 
 
 41. This is the very nature of the Gospel, — to judge, condemn, 
 and cast out the prince of tMs worU, and his worts from every 
 sold; this work began in Christ's first appearing, but must be 
 c^)mpleted in his second appearing. When, therefore, this day 
 comes to any soul, then he mtist work the works of God, while 
 it is day, or his day will end, and the night will come, when he 
 cannot work. But as sure as God is just, so certainly as any ^^/"'^ 
 
580 A PROBATldNART STATE B. X. 
 
 CHAP. VI. goul has a day of existence, they will as certainly hare a day 
 Pi,ii ji 12 " to Tvork out their salvation, being workers together with Grod," 
 &2Cor.vi. and if they thus work with God, in his own way and time, they 
 will as certainly obtain the prize. 
 
 42. Sixth. Notwithstanding the idea, that the final state of the 
 soul is fixed at death, so extensively prevails, and is so firmly 
 riveted in the minds of the professors of Christianity, yet there 
 is not one word in the Scriptures that even implies it, which is 
 not susceptible of a much more reasonable interpretation. 
 "While, on the other hand, there are many texts, some of which 
 have been quoted, that will admit of no reasonable interpretation 
 on any other ground than that the Gospel must be preached in 
 the world of spirits, and be freely offered to souls there, who 
 have not had it in this world. 
 
 43. This doctrine was well understood in the primitive Church, 
 as proved by authentic records — -witness the writings of Hermes 
 &c. ; and the Koman Catholic doctrine of purgatory was evi- 
 dently founded on the support that the Scriptures, and other well 
 known records of the primitive Church, gave to this doctrine. 
 For they never could have established it in the minds of the 
 people,' so as to cause them to pay large sums of money for the 
 pardon of souls out of the body, if the Scriptures had not 
 pointed clearly to the Gospel being preached, and to repentance, 
 pardon, and forgiveness, after death. 
 
 44. But though they basely corrupted this doctrine, yet the 
 corruption of a good principle does not destroy the virtue or 
 truth of the principle itself, for if there was not some good in 
 the principle, and a foundation for it, there would be no cause 
 nor motive to corrupt, or counterfeit it. Hence the corruption 
 of this principle furnishes strong proofs of its original truth, as 
 much as counterfeit money proves that there is true money, for 
 if there was no true, there would be no counterfeit. 
 
 45. Seventh. To prove that the final state of the soul is fixed 
 at death, the words of Solomon are erroneously quoted, "As 
 the tree falls, so it lies." This is not Scripture. True, Solo- 
 mon, in exhorting to industrious and prudent labor and conduct, 
 advises them to do all that they could in this world for their 
 honor, so as to leave behind them a good name ; for they could 
 not alter it after death. "A good name is better than precious 
 
 Eco. xi. 3. ointment." He therefore brings this similitude, "If the tree 
 fall towards the north, or towards the south, in the place where 
 the tree falls there it shall be." So likewise, in what state or 
 direction their character was when they fell in death, there it 
 would be. 
 
 46. But will any suppose that he alluded to the soul or spirit? 
 Can they believe the soul is confined to the same place forever? 
 But they may say it means the same state, but this would 
 
B. X. IN THE WORLD OF SPIRITS. 
 
 581 
 
 exclude all increase of either happiness or misery ; a supposition chap, vi. 
 that we think few would advocate. 
 
 47. As to the text, "For there is no work, nor device, nor eccLx. lo. 
 knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest;" if 
 
 this proves anything to the purpose, it proves too much ; for 
 if it proves that the state of the soul is irreversibly fixed at 
 death, it proves, also, that it can do no work, has no device, nor 
 liTiowledge, nor wisdom. Of course, upon this principle it 
 becomes unconscious and inactive; that is. it must forever die 
 with the body, or even more, it must be annihilated. For the 
 conscious existence of spirit cannot die, unless it is annihilated. 
 
 48. But the plain meaning of Solomon was, to show mankind 
 that, as their natural and moral work would end on earth at 
 death, and therefore, what was done would remain done, and 
 what was undone would not be done, so their character would 
 stand, and so must be the remembrance of it, whether good or 
 bad, both by themselves and others. This, then, was a great 
 incentive to do good and honorable works ; because, though he 
 said nothing of their future state being decided thereby, yet he 
 showed them that the honor or dishonor of their works, must 
 always follow them. 
 
 49. He was evidently appealing to that innate and sensitive 
 principle in man, which causes him to be so solicitous to perpet- 
 uate his honor and fame, and which is one of the most powerful 
 principles in the human breast ; yea, for this, mau will brave all 
 dangers, in their most frightful forms, and many times rush to 
 certain death ; we know of no principle originally inherent in 
 man, that will carry him so far as this. 
 
 50. This stimulates the statesman ; this urges on the warrior ; 
 this incites all in their respective spheres and circles ; it is 
 a strong incentive to virtue in man, but not so strong as innate 
 conscience. That this was his object is evident from the whole 
 tenor of the previous part of the chapter; for it declares " that 
 there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked ; as is the 
 good so is the sinner." Certainly this cannot mean anything 
 beyond the casual events of time, and natural death. 
 
 51. And again: " For to him that is joined to all the living 
 there is hope ; for a living dog is better than a dead lion ; for 
 the living know that they shall die ; but the dead know not any- 
 thing; neither have they any more a reward ; for the memory of Epc, x.3, 
 them is forgotten." Can this allude to the soul ? If so, it proves ''•®- 
 that there is no future state, where they have either knowledge 
 
 or reward, or any one to remember them. But he positively 
 
 teaches the contrary of this, where he declares, " Then shall the 
 
 dust return to the earth, as it was, and the spirit unto Grod who 
 
 gave it, for God shall bring every work into judgment, with Ecc. xii. 7 
 
 every secret thing, whether it be good or evil." ^*' 
 
582 A PROBATIONARY STATE B. X. 
 
 CHAP, vr. 52. Thus, nothing can be found in all his writings, adverse to 
 the Gospel being preached in a future state. This remained for 
 " a greater than Solomon " to decide. As to the often quoted 
 text, "As death leaves us, so judgment will find us," it is home- 
 made Scripture, for it is not in the Bible, nor any thing tanta- 
 mount to it ; nor in the least like it. The nearest approximation 
 to it is, "And as it is appointed unto man once to die, but after 
 this the judgment ; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of 
 
 Heb.ix, 27, Diany; and unto them that look for him, shall he appear the 
 
 ^- second time without sin unto salvation." 
 
 53. From this we learn that his second appearance would be 
 an increasing work, and all souls must, in justice, be entitled to 
 have an offer of it. Undoubtedly, after the soul has left the 
 body it will finally meet with a more decisive judgment than it 
 can in this life ; because its eternal lot must there be fixed, yet 
 how long after death, we know not; but it is evident that it 
 never could be until the second appearing of Christ, as shown to 
 the Prophet. 
 
 54. For, after the Prophet Daniel was informed of "the 
 times," and the latest period for the establishment of the work 
 of the latter day was announced, under the similitude of days 
 
 Dan.xii.i4. the angel said, " But go thou thy way (Daniel) till the end he; 
 for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot, at the end of the 
 days." Surely, then, he must be made partaker of the work 
 of both Christ's first and second appearing, before he could 
 enter into his rest and final lot ; and it must be the same with 
 all other souls. 
 
 55. Eighth. And that the eternal state of no soul can be 
 finally decided until he has heard and accepted the Grospel, 
 and travelled to his final order, or rejected it, and fallen into the 
 element of final enmity ; is evident from all the doctrines of 
 
 Rom. i. Christ and his Apostles. St. Paul says, "How shall they 
 
 14-17. believe in him of whom they have never heard ? and how shall 
 
 they hear, without a preacher ? and how shall they preach except 
 
 they be sent ? So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by 
 
 the word of God." 
 
 56. It follows, then, that none can ever believe to the saving 
 or damning of the soul, until they hear the word of God, by a 
 preacher sent with the true Gospel of Christ. Then they will 
 receive faith, and that faith according to that word, will be their 
 final judge. Then will be fulfilled the words of Jesus Christ, 
 "Whosoever receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me; and 
 
 John, xii. he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me." "And if 
 ''^'^®' any man hear my words, and believe not, he hath one that 
 
 judgeth him ; the word that I speak, that shall judge him in the 
 
 last day. 
 
 57. Hence it conelusiyely follows, that all souls must hear 
 
B. X. IN THE WORLD OP SPIRITS. 583 
 
 this word, and be judged by it, either in this world or that to chap, vi. 
 
 come. But the words of Christ declare that the final state of all 
 
 souls shall be decided in the day of judgment, when the wicked 
 
 shall "go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous Mat. xxv. 
 
 into life eternal." 
 
 58. This day, professors who hold that all is decided at death, 
 say, has not yet come ; and it is clearly declared to be the work 
 of Christ's second appearing, and it must be the finishing work 
 of that day. But it began at the commencement, for it is not 
 the day of man, but the day of the Lord ; and Christ declares 
 
 the work of this day to be, "that he will send his angels. Mat xxi. 
 (ministers) and gather out of his kingdom all things that ^^-^^ ^... 
 offend and them that work iniquity." "And gather his elect 27. 
 from the four winds; from one end of heaven to the other." 
 This comprehends the whole, both the spiritual and the tempo- 
 ral world. 
 
 59. Therefore, until this work is effected, which is the same 
 as the preaching of the " Gospel in- all the world, for a witness 
 unto all nations," the final- judgment cannot be finished; but 
 when this is effected, all souls must have had a fair oifer, 
 to accept or reject the Grospel. "Then cometh the end," when 
 the final judgment wUl be given ; then the mediatorial work of 
 Christ will cease, as says St. Paul. " Then shall the Son give li°2s^^' 
 up the kingdom to the Father, that God may be all and in all," 
 
 enery eriemy being destroyed out of it. Then the har- 
 vest WILL BE ended, AND THE EINAL SEPARATION BE- 
 TWEEN THE GOOD AND BAD WILL BE MADE. " ThEN SHALL Mat. xiu. 
 THE RIGHTEODS SHINE FORTH AS THE SFN IN THE KING- '"•■'3- 
 DOM OP THEIR FATHER." 
 
584 THE WORSHIP OF GOD. B. X. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE WOESHIP OF GOD. 
 
 ™|P- Whatever may be called the worship of Grod, it is certain that 
 
 '. no external exercise therein can be any thing more than an outward 
 
 expression of an inward spiritual sensation of love and obedience 
 to God, arising from a knowledge and understanding of his will. 
 And, as nothing is more expressive of love and respect to God 
 than obedience, therefore the most perfect and acceptable worship 
 is performed by those who keep the commandments of God. 
 J 2. Hence the words of Jesus Christ, " If ye love me, keep my 
 
 15 commandments. Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the 
 
 Lake, VI, things which I say ? In vain do they worship me, teachmg for 
 Milt. XT. 2. doctrines the commandments of men. Ye worship ye know not 
 22,''23.'^' what. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worship- 
 pers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth: for the 
 MaL iv. 10. Father seeketh such to worship him. Thou shalt worship the 
 Lord ihy God., and him. only shalt thou serve." 
 
 3. As man is an active, intelligent being, formed for social 
 communion; so in every age, there have always been certain 
 external forms of Divine worship, which, in different dispensa- 
 tions, have been various, according to the manifestations of the 
 will of God in each, and the various operations of his Spirit, for 
 the time then present. 
 
 4. The manner of worship in the first appearing of Christ, was 
 not reduced to any form, but according as true believers were 
 moved by the Spirit, in various circumstances. They worshipped 
 God in prayer, vocal or silent, in praise, in thanksgiving, in ex- 
 hortations, and in feasts of charity, by which they expressed their 
 
 icor.iii. 4. loye and union to each other. And, as there were diversities of 
 operations, we have good reason to believe that dancing was one 
 of them. 
 
 5. This various manner of worship continued mostly, with all 
 the true witnesses, until near the time of Christ's second appear- 
 ing, when many, like the guards of the night, sat in solemn 
 silence, waiting for the break of day, denying their own wisdom 
 and judgment, and performing no act of worship but such as they 
 were moved to by the inward light and evidence of the quicken- 
 ing Spirit. 
 
 6. Being thus wholly out off from the fruitless inventions and 
 precepts of men, and wholly dependent on the Author and 
 Fountain of life, they devoted themselves to do his ^?ill in all 
 things wherein it might be made manifest.. Hence the light, and 
 
B. X. 
 
 THE WORSHIP OF GOD. 
 
 585 
 
 truth, and revelation of Grod increased among them, until by the 
 special operation of his power, they wore moved to go forth and 
 worsliip God in the dance ; which had been expressly signified 
 by the Law and the Prophets, as the peculiar manner of worship 
 to he established in the latter day. 
 
 7. And, as the work of full redemption, and the worship of 
 God attending it, were to be introduced in the line of the 
 female ; therefore it is particularly worthy of notice, that through 
 the order of the female, both the example and promise were 
 given, through all the Law and the Prophets, which may 
 evidently appear from what follows : 
 
 8. The deliverance of the children of Israel from under Pha- 
 raoh, and their escape through the Ked sea, was a plain and 
 striking figure of the day of full redemption from the bondage 
 and dominion of sin, as may appear from the song of Moses and 
 the children of Israel. And therefore it was that Miriam the 
 Prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her ha>id; 
 and all the women luent out after her, with timbrels, and with 
 dances. 
 
 9. The same manner of worship was also continued, on all the 
 most triumphant occasions, among the Israelites, after they were 
 established in the promised land, and commonly practised on 
 obtaining victory over their enemies, and was expressive of their 
 joy and thankfulness for the extraordinary power and presence 
 of God. 
 
 10. The first abode of the ark of God was in Shiloh, and it 
 was there, at the yearly feasts of the Lord, that the vii-gins or 
 daughters of Shiloh, went forth to dance in dances. This, all 
 the time that the house of God was in Shiloh, was an abiding 
 figure of the true worship in Christ, at the bringing in the Ark 
 of the Covenant of God in the latter day. 
 
 11. " Shiloh," in Hebi'ew, is of the same import as Messiah, 
 or Anointed. Hence the daughters of Shiloh prefigured the vir- 
 gin followers of the Anointed that stand with the Lamb on 
 Mount Zion ; as was made known by the parable of the prodi- 
 gal soil, where was music and dancing. 
 
 12. Also when David returned, after the victory over Goliah 
 the Philistine, (a type of antichrist,) the jvomcn came out of all 
 the cities of Israel, singing and danci?tg. 
 
 13. Again, The final establishment of the Ark of God and 
 his Testament, was prefigured when the typical ark was removed 
 from Shiloh to the city of David, being accompanied with the 
 same solemn exercise. And David and all Israel played, 
 [that is, danced] before God with all their might, and with 
 
 CHAP. 
 VH. 
 
 Compare 
 Ex. XV. 1- 
 20, with 
 Rev. XV 2, 
 3. 
 
 See Ne- 
 vin's Bib. 
 Ant. 163, 
 194. 
 
 siJistns;. 
 
 14. But when Michal, the proud daughter of Saul, saw David 
 leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her 
 38 
 
 Rev. xiv. 4. 
 
 1 Samuel, 
 xvui. G. 
 
 1 Chron. 
 Xiii. 8. 
 
 2 Sara. 
 H-23 
 
586 THE WORSHIP OF GOD. B. X. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 vn. 
 
 heart, and scornfully reproaclied him for dishonoring his dignity 
 
 as a king, by shamelessly uncovering himself (as she said) in the 
 
 eyes of the handmaids of his servants ; and counted him and all 
 the rest as vain fellows. 
 
 15. But David said to Michal, " It was before the Lord, who 
 chose me before thy father, to appoint me ruler over Israel: 
 therefore I will play before the Lord. And I will yet be more 
 vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight.: and of the 
 maid-servants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had 
 in honor." 
 
 16. Therefore, as a punishment, for despising that which God 
 accepted, Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child to the day 
 of her death. This, according to the figurative order of that 
 day, was counted a great disgrace, because it prefigured barren- 
 ness of soul, in the true worship of God. 
 
 17. It is therefore evident that it was a peculiar kind of wor- 
 ship, practiced among the children of Israel, on the most joyful 
 and important occasions, during their prosperity ; and that it was 
 acceptable unto God, and was the highest expression of joy and 
 gratitude that could possibly be used on those occasions ; and 
 served as a figure of the joy and triumph of the saints in the 
 latter day. 
 
 18. But, in the time of their captivity at Babylon, this sacred 
 exercise was entirely lost from the people of God, and like the 
 vessels of the sanctuary, profaned by the wicked in the service 
 of the devil. And hence the lamentation of the Prophet Jere- 
 
 Lam. V. 15. miah. The joy of our heart is ceased, our dance is turned into 
 
 aee Psalm, ./ .j .^ 
 
 cjuocvii. mourning. 
 
 19. And although the wicked unjustly took and used this 
 manner of worship in their idolatrous feasts, yet there was a 
 promise of restoring it to the people of God in the latter day ; 
 
 Dan. V. 23. hence a plain figure of this restoration, was the bringing back to 
 zra, 1. 7. Jerusalem, and cleansing again, those vessels and ornaments of 
 the temple, which had been so impiously abused in their feasts 
 at Babylon. 
 
 20. The promise that this mode of worship should be restored 
 to the people of God in the latter day, evidently appears from 
 the most express and pointed prophecies, given in the time of 
 
 Jer. XXX. the captivity. Thus, the Lord by the Prophet Jeremiah, ' Be- 
 hold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have 
 mercy on his dwelling places : And out of them shall proceed 
 thanksgiving, and the voice of them that make merry : In the 
 latter days ye shall consider it." 
 
 xxxi. 4-14. 21. " Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, 
 virgin of Israel; a7id thou shalt go forth in the dances of then 
 that make merry: Therefore they shall come and sing in the 
 height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the 
 
 18-34. 
 
B. X. THE WORSHIP OP GOD. 587 
 
 Lord : Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young ^S^' 
 
 men and old together : for I will turn tlieir mourning into ^ 
 
 joy, and will comfort tkem, and make them rejoice from their 
 sorrow. 
 
 22. It may be said that this alludes to the return of the Jews 
 from captivity ; but whatever might have then taken place, it 
 could have been no more than a figure, for the Jews were 
 far from filling the character of the "virgin;" the sub- 
 stance remained to be fulfilled in the virgin. Church of the latter 
 day. 
 
 2-3. The same, in substance, was also promised through the Hosea, li. 
 Prophet Hosea, speaking of the valley of Achor, (which alludes i^ 
 to the confession and mortification of sin,) it is expressly said, 
 She shall sing there, as in the days of her yrmth, as in 
 the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. This 
 alludes to the deliverance of Israel on the banks of the Ked 
 sea. 
 
 24. Thus it is evident, that the promise of God for the resto- 
 ration of this solemn exercise, was given in the line of the 
 female, to virgins, or such as were pure and undefiled before 
 Grod; and it was to such only that this worship was to be 
 restored in the latter day. 
 
 25. But. as these things could not be but in part fulfilled in 
 Christ's first appearing, therefore he renewed the promises, which 
 
 were made through the Prophets, saying, " All things must he ^^^ ^^j.^ 
 fulfilled which icere wrttien in the law of 2Ioses, and in the **■ 
 Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me ; " which, in this 
 particular, was more expressly alluded to in his parable of the 
 younger son, who returned to his father's house, and being stript 
 of his old garments, and clothed with the best robe, and there ^^'' ^'' 
 was music and dancing. 
 
 26. But the elder son was offended, and would not go in ; 
 which was particularly expressive of the effect of this manner 
 of worship, in making a separation between the old leaven of 
 malice in a hypocritical profession, and the unleavened bread of 
 sincerity and truth. 
 
 27. Therefore, those who found their belief on the Bible, may 
 know that there are nineteen passages recorded in Scripture, 
 which speak of dancing as the worship of God, and not one 
 passage in the whole which speaks against it as sacred devotion. 
 Hence, all opposition to it, as devotion to G-od, is entirely 
 unfounded in Scripture. It is evident that the faculty of 
 dancing was created of God, to be used for his honor ; hence, 
 although the wicked have abused it in the service of the devil, 
 they have abused singing to afar greater extent, and for much 
 baser purposes. 
 
 28. For there is not a single corrupt propensity, which has 
 
588 THE HOLT SCRIPTUEES. B. X. 
 
 9^j*P- not, been excited and fostered hy singing; yet it has been 
 
 '■ — . adopted by nearly all professors of religion, as sacred worship. 
 
 But singing, either vocal or instrumental, is the very life of 
 dancing. Without it dancing would be like a body without a 
 soul. Therefore, to condemn dancing, and justify singing, is, 
 at least, like condemning the hody for actions and justifying the 
 soul, when the soul is the real actor. Who cannot see the incon- 
 sistency ? 
 
 29. It is not merely the external performance of the present 
 worship of God, by which any are justified ; but the same being 
 given by the special gift and revelation of G-od, according to 
 promise, it is therefore an outward manifestation of the Holy 
 Spirit, which is effectual, in the hearts of the faithful, to the 
 destruction of the nature of sin. And, as unity and harmony of 
 exercise is emblematical of the one spirit by which the people 
 of God are led, this unity and harmony of worship is beautiful 
 and glorious. 
 
 30. And thus, by uniting together in one faith, to worship God 
 in diversities of gifts and operations, according to his own 
 appointment and effusions of the Spirit, believers are baptized 
 into one Spirit, and grow up together in Christ as the members 
 of one body. This manner of worship to the people of God, 
 is not empty, nor carnal ; but mighty through God, joyful as 
 heaven, and solemn as eternity. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE HOLT SCRIPTURES. 
 
 Those books which have been collected into one, under the title 
 of Holy Scriptures, are so called from their being written by 
 holy men, who were moved by the Holy Spirit. And, as far as 
 they have been preserved entire, in their original sense, free from 
 the errors of translators and transcribers, they are justly deno- 
 minated " The Scriptures of truth." 
 
 2. They contain a true account of the will and purposes of 
 God, revealed to man in the different ages of the world, and of 
 the operations of his power, from the beginning of the world, 
 relative to the salvation of souls, until the real work of redemp- 
 tion began : and they contain also the true predictions of all the 
 
B. X. THE HOLT SCEIPTTJKES. 589 
 
 principal events that were to take place in the earth, until the ^yi^F' 
 work of redemption should be finally accomplished. '. — 
 
 3. But, as the Scriptures are composed of letters, and letters 
 are no more than signs, marks, or shadows of things, and not the 
 very substance of the things which they signify; therefore it is 
 contrary to the dictates of reason and common sense to suppose 
 that any of those real things are in the Scriptures, of which they 
 contain a written account. 
 
 4. They contain an account of the Spirit by which the writers 
 thereof were inspired, but they do not contain that Spirit itself: 
 They contain a true record of the promise of eternal life ; but 
 that eternal life is not in the Scriptures, but in the Son of God, 
 according the record of truth. "Search the Scriptures, (said joj,,, ^ ^o. 
 Jesus Christ to the Pharisees,) for in them ye think ye have 
 eternal life; and they are they which testify of me." 
 
 5. The Scriptures contain a true account of the law of God, 
 
 but Scripture is not that law. " I will put my law i7i their jer. xxxi. 
 inward parts, and write it in their hearts." They also contain 33. 
 an account of the Gospel of Christ, but they are not the Gospel 
 itself. 
 
 6. The beginning of the Gospel is not the beginning of the 
 
 Bible, but the beginning of the yower of God unto salvation; Rom. i. 16. 
 for the Gospel itself is the power of God unto salvation to every 
 one that believeth in the power of God, wherever it is made 
 manifest by living and chosen witnesses of God, who have it in 
 possession. 
 
 7. The Scriptures also contain a true account of the Word in 
 different ages, according as it was delivered, at sundry times, 
 and in divers manners ; but the Scriptures themselves are not 
 that Word, but a record of the operation of that Word in diffe- 
 rent ages. 
 
 8. So when it is said the Word of God came to Abraham or 
 Moses, or to any of the Prophets, it was not the Bible that came 
 to them; but the Word of God which is quick and -powerful, 
 sharper than any two edged sword, and is a discerner of the 
 thoughts and intents of the heart : And this cannot be said of 
 the Scriptures. 
 
 9. The word of God is incorruptible, and liveth and ahideth -ipet. i. 23. 
 forever ; but the Bible is not incorruptible, nor doth it abide 
 forever. And if all the Scriptures and books on earth were con- 
 sumed, the Word of God would still be the same quickening Eph. vi. n. 
 su-ord of the Spirit. Therefore they are greatly deceived, who 
 imagine that the Scriptures are the Word of God ; there is no 
 
 such idea communicated, in any part of the Scriptures, from 
 beginning to end. 
 
 10. The Scripture saith, " Ye shall not surely die; " but this 
 was not the Word of God, but the word of the serpent. It is 
 
590 THE HOLT SCRIPTURES. B. X. 
 
 CHAP, written, Make thee an arh of gopher-wood. This was the word 
 ^"^' of G-od spoken to Noah, but it was not the word of God to any- 
 other person under heaven ; and so of many other passages. 
 
 11. The Scriptures contain an account of the Word of God in 
 different ages, and of the sayings of wicked men, and of right- 
 eous men ; the sayings of true and false Prophets ; of honest 
 men and hypocrites ; and the testimonies of true and false wit- 
 nesses; and who can be so blind as to imagine that all this 
 record of good and evil, can either be the Word of God, or a 
 rule of faith and practice ? 
 
 12. According to the true testimony of the Scriptures, the 
 Word of God always abode in a man of God, as a quickening 
 Spirit, by which he was moved to utter or write such things as 
 God chose to reveal; and what was thus uttered or written, 
 might be perverted or destroyed, or the man of God might be 
 put to death ; but the quickening Spirit, the Word which liveth 
 and abideth forever, could never be altered, perverted nor 
 destroyed; but would always come forth, and appear again in 
 others. 
 
 13. Thus, from one dispensation to another, the Word of God, 
 and the contrary principle which rose against it, in man, contin- 
 ued to increase the Scriptures ; and those writings, which had 
 been acknowledged before as a record of truth, were used in 
 confirmation of every present work of God, by such as were in 
 it, and had the Word of a living testimony. 
 
 14. And hence the Scriptures, in their proper use, could never 
 be given or administered to mankind but hy inspiration of 
 
 aximiii. God: neither could they be profitable for doctrine, for. reproof, 
 
 16, 17. for correction, or instruction in righteousness, but through the 
 
 man of God, who had the Word of God living and abiding in 
 
 him, by which he was perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good 
 
 works. 
 
 15. Hence it was that Christ Jesus expounded unto his dis- 
 ciples, in all the Scriptures, the things concerning himself. And 
 the Apostle, as his manner was, reasoned out of the Scriptures, 
 
 Acts, ivii. alleging that Christ must needs have suffered ; but it was a very 
 
 ' ' small part of what Jesus taught, or the Apostles reasoned, that 
 
 is recorded; yet from a misunderstanding of what little was 
 
 recorded, some wrested those writings to their own destruction, 
 
 as they did the other Scriptures. 
 
 16. Prom all which there appears a manifest distinction between 
 the Word of God and the Scriptures; and notwithstanding those 
 who receive the Word of God as their guide, are led according 
 to the Scriptures ; yet it is not in word only, but in power, such 
 as the Scriptures never could communicate. It must be granted 
 by all, that the Spirit which inspired the matter of the sacred 
 writings, is greater than those writings, and is therefore the 
 
 Luke, 
 xsiv. 27. 
 
B. X. THE HOLT SCEIPTURES. 591 
 
 liTing and true guide into all truth, whioli was but in part chap. 
 written. ' 
 
 17. The command of God to Noah respecting the ark, could 
 be no rule of conduct to Abraham ; but the Word of God which 
 came to him, must be his rule, and in obedience to that alone, 
 could he be justified. Likewise the command of God to Abra- 
 ham, to .offer up a human sacrifice, could be no rule to Moses, 
 nor to any other person under heaven. 
 
 18. This command to Abraham, to offer up his son by fire, 
 prefigured the offering up of a carnal nature, which produces 
 natural posterity, and is effected by the fire of the Holy Spirit in 
 Jesus Christ, and his followers, before they can receive the bless- 
 ings promised to the true seed, as Abraham did, in the figure. 
 This was also a practical testimony against human sacrifices, 
 which were then common among the nations ; but by withholding 
 the human, and substituting the animal, the will of the Deity 
 began to be known, and stood as a warning against the former 
 horrid practice. 
 
 19. What was commanded through Moses to the children of 
 Israel, was commanded to them and no other nation upon earth. 
 Although they were, and still are, beneficial to many nations, 
 being the general foundation of all the moral laws in the world. 
 Besides, a thousand things were commanded to individuals, which 
 were binding on no other person than those to whom the com- 
 mand was given ; the command being given only to effect certain 
 purposes, necessary for the time being. 
 
 20. It must argue the most extreme ignorance in any one, to 
 suppose that what was expressly revealed and enjoined on one 
 nation or individual, as their duty, was equally binding on all 
 mankind in every suceeding age and nation. 
 
 21. Because Noah was commanded to build an ark, must all Gen. -ri. 
 mankind build arks ? Because the Prophet Isaiah was commanded 
 
 to walk naked and barefoot, for a sign unto Egypt and Ethiopia, 
 
 were all mankind to follow his example, without regard to heat 
 
 or cold, or any special command ? Because the Prophet Ezekiel Ezek. iv. 
 
 was commanded to prepare his bread with dung, is this a univer- ^■ 
 
 sal rule for others? Or, is every man obliged to take a wife 
 
 of whoredoms, because the Prophet Hosea was commanded so ' ' ' 
 
 to do? 
 
 22. What greater deception could antichrist possibly impose 
 upon mankind, in order to blind their eyes to the true revelation 
 of God, than to pretend that "the Scriptures of the Old and 
 New Testament (as they are called) are the only rule to direct 
 us" and under this pretence to reject the testimony of present 
 living witnesses ? 
 
 23. God never was beholden to letters, as the only means of 
 revealing his will; but he that formed the soul of man, can also 
 
Heb. vi. 18. 
 
 592 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. B. X 
 
 ™AP. form, in that soul, a conviction of his will. And nothing but 
 
 '. — the ridiculous doctrine that God actually died, could ever have 
 
 given occasion to the blind error of the antiohristian world, that 
 the Bible was his last will and testament, and the priests his 
 executors and administrators. 
 
 24. The oath and covenant of God, (which always stood be- 
 tween two immutable agents, in which it was impossible for God 
 to fail of the accomplishment of his purpose,) could furnish a 
 hope, as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which 
 entered into that within the vail. 
 
 25. But in the reading of the Old Testament, the vail was still 
 2 Cor. iii. upon the heart ; and although it was rent in the first appearing 
 ^*- of Christ, yet that vail remained untaken away; and therefore, 
 
 until the vail was fully removed, in the second appearing of 
 Christ, the Scriptures could never be fully understood, nor could 
 the very things themselves, to which the promises all'uded, be 
 fully revealed: nor could even the form of the oath be kept un- 
 corrupted through the dark reign of antichrist. 
 
 26. Certain it is, that the Scriptures have not only been mis- 
 understood, but have been grossly perverted, and forced out of 
 their true sense, and abused to the purpose of misrepresenting 
 the true character and purpose of God, and all his designs and 
 dispensations to man. 
 
 27. In confirmation of this truth, we need but look to the 
 numerous divided sectaries now upon earth, who, for ages, have 
 been contending about the sense of the Scriptures, and shedding 
 each other's blood in defence of their respective opinions. This 
 is an incontestable evidence, that the Scriptures are not a sufficient 
 guide without a present inspiration of the true Spirit. 
 
 28. By establishing the Scriptures as the word of God, for all 
 future ages, the most inconsistent ideas have been formed of tha 
 Divine goodness; while the comments and precepts of men have 
 prevailed, instead of the living Word ; and a total ignorance of 
 the spiritual world, instead of the knowledge of the true and 
 quickening Spirit of revelation ; which is particularly manifest in 
 that horrid and blasphemous doctrine of "eternal and uncondi- 
 tional decrees." 
 
 29. By this unreasonable doctrine, millions, who never had the 
 offer of a Saviour, have been reprobated and doomed to final per- 
 dition, hiecause they unhappily came into the world before the 
 coming of Christ, or lived remote from where his name was 
 named. 
 
 30. How far are the sacred Scriptures from once intimating 
 that souls, in all ages, were destined immediately to their un- 
 changeable eternity as they passed out of the mortal scenes of 
 this momentary life ! How far from intimating, that the small 
 glimmerings of Divine light, which nations iii dark ages enjoyed 
 
B. X. THE HOLY SCEIPTTJEES. 593 
 
 for a moment, contained all that they should ever enjoy, or that ^y^,' 
 
 they were fixed in a state unalterable, and yet reserved for a 
 
 final settlement with eternal justice ! 
 
 81. But on the contrary, those sacred records of inspired truth, 
 as far as they ever were believed without prejudice, and under- 
 stood without the dark covering of false systems, have allured 
 the senses of mankind toward a world of spirits, from whence 
 their sacred light was inspired : a world real and substantial, and 
 only invisible by reason of human depravity, and the thick clouds 
 of darkness occasioned by sin. So that as the Lord liveth, and 
 as the soul liveth, those that have passed out of this present 
 world are not more justly judged to be dead, than those who 
 remain in it. 
 
 32. Whatever conjectures may be formed concerning the 
 temporal judgments of God upon the wicked in past ages, cer- 
 tain it is, that the Sriptures most pointedly discard the idea of 
 a final judgment being passed on any soul before the mystery of 
 G-od is finished by the appearing and work of Christ. 
 
 33. And whatever may be understood concerning any one's 
 ascending into heaven, yet Christ, who descended from heaven, 
 testified, saying, No man hath ascended up to heaven. And joim, iii. 
 Peter immediately after he received the Holy Spirit, bore a ^'^■ 
 similar testimony, saying, David is not ascended into the heavens : Acts, ii. 34. 
 and St. Paul abundantly proves, in his Epistle to the Romans, that Eom.xi.32. 
 there was no difference between Jew and Greek, but that Grod con- 
 cluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. 
 
 34. The old world, the inhabitants of Sodom, and the unbeliev- 
 ing Jews, and many other nations, have been systematically fixed 
 and bound in chains of eternal darkness, by men more wicked 
 and beastly than they. But who knew their state the best, the 
 inventors of human systems or the Son of God, who had the 
 
 keys of death and hell ? He testified, saying, The men of Nineveh 32"'"'' ^^ 
 
 shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall ^j^'^'^- "^i- 
 
 condemn it: and also, that it should be more tolerable fo^c Sodom isa. xix, 
 
 and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city which ^^"*''- 
 rejected his testimony. 
 
 35. Christ Jesus did not confine his labors to a little flock Eze. xvi. 
 of believers, in visible bodies on this globe. The thought is too p^'^'im 
 inconsistent for any rational being, and is nothing short of limit- ixivm.41. 
 ing the Holy One. 
 
 86. The Apostles knew better, and witnessed that he had '^i'^^ 43 
 opened the way to the city of the living God. The dying thief 
 knew better, when he said, Lord, remember me (not when thou 
 goest, but) when thou comest into thy Mngdom. To da/y (said 
 Jesus) shall thou be loith me in paradise. 
 
 37. Now this was the same day in which the antichristians say 
 he died, and three days before he came to life, and more than 
 
594 THE HOLT SCEIPTUEES. B. X. 
 
 CHAP. 
 VIII 
 
 forty days before lie ascended to heaven. Is this like immediately 
 
 passing into eternal heaven or hell? or lying dead for a -season, 
 
 and then coming to life again ? No such thing. 
 
 38. Truly said Jesus Christ to the blind leaders of the 
 John, vm. blind, Ye know not whither I go, but I know whither I 
 i*- go. And verily, it was not into Joseph's new tomb, for the 
 
 malefactor could not have the honor of going there with him ; 
 but into paradise, where many bodies of the saints were gathered, 
 and from which they arose after his resurrection, and came into 
 the holy city, in which God had placed salvation ; wMch things 
 the angels desire to look into ; for Jesus himself did not then 
 ascend into heaven, but descended, and did a work of mercy to 
 the spirits in prison. 
 
 39. Nor was the voice of the Son of God confined to the saints 
 alone, whether in this world, or in a world of spirits, but was 
 impartially extended to all; and not overlooking those who 
 through disobedience had forfeited the blessings of former dispen- 
 
 1 Pet. ill. sations, he luent and preached to the spirits in prison, which were 
 19, 20. disobedient in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing. 
 
 40. That he had not ascended to heaven, when he appeared 
 the first time, on the third day after his crucifixion, is evident 
 
 John, XX. from his own words, "I am not yet ascended to my Father." 
 ^^' Certainly, then, the thief could not have gone to heaven before 
 
 him ! 
 
 41. It is inconsistent with a God of infinite justice and good- 
 ness, that his work should be confined to the contracted limits 
 of this inferior globe, while worlds of worlds lie naked and open 
 to his view ; or that the millions who have departed into a world 
 of spirits, without the knowledge of his will, should be bound in 
 chains of eternal darkness, without ever hearing the Gospel, in 
 which only is true happiness and eternal life. For this cause 
 
 1 Pet. iv. 6. '^as the Gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they 
 might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according 
 to God in the Spirit. 
 
 42. In every dispensation of God's grace, all who were obedient 
 to the light and will of God made known to them, were accepted 
 of him, in every nation, left this world in peace, and rested in 
 hope of a future resurrection. ' ' Unto which (says the Apostle) 
 
 Acta, xxvi. our twelve tribes, instantly, [in the world of spirits,] serving 
 ''• God day and night, hope to come; for which hope^s sake, I am 
 
 accused of the Jeivs." 
 
 43. And, as that order and eternal glory, which God had 
 reserved for the latter day, was not fully revealed in Christ's first 
 appearing ; all the Apostles, and true followers of Christ being 
 raised into a far higher sphere of spiritual elements, remained in a 
 state of rest, and acceptance with God, waiting in hope for the 
 coming of that day of glory which was promised. 
 
B. X. THE HOLT SOEIPTURES. 
 
 595 
 
 CHAP. 
 VUI. 
 
 44. Henee the state of tlie true witnesses was opened in vision 
 to St. John, relating to the period of antichrist's reign; and he 
 saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the 
 
 word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And it Rev. vi. 9- 
 was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season, ^'•• 
 until their fellow servants also, and their brethren that should 
 he killed as they were, should be fulfilled. Their being placed 
 under the altar, shows that they had a further sacrifice to make, 
 to inherit the final work of the coming dispensation. 
 
 45. Such then is the truth recorded in the sacred writings, 
 which cannot be broken, and all things written therein, in rela- 
 tion to Christ, and the work of Redemption, will have their full 
 and final accomplishment, and not one jot or title thereof fail. 
 
 46. And as it is eternal truth, that God shall Iring every _ , 
 work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it he good, h. 
 or whether it he evil ; so it is eternal truth, that every individual 
 soul, whom Grod hath created, must have a free and final offer of 
 
 the Gospel, either in this world, or in the world of spirits. For, Ezek. iviii 
 saith the Lord, "Behold, all souls are mine." *• 
 
 47. And, upon the principles of equal and impartial justice, 
 the day of God's final visitation and mercy is opened to all ; to 
 the Jew and the Greek, the Barbarian and Scythian, the bond 
 
 and free, the male and female, the present and departed, while Rev. xxii. 
 the Spirit and the Bride say. Come : and whosoever will, let him 17- 
 take the water of life freely . 
 
 48. And as there is a sin unto death, which hath never for- 
 giveness, in this world, or in the world to come, which is the sin J/"*""' ^' 
 against the Holy Spirit, in the day of the full revelation of the Mat. xii. 
 Divine influence of Power and Wisdom, or last display of God's 
 
 grace to man ; therefore a final and deliberate choice of evil, in 
 defiance of known and positive good, after rejecting all the light 
 and mercy which can be offered to them, is the separating bar 
 which fixes the final doom of the wicked; and from such the 
 mercy of God will be excluded in the day of his final judgment ; 
 and death and hell will be cast into the lake of fire, which is 
 the second death. 
 
 49. But to the soul that is willing to rise up in the judgment 
 against sin, and condemn it, the gates into the holy city are open 
 continually, which, in the issue, will make a final end of all those 
 typical distinctions between Pharoah and Moses, Isaac and 
 Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, and the rest. 
 
 50. And he alone that rejects the last and final opening of 
 salvation and eternal life, shuts himself out with dogs and sor- Rev. xxii. 
 cerers, into outer darkness, where shall be weeping and wailing ^■ 
 
 and gnashing of teeth; while the righteous shine forth as the 43. 
 sun, in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, 
 let him hear. 
 
596 
 
 THE SHARP SICKLE. 
 
 B. X. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE GOSPEL TESTIMONY; OR, THE SHARP SICKLE. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Rev. xiv. 
 14-18. 
 
 IThes iv. 
 17. 
 
 See Mat. 
 iu. 12. 
 
 Rev. xiv. 
 4,5. 
 
 * See Con- 
 fession of 
 Faith, and 
 Book of 
 Common 
 Prayer. 
 
 See JIat. 
 xii 36,37. 
 Rev. XX. 
 12, 13. 
 
 "And I looked, and behold a wMte cloud, and upon the cloud 
 one sat, the likeness of the Son of man, having on Ms head 
 a golden crown, (emblem of purity,) and in his hand a sharp 
 sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying 
 with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, saying, " Thrust 
 in thy sickle and reap; for the time is come for thee to reap; 
 for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the 
 cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was 
 reaped." 
 
 2. This sharp sickle is the testimony of the everlasting Gospel, 
 which proceeds from the virgin followers of the Lamb, and the 
 white cloud the pure element of heaven — the air into vihich we 
 are caught up by the coming of Christ. And all souls who 
 receive this testimony, and in whom it has its perfect work, are 
 harvested from the world, and are gathered into the garners of 
 Christ as good wheat or seed of righteousness. 
 
 3. AVe would recommend this revelation, joined with the 
 character of those who are with the Lamb, to the candid and 
 serious consideration of " Christian sinners." 
 
 4. By the term " Christian sinners " is meant those who pro- 
 fess the name of Christ, and to be his followers; but yet are 
 under the necessity of acknowledging that they are "sinners." 
 And many high professing Christians, and "Christian Churches,"* 
 so called, and of reformed antiquity, publicly and before all the 
 world, confess that they commit sin in " thought, word and 
 deed;" and in fact, that they are "■ miserable sinners'." and 
 there is no earthly chance to gainsay them, or to think or say 
 that it is not so I for their own words and works, openly declare 
 and prove it to be so : and by their words and works, men are to 
 be judged." 
 
 5. It is indeed sorrowful to reflect on the blind and lost con- 
 dition of the professors of the Christian name, in general ; and of 
 the most popular professing Christian Churches in particular ! it 
 is melancholy to reflect on the heart-corrupting and soul-dehas- 
 ing errors and inconsistencies, into which they have been led by 
 the dark influence from the dark ages of the reign and dominion 
 of antichrist! — to imagine that they are "Christians," that 
 they are the "followers of Christ," that they are "saints;" 
 and at the same time know, and must confess that they are 
 "sinners! " 
 
B. X. THE SHARP SICKLE. 597 
 
 6. And then, to palliate the enormity, to find a covering for chap, ix . 
 their sins and iniquities, and a plastering for the wounded and 
 
 guilty conscience, they must fly to some scripture under the " law 
 of sin " such as, ^^ There is no man that sinneth not," "How 
 can he he clean that is horn of a woman" or " It is no more I 
 that sin, but sin that divelleth in me," &c. 
 
 7. Or what is still worse, the poor " Christian simmer " is taught 
 to believe, that the obedience and sufferings of Jesus Christ has 
 entirely satisfied the demand of Divine justice; and that by some 
 mysterious kind of " faith" (if he can only once obtain this faith !) 
 the "righteousness of Christ" is imputed to him; and that 
 therefore by this "faith alone," he is covered with the robe of 
 Christ's righteousness, and sin is not imputed to him ; but for 
 "Christ's sake" he is accounted as a "saint" although he be a ig'^'is™' 
 "sinner!" What is this but a wolfi?i sheep's clothing? 
 
 8. But all this "baseless fabric" of antiohristian invention 
 will never do ! Except a man truly confess all his sins, every one 
 of them ; and has as truly forsaken them, in heart and life, so 
 that he is no more a sinner ; where Grod and Christ dwells he 
 can never come. To wander in doubt and in darkness is his 
 portion. 
 
 9. A " Christian sinner" is a strangely metamorphosed, mon- 
 grel, inconsistent sort of a being. And a saint by profession — ■ 
 a professed follower of the spotless Son of Grod — while yet 
 under the influence and dominion of sin, and while yet under the 
 necessity of acknowledging himself a sinner, is the same thing. 
 
 10. A saint and a sinner live in two very different atmos- 
 pheres ; in two directly opposite elements ; as the Spirit and the 
 flesh, light and darkness; neither of which two can ever be 
 united in one. "Por whsd, fellowship hath righteousness with 
 unrighteousness? What communio7i hath light with darkness? u, is." 
 What concord hath Christ with Belial ? or what part hath he 
 
 that believeth with an infidel ? And so what part more than the 
 
 infidel sinner can the Christian sinner have in Christ, because 
 
 he believes in Christ, and makes a profession of his holy name, 
 
 and with great sanctity can say " Lord, Lord," but who neither Mat. vii. 
 
 regards his most sacred precepts, nor lives his pure and sinless 21, 23. 
 
 life? 
 
 11. This matter is worthy of the most serious thoughts and 
 reflections. Let us look into it a little further. Christ came 
 into the world to "save his people from their sins, and to take 
 
 away their sins." We learn from hence (without any cause or Mat i 21 
 ground for equivocation,) That all those whom Christ has saved & Johni.' 
 from their sins, and whose sins he has taken away, are such as ^' 
 have believed on him, and who have truly and effectually received 
 him into their very hearts, and lives ; and who of course have 
 followed and do follow his example, set in "the first-born," in 
 
598 THE SHARP SICKLE. B. X. 
 
 CHAP. Tx. a daily life of self-denial; commit no sin, and are no longer 
 under its bondage. 
 
 12. On the other hand, the plain and certain reason why the 
 body and generality of professing Christians and professing 
 Christian Churches are not saved from sinning — why they are 
 not saved from the influence and dominion of sin, is because 
 they have never yet known Christ ; they have not truly and 
 effectually believed on him; nor have they truly and effectu- 
 ally received him into their hearts, nor are they "■reaped from 
 the earth." 
 
 13. The certain evidence of this is, that they have not "for- 
 See Gal. V. saken all, for ChrisVs sake;" They have not " crMCZ/ied " and 
 2, 4. do not " crucify the flesh with all its affections and lusts : " They 
 
 do not loalk in his humble and despised "footsteps: " They do 
 not follow his example, by living a pure and holy life ; and by 
 bearing the " cross daily," as he taught. And hence they still 
 remain sinners — poor " Christian sinners." And what else can 
 now remain, but that their faith in Christ is deficient, and "in 
 vain"? and that their profession of Christ " is in vain " also? 
 and, therefore, their hope is the hope of the hypocrite, and 
 
 Job,viii.l3. , „ ■ I ^ ^ at- ! 
 
 shall perish. 
 
 14. This is not to be understood of every individual professing 
 the Christian name ; but it is to be understood of the popular, 
 the worldly-minded, professing Christian Churches in their now 
 present state and condition. For of a truth, there are among 
 the various denominations, many honest souls, who are seeking 
 to know and do the will of God ; and all such souls vnll be 
 noticed of him in due time, according to their sincerity. 
 
 15. But the subject of our discourse now is, concerning 
 " Christian sinners," such as profess the name of Christ, and 
 still continue to be overcome by the tempter in committing sin; 
 Such as profess to be his followers, and still continue to indulge 
 the vile and unclean passions of their corrupt natures. 
 
 16. The fact is that we may profess to believe that God is, and 
 See Heb. that He wUl reviard every one according to their works, and yet 
 ^'' ^' not keep his commandments. And so wc may profess faith in 
 
 Christ Jesus, to be his disciples and followers ; and yet neither 
 obey his sacred precepts, nor in our lives foUow his pure and 
 holy example. All such kind of faiths and professions are false 
 and delusive, and ineffectual to the saving of the soul from sin 
 and pollution, either in this life or in the life to come. 
 
 17. Let us consider, then, that Grod is no respecter of persons, 
 and that in every nation, those of every sect or denomination 
 under heaven, that fear Him and work righteousness, are 
 accepted of him according to their state and degree; for 
 
 Luke, xii. "unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much 
 ^^' required."' Let us consider also, that, "without Iioliness no 
 
B. X. THE SHARP SICKLE. 
 
 599 
 
 man shall see the Lord; " that noue but " the pure in heart shall chap, ix . 
 see God;" and that, if we " die in our sins, luhere Christ is we 
 cannot come." This leads us to the following reflections, 
 namely. 
 
 18. That the "gifts and callings of Grod," are without repent- Rom.xi. 
 anoe to man in his unregenerate state, and that therefore what- |^-^ ^^^^ 
 ever gifts of God, through his mercy and loving kindness, are ii.s-ii. ' 
 hestowed upon man in this state, and whatever may be the extent xi.Xis 
 of those gifts, whether of inspiration, of visions, of revelations, 
 
 of tongues or of prophecies ; yet all these are no evidence of 
 "being born again; " they are the necessary evidence that God 
 is, and requires to be obeyed. 
 
 19. And moreover, though we understand all mysteries, and 
 all knowledge ; and though we have all faith, so that we could 
 remove mountains, and Jiave not love — that love which enables 
 us to keep the commandments of God, and purifies the heart, we 
 are nothing. And all gifts, given of God, for the time being, 
 may and must fail, however great and powerful those gifts may 
 
 be. But "love faileth not." " God is love ; and he that dwelleth icoi.xm. 
 in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." "Love is the fulfill- iJoim, iv. 
 ing of the Law." In love is hope, and "every man that hath xiii 3, i™' 
 this hope in him purifies himself, even as Jesus Christ is pure." 1 Joim.iii. 
 Here is the character of a true follower of Christ; of a true 
 Christian; but it is far from the character of a "Christian 
 sinner ! " 
 
 20. It is therefore, not in those gifts of inspiration, of know- 
 ledge or of prophecy, that the salvation of the soul consists. 
 But these gifts and callings of God, are the drawings of the 
 Father, and in obedience to these callings — to those drawings of 
 the Father, the indwelling and abiding love of God, and the sal- 
 vation of the soul is obtained. It is then, by the indwelling and 
 abiding love of God, by obedient love, by this new-creating 
 Spirit, this living, regenerating, and holy anointing power, Christ 
 
 in the soul, that the soul is enabled to conquer sin and death, SeeCoi.i 
 and to become pure as Jesus Christ is pure, and holy as he is 
 holy. 
 
 21. These are the precepts of the Gospel, and the commands 
 of God. And admitting as in sound reason and good conscience 
 we must do, that the precepts of the Gospel can be obeyed, and 
 that the commandments of God can be kept ; how can the " will- 
 ing and obedient " be considered any longer " as sinners ? " Souls 
 are greatly deceived, in believing that the gifts and callings of 
 the Spirit, are evidences of being " born of God." For nothing 
 short of full redemption from a sinful nature, is any evidence of 
 the "new birth." 
 
 22. And, while any man professing the Christian name, and 
 to be Christ's disciple or follower, is still under the necessity of 
 
 27. 
 
600 THE SHARP SICKLE. B. X. 
 
 CHAP. IX. acknowledging himself a sinner, this acknowledgment alone is an 
 undoubted evidence, that that man has in reality never yet known 
 of the redeeming love of God, nor of the saving power of his 
 Christ. 
 SeeAcis, 23. Now, although the gifts of God, in inspiration, in revela- 
 11. a-ji. tion, in tongues and prophecies, are at times, the marvellous 
 manifestations of his power and goodness, and often have wonder- 
 ful effects on the soul, in the acknowledgment of God, and his 
 marvellous works ; yet these gifts are small in comparison with 
 the perpetual and never failing endowment of the holy Anointing 
 Mai.iii. 2, Spirit, Christ in the soul; and there abiding "as a refiner's fire," 
 3- until sin has no more dominion over us ; until the least and last 
 
 remains of a corrupt and sinful nature are destroyed. 
 
 24. This, therefore, is a far greater gift of the grace of God 
 than any other gift of inspiration, or of any knowledge what- 
 ever besides. It is not only the being endowed with Divine 
 power, to cease from committing sin in the present tense ; bat it 
 is the Divine power and the work that will effect the resurrection 
 from the dead; the redemption from the fall; and the recom- 
 munication vrith the angels of God. It is nothing short of the 
 regeneration and the new birth ; of being begotten again, of the 
 Spirit; and born again, of the Spirit; and becoming a new 
 creature. 
 
 25. It is, therefore, among the first degrees of our concern 
 for an interest in Christ; that we regard with conscientious care 
 the secret and silent drawings of the Father ; that we cherish 
 the faith and obey the light which God has given us, until we 
 receive from him power to overcome all sin, in thought, word, 
 and deed. And however great may be our faith, whatever may 
 be our attainments or professions in the knowledge of mysteries 
 and faculties of our nature ; if we have not the saving power, 
 Christ, abiding and reigning in the soul, we are none of his ; we 
 are nothing. Our profession of Christianity is nothing. 
 
 26. Let us now see, and consider, what those who have gone 
 2 Cor. V. 17. before us in the way of life have said on the subject. "If any 
 Rom. V. 17. man he in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are "passed 
 
 away; behold all things are become new." Is then this weto jnan 
 in Christ any more a sinner ? Can those who are in Christ, and 
 Christ in them, and who are become new creatures; can these 
 any longer look to God as sinners must look to him ? or do they 
 
 Rom. vi. 3 ^°*' rather look to him as obedient children to a kind and tender 
 
 4, 6, 7. ' parent ? 
 
 27. Again, '' Hovj shall we that are dead to sin, live any 
 longer therein ? Know ye not that so many of iis as were bap- 
 tized into Jeszis Christ were baptized into his death? There- 
 fore we are buried with Mm by baptism into death; that like 
 as Jesus Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the 
 
Kom. Till. 
 
 B. X. THE SHAKP SICKLE. 601 
 
 Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life — knowing chap. ix. 
 this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of Rom. vi. 2, 
 sin might he destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 8, 4, e, 7. 
 For he that is dead \to sin'\ is freed from sin." 
 
 28. Now, what could have been expressed plainer than all this, 
 to show the great contrast between the " Christian sinner," one 
 who professes the name of Christ, but still remains (be it more 
 or less) under the dominion of sin, and the true follower of 
 Christ, who is baptized into his death, who is cr2icified with 
 him, and has rise7i with him in neumess of life, and in whom sin 
 is destroyed ? Let us not be deceived. Without this baptism 
 of the Holy Spirit — without this power and victory over sin, and 
 over all the temptations and allurements of a sinful nature, in 
 vain has Jesus Christ suffered and died for us ; and vain is the 
 profession of our faith in his atonement for our sins. 
 
 29. Again: "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus ^„ 
 hath made me free from the law of sin and death. And if 2,16. 
 Christ he in you the body is dead because of sin ; but the spirit 
 is life, because of righteousness." Now, if the law of the 
 spirit of life in Christ has made us free from the law of sin and 
 death, how then are we yet under the bondage of sin ? How 
 then are we yet sinners ? 
 
 30. If Grod in his mercy, and in our obedience to those pre- 
 cepts, and example of his Son, has forgiven us our sins — has freed 
 us from the bondage of sin and death, and we commit no more 
 sin — would it not be the height of ingratitude ? would it not be 
 a sacred mockery of God's mercy and goodness to be still harass- 
 ing and imploring him to " forgive us our sins ? " Yet this 
 is the present state of the poor " Christian sinner," who 
 believes in Christ, and professes his name, but who in reality has 
 never yet found him. 
 
 31. And if, as the Apostle above declares, Christ be in us, 
 and we are dead to sin; how can we, in honest truth, say that 
 we are yet sinners ? Would not this be denying the Lord that 
 bought us .' Would not this be denying his saving power ? 
 Would it not be denying his redeeming love ? Let it, then, be 
 an established maxim, That where Christ dwells, sin has no 
 
 place. And so, on the contrary, where sin has any dominion, Eom. vi. 2. 
 (in individuals or in churches,) Christ's abode is not there; he 
 or they are not under his dominion. 
 
 32. Again : Whosoever abideth in him [Christ's Spirit] sinneth j j^j,^ jy 
 not. Certainly, then, whosoever sz'nMeiA wof, is no longer a " sin- 6- ' 
 ner." But whosoever sinneth, hath not seen him neither known 
 him." Could anything be said plainer than this to open the 
 
 eyes of the " Christian sinner?" Cannot the professed Chris- 
 tian, who still finds himself a sinner, see and be convinced that 
 nothing short of Christ living, abiding, and reigning in him, as 
 39 
 
Rom.vi. 16. 
 
 602 THE SHARP SICKLE. B. X. 
 
 CHAP. IX. the mainspring of Bis life, of all Ms thoughts, words and actions, 
 
 can ever save and purify his soul from sin ? It is in this sense 
 
 • alone, that Jesus Christ ever was or ever can be our Mediator; 
 
 or that he ever did or ever can make an atonement for our sins : 
 
 by " Christ dwelling in us and we in Him." 
 
 1 John, iii. 33. Again : " He that committeth sin is of the devil ; for the 
 devil sinneth from the beginning. And " his servants ye are, 
 to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey ; whether of sin 
 unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness." Can testimony 
 be more clear and unequivocal than this, to show under whose 
 dominion the sinner still is ? Notwithstanding the " Christian 
 sinner " may try to hide himself under the cloak of "Christ's 
 righteousness," and try to persuade himself that, although he be 
 a sinner, by some mysterious kind of "faith," and by that 
 "faith alone," if he can but once obtain it, the " righteousness 
 of Christ " will be imputed to him; and that though sinner he 
 remains during life, God will forgive and pardon all his sins for 
 "Christ's sake;" 
 
 34. All this false faith and delusive evasion, of antichrist's 
 invention, cannot change or lessen the testimony of truth. " He 
 that committeth sin is of the devil. And is sin any less " of the 
 devil," or less heinous in the sight of Grod, when committed by 
 the Christian sinner, than when the same is committed by the 
 infidel sinner? Far from it. Sin is sin; and whether it be 
 ffl great sin or a little sin, its hue is forever and unchangeably 
 black ! offensive and oppresive, to the pure and holy Spirit ; a 
 " reproach to any people," and especially a reproach to the name 
 of Jesus Christ, who came and suffered and died for the express 
 purpose of "saving Ids people from their sins." Professors of 
 Christianity, where are you ? 
 
 35. Again : As whosoever is in Christ sinneth not, it is 
 most clearly evident, that "in this the children of God are 
 manifest, and the children of the devil." By this clear distinc- 
 tion of character, the candid professor of Christianity, who 
 
 1 John, iii. knows how to appreciate the value of self-exami7iation, may 
 '"• readily discover his true condition ; whether Christ abide in Mm, 
 
 and he in Christ, or not ? Whether he is " dead to sin," and 
 " sin has no more dominion over him," or not ? The conclusion, 
 then, will be self-evident, whether he be under the dominion of 
 Christ, or still under the dominion of sin. 
 ijohn, i.8, 36. Again: (And this is often used as an objection to a pure 
 " and sinless life:) "If we say we have ?io sin, we deceive our- 
 
 selves, and the truth is not in us." But, mind what fol- 
 lows : " If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to 
 forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteous- 
 ness." 
 
 37. Now, how can the soul whose "sins are forgiven," SiTii 
 
B. X. THE SHARP SICKLE. 603 
 
 who is " cleansed from all unrighteousness," he said to be still chap, ix. 
 a sinner, without denying the saving power of Christ; and 
 " changing the truth of God into a lie"?" But the secret is, 
 that the professor of Christianity, the mere nominal professor, 
 although he confess himself to be a sinner, and even a " misera- 
 ble sinner," has never yet truly repented of his sins, nor yet 
 truly confessed his sins, in the order of God, one by one, to 
 God's acceptance; else his testimony, from experience, would 
 be that " i/' we confess our sins, the Lord is faithful and just 
 to forgive us <mr sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteous- 
 ness." 
 
 38. And lastly: " Whosoever is horn of God doth not commit ijohn iii. 
 sin ; for his seed [his word] remaineth in him ; and he cannot '■'■ 
 
 sin, because he is born of God." Is it not evident from this 
 that the children of God do not commit sin? And is it not 
 equally evident that those who commit sin (whatever their pro- 
 fession may be) are not counted or accepted of God as his chil- 
 dren 1 No testimony of the eifeots of the true Gospel can be 
 more clear and incontrovertible." 
 
 39. This testimony, that those who are the true children of 
 God, do not commit sin, is again repeated, and unequivocally 
 confirmed: " We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth i John. v. 
 not ; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that ^^■ 
 wicked one toucheth him not." Cannot the poor " Christian 
 sinner" see that while he is yet (occasionally) overcome by sin, 
 
 he is yet, so far, a " child of ivrath," and not a child of God ? 
 
 40. Cannot the honest " seeker after righteousness ; " the soul 
 that secretly groans for full salvation and for complete power 
 and dominion over all the allurements and temptations of an 
 evil and sinful nature, and yet does not obtain that saving power ; 
 cannot such a one clearly see, that he or she, or they, are not 
 even yet " begotten of God," to say nothing of that vastly supe- 
 rior and higher atttainment of being born of Him — of being 
 the children of the second birth ? 
 
 41. And here we have again arrived on the same ground which 
 we have before so extensively explored and so carefully exam- 
 ined, in the preceding pages, concerning the order of God in the 
 work of regeneration, and the second birth, or being "born 
 again." The conclusion is still the same; the same unchange- 
 able truth remains: That, as we can have no existence as " chil- 
 dren of this world," without a natural father and natural 
 mother; 
 
 42. So neither can we, without the co-operating spiritual 
 power and influence of the Father Spirit, and the Mother Spirit, 
 have any existence as the " children of God ; " that we must first 
 be "begotten again," before we can be " born again; " that it 
 IS by the Spirit of life in the Father, by which we are begotten 
 
604 THE SHARP SICKLE. B. X. 
 
 CHAP. IX. into "newness of life;" and by the Spirit of life from the 
 Mother, by wbioh we must be brought forth in the "new crea- 
 tion," before we are or can become the sons and daughters of 
 God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ in his kingdom. 
 
 43. This is the hidden mystery of all true godliness. "Bui 
 the natural man receiveih not the things of the Spirit of God ; 
 for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, 
 
 iCor.u.i4. because they are spiritually discerned." Now we know that an 
 infant child at its mother's breast is not capable of compre- 
 hending or knowing the cause and manner of its existence, 
 until it becomes of mature and sufficient age to comprehend 
 its parentage, and to know the origin of the existence of its 
 being. 
 
 44. And so it is with the natural man; he may doubt and 
 cavil against fact, and, be like a naughty child, that slaps its 
 mother in her face ; but until he attains to sufficient maturity — 
 imtil by experience he shall have become acquainted with the 
 vital principles of his spiritual as well as natural existence — how 
 can such a one be capable of knowing or judging correctly, of a 
 spiritual parentage in the spiritual work of the regeneration 
 and the new birth ? 
 
 1 Cor.ii. 45. "No man can Icnow the things of God save by the Spirit 
 
 10.11- of God." And Jesus said to the Jews: "My doctrine is not 
 mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do His will, he 
 John, vii. shall krww of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I 
 speak of myself." Is it not clear, then, that except a man have 
 the Spirit of God to enlighten his mind ; and except he be in a 
 condition of doing God's will, he cannot know of the true doc- 
 trines of the Gospel? 
 
 46. And so likewise, except by experience from the invisi- 
 ble operations of the spirit of God on the "inner man" — on the 
 soul — no man in the tide of nature, can either know or compre- 
 hend the invisible, the mysterious, though real, spiritual work 
 of the regeneration and the new birth. And hence the truth 
 
 John, jii. 8. declared ; " The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest 
 the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it cometh, and whither 
 it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." 
 
 47. We need not wonder, therefore, why such as make it their 
 choice to live in the course of " fallen nature," should doubt and 
 stumble at the doctrine, that in the work of man's redemption 
 from his loss, and in the manifestations of Christ for that pur- 
 pose, the agency of the female is as necessary as that of the 
 male. Reason itself — the reason with which God has endowed 
 us as rational beings, teaches the consistency of this. 
 
 48. The very order of our existence, as well as the order of 
 all living creatures besides, teach this vital principle : That, 
 as in the work of natural generation, there can be neither exist- 
 
B. X. THE SHARP SICKLE. 605 
 
 ence nor progression in the visible outward or natural world, chap. ix. 
 
 without the mutual and co-operating power and influence of both 
 
 male and female ; so there can be no existence, nor progression, 
 
 in the invisible and spiritual, of which the natural and visible is 
 
 but a figure — a faint emblem — a mere shadow; — the natural 
 
 being transitory, the spiritual eternal — without the union of 
 
 male and female spirits. 
 
 49. But, if neither reason nor revelation, nor matters of fact, 
 can convince the doubting Christian, or disbeliever, that in the 
 "new creation" of God, there must be both a Father spirit to 
 beget, and a Mother spirit to bring forth, in order to be "born 
 again," such must inevitably remain sinners; for without this 
 the power of salvation cannot be dispensed. Such must re- 
 main in a state of unhappy doubt, until they are willing to divest 
 themselves of the prejudices imbibed from sectarian education. 
 
 50. Then they can see and believe in the order and consist- 
 ency by which all animate creation is upheld ; and that by the 
 immutable and eternal laws of the Creator, man is designed to 
 progress from impurity to purity — from the natural to the spir- 
 itual — and from the lower to the higher states of existence, 
 through the operations of the Father and Mother Spirit; and 
 except a man is disposed to "see and believe," and to receive 
 this truth, the second birth he will never find; the state of 
 increasing celestial enjoyments he can never know. 
 
 51. It is by no means improper that "Christian sinners" 
 (whether great or small,) should look to God, the only source of 
 all good, for salvation and deliverance from sin, in the best 
 manner they know, and according to the best light they may 
 have received. And so it is the duty and privilege of all, both 
 those who seek deliverance from sin, and those who have found 
 this deliverance, to look to one and the same source for the things 
 they need. 
 
 52. But it is proper to remark, that those who have found 
 deliverance from sin, who have obtained dominion over the in- 
 fluence of evil, these do not look to God " as being yet sinners; " 
 but they look to him as affectionate and obedient children look 
 to a kind and tender parent, for their spiritual support and 
 increase in goodness. 
 
 53. In short, it is only by the revelation of God in the soul, 
 and by the operations and manifestations of the Spirit through the 
 " Two Anointed Ones," that any can find deliverance from the 
 bondage of sin, and redemption from their lost condition. And 
 by finding this, they will find and experience the redeeming love 
 of a spiritual Father, and the fostering care of a spiritual Mother. 
 
 54. Jesus Christ declared, "No man cometh unto the Father, Joim, xiv. 
 but by me." And, "No man can come to me except the Father John vi.M. 
 which hath sent me draw him." By the inward operations of 
 
606 THE SHARP SICKLE. B. X. 
 
 CHAP. IX. the Spirit — the drawings of the Father, we become convinced of 
 sin, and of the error of our ways. And from the same cause, we 
 are led to the honest confession of every known sin and pollution ; 
 and to the entire forsaking and total abandonment of the same 
 forever, as the only fruits of true repentance. 
 
 55. Thus, in obedience and conformity to these convictions, we 
 find salvation, and become enabled to follow the example and to 
 walk daily in the self-denying footsteps of Jesus Christ, the 
 Redeemer, and strictly to obey his sacred injunction, "Follow 
 me." And by progressive steps we obtain the knowledge of a 
 spiritual parentage, and consequently of the source of our spiritual 
 existence. 
 
 56. Hence by the same progressive steps of self-denial and 
 the daily cross, we are progressively divested of all sinister 
 views; of all impure and selfish motives, and become a united 
 and celestial brotherhood, whose vital living and moving principle, 
 is love; whose interests, temporal and spiritual, are all one; who 
 see " eye to eye; " who are of " one heart and of one sold; " who 
 
 See PhD. ^^'^ " redeemed from among men;" and whose '^correspondence 
 iii-20- and conversation is in heaven." 
 
 57. And in this state, we experience the celestial enjoyment 
 of peace and acceptance with God our Creator, the Source of all 
 light, the living Essence of life, and the Fountain of all good. 
 Such is the true condition of all who are in possession of the pure 
 Grospel of Jesus Christ. 
 
 58. Therefore the candid enquirer after truth, the honest 
 seeker for salvation, may be confidently assured, that God, 
 
 isa. xivi. according to his promise, has placed salvation in the Zion of his 
 Rev.xii 10. glo'^J "^^ likeuess ! that "Now is come salvation and strength, 
 Eev.xix.7. and the Miigdom of our God, and the power of his Christ'." 
 that the time of the "marriage of the Lamb" with his Bride, 
 has actually and verily come, as promised I " And the Spirit and 
 the Bride say Come ; and let him that heareth say. Come ; and let 
 him that is athirst, come : and whosoever will, let him take of 
 the water of life freely." 
 
 i-3"'iil.^i2. " That which we have heard and seen declare we unto you; 
 and we bear record ; and ye may know that our record is true." 
 
 Benjamin Seth Youngs. 
 
 P. S. Having now had the experience of sixty years in this 
 Testimony, forty-five of them since the original of this volume 
 was written and published, I have fully proved the principles 
 and doctrines declared in the foregoing pages of this work, hy 
 its effects in my own soul, and in many hundreds of others, 
 to be the testimony of the everlasting Gospel of salvation and 
 peace. 
 
5. X. THE CONCLUSION. 607 
 
 It is truly the "sharp sickle" which cuts off souls from the ^^^^- ^- 
 evil propensities of a fallen nature, and gathers them into Christ's Mat iii.12. 
 garner. This I have experienced to the full satisfaction of my 
 soul ; and many hundreds, in this day, can hear witness, that 
 they have proved it to be the poiver of God unto salvation. 
 
 And being now in tlie eightieth year of my age, and feeling 
 that my work on earth is nearly finished, and having an ardent 
 desire for the good of all men, with the purest regard, and heart- 
 felt interest for the present and future welfare and happiness of 
 my fellow beings, I leave this as my last solemn testimony, 
 before all men, in the love and fear of G-od, sincerely praying and 
 hoping that it may do good to all such as are honestly seeking 
 to find the way of salvation and eternal life. 
 
 B. S. T. 
 
 Note. Our brother, Benjamin S. Youngs, has since deceased. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE CONCLUSION ; ADDRESSED TO TOUNG BELIEVEKS. 
 
 To all who have received the faith of the Son of G-od, in the pre- 
 sent opening of the everlasting G-ospel, and in obedience thereunto, 
 have confessed and forsaken their sins, and have separated them- 
 selves from the common course and practice of this present evil 
 world, with a full determination to follow the Lamb whitherso- 
 ever he goeth. We address you in the bonds of love. 
 
 2. Brethren and sisters, dearly beloved for the truth's sake, 
 before we close this present work, we think it expedient, in a few 
 words, to address you in particular; sensible of the important 
 relation which we bear towards you, as well as of the greatness 
 of the work into which you are called, and the effect which it 
 
 .must finally have upon all souls. 
 
 3. According to our experience, and the gift of God committed 
 to us, and the present state of mankind to receive the truth, we 
 have opened the most essential matters of fact that have taken 
 place in different ages of the world, from the beginning, in relation 
 to the salvation and redemption of souls. And as the way of God 
 is in the great deep of the Divine nature, whom no man hath seen 
 nor can see, it is expected that many things, in relation to Ms 
 work, will appear dark and mysterious to all flesh. 
 
608 THE CONCLVSION. B. X. 
 
 cHAP.x. 4_ However, it has been our aim to state things agreeable to 
 truth, and according to that measure of light and understanding 
 which we have received from God, without any design of pleasing 
 man : we have therefore used great plainness of speech both in 
 exposing the lost state of man, in all ages, as sunk in the cor- 
 ruptions and lusts of a carnal nature, and in opening the straight 
 and narrow way of self-denial, for both man and woman, accord- 
 ing to Christ's first and second appearing. 
 
 5. We are fully apprised of the infinite flood of objections, 
 which naturally arise in human nature, against those piercing 
 and very mortifying truths, although we have not thought proper 
 to investigate or answer those objections so fully as some may 
 wish ; nor do we suppose that they ever will be fully answered 
 by paper and ink, or any thing short of that convincing arrow, 
 the light and power of Grod, by which they shall make their own 
 tongue to fall upon themselves. 
 
 6. Whatever reasonings the human imagination may invent, 
 they are no more than empty bubbles, when compared to the 
 power of God, which is made known by real facts, according to 
 the times and seasons of his work. Therefore it is not for us to 
 indulge a spirit of vain reasoning, but to believe what God hath 
 wrought, and by obedience, to reap the everlasting benefit. 
 
 7. As the principles and facts which we have stated arc plain 
 and simple, it requires nothing more than for the mind to he 
 divested of prejudice and a false education, to believe them ; and 
 in truth, it is impossible for any soul that is simply honest and 
 bent after the truth and hears it, to believe any thiog else. 
 
 8. We have plainly testified the well known and undeniable 
 truth, that man, in his natural state, is fallen from God into the 
 nature of the wicked one; that all mankind remained in that 
 fallen state, in a greater or less degree, until Christ m the 
 Saviour appeared ; that he took, that nature and crucified it, as 
 an example to all souls ; and that as many as took up the same 
 cross, and followed him in that day, were a kind of first-fruits of 
 his creatures. 
 
 9. We have also testified that there was a falling away, that 
 antichrist reigned, and that no true Church, nor the perfect way 
 of God, was known on the earth, for many ages ; but that, accord- 
 ing to the testimony of all the true witnesses, it was to he 
 opened in the latter day. Accordingly, we have plainly stated 
 how, and where, and when, the perfect way of God was opened 
 the second time : and what those souls have actually obtained 
 who have come into it. 
 
 10. These things, dearly beloved, are not cunningly devised 
 fables, nor matters of mere speculation, as you yourselves also 
 know ; but they are the most important facts that ever were ex- 
 hibited on earth. And we can confidently "say, that as universally 
 
B. X. THE CONCLUSION. 609 
 
 as Jew and Grentile were convinced of sin, so universally they chap, x. 
 all expected a Saviour; and as extensive as their expect- 
 ations were, so extensive has the news circulated through 
 the earth, that Jesus was the person ordained of God to that 
 office. 
 
 11. And again: As extensively as the name of Christ Jesus 
 hath spread through the earth, and souls have been awakened to 
 a deeper sense of their loss, so universally hath the second appear- 
 ing of Christ been expected ; and to the same extent shall it be 
 known, that through the blessed Mother of our redemption, the 
 glory and perfection of his Divine nature hath been revealed 
 for salvation, unto the ends of the earth, in these latter 
 days. 
 
 12. It would doubtless have been very gratifying to the 
 idolatrous kingdom of antichrist, had the biography of Jesus 
 of Nazareth been as fully and clearly stated as that of Gen- 
 eral Washington, or some of the great and noble ones of the 
 earth. 
 
 13. Could they have ascertained the precise time of his birth; 
 the name of the inn-keeper in whose stable he was born ; how 
 many shepherds, and what their names were, who found him and 
 his mother; to what size he grew, and what was his shape and 
 color; such frivolous circumstances would have feasted their 
 refined taste, while the main subject of his mission was wholly 
 disregarded. 
 
 14. But whatever curious minds were in search after, certain 
 it is, the true believer gloried only in his having found the 
 Messiah; and it was immaterial to such how he came, seeing 
 this was he of whom Moses and the Prophets did write. So in 
 regard to his second appearing, a thousand curious enquiries may 
 be raised, relating to temporal circumstances, which are mere 
 bubbles of vanity to souls who are groaning under the bondage 
 of sin, and earnestly longing for redemption. 
 
 15. The first in America who received the testimony of the 
 Gospel, were satisfied that it was the truth of God against all sin, 
 and that in faithful obedience thereunto, they should fina that 
 salvation and deliverance from the power of sin, for which they 
 sincerely panted. And being made partakers of the glorious 
 liberty of the sons of God, it was a matter of no importance 
 with them from whence the means of their deliverance came, 
 whether from a stable in Bethlehem, or from Toad-lane in 
 Manchester. 
 
 16. Nor could any circumstance, demeaning to the pride of 
 man, be construed in any other light, than as an evidence that 
 God had chosen things that are despised, to bring to naught 
 things that are highly esteemed among men, that no flesh should 
 glory in his presence. 
 
610 THE CONCLUSION. B. X. 
 
 CHAP. X. i7_ jt ^as sufficient, that the testimony of God had reached 
 them, and that the requirement of God was plainly made known, 
 and all they had to do was to improve their privilege, and 
 be thankful that they were counted worthy to receive the 
 word of God, through whatever medium he was pleased to 
 bestow it. 
 
 18. This they have done by a patient continuance in well- 
 doing, amidst false and slanderous reports, amidst scoffings, rail- 
 ings, buffetings, stripes, and imprisonments. And thus, by 
 the overcoming spirit and power of the Gospel, they have 
 transmitted unto you the testimony of Christ, pure and unde- 
 filed. 
 
 19. And by no higher argument will you ever be able to vin- 
 dicate the past, or recommend the present work of God, than by 
 the innocence of your lives and the purity of your morals ; while, 
 by the present gift and power of God, your only guardian, you 
 grow up into the Divine nature, resisting and overcoming all 
 '^ fleshly lusts which war against the soul ; having your conversa- 
 tion honest ; that whereas they speak evil against you as evil 
 doers, they may, by your good works which they behold, glorify 
 
 iPet.u.is. G-od in the day of visitation. For so is the will of God, that 
 with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish 
 men." 
 
 20. The false spirit of antichrist may yet continue, for a sea- 
 son, to slander and misrepresent all you do and say. A time- 
 serving priesthood, who neither know what they say, nor whereof 
 they affirm, may palm upon you the character of deceivers, 
 wolves in sheep's clothing, and gather up and circulate every 
 lying report against you. Or, seeing the hope of their gain 
 cut off, they may, through envy, stir up lewd fellows of the 
 baser sort, to abuse your persons or property, as they have often 
 done. 
 
 21. But, if they have persecuted me. (said Jesus,) they will 
 also persecute you. And if they have called the master of the 
 house Beelzebub, how much more they of Ids household. [C7°The 
 true followers of Christ never persecuted any : Therefore, by 
 their fruits ye shall know them. 
 
 22. But whatever subtle argument or false accusation may be 
 brought against the faith or practice of the followers of Christ in 
 this day, no supposable or imaginary future event can be any 
 rule for our present conduct ; but the certain will of God we are 
 to do, as revealed to us, and to submit the event to the I)isposer 
 of all things ; knowing of a certainty that those who are without 
 as well as those who are within, must, sooner or later, pass 
 through the same equitable judgment. 
 
 23. Therefore we are in nowise bound to answer the incon- 
 sistent query, " What would become of the world, if all the 
 
B. X. THE CONCLUSION. 611 
 
 human race were to live as you doV With as muoh propriety chap, x. 
 we might ask, What would have become of beasts and men, if 
 Noah had disobeyed God, and lived like the rest of the world ? 
 Or what would have become of Jesus, and the millions who have 
 been taught to follow his example, if Joseph and Mary, through 
 disobedience, had refused to fly from the persecuting cruelty of 
 Herod ? 
 
 24. And with equal propriety we might ask, what would have 
 become of the world, had all followed the teaching and example 
 of the Saviour, in tis first appearing, and, with him, lived lives 
 of virgin purity ? A thousand such questions might be asked ; 
 but it is not a question of so much concern to the people of God, 
 what will become of the world, as it is to know their Lord's will, 
 and do it, and thereby to flee from the wrath to come. 
 
 25. Thousands and millions may be butchered, nation may be 
 destroyed by nation, and the earth may be involved in blood and 
 calamity, and nothing said about the danger or wickedness of 
 such an example, nor any concern expressed about the world's 
 coming to an end. 
 
 26. But, no sooner do souls confess and forsake their sins, 
 and set out to follow the example of Christ Jesus, than 
 the hue and cry is raised. The world will come to an 
 e7id .' As if man was a mere lump of flesh and blood, created 
 for no higher end than to live after the flesh, in the gratification 
 of their lusts, and to destroy one another. 
 
 27. Still more inconsistent is the query of the vain anti- 
 christian, " If all were to cease from the luorks of the flesh, hovj 
 would the Church he supplied, or what would God do for 
 preachers and saints to worship and praise himV For it is 
 abundantly manifest, that those who live after the flesh cannot 
 please God, and that it was expressly for the purpose of raisino- 
 up a people to serve God, that Christ came and set the example 
 of crucifying the flesh, with its affections and lusts. 
 
 28. In answer to this spirit of caviling in the Jews, it was 
 testified that God is able of these stones to raise up children 
 unto Abraham. Christ Jesus came to seek and to save that 
 which was lost ; and not to raise up another generation of lost 
 beings, neither is it any more the work of his followers than 
 his. 
 
 29. Therefore the true ministers of Christ and worshippers of 
 God, being born of the Spirit, are not debtors to thefl.esh to live 
 after the flesh, in any of its gratifications; but are those who live 
 the heavenly life, by the power and energy of the Holy Spirit 
 which is in them, and the resurrection from the dead; being 
 redeemed from men, even from the corrupt nature of man, " and 
 
 are not defiled with women; for they are virgins, without fault ^^''■^'''•*- 
 before the throne of God." 
 
612 THE CONCLUSION. B. X. 
 
 CHAP. X. 30. The last blind argument, to foster and sootte the flesh, is 
 the doctrine of a final resurrection of all those human bodies 
 that have mingled with the common elements of the globe, 
 through all ages, since the first man. But if there were no other 
 argument to confute such an absurd doctrine, its own inconsist- 
 ency might be fully suificient to render it contemptible in the 
 eyes of every wise man. 
 
 31. From such unreasonable, unscriptural, and senseless super- 
 stition, God has in mercy delivered you : whereas it was but a 
 
 ^ few years ago, that the altar of superstition was reeking with 
 the blood of the innocent and virtuous, who dared to hope 
 for that better resurrection, of which you are the living wit- 
 nesses. 
 
 32. What millions, from sequestered valleys and desolate 
 mountains, from lonely cottages and silent groves, from torture 
 rooms, and racks, and devouring flames, have looked, and wept, 
 and prayed, towards this latter day of liberty and peace ! How 
 
 . have they talked of the rights of man, and labored to describe 
 in words what your eyes behold, and your souls daUy enjoy, 
 namely, the blessings of peace and salvation, in a land sacred to 
 freedom ! 
 
 33. Then, how unspeakably great is your privilege, seeing the 
 eyes of all who have ever suffered in the cause of virtue, have 
 earnestly looked towards the privileges you enjoy, and have 
 justly expected, with you, to receive the crown of eternal glory, 
 and with you to drink of the river of the water of life. 
 
 34. And from whence have flowed those blessings, both civU 
 and sacred, which you enjoy, but from Almighty God, the wise 
 Disposer of all events ; by whose providence you are placed, not 
 only under the American Eagle, the brightest ensign of civil 
 and religious liberty ever raised on the earth since the fall of 
 man, but under the sunshine of the everlasting Gospel, the only 
 object of real and abiding happiness. 
 
 35. Therefore, while you, with others, enjoy your just and 
 natural rights, those wholesome laws of freedom will ever he 
 respected by every true Believer ; and much more that sacred and 
 eternal law of the Spirit of life, in Christ's second appearing, by 
 which you are freed from the dominion of sin, and made par- 
 takers of that knowledge and virtue, which will eventually be- 
 come the desire of all the nations of the earth. 
 
 36. Unshackled by superstition, unbiassed by the terrors of 
 tyranny, and redeemed from false systems, and the reigning 
 power of iniquity, by which your souls were held in bondage, 
 you stand free to judge between truth and error, light and dark- 
 ness, good and evil, and to choose that which you, as a free and 
 chosen people, deliberately judge to be productive of the greatest 
 present and eternal good. 
 
B. X. COMPEND. 613 
 
 37. And being the seed of the woman, chosen of God to bruise 
 (or rather crash) the serpent's head, to keep the commandments 
 of G-od, and maintain the testimony of Jesus, it is your inesti- 
 mable privilege to follow the example of those through whom 
 you have been begotten into the enduring substance of eternal life. 
 And being called and chosen, be ye faithful to prove that you are 
 not bastards, but sons and daughters, just and rightful heirs to 
 the promised inheritance, through whom all the families of 
 the earth shall be blessed, in turning every one from his 
 iniquity. 
 
 38. Finally, Brethren and Sisters, /aretucZZ. Be wise, be per- 
 fect, be of good comfort, be of one mind ; keep the gift of God, 
 and the gift of God will keep you. Live in peace ; and the God 
 of love and peace will be with you, and establish you unshaken, 
 and immovable, in his kingdom of righteousness and eternal 
 truth. — Amen. 
 
 A brief Compend of the Practical Principles by which the 
 Society is guided in all its institutions. 
 
 1 st. Purity in mind and body, including a virgin life, as ex- 
 emplified and inculcated by Jesus Christ, as the way that leads 
 to God. " Blessed are the pure in heart ; for they shall see God." 
 
 2d. Honesty and integrity in all their words and dealings ; 
 according to the precept of the Saviour, "As ye would that men 
 should do to you, do ye even so to them." 
 
 3d. Humanity and kindness to both friend and foe. " Charity 
 never faileth." "Love is the fulfilling of the law." "Over- 
 come evil with good." This rule comprehends the proper con- 
 duct towards all the animal creation. 
 
 4th. To be "diligent in business serving the Lord." All 
 labor with their hands, according to their strength and abilities ; 
 all are industrious, but not slavish. "Idleness is the parent of 
 want." 
 
 5th. To use -prudence, economy, temperance and frugality, 
 but not parsimony; agreeable to the Apostolic injunction, " Let 
 your moderation be known to all." 
 
614 COMPEND. B. X. 
 
 6tli. To keep clear of debt. " Owe no man any thing but 
 love and good will." 
 
 7th. The suitable education of children, in scriptural and 
 other useful knowledge and science, Their schools are acknow- 
 ledged, by the District Superintendents, to be at least equal to 
 any country schools in the states where they are located. 
 
 8th. A united interest in all things is their general order; 
 but none are required to come into it, except as a matter of free 
 choice; for this order is not a principle; but is the result of 
 mutual love and unity of spirits ; and cannot be supported where 
 the selfish relations of husband, wife, and children exist. This 
 order is the greatest and clearest demonstration of practical love. 
 " By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have 
 love one to another." 
 
 9th. Suitable employment and exercises to be provided for all, 
 according to their genius and circumstances. Their general 
 employments are agriculture, horticulture, and useful mechanical 
 arts. Thus all may be busy, peaceable, and happy. 
 
 10th. All are suitably provided for, in health, sickness, and 
 old age; all being equally of the one "household of faith." 
 And, from a comparison of statistics, it is evident that, on an 
 average, the health and longevity of the members fully equal 
 that of the individuals of any community of which we have any 
 account. 
 
 Indeed, to sum it all up, to seek and practice ever^j virtue, 
 without superstition, is the leading tenet of their profession. 
 " Add to your faith, virtue," &c. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 A BRIEF HISTORY OP THE RISE AND PROGRESS OE THE 
 UNITED SOCIETY. 
 
 In order to have a just view of the preceding work, it should 
 
 be understood that, from the beginning, all the works of God, 
 
 have been progressive, growing into higher and higher degrees 
 
 and orders, of maturity and perfection. But the Divine sphere of 
 
 orders and perfections was never brought to light, until revealed See i Cor. 
 
 by the pure Spirit of Christ, in his first and second appearing. ^^ ^^' 
 
 2. During the many ages of antichristian darkness, when the 
 rights and consciences of the human race were bound in the 
 fetters of ecclesiastical bigotry, and the chains of tyrannical and 
 arbitrary power. 
 
 3. Faithful witnesses, chosen and appointed of God, had from 
 age to age, borne testimony against this beastly and bloody power 
 of antichrist, millions of whom had fallen victims to his cruelty ; 
 but, under the invisible and restraining power of Chiist, this 
 beastly influence began to be cut off at the time appointed. 
 
 4. The people called Quakers were the last, who were perse- 
 cuted unto death, for the testimony which they held ; but, as the 
 work among them never advanced to a separation between the 
 kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of this world, hence in pro- 
 cess of time, distrusting the providence of God, and petitioning 
 the same antichristian power for toleration and protection, and 
 taking part in the wordly government under the dominion of 
 antichrist, they gained an honorable standing in the world, but 
 lost that degree of the light and power of God, in which they had 
 at first stood for a time. 
 
 5. Soon after this, the spirit of prophecy appeared in those 
 called French prophets, attended with the most convincing 
 evidences of Divine power ; but these extraordinary appearances 
 were not of long continuance. 
 
 6. However, a few of those French prophets came over to 
 England about the year 1706, and opened their testimony in and 
 about London, which was a means of great awakening, and num- 
 bers received their spirit, which continued to operate, in a greater 
 or less degree, until its principal effect was produced in a small 
 body of people, who were gathered into a society, under the 
 
616 APPENDIX. 
 
 special ministry of James and Jane Wardley. among whom was 
 a particular work of preparation for the true and real manifesta- 
 tion of Christ. This work began in Bolton and Manchester, in 
 the county of Lancashire, in England, about the year 1747. 
 
 II. 1. James Wardley, a tailor by trade, and Jane his wife, 
 who wrought at the same occupation, had belonged to the society 
 of people called Quakers ; but, receiving the spirit of the French 
 prophets, and a further degree of light and power, by which they 
 were separated from that community, they continued for several 
 years, disconnected from every denomination. During this time, 
 their testimony, according to what they saw by vision, and reve- 
 lation from God, was, That the second appea,ring of Christ was 
 at hand, and that the Church was rising in her full and trans- 
 cendant glory, which would effect thefinal downfall of antichrist. 
 
 2. From Bolton they removed to Manchester, and lived for a 
 number of years in Canon Street, with John Townley, who was 
 by trade a bricklayer; and possessed considerable property. 
 Here the number of persons forming their society, was about 
 thirty. 
 
 3. James and Jane Wardley, as well as most of the society, 
 were in low temporal circumstances ; but as John Townley was 
 wealthy, he contributed liberally to the support of such of the 
 society as were needy ; on which account he sustained much in- 
 jury in his property, by persecutors. The meetings of the society 
 were held both at Manchester and Bolton, (which were twelve 
 miles apart,) but more generally at Manchester. 
 
 III. 1. JoAtz 3 ozcwZe^/ had a measure of faith in the testimony 
 of James and Jane Wardley ; his wife was a member of the society, 
 and had great power of God, and the gift of prophecy. John 
 Hocknell was h^r natural brother; he lived in Cheshire, 
 twenty-four miles from Manchester. According to the ac- 
 count of his daughter, Mary Hocknell, he, having separated 
 from the Church of England, had joined the Methodist society, 
 and had stated meetings at his house ; till visiting the society 
 at Manchester several times, and afterwards being visited by 
 James Wardley, about the year 1766, he received faith in his 
 testimony. 
 
 2. And, being very zealous for the cause, and a wealthy man, 
 a number of poor members of the society were gathered and sup- 
 ported at his house, which, at first displeased Hannah his wife, 
 and her natural relations, (the Dickins family,) who were wealthy 
 and high-spirited people ; whereupon three of her brothers, with 
 the assistance of a magistrate, had John put into prison at Middle- 
 wich, four miles from his own house. He was tried and released. 
 Soon after, Hannah became a member of the society, and con- 
 tinued through all the increase of the work, till she departed this 
 life (in America) sound in the faith of the Gospel, A. D. 1797. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 617 
 
 IV. 1. About this time, [1766,] and onward, the Believers 
 frequently held meetings at John Partinglonh, in Mayor-town, 
 as they passed and repassed from Manchester to John Hock- 
 nell's. The manner of public devotion practised by the society, 
 while under the ministry of Jane and J'a7nes Wardley, was, in 
 divers operations of the Spirit and power of God, according as 
 they were moved from time to time. 
 
 2. Sometimes, after assembling together, and sitting a while 
 in silent meditation, they were taken with a mighty trembling, 
 under which they would express the indignation of God against 
 all sin. At other times, they were affected, under the power of 
 God, with a mighty shaking ; and were occasionally exercised in 
 singing, shouting, or walking the floor, under the influence of 
 spiritual signs, swiftly passing and repassing each other, like 
 clouds agitated by a mighty wind. 
 
 3. From these strange exercises the people received the name 
 of Shakers, and by some were called Shaking Quakers ; but, 
 from the time of James Wardley's ministration to the present 
 day, they have been most generally known and distinguished by 
 the name of Shakers. But their being led into shaking by the 
 power of God, is an evident sign, to discerning minds, of the 
 Divine nature of the work. 
 
 V. 1. The work which God promised to accomplish in the 
 latter day was eminently marked out by the Prophets, to be a 
 work of shaking; and hence the name was very properly 
 applied to the people, who were both the subjects and instruments 
 of the work of God in the latter day. 
 
 2. Thus the Lord promised that he would shake the earth with Lowth's 
 terror ; that " in that day there should be a great shaking in translation 
 the land of Israel; " that he would ^^ shake the heavens and the 19,21. 
 earth ; " that he would " shake all nations, and the Desire of all ^^'^'ig 
 nations should come." And, according to the Apostle, that '^yet 20. 
 
 once more, he would shake, not the earth only, but also heaven ; jo^eMii le'. 
 signifying the removing of things that are shaken, as of things Hag. ii. e, 
 that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may Heb.' idi. 
 remain." 20. 
 
 3. All these prophecies particularly alluded to the latter day, 
 and now, in reality, begin to be fulfilled ; of which the name 
 itself was a striking evidence ; but much more the nature and 
 operations of the work. Therefore it was, that the present work 
 of God began in shaking, both as a preparatory, and an increas- 
 ing work, for the full and final manifestation of Christ. And 
 this particular operation was' a significant token that God was 
 about to shake to the foundation, and utterly ruin all the cor- 
 rupt systems of men, and their false notions of the work of God, 
 and of the use and end of his creatures. 
 
 4. The effects of Christ's first appearing, were far from fulfill- 
 
 40 
 
618 APPENDIX. 
 
 ing ttose promises in their full estent ; for in reality, ttat heaven 
 which was to he shaken, had not yet been built ; neither did the 
 appearing of Christ, in the form of a man fulfill the desire of 
 all nations. But a second appearing was to he manifested in 
 woman, which completed the desire of all nations, by the 
 revelation of the Mother Spirit in Christ, an emanation from the 
 eternal Mother. 
 
 5. For, as in the natural order of man, the desire of all nations, 
 which is glory and perpetuity, is completed by the female; so 
 also, it is in the spiritual order of Christ; the desire of all 
 nations for glory and immortality can only be completed by the 
 female. But, though all nations have looked for the Messiah, 
 or divine teacher, to fulfill their highest hopes of happiness, 
 yet their ideas of the Messiah, or Christ's final coming, 
 „ , „ and the nature of his work are erroneous, because only 
 
 See 1 Cor, -, •' 
 
 ii. 14. natural. 
 
 VI. 1. These various operations continued, with a gradual 
 increase of light and power, until the year 1770, when the pre- 
 sent testimony of salvation and eternal life was fully opened, 
 according to the special gift and revelation of Grod, through Ann 
 Lee, who, at that time, was received by the society as their 
 spiritual Mother ; of whom it may be sufficient, here, to state 
 the following particulars : 
 
 2. According to her natural genealogy, she was of the Eng- 
 lish nation ; born February 29th, in the year 1736, in the town 
 of Manchester, where she was also brought up. Her natural 
 father, John Lee, lived in Toad-lane, in Manchester, and was 
 a blacksmith by trade, with whom she lived until she embarked 
 for America. By occupation, she was a cutter of hatters' fur. 
 She was also employed as a cook in the Manchester Infirmary. 
 By these means she was inured to habits of industry, and was 
 very frugal and economical. She had five natural brothers, viz: 
 Joseph, James, Daniel, William, and George, also two sisters, 
 Mary and Nancy. 
 
 3. Prom her childhood, she had great light and conviction of 
 the sinfulness and depravity of human nature, which she often 
 made known to her parents, entreating that counsel and protec- 
 tion by which she might be preserved from sin. But not having 
 attained that knowledge of God which she early desired, nor 
 having any to strengthen or protect her, in the pursuit of that 
 true holiness, which she sought, she grew up in the same fallen 
 nature with the rest of mankind, and being prevailed upon by 
 the earnest solicitations of her relations and acquaintances, she 
 yielded reluctantly, was married, and had four children, all of 
 whom died in infancy. Her husband, Abraham Stanley, was 
 also a blacksmith, and lived with her at her father's house, while 
 he remained in England. 
 
APPENDIX. 619 
 
 VII. 1. About the year 1758, she Isecaine a subject of the 
 work that was under the ministratiou of James and Jane Ward- 
 ley, and joined herself to that society, who then were called 
 Shakers. The people of that society were known to be of blame- 
 less deportment, remarkable for the clearness of their testimony 
 against sin, the strictness of their moral discipline, and the inno- 
 cence and purity of their lives and manners. 
 
 2. As their light extended to the confession of every known 
 sin, and to the taking up of a cross against every thing which 
 they knew to be evil, hence they were endowed with great 
 power, by which Ann found that protection, which, for the time 
 then present, was answerable to her faith ; and in all things she 
 conformed to the rules of discipline in the society, and was bap- 
 tized into the same spirit ; and, by her perfect obedience to all 
 that she was taught, she attained to the full knowledge and ex- 
 perience of those who stood in the foremost light. 
 
 3. As the only distinction among the members of the society 
 was formed according to the different degrees of spiritual light 
 and power known and felt in each, respectively, and as it was 
 the faith of the society not to rest short of complete salvation 
 from all sin; therefore, those who received the greatest light and 
 power of God, were acknowledged as the lead ; that is, the 
 greatest light of God, in whomsover it was made manifest, was 
 acknowledged, and followed as the lead, without respect to 
 persons. 
 
 VIII. 1. When Ann, by her perfect obedience, had attained 
 to all that was made manifest in the leading characters of the 
 society, still finding in herself the seed, or remains of human 
 depravity, and a lack of the Divine nature, which is eternal life 
 abiding in the soul, she did not rest satisfied in that state, but 
 labored in continual watehings and fastings, in tears and incessant 
 cries to God, day and night, for deliverance. And, under the most 
 severe tribulation, and violent temptations, as great as she was 
 able to resist and endure, such was, frequently, her extreme 
 agony of soul, that blood would issue through the pores of her 
 skin. 
 
 2. By such deep mortification and suffering, her flesh wasted 
 away, and she became like a skeleton, wholly incapable of 
 helping herself; and was fed and nourished like an infant, 
 although, naturally, free from bodily infirmities, and a person 
 of a strong and sound constitution, and invincible fortitude of 
 mind. 
 
 IX. 1. In this manner she was more or less exercised in 
 soul and body for about nine years, during which period the way 
 of God, and the nature of his work, were gradually opened from 
 one thing to another, and the light and understanding which she 
 received, was gradually communicated to the society, until she 
 
620 APPENDIX. 
 
 received that manifestation of God by which the man of sin waa 
 revealed, and through which she discovered the transgression of 
 the first woman — the root and foundation cause of human 
 depravity, whence all mankind were lost and separated from God; 
 and by special and immediate revelation, she received the Testi- 
 mony of God against the whole corruption of man, in its root 
 and every branch ; which is properly, the testimony agakist 
 the fltsh ; or the testimony against all sin. 
 
 2. This testimony, in its fulness, she received in open vision 
 from the Lord Jesus Christ, who appeared plainly, and clearly 
 revealed the true nature and work of the everlasting Gospel of 
 salvation to her. This was while she was in the public prison, 
 where she was put by the malice of her enemies, through false 
 accusation, because of the searching light and increasing power 
 manifest through her. Thus she received her mission by the 
 heaveanly d.ove, or Divine Anointing Spirit of Christ in the 
 order of the female. Her testimony was now increased in such 
 mighty power of God, attended with the word of prophecy, 
 and such energy of the Spirit, as penetrated into the secrets of 
 the heart, and was irresistible, especially to thoge with whom she 
 was united. 
 
 3. And, from the light and power of God, which attended her 
 ministry, and the certain power of salvation transmitted to those 
 who received her testimony, she was received and acknowledged 
 as ihe first Mother, or spiritual Parent in the line of the female, 
 and the second Heir in the covenant of life, according to the pre- 
 sent display of the Gospel. Hence, among Believers, she has 
 been distingushed by no other name or title than that of Mother, 
 from that period to the present day. She refused to be 
 addressed by the customary titles used by the world, such as 
 Miss, Mrs. Madam, &o. 
 
 X. 1. After Ann was received and acknowledged as the 
 spiritual Mother and Leader of the society, the manner of wor- 
 ship and the exercises in their public assemblies were, singing 
 and dancing, shaking and shouting, speaking with new tongues 
 and prophesying, with all those various gifts of the Holy Spirit 
 known in the primitive Church. These gifts progressively 
 increased, until the establishment of the Church in America; by 
 which those who were in the spirit of the work were convinced, 
 beyond all doubt or controversy, that it was the beginning of 
 Christ's reign upon earth. 
 
 2. The first full and public testimony which was borne by 
 Mother, against the root of human depravity, was in the year 
 1770. And the convincing power of God which attended it, 
 caused the formal denominations to raise and stir up tumultuous 
 mobs, by whom she was often shamefully and very cruelly 
 treated ; and was a number of times imprisoned. 
 
APPENDIX. 621 
 
 XI. 1. About that time, on the first day of the week, at her 
 father's house, where the society were assembled, and while in 
 the worship of God, under great power, the house was beset by 
 a tumultuous mob, at the head of which was the warden. They 
 broke open the door, and dragged out Mother, and cast her into 
 the dungeon of the stone prison, where she remained fourteen 
 days, without any sustenance except what was conveyed to her 
 by putting the stem of a pipe through the key-hole of the 
 prison door, and pouring' milk and other liquids into the bowl 
 of it. This was done by one of the Believers, James Whit- 
 taker, a young man who had been brought up by Mother 
 Ann. 
 
 2. But, finding in her no cause of accusation, she was set at 
 liberty, and continued to bear the testimony, as she was moved 
 and directed by the gift of God, and the generality of the people 
 continued to reject it, until the testimony ceased in England, 
 about two years before she received her mission and revelation of 
 God in relation to America, by which she saw the future increase 
 of the work of God, and the establishment and glory of Christ's 
 kingdom in this land of freedom. This she communicated to her 
 followers. 
 
 XII. 1. Accordingly, as many as were able to follow her in 
 the designed purpose of God, settled their temporal afl"airs in 
 England, paid their passage at Liverpool, on the 19th of May, 
 1774, and embarked for America, in the ship Mariah, Captain 
 Smith, of Neto-York. 
 
 2. Those who embarked with Mother, were Elder William 
 Lee, her natural brother, Elders James Whittaker and John 
 Hocknell, Richard Hocknell, son of John Hocknell, James 
 Shepherd, Mary Partington, and Nancy Lee, a niece of Mothee 
 Ann — eight in number. 
 
 3. James and Jane Wardlcy removed from John Townley's, 
 the same summer, into a hired house, from whence they were 
 afterwards taken to the alms house, and there died. Johji Hock- 
 nell returned to England in 1775, and came again to America, 
 with his family and others ; and those of the society who 
 remained in England, being without lead or protection, gene- 
 rally, lost their power, and fell into the common course and 
 practice of the world. 
 
 XIII. 1. Before they embarked. Mother Ann told the cap- 
 tain that he should not have whereof to accuse them, except it 
 were concerning the law of their God. While on their passage, 
 they went forth, in obedience to their inward feelings, to praise 
 God in songs and in dances. This offended the captain to 
 such a degree that he threatened to throw them overboard, if they 
 attempted the like exercise again. But, as Mother Ann had 
 put her trust in God, whom she feared, she was not willing to 
 
622 APPENDIX. 
 
 be restrained in her duty, by the fear of mortals; she there- 
 fore chose to obey Grod rather than man, and accordingly went 
 forth again, in obedience to the Divine influence she felt. 
 
 2. At this the captain became greatly enraged, and attempted 
 to put his threats into execution. But that God in whom they 
 trusted, and who had sent them to do his will, protected them in 
 a marvellous manner. It was in the evening, in the time of a 
 storm ; and the ship suddenly sprung a leak, occasioned by the 
 starting of a plank between wind and water. The water now 
 flowed in so rapidly that, notwithstanding all their exertions at 
 the pumps, it gained upon them so fast that the whole ship's 
 crew were greatly alarmed. The captain turned pale as a corpse, 
 and said they must all perish before morning ; for he saw no pos- 
 sible means to save the ship from sinking. 
 
 3. But Mother Ann maintained her confidence in God, and 
 said, " Captain, be of good cheer ; there shall not a hair of our 
 heads perish. We shall all arrive safe at America. I just now 
 saw two bright angels of God standing by the mast, through 
 whom I received this promise." She then encouraged the sea- 
 men, and she and her companions zealously -assisted at the 
 pumps. Shortly after this, a large wave struck the ship with 
 great violence, and the loose plank was instantly closed to its 
 place. 
 
 4. Whether this remarkable incident was effected by the vio- 
 lent force of the wave against the plank, or by some other unac- 
 countable means, it was then viewed by all on hoard as a 
 miraculous interposition of Divine Providence in their favor. 
 They were soon, in a great measure, released from the pumps; 
 the captain, after this, gave them free and full liberty to worship 
 God according to the dictates of their own consciences, and 
 promised that he would never molest them again. He was 
 faithful to his promise, and treated them with kindness and 
 respect during the remainder of the voyage, and was after- 
 wards free to declare, that had it not been for these people, 
 he should have been sunk in the sea, and never reached 
 America. 
 
 5. Thus, after enduring the storms and dangers of the sea, in 
 an old, leaky ship, which had been condemned as unfit fcr the 
 voyage, and came very near foundering at sea, they all arrived 
 safe in New-York, on the sixth of August following. This 
 
 niai Church account was attested by the captain, and by many witnesses, 
 
 ''■ ^^' both believers and unbelievers. 
 
 XIV. 1. When Mother landed at Nevj-York, she counselled 
 those who came with her, for a season, to seek their livelihood 
 where they could find employ, as they were mostly poor, and 
 had nothing to subsist upon but what they obtained by honest 
 industry. Accordingly, they were all scattered in different parts 
 
 See Millen- 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 of the country. Mother Ann herself remained in New-York, in a 
 family by the name of Smith, in Queen-street, (now Pearl- 
 street,) where she was treated with great kindness, and con- 
 tinued there until the spring of the year 1776. 
 
 2. John Hocknell, about this time, sailed for England, to 
 bring out his family and make further arrangements for the 
 settlement of the society in this country. During Johii Hock- 
 nell's absence to England, Mother Ann went several times up 
 the river, and visited those of the society who resided in the 
 vicinity of Albany, and was occasionally visited by some of them ; 
 but still continued her residence in New-York. 
 
 3. In the latter part of the summer or beginning of Autumn, 
 1775, Abraham Stanley was visited with a severe sickness. To 
 nurse and take care of him in this sickness, required Mother 
 Ann's whole time and attention. This duty she performed with 
 the utmost care and kindness, though often at the expense of 
 great sufferings on her own part. Their earnings now ceased, 
 and they were reduced to extreme poverty. 
 
 4. Abraham at length recovered his health, so as to be able 
 to walk the streets ; and though he never had been considered as 
 a faithful and substantial Believer ; yet he had hitherto supported 
 his credit and reputation, and maintained an outward conformity 
 to his faith. But, on regaining his health, and before he was 
 fully able to return to his occupation, he began to associate with 
 the wicked at public houses, and soon lost all sense and feeling 
 of religion, and began to oppose Mother Ann's testimony in a 
 very ungodly manner, and urged her to renounce it, and live in 
 sexual cohabitation, like the rest of the world. She replied, 
 that she was willing to do anything for him which justice, reason, 
 or humanity required ; but she would never consent to violate 
 her duty to God, and endeavored to prevail on him to return to 
 his duty and be faithful. 
 
 5. But Abraham was determined to pursue the course of the 
 world, and continued his vicious practice, instead of returning to 
 his occupation, and left Ann to provide for herself. At length 
 he brought a lewd woman into the house to her, and declared that 
 unless she would consent to live in sexual cohabitation with him, 
 he would take that woman for his wife. Ann, with great firm- 
 ness and resolution, replied, that she would not do it though he 
 should take her life as the consequence of her refusal. 
 
 6. She also informed him, in plain terms, that she considered 
 his cruel and abusive conduct as a very unjust requital for the 
 uniform kindness and attention which she had paid to him, both 
 in sickness and in health ; and said she was still willing to take 
 the most tender care of him, if he would return to his duty, and 
 conduct himself as he ought to do ; and urged him, in the most 
 feeling manner, to return to the obedience of his faith; but all 
 
 623 
 
624 APPENDIX. 
 
 to no effect. He soon went off with the woman, to a distant part 
 of the city, and it was reported that he was shortly after mar- 
 
 8ee Miiien- ried to her. Thus ended the connection between Mother Ann 
 
 pl^aa"'""'' ^^^ Abraham Stanley. 
 
 7. She then went, by water, up to Albany, and from thence to 
 Niskeuna, (now Waiervliet,) and about the month of Septem- 
 ber, fixed her residence wh-ere the Church is now established, 
 eight miles Northwest from the centre of the city of Albany. 
 This was an obscure place in the wilderness, remote from the 
 public eye. Here the Believers gathered as their place of resi- 
 dence ; and here they held their solemn meetings, particularly on 
 the first day of the week, full three years and a half, until the 
 opening of the testimony in the spring of the year 1780. At 
 this time, various reports began to be spread abroad concerning 
 these people. 
 
 XV. 1. The first general opening of the testimony in America, 
 was at New-Lebanon, county of Columbia, and State of New- 
 York ; in consequence of a remarkable religious awakening which 
 had taken place in those parts, in the year 1779, and was a work 
 of preparation for the reception of the Gospel, which was opened 
 the following year, (1780,) and received by many. 
 
 2. As Mother and the Elders who came from England, 
 resided at Watervliet, then about forty miles distant from the main 
 body of those who had lately believed ; and, as great numbers from 
 New-Lebanon, and other eastern parts, resorted there for instruc- 
 tion and counsel, the Believers at Neiu- Lebanon, Hancock, and 
 other places, who were able, found it necessary to take provisions 
 there for their support, which served as an occasion, to some pre- 
 judiced persons, to misrepresent and accuse the people of being 
 enemies to the country, and to stir up those in power to persecute 
 and distress them. 
 
 XVI. 1. One particular circumstance of this kind took place 
 in the month of July, 1780. As David Darrow was on the way 
 between Lebanon and Albany, with a flock of sheep, which he 
 was driving to Watervliet, he was followed by a company of evil- 
 minded men, who pretended to have authority to arrest him. 
 Accordingly, they brought him back, with his sheep, to New- 
 Lebanon, and took him before the court, under pretence of treason. 
 But, finding no just ground of accusation against him, to answer 
 their purpose, these ravenous wolves, after dividing the sheep 
 among themselves, sent their owner, (accompanied by Joseph 
 Meacham) under guard, to be tried by the commissioners at 
 Albany. 
 
 2. Being brought before the commissioners, they were required 
 to promise obedience to their laws, without being informed what 
 those laws would be. But, had the commissioners even been dis- 
 posed to form laws consistent with the faith of the Believers, they 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 625 
 
 well knew that it was contrary to their faith to make any such 
 promise, because they considered all such outward obligations 
 as masks of hypocrisy, under which their accusers themselves 
 were acting in direct violation of those just and equitable princi- 
 ples, in support of which, they pretended to be contending with 
 the powers of Britain. 
 
 3. Besides, they were aware of the design of their accusers, to 
 take an undue advantage of such promises, whereby they might 
 either distress them, or compel them to bear arms and shed 
 human blood, contrary to their faith. And, as the Spirit of 
 Christ, which they had within them, both disposed and enabled 
 them to keep every just law, without any external obligation ; 
 therefore, they could not in conscience answer the request. 
 Whereupon David Barrow, Joseph Meacham, and Elder John 
 Hocknell, were put into prison; and, soon after Hezekiah Ham- 
 mond and Joel Pratt ; and then Mother Ann, accompanied by 
 Mary Partington, Elder William Lee, Elder James Whittaker, 
 and Calvin Harlow, all of whom were leading characters in the 
 work, were arrested and imprisoned at Albany. 
 
 4. All this took place at the instigation of certain designing 
 men in the east, who were continually stirring up those in 
 authority, and other citizens who were otherwise well disposed. 
 Nevertheless, the commissioners at Albany generally treated 
 Mother and the Elders with kindness; and many sensible and 
 candid men expressed their displeasure at the injustice and in- 
 consistency of imprisoning and oppressing an innocent people for 
 no other cause, in reality, but their peculiar faith ; and especially 
 at a time when the nation itself was struggling to get free from 
 the oppression of a foreign yoke. 
 
 XVII. 1. Yet, notwithstanding those outward bonds of afHio- 
 tion, the Word of God was not bound, but even through the grates 
 the prison, was preached to crowded assemblies. Many received 
 faith through the Elders, while in prison, and came and confessed 
 their sins, " and showed their deeds ; " and such was the convinc- g^^ ^^,j 
 ing power of God which attended the Word, that, frequently in xix 18-26. 
 presence of the crowd, open confessions were made, of every 
 known sin ; so mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed. 
 Although the persecutors intended this imprisonment of Mother 
 and the Elders, for evil ; yet the Lord overruled it for good, 
 while it wrought effectually to the spreading of the Gospel. 
 
 2. Believers were allowed the privilege of communion with 
 those in prison, and of ministering freely to their necessities. 
 But, very shortly after their imprisonment. Mother was separated 
 from the rest, and taken from Albany, accompanied by Mary 
 Partington, and conveyed down the river, with a design of ban- 
 ishing her to the British army, which then laid at Nevj- York ; but, 
 ■her persecutors failing of their purpose, she was lan<^od, and put 
 
626 APPENDIX. 
 
 into prison at Pougkkeepsie, where she remained until about the 
 last of December.* 
 
 3. The Elders and Believers at Alhany, having been released 
 about the 20th of the same month, without any formal trial, by 
 order of Gov. G-eorge Clinton. This was done as soon as he was 
 properly informed of the matter. And, on receiving information 
 from Mother's associate Elders, William Lee, and James Whit- 
 taker, of her treatment, and by their intercessions in her behalf, 
 he immediately issued an order for her releasement, having had 
 no certain knowledge of the affair before. Thus she was released 
 about the last of December, 1780, and joyfully returned to her 
 children, to their great consolation. G-overnor G. Clinton visited 
 New-Lebanon after the Church was established, upwards of 
 twenty years after the above circumstances, and mentioned the 
 event of his releasing "your Mother," (as he termed it,) and ex- 
 pressed much satisfaction in having done so. 
 
 4. It is particularly worthy of observation, that, in all those 
 imprisonments, and the accusations against Mother and the 
 Elders, and others of the Believers, both in England and 
 America, no fault could ever be found, as to their lives and 
 moral character; nor any evil alleged against them, but from 
 mere slander, on account of their faith and testimony. Nor was 
 any persecution ever raised against them, but by means of that 
 false religion and spirit of oppression, which had long been 
 established in the British dominions, and whose despotic influence 
 had not yet ceased in America. 
 
 XVIII. 1. It is unnecessary, however, to enlarge on this 
 subject, or to state all the particulars of the abuse which Mother, 
 and the Elders, and the Believers in America received on differ- 
 ent occasions, from lawless ruffians, who were taught by the false 
 religion of their forefathers, to commit the most scandalous out- 
 rages upon a harmless people, under pretence of suppressing 
 error. It may here suffice, simply to observe, that Mother was 
 the principal object at which their rage was pointed; that during 
 the time of her ministry, she frequently suffered cruel, shameful, 
 and immodest abuse, and at times it seemed as though nought 
 but supernatural power saved her life. The Elders also, were 
 at times, most cruelly beaten and abused by lawless mobs, with- 
 
 * TMs circumstance was evidently a providential interposition in favor of Mother 
 It was known by her persecutors that a vessel lay off Poughkeepsie, procuring sup- 
 plies for the British; and notwithstanding a pretended patriotism in persecuting 
 the innocent, lest they should betray their country, they themselves could screen 
 the known enemies of the country from exposure, and connive with them, with & 
 view to obtain their assistance in banishing Mother. Thus clearly showing, that 
 it was not on account of any fears for the country that they persecuted, and sought 
 to banish her, but that they hoped thereby to get rid of her convincing testimony, 
 against their sinful lives - But, owing to an alarm that the Americans were coming 
 on to take the said ship, the crew set sail the night before they arrived at Pough- 
 keepsie, with Mother. And thus were her maUoious persecutors disappointed in, 
 their design. 
 
APPENDIX. 627 
 
 out the least immoral accusation having ever been substantiated 
 against them. Others also of the people suffered much abuse, 
 both in person and property, solely on the ground of their faith 
 and cross-bearing life. 
 
 2. But Mother's testimony was supported, and gained the 
 ascendency, amidst those scenes of trial and difficulty, which, to 
 every outward appearance, were insurmountable, and under which 
 she persevered, unshaken and immovable, with that patience and 
 fortitude of mind which surpassed all human comprehension. 
 And, although unsupported by letter-learning, and independent 
 of man's wisdom ; yet she was supported by that hidden wisdom 
 and power of God, by which she opened the Scriptures, and the 
 very nature of things, in so convincing a manner, that none were 
 able to gainsay or resist the force of her words, upon any principle 
 of candor. 
 
 3. After Mother and the Elders were released from prison, 
 they again collected together at Watervliet, where they were 
 visited by great numbers from distant parts of the States of New- 
 York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New-Hampshire and Maine, 
 who received faith; and through the power and gifts of God, 
 which were abundantly manifested for the destruction of sin, and 
 the salvation of souls, many were filled with joy unspeakable and 
 full of glory, and increased in their understanding of the way and 
 work of God. 
 
 XIX. 1. In May, 1781, Mother and the Elders left PFa^eruZzef 
 and visited the different parts, from place to place, where the 
 Gospel had been received ; and in all the principal places which 
 they visited, they were resorted to from the adjacent parts ; and 
 their ministry being every where accompanied with the gifts of 
 the Holy Spirit, in searching out sin and purging iniquity from 
 the soul. Believers were built up in their most holy faith, and 
 received an increase of that overcoming power by which they were 
 enabled to keep out of sin, were filled with consolation and peace, 
 and many were added to the faith. In these journeys they were 
 much persecuted and abused, by the wicked opposers of the 
 truth. 
 
 2. Having finished their labors among the distant Believers, 
 they returned to Watervliet, where they arrived in August, 1783, 
 having been absent about two years and four months. On 
 the 21st day of July, in the year following. Elder William Lee 
 departed this life at Watervliet, being forty-four years of age. 
 
 3. The decease of Elder William served as a particular means 
 of preparing the minds of Believers for a still heavier trial, in 
 being deprived of the visible presence and protection of Mother, 
 the thought of which seemed almost insupportable to many. But 
 having finished the work which was given her to do, she departed 
 this life at Watervliet, on the 8th day September, 1784. 
 
628 APPENDIX. 
 
 4. Thus, in the early dawu of the American revolution, when 
 the rights of conscience began to be established, the Mornin." 
 Star of Christ's second coining, disappeared from the view of 
 the world, to be succeeded by the increasing brightness of 
 the San of Righteousness and all the promised glory of the 
 latter day. 
 
 5. And thus the full revelation of Christ, in its first degree, 
 was completed ; which was according to that remarkable prophecy 
 of Ckristophcr Love, (who was beheaded under Cror/iwell,) 
 " Out of thee, England, shall a bright star arise, whose light 
 and voice shall make the heavens to quake, and knock under 
 with submission to the blessed Jesus." 
 
 XX. 1. After Mother's decease, the gift and appointment of 
 God, for the lead and protection of the Believers, rested upon 
 Elder James Whittaker, who was freely acknowledged by the 
 whole Society as their Elder. Under his ministration, the work 
 continued and increased, in purging away sin and uncleanness, 
 and promoting union and harmony among those who believed 
 and bad set out to obey the Gospel, in reproving the disobedient, 
 strengthoning the weak, and confirming the faithful; till, having 
 finished his labors, he departed this life at Ejifield, in the State 
 of Connecticut, on the 20th day of July, 1787, being in the 37th 
 year of his age. He was born at Oldham, near Manchester, 
 England, February 28th, 1751. 
 
 2. Elder John Hocknell (the last of those from Europe who 
 were called Fathers) survived Elder James many years; and 
 deceased at Watervliet, February, 1799, being 76 years of age. 
 
 3. But, after the decease of Elder James, the leading gift, in 
 the visible administration, descended upon those who had received 
 the Gospel in America, and was particularly vested in two, 
 namely, Joseph Meacham and Lucy Wright, who, according to 
 the special gift and appointment of God, were known and 
 acknowledged by all to stand in the spiritual relation of a joint 
 parentage to the whole visible body of the Believers. Through 
 their special labors, the Believers were gathered together into 
 families, according to the revelation of God respecting the Church 
 of Christ, in the true order of the Gospel, which order was 
 established in the year 1792. About four years after. Elder 
 Joseph (having finished his work) deceased, at New-Lebanon 
 August the 16th, 1796, aged 54 years. He was born at Enfield, 
 Connecticut, February 22, 1742. 
 
 4. Father Joseph was succeeded by Mother Lucy Wright, as 
 first in the ministry. Under her administration, large accessions 
 were made to the different societies of Believers in the Eastern 
 States, and several permanent societies were established in the 
 States of Ohio and Kentucky. She having finished her work, 
 deceased at Watervliet, Albany County, N. Y., February 7th, 
 
APPENDIX. 629 
 
 1821, aged 61 years. She was born in Pittsfield, Berkshire 
 County, Mass., February 5, 1760. 
 
 XXI. 1. From the beginning of the work in America, in the 
 year 1780, until about the year 1787, among the subjects of it, 
 there was little to be seen or heard but the out- cry of convicted 
 souls, laboring under the power of God, and roaring like the 
 sound of many waters and mighty thunderings against the man 
 of sin, and all that is of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust 
 of the eyes, and the pride of life; shaking and trembling; pro- 
 phesying or speaking with new tongues ; singing and dancing ; 
 leaping and shouting, day and night; with such various su- 
 pernatural effects of the power of God, as appeared to the 
 blind spectators of this world like the most unaccountable con- 
 fusion. 
 
 2. But sucb as were in the work, knew what those things 
 meant, and felt therein the greatest order and harmony, it being 
 to them the gift and work of God for the time then present ; they 
 knew that nothing would be shaken thereby, but those things 
 that must be shaken out, before the "kingdom of God" could See Luke, 
 be established in the soul. Hence these operations bore the lee'i^co,. 
 strongest evidence that the world was actually come to an end, x. ii. 
 (at least to those who were the subjects of them,) and the day of 
 judgment commenced. 
 
 8. But, when they had found a sufficient degree of mortification 
 and death to the life and influence of a corrupt nature, and sepa- 
 ration from the spirit of the world, the scene changed, and such 
 righteousness, peace, and order followed, as had never before been 
 established on this earth, since man was created. 
 
 XXII. 1. During the progress of this remarkable change, the 
 testimony was entirely withdrawn from the world. Believers had 
 all they were able to do, to gather together, and organize the 
 society in its various branches, and establish the true order of 
 government, with the necessary rules and regulations for protec- 
 tion. Therefore, though the men of the world, generally, have 
 been obliged to acknowledge that the visible fruits were good, 
 yet the real internal work from which those fruits were produced, 
 was wholly hid from their eyes. And, though some have 
 ignorantly tried to ascribe these evidently good effects to some 
 secret evil cause ; yet every reasonable person must grant, that 
 an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit. 
 
 2. Consequently, that testimony which is productive of faith- 
 fulness, justice, righteousness, and every virtue, in relation -to 
 things both temporal and spiritual, must have proceeded from the 
 eternal Fountain of truth and goodness. Therefore, the fruits 
 and effects of the present Gospel of Christ, are justly to be con- 
 sidered as a standing evidence of the real character of Mother 
 and the Elders, and of all those who have been leaders in the 
 
630 APPENDIX. 
 
 work, whatever wicked and unreasonable men may insinuate to 
 the contrary. 
 
 3. The testimony was withdrawn from the world about the 
 year -1785, and was rarely opened to any until about the year 
 1798 ; after which, there were a few small openings, in different 
 places, to such as were in a special manner awakened; but 
 nothing very remarkable appeared in the order of providence to 
 open the way for the spreading of the Grospel, until about the 
 beginning of the present century. 
 
 XXIII. 1. In the year 1801, an extraordinary work of God 
 began in Kentucky and the adjacent States, which prepared the 
 way for the testimony of the Gospel to be opened in this western 
 country, in the year 1805. 
 
 2. Accordingly, on the first day of January, 1805, three mes- 
 sengers, namely, John Meacham, Benjamin S. Youngs, and 
 Issachar Bates, were chosen and sent by the movings of the 
 Spirit and union of the community, from the Church at New- 
 Lebanon, to the people of the revival in Kentucky and the 
 adjacent States, and were cordially received by a number of 
 the first leading characters in the revival, and opposed by 
 others. 
 
 3. A general account of this extraordinary work in Kentucky, 
 and the parts adjacent, from the year 1801, until the year 1805, 
 may be seen in a pamphlet published by Richard M'Nemar, 
 1807, entitled. The Kentucky Revival; with an account of the 
 entrance and progress of the testimony, and the opposition it 
 received from false teachers. Since that time, the work has con- 
 tinued to increase both north and south of the river Ohio; and 
 the testimony has been firmly established in the hearts of many 
 hundreds in those regions, and the work still continues to 
 flourish. 
 
 XXIV. 1. Since the opening of the Crospel in the parts of the 
 country aforesai«l, the minds of mankind have been greatly stirred 
 up, both by the way of opposition and inquiry; and many are 
 struck with astonishment to see such effects produced by means 
 which to human wisdom seem so inadequate : i.e. to see so many 
 persons of good information, and of upright character, and even 
 eminent for their piety, renounce the honors, riches, and pleasures 
 of the present life, with all their hopes of salvation upon their 
 former principles, to find their relation to a people whose faith is 
 said to be founded upon the testimony of a despised woman. 
 
 2. But souls who are truly convinced of sin, and are willing 
 to have salvation on any terms, will not stumble at God's manner 
 of dispensing it ; and many such there are at this day, who, like 
 the tender branch of the good olive, manifest, by their fervent 
 prayers and tears, under the pressure of an evil nature, that the 
 ■summer of their redemption is " nigh, even at the door." 
 
APPENDIX. 631 
 
 3. Therefore, for the sake of these, and all other honest in- 
 qnirers after truth, the foregoing pages have been written for their 
 information, with a fervent desire that all such may learn that 
 "Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our 
 God, and the power of his Christ," according to the promises of 
 God: and that all such may come, that will come, and find sal- 
 vation from all sin, and strength and power over the pro- 
 pensities of a fallen and sinful nature. 
 
 4. And of this way and work of salvation and redemption, 
 all the faithful members of the Community of Believers in 
 Christ's second appearing, are living and practical witnesses, 
 and lie open to the view and examination of all candid inquirers 
 after truth. 
 
 Approved by the leading authority of the United Society. 
 March, 1855 
 
 . ,, , ( BENJAMIN S. YOUNGS, 
 
 Attest. i CALVIN GEEEN. 
 
 THE END. 
 
LOCATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 
 
 Persons desirous of visiting any of the societies of Shakers, are respect- 
 fully informed that there are three in the State of New-York, viz: — The 
 first and largest at New-Lebanon, county of Columhia, 2-^- miles south of 
 Lebanon Springs. — One at WatervUet, 7 miles north-west from the city 
 of Albany, in the same county.— One at Groveland, Livingston county, 4 
 miles south of Mount Morris. 
 
 Four in the State of Massachusetts, viz: — One at Hancock, Berkshire 
 county, 5 miles west of Pittsfield. — One at Tyringham, Berkshire county, 
 
 3 miles south of South Lee. — One at Harvard, Worcester county, 30 
 miles north-west of Boston, 2 miles south-east of Groton Junction. — One 
 at Shirley, Middlesex county, 7 miles west of Harvard, 4-J- miles south-west 
 of Groton Junction. 
 
 One in the State of Connecticut, at Enfield, Hartford county, 3 miles 
 east of Thompsonsville, and 8 miles south of Springfield. 
 
 Two in the State of New-Hampshire, viz: — One at Canterbury, Merri- 
 mack county, 12 miles north by east of Concord. — One at Enfield, Grafton 
 county, 12 miles south-east of Dartmouth college. 
 
 Two in the State of Maine, viz : — One at Alfred, York county, 30 miles 
 south-west of the city of Portland. — One at New-Gloucester, Cumberland 
 county, 25 miles north-west of Portland. 
 
 Pour in the State of Ohio, viz: — One at Union village, Warren county, 
 
 4 miles west of Lebanon, and 30 miles north by east of Cincinnati. (This 
 is the first and largest society in the Western States.) — One at Water- 
 vUet, Montgomery county, 6 miles south-east of Dayton. — One at White- 
 water, Hamilton county, 22 miles north-west of Cincinnati. — One at 
 North Union, Cuyahoga county, 8 miles south-east of Cleveland. 
 
 Two in the State of Kentucky, viz: — One at Pleasant Hill, Mercer 
 county, 7 miles east of Harrodsburgh. — One at South Union, Logan 
 county, 15 miles north-east of Busselville. 
 
 These are all the established societies now existing as branches of the 
 community, and are easy of access, most of them being located near to 
 railroad depots. 
 
 N. B. Various publications (large and small) of the society can be 
 obtained at any of the aforesaid places.