DUKE UNTY ERs ian DIVINITY SCHOOL LIBRARY FRANK BAKER COLLECTION OF WESLEYANA AND BRITISH METHODISM 7 “ — Sane wt 4 _- 7 mete A A, It, Awe oe / G toe “eons ? of the —— ae Clee u Coeteratly ond Cveypally of he CC sles of a i pai . js C 10. TRINITY. ~ J, ' 5 x. ay 5 aap ws “fore or ofler pe tt % « “Sone es vcater orleds than another: 7 c bs fe A td (oclerna VA ly cther & C lee, cca THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION MADE PLAIN, A DISSUASIVE FROM METHODISM: WiTH AN APPENDIX SUBJOINED, IN FOUR PARTS: I,ON THE PROBABILITY OF PUNISHMENT BEING CORRECTIVE, RATHER THAN VINDICTIVE AND EVERLASTING: II. ON THE RESURRECTION AT THE LAST DAY: Ill. ON THE TRINITY : iV. ON THE SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. TO WHICH ARE ADDED, OBSERVATIONS ON THE TENTH, ELEVENTH, TWELFTH, THIRTEENTH, AND TWENTY-SEVENTH ARTICLES ; AND AN INDEX. “ Nothing is kept back that is profitable to you.”— Acts xx. 20, BY THE REV. RICHARD BOUCHER, RECTOR OF BRIGHT-WALTHAM, BERKS. SECOND EDITION. LONDON: - PRINTED FOR C. & J. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL’S CHURCHsYARD, ss AND WATERLOO-PLACE, PALL-MALL. 1825. , re t ; Wr “HT IAOO OAide TA MOU ; EY ST Ve PLP 3 ~ ’ ae : . e mer em Ce re a m= * bf ve ‘. * 4004 ¥y > +9 whe SAY ob eS ' » Skew eae oo ae a we ; . 5 ne “ip ‘ 4 ; s\ ot ee. atten ee aie Om P; ie x CRA, WET GT ee a * “4 ca : Pak Wa THA + . Vrewe = f % ne OS fe Sdamogy «9 ’ + . : 4 avi r 2 ES A 8 ~ : . oe . 5 By ee ak. ie > Fe, GEA OES: i - { : ca! “a ii *- « ; ( yeTtcty } . — = * Y \ if > / hiv 3 (ya Printed by R. Gilbert, St. John’ ‘ ifs Livy 3 F 7 $ : 2 ¢ a . a A PRAYER. » MOST gracious and mghty God, who art the Author of my being and the Sounda- tion of all my hopes, both here and hereafter, I humbly beseech thee to hear my Petition— that it may please thee to rule and govern thy Holy Church unwersal in the right way: and to illuminate as well Archbishops and Bishops, as other Pastors and Curates, under our Sovereign Lord the King, with such a knowledge and understanding of thy word, that they may, both by their preaching and living, set it forth and shew it accordingly. AMEN. { TONE \ } bai wih TO THE READER. ee ———— Tue Author begs leave to inform the reader, that this Tract, originally intended for his parishioners, is laid before the public at the request of several friends, as containing every thing necessary to support the Christian reli- gion against Superstition and Enthusiasm. It is to shew, that too many opinions are set forth to the prejudice of the Church of England, that considers herself, “ neither a -Lutheran, Calvinistic, nor Arminian, but a Seriptural Church ;” and to have nothing gloomy or terrifying in any of her doctrines.— That man is not by nature born in sin, with - vicious inclinations and minds prone to evil more than to good ; but, that every man’s na- ture, naturally engendered from Adam, com- vi TO THE READER. pletely partaketh of Adam’s impaired nature alone, recomforted through the covenant of redemption ; or, of redemption and grace: Consequently, whoever. perverteth free will, ' given him for perfection, maketh himself a child of God’s displeasure, subject to a cor- rective punishment at his will, according to the light he possesses. Wicked Gentiles will be condemned by the law written in their hearts : the Jews, by their written law: and Christians, by not dying unto moral evil ; and by not improving daily in the practical habits ofa good life; that the whole human race may finally have.the victory through J esus Christ our Lord.—That inward impulses, feelings, experiences, and the shinings of God’s coun- tenance are not the true principles of Chris- tianity.—That the Holy Spirit’s influence, the actual grace of God, is only felt as we feel our thoughts and meditations : in other words, that the Christian faith had not its birth from inward illumination. The instrument of con- version was outward evidence. From the TO THE READER. vil miraculous works that Jesus did, every com- mon beholder owned him to be the Messiah. The Author now leaves the Reader to the perusal of the work; and requests him to bring down what he reasons upon to the stan- _ dard of truth, namely, to common sense, to form thereby such a judgment upon it, as shall appear to him well founded. iv Bee. 08 ~ wore iin sven Agia vs ‘och 7 ine it, dH POL, ‘sik, sania 25h 19] wh boy, yarns A eet | oe Oren’ fd SED? teers + i bin dam, te mors fair ¥ Ti “a : . 7 * Me ey pind oo ts aye ¥ brite * wy . ove THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, Sc. Fe. ACTS xv. 24. We have heard that certain, which went out from us, have troubled you with words sub- verting your souls. MY DEAR NEIGHBOURS, Tuar I may discharge my duty faithfully, in a Parish where I have resided many years as your Rector, I think it incumbent to guard allof you, as much as possible, from enthu- siasm and self-sufficiency. The former only exposes your minds to the delusions of fancy, or pretended inspira- tions ; instead of stamping on them the true Gospel faith, that shews itself in conscien- tiously discharging all the relative and social duties of life. - The latter makes your minds regardless B 10 of humility, and a proper dependence upon your God: without which, you cannot ex- pect to be happy in this world or the next. For the better understanding the admo- nition, it will be necessary for you’ to take. into your consideration the doctrines of Christ, and the sentiments of the Apostles, St. Paul and St. James, on those diversities of opinion, that at the present day, so dis- quiet the Protestant Church within these realms; and have separated many of you, most unhappily for yourselves, from your parochial Communion, to follow teachers, whose discourses too frequently deprive you of all comfort, terrify your understandings, and drive you into despondency. Through their doctrines and ‘sentiments T shall be able to prove—that ‘no thundering terrors of damnation, and everlasting destruc- tion, need distress the minds of any of you, or plunge you into despair of obtaining ‘par- don, if you forsake what may offend God, and do what he commandeth—and ‘that your instructors, Whitfieldian, Wesleyan, and Evangelical, by forcing the Gospel to their principles, do absolutely deny the truth as it il is in Jesus, instead of trying or proving their own tenets by his Gospel. I only wish the great Author of all our comforts, who directs every upright and dis- interested intention, would assist my earnest endeavours, to stop the progress of error and delusion among you, and all its attendant mischiefs ; and to restore in your minds, the bright beams of the Gospel to their original splendour, and my labour will be recom- pensed in the highest degree, “ actos juvabit meminisse labores.” It is far too late in the day, for teachers to set themselves up for supernatural instructors in any religious matters; there is a mighty difference .between reasonings which have borne the test of ages, and pretensions to a Divine Revelation, that arise through a vain confidence of intercourse with God! | I write with no other intention, than to bring you again ta a due temper of mind, and an unblameable conversation; to pro- mote unity among you; and to prevent, if possible, the mischief to yourselves, of sepa- rating from that part of the Holy Catholic ‘Church, planted in ,these dominions at the Reformation; which too many of you,,asham- EZ 12 ed of your iniquities, take great pains to over- throw. May God deliver you from all false Doctrine, Heresy, and Schism, from hardness of heart, and contempt of his Word and Com- mandments. It is a thing improbable, that any teachers should have received from God, a permission to excite a general hatred against the Offici- ating Ministers of a Community. ‘ : Too many, readily and indiscriminately, charge the Established Clergy ‘with not preaching the Gospel, or so much as a word of Jesus Christ truly. Such a charge, I shall ‘convince you, is a wilful mistake on their parts ; and that their Gospel is not preached on ours, except by clergy who have entirely gone forth from us to subvert your souls, I am most happy to allow. | Not any doctrines are preached by sincere instructors, but the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. His will, and all the duties enjoined by the Christian Religion, are earnestly en- forced by them; and mankind have naturally of themselves a power to do what is good, and are not utterly helpless. True Gospel Ministers commonly piredich ‘on some of the following’ subjects : a ex- 13 ? istence of a God: his incommunicable and communicable attributes: the Trinity in Unity: the Word made man: Christ’s De- scent: Resurrection : Ascension : coming of the Holy Ghost: and the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation: on that faith in Christ which justifies, which extends the Christian character to the fruits of the Spirit : reliance on a Saviour’s promises: repentance from works deserving death: the certain is- sue of a life spent in the service of sin :.com- mitting the soul and body to Him as toa faithful Redeemer: walking humbly with God : obedience to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: a peaceable behaviour : sobriety, temperance, and chastity :. and. the duties of justice, charity, and humility, to your fellow-creatures: in a word, the true Gospel Minister exhorteth you to govern yourselves by its rules, and the moral law contained in it, which is living to the Salva- tion of your souls. . Such instructions, surely bespeak assent to the Divine truths revealed in God’s word, and to the miracles by, which they were con- firmed: and should engage your attention, if ‘you are good and true disciples of Jesus 14 Christ, rather than either the doctrines of Whitfield, or, of Wesley, who separated into two sects, in 1741. The followers of the former were i minated Calvinistic Methodists, holding the doctrine of Election, Reprobation*, and final Perseverance ; of the latter, Arminian, from adding to their other opinions, the second article of Arminius’s doctrine; or, Evangelical Methodists, from encircling themselves With imaginary perfections, and assuming the title of Moderate Calvinists. * | Whitfieldian instructors ate the strict fol- lowers of Calvin, the deliberate murderer of Michael Servetus, of Navarre, for writing against the doctrine of the Trinity. Calvin caused Servetus to be arrested, while he was passing through the. city of Geneva; to be prosecuted, condemned, fas- tened to a post, and burnt alive, the vee of October, 1553. Such conduct furnisheth the strongest Sus- ~ picion, that he could’ neither support by Scripture, argument, or common sense, his * Whitfield first differed in opinion with Wesley upon his embracing a doctrine milder than Reprobation, the Arminian, the second article of Arminius’s doctrine. 15 harsh and terrifying doctrine of particular Election, and Reprobation, which implies that Christ had died for no purpose. _. It is no other than the old supralapsarian doctrine displayed afresh", that one part of » The doctrine of Calvin supposed that the Snes Mind had resolved upon the eternal condemnation of some, ‘and salvation of others, antecedent to Adam’s Fall, supra- lapsum, beyond the Fall supralapsarzan, (see a further ac- count of this in mote t) it maintained eternal salyation and misery to be the mere Will of God: and was made ‘the rule of faith in England, 1546. _ Calvin’s cotemporary, Luther, somewhat softened off the doctrine, and held that, in consequence of God’s pre- vious knowledge of the sentiments of all mankind, his decrees respected their salvation or misery: Zuinglius de- nied the opinion of both altogether. At this time Luther was resisting a doctrine of the Pa- pists that they termed Transubstantiation—that is, that the Elements in the Eucharist are changed into the Real Body and Blood of Christ : and supported an opinion little less reasonable—that the receivers of the Sacramental Supper received with it the Real Body and Blood of Christ, and gave to it the term of Consubstantiation. Against these, Zuinglius simply and efficaciously main- tained, that this second Sacrament—the Supper of the Lord—was ordained (as the Church of England at this day considers it) ‘‘ for the continual Remembrance of the Sa- crifice of the Death of Christ, and of the benefits which we receive thereby.” See Hammond on the Church Ca- _techism, for a fuller opinion. 16 mankind were absolutely elect ; and that the other part were so utterly cast out as never to know bliss. | hae An opinion that confounds every reason- able hope of rational beings, after a patient continuance in well doing ; and is not only thoroughly contrary to the tenor and ten- derness of the Gospel, that puts no one be- yond the possibility of salvation, but is most insulting to a good and a just God, whovis willing that all men should repent and’ be saved. Were God implacable, all Religion netld be at an end : implacability actually chargeth God with exercising an arbitrary predesti- nated will, to select a number of persons to eternal misery ; consequently can do nothing for their own souls; a doctrine not less’ per- nicious than Irresistible Grace ! The Antinomians, under the protectorate of Cromwell, went so far as to say, that as the elect could not fall from Grace, wicked actions done by them could not be considered really sinful *. ¢ In the year 1600, Quietists entered an ‘illuminative way through long prayers and put their souls to rest in the arms of their God: that they might plunge into the most 17 _. Such final perseverance, or irresistible con- tinuance to a state of glory, formed the other ground of Whitfield’s separation from Wesley’. Whitfield believed that those who are once ‘under the influence of Divine Grace, can never fall totally, or die in mortal sin. Man’s responsibility, on the contrary, and ‘his endeavours after an heavenly reward, im- ply naturally a free agency, a capacity of thinking, choosing, and acting: which is in- compatible with not resisting such a senti- ment. St.Paul, after he had preached and. la- boured much, feared lest he should be a cast- away, conscious of the possibility of his failure. It is fit then, that every being subject to in- ward frailty and outward temptation, should have the like doubt of himself. God’s government of Grace, his Divine influence on the mind, hath relation to vir- tue and vice only, Romans, chap. x1. verse, 22. Behold the goodness and severity of God: crimiual pleasures, and be guiltless. Their forefathers were the illuminati, Heretics of Spain, 1575, who gave way tothe vilest actions without sin. * And finally separated from him, because he would not allow of an irresistible continuance to a state of glory. 18 on the house of Israel which, fell, severity ; but to thee, goodness, if thou continue im his goodness ; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. iadgabiicl ff Wesleyan teachers are the followers»of John Wesley, who on the 6th. of: March, 1738, pretended to derive his ministerial/abi- lities from a special communication of the Holy Spirit, as instantaneous:as that flame of fire, that terminated in a point and rested.on an Apostle. | cae He fell, as we are informed, pate aia the ground in horror and agony ; and rose again with equal expressions of peace, settimg forth he had received the faith of assurance or conviction, that his sins were pardoned, and his mind deeply fixed with the possibility of attaining sinless perfection in his present life. Impressed with this opinion, he added: ‘to it the sublapsarian tenet contained in the se- cond article of Arminius’s doctrine ‘, “ Though © Wesleyan Methodists consider Christians acquire truth not by reason nor learning: but, unbending the mind to the influence of Divine illumination. Conse- quently make true religion to consist in affections, ‘feel- ings,impulses, and the shinings of God’s countenance : and to this, added Arminius’s sublapsarian tenet as contained 19 God will not condemn, for what was com- mitted before we were born: yet, to partake of the atonement which Christ made, every one must first believe in Christ,” must ac- tually be regenerated by the operation of the Holy Ghost. Such a principle bounded his own tenet of Universal Redemption, started in opposition to that supralapsarian one’ held by Whitfield, the tenet of decrees: Particular Redemption to a part of mankind; and to the.other part, Infallible Damnation! and with Arminius, ‘Wesley restricted the benefit of the Atone- ment from Papists professing obedience to the decrees of the Council of Trent (which began 1515, ended 1563), and to the Bishop of Rome as their supreme Pastor‘. in his second article—called sublapsarian, as made after the fall, sub under, and lapsus the fall. Arminius sepa- rated from Calvin in 1590. -* See note b, p. 15. ® Read Father O’Leary’s Reiouat of Wesley’s Into- ‘erant Spirit against Roman Catholic Christians. Father O’Leary was ‘a companion of the Monks of the Serew, a society of the choicest spirits in the Irish Metro- . polis that were never to be broken up; and took the name from the Screw of the Dented Wheel, that may be turned ‘for ever without coming to its end. 20 Christians of the Established) Church con sider on the contrary, that Christ, the Lord of life, is willing to extend Salvation, from the beginning to the end ofthe world—to all who seek it through the — Tint Nee have. Were this indeed not to be the case, the greater part of mankind would fail of it! Who hath presumption to say, that after God be- stowed his own free gift, Eternal Life through Jesus Christ, as the distinguishing mark of forgiveness between himself and human na- ture; the pure in heart and the improver of his talents shall not see him: or that the compassion and generosity of the unenligh- tened Heathen are but as so many sins, and all such works done by him have-that nature ? God hath not so much as declared damna- He was impressed with the most liberal sentiments— he urged his own communion to a disposition of peace ; and to support the law that had sentenced him, to trans- portation for religious distinction. — ys lai It appears by a passage in Arminius’s Will, 1669, that his design was to bring about a brotherly communion of all Sects of Christians except Papists. 6) Episcopius his cotemporary, drew up after his decease, a confession of ‘faith conforming to this design, which Arminians mostly comply with. ) Pra nin ‘ 21 tion in any place of Scripture to those who do not perceive themselves to be in a federal state. The mutual stipulation between Christ and himself relating to the Redemption of sinners, of the whole human race in the fall of Adam, was contrary to it. | The Covenant of Redemption was to shew, that all mankind should finally be saved and restored to happiness; that He requireth no better proof to make the Idiot, the unbap- tized Infant, the Gentile, or the Arctic High- lander, righteous before Him, than He per- mits them hitherto for wise purposes to pos- sess. It was to shew, that God is no re- specter of persons ; that the wicked Gentiles would be condemned by the law written in their hearts ; and the Jews by thew written law. ? If unenlightened Heathens have not. the actual Grace of God, they have, under their impaired state of nature, an habitual Grace through the Covenant of Redemption to ac- company their free will; whereby their ac-— tions are morally good or bad. God approved _ of the piety of Cornelius the Gentile, and ordered him to send for Simon Peter, who would acquaint him with the means of Salva- 22 tion: and to the lawyer he saith, Go and do thou like the Samaritan Jew, of pagan extrac- tion. God is not the God of the Jews only ; but, of the Gentiles also, Romans, chap. ii. verse 29. Though Christians are commanded to be- lieve with all their heart, and confess with their mouth, and not be ashamed of Christ in this world, lest he should be ashamed of them when he cometh in the Glory of ‘his Father ; yet they are no where permitted-to declare the damnation of any; nor so much as forbidden to hope—that God will com- passionate all who are engaged in false Reli- gions. God is not unrighteous, to forget any one’s labour of love; but considereth :that labour—an action—not to be lost in his sight. The 13th article, on works before Justifica- tion, ‘that are said not to be pleasant:to him, ‘by no means contradicteth the assertion. (See Obs..on Art. 13.) However Whitfieldian and Wesleyan. aaetis may differ on Election, Reprobation, and final Perseverance, they regard the Toleration Act im the same manner; not so much, as a:per- _ mission that government hath a control over; as a permission to exercise their own religious ~ 2S tenets unmolested ; and to make Proselytes from the Established Church, to undermine, in every possible way, a- Constitution that hath rendered us an happy and an envied people for ages. : Wesley's American Liturgy’, his own ordination as a Bishop, though a regular Clergyman of the Church of England, by Erasmus, the Arminian Patriarch,—Bishop of Smyrna, that he might ordain Bishops and Elders, and his congratulatory letter to the Americans, fully shew his zeal. He exhorts them in one of his letters, to stand fast m that liberty with which God had freed them from regal authority, and the Hierarchy con- nected. with it. What claims our attention in the next place, are the Evangelical Methodists, or, ‘as » The Independents, in the distracted times of Charles the First, discarded the Book of Common Prayer, the _ Rebel Parliament called it in. These Independents were called Puritans in the latter ‘part of Elizabeth’s Reign from objecting to an Hierarchy. And in a more early part of the same Reign bore the name of Precisians. - ** Wesley 1785 disfigured the Liturgy: cast off 34 ‘Psalms: ‘mutilated “61: altered 55.” See Dr. Nott’s Bampton Lectures. Pageil53. ; 24 they denominate themselves, the Moderate’ Calvinists of 1776, and fromthem was formed) im 1797, the new Methodist connexion—Kil¥ hamites and Bible Christians—professing’ ‘a popular government of minister and people, under yearly meetings, composed of itinerant preachers, instead of the Wesleyan Hierarehiy : agreeing with Evangelical Methodists, that all the mischief to Christianity arises from preachers not setting forth its peculiar doc- trines, and the literal sense of all the articles; without the smallest latitude 2 foro con- scientie for the zra they were framed inj; or, considering what were the sentiments of the Greek, Latin, and Wetter? or netnnnen Churches at the time’. hyd Tiga payy So rigid an interpretation. serveth to. searify the souls of hearers into servile superstition and obedience to teachers, widely different from gospel or rational piety; and alienateth the mind from the government and protest- antism of these dominions. They will ‘ell you, that you must look up with joy tothe transfer of Transgression, and the’ oe i The Latin Church divided about. the spe 1510: tho one part retained the name of the Latin Church ; and the other took that of the Western, or Reformed Church. : 25 efficacy ‘of the Blood of Jesus on the consci- ence, in taking away a sense of guilt: and you'‘may then claim the reward of virtue, through the righteousness that is in Christ Jesus, without attending to the nature of virtue and’ vice in yourselves: just as if ac- tions were ‘entirely inefficient to produce any blessings whatever through the mediation of. Jesus Christ. © To rest indolently on the merits of a sisi without your own co-operations is a reverie only, or the loose musing of a fanatic, destruc- tive of every amiable principle in the heart of man. Bad men embrace the doctrine to free themselves, as they fancy, from personal responsibility. Preachers preserve it, from the power it gives them over their followers ; and use it, as Catholic Priests do St. Peter's key, to open Christ’s mexhaustible treasury of merits, when they think proper to sprinkle his Blood on the consciences of their flock... . Among the sincere Clergy of the Establish- ment, the strictest union is necessary in the present day. It is their bounden duty not to forsake the old Gospel, nor the moral law contained in it; but to preach that God is righteous, and that every one that doeth + os — 26 righteousness is born of God—hathvhis,mexey, stretched out to him‘. + inidiederi enn Mysteries may,exist on the incommunicable attributes of the Deity ; but on moral matters, on God's federal dealings with,us, jit is:con* trary to his nature to have any, mystery)to oppose the clearest notions. of justice ,and goodness; so that our own endeavours.appear necessary to obtain the favour of our Heavenly. Father through the merits and mediation’ of his Son. se Our blessed Lord’s Pesan on the mount distinctly informeth us of this truth. Your idea of being unprofitable servants to yours selves, after you have done all you can towards working out your own Salvation, is entirely, groundless. The expression of unprofitable servants hath respect to God only—that as * See Bishop Burnet’s explanation of the 18th Article; «It is for us to take care not to come into conde ation rather than to define positively, who must or must not be i condemned.” 'To obviate divisions, in the éarly days of the Reformatiqn, it was asserted as a doctrine, in Edward the Sixth’s reign, 1548, that no Heathen, how wirtuons soever, could escape an endless state of the most exqnisite misery ; nor any who presumed to maintain that a Pag: gan ean possibly be saved, but was himself gaia - to the penalty of eternal perdition. ita LOR Tes 2 God is all perfect. in ‘himself, your services cannot profit Him. If you wish to take refuge in a Redeattiens you are'to conform to all the moral duties of the Decalogue: and your righteousness must exceed’ that of Scribes and Pharisees, as to judgment, mercy, and the love of God: call- ing him Lord, Lord, Abba, Father, will in no wise profit you, if you do not the things that Hesaith you ought, and that He commands you to do. The things are compendiously set)forth in our Church Catechism—you are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and your neighbour as yourself; and then will God’s love be perfected in _— selves. Such good works shew the truth of faith, as St. James expresses it in his 17th verse of his 2nd chapter of his General Epistle to the dispersed Jews throughout the world, “ faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone ;” and, as St. Paul hath it, in his Ist verse of his 10th chapter to the Romans, “ I beseech you, that you present your bodies, an holy sacrifice acceptable to God.” | Abraham's faith, his reason devoted to God's peniaes was counted for righteousness. c2 28 - St..Paul‘and St: James “have equally!ire- quired evangelical obedience to Gospelprin= ciples. St. Paul’s Epistle to the’ Saints ‘ at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ» Jesus; throughout all Asia, was written ‘solely sto admonish them not to mix Judaism, thelaw of Moses, as to rights and ceremonial*works, such as the Jews boasted of and instituted merely as bars and obstructions to the idola- trous customs of surrounding’ nations,“with his interpretation of the Decalogue: notte mix the merit of such good works, as are!the legal ordinances, with the fruits of the Spirit: By'the latter, they would be accounted. tigh+ teous before God; and the former would give them not any right to his favour.” »ovlee -° The Prophet Isaiah saith, “'Thow meetest him, O God, that worketh righteousness, and, who remembereth thee in thy ways?” »y When Zion and Jerusalem, denominated the faithful cities, left off calling upon the name.ofithe Lord, their righteousness faded away. # The Pharisees were not put among» the Velect through prayers, ceremonials,)and) Jewish works. ‘The fruit of the Spirit’s ordinary and assisting operation was wanting, love of God: joy in a Redeemer: peace among men: long. (29 suffering, gentleness, faith, meekness, and temperance. Without lives conformable to the laws of the) Gospel, no faith can justify or deliver from sin, any who have been bap- tized:and brought up in the Christian Reli- gion: the answer is recorded “ Depart from me, for I know you not.” Notwithstanding St. Paul throughout his Epistles reecommend- eth the breast-plate of righteousness to be _ put on} and in his sixth chapter to the Ephe- sians particular duties to be performed ;' and charity, unity, and good works in the preced- ing chapters of the same Epistle ; Methodists in general set forth from apart of the eighth verse of his second chapter, that “ - grace, ye are saved through faith.” Where, on the contrary, sincere Christians are not permitted to move from the hope of the Gospel, which is by works of righteous- ness, Colossians, chap. i. verse 23, they are created anew in Christ Jesus, and put into a better way of Salvation; though not put, I would have it observed, into that complete Salvation, such as Christians may hope to be partakers of in heaven. \Yet they are by such grace, by such embracing the Gospel, put into a way, that will lead them, at) the Day 30 of Judgment, to glory, honour, amumares tality. cnren3 With this grace, St. Paul, through an extra- ordinary descent of the Holy Spirit bestowed upon himself when Christ ascended up on high, concurred and co-operated—he endured hardships: kept the faith : and did the work of an Evangelist, till Nero beheaded him, in his 68th year. Before his departure, he wrote to Timothy, to perfect the work of the Ministry, for which he was ready to offer — himself a Martyr: and saith to him, “ As my course is nearly finished, I may be confident there is laid up for me a crown of righteous- ness, a recompense that the righteous Judge will give me at the Day of Judgment: and not to me only, but to all who have loved his appearing, and have suffered, as I am about to do, for his sake.” To secure then the approbation of that Being unto whom mercy belongs, ‘you must do all things through the strength of Christ, which will imply it to be your owmact; and that you work out your own Salvation, though God worketh in you to will and to do; and according to your work, your Redeemer will render unto you, when he cometh in the =) | glory of his: Father! tyee Observation on Ar- ticle xi.) » To that time pasties and condemnation hath a reference: justification, by that Arti- cle,,is being accounted righteous before God, being delivered from guilt. Should no fruit be shewn, the tree will be cast into the fire— be under condemnation. Literal interpreters of the Articles sadly discredit their understandings when they say —that the true pain of hell is the pain of burning ; notwithstanding Scripture uses the representation, as if it were free from fire itself. The English or rather Saxon word—hell—in the New Testament translation, and not re- ferring to the Day of Judgment, hath the same meaning as the Greek and Hebrew words—Hades and Scheol—the invisible re- gion of departed spirits, “ He descended into hell,” he descended into the region of de- parted souls, Acts, chap. i. verse 27, “ Be- cause thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption :’ again, in the 31st. verse, “ He, secing this before, spake of the Resur- rection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither -his flesh. did see corruption :” 32 and with the same signification, mention is made of the word—hell—Psalm exxxix. vers75 “If I climb up into heaven, thou art there; if I go down to hell, thou art there also.) joj But when the word is spoken of as/having respect to the Day of Judgment, also—Hades and Scheol—it is to express the imvisible re- gion of the damned. Matthew, chap: xvi: verse 18, ‘‘ AndI say unto thee, that:thou art Peter’—feed my sheep—‘ and upon ‘this rock”—the Christian faith—* will I build my Church ; and the gates of hell shall not pre- vail against it.” And again, 2 Peter, chap. i, verse 4, “ For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them unto chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” net kate . Heaven is made use of to express| the place of the blessed, as it respects the Day of Judg- ment. Mark, chap. xvi. verse 19, “So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.” Again, in Hebrews, chap. ix. verse 24, “ For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are. the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” ), 33 » Hence, instead of the:pain of burning, itis more reasonable to suppose the punishment of the damned. to be a departure from God’s presence and from the glory of his power: and as/every one must appear to receive the things done in his body, it naturally produces in the bad bitter reflections on past guilt—that they are without God’s favour: banished from the mansions of the blessed : and deprived of the most exalted honours that human nature was ever supposed capable of attaining to inva future life. » The true old Gospel faith in Christ Jesus ‘‘is,the-form of sound words,’ 2nd Timothy, chap. i. verse 13: which directeth the good man to look back to the whole progress of Redemption, to fill him with gratitude to God and with a love of him ; and to look forward at the same time to whatever belongeth to his future state—to unite it with trust and hope. «To this faith St. Peter brought three thou- sand persons: and five thousand more were added. to it, when Peter and.John healed. The Faith here spoken of implieth a Belief—that God.will.as certainly, through his mercy, par- don the penitent sinner, as he will through his justice, find out the wilfully wicked : and that 34 he accepteth all mankind into-his holy Reli- gion sincerely embracing it. © snore) owner As soon as the heart of the penitent: thief on the cross relented, an assurance® of ‘mercy was held out : he thereby acknowledged Jesus Christ—the Saviour of the World—and felt himself a Christian: he cried out; Lord, re- member me when thou comest into thy king- dom. “ To-day,’ replied Jesus, “shalt thou be with me in Paradise.” Thus he: justifies this penitent and adopts him, and he walks in his uprightness. How inexpressibly dreadful at vile same moment, appears the state of the other male- factor who railed against Christ ! he had no- thing within him to lighten a mind laden with guilt and the dread of an incensed’ Deity. Nothing to save in the very jaws of rum cua a miracle of grace ! rh ih And now let every one’s own conscience tell him, what less risk do they run, who with faith pursue a wicked course of life. \ With- out a detestation of sin there can be no true faith. eth . John Agricola, the cotcnipinally of Calvin, wkd disciple of Luther’ founded the Antino- J See’ Note bi p19. i 35 mian sect, in 1538, and gave out that men’s works, springing out of a lively faith in Christ Jesus, do not promote their Salvation, nor ill ones hinder it: and that the Deca- logue hath not any thing to do with ancneee ance, but the Gospel only. But what hath our blessed Saviour said, whosoever shall break one of the least of the Commandments, however highly he may value himself, shall be cailed the least in the kingdom of heaven. When the Son of Man cometh to judge the world, the great inquiry will be, how a man hath lived? what good he hath done? that God may render unto every one according to their good or bad actions. Without therefore that universal holiness, and life of obedience, which is re- quired of Christians ; not any faith can justify in the sight of God; or, avail to save an Antinomian Methodist ! ‘Under the Patriarchal economy, the body and soul of Enoch, who walked with God, was translated and did not see death— for God took him: under the legal, of Elijah ; and under the Evangelical, of Jesus Christ, who went about doing good: and if Adam, under a covenant of free beneficence, 36 z “ that man should not be subject'toideath;jaf he kept his sensitive part subject)to hiswra- tional,” had not disobeyed that covenant; he | would have been translated or continued eternally on earth, and would not have stood in need of the covenant of Redemption. ©» Obedience was the condition to man in his state of integrity ; which on the tenth day, of the world’s age, Adam transgressed,) in) the Garden of Paradise, the type of heaven;/in the land of Eden: he ate of the tree of know- ledge which was only to have been dispensed to him through obedience and prayer... God therefore, who had shewn him singular kind- ness in conducting him into the garden»to name all creatures through Divine illumina- tion, or the image of God in him, speaks! to another self, and: with the Almighty Spirit _ equal to and. co-eternal with» both: which was the second manifestation of the blessed Trinity, “ Let us send him forth to till the, ground from whence he was taken.” And God: sent him forth to where he was first formed): deprived of a translated life and. of his super natural grace : and placed east of the garden’ Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turn- eth every way to keep the way of the tree of 37 life: that no one might possess immortality contrary to the will of God. He was returned to his created: state ‘to till that ground from whence he was taken: to a state in which natural evil, pain, death, and the like, is un- avoidable : and in which moral evil, or actual sin, is the abuse of that liberty or free will God had given man for perfection. » The first moral evil was the disobedience of Adam through the tempter’s suggestions : his obstinacy alone was to be blamed, and not the insufficiency of Divine assistance. Earth felt that human nature had lost the intended re- ward of translation or immortality on earth: the heavens and the elements underwent many alterations: Genesis, chap. 1. verses 17 and 18,“ Cursed is the ground for thy sake ; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.” ' God however, perceiving the contrite hearts of our first parents and the humble confession of their faults, received the intercession of his Son for them, and checked the boasted con- quest of Satan. Michael is sent to foretell a final victory over Sin and Death, and to re- comfort them with the promise of a Messiah, who should redeem and save all mankind : 38 “I will put enmity betweenthee and the woman, and between thy seed:and her seed::”, “it shall bruise thy head, and) thou shalt bruise his heel.” Genesis, chapsiiverse 15z The Heir of both Worlds restored our first: parents to much of the Divine image, ‘under= standing, and will, and the intended transla= tion or immortality on earth, and the useful- ness of their bodies, which was given them at the first under a created state. The serpent alone was left the monument, of man’s un- happy fate: unto the serpent the Lord said, “ Thou art cursed-above all cattle, wpon thy belly shalt thou go’—no longer shalt thou be a flying fiery serpent, with flaming: wings of angelic brightness. ealled Seraphim, “ Dust: shalt thou eat all the days of thy life :” which denotes Satan the great offender; and that God will again graciously accept mankind who live up to the light they enjoy—that all may come to know Him, from the least to'the most enlightened. y aiasee Were you to derive moral evil fromamme- diate progenitors, rather than from a ‘perver- sion of that liberty God hath given*man or: his perfection ; the moral evil must beim the infant soul before everit sees the light by graft. 39 —+ex traduce. ‘Consequently, every developed emanation that cometh from that mfant must bedefiled : which is ‘a doctrine nothing ‘short of a Deist or Free-Thinker—that God no ways concerneth himself about what he hath once created: or else it implieth that the Author of Life and every communicable at- tribute, when he commandeth the existence of a soul, is the author of every sin in that soul; either of which suggestions, attempted to be investigated, would be little short of madness; and at the best could serve only to weaken the sinews of Religion. » Having expressed myself freely as to the doctrines of others, in several of the preceding and many of the following pages of this tract, it’ seemeth ‘necessary that I should not with- hold from them in this place my sense of the ninth Article of the Established Church, on which her members have diversities of opinion: Even her soundest members, who are com- petent to instruct others, and very properly disallow the total corruption of human nature, I must candidly acknowledge to them, ap- proach in my mind so closely the ‘literal Evangelical interpreters, as to lose sight of the intended sense of'the Article; and that 2 40 to free themselves from blame as;to the in- terpretation they put upon it; say+they,still feel themselves objects of the regard. of their compassionate Creator; which I) sincerely — hope for them is the case, and quite,assmuch as they can wish it for themselves. ino0) oom They insist through the words of the Article and a similar expression in the Church, Cate- chism, “ That all mankind are really and truly. born in sin, with vicious inclinations. and. minds prone to evil more than to good.” ») .; It is the duty of every Minister of the Esta- blished Church to give a reason of the hope that is in him, and to satisfy his adversaries of the truth of what he hath sworn to. »-On'this ground, I have considered it proper to, de- vote my thoughts to an Article, thatvallits members have not been of one mind) upon and most earnestly trust that the following view of it will accord better with Scripture and common sense, and be more strictly the plain and the designed doctrine of the'Esta~ blished Church, than any other ihterpreta+ tion hitherto given—that not only its sound: est members may in future: approve of ‘the inquiry, but that those who- have long cla moured against its doubtful interpretations, 41 “To, bring us into bondage,” Galatians, chap. li. verse 4, may: themselves receive it with pleasure. , » My Reader must rae excuse me ‘canines ing him of a story in the Pantheon—of the woman made by Vulcan, who carried to Ju- piter the good gifts sent him by the Heathen Gods. By his order she took them in a box to Prometheus, who, on opening it, which he was not to have done, brought forth. evil. This circumstance I merely mention, to. shew that we may learn. from heathen story that good was meant for man: but. abusing the good, produced the moral evil: and shall now bring you to a closer consideration of the subject, and give you afterwards what appears to my mind, the , plain Scriptural sense of the Article; and such as I con- ceive was really intended by the. framers of it. To this end it is necessary to notice a fv shh such as, that the matter that forms our bodies, produced between different sexes, denominated. engendered, from the French word, engendrer, being inert, as all matter is, can only be made to think and become spirit, when God gives the command. D 42 If, utider such a change of ‘matter’ into spirit i in an engendered person from Adam, he is to be immediately born in sin, that is, born with a mind developing vicious melinations, and more prone to what is evil than to good; more of the former than the latter: it natu- rally follows that the life bestowed, on what was inert matter before, maketh God the aus thor of evil ! sialahadsiasin’ Sound members of the Church of Biv ih disallowing the total corruption of human nature, ghoul be careful to avoid an opinion équally dangerous! When Scylla is to be shunned, the gulf of Charybdis should ripen less 80! “AN Under the total corruption of human na- ture, theré cannot be any moral good: under the milder view of it not any ean be ‘dis? covered ; when the good is made negative and the moral evil positive: the former mimus, the latter plus ; God is made out equally the author of evil ! a RS Whereas the moral evil that every mati hath to correct, is his own perverted ' free will. Should his endeavours after holiness have pleased God, he will, when he comes to die, enter at the last day mto his eternal 43 joy ‘through the: merits = a estis VOhrist’ his Redeemer 9 9 © woe white 'God’s supreme woiaslowts hath oie from the véry’ beginning of ‘the world, to d6 good'to man; his communicated ‘attributes weére"all given to make’ him happy’ original fighteotisness consisted in their due exercise; and Adam not improving that particular at+ tribute of understanding—that talent—in the way that God intended, through obedience and prayer, was the sin or moral ‘evil’ first committéd in the world, since styled the ori- ginal or birth sin of human nature : the plain meaning of which I propose to give in the fol- lowing paraphrase and the two or three pages subsequent GT TET Heres any » Original’sin is not the sin advelapeathe the _ birth of every individual, nor is it’ a sin that hath any thing to do with Pelagian doctrine, as’ Consisting 1 in imitatione Adami, it is the moral evil of Adam, his disobedience, a per- version of free will that brought on human lature’ God’s displeasure and condemnation : the ap of ‘translation, or an sit on earth. With the eaiainilin of the covenant of free beneficence broken, she was returned to her D 2 44 ereated state“ Thou shalt surely die”—thou shalt be left without an hope of immortality on earth, or of translation, Genesis, chap ili. vy. 17, till God, who we know is love,.recom- forted Adam through the covenant.of Re- demption—that every man, naturally engen- dered from him, might be put again im a way of Salvation, “ Cujuslibet hominis, ex Adamo, naturaliter propagati,” produced between dif- ferent sexes according to nature; but not pro- pagated in the course of nature, as that. would imply rather a springing forth like a shoot from a plant, or from seed:dropped by charice on the ground; which would, tear aeander every thing sacred. Fira The expression—naturaliter propagati—na- turally engendered, used in this article; is to distinguish it from—super naturee vires—su pernaturally : as when the angel Gabriel came to the mother of the Messias and said, “ Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord. is with thee, blessed art thou among women— the power of the highest shall overshadow thee, and thou shalt conceive and bring forth a son, that shall be called the Son of God :” and be named—Jesus—that seal the Sa- viour of the. world. : yr som tbad onbaeettivd 45 x ceThose therefore who have not known ariy higher degree of Grace or gift than the com= mon Grace given them under their created and free state, that 1s, who have not come to the knowledge that their animal spirits after the fall were blessed through the covenant of Redemption with a fresh help to excite principles of holiness in them, will have Sal- vation through such redeeming covenant. “If the uncircumcision keep the righteousness‘of the law, shall not his uncircumcision “bé eounted for circumcision; and if that, which is by nature, fulfil the law, shall it not judge thee, who, by the letter and circumcision, doth transgress the law ?” Romans, chap. i. verse 26. (See Observation on Article x.) We ourselves, though under the covenant of Grace, are born with the like impaired na- ture: and are as much gone from original righteousness as the Heathen or the Jew: and, with powers as little capable of arriving at-perfection from the same cause, feel equially the displeasure of God. © old dl oa communicated attributes are ileal 3 ma = With ‘the. state of Halure “impaired. through Adam's transgression, far - -pteater exertions of the animal spirits on the brain, and more unremitting; ‘are wedessary to pros 46 the exertion of our animal spirits on the mind is diminished: and the whole frame, so-im¢ paired—that the power over cembaiiomtionn, wy ayty,; fogs Christianity, and obtain the blessings of grace, th than of redemption alone: by reason that at the fall’ all o communicated “attributes were made sorrowful, ‘were grieved; the 30th verse, 4th chapter of St. Paul.to the Ephesians, presents the word grieve im the SAMO, SENSE, “Grieve not the holy Spirit of God,” make itn not sor- rowful: - ~The reasonable soul and flesh were sirpndantonas quently exertions for the end proposed must/be increased 3 greater for baptism, than forredemption alone. __ -_ Those who have sought out the blessings of the cove~ nant of grace, will hear at the Day of Judgment this cheering sentence, ‘“‘ Come, ye blessed children of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world.” BP omey On the contrary, those, who have slighted that eove- nant, or even that of redemption, or have fallen off wt either of them, will hear this awful sentence, “ Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the deyil and his angels ;” into sufferings, that have no parallel, — to awaken them to a repentance that finally. may save their souls, Such the decree of the Eternal appeareth to ob ‘Baia the righteous and toward the wicked: such his unehange- able purpose. 442 it After deliberating what is best fas his creatures, he de- creeth, through an act of his will, that not to!be certain, but contingent, which he thinketh most suiting to beso. ! - Prom death to judgment we can readily agrée* with 47 to keep them in subjection to the law of God, is less in us, than we should otherwise have partaken of. Nature, consequently, i in the regenerated, is alike said to remain impaired, as in an Hea- then oraJew. And this is a state some have so little examined into, as to expound it in- considerately into the wisdom, sensuality, af- fection, the desires of the flesh: others, to call it @odvypa capKoc, as if all their moral evil was from their progenitors. Where, on the contrary, the want of righ- teousness under the covenant of Grace ariseth solely from not possessing in the same high degree those powers to exercise reason and holiness after the fall, after an impaired state, that man was at first created with. “ There is none righteous, no not one.’” Bishop Horsley—that man’s condition is irreversibie: but, no further. | It is presumption in us to set bounds tc the power of the Almighty ; or, attempt to stay his eternal purpose proposed in Christ Jesus—to save: his mercy is everlast- ing: and finally he may take pity on every soul, by his word and spirit, whose existence was not below him to command. Terrors may, after judgment, bring the wicked to ery out through the Holy Ghost—that- Jesus is the Lord: and angels in heayen announce the repentance. 48 Greater difficulties are therefore to be en« countered in order to Baptism, than those that accompany human nature generally, whether in the Heathen, or in the Jew. : The perversion of our free will is tobe wholly subdued : and regeneration is to take place; which, besides faith, includes repent- ance of moral transgressions, of our sins, of our disobedience to God: “ By Baptism we are buried with him into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the. glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” And with this as- sistance the true Christian is fully and better enabled to conflict with the world, the flesh, and the devil, and to escape’ condemnation at the Day of Judgment, than either an Hea- then or a Jew. ‘“ By the righteousness of one who was delivered for our offences, the free gift came on all men believing in’ him unto justification of life.” _ Let us humbly then leashed God by his special grace to put into our minds good de- sires: and bring them, by his continual help, to good effect through Jesus Christ: that ac- tual transgressions, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affections, evil concupiscence and 49 covetousness, which is idolatry, that have the nature of sin—of wang ~~ not —_ down his displeasure upon us. The above paraphrase accompanied with the two or three following pages, I earnestly hope will most fully convince you, that the sense of the Article we have been considering should not have consisted in making the in- fant life that God commands, that God wills to be born, to be born in sin with vicious in- clinations, and minds more prone to evil than to good; and then to remedy such an opinion, saying we are still objects’ of his compassion- ate regard. ~ '-To be by nature really born in the sin of iain is actually to be born under a nature that his original sin of disobedience still im- paireth beyond all hope of translation—“ he shall die’—which is by no means the case under the covenant of Redemption : that co- venant recomforted human nature generally, and in such a manner that her animal spirits, that the blood is the vehicle of, by greater exertions, could again operate sufficiently on the brain, as an mstrument, to excite afresh the thinking principle in the soul—the power ’ of perceiving, judging, reasoning; so that Jew 50 or Gentile, who hath not a competent know- ledge of the foederal state may arrive at an holiness that will exempt from condemnation through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ. Of infants in general, Christ himself : poser they have an innocency again im their na- ture, such as inhabitants in heaven partake of: as well those exempted from the loss of translation through the covenant of Re- demption—a tacit or express stipulation be- tween Christ.and the Father: as, from the sin of Adam through the covenant made be- tween God and those who believe the Gospel ——subjection on the one part and acceptance on the other. be _. And the exertions of Gentiles, Jews, a Christians after holiness as they grow up, will secure to them approbation: and different, degrees of glory will be bestowed through the different exertions of each—Infant Gen- tiles to fulfil the law under the ,covenant of Redemption, have the benefit of that stipula- tion, to assist them: to the Jews, the further, help is from the law being written: and, to the Christian, buried with Christ by Baptism, and its qualifications, repentance and faith, is 51 by such increased assistance to walk in new- ness, of life. — bated . Hence, it follows. that every man’s own poset of his liberty, of his moral sense, whether Gentile, Jew, or Christian, as it now exists. m his nature for pefection, is, that, which will bring him under condemnation. “Let no man say, when he is tempted, 1 am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: but every man is tempted when heris drawn away. of his own lusts and enticed.” . The ;Paschal Lamb took our wicitiat im- hema through Adam into a strict union with the Divine for the sake of human. nature ge- nerally, “ Perfect God and perfect. man ofa reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting,’ to offer it a sacrifice—that, after the fall, dis- obedince should at no time return her to-a mere created state, to corruptibility—in other words, that no moral evil should ever. bring her a second time subject to it. _ By violating of the first covenant—that of free beneficence, or as it is oftentimes called, the covenant of Justice—she was under death: by that of Redemption, she was to live again: and by that of Grace.she is made a partaker 52 of Christ’s nature and Spirit : “He died tinto _ sin once; but in that he liveth, he liveth ‘unto God.” Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin; but alive unto God through Jesus Christ—when your ‘own sor- row hath wrought in you such a conviction of the evil of a sinful course, as is ‘sufficient ‘to produce shame, and effectual resolutions of amendment. od Such will ever remain the benefit t of Christ's meritorious death! And Genesis, chap. iii? verse 16, “Unto the woman he said, in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children,” and the 19th verse, “ Unto Adam he said, in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,” are left on re= cord to humble and to shew human nature,’ that no abused free will shall ever go un+ punished : that “those who will not have the Spirit of Christ will be none ‘of his,” that isy will not have the benefit of the covenant of grace: and that the virtuous Heathen, fron‘ the East and from the West, shall sit’ down'if: preference in the kingdom of God through’ the covenant of Redemption or tacit’ stipula-! tion between God and Christ, previous to any mediatorial act of his, 9998 OF) No Doves ~ It is not forme to point out who among you 53 7 have that Spirit of Christ, or who are without it’.or who of you are, or who are not to be cast. out at the Day of Judgment. “ With what judgment we judge, we shall be judged.” Rash judgment of others renders us obnoxious to condemnation from God. » If you really wish to be told such falla- cies in order to. give credit to them, and to build your expectation of heaven on the tot- tering foundation, go to those Teachers among yourselves, who have vanity to declare such uncertainties: to those, I mean, who have already given out, in the pride of their own, hearts, that they are supernaturally elected, or so miraculously illuminated with the Holy Spirit of God, as to be in full bese session of the faith of assurance. It. is much more my duty to tell you that such supernatural gifts were withdrawn when the covenant of Grace commenced, and that it is of far greater consequence to your souls in the present moment, to fix your minds on what the Gospel in the clearest manner in- forms you of—that sin only will be punished, every man’s own moral evil; and himself be saved on the account and in consideration of 54 the death of Christ, who suffered all the eomi- forts that had filled his own’Soul tobe with! held when he gave up that lifé—that your endeavours after holiness, after an upright fature, might through him, as —— all times effectual with God.) ~ Should, therefore, guilty’ ola be’ found among you ‘at the last day that have ‘not worked out their Salvation, haters “of God and despisers of his goodness, they will be separated from their Saviour—after judgment SEE TY OD TP Pretenders to the Holy Spirit of’ ‘God; to favour their own heated imaginations ‘and wi enthusiasm, take for granted. through a reli- gious transport—that they have receivéd their instantaneous ‘conversion, and such ‘sensible tokens of acceptance through that Holy Spit 55 fit, as satisfies them that their sins are par- doneéd, aid all they do is by the power of that Spirit they are impressed with. - Consequently, that they are under an hol ness, a sinless perfection, an impeccability, an exemption from fault, and have no further trespasses to ask ravens of God for— * From such turn away.’ | - ‘Nadab and Abilu, two elder sons of Aaron, through self-assurance, offered strange fire to consecrate themselves to the Priesthood : and the Lord sent forth his fire to destroy them: and their younger brother Eleazar was succes- Sor to the dignity of his father. The hand of the Lord was on Elymas—a mist and a darkness. The evil spirit said to Sceva’s sons, the Exorcist, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye ? and leaped on them, over- came them, and prevailed against them. The fall of the traitor Judas, who was both called and chosen as an Apostle, should check the presumption of every frail disciple of Jesus Christ, that he is assured of his reward. An assured confidence is not required by Christ... The best assurance that any one‘can have of his interést ‘in God is, doubtless, the conformity of his soul to God: He who is 56 truly born of God, regenerated by Divine Grace, (see the latter part of an Observation on Article xxvii.) patneally practises righte- ousness, “ and cannot sin :” Ist J ohn, chap. il. verse 9: he hath in himself so strong a, disin- clination, an unwillingness to sin, impressed upon him. The word—cannot—is thus qua- lified in many other passages of Scripture; Numbers, chap. xxi. verse 18: Nehemiah, ch. vi. verse 3: Luke, chap. xu. verse 33: Hebrews, chap. ix. verse 5. He is alone,the real Christian, who daily improves im the practical habits of a good and an holy life; qui non habet vitam Christi, ‘Christum, non habet.. _ Let no Teacher in his phar state so o talk you out of your common understandings, as to fancy him or yourselves to be perfectly re- generated, elected to eternal mercy, . and incapable of decay: nor arrived at, sinless perfection through sudden impulses, feelings, experiences, or evidences of, she, shinings of God's, countenance. { poatebiveize Persons at the revival meetings at Notting- ham, among the Wesleyan Methodists, have pretended to be under the influence of reli- | gious frenzy ; and have occasioned by their 57 groanings most unaccountable confusion, till they have vainly given out “ that their God hath awakened them” by a sudden impression of his Holy Spirit: that they have felt his irresistible Grace, his Divine influence on their minds, to seal them unto final Salvation : in other words, that he hath pardoned their sins, and their eternal happiness is secure through Jesus Christ, and that they have— now—no condemnation. By this they make the word—now—to mean an instant pardon : a pardon no longer hoped for. Where, on the contrary, the word—now —relates to the fulness of time when corrup- tion was at its height : and God sent forth his Son to invite mankind to become joint heirs with him in the glory of God the Father, see St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, chap. viii. verse 1, to the Roman Jews, who were not - yet come to him who was to reveal the path of righteousness. There is—now—says St. Paul, from this time that Gospel light is come into the world, no condemnation, no sentence that dooms to punishment, at the last day, them, which are in Christ Jesus, “ who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” “ They are saved by E 58 hope. But hope that is seen is not hope: - for what aman seeth, why doth he yet hope for? They wait for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of their body ; they hope for that they see not, and with patience wait. faae Similar scenes are practised among the Jumpers of South Wales, and Ann Lease’s religious sect of Methodists at Massachusets in North America called Shakers: who dance, jump, scream, shudder as under an ague. Such sudden conversion to a state of Sal- vation hath a most doubtful appearance; is without modesty, without humility, and com- pletely destructive of morality. “J udge ye what I say, I speak to you : as unto wise men,” Ist Corinthians, chap. x. verse 15. “ Ifthey pray with the spirit they, must pray with the understanding also,” Ist Corinthians, chap. xiv. verse 15: they should bring down all their reasonings to the stan- dard of truth, namely, to common sense, as ~ no other reasoning can agree with Scripture. There is an influence of the Holy Spirit im- printed in every one to perfect imperceptibly, his endeavours after righteousness, if he doth not himself quench that influence. “ The Lord was said to harden the heart of Pharaoh :” 59 he didnot hinder him as a bad.man going on in his wickedness.,..When the Spirit of God was as,,a supernatural gift,on Sampson ; the Lord suffered a generation, who knew him not, to live promiscuously with Canaanites and to serve Baalim and the groves. A similar gift of the spirit of God was withdrawn from the young Prophet Joam from Judah, who re- proved Jeroboam: when Joam ate and drank, contrary to,God’s command, in the idolatrous place of Bethel, a lion slew him ; but. did not ~ eat,the carcase, nor kill the ass, whereon he rode—an evidence of God's abhorrence of idolatrous worship... And. if, like that young Prophet, we ourselves draw back, we shall die in the. sins that we have sinned. The just are to live by faith. Where there is true repentance and sincere obedience, the words of our Church Liturgy are. sufficiently encouraging to every one— that their sins will be forgiven—without seeking evidence through a fancied impulse, or shinings of God’s countenance, or feelings, or experiences :. “ When the wicked man turneth away from the wickedness that. he hath committed, and doeth that which is law- ful and. right, he shall saye his soul alive,” E 2 60 Ezekiel the Prophet, in these words exhorteth to holiness, chap. xviii. verse 27. oft The Almighty God goeth on to pronounce further, by the mouth of his Ministers, that he is not willing that any sinner should ever- lastingly perish: but rather, that he should live in eternal happiness, by endowing him- self with a stedfast belief and true repent- ance. It is highly becoming then that you follow the prayers of the Liturgy in heart and mind : and pray—that God would afford not only to yourselves, but to the whole congregation, the Grace of true repentance, and the assisting illumination of his Holy Spirit, to free them, as well as yourselves, from the pollutions of vice: that their souls, as well as your own, may shine forth through this life with such true Gospel purity and holiness, as will enter each of you at the last into the joy of God the Father, through the merits of Jesus Christ the Redeemer. Were I to attempt enumerating all the blessings of public prayer, my life would be insufficient to accomplish it: I shall there- fore only request your particular attention to a few thoughts on Baptism, arising in my 61 mind out of that impressive answer of our blessed Saviour to Nicodemus—“ He must be born of water and of the Spirit.” His words so nearly comprise the pre-requi- sites and rite contained in our form, such as, that an evil disposition must be subdued and the soul worked into an holy frame before the person is baptized into the Religion of Christ, that it is allowable for me to conclude the form resteth upon them. Our blessed Lord’s answer implieth three distinct operations through the same spirit, Conversion, Regeneration, and the Water or Washing of Regeneration—a visible and pub- lic rite and sign of the promise of grown per- sons, that they will walk answerably to their Christian calling: that they will mortify their evil and corrupt affections, and proceed daily in all virtue and godliness of living. By the 18th and 19th verses of chap. xxviii. of St. Matthew's Gospel, our Saviour appears to have enjoined his disciples and successors" « These words of St. Peter evince to Quakers, that the Baptism of Water is not to be excluded by the Baptism of the Spirit: and they also predicted the miraculous event fulfilled on the Apostles at Pentecost; which enabled them to communicate powers of baptizing to others, simi- lar to their own. 62 to make use of an initiatory rite among all nations, whether idolatrous or monotheistical, - Seventeen hundred years before, God consecrated Aaron by the hand of Moses: and after his decease re- ceived Eleazar his third son into the priesthood. we . At Pentecost the Apostles, when the. Spirit. of ‘God came upon them, admitted Bishops, with Presbyters and Deacons to the work of the ministry. And as God’s grace or gift is to them that do not ask amiss—Bishops by God’s efficacious presence, have. ever since continued to seek out faithful men to the like work as their Presbyters.and Deacons: thus we see an order sanctified, through the Apostles, by Christ’s buh « As the Father hath sent me, so send I you,” separated off for the edifying of his Church, that a door of licentiousness should not be open to every intruder to destroy the grace of unity in the Christian Priesthood. Let us therefore, my dear velghboue, acknowledge the necessity of this grace of unity and of sueh an instita- tion : and in times like the present, let us ery out with St, Peter in importunate prayer, *‘ Lord, save us, else we perish.” Let us humbly beseech him, who pardhased Yor himself an universal Church by the precious blood of his dear Son, mercifully to guide the Bishops, inspectors of his flock, that they may wisely make choice of fit persons to serve in the sacred ministry of his Church, and, to give his Grace and heavenly Benediction to those that shall be otdained— that they may in like manner by their lives and doctrine set forth his glory and forward the Salvation of < mien, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. 63 without respect to age, similar to the answer made to Nicodemus. The original commission to the eleven Apostles was, “To go and teach all nations to repent,” and to obtain by obedience and prayer such a lively faith through the same assisting spirit as was imparted to themselves : and when they had done this, to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost : that those nations might, after they had left them, be mindful that they were his disciples: and unto this commission the a were truly obedient. St. Paul, in his 3d verse of his 6th chapter to the Romans, saith, “ So many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus, were bap- tized into his death.” And it was the general opinion of the Fathers for ages—that chil- dren might partake of the same fcederal rite, ‘and walk in newness of life : till an heterodox one prevailed about the year 416; and was condemned in these words by the Canon ofa -Couneil, “ Whosoever shall deny that chil- “dren may be baptized as soon as they are born, let him be Anathema.” In consequence of this opinion, I propose making a few remarks by and by, on the pro- 9 64 priety of baptizing infants, and to confine myself at present to the interesting Baptisms of a few persons, particularly distingrimaliad 1 in the New Testament. i2a6. First, of St. Paul, who was converted to all the moral duties of the Decalogue® from being a destroyer of those who called on the name of Jesus—he spoke boldly in his name; ‘and repented that he had consented unto the death of Stephen. ged His repentance and faith were so complete —that he walked in the comfort of the Holy Spirit : and felt himself regenerated. As he was journeying towards Damascus, a light from heaven shone round about him: he fell to the earth and heard a voice, which said. to ° St. Paul, as a Pharisee, had failed in a duty of the decalogue that the Pharisees were strict observers of, namely, the sixth duty—he had consented to the death of Stephen, and had been a destroyer of those who called on the name of Jesus. — os 7 As soon then as he repented of all that he had done, he spoke boldly in that name: consequently, may with pro- priety be said to be converted afresh to the duty com- manded him as a Pharisee, in the first place ;, and in the next, to be regenerated with a Christian spirit—for he walked in the comfort of it; and renounced all extraor- dinary pretensions to any righteousness of his — as the Pharisees were accustomed to do. 65 him, “ Why persecutest thou me?” he had become a chosen vessel, and was three days without sight, till he received his Baptism through Ananias, at the command of the Lord ! , t St. Paul, of the tribe of Benjamin, and by profession a Pharisee, received his Washing of Regeneration in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: that it might be pub- licly known, that he was dead unto his former sins and born anew unto holiness, that is, that he had within himself the pre-requisites of such.a Christian Baptism — repentance whereby he had forsaken them, and faith whereby he believed the promises of God, made to him through his conformity to this Sacrament. The washing was after a custom of the. Jews, who used it to purify Heathens who.came over to their religion. Of Simon Magus, who had received the Washing of Regeneration, we read in the Acts of the Apostles, how he had fallen off from the benefit of having been publicly made a member of Christ : and how St. Paul exhorted him to pray—that the thoughts of his heart might be forgiven him. There is no mention in any part of the New 66 Testament, that after you have/béen baptized, you can be regenerated. It is evident fiom the nature of that Sacrament, that the Re- generation was previous to it; so much so, that infants are reminded by our Church as they grow up that their introduction into the Christian faith hath been through their sure- ties; “ By reason that of themselves, from their tender age, they could not believe the ft of God made to them in that Saera- ment.” Ministers only exhort you to pray, that you — might daily be renewed by the Holy Spirit of God: that you might repent: be converted and receive afresh the benefits of a Christian life. Our blessed Lord prayed for Peter, that his faith may not fail, St. Luke, chap. xxii. verse 33, “ And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” “ Turn thou us, O Lord, and so shall we be turned.” We ‘are all to the end of our lives to beseech’ God to bring us to a life of righteousness; St. Paul’s words to Simon Magus were, “ Re- ‘pent of thy wickedness, for I peré¢eive that thou art in the gall of bitterness and bi ‘of iniquity.” In the case of the Eunuch, who had die ; 67 chargé of all the treasures of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia, Philip by the Spirit of God said to him, if thou believest with all thine heart what thow art reading in thy chariot—* that Jesus is the Son of God”—thou mayest com- mand thy chariot to stand still. The Eunuch said—“ I believe’”—he felt himself both con- verted and regenerated; and descended with Philip into the water and was baptized, that is, received the washing of Regeneration. A baptismal Sacrament so worthily received must have a most wholesome effect. ' The same may be said of the Jailor at Philippi’ by St. Paul: and of Cornelius by St. _ Peter, who actually saw the Holy Spirit de- scending on him—a convincing proof of his conversion, repentance, and a lively faith. Can any forbid water, saith St. Peter, that he should not be baptized ? that the public mark of his Regeneration through the assisting Spi- rit should not be put upon him ? or that he should not publicly make known the:acknow- ledgment of faith in the Father, Son, and ‘Holy Spirit—that the Son of God hath died unto moral evil: and is born anew unto ho- liness ?. he ta P See note n. p. 61. 68 - Whitfieldians are unwilling to understand. this inward spiritual grace that—“ that which is born of the spirit is spirit :” neither would Wesley through twenty years consider himself renewed by a spiritual change, that is, not till he perceived an enthusiastic and instantane- ous impulse within—that would not suffer him afterward to view Conversion, Regeneration; and the Washing of Regeneration, as the né= cessary progress in himself or others to Bap- tism. He rested his knowledge on an osten= tatious confidence of intercourse with God : @ confidence, that the Church of England, that he had been baptized into, and ordaiaed to, never allowed of. " Under such equivocal feelings, pride in him soon outrun zeal. He sought Episcopacy, through Erasmus, an Armenian Bishop, at the very time he was writing congratulatory let- ters to the Americans—that they had freed themselves from regal Authority and the. Hierarchy connected with it. Had he as- sumed the rank of Presbyter only, he might have escaped this blemish, as the Church of Corinth and Philippi, a century later than St. Paul’s death, had no other governors. He afterward appointed lay-preachers: which 69 unavoidably occasioned the Church of Eng- — land to be shut against him. And from his persecution through life of the Roman Ca- tholics, the minds of many people doubted of his lively faith in God’s mercy through Christ. All I shall say upon it is this—that the in- ward effect of every one’s Baptism is to be made up by repentance: and that he gave out his renewal as instantaneous, and after this manner, “ He fell to the ground in agony, and rose with complacency.” The instantaneous renewal of the penitent thief upon the cross was widely different from Wesley’s: there was a preternatural observa- tion of our Saviour’s to the surrounding mul- titude that satisfied them he was converted, regenerated, and possessed of every pre-re- quisite for the Washing of Regeneration, had the time fecenisted te*: To-day shalt thee be with me in Paradise.” Sense and reason press far more seston and with greater propriety against Ministers. in the present day, officiating in the Established Church and publicly professing with their lips to regard Articles, Homilies, Liturgy, and Discipline; and administermg the Sacrament 70 of Infant Baptism on the Sundays, ‘while.on the week days they are troubling those very hearers with words subverting the»soul,. say- ing, that they do not believe that infants, at the ministration of Baptism, receive any spi- ritual regeneration at all! “ Suffer) little children to come unto me, (saith Christ,) and forbid them not ;’ for of such as. resemble them in innocency the Liner of God is composed. . waerKt. nas If children can be admitted ‘oto len dis- pensation of the Messias, by: consequence they may be baptized: and living as they grow up, like persons in covenant with God, will be accepted. any ‘God is mindful of every one’s ‘ial we love to him. Should therefore infants die, before they are of years to take upon themselves their sureties’ promises, that. labour will have a beneficial effect. The same may be ex- tended to private Baptism. If frends were even themselves unbaptized, who, by any chance, bring infants to public or: private Baptism, their labour will allow us to con- clude all is well done on their part toward them, “ Those, who are not. against Christ, are for him,” St. Mark, chap. ix. verse 40. By such Washing it is reasonable to conclude, ' that infants so brought to Baptism, under. the covenant of Grace, will be received into everlasting life through the merits of Christ : while infants and the Heathen world unbap- tized will receive their Salvation only through the covenant of Redemption made at the fall. an A remark in this place on the Baptism our Saviour, and the duty of the Officiating Minister and people at the Sacrament of Bap- tism, ordained by Christ, I trust, will not be thought unworthy your attention, as the con; clusive part to what I have advanced. on Re-: generation and Baptism. As children, by the Sacrament of Cireum- cision, were debtors to observe the whole law: so John, foretold by the Prophet as the mes- senger of Christ to prepare the way of the Lord, preached the Baptism of Repentance for the remission of sins : and baptized, in the river Jordan, the people of Judza confessing: them: and saymg to them, that there was coming One mightier than himself, who shall baptize with the Holy Ghost. And in those days came Jesus, who had been a strict ob- server of the law through Circumcision, to be ) 72 baptized of John in Jordan, beforeshe himself preached the Gospel of the Kingdom of God —that all might know that the Holy Spirit, the Shechinah or great light, the token of Divine presence, in the Baptism of our Sa- viour, did not descend on the water other- wise than as light dilated from vast splen- dour: but that it descended, like a dove, pointedly on himself as he came up out of it to manifest his holiness—that he was the very Son of God, as the voice from heaven at that time said, “ Thou art my Son, in whom I am well pleased,” to declare my will and a the sacrifice. ug The Minister then and people should pray unto God, at a Baptismal Sacrament, to’sanc= tify water to the mystical washing away of sin: and the people should hereby intreat God that he would grant the Minister of such Sa: crament to use the water after an holy form, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, of the three co-eternal and co*equal Persons, as the outward visible and appointed’ rite, through which the mark of the cross should be put on the person:regenerated by God's assisting Spirit : as it was. on Cornelius: or in respect to infants, through the reputed 73 | faith of sureties or those that: bring them; im token that hereafter, the person baptized should not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified: and manfully to fight under his banner against sin, the world, and the devil, for the constant renewal of a life of righteousness. It appears from Christ himself, as he came to John and was baptized of him in the river Jordan—that no Baptismal Sacrament can be without the subordinate agency of water ; the Divine energy co-operating with it to intro- duce and strengthen Christian principles in the person baptized : as in the Lord’s Supper, there can be no Sacrament, or ordained sign of Redemption through Christ's death, with- out bread (broken) and wine (divided :) and receiving them so broken and divided in an heavenly and spiritual manner: the mean is faith, Christ said to is Apostles, “ Do this in remembrance of me.” In relation to natural things, an all-wise disposition of the Creator causeth things ex- isting to produce general ends and reciprocal uses. Earth is not earth without a chemical precipitation +: water is not water without the * Not without forming by a coalition of particles, that F 74 - fire of liquefaction united to’it* : neither is it decomposed into oxygen or hydrogen with- out electricity’: nor the universe in motion without mind—without the Deity are ; over it. As water maketh clean, the Jews used jit to mark the purifying from idolatry. And our Lord held it‘as the best medium in the Sacra- ment of Baptism; whereby the public mark of the cross could be affixed on the rege- nerated person ; on him whose soul hath been made clean by the Holy Ghost, as it was on St. Paul, the Eunuch, the Jailor, ‘and others, noticed in the Scriptures—without ae 7 ewish ceremonies. ”From what hath been said on the subject of Baptism, Regeneration, and the command of Christ when he sent forth his cage il to separate and fall down from a fluid pret anton through an effect not purely mechanical. * Not without a moderate heat that putteth that into a fluid state, “into water, which would otherwise remdur ice or a solid body. ; 4 i> * Neither are the component parts of water pheno into. vital and respirable air called oxygen; nor, into an acriform fluid capable of taking fire, and thereby of heat, called hydrogen, without certain properties in the water that produce elementary fire—electricity. 5 75 teach all nations, it is not proper to doubt, but that little innocents, brought to a Bap- tismal Sacrament, receive their regenerating Grace through silent and imperceptible ope- rations of the Holy Spirit : and the form was publicly established in our Church in their behalf, in 1562. When Christ said “ Suffer them to come to me; it is as if he had said, suffer them to have that spirit in their infant years, that can enrich them for ever and ever if they are not afterwards wanting to themselves. As the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so the infant, exempt from the sin of Adam, becomes, by the inspiration of such a Spirit, an heir of everlasting Salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ—without in the least wie ee S53 that Saviour of the same Holy Spirit. » The sureties have only to remind them as they grow up, that they are themselves to perform their duty to God, and all the pro- mises made for them: and ifthey should feel at any time losing the benefit of that Grace— they are to pray earnestly for a repentance that can renew their Christian life. . + It becomes me now to remind you, that I have seen the greater part of you, during my F2 76 long continuance of years with you, publicly acknowledging in early days, that you ap- proved of the engagements and promises your Godfathers and Godmothers made for you in infancy, by taking them upon yourselves at confirmation: which is a spiritual work to strengthen unto the end, minds faint and weak in faith and obedience. The Jews gave their account of proficiency in religion at thirteen years of age: and were thenceforward accountable for their sins. At twelve years our blessed Lord was himself in the temple hearing and asking the Doctors questions! At about fifteen years old you yourselves were in the House of God; and audibly answered the Bishop in these words, “ T do solemnly take upon myself those vows and promises made in my name when I was baptized.” Since this sacred confession however, (I speak with deep concern for your souls,) many of you have separated off from the principles of that Church wherein you were baptized with water and the Holy Ghost, and made early members of it ; and have burdened your souls, in a most dreadful manner, with broken vows and promises—to follow Teachers, who 77 apply the Holy Word of God, the great foun- tain of truth, to confirm their own errors. The doctrines of the Established Church fully point out to you every thing that per- taineth to life and godliness: and no other instruction is required for Salvation than what they set forth. It is folly to suppose that wild extravagan- cies of “ Moravian love-feasts, for favourite brothers and sisters to partake of spiced bread and water, on the eve of quarterly meet- ings or of the new year:” or that any “ mid- night assemblies, night watchings,” or “ spi- ritual wailings :” or that “solemn feet washing on Holy Thursday, bibliomancy or scripture cards” can do any thing toward cleansing a Judas: or making Saints in the Lord: or determining the present or future state of the ‘soul! If you truly desire to be saved, and not any longer drawn away by every wind of doc- - trine from the plain and rational interpreta- tion of your Bible and the book of Common Prayer, according to the use of the Church of England, that Dissenting Societies have their own powerful reasons neither to distri- . 78 tribute or use‘, let us considera few further and interesting particulars that concern your eternal happiness. And first it is my ardent — wish to impress on your minds a true sense of predestination : that you may no longer mis- understand it—to the election of yourselves —or to the damnation of others: or vice versa. I shall shew you that it was never God's absolute decree, the unchangeable purpose of his mind, that his mere sovereign pleasure and free will should determine the future and eternal condition of the human race—his de- crees relating to man depend upon a condi- tion; the performance of which condition is the cause of their execution. If the wicked man will turn from all the sins that he hath ‘committed, his transgressions shall not be mentioned : in his righteousness that he hath done shall he live. If we be dead in Christ we shall live with him: if we deny him he will deny us. Unto St. Paul a Grace was given—that he should preach among the Gentiles the un- ate. 7 * See note h, p. 23, 79 searchable riches of Christ : and make all men see, what is the fellowship of the mystery, which, from the beginning of the world, . hath been hidden in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. He maintained by that Grace openly before the Jews, who were offended at the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles, “ That God would take his kngdom from them, and give that Gospel to idolatrous nations, that would bring forth the fruit of it: nations that by customary practices, by — malice, by fleshly lusts, had abused their free will and had become children of his dis- pleasure. He tat before them—that, before the foundation of the world, their perverse hearts were so entirely open to God, that he had predestinated those nations unto himself, that his Gospel might not be lost in it. This predestination, or eternal purpose pro- posed in Christ Jesus, to deliver man in con- sideration of his actions, was the stumbling block to the Jews: and, the subject of dispute betwixt them and the Apostles at the time they wrote their Epistles. God's intention of love or hatred to them depended on their good or evil actions. If ye will obey my 80 voice, ye shall be a peculiar treasure. If ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured by the: sword. The foreknowledge that God hath of his own decree, was not set forth to diminish the power of the Jews to act according to the free determination of their own minds; nor was that prescience, to manifest his own perfec- tions. Can it be thought impossible, that God should foresee, not as certain, but as contingent, that which he hath determined to be contingent, and not certain ? _ The Jews had only to complain of them- selves, It was left in their own power to act according to the free determination of their own minds. They followed righteousness by the law: but sought it not by faith in Jesus Christ. They had eyes to see, and they would not see: they had ears to hear, and they would not hear: they were a rebellious: house. And God permitted it to lie under those prejudices against the true Messiah, which their traditions concerning him, and the doctrines of the Scribes and Pharisees had wrought within them. | . | Every design of providence goeth on ac- cording to God’s goodness and mercy. The 81 decree of predestination is not only plain, but easy to be believed: did not the strict fol- lowers of Calvin, through their own vanity, pervert absolute predestination — that re- spected the kingdom of Christ, that it should not be lost—to the personal election of some, and reprobation of others ; themselves chosen in Christ before the fall — supralapsarianly elected: others under damnation, which is a doctrine altogether inconsistent with common sense: it is not to be conceived that. an in- finitely merciful and good God should have so decreed it. Damnation can be only for actions disapproved of God and man. There are other Calvinists, who wish to be thought more moderate, and not to carry their fanaticism or Calvinism to quite so high a pitch of folly ; and consider themselves as sublapsarianists and followers of Wesley. They profess merely to tell the very moment of their own personal deliverance from God’s wrath—through emotions or inward conflicts, exultations, the shinings of God’s counte- nance, or some instantaneous impulse. The former think themselves qualified to deal out damnation toa part of creation be- fore they are born: and, despair when they 82 are dying. The latter, to declare the Salva- tion of those, who feel as they profess them- selyes to feel—some miraculous impulse or self- confidence in the Divine favour; when there really hath been neither impulse, shinings, feelings, or experiences. And where any are without such self-confidence, and with minds more timid: to these they do not seruple to describe their state as if the sim of the Holy Ghost was upon them; that is, as if God's countenance was hidden from them, and. they were never to be forgiven in this or the world to come. Which brings them to die without hope: and without so much as thinking that they ever could have come to Salvation: in- deed rather worse—it. brings. them almost to conceive that they were from their birth su- pralapsarian reprobates; and had never been amongst the designed objects of God’s love”. Preachers are exceedingly to be condemned ; ~f| * See Barns’ Poems, vol. ii. p. 190. Edinburgh Edi- tion. Holy Willie’s Prayer, and Epitaph, these admirable Satirical Pieces in ridicule of Hypocritical Pretenders to religion, were received ‘ with a roar of applause.” ‘The cause of true religion can never be injured by exposing its abuse. ‘‘ To the pure all things are pure.” 83 who dare refuse a place of forgiveness to any: or depress the mind with such a thought. All manner of sin and blasphemy will be for- given the sincere penitent, Ezekiel, chap. XVili. verse 27, and the grant of true repent- ance is not to be denied. The blasphemy committed against the Holy Ghost, as it is represented in St. Matthew's Gospel, chap. xii. verses 21, 22, 23, 24, is a sin that can only he perpetrated in all its malignity by those very Scribes and Pharisees against whom the words were directed. And to them our blessed Saviour did not denounce in his words a vindictive justice or an abso- jute damnation. . When they boldly asserted he was casting out devils in league with the devil, ‘he only replied, “ That an house can- not ‘stand divided against itself:” “ Neither (says he again) can the kingdom of Satan, if Satan cast out Satan.” If you Scribes and _ Pharisees will harden your hearts with an ob- stinate determination, and speak against the Holy Ghost after my ascension : that last dis- pensation of the assisting Spirit that I shall . miraculously send among you ; and will blas- pheme him; and represent him as an evil Spirit; your forgiveness must be improbable 84 and inconsistent with the J ustice of God: and no further miracle will be done to bring you to repentance. While you are trusting in your riches, in a fancied righteousness, you cannot expect to enter heaven. The Nine- vites repented at the preaching of Jonas, who had done no miracle to convince them that he was a Prophet, and God averted the pu- nishment that he said he would do unto them —“ Behold a greater than Jonas is here !” re- ceive them as your pattern, and let every desponding mind be comforted ! The doctrine of Salvation is full of hope. God is neither unforgiving, nor partial, nor an evil being. Moses, in the Old Testament, set both life and death, blessing and a curse, before the Israelites: and impressed on them without distinction to choose life. In the New Testament despair is not to be found, for we have an High Priest who can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities: let us there- fore come boldly unto the throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need. ) The Scribes and Pharisees could, if they . had pleased, like every common beholder, have owned Jesus to have been the Messiah, 85 from the miraculous works that he did among them, “If I do the works of my Father, though ye believe not me, believe the works.” His works manifested forth his glory : and his disciples believed on him: and recorded both his life and miracles, for the sake of future ages—to shew to the whole world, that out- ward evidence was to be the means of con- version, and not inward illumination. If then it did not give birth to the Chris- tian faith in the first production of it: nor in the age of miracles: or in the times of the most plentiful effusions of the Holy Spirit : there can be no satisfactory proof—that Teachers are supernaturally gifted with it in the present day. Thoughts, meditations, and operations of truth are silently and imperceptibly felt in the soul : and it is our duty to glorify God in our body and in our spirit which are God’s: and to take good heed upon what foundation our hopes of immortal happiness are built. The works of creation afforded to the Apostles the proof of a God: and miracles that had been extended from Prophet to Prophet—that a Redeemer was to come. As soon then as Jesus Christ shewed himself to - 86 be that Lord of life, by argument and out- ward evidence, they received the heavenly truth with humility and gratitude: and con- veyed it afterward by their own teaching oe records which they have left. _ “They have in a word set forth the bie that the Son of God published: and -con- firmed by signs, wonders, and supernatural gifts of the Holy Ghost—the dead raised : bread created for the hungry : limbs'given to the maimed: and lastly, to the elected dis- ciples, one hundred and eight in number, powers similar to his own—to cast out devils: to heal all manner of sickness: and to open the eyes of the blind, and the ears of the deaf to the precepts of the Gospel. H And the Apostles speaking: with tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance’; and taking up serpents without hurt, confirmed not less so—that Christ both came down: and as- - cended: and is ever. present to us in his power, though absent to us in his body. So satisfied were they of these truths, that at the command of the Lord they assembled at Jerusalem for several years after his ascen- sion, to convert the unbelieving Jews. . In the mean time, persecutions arose against 87 the Church, for the cutting words spoken by St. Stephen and other disciples against the law, the temple, and the sanhedrim, an as- sembly of seventy Senators : in consequence, the Apostles sent forth out of Jerusalem their chosen disciples, to preach the word in all places and unto all people that had wandered ‘in the way of vain curiosity, from the time that vision and a ended. Before — Christ 397 years. To the Sadducees, (so called from Saddod the founder of the sect), to the Essenes, (from oovoe holy,) and to the Herodians, (from Herod,) they preached the doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body: the Essenes had moreover denied liberty of choice, and be- lieved that God governed by an absolute predestination*: Herodians had united to * The Essenes embraced the ancient doctrine of the Stoics, Zeno, ‘Cleanthes, Aristotle, who taught 340 years before Christ : every thing constituteth eternity: and, no outward thing is separated. This opinion they most pro- bably formed from Plato’s three co-eternal principles, 430 years before Christ, And from the same source arose the Pelagian doctrine at the end of the 4th century—that human nature could _ not be corrupt, being a portion of eternity: and, hence the denial of original sin. And the Austinian, since pos- 88 several other opinions an idolatrous ores of images. They preached to the Pharisees (so called from pharas to separate) against the merit of good works: and the Pythagorean doctrine of the souls of those that had lived ‘separate from Infidels being returned into human bo- dies, of which they were advocates: those that had not done so, transmigrating into the bodies of beasts: and the entire bad ‘souls into eternal prisons or eternal woe. Wi To the Nicolaitans (so called from Nicolas one of the most zealous of the seven Deacons of the Church of Jerusalem) who had disho= noured Christianity by following Heathenism dARS terity is defiled—human nature was haemies from the be- ginning. From these sentiments, as opposite as cers sprung Calvin’s Corollary between the 15th and 16th century, “* As not any thing outward is separated, according to the Stoics, from eternity’—elected and reprobate spirits had co-existence with the eternal. And from this doctrine of supralapsarian linn and reprobation, that still disturbeth the world, arose the equi- vocal feelings of inspiration; and the despair or “hidings of God’s countenance. The former fills with a pride, the latter with a wretchedness not to be found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 89 and the basest actions, and allowing ofa power superior to the Creator: to those, who had departed from the truth, and would de- ceive, if it were possible, the very elect: to the wisest Heathens, who believed in a God: and to them, who had changed the glory of the incorruptible God, and worshipped the — ereatures instead of the Creator, they preached—that Christ died for their sins ac- cording to the Scriptures : and rose again tne third day to confirm the hopes of all who be- lieved in him, and to compassionate the igno- vant and.such as are involuntarily gone out of the way: “ He that believeth in me, saith the Lord, though he were dead yet shall he live.” _ Having sufficiently, as I think, laid before you, in as concise a manner as possible, the state of the Jewish Church and people of God, and of the Heathen world in the infancy of Christianity, I shall not presume any longer to tire your attention by opening to your view the moral, ecclesiastical, and civil laws of the Jews: nor, by any minuter descrip- tion of the varieties of worship among the Heathens. I shall only observe of the Mussulman of G 90 the East, under the influence ‘of’ Mahometan belief, that with just notions of God he loseth a great deal of the capacity and ‘powers: of the human mind, through the doctrine of faith and the loss of free will : while thetrue Christian under the blessing of our reforma- tion, enjoyeth in this highly favoured land,an established religion that advanceth ‘the tem- poral and future hopes of many so Errors have, notwithstanding, in sini pre- sent day, through superstition in some /Pro- testants, and lukewarmness in others among us, arisen to a most alarming height-—thatithe established worship is decried: and what is much worse, that infidelity hath creptin, with their errors, to undermine truths that the welfare of mankind is closely connected*with —the certainty of a future retribution and the Divine Authority of the Gospel. ne I therefore trust that it will not be thought, from observations made through this tract on various worshippers, any deviation from the same subject to recommend to the perusal of the Unitarian, who confines the attribute of Divinity to God alone, of the Arian (so ealled ' from Arius of Alexandria in 336,) of the So- cinian (from Leeli Socini of Venice, mm 1525,) 91 who» doubt concerning Christ and the Holy Spirit because they do not obey their doctrine, ++Balaam, the Son of Beor’s prophecy of the happiness of Israel ‘“ there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel.” And Numbers, chap. 24, “ Out of Jacob shall come He that shall have domi- nion.” Of his government, according to Isaiah, there shall be no end: his:name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. The Everlasting Priest by David. The Lord our righteousness by Jeremiah, and)as by the words of Gabriel in Daniel, the seventy weeks are past to bring in everlasting righteousness, we may glory in tellmg Uni- tarians, that same Person in whom we trust is the Messiah who hath fulfilled all prophe- cies. The Jews, that expected a person to do miracles and actions suitable to what Christ did, said, “ when He cometh, can He. do greater than that man hath done?’ Samari- tans believed in him because of his own word: and from the saying of the woman of Sama- ria, “ He told me all that ever I did.” Christ’s answer to the Pharisee’s transgressing Ged's G2 92 Commandments is equally worthy the son of God, “ Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias pro- phesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teach- ing for doctrines the Commandments of men. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts,| false witness, blasphemies. Also, his healing the lame, blind, dumb, and maimed : and. his mi- racle of the seven loaves anda few small fishes, feeding four thousand men besides women and children—insomuch that the people wondered, and glorified the God of Israel! By the power of the Father, Christ did his Father’s works. And the works done plainly say of him—I am the Messiah, the Christ. “ If I do the works of my Father, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know and believe, -that the Father is in me, and I in him.” “ By me, if. any man enter into the sheepfold, he shall be saved,” “ IT give to my sheep eternal life.” “ Neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.” . And further I beg leave to remind them of the fourteen first verses of the first chapter of 95 St. John’s Gospel on the Divinity of Christ: and the thirty-second verse, where John bear- eth record of the Son of God: “I saw the Spirit descending like a dove and it abode upon him.” He, who sent me to baptize with water, said to me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit of God descending and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.” The eternal transcendant Deity issued out his eternal Word and Spirit on this occasion, which could be but one eternal by reason of his infinite nature ! super-emimence is in the majesty or sovereignty alone, not in a plurality of the persons! When the Deity said, Let us make man, he spake to another self, “ The Word was with God;” and, with a spirit equal to and co-eternal with both. The same may be said when he placed Adam in the Garden of Paradise to name all creatures : and when he sent him out of it for his transgres- sion ; and when he recomforted him through Michael with the promise of a Messiah, who should redeem and save all mankind—they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty’: ” In the Athanasian Creed, the doctrine of the Trinity is beautifully set forth: and 2d, 29th, 41st, and 42d di- 94 and the whole three are coveternal together and co-equal. a8 In denying these high mysteries of the Tri- nity, the modern advocates of the Unitarian tenets deny the eternal essence of the Word and Spirit indivisibly united to God, their head and origin : man’s redemption by that Word or wisdom of the Father : the benefits of his sanctification by the same Holy Spirit: and the inspiration of all the sacred histo rians. Let us beware of entertaining similar sen- Ty Phere visions have nothing objectionable in them, when the word —everlasting—is understood according to thelight thrown on it.in the Appendix. In the same manner the word—damned—is to be under- stood, Mark, chap. xvi. verse 16, in respect to him who believeth not the Gospel of Christ—he will be adequately punished : he will go into the place prepared for the devil — and his angels: into an everlasting destruction, till. his hardened heart of unbelief, through wailings aud gnagh- ings of teeth is made to relent; and to cry out, through the aid of the Holy Spirit, “‘ I have sinned.” "Phe Lord is a just and a gracious God, and his mercy is everlast- ing—then will the angels in heaven announce to the blessed, by the command of Him who came to save, “ that this thy brother who was dead is alive again; who was lost is found, and hath the robe of righteousness restored - to him.” 95 timents. The light that is come into the world deserveth our highest gratitude. By rejecting it, Unitarians have possibly drawn on themselves punishment—the just judgment of infatuation, Thus it is with the Pharisees “‘:whose eyes be blinded and whose hearts be hardened, lest they should see with their eyes and understand with their hearts, and be converted.” Not that every one, who acknowledges the Trinity, or believeth the Gospel to be true, seriously endeavours to make Christia- nity the rule of his life. There is a neces- sity of human co-operation with Divine Grace, to enter into, or-see the kingdom of heaven. For the obedient only—not the impure—the sprinkling of Christ’s blood hath obtained an heavenly inheritance, to be revealed at the last day, eternal life, the knowledge of the only true God. In respect to sinners, whether laid or dead, when the day of Grace is gone by I humbly conceive, if ever they should be fa- vourably spoken to after Judgment ; if ever justice should be relinquished for mercy— “ Receive the kingdom prepared”—It must 96 in all probability be through sufferings, far more distracting than any I cam take upon myself to describe, that will not fail to awaken their evil consciences to confess the righteous- ness of the Almighty. What I have written, my dear neighbbutt; hath not been designedly to shame any of you: but, to warn all of you by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to impress your minds with true Gospel principles; and to have no divisions or schisms any longer among you. Is Christ divided? did not the same Christ enable Paul and Peter to preach the Gospel, and to say that no flesh should glory in his presence ? The self-sufficiency and enthusiasm, that too many of you are possessed with, serve only to contract your faculties: to render Testament Revelation obscure to you: and to hurt your opinion of the Scriptural Church of England, that is built upon the Apostles and the Prophets, and Jesus Christ, the chief corner stone; which united to the State, forms a constitution that hath for ages been the envy of all the nations of the earth and the glory of Britons! 97 Should God, my Christian Brethren, in his great mercy again lead you, who are gone astray, into the principles of this Church ; and keep you from useless divisions; you may still please your Gracious .Maker and Redeemer and possess the most assured hopes of a blessed immortality through his assisting Spirit. Amen. a Ls il dik phase omog e168 ondw pelomsd2 eid) Yo: oy ;2itoiziih eeoises ‘ bas rode. vx gaidaiaes aid ae wee I ile ee Soop, URE rey i Ha ae “, A i, i eee acces. gecbsenghenss mip stanidiay a Phios {ote heidi wotinooh. stand. dy uutibtdeg — 2225. Cinta: oda ¥ ‘ a , Pe ne stl en a ¢¥haota ed) 1) yates tone oi ; PPR FORMS Ap etgieehndtd «hex, onli el 5 4 cite dai 8 ve as aes ou) ght 4 bm hea sndens APS ta seh iyi . a ae deat Ay Reve | wha rt cid 4: aa 10 eben thos ak bow Jedlds fags ase to evah sila.au shag itt —— henge bi — < ON THE PROBABILITY OF PUNISHMENT, &e. §e. ————== Previous to so important an enquiry, I must beg leave to notice—that our created—and our fallen state—was entirely different from that of the rebel angels, whose pride cast them out of the regions of light and bliss. _ Itis related of them that they were prima< rily designed to live for ever: and that, on leaving the highest habitations, they were re- served for everlasting chains ; but, of us, that eternal life—God’s free gift—was subsequent to our creation. As soon as God had put Adam out of Pa- radise, the type of heaven, where Divine illu- mination had enabled him to name the crea- tures the Lord God brought unto him: and where a knowledge of the concerns of heaven H 106 was to have been dispensed to him through obedience and prayer ; and had destined him to till the ground from whence he was taken, for incautiously eating of the tree of know- ledge; he bestowed on him eternal life—his own free gift—through the intercession of Jesus Christ, as the distinguishing mark of forgiveness and reconciliation between himself and man. Bishop Law, late of Carlisle, notwithstand- ing this plain Scripture account, hath consi- dered the whole human race, endowed by the Creator of the universe with reason and holi- ness, to have forfeited their immortality by the fall, just as if they had been created with that further excellence of nature: and had regained it through the merits of Christ. To me, it rather appears, that immortality was never forfeited by the fall: but that the intended reward of translation or an immorta- lity on earth—of being preserved under God's influence—was lost by Adam not acquiring in Paradise his knowledge of an immortal state, designed for himself and his posterity, through obedience and prayer. “The Lord sent him forth from the garden to till the ground from 107 whence he was taken: lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.” Genesis, chap. iil. part of verses 22 and 23. ‘It was the first covenant that was forfeited —the covenant of free beneficence, “ That man should not be subjected to death, if he kept his sensitive part subservient to his ra- tional.” ‘“ But in the day thou eatest of the tree of knowledge of good and evil,” in the day thy sensitive part is not subservient to thy rational “ thou shalt surely die.” Genesis, chap. u. verse 17. Thou shalt lose all hope of translation or an immortality on earth, and. be left under thy created state. And it was at this time, that the covenant of redemption was made in heaven betwixt Christ and the Father, in behalf of human nature. Oh, that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that he doeth for the children of men! sail Instead however of magnifying God unre- servedly, for redeeming a world lost to the intended reward of immortality, and for the means of Grace afforded it under that fallen H 2 . 108 state, Predestinarians, Austinians*, and Cal- vinians, boldly take on themselves to insist— that God had, from all eternity, foreordained certain individuals to everlasting happimess, and the remainder to everlasting punishment, eternal damnation, everlasting fire, according to his own good pleasure or free will: making perseverance in such a decree to come from himself; and not from man. Just as if they had said—Christ did not die for all men: and that all cannot repent and be saved. An opinion thoroughly contradictory to common sense—that an eternal and foreordained.dam- 7 St. Augustine attributed every thing in the work of conversion and sanctification to Divine energy ; and no- thing to human agency, Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical History, vol. i. Sth century, chap. v. part 2: and was styled the Father of the Christian Church, in consequence of re- nouncing Manichzan doctrines, and founding a Mendi- cant order, called Austin Friars, on hearing the Sermons of St. Ambrose, and studying St. Paul’s Epistles. The order was brought into England at the beginning of boi oth century. art The St. Augustine, who converted the English Saxons to Christianity ; and, their idol temples into Christian Churches, was sent into England under Pope Gregory I. in 596 ; and favoured by Ethelbert king of Kent and his queen Bertha, became afterward Archbishop of Canter- bury. 109 nation’ should ever have been designed for a vast portion of inert matter at the day of judgment; that never could have become spirit till God gave the command. How isit possible for any doctrine to insult the goodness of God more, or, more to alarm the whole human race? how can any man feel a proper disposition to praise his Maker, as undoubtedly he ought to do—for eternal life, for the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, otherwise expressed, for the for- giveness of Adam’s sin and God’s reconcilia- tion ? when he joineth that doctrine with the dread of eternal misery: and all the terrors of the Lord, hanging very possibly over his own head, or the head of some friend, to counteract every other blessing, and that for ever and ever! just as the pointed sword of Dionysius hung at his feasts over the head of Damocles his flatterer. If all sinners whether foreordained or other- wise, are to be indiscriminately hurled into eternal damnation, everlasting punishment, everlasting fire at the last day, however the strength of sufferings may vary: if God is to be a vindictive God at such a time, instead of a-corrective and a chastenng God: how ean 110 any of us take self-confidence enough to our- selves, as to look up to such a God with any satisfaction or with any hope? How alarm- ing the dread that must impress the very best of us, if the promise and free gift of God did not lead us to think very differently. It is giving a credence to the doctrine of a God of the Manichees, who is pleased with evil for the sake of evil! It can never be believing the doctrine of that God, who sent a Saviour to redeem ! I would not, however, have any of you think lightly, or, less seriously, on the deci- sions of the judgment-day, from the observa- tions I have already made, or shall have’ to make in the progress of this Appendix. If the day be not matter of terror to good persons—to sinners it will be a fearful moment. As every one must give an account to their Judge, let them not shun intruding thoughts — before hand concerning so awful a time: or ‘be more careless in their lives, as if dreadful punishments were not to take place, or were not awaiting them. They, who have not done according to God’s good will, will suffer condemnation ac- cording to what they have done, or omitted 111 to do. God will most assuredly and most justly correct. And. the consciences of the wicked at that day will know and perceive— that they had not worked out their Salvation, through the present life, in a way that God commanded them. The natural bodies* of the righteous at the day of judgment are to be raised spiritual, and with different degrees of glory or “ beati- fic vision.” So will the natural bodies of the wicked be raised spiritual, and with different degrees of corrective punishment executed upon them according to their trespasses : some shall be beaten with many stripes—shall en- dure the extreme displeasure of God: and some with fewer. Different degres of “ ter- rific vision” will be upon them: that the whole human race, by the will of God, may finally have the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. _ Let such a mode of punishment impress the * The natural body here spoken of, to be raised to higher degrees of glory or different degrees of corrective punishment at the last day, is that part only that hath not ceased to exist, and that God impressed with an immor- tal principle and wisdom and will. See this more fully through the Second Part of the Appendix. eo 112 minds of the wicked with the highest sense of God’s mercy and justice. Whateyer he doeth unto the wicked he will not do without cause. And those whom he placed in misery and punishment, his mercy will make capable of forgiveness. They will see, sooner or later, that it is impossible for them to resist: God's will—and will be subdued. val . Who amongst us, as free moral agents, un- less, according to Isaiah, consigned to a fatal necessity, can dwell with everlasting burnings and a devouring fire? There is not any good but one—and that one is God : neither angels or righteous are infallible! If they can fall from righteousness; the wicked may after judgment—through sufferings—be qualified to repent : and the gift of eternal life, through a redeeming Saviour, become a blessing to them, as well as to others—to be and to doas - the spirits in heaven. The agonies of Jesus Christ were for all! at the nmth hour he called forth Divine power: human nature gave up its life: and the rejected stone was made the head stone of the corner! ad Hence it is reasonable to conclude, through the innumerable known mercies of God, who sent down his Holy Spirit to gather together 113 an universal Church—that those, who are in darkness, are not under a positive denuncia- tion; but will finally be admitted to partake of that general plan of his providence, that is — to establish his everlasting kingdom of glory through Jesus Christ. _,And since the life or free gift of God, be- stowed through him upon man after his dis- obedience, was called his eternal life: by reason that the human race at creation, not having before the fall any certain prospect. of a translated life, or an immortality on earth, except through a supernatural grace, were subject to the natural death : analogy points out, that his punishment for moral depravity, which resteth equally on the will of the same God, should have the word—eternal—an- nexed toit. Thus God forgave Solomon the eternal punishment he designed him. Again, the:wicked are said to go into a second death —into punishment continued at the will of the Eternal, that is, into a punishment subject to his good pleasure. ‘ The strongest motive to praise God is— “that his mercy is everlasting :” and that his _ justice will finally be so satisfied as to give way toit. On the men of Nineveh, God did 114 not denounce a vindictive justice or an ab- solute damnation, though they had sinned against the Holy Ghost. And to the Scribes and Pharisees, as a pattern for their repen- tance, they were held forth by our Saviour. | I trust it will not be considered by any, irrelative to this part of my Appendix to give you the proper meaning of the word—damna- tion, or condemnation to eternal misery, as understood by too many in the present day through literal interpreters, administering the Holy Sacrament, loudly and harshly thun- dering it out in the prayer of exhortation, to frighten the timid and the weak. (srils The word—damnation—in St. Paul's. Epis- tles to the Corinthians, is constantly imade use of to express judgment and chastisement. God sent a judgment—sickness and disease —on them for their disorderly practices: and for receiving the bread and wine, that should have been received in remembrance of Christ's death, not as spiritual, but, as erie nourishment. Though such unworthy receiving could do no good to their souls, I must say, that the sin of so receiving appears to me not to be wholly and for ever unpardonable in them: 115 to place therefore the unworthy receiving now in any'such light, is perfectly contrary to the. Gospel covenant. 1st Corinthians, chap. xi. verse 38. “The Corinthians were chastened of the Lord that they might not be con- demned with the world.” No willing mind, that will do its best, and that taketh God for an example, need, under the protection of a God of mercy, torment itself with a thought so deplorable as eating and drinking its own damnation: nor fill itself at any time with the imaginary terror of a vindictive God exercising to all eternity upon mortals, that he hath spoken into being for the communication and diffusion of good, punishment, damnation and fire at the awful day of judgment. The words—eternal—everlasting—for ever and ever, are commonly used through the Scriptures in a limited sense, to denote tem- porary duration or long continuance. Even —olam—which we render for ever, implies a limited time in the instance of the land of Canaan. When—olam—denoteth eternity, God only is the subject. Exodus, chap. xv. verse 18. “ The Lord shall reign for ever and ever.” 116 To annex any other sense to the ‘above’ words than temporary, when applied ‘to pu- nishment, is full of impiety. It impresses the mind with some such thought as’ this—that punishment, damnation and fire are coexistent with Deity himself, the first principle ‘of life and being: that they have each their own necessary self-existence, and are complete, and can never cease to be. So that Deity hath not-the power to extinguish fire, or remit punishment and damnation: which reasoning is the utmost pitch of foolishness the mind ean fill itself with. All natural causes well inform us—that God keepeth every thing in his own hands: and that there is not any thing so fortuitous as to be out of his care.” To encourage such a thought or principle in the mind, cannot fail to destroy the most essential notions we entertain of him as a first cause : and is as inconsistent with reason and common sense as the three coeternal prin- ciples of Plato's theology—an eternal matter, eternal ideas, and an eternal Deity. It is impossible to do justice to the Eternal: or to form right apprehensions of him—as univer- sal cause—under any such construction of the word—Eternal: whether we annex it to 117 life, punishment, damnation, fire or destrue- tion. We can no longer ascribe to God that per- fection we are bound to do: his title in Scrip- ture is—the Most High God—God over all— God of Gods—and Lord of Lords—if only the minutest part of the universe is for ever, or any concerns within it is to be for ever and ever relinquished by him: or to be put, through any cause whatever, out of his con- trol. iy _ There are essential. and incommunicable attributes that belong to God : and those the human mind should not for a moment. lose sight of. Unity or a necessary self-exist- ence: eternity, aioy, aig&y Gv: immensity: immutability. Whatever God in his eternal mind hath caused, or should ever cause, to have a be- ginning : such must have its continuance at his pleasure. Beginning and_ ending are modes only of temporary existence: or we absurdly cut eternity into two parts, a parte ante, and a parte post: each half, equal ia every respect to the whole, being alike in- finite. | ) } » Predestinarians, Austinians, and Calvinians, 118 to have made their errors more glaring and plainer to every one, might as well have’ as- serted with the Marcionites (so ealled from -Marcion, an excommunicated monastie of Pontus, who broached heretical doctrines in 355, through Italy and the countries of Asia and Africa) “ That in the beginning there were two Gods—a bad God, creator of this earth: and Christ contrary to him.” Or, that in the beginning with Deity, if a beginning can be conceived of a Being—aiéy &y—two worlds existed: the one, as an elysium for elected good spirits : the other world within it coated and charged, like a Leyden phial, with eternal damnation, punishment and fire, to torment reprobate spirits in: and finally, that all spirits, whether elected or reprobated, have ever been coeternal with these two worlds, to exist necessarily at the end of time in the one or the other. Thus attributmg an existence to the creature, that ean only be- long to the original cause of all things. They might as well have told us at once, that this promise in Scripture hath no truth im it, “ That the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head,” that is, that Christ the Lord shall conquer the devil: they might 119 as well have denied all Scripture, “ The doc- trines of atonement: of gratuitous redemp- tion: of justification by faith, without the works of the law: of sanctification by the in- fluence of the Holy Spirit and the hope of the Resurrection :” and, unto our first parents, their blessed expectation—that themselves and their posterity should finally partake of eternal bliss : we could then have known how to have dealt with them—we should have put their doctrines on a library-shelf with Aristo- tle’s, Epicurus’, and Des Cartes’. After the descendants of Seth had con- tracted marriage with daughters the descen- dants of Cain, and had entered on their riotous living, that so provoked Divine indignation as to destroy them by a deluge: God, as a still. further proof of his goodness to man- kind, said to Noah, whose Eucharist was ac- ceptable to him, “ I will set my bow in the clouds, that I may remember my everlasting covenant :” I will not destroy again myriads of creatures. Christ in his disembodied soul went and preached glad tidimgs to those souls in cus- tody, who had been disobedient and had died through the visitation of the deluge. This 120 expression in the book of Revelations is ge- neral, “ The sea gave up the dead that were in it.” He preached that he was about to appear before the Father as their intercessor. There is not any thing revealed throughout the Scriptures that can induce us to suppose that those who perished in the flood; or, in- — deed at any other time—instance, the inhabi- — tants of Pentapolis who were consumed with their five cities—are to perish err a lake of fire. 3 Writers are oftentimes too positive in in- terpreting the meaning of words. God com- forted mankind with the hope of a better life. Enoch under the Patriarchal economy. And Abraham saw that man’s redemption = ‘foreordained. . Having brought into view the sella of God to man, through a few of the numerous © instances contained in the Scriptures, allow me to offer to your consideration, what appears - to my mind, the plain meaning or paraphrase — of three or four of the most alarming sentences — in them, and have been made by Sectaries” and a few gloomy members of the’ established Church, an handle of terror for man’s eternal damnation: rather than figuratively viewed 121 by them as sources of Scripture beauty—to | perish utterly, and to be punished with ever- lasting destruction signifieth much the same in Eastern climes and distant ages: as when the future continuance of our days is likely to be miserable, we say—I am undone, I perish. The first sentence that I shall produce is this, “ Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, and I will repay it.” Were these words to be _ taken literally, and, -without their context, they cannot fail to cause alarm. They are exactly as if the Lord had said—I will repay eternal vengeance on the sinner. Where, on the contrary, the true scriptural. meaning of the words referreth to temporal punishments only. I will repay, saith the Lord to. Jacob, Jeshurun, who forsook me and sacrificed to devils, to new gods. He shall see what his end shall be! Chaldeans were brought down: the riches of Babylon came to nought: and its habitations were left for dragons and wild beasts of the deserts. Upon my land and upon my people, I will shew the same day temporal mercies. Moses distinctly saw from Mount Nebo, the land of Canaan: and broke T 122 forth instantly with raptures of joy—+that all the Heathen world were gradually to become one people, after our Saviour’s ascension to the throne of his glory. And so long as states oppose the union, the temporal punishment —called the vengeance of. God—shalk: fall upon them. 94 From the above sense, the Apostle St. Paul takes the benefit of the words:to mstruct us— not to let the sun go down upon our wrath: nor to avenge ourselves upon our enemies. _ As if he had said, every one’s conscience “is such a divine vengeance, as will heap and re- pay fire on his own head while he does'so.. The next sentence, that I shall beg: leave to draw your attention to, is this—‘“ Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire pre- pared. for the devil and his angels’+that when all the mysterious trains of heaven.are unfolded ; and the righteous, whose names are m the book of life, are caught up to:be for ever with the Lord, equal unto the angels heaven (unless their fighteousness: should, before the Son resigns his mediatorial power, degenerate. into. wickedness, which would again change thew state); the» wicked; who are im the other books, \are to! undergo their ie: 123 punishment, in proportion to their guilt, in - thesame hell prepared for the devil and his angels: till they are convinced, as free moral agents, by all their senses of the justice and righteousness of the Almighty: and are brought to repentance by all they feel. By such a change of their nature, their condition will then change : and their bodies, derived from their first Adam, will receive the true spiritual life from Christ their second Adam—they will partake of the free gift of - God: and become children of the Resurrec- tion: children of God: of the nature and constitution of angels: and be no longer un- der condemnation. Again, “ Of the worm that never dieth: _ and of the fire that will never be quenched,” it may be declared—that as the enemies of _ God, who were slain in battle, were left to perish, according to the custom of the Jews, where carcases were cast in the valley of _ Hinnom without the city of Jerusalem: and _ their putrifying bodies left to be overrun with - worms and stench: so will the conscience _ have its worm: it will with the powers of the mind, more comprehensive, feel itself _ ashamed: and, like a child, passing through ra 124 the fire, sacrificed to Moloch,'a god of ‘the Ammonites, in the valley of Hinnom, will shriek in the Gehenna prepared, and be ~ brought to repentance and fit for heaven. So likewise of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, levelled by our Saviour against the lusts and sensual pleasures of the Phari- sees to teach them, that the soul had been declared immortal—should partake of future existence—through the promise of eternal life : and be rewarded or punished as its ac- tions shall have been in this world. The poor man Lazarus, whose name im- plies one who hath God for his help, when he died, was by ministering spirits reclined on the bosom of Abraham, the Father ofthe Jewish nation, who receives in Paradise - souls of the just. Reclining on the bosom of Abraham alludes to the Jewish posture of leaning sideways on couches. And being next to Abraham’ de- notes his degree of celestial happiness that he had to expect. So, John, the beloved dis- ciple, was reclined on the bosom of Jesus: Therich man, when he died, had evil angels - come to him: he had not charitably: em- ployed his riches, but had lived in luxury to 125 the neglect of religion: he trusted in them more than in his God: and they took him to his proper place, where the stings of con- science awakened in him—a dread of the ge- neral Resurrection. _ Both Lazarus and the rich man were far re- moved from this earth: and were considered to be in Hades, hell, or Acides, invisible re- gions of air: the former waiting in joyful ex- pectation amidst the brighter regions, styled in Heathen Mythology Elysium, for the ge- neral judgment; the latter, in dark Tartarean air, far from the mansions of the blessed, tor- mented into a burning fever of the mind, through distress on what may befal after judgment—and he cried and said, Father Abraham, send Lazarus with water to cool my tongue. And Abraham made answer, Son, there is a great gulf fixed betwixt us and you, not a mere depth or chasm, but, a gulf. of such ether as wicked spirits cannot pass Copov where light cometh not. Who can tell _ the nature of space distinguished into abso- lute and relative ? Heaven and the heaven of heavens doth not contain the Lord of the universe. Materiality hath only. coexist- 126 ence during his pleasure’, his essence is im- mense Notwithstanding this parable w: was particu: larly addressed to the Pharisees : itis, in like manner to teach the world where the Gospel is preached, that nothing is done for the soul betwixt death and judgment, at which time terrors, continued at the will of the Lord, shall . fill so awfully, every spiritual capacity of the dark Tartarean abode, that hath served the creature more than the Creator: as also, of every Christian who hath counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, and hath slighted through life the work of the Spirit renewing the soul after his image: as to need no further execution than those terrors against them—they will be brought to cry out through the Holy Ghost, that God is just! and that Jesus is the Lord !—their consciences will glorify his Name. Then will Angels of every degree in heaven, through a miracle of grace, be commanded to announce their repentance! > The substance that the universe consisteth of, ex- isteth only at God’s pleasure. . * God’s operations ‘are not limited: and his rears is deduced from his necessary existence. 127 »» Wretched are those minds that will discard consistent sense in the explanations of Scrip- ture : and sooner than teach themselves bene- volence of disposition from Dives, in the midst of his own distresses, striving to awaken com- passion in Abraham toward his five brethren, will draw from the parable some improbable alarming conceit or other—as that justice, after judgment, separateth off all mercy in redemption from sinners, whether the quick or the dead, for ever and ever; or, that the Godhead, upon the earth beimg dissolved, and the elements melting with electric heat, hath no further power in himself to awaken a re- pentance in offenders: or to discontinue their eternal punishments and torments. Such persons should well consider that the word—eternal—can have no other meaning given to it than I have set forth, except when God only is the subject, without introducing many and the greatest absurdities : and more- over, that it is obligatory upon them to regu- late every part of Christianity, which is of Divine original, to God’s glory. Where therefore they have, through a zeal of God, wrapped in darkness many of its most important concerns, it is incumbent on them 128 to allow, that what they have done hath not been according to knowledge. God's govern- ment, candidly enquired into, is — finally to be propitious. The promise of an immediate Redeemer on the fall of Adam was a death unto his sin: and a new birth unto righteousness. It was that the Christian Church might at the last be entire and universal—thy kingdom come— that the poor, the lame, the halt, the blind, Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Heretics, might come to astate of happiness : that all the chil- dren of God’s displeasure; who have com- mitted moral evil, should be delivered after an ordeal of mind and body. After correc- tive punishment, after inflictions suited to their offences, they shall feel themselves ashamed of their iniquity: and their debts of sin will be discharged and themselves released. They will come forth, at the end of days, fit for heaven: as the three companions of Da- niel came forth from the fire heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated. An angel was their protector—* the fourth is like to the Son of God.” And Jesus Christ will be the protector of the human race wherever they are to be found: that by the — 129 will of God, all created beings shall finally — have the victory. When Nebuchadnezzar had his understand- ing return to him, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and blessed the Most High God, who liveth for ever and ever. Whose dominion is an everlasting dominion : and whose kingdom is from generation to generation! Most of the thoughts that I have commu- nicated through the Tract and this First Part of the Appendix, are of the highest im- portance to your souls: and likewise suffi-_ ‘cient to convince you, unless obstinately hardened, that God neither had foreordained or ever will.decree, any, either on this earth, or on the unnumbered orbs of the universe, unto a damnation that he hath no longer a power over: he will never circumscribe him- self: or narrow the execution of any plan that is to tend to universal good. Wherever there are any who have not worked out, before the Day of Judgment, — such a salvation as shall be expected of them ; every such being will be, after that day, under the most awful displeasure of his God! and will be preyed upon by the stings and lashes of a guilty mind, until he can be brought 130 to glorify:the name of that God! when |he will obtain, by means of his merey—-and»not before—his everlasting happiness, through the merits of Jesus Christ the Universal Sa- viour. is ,foveorl There is one further anda most important observation, that naturally follows: in’ this place from the foregoing, as it’ hath: never been denied that the Saviour of the) world is willing to seek or to save what is lost or gone astray—that the devil and fallen angels, who have, for a very long continuance of ‘years believed and trembled : and have been ‘res served for chains and torments: will finally be overcome—will be converted and regene- rated : and submit and bow to the name> of Jesus : and be a second time admitted tothe favour of heaven. When this last release shall have pie place through the atonement of Christ; and God’s ways justified: when punishment shall have been subservient to universal good— then time will close, and all eternity be dis- played ! The second death, the lake of an cath brimstone, will be destroyed, where death and hell had been cast. Revelations, chap. 131 xx. verse 14.-That death, which is the: na- tural evil of the created state might come to its end: and hell the invisible region of Tartarean darkness, where the wicked had been waiting for the general judgment, might evaporate. The heavens and the earth will alice pass away, and the kingdom of glory begin.. 'The Son will —himself— resign his mediatorial office, that God may be all-in all. 1 Cor. chap. xv. verse 28: and the empyrean opened for the blessed to enjoy “ the beatific vision,” and sing their song of praise—Glory to God in the highest : blessing, honour, and power, be unto Him that. sitteth on the throne for _ eyerand ever! Hallelujah ! God grant that this Tract. and Appendix may sufficiently prevail on every considerate mind to believe—that the sting of sin, where- ever it may be found in the universe, will finally be extracted, and happiness :in | due time begin; and that whosoever ventureth to denounce an eternity of hell torments, and the impossibility of a free moral agent :re- penting after judgment—through sufferings ——-confoundeth together two kinds of exist- 182 ence—time—that is finite: pri rag that is infinite ! ’Tis of itself a contradiction, that a God, whose mercy is everlasting, should ever have bestowed a temporary existence to terminate in—everlasting damnation: and bitter re- morse that can never come to an end ! i humbly trust it will not be thought too assuming for me to say, at the close of these » pages, too many in the present day have’ ar- rogated a gloomy wisdom far above any thing that is written; and have set every thing under an impaired nature, in the worst and most improper light. Sinners placed—in . misery—will be subdued: sheep that have been lost will be found: the fallen will be lifted from destruction and there shall be no more sorrow, crying, or pain. They will be fetched home, blessed Lord, through thy mercy, and be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites ! My dear Neighbours, may God permit the foregoing reflections to influence your future conduct, that you turn not away in the pre- sent life, through a self-sufficient righteous- ness from Him, who hath spoken unto you 133 from heaven. That whensoever your deaths arrive, you may be called up to Mount Sion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem: to the innumerable company of angels; and to the general assembly and church of the first-born: and unto Him who hath overcome death. To whom, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, be ascribed all honour, glory, praise, now and for evermore. Amen. APPENDIX. PART THE SECOND. on THE RESURRECTION AT THE LAST DAY. “x0 > . f wry : yee tyr © 2 ws PAY ot ABHOR oo : ’ . teri ae t Fe Fi me fe az. . y : Pearse | | reel yh Hrs LOM OSARUARR ’ 1 ele is Heaperias Face apie ¢ BYie i | ne vA alll YAQ TAT? ; \ * ee a t ‘ RY a > } vr \ , AwA ice oH ta? acu i ; t ry Le ’ Hf eri res . TO THE READER. Wuewn St. Paul left Corinth, false Prophets _ arose among the Corinthians and said—there was no resurrection of the dead ; twas a mere fable : that spirits had repossessed their former bodies lain in graves, and had come forth and appeared unto many: and that the divine Spirit of Christ was restored to his body after three days and had risen again and shewn himself among them. y As soon as these idle reports came to the knowledge of St. Paul, he wrote his 15th Chap. of his first Epistle to the Corinthians, to remind them of the doctrines he had preached ; and, how firmly they had believed them at the time he preached. If there be truth, says St. Paul in his 15th Chapter to the Corinthians, in what these false teachers have asserted—that there hath not been any resurrection of the dead: then is Christ not risen from his grave, and the mira- cle is false: our preaching, and your: faith is b> : 138 vain: we are false witnesses: and all our hopes are most miserable. | But now compendiously to confute their de- clarations, we ourselves know, and numbers confess they have seen among them—the God-man re-animated after the third day; perfect God and perfect man ; him whom the Jews crucified : and, dead bodies not gone to corruption awakened from their graves, ap- pearing and affirming to many—that God's Spirit did the work, the Lord of life and death wrought the miracle. And farther we have professed to believe from all that had been effected—that every soul that hath in his earthly continuance endeavoured to do good, as Christ did while on earth, will make part of the Christian Church in the heavenly Jeru- salem. Should these false prophets, sion tlie con- tinue any longer to deny the miracle or the design of God to save every soul that died/in Adam, they must atone after Judgment that all may finally praise the Lord Jehovah in an immortal state. x - al oe THE RESURRECTION AT THE LAST DAY. Havine endeavoured, through the Tract and First Part of the Appendix, to settle your minds on some of the most important principles of the Christian Religion, I pro- pose, in this Second Part, to take one other principle under consideration, namely, our own Resurrection at the last day: and shall shew that the soul alone, the spiritual body only of individuals, hath to appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that each may re- ceive the things she hath done, or consented to, through the substance that composed the body she dwelt in, according to that she hath done, whether it be good or bad. The spiritual body will be seen in all the ill she hath done: the good soul, clothed in a K 2 140 celestial body. The 10th verse of the 5th chapter of the Second Epistle of St. Paul to . the Corinthians, was chiefly written to confute the doctrine of the Roman pies me or, prayers for dead bodies. The universal idea of substance is some- thing existing: which may belong equally to immateriality, as to materiality. We behold the Universe existing within an incommuni- cable attribute of Deity, his immensity. And we also see the reasonable soul, that God commanded into being, to have a continuance for a few years within a tabernacle of clay or flesh, a mere fluxional part of the same Uni- verse, and subjected to the same laws. » _ ‘As the reasonable soul and fleshis one man, so God and man is one Christ. The Holy Spit descended upon Him, and He taught as one that hath authority. Some reasoned, that he was the Baptist: others, Elias: and others, Jeremias: or, one of the Prophets, When Jesus said, tell no man: there be some that stand here, who shall not taste of death till they have seen the Kingdom of God come with power. “Six days after Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John, into an high moun- tain, and was transfigured before them. | His : 141 faee did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.” . This vision, the Gospel according to St. Mark, informs us, was not to be made known till after the Son of Man was risen from the dead: and was, in all probability, to serve the Christian World as a type of the immate- rial form of the quick and dead at the last day, of the righteous: and, of those, who receive the kingdom after the Day of Judgment, having first been compelled to acknowledge, through sufferings and anguish of mind, the justice of God in all he hath done toward them. The voice, that spake to the three Disciples when the cloud overshadowed, said not to them only, but to all the world, “ This is my beloved Son, hear Him and attend to his doctrine.” From the observations offered, the inter- esting question, that I proposed inquiring into, appeareth to be sufficiently introduced: and I would wish that the question might engage your most serious attention. Whether the reasonable soul and flesh, the fibrous part of the body, that in life were one man, are not at death, the second Ad- vent and the Day of Judgment, totally dis- united from each other—that every such dis- 142 tinct body might incorporate again’ with, and make part of its mother earth :’ and that each’ soul, that was commanded to exist ‘in such earthly bodies, divested of the materiality she was enveloped in, might be in a state to receive, either some degree of glory, or, a punishment, suited to what the conduct had been through the probationary state. I shall bring to your view Scripture in- stances to shew, that the soul hath a real ex- istence in a separate state, after the death’ of its own body: the good soul partaking ofa certain degree of celestial happiness; the bad, of her proper place: though neither the one or the other partaking of that degree of happiness or misery designed for them: either for the righteous on the second Advent; or, the wicked on the Day of Judgment.')» + God permitted, through the prayer of Elijah, the soul of the son of the widow Zarephath, to come into him again. Jesus returned back the soul of Lazarus to his body that had lain in the grave four days*; that Martha, the’sister * The Jews considered (by their Talmud) that the body underwent a material change at the end of three days,.and was then so eternally dead, that the hovering Spirit, sus- pended in air, took her flight. “ Angels say, Sister spirit come away.” ‘ 143 of him that was dead, might see the glory of - God. Him, whom the men of Israel took; and by wicked hands crucified, God raised: having loosed on the third day the pains of death, He again admitted the Divine Spirit to the crucified body. And many: bodies of Saints, which slept, that is, who were dead and lain in the graves, arose and came forth after his Resurrection, and went into'the holy city, and appeared unto many. And Jesus himself, that is to say, his Divine Spirit, went and preached to the souls in custody, who had perished through the deluge, while his own body laid in the grave. Such instances satisfactorily point out to my mind, that the soul or spirit, is wholly separate from and survives the body. Hence the hope of souls purified with Christian principles, that they are to be called out, of the world by the doctrine of the Gospel to. make one body or assembly of Christians to worship the true God. in Jesus Christ,ac- cording to his word, whereof Heis the head., When Job said, that he should see God in his flesh, it. implied only, that he should see himself restored to temporal happiness. The body that is taken’ from the earth, perishes. 144 God shall destroy it, Ist Cor. 6thichap. 13th verse. It returneth to the earthagain. “ Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kmgdom of God.” Ist-Cor. 15th chap. 50th verse. As bare grain, at the will of God, socdialed and germinated, put forth root and blade, and became a plant: so, through earthly consist- ence and the breath of life, man becamea living soul, such as God pleased him to be, to eat of every tree of the garden, exeept of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If he eat thereof he should die. is Gate The. command was disobeyed : and the soul, or breath of life, for a time had no longer continuance than the mere — of esas it dwelt in. at The reasonable soul and flesh were bothito die through Adam’s transgression: the souls of all were to perish with their bodies. » But; God be thanked, “in Christ shall all souls be. made alive again.” Souls, that: were ‘com- manded to exist, are to have the prospect of immortality renewed to them. Toothe'souls of the righteous is the promise of eternal life. But how are they to be raised to sucha blessed state ? ci al The resurrection of the righteous soul is ae after this manner, it is first sown in the cor- ruption of the natural body, that wanteth con tinual recruit, the death of the created state being unavoidable: which setteth free the breath of life, the soul, or immaterial sub- stance, from her probationary continuance. The ‘soul of Lazarus rested in Abraham’s bo- som after she was at liberty. After such release then, at Christ’s second coming, which will be in his own glory and his Father’s, with all the holy Angels, and with the whole face of nature changed, those souls that are his, will equally with Lazarus’s come forth, bearing about them supernatural appearances, that is, spiritual and shining bo- dies, given to them after the image of the hea- venly Adam: whereby the death of their souls, occasioned through the first Adam, will be swallowed up in victory through the second Adam, who liveth and reigneth with the Father and the Holy Ghost. Our merciful Saviour will change the vile bodies, spiritual bodies impaired through Adam, of all who die in Him, that they may be like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working, whereby He is able to subdue all things to Himself: 146 St. Paul, writing to the Corinthians onthe death of the righteous, doth not,say, thatthe self-same body that was deposited inthe grave, or elsewhere, is to rise at the second Advent : but that the rising of the dead is the rising, of their spiritual bodies, that had permeated their corporeal, whether deposited in graves, ~ drowned in the sea, scattered abroad, or alive, on the.earth. As we have borne, the image of the earthy Adam, we shall also bear :the image of the heavenly Adam. ‘“. That) was not first which is spiritual, but that which i is natural or created.” Dr. Clarke’s work on the Bemg and Attri- butes of God, and on Natural and Revealed Religion: also, Mr. Broughton’s Defence of the commonly received Doctrine of the Hu- man Soul, have led many to suppose, that'the soul is not such an immaterial substance as can exist without the body: and that, conse- quently, the original stamina, or first. prin- ciples, that unfolded, must. contain, . at‘ the Resurrection, the soul that before tabernacled within. Several instances contrary to this opition; I have already produced from Seripture : and as common sense besides defineth substance 147 ‘tobe something that existeth: and as soul continueth at death, it is an immaterial sub- stance that existeth, without the body, and will naturally go on to do so at Christ’s second coming, and likewise after the Day of Judg- ment. Further, in regions, far brighter and lighter than our air, and in the dismal situation waste and wild, there are known laws in hydrosta- ties, whereby material bodies could not well continue in them reunited to their spiritual bodies without supernatural aid. The body moreover, that is permitted only to be created, doth not remain the same from one day to another: while the soul, or spizi- tual body, commanded to exist, hath a-con- sciousness of the same identical mind, and of the same powers belonging to it, from day to day—an intuitive knowledge that standeth in no need of rational deduction. ‘It may therefore reasonably be said that such a knowledge, as we all enjoy, cometh to each of us through the light that God at the first illuminates the soul with—the ingredients of which light are perception, judgment, vo- lition and memory. Though the knowledge hath been impaired through Adam’s. trans- 148 gression, it hath been rendered again, through redemption and grace with the Holy Spirit assisting, sufficient to discover in this world, what conduct in us is most likely to conduce to the happiness or misery of our souls in a future life: as also to know that God’s ways are not as our ways: that the Lord is just, righteous, and everlastingly merciful, and will finally save the world through Jesus Christ. As the Father hath life in himself, and hath given the same to the Son with authority'to execute judgment on the world: He; to be- come the author of salvation to all who obey Him, took on Him human nature and suffered in it. And that no one should disbelieve the power given of God, He raised miraculously his body from the grave, and the bodies of Saints that had not seen corruption; and recalled to his own body the Divine Spirit, and to the other material bodies their spiritual bodies that were resting till the day of judgment, with other righteous, and Abraham the oad of God*. va * The grayes opening. and certain dead bedies pee forth at the resurrection of Christ were to shew to Christ’s disciples, and to others, that He who rose was the same Lord who had before, worked many miracles among 149 - Hence this resurrection, that was to cori- vince unbelieving Jews, hath been considered them, and, the Saviour the world looked for: but, by no means, to give us the power of drawing such a conclusion as this—that bodies consumed by fire, wasted into fluid, or furnishing nourishment to nature in general, are to rise again out of millions of other animate and inanimate things they had been incorporated into. The sacred deposit of our bodies rather seemed to arise out of a respect due to such earthly materials, as once contained the spirit that God commanded should exist within them for some degree of glory or punishment in a future life, than for any joy or torment to the bodies them- selyes—When we say, “ We believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting,” it implieth that we be- lieve in the resurrection of every spiritual body unto gléry, that hath been, or will become, through repentance, alive unto God through Jesus Christ: and with it we be- lieve in a continuance of that spiritual life at the good pleasure of God—life everlasting. *‘ T am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord.” I restore every spiritual soul dead through Adam’s transgression and alive unto God through repentance: and no fault of that soul shall cause her again to die; but shall live at the good pleasure of God. “ As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive:” as through the sin of Adam the soul commanded to exist was to die like the natural body; even so in Christ shall every spiritual body be made alive again. The covenant of redemption, or that of redemption and grace, shall restore every soul to the favour of her heavenly Father. 150 in a far more exalted light, ‘as setting forth the resurrection of the Christian ‘Chureh, which is Christ’s body. St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Colossians, says, “ I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his body's sake, which is the Church.” The Centurion, seeing all that was dene, feared greatly, and said, “ This truly was the: Son of God.” The eleven disciples worshipped’ Him, and to them He said, I am with you to the end of the world: they who hear shall live, because the Son hath life in Himself. Marvel not, saith St. John, at this that the Son hath done, and shall do through the authority given to Him of the Father : for the hour is coming, in the which all spiritual bodies of the deceased shall hear his voice, and shall come forth to eternal life, if they have done good; to condemnation, if they have done evil, just as their material bodies have been made instruments of righteousness, or of iniquity. “ To him that overcometh,” saith the Lord, “ will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. To them who hold the doctrme of 151 Balaam and commit wickedness, I will search their reins and hearts, and give unto them according to their works.” - The Heathens had no true notion of the spirituality of the soul, nor of the immortality designed for her, or that her future happiness ot misery depended on what she caused the material body through the light of the soul to execute in this life. They received honour ' one of another, and sought not the honour . that cometh from God only. As in nature there is a continued produc- tion, so in the spiritual body, sown in corrup- tion, there is a rising to glory and to power. As we have borne the image of the earthy, as our spiritual bodies have been enveloped in our corporeal, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly, we shall have our spiritual bodies shining forth in the likeness of Christ’s glorious body, that hath not the modifications of flesh and blood in it. If souls returning to uncorrupted substance by the prayer of Elijah, and to Saints de- ceased, at the command of Christ, and the Divine Spirit to our crucified Saviour; doth not convince Christians—that the soul liveth separate, as an immaterial body, from a de- * 152 ceased, in partial happiness or misery through God's order, in a word that it uninterruptedly continueth to understand, think, reason and remember, from the moment of the decease of the body to the second coming of Christ, as also to the day of judgment, and afterward: neither will they be convinced, at the second appearance of Christ in all his glory—that the day of judgment is at hand: or that an axiom is that which is evident at first — sight. . RT, At his second coming, reasonable souls, spiritual bodies, that have dwelt within flesh, that had seen corruption, will be called from ~ their repositories; and those souls that are within their mortal bodies at the time, will likewise come forth to receive according to what they have done, whether it be good or whether it be evil. God is the God of the living, He is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: and with Him a thousand years are but as one day. * The Son, who is to execute judgment, will say to them on his right-hand, receive the kingdom prepared for you. According to the promise of God we expect new heavens for — the righteous, cawove ovpavove mooadeKwpier. ‘ 153 Be diligent then, that ye may be found of Him im peace and blameless. St. Paul speaketh the same thing of the just, that their spiritual bodies are to rise _ with enlightened understandings, and with a brightness, a purity and fineness, such as Christ appeared in to himself, St. John, and St. Stephen. - And to those on his left-hand, to the un- godly, on that day he will likewise say, Go, ye cursed, into elements, melted with fervent heat, prepared for the Devil and his angels, and to consume materiality: where your spi- ritual bodies shall be awakened, through an- guish and sufferings of mind, to feel that power of the Almighty, which will finally pete you unto repentance‘. ' Anguish and afflictions will make wicked seals feel and acknowledge, that they had, through their mortal probationary state, neg- lected the day of grace: and that the Lord - God Almighty is a just and an holy God, and that no ier: eth is in Him, but that : t What body can dwell with everlasting burnings? Isaiah, ¥xxiii. 15. ’ Or what spirit with eternal torments? See the First Part of the Appendix on the words eternal, everlasting. L 154 it hath been in themselves alone, this finisheth the whole dispensation to the descendants of Adam. : From what hath been said, it appears that the resurrection at the last day, is not that of the reasonable soul and flesh; nor, of the stamina or first principles of the flesh, that unfolded through many years of the soul’s continuance within, that are again to be re- united to the soul: neither is it that. of the rational soul with a lucid body, as Hierocles, the materialist, maintained, Yuen Aoyucn pera wre cwparoc: but it is a_ resurrection. through Jesus Christ of spiritual bodies to.a future and an heavenly life; of reasonable souls that have overcome; of an assembly, from all nations, clothed in’ white raiment, making but one body, the Christian Church ; — whereof He Himself is the head, the begin-. ning, the first-born from the dead, the Divine: Spirit that first ascended to the Father hay- — ing undergone the sacrifice. For it pleased the Father that all fulness of divine power should dwell in Him, that He should raise the Church, which is his body, and revive the dying Christian’s hope. . “ In the body of my flesh, through death, I shall 155 present the soul, enriched through the Gospel with mental excellencies, unreproachable i in my Father's sight *.” * In the same manner, that the Almighty can, and will; whenever he pleaseth, re-spiritualize the universe by amalgamating it again with his immensity ; that had by an act. of his will been withdrawn, that nebulous matter ‘in the heavens might gradually compress into worlds through precipitation for the period he appointeth various systems to last ; he may at any time produce such a change of mat- ter in man : that wisdom and will should amalgamate with it to exist in empyrean, where the element of pure fire is supposed to subsist, just as our present bedy and im- mortal principle denominated soul are adapted for the at- mosphere that now surroundeth them. Hence reason and Scripture together confirm the opi- nion, (of the righteous, St. Paul says they are raised in glory :) that just so much of man is commanded spiritual as the Eternal considereth necessary for immateriality in fatore life: and the unspiritualized part of the created or acquired body that remaineth, regularly seeth corruption, or goeth to dust. Consequently, it is to that part only of animalcules, which God commanded spiritual, he promised through the Redeemer at the fall, the gift of eternal life: and the same, endued with will and understanding, will finally form the. general assembly of Christians in the heavenly Jerusalem, the church of the first-born, which is Christ’s body. When God commanded the body and soul of Enoch, and of Elijah, not to see death, not to undergo the natural death, but to be translated on account of their righteous- ea 156 Having, in these few pages, set before you the resurrection of the virtuous and the wick- ness ; it seemeth to imply, either that their whole bodies were translated with their souls, as the Spirit of God could command them spiritual: or their souls only were made the distinguishing mark of honour in the sight of men: then, in such case, the part unspiritualized would have to waste in the progress of the other part to paradise into azote ; such as formeth the radical principle of nitrie acid in atmosphere : a decay similar to that of the human body generally. In respect to Enoch and Elijah, whatever may: have been the will of God, the miracle in either case hath been equally surprising, and to be credited! In addition to all that we have been considering, it may be advisable to paraphrase a sentence in the burial ser- vice, ‘ That we, with all those who are departed in the true faith of thy holy name, may have our consummation and bliss both in body and soul in thy eternal and ever- tasting glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” - We heré vray, that whatever portion of our created body the Eternal commanded into spirit, into a substance in an high degree pure, when he first imparted to\each of us wisdom and will, when he commanded immateriality within us for our present and future life, it may become, with all those who are departed in the true faith of his holy namé, a member of Christ’s body—a part of the genéral assembly of the Christian church in the heavenly Jerusa- lem, through Jesus Christ our Lord. oleae’ There are two sentences in the Holy Communion that are equally proper to be noticed with the former; ‘and highly deserving our attention—‘“‘ When our blessed Sa- viour eat the passover with his disciples, he took bread ; 157 ed, divested of materiality; the one shining forth in the kingdom of their Father; the other rising with terrors of guilt and the dread of a God they had offended, allow me to re- mind you to “think on these things’ before it. is too late. | This separation of the soul from the body, to what shall I now liken it. It is like unto cloth taken from a loom, that neither the and blessed ; and brake it; and gave it to them ; and said, take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup; and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them; and they all drank of it. And-he said to them, this is my blood of the new testament which is shed for many. Do this in re- membrance of me.” . Mark, 14th chap. and 22d and 238d yerses ; and the 26th verse, 11th chap. Ist Epistle to the Corinthians. The priest, in these sentences, after receiving the Com- munion in both kinds himself, earnestly beseecheth Al- mighty God, who gave his only Son to suffer death for our redemption, to hear him—that the oblation once offered, may preserve the body and soul of his communicants—the spiritualized portion of their created bodies endued with understanding and will—the spiritualized man unto ever- lasting life, to become a part of the Christian church, by their receiving his creatures of bread and wine according to his Son’s our Saviour Jesus Christ’s holy institution, that is, by feeding on him in their hearts by faith and _ thanksgiving: and, drinking of the cup in remembrance that Christ’s blood was shed for them ; and being thankful. 3 < 158 Ee hand that wove the cloth—that worketh the shuttle; nor the loom itself—that held the warp and woof, hath any thing further to do with. At death the reasonable soul and flesh appear to be as much separated, and mutually to have effected, at the will of God, what they were designed for. The probationary state of the adult is then finished, whether it be for the second coming of Christ, or the day of judgment: and nei- ther the blood, animal spirits, or brain of a deceased person, will any more be wanted to excite the thinking principle. She is of her- self sufficient to know, that all things have been consistently done toward her in life by the Lord God Almighty for his honour and glory—and in other words, for her own eternal happiness or misery. Had not, however, such a covenant as the covenant of redemption, in mercy been thought upon by the Son of God, to restore the soul to the favour of his heavenly Father, after the breach of the covenant of justice or - free beneficence, our souls must have perished with our bodies through the sin of Adam, his sin of disobedience: and our lives, while life lasted, have been most wretched. The rea- 159 sonable soul, the spiritual body, would have been lost, it would have been no more, it would have gone as much out of existence as. a deceased body. The condition of which, after it hath been deposited in the grave a few years, I shall now beg leave to lay before you, being fully assured, it will not be considered by any, irre- lative to the interesting question of the Re- surrection at the last day, that we are, through these few pages, searching out the extent and meaning of; but will, on the contrary, consi- derably strengthen the opinion of my readers upon the sense I have given to it. At Paris, human bodies are removed every three years from an ancient burial-place, Des Innocens, a common burying-ground for the poor, containing about fifteen hundred, thirty feet deep and twenty each side, being usually filled in that time. At the end of fifteen years, the removed bodies become white ductile «matter, and their bones without solidity. After thirty years, the whole is changed to dense brittle flakes; and where the earth has been dry, the bodies undergo a like change. After forty years, all the bodies have put on a putrid humidity, and have begun wasting 160 themselves away. For a fuller account see Parkinson’s Organic Remains. _ The above observation is an evidence that the fibrous part of the body is brought back to its kindred earth. And the truth of these words is confirmed “ there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest.” As the loss of translation, or imaioctelieh on earth, of every reasonable’ soul came through Adam, so through Jesus Christ, came the resurrection of the spiritual body. “ Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are Christ's — at his coming.” The soul then that hath employed talents only to do evil, will be brought at the day of judgment to acknowledge God’s justice to- ward her: and having atoned, she will through God's goodness finally be changed : and will become like unto the glorious body of the second Adam: the fetters of her mind will fall off—her horrors and torments. So that no soul should be deprived—for ever— — of singing unto God her song of praise in an immortal state: to whom all honour, glory, and thanksgiving, is unutterably due for - evermore. . 161 Therefore, my beloved Brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 162 From this second part of the Appendix and Notes we may learn, That the resurrection of the dead implieth the belief of the resurrection of all generally. In other words it implieth, That all those who are departed this life have possessed in their mortal bodies ; And that all those who are in this life do ~ Possess ; And that all those who are ever to come into life will possess, | A part or portion of their animalcule—of their materiality in an high degree spiritu- alized and endued with understanding and will—as it were a spiritualized essence, within mortality, that will at the end of the world set forth the Christian Church, which is Christ's Body *. » The author through this Second Part of the Appendix has shewn, that the reasonable soul and flesh—the human body that in life were one man—are at death totally dis- united. The one part of the natural body—wholly fibrous and daily going to decay; the other part of the same body— highly spiritualized, impressed with an immortal principle, ' 163 An essence or individuation as invisible as God himself, till God affords such essence mental excellencies adapted to a future state. After which Christ, at his second coming, will, through his own merits and mediation and the same spirit that raised himself, raise the righteous so endowed to higher degrees of glory, and will cause the wicked on the day of judgment, who have not profited in life through redemption or grace, to undergo a punishment that cannot fail to bring them at the last to cry out—that God is just, and that Jesus is the Lord. But one day is with God as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. When however the declaration shall be awakened in them, angels in heaven will an- nounce that they are no longer under con- . and amalgamated with will and understanding through the good pleasure of God. Hence appeareth the accordant union of the two parts of body—distinguished by the names of soul and body: as also, the reason of the final separa- tion of these substances. When pulsation faileth, the incorruptible principle, the immortal substance, conceals herself in vehicles of air to come forth again, whether we will or not, when the Saviour of the world is ordained to be our Judge. ‘* Corruption doth not inherit incorrup- tion.” 164 demnation: and will call them up at the command of God to Mount Sion ; even unto him who hath overcome death. Asin Adam all die, even so in Christ shall ‘all be made alive. | Ls In what part of the universe the amalga- mated essence hath to abide upon the corrup- tion of the body unto the second coming of Christ, or after the day of judgment, it would be presumption for me to say; or to advance any opinion beyond what reason and Scrip- ture agree in—that the spirit of God—the eternal Spirit—that visibly descended at Jor- dan—through the component and uniform parts of atmosphere, did as visibly ascend— that the last Adam might be a quickening spirit for us to bear the image of the Lord from heaven. APPENDIX. PART THE THIRD. ON THE TRINITY. TO THE READER. Turse few pages on the Trinity are designed to awaken Christians in general to keep the Catholic faith whole and undefiled in their souls—neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance: and to assist the Arian to acknowledge the divinity of Christ : and, the Socinian, the personal subsistence of the Holy Spirit. Where the word of faith is in the mouth and in the heart of man he will be saved. For, with the heart man believeth unto righteousness ; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. ft? WE J. ‘Destgkoh se) | ay Jura T otlf ail ald gaged ot iovney’m vara {ied ot bilfebar bak Store TO. anozisq add gail Mor at Ot :telger 03) Bis + oo Tedini ite sdettd ‘to ydinivily odd oohe slvrott on to sorroteiadaye insoatoq ont? pinietini . ae 1 ead ¢ , stsoca gut ot et inst Ae ‘ . bovee od Litve 9 aif sunicet olnu ifioveifnd: 1 Hii} ini 9d fiolzadinoe Minot asl | itr W batig HOB As cys oa wos oh as The drawing round the circle, ABC, is designed to represent the glory: and divine love to be represented by G, the centre of the circle. The first Epistle General of John, hath these impressive words, (see the 4th chap. part of the 7th and the 9th verses,) “ God is love :” “ Because that God sent his only be- gotten Son into the world that we might live through Him.” If it is not received by the reader as an axiom in this elucidation of the coeternity and coequality of the Trinity; that is, if it is not believed without the necessity of proof—that the three angles of each of the triangles, HGM, MGN, NGH, are equal to two right angles; as also the three angles of the equilateral triangle DEF, the author must beg leave to refer him to Euclid, the logi- cian, to shew the truth of the principle ad- vanced. . And as the equilateral triangle, DEF, is drawn so as to touch the circle A BC in its M 170 three extreme points, the three ares subtend- ing the equal sides of it, must consequently be equal: and radii from the centre G, of the circle, ABC, to the circumference, equally so. If radii are equal under so small a view as in the circle drawn they are equally so under any larger dimension of the circle—as through immensity. Through the limited view of circles, the moon and the stars were first seen to move, and thereby became objects of adoration : and were called Gods—Oeovc—Oew curro. Hence the Deity obtained the name of Q¢o¢ —who is every where. His immensity is an incommunicable attribute equally with his eternity, unity and immutability. As spirit in ourselves thinketh and willeth; and are together as one; for not any thing in the mind preceded thought : so in like man- ner God the Father—pure spirit—command- eth. He is the Being of all Beings—the Word was in the beginning with Him—and without his Almighty Spirit was not any thing made that was made. Neither the Word or Holy Spirit can im 171 any wise be divided from God the Father: the three together constituteth pure spitit; the Being that we call God. Divide an equilateral triangle into three parts, as the drawing is, and not any one of the three parts can have the least imequality to either of the other two, having G for one of the extreme points in each triangle: nor can the three together, to the equilateral triangle. Just so it is in respect to the Tri- nity, in whatever possible light we view the three divine Persons, the like is implied: whether as the Holy Spirit, as the Word, or as the Father—they together constitute that pure spirit we call the supreme God. The same position holds true of the equi- lateral triangle, and the drawing within en-— larged through immensity : and so it may be said of God—Word—and Holy Spirit ; they are together but that one Godhead that com- prehendeth immensity : wherein he hath formed an universe moving by his will and his own laws. Wherever therefore his Shechinab, his di- vine light is directed to effect any thing, there God is more particularly as the Father— Word—and Spirit: as in the prophecies ss M 2 ; 172 the prophets, until their fulfilment through Jesus Christ, unto the end of the world— when God will be all in all. ‘« After the Heathen world had been blest with sufficient opportunities of becoming ac- quainted with the writings of Moses and the | prophets, and of consequence with the divine purpose of sending a Redeemer, God came unto his-own through Jesus Christ’—he can form what he pleaseth to the acts of his own mind. The Word that was with Him from the be- ginning, manifested himself to them in Jesus Christ by miracles, that he was the God, su- preme and omnipotent, still they received him not as their God that was to come to them. But'to as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become his children. And, if children; then heirs: heirs of God through Jesus Christ. A peculiar star, a divine light, an emana- tion in the East, conducted the wise men. to the infant that was to be born in Bethlehem — of Judea, as had been foretold by the pro- phets, not by the will of man; but, of God: - and his glory was, as of the only begotten of the Father. Of him John the Baptist said in 173 Bethabara, “ He it is, who coming after me, is preferred before me.” ~ When John the Baptist was preaching in Jordan, there came unto him Jesus to be baptized : and he forbade him and said, “ I have need rather to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me!” Jesus answering, said, “ Suffer it to be so now, to fulfil all righteous- ness. Then John suffered him.” And as he went up out of the water the heavens opened: the universe divided; and the Eternal Spirit—the Spirit of God—de- scended upon Him to save the world. From that moment, Jesus Christ, the Sa- viour anointed, shewed himself to be both God and man. And he humbled himself to death, even unto death upon the cross for us miserable sinners. . But he was not alone, the Father was with Him; the Word was with Him that was from the beginning ; and the light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, was with Him, full of grace and truth. And he left us not comfortless, when the King of Glory exalted Him with great triumph in heaven. At Pentecost, “ cloven tongues, like as of fire, sat upon each of the Apostles;” and 174 convinced them that Jesus Christ was in’ the Father: and themselves in Him: and He m them: and that the Word was from the be- ginning. For they themselves were all filled with the Holy Ghost: and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit—the Eter- _ nal Spirit—gave them utterance, the wonder- ful works of God. He that hath my com- mandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father: and I will love him, and manifest myself to him. | As Samaria received the Holy Ghost of Peter and John, who laid their hands on them, so will all, who seek the Gospel as they are commanded to do, receive the same Holy Ghost through the righteousness of Christ : and the inspiration of that Spirit will cleanse their thoughts, and put into their minds good desires. The Writer humbly trusteth that his elu- eidation of the Trinity hath set forth the Word and Spirit in Christ Jesus, to be the im-dwelling of the Godhead coeternal and co- equal with himself. That Word and Spirit must be eternal, free from time, that is educed of substance that is 175 eternal: and consequently was in the begin- ning with God, and was God, in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. Through the redemption only that is in Christ Jesus God justifieth us. Let us all. then, without gainsaying, from this time forward acknowledge the glory of the Eternal Trinity: and, in the power of the Divine Majesty worship the Unity, who reign- - eth ever one God world without end. | : a J fh, : my " ud lupe 219 ‘ ist a, val uf =) eH ~~ thea pakd.ci. bo Deen, bem daygutt pot to Jdbgil. okie , v Me . . rey ° : girok seid aja bags é A | hes Ss | | . . - d +s ; gw OTF etti | SiOfRII ~ , r, ‘ : é i>, GrAte oat me LOE | z ; “ er 4 ‘ , ‘ t . g ; 2 F Me “7 « j a . : ‘ 3 . : r bd ; SRI Oe. Chih) Sst os . ~ ’ ” at Nee x . yi r q . . * z 4+ ‘ 4 APPENDIX. PART THE FOURTH. ON THE SUPREME DIVINITY JESUS CHRIST: COETERNAL AND COEQUAL WITH DEITY. TO THE READER. THESE pages are distinctly to prove, after the foregoing elucidation of the Trinity, that the prophecy of Israel—that the House of David should not be extinguished by the Kings of Israel and Syria—“ Hear ye now, O house of David, the Lord himself will give you a sign :” and the sign was to be, “ that a Messiah should be born of a Virgin, and the child be called Emmanuel,” or Immanuel, Hebrew interpretation, God with us—is ful- filled in Jesus Christ of the line of David, born of the Virgin Mary, with two natures united, that is, with a human nature and the unoriginate nature of Deity, which is the na- ture of Three Persons or Subsistences of the Trinity ; Father, Word, and Spirit : neither afore or after other ; neither greater or less ; in glory equal; and in majesty co-eternal: and ’ : 7 + Bs. q 4 180 4 in a word, is the Emmanuel foretold: the Deity incarnate to save the people from their sins, and to give them Eternal Life: and in the New Jerusalem will be their God, Rev. xxi. 3. ON THE SUPREME DIVINITY oF JESUS CHRIST. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise—when as his mother Mary was espoused - to Joseph, before they came together, the Angel Gabriel appeared unto her and said, “ Hail, thou that art highly favoured :” thou shalt conceive “ of the Holy Ghost’—God’s Almighty Spirit shall overshadow thee: an existence not common to others: and thou shalt bring forth a Son: and shalt call his name—“ Jesus:” which implieth the Saviour, — the Messias, the Sent, “the Christ,’ the anointed, “ the chosen of the Lord,’ to fulfil the assurance given at the Fall that .immor- tality should be restored. __A few verses at the beginning of the Gos- pel of St. John are well worthy the atten- 182 tion of my Readers to shew them, how God, through a foreknowledge of what might hap- _ pen, had kept in mind to redeem him whom he had made. The verses appear to set forth, that the Divinity was with this child, accepted of God as the ransom for fallen man, to sa- tisfy his Justice. In an highly impressive manner St. John signifieth—that the Word or Wisdom of the Father, that was before time, was the Wis- dom with this Child: that same Wisdom that was with God: and was the God that had before created the Heavens and the Earth, and all the host of them: eternal life was in him: and the life was the light of men. Hence we readily perceive that the God- head in mercy took the preserving office upon himself from the fall of man, that there should be no end of his kingdom of righteousness. In the days of Herod, a Star guided wise men from the East to Jerusalem, to find him that was to rule the people of Israel. Herod inquired of them what time the Star first ap- peared ; and directed them to Bethlehem, ‘as it had been foretold by the prophet. When lo, the self-same Star, which had appeared in the East, went before them and stood where ; 183 the young Child was: and they, being warned of God in a dream not to return to Herod, departed into the East another way. Nearly thirty years after, the Baptism of Jesus Christ displayed to the world that the Divinity, the Godhead—Father, Word, and Spirit—was with, and in him. John saw that Spirit of God descending and lighting upon him : and he heard a voice from Heaven, say-_ ing, “this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And, when Peter, James, and John beheld the kingdom of Heaven come with power, a further proof of his Divinity appeared : they saw Jesus transfigured—his face shone as the Sun, and his raiment white as Snow—talking with Moses and Elias. A cloud oversha- dowed: and out of the cloud a voice said, “ this is my beloved Son, hear him !” Pure Spirit, the Spirit of God, influenced all that Jesus Christ did for three years and an half after his Baptism, to work salvation both to the Jew and Gentile. Neither, when he yielded up his Spirit, were the powers of the Godhead withdrawn —the veil of the Temple rent in twain! the 184 earth quaked ! and the rocks rent ! and graves opened ! When he rose from the dead—two Spirits at his Sepulchre said, he is not here, but is risen! why seek ye the living among the dead ? After his resurrection, Saints which had slept arose from their graves and appeared to many in the holy city! When he had blessed his disciples, he was parted from them and carried up into Heaven. The Ascension of the Godhead, the day of Pentecost» fully confirmed, there appeared unto the Apostles cloven tongues, like as of fire, that sat upon each of them: and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost—even with the Spirit of Truth to comfort them: and. be- gan to speak with other tongues as that Spirit gave them utterance ! In a word, the Divine unoriginated persons or subsistences composing Godhead never were away from Jesus Christ. He said—of himself; “I have power to _ lay down my life, human nature—of myself —for the sheep ; and no man taketh it from me. And I have power to take it again— 185 both of which he did do!. As the Father knoweth me, so know I the Father—I and my Father are one and the self-same Supreme ~ Oodhead, if I do the works of my Father, though ye believe not me, believe the works themselves that prove this saying of mine. » Peter filled with the Holy Ghost, said, “there is none other name under Heaven given among men, than the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye __ crucified, whereby we must be saved.” And the Centurion and they that were with Jesus, when he was led to be crucified, saw the earthquake and those things which were done ; and feared greatly and said, “ truly this was the Son of God,” born through the Spirit; born not of the will of Man but of God !—they perceived Almighty power was with him whom they crucified. _ Since the time is past—the fulness of time —that a Messias was to be born in the world according to all the prophecies: and Miracles have been done by one, even Jesus, who 1s called Christ, that no power but an Almighty _ power could effect : let not any whose under- standings are darkened, seeing and will not aan 186 see; hearing and will not hear, nor under- stand: stagger your faith to the destruction of your souls, by the denying the Eternity of the doer of all such Miracles : and the power placed in him who doeth them, as an ae Power. What other power triumphed over Satan when Jesus said to the Malefactor, who feared God—to day shalt thou be with me in Para- dise—than the power of the Godhead? — What other power after his resurrection spake to the eleven disciples, when he said all power is given to me in Heaven and in Earth ? What other power ascended ? he came into his own world that he had made, and the world received him not: but to as many as received him, to them gave he power to be- come the children of God. “What I have brought forward for my Readers to reflect upon, is sufficient to con- vince every considerate understanding, that no other power hath ever dwelt with Jesus, who is called Christ, than the power of the Godhead. Perfect God and perfect Man, of © a reasonable Soul and human flesh subsisting. As to his created nature an inferiority : but 187 an equality in every concern that respecteth the Godhead. | 2 - And in as much as Wisdom and Spirit dwelt with the Father ; and the Father dwelt with them—which is the Unity in Trinity; and, Trinity in Unity—when they created the - world:.and when they consulted afterward J in Heaven to redeem it: that same Wisdom at the fulness of time mercifully descended on Jesus to save it through the Holy Spirit of God—which proceeded from the Father and the Word—eyen that Spirit which is to sanctify God’s people, and will be for ever and ever over his Christian Church. It is evident therefore that there can be no essence, subsistence, or person, afore or after other: not any greater or less than another—no adXoe Eavroce whatever in Christ Jesus, but the Godhead alone. And by rea- | son that the Godhead hath ever been without divisibility—no other Wisdom or Word can be manifest in Christ Jesus, but the indivisi- ble Word or Wisdom of God: who is the light of light : and who continueth to lighten the world. Miracles done by him who is come, that exceed all the powers of nature, as they are n2 188 related in the New Testament: and the Writings of Prophets, particularly of Isaiah and Jeremiah concerning him, as they are contained in the Old, all tend together to strengthen our Faith; and to bear witness, without dispute, that he is the true Vine— one with God : and God with him : very God of very God, without difference : and was, as St. John says, before time the Word or Wis- dom of the Father, a Subsistence or Person unoriginate, eternal, and equal in glory: and will be, as Isaiah hath foretold, the ‘Emma- nuel with us in the New Jerusalem: and we shall be his people. Rev. xxi. 8. ‘“* Praise God, from whom all blessings flow : Praise Him, all creatures here below : Praise Him above, Angelic Host: Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” OBSERVATIONS TENTH, ELEVENTH, TWELFTH, THIRTEENTH, AND TWENTY-SEVENTH “ARTICLES. gu * ee err S\ Peenen belles x { " . alts PS oe! Pay i. "ho, ee) Mik a a EE Lato “ee cope * a8 iped seatbelt Bide meee Lae ; W Gir Ce big he at ri... . ‘f . TE ie ~ - Po : 7 ‘s AAM tA, ’ ra y > 1 OBSERVATIONS, &e. §c. ARTICLE X. OF FREE-WILL. “ The condition of man, after the fall of Adam, is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and good works to faith, and calling upon God; where- fore we have no power to do good works, plea- sant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may _ have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will.” Since the covenant of redemption, God hath never declared eternal death for disobe- dience, nor total corruptibility for moral evil : as it hath been declared under the covenant of free beneficence—“ he shall die.” We may therefore reasonably believe, as 192 God is righteous in all his ways, he will view all Heathens favourably: and bring them finally through the covenant of See a to some heavenly mansion. ARTICLE XI. OF THE JUSTIFICATION OF MAN. “ Weare accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith ; and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by Faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort, as more largely is expressed in the Homily 3 ys 8 ficatio n. As man’s own works and deservings would naturally have continued in disobedience, as they had begun, without the immediate and heavenly promise, styled the covenant of re- demption ; his restoration to favour and his eternal life is wholly through the — Christ who is the alone righteous." There is therefore not any name under hea- ven, but his, whereby the world can in the least look for salvation: and this is a doctrine 193 full of comfort. Man cannot merit: he pos- sesses only the consciousness under an impair- ed nature of having performed actions good and rewardable. ARTICLE XII. OF GOOD WORKS. “ Albeit that Good Works, which are the fruits of Faith, and follow after Justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the se- verity of God's judgment ; yet are they pleas- ing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively Faith; insomuch that by them a lively Faith may be as evidently known, as a tree discerned by the fruit.” Neither ordinary gifts, or graces, or cere- monial works will justify those who are cre- ated anew in Christ Jesus. The Christian faith puts them into a better way of salvation, to be worked out by endeavouring to live conformably to the Gospel. Christ taught them—who are the blessed—who are the salt of the earth. But if the salt hath lost its 194 savour, wherewith shall it be salted ? , It is good for nothing but to be cast out... 4) | At the solemn day of account, man will find merit and demerit is not all one... He will perceive, however darkened his understand- ing may have been, that actions, under the assisting Spirit alone, produce the blessings : and contrary actions the punishments. ARTICLE XIII. Dy . iy OF WORKS BEFORE JUSTIFICATION. “ Works done before the grace of Christ, and the inspiration of his Spirit, are not pleasant to God, forasmuch as they spring not of Faith - in Jesus Christ, neither do they make men meet to receive grace, or (as the School authors say) deserve grace of congruity: yea, rather for that they are not done as God hath willed — and commanded them to be ig we doubt not but they have the nature of sin.’ ; If infants and others grafted into the body of Christ’s Church, and confirming themselves in faith and obedience, by the assistance of the Holy Spirit are to be the inheritors, through the righteousness of Christ; of his 195 everlasting kingdom: if “ they are so born again,” as St. John saith, to see the kingdom of God: then it follows, where the Gospel light is come, that works done in an unrege- nerate state, that is, before justification, be- fore Divine grace or favour in baptism, have “ the nature of sin,’ a perversion of free will : and cannot be pleasant to God. “ Christ is dead in vain, if righteousness is by the law ;” when that light is among them. But, as St. Paul saith, ‘“ Shall the unbelief of some make the faith of God without effect” in others ? “ God forbid.” God sent his Son, St. John saith, “ That the world through him might be saved.” “ He that believeth on him is not condemned : but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God.” The wrath, or rather the dis- pleasure of God, abideth on him until he doeth that which is lawful and right. This Article teaches humility in the highest degree—to the unregenerate, not to trust in their own self-righteousness:—to the baptized, to pray to God for inward assistance, to dis- pose their way towards the attamment of ever- lasting salvation through Jesus Christ. 196 ied KS Lbs eeeeamee, toe : OF BAPTISM. - od PR wih “ Baptism is not only a sign) of profession; and mark of difference, whereby Christian men are discerned from others that be not christened ; but tt ts also a signof Regenera- tion, or New Birth, whereby, as by an:instru- ment, they that receiwwe Baptism rightly, are grafted into the Church; the promises of the forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are vi- sibly signed and sealed; Faith is confirmed, and Grace increased by virtue of prayer unto God. The Baptism of young Children ts.in any wise to be retained in the Church, as:most agreeable with the institution of Christ. | The voice from heaven in the mystery of our Saviour’s baptism, that said, “ Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased,” was for every one baptized. The commission of Christ, afterward to his disciples was equally universal: “Go and baptize—all in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” Righteousness therefore and inward holiness, 197 that is transferred through Christ at baptism by the same Spirit, will ultimately be not less so. Whatever is the darkness of the Heathen mind, its exertions to forsake moral evil, spring forth solely through the blessings of the covenant of redemption, which freed hu- man nature at the fall from corruptibility. Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Heretics are thereby finally to arrive at a state of conver- sion, that the assisting Spirit, the actual grace of God through Christ, will readily bestow © and transfer on them the new birth to righ- teousness, which perfects the prerequisites for them to be baptized, and made one fold under one shepherd, Jesus Christ. And by our Church, regenerated, sureties are to bring infants to baptism, Christ. hath said, ‘“‘ Suffer them to come to me.” The assisting or actual grace, that transfers all righteousness and inward holiness through Christ, will imperceptibly strengthen them as they grow up to love God and magnify his name through Christ, and to take upon them- selves the engagements and promises of their sureties—which is the spiritual work called confirmation. 198 Should any boldly deny this power of the holy Spirit, this actual assisting grace, to in- fants brought to baptism by their sureties, I must remind them—they deny the power of Christ, and, his command given to his Dis- ciples. What ought generally to be understood in consequence of regeneration or renewal of a spiritual birth is this—that man is not to allow himself to go on in any known sin: he is to renounce the devil and all his works : the pomps and vanities of this wicked world and all the sinful lusts of the flesh : believe all the articles of the Christian faith : keep God’s holy will and commandments: and walk in the same all the days of his life. ictT And these things must be done under a:¢on- tinuance of repentance and remission of sins: beseeching God from time to time through Jesus Christ—that the remainder of his life may be so pure, so divested of Pharisaical righteousness and every thought that im- presses on him a notion of his self-election, that he may at the last come to his eternal glory. ~~ fe sie INDEX, OR SYNOPSIS, MOST INTERESTING PASSAGES IN THE TRACT AND APPENDIX. PAGE DPHAYOR o\5 2 8 )2)0 sie so Sis's'ne ele Sen neebeeesanesicse ce SLO To the Reader........ OT FETS SCIP OIRE Eye ire ep Org The Tract sets forth—the Church of England as a “ Scriptural Church”—that man is not by nature born in sin through his immediate progenitors : and outward evidence as the instrument of conversion tothe Christian faith :oiciec'0/010, 00s od oe e's seismee, (12 That enthusiasm and self-sufficiency expose the mind to the delusions of fancy and independence upon eee cence Sees. eta ee case ret Geese OO That neither followers of St. Paul nor of St. James, have any reason to despair of obtaining pardon .. 10 That true Gospel Ministers teach you to govern your- selves by the rules or moral laws of the Gospel .. 12 That the doctrines of Calvin, Whitfield, Wesley, Evangelical Methodists, Kihamites, and Bible Christians do not, after the manner of St. Paul and St. James, enforce Evangelical obedience to Gos- BBetprincIplEs .. 6. ssc Vde res « os 45s 5n08 sajna I The different import given to the word—hell ...... 31 Through the sound words of Peter and John thou- sands were brought to the old Gospel faith}...... 33 7 INDEX. PAGE Without a life of obedience, Antinominian Metho- dists will not be saved : will be among the children of God’s displeasure ........6-- teccerecceeee BG The disobedience of Adam, and the mischief of deriv- ing moral evil from immediate progenitors seeese BF That the fault and corruption of every man’s nature is, its state impaired through the original sin of Adam, which fully explains the ninth Article .... 47 Counsel to pretenders to the Holy Spirit.......... 55 That the word—now—does not mean that pardon i is no longer hoped for, but, refers to what St. Paul says, now Gospel light is come into the world, there is-- noW febtvige od? ie Ss oe a tiie ene 2 ubad: By “1 widgine saifgiit eed : i en od ee ‘ut eaoaiegcl tas Ot a aes” cola reared Ni) vie a Mics ee per Js\ tanlt seb aclb et -Mveoad BE alt é ‘hehe ae Pee acne tad’ ‘tale as i Vong ady fai} aye tao. vg NER GS, Di eli, due “a to sain ore ait at pit omen csi TAY heron didi » iw cd 49 bvoeangll vs 7 eS ie edie e ae beeen CH oe . hE otroren, 3 O89 ase , ' 7) ar ere ers eo re Ge en fiat > % Sy WP or pen eae a oa eel gee & ple aly a i a U5 | 1 é ? 4 . : on ft els i h 4 : a - : by ¢Y ont \ . i { Tes : ye ri 7 hee 5 i 4 ‘ ‘ ete . : : 2 Na : i Mudie dof \: ‘ ; We i { 7 f 7 f 9 vt 7 Cghtetgia pe IN tina oe DATE DUE DEMCO 38-297