DUKE UNIVERSITY DIVINITY SCHOOL LIBRARY i i ; h i i Fae ie ‘ j i i hi . j Lu (con \ Wy) i uf red Ted: | t 4 { y ih AM 4, ! : : ‘ ; F ‘ H pe wey LAR i \ eh 4 j ; ey i b P 7 ‘ ¥ ‘ K 1 Ey 4 y ‘ a Path } if ¢ AN APPEAL TO THE GOSPEL, uv OR AN INQUIRY INTO THE JUSTICE OF THE CHARGE, i ALLEGED BY METHODISTS AND OTHER OBJECTORS, THAT _ The Gospel is not preached by the National Clergy: IN A ' SERIES OF DISCOURSES DELIVERED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD IN THE YEAR 1812, At the Lecture founded by THE LATE REV. J. BAMPTON, M.A. CANON OF SALISBURY. ; BY RICHARD MANT, M.A. VICAR OF GREAT COGGESHALL, ESSEX, AND LATE FELLOW OF ORIEL COLLEGE, “71 am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God «© unto salvation, to every one that believeth.” : ** Quod nos appellant hereticos, est illud crimen ita grave, ut nisi videatur, “ nisi palpetur, nisi manibus digitisque teneatur, credi facile de homine *¢ Christiano non debeat.” FIFTH EDITION. OXFORD, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS FOR THE AUTHOR: SOLD BY J. PARKER; AND BY F.C. AND J. RIVINGTON, J. MURRAY, AND J. HATCHARD, LONDON. 1813. “eke i a eu 17 Qn ots aha J eis wy’ ae Ne Ay \. b . ay wy asiyit ‘d wobeuts eis tA oe EO ty PES EA Bi Z4 eo 4% xd hehe 7 ge ee ane Khe Di We HAVE: AEA ERE S ; M ca oa pfod ee % one p) > Saari ae rs fo Non Yes MTs Mek CY EEE Lo My Sep l ieee és eithad seat qe Div. Sy.,: 233,42 M291R TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND RIGHT REVEREND JOHN RANDOLPH, D.D. LORD BISHOP OF LONDON. My Lorn, ‘THE following Difcourfes are the fruit of ftudies, commenced when I had the benefit of your Lordfhip’s inftructions from the theological chair. ‘They are defigned as a humble tribute to what I believe to be the truth of that Gofpel, a difpenfation of which was committed to me by your hands; and for my fidelity in the preaching of which, my prefent fituation in your diocefe makes me - refponfible, under CHRIST, to your epifcopal jurifdiction. Thefe confiderations induced me to fignify a with, with which you have been gracioufly pleafed to comply, that I might be permitted A2 iv DEDICATION. to fend my Lectures into the world under the fanction of your Lordfhip’s patronage ; affured, at the fame time, that an attempt, which has for its objet to refcue from mifreprefentation fome important articles of our holy Faith, and to vindicate the great body of the national Clergy from, much unmerited afperfion, cannot be fo properly infcribed as to one, whofe high dignity is accompanied with correfponding exertions for promoting the welfare of our pure and apoftolical Church, and, therein, of genuine Chriftianity. lam, My Lord, . Your Lordthip’s much obliged and very dutiful Servant, RICHARD MANT, OrieL CoLiece, May, 1812. PREFACE. a HAVING in the following Inquiry ventured ona fubject, in itfelf perhaps of an invidious character, | am anxious to avoid all unne- ceffary occafion of offence ; and would there- fore befpeak the candour of my readers on two or three particular points. An enemy to controverfy, as fuch, and ef- pecially an enemy to the bitternefs of contro- verfy, it has been my earneft defire to abftain from all intemperance of manner and of lan- guage. Firmly perfuaded of the truth of thofe doétrines, which I have been defending, I have endeavoured to plead for them with firmnefs, but without afperity. If I have been occafionally betrayed into an oppofite conduct, and induced to employ expreffions, unworthy of my Chriftian profeffion, I beg that fuch language may be looked upon as never uttered; or at leaft may be regarded with indulgence, as the effect of human weaknefs, and not of a deliberate intention to offend. 5 In order to afcertain the fentiments of thofe, whofe allegations I have undertaken to ex- amine, I haye principally had recourfe to the AS vi PREFACE. writings of the Founders of Methodifm, and of the moft eminent among thofe Minifters of the Eftablifhment, who, like the profefled Methodifts, have been diftinguifhed (I think unduly) by the appellation of Evangelical or Gofpel Preachers. From the writings of thefe authors, to which have been added, as ne- ceflary to the fame purpofe, fome of the works of Auguftin and of Calvin, my quota- tions are neither few nor fcanty. In-making them, I truft it will appear that I have aéted honeftly ; and that I am not anfwerable for the guilt of mifreprefenting or perverting the fentiments of others, for the benefit of my own caufe. At the fame time, it may be proper to add, that, as there are probably comprifed under the general defcriptions of our accufers, many individuals, who do not fubfcribe to the opinions which their brethren have avowed, | requeft that my remarks may not be underftood to apply to any man, far- ther than as he efpoufes the fentiments of thofe, whofe works are particularly noticed. As to my filence concerning a late publica- tion by a learned Prelate, and the obferva- tions to which it has given occafion, it appears re{fpectful to ftate, that the materials of the following Lectures were collected, and indeed the Leétures themfelves were nearly com- pleted in their prefent form, before the “* Re- PREFACE. dit “ futation of Calvinifm’’ was announced. For the compofition of my Difcourfes I had avail- ed myfelf of a feafon of comparative leifure, which more numerous and preffing parochial engagements have fince prevented from re- curring: fo that, had it been my with, it would hardly have been in my power, to de- vote due attention to the examination of any freth publications. The truth however is, that it was not my with to be indebted to fo recent a produétion ; efpecially to one, which, from the exalted ftation and well-known character of the Author, might be expected to be re- ceived into general circulation. Although by earlier works, therefore, I have endeavoured to profit, without fcruple or referve, (of which I hope that this general acknowledgment will be deemed fufficient, if at any time I have omitted to f{pecify my obligation,) I deter- mined to deny myfelf the fatisfaction, for the prefent, of reading the ‘‘ Refutation,” that I might at once avoid both the temptation, and the fufpicion, of being indebted to it. Perhaps it may be thought, that I fhould have acted a more prudent part, if I had de- clined my own attempt, on the appearance of the Bifhop of Lincoln’s work. Had I been apprifed of his Lordfhip’s undertaking at an earlier period, it is moft probable that I fhould never have engaged in mine: or, when I firft A4 viii PREFACE. became acquainted with that undertaking, had not my Difcourfes been defigned for a fpe- cific purpofe, and my intention of being a can- didate for that particular appointment been declared, the work would then probably have been relinquifhed. After all, notwithftanding the publication alluded to, if I do not magnify the importance of the Inquiry, in which I have been occupied, I am willing to think that it may not be altogether ufelefs. The courfe of my fubje@ has led me to notice fome particulars, which can hardly have en- tered into a “ Refutation of Calyinifm :” and even with refpect to thofe, which are common to both inquiries, the more fuperficial exami- nation of the Predettinarian fyftem, to which my limits and my abilities have confined me, may (by the blefling of God) be not unpro- fitable to thofe, who have not opportunity for ftudying his Lordthip’s more elaborate pro- duction. I have only to add, that being defirous of comprifing the whole of my obfervations in the body of the work, inftead of throwing any part of them into notes, I found that moft of the following Difcourfes had run to a greater length than was adapted to the pulpit, and therefore fhortened them in the delivery. CONTENTS. SERMON I. INTRODUCTORY. DISCOURSE. 1 Cor. ix. 16. Though I preach the Gofpel, I have nothing to glory of : for neceffity 1s laid upon me ; yea, wo is unto me, if I preach not the Gof- pel. - yee. SERMON II. CHRISTIAN WORKS A NECESSARY CONDITION OF SALVATION. Mar. 31%. Os 1. 7) | And behold, one came and faid unto him, Good _ Majfler, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life ? And he faid unto him, Why calleft thou me good? there-is none good but one, that is; God: but if thou wilt enter into hfe, keep the commandments. «PP 25Q. aa CONTENTS. SERMON III. CALVINISTIC PREDESTINATION NOT THE DOC- TRINE OF THE GOSPEL. LUKE Xili. 23, 24. Then faid one unto him, Lord, are there few that be faved ? And he faid unto them, Strive to enter in at the firait gate: for many, I fay unto you, will feek to enter in, and JSnali not be able. ste BX: SERMON IY. CALVINISM INCONSISTENT WITH THE DIVINE _ ATTRIBUTES, AND WITH THE GENERAL CON- DITIONS OF THE GOSPEL COVENANT. JoHN iil. 16. God fo loved the world, that he gave his only- _ begotten Son, that whofoever believeth in him fhould not perifh, but have everlafting life. P. 181. SERMON Y. THE OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY GHOST NEITHER IRRESISTIBLE, NOR PERCEPTIBLE. . JOHN vii. 37, 38, 39. In the laft day, that great day of the feaft, Je- Jus ftood and cried, faying, If any man thirft, let him come unto me, and drink. / CONTENTS. xi He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath Said, out of his belly fhall flow rivers of liv- ing water. But this [pake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him fhould receive. Pog55. SERMON VI. REGENERATION THE SPIRITUAL GRACE OF BAP- TISM. JOHN ili. 5. Jefus anfwered, Verily, verily, I fay unto thee, Except aman be born of water and of the _ Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of . God. P ea 7 SERMON VII. A SPECIAL AND INSTANTANEOUS CONVERSION NOT NECESSARY FOR CHRISTIANS. Marv. xviii. 2, 3. And Jefus called a little child unto him, and Set him in the midft of them, And fad, Verily I fay unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye Shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. P. 380. xii ~ CONTENTS. SERMON VIII. ASSURANCE OF ETERNAL SALVATION, AND UN- ~ SINNING PERFECTION, NOT THE PRIVILEGES OF A TRUE CHRISTIAN. Marv. v. 3. - Bleffed are the poor in fpirit ; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. P. 439. SERMON IX. CONCLUDING DISCOURSE. GENERAL REMARKS. 1 Cor. ix. 16. Though I preach the Gofpel, I have nothing to glory of: for neceffity is laid upon me ; yea, wo is unto me, if I preach not the Gof- pel. P. 495. EXTRACT FROM THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT obtHl LATE REV. JOHN BAMPTON, _ CANON OF SALISBURY. Se eennen. aan ‘© ] give and bequeath my Lands. and «© Hftates to the Chancellor, Mafters, and Scholars “of the Univerfity of Oxford for ever, to have and “to hold all and fingular the faid Lands or Eftates “* upon truft, and to the intents and purpofes herein- “‘ after mentioned ; that is to fay, I will and appoint *¢ that the Vice-Chancellor of the Univerfity of Ox- *‘ ford for the time being fhall take and receive all “ the rents, iffues, and profits thereof, and (after all *¢ taxes, reparations, and neceffary deductions made) «‘ that he pay all the remainder to the endowment “of eight Divinity Lecture Sermons, to be efta- “‘ blifhed for ever in the faid Univerfity, and to be ** performed in the manner following : “«T direct and appoint, that, upon the firft Tuef- *« day in Eafter Term, a Lecturer be yearly chofen xiv EXTRACT FROM “‘ by the Heads of Colleges only, and by no others, “in the room adjoining to the Printing-Houfe, “ between the hours of ten in the morning and “two in the afternoon, to preach eight Divinity “Lecture Sermons, the year following, at St. «© Mary’s in Oxford, between the commencement “ of the laft month in Lent Term, and the end of * the third week in Act Term. “« Alfo I direét and appoint, that the eight Di- *‘ vinity Lecture Sermons fhall be preached upon “ either of the following Subjeéts—to confirm and * eftablith the Chriftian Faith, and to confute all ‘*‘ heretics and {chifmatics—upon the divine au- ‘s thority of the holy Scriptures—upon the autho- ‘< rity of the writings of the primitive Fathers, as ‘* to the faith and practice of the primitive Church ‘¢—upon the Divinity of our Lord and Saviour * Jefus Chrift—upon the Divinity of the Holy «© Ghoft—upon the Articles of the Chnftian Faith, ‘©as comprehended in the Apoftles’ and Nicene ** Creeds. «« Alfo I dire&t, that thirty copies of the eight ‘© Divinity Lecture Sermons {hall be always printed, ‘‘ within two months after they are preached, and *© one copy fhall be given to the Chancellor of the ‘“‘ Univerfity, and one copy to the Head of every “* College, and one copy to the Mayor of the city “‘ of Oxford, and one copy to be put into the Bod- “Jeian Library ; and the expence of printing them — ‘* fhall be paid out of the revenue of the Land or “« Eftates given for eftablifhing the Divinity Lec- CANON BAMPTON’S WILL. xv ** ture Sermons ; and the Preacher fhall not be paid, *‘ nor be entitled to the revenue, before they are « printed. «¢ Alfo I dire&t and appoint, that no perfon {hall ** be qualified to preach the Divinity Lecture Ser- ** mons, unlefs he hath taken the degree of Mafter «¢of Arts at leaft, in one of the two Univerfities « of Oxford or Cambridge; and that the fame per- *¢ fon fhall never preach the Divinity Lecture Ser- ‘© mons twice.” SASS See a A. a. oy Oe Me Rg aa Sete ie ab ee abd penta at ay om, snolaog soc. Ani aaidq qn be a sats, Loyiaied hy od. loam (angel Yotoargabeo ds reali? lag : eeaistiovig U gyi .ath lo-aag one wraty Soma) oct tort bee 3 99 ainda — ihe ue ii. gilt: Shard oe +s ie. q % i \ | ‘ = ‘ \" Fi hj ni e nity aM ‘ oe 4 * of ek ry oa t + Aes S'S t ie re 5 ? HH Pi Aiprnc 3 ‘ J We - ) , Wit) Bas : : ao 4 aw 2. al ; pee 5 P PS t Ry ; ‘ ea nm BEd - INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. 1 Cor. ix. 16. Though I preach the Gofpel, I have.nothing to glory of : for neceffity is laid upon me; yea, wo is unto me, if I preach not the Gofpel. OUR bleffed Saviour emphatically defcribed the purpofe of his miniftry, when, applying to himfelf a remarkable prophecy of [faiah, he declared ; “” The truth . is, the word, which in each cafe is the fame, has but a comparative force. We are to hate our relations in comparifon of Chrift ; or, as it is explained in the parallel paflage of St. Mat- thew, we are to love them lefs than Chrift’ ; fo as not to fuffer a regard for any earthly connection to interfere with our duty as Chrif- tians. And thus God is faid to have hated Efau; that is, to have loved him lefs than Jacob, whom he chofe in preference to the firft-born ; according to the faying in Genefis, that ‘‘ Leah was hated,” where the meaning evidently is, what is exprefled in the pre- ceding verfe, that Jacob “ loved Rachel more u Luke xiv. 26. © * Rom. ix.13. Y Matt. x. 37. Introductory Difcourfe — 27. ‘than her’.”’ “ The Jews,” obferves a learn- ed Hebraift, “ ufe to exprefs comparifons by “< negatives, or rejecting the thing lefs wor- **thy*.” 3. I proceed to remark, that for the right underftanding of Scripture, and efpecially of controverted texts, it may fometimes be ne- ceflary to look beyond our own verfion of the Bible, and to feek affiftance from the original Scriptures: perhaps, becaufe our excellent tranflators did not at firft exprefs themfelves with fufficient precifion; perhaps, becaufe the language, which they employed, has in fome degree deviated from its former fignification ; perhaps alfo, becaufe their minds may have been biaffed by certain prepoffeffions in favour of particular opinions, which are no otherwife bound upon our belief, than as they can be proved by the pure word of Scripture. It is generally agreed that the phrafes, “ Take no thonght for your life>;”’ ‘Take “no thought, faying, what fhall we eat ;” and again, ‘* Take no thought for the morrow ;” are a very inadequate expofition of our Sa- viours precept; the true intent of which muft be fought in the original paflages, uy pe- eimvare, py peseimmyoyte, be not anxioufly careful. 2 Gen. xxix. 30, 31. 2 Lowth on Hofea vi. 6. b Matt. vi. 25, 31, 34. 28 Introduétory Difcourfe. And many a well-difpofed and humble Chrif-) - tian would be preferved from much needlefs alarm and fcruple about the performance of a bounden duty, if he were aware, that when St. Paul declares, that ‘‘ he that eateth and “drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh ‘«« damnation to himfelf¢,” the Apoftle employs a word (xpiuze) which means in a general fenfe judgment, as it is rendered in the margin of our Bible. ; . By an application of this rule we may con- fute fome at leaft of the arguments, and ex- pofe fome of the errors of our affailants ; al- though it may be more generally neceflary to conduct our defence upon a larger feale. If, for inftance, the Anabaptift object to the bap- tifm of infants, on the ground of our Saviour’s declaration, “‘ Except a man be born again ;” we reply, that the original paflage is of uni- verfal extent, without any limitation of age, eay won tis yerndy, except one be born again. If he object, that, according to our Saviour’s commiffion to his Apoitles, «‘ Go teach all na-. “tions, baptizing them,” an infant is inca- pable of baptifm, for he is incapable of being taught; we anfwer, that the original com- miffion would be more correctly rendered, as it is conftantly rendered in all the Oriental €1 Cor. xi. 29. Introductory Difcourfe. 29 verfions*, make difciples of, or difciple all na- tions, waSnrevcare ravre Te eSvyj. Or if he con- tend, that the total immerfion of the body is effential to baptifm, we-call upon him to prove, how the word in our Saviour’s com- miffion muft of neceflity bear that conftruc- tion, when the fame word is elfewhere em- ployed by two of the facred hiftorians to ex- prefs only the wafhing of the hands‘. Upon the fame principle may be removed fome difficulties, which our verfion may be thought to countenance, on the queftion of Calviniftic predeftination. When Paul preach- ed to the Gentiles at Antioch, we read that ““as many as were ordained to eternal life * believed ;” doo yray teraypever ‘es Coy cuwnav': the meaning of the writer would probably have been more accurately given, if it had been faid, as many as were difpofed, or pre- pared ; as were in a right difpofition, or pre- paration, for eternal life, believed: a tranfla- tion, which Whitby fupports by feveral in- fiances of the like fignification of the word ; and of which Pyle pronounces after Grotius, that He that feeth it not is blind*. However d Beveridge’s Works, vol. i. p. 305. © Luke xi. 38. and Mark vii. 4, 5. See Wall’s Hift. of Infant Baptifm, part ii. chap. viii. fe&t. 6. p. 219. f£ Ads xiii. 48. & See Whitby’s Commentary on Aéts xiii. 48. and 30 Introdu€tory Difcourfe. this may be, and whatever colour the Predef- tinarian may think is given by our verfion to his favourite opinions, before he avails himfelf of the text in fupport of thofe opinions, it is at leaft incumbent upon him to prove, what we apprehend is incapable of proof, that the — original can be fairly conftrued into a refe- rence to the divine decrees, confidered as abfo- lute and independent of God’s forefight of the difpofition of the people. I fay, independent of God’s forefight of the difpofition of the people: that the people were well difpofed to receive the truth, euSerc: ess rv BartAgiay tou Oc", according to a phrafe, which Wolfius, and after him Parkhurft, confider to be equivalent with that before us, is a faét, which appears on the face of the narrative: that they became fo in confequence of an abfolute decree, is a mere begging of the queftion; an affumption of that, which is the very thing required to be proved. If this paffage is produced as a fanétion for the doétrine of Calviniftic ele@tion, another may be cited as a fanction for its correlative, the doétrine of Calviniftic reprobation ; each with the fame femblance, and each with as little fubftance, of reafon. St. Jude {peaks of Pyle’s Paraphrafe with his note. See alfo Parkhurft in YOC. TATTW. bh Luke ix. 62. Introductory Difcourfe. 31 “‘ ungodly men, before of old ordained to this ** condemnation';” the expreflion is the fame as the former, in the Englith verfion ; but not in the Greek : of waAas meoyeypappmeves eis TouTo To xpiwa ; not made and ordained by God to be punifhed ; much lefs, ordained by God to fin, and fo to punifhment; but prefcripti, accord- ‘ing to the vulgar Latin; profcribed in fome public record, fome programma, as certain commentators interpret it‘; or forefhewn, written of, or defcribed beforehand, to be de- ferving of condemnation for their ungodlinefs, as it is explained by others’; conformably to the ftrid@ import of the original expreflion, and to the illuftration in a fubfequent verfe, that «« Enoch prophefied of thefe.” As it may be clearing our way on fome fu- ture occafion, I would take the prefent oppor- tunity of remarking, that there are two or three other texts of this defcription, of which a fimilar explanation is requifite. St. Peter defcribes men, “‘ which ftumble at the word, *‘ being difobedient, whereunto alfo they were “ appointed,” eis 6 xas eredycay™: an expreflion probably of the fame force as that of zpoye- yeapmevos, juft quoted from St. Jude; men, whofe ftumbling had been declared and fore- i Jude, ver. 4. k See Parkhurft in voc. mpoypage. 1 See Whitby in loc. my Pet. ii. 8. 32 Introduétory Difcourfe. told by the Prophets and by Chrift himfelf; or who had been appointed to ftumble at. the word, as a punifhment for their difobedience : and St. Paul fpeaks of « God enduring with ‘© much long-{uftering the veflels , of wrath, ** fitted to efit ata: KOT NpTIC EVEL ES ame Asiavy": difpofed perhaps, or fitted, for deftruc- tion; as thofe who were before reprefented to be rerayyevo:, prepared or difpoted for eternal life; or as thofe, whom. St. Paul elfewhere defcribes as “‘ purging themfelves” from falfe doctrines, and fo becoming ‘ veflels unto ho- “ nour®:” after the fame manner thefe veflels of wrath are fitted by themfelves for deftruc- tion, by their fins and impenitence, ‘“ after ‘their hardnefs and impenitent hearts trea- “ furing up unto themfelves wrath?,” as the Apottle fpeaks in a former part of the fame epiftle: for let it be carefully obferved, that there is not a fhadow of reafon for fuppofing it to be the intention of the text, to afcribe the effeét to the agency of the Almighty, and that, as Whitby remarks from Ccume- nius, ‘the old ecclefiaftical interpretation of the words was adverte to fuch a fuppofition’. n Rom. ix. 22. © 2 Tm. il. 22. P Rom. ti. 4, 5- 4 Whitby on the Five Points, p. 21. Ens 6 as ereSyoay. eux ws amo Tou Osov cig TovTO apwpiopevois espyTou’ oudsuaee yup aITIA anwreias Bape Tou wuvras avIpwrous SeAovros g@Invets Introductory Difcourfe. 33 Once more: “ the Scripture faith unto Pha- “raoh, Even for this fame purpofe have I a raifed thee up, that I might {hew my power | “in thee, and that my name might be de- « clared throughout all the earth":” not raifed thee from the birth; not created thee on pur- pofe for thy everlafting deftruétion, according to the fyftem of Calvin: but raifed thee up, eényea, from the plagues which would have cut thee off, as the murrain cut off thy cattle; made thee to ftand, and preferved thee from the merited punifhment, that thou mighteft eventually be deftroyed by an even more me- morable and exemplary difafter. Such a fig- nification of the word is warranted by feveral paflages in the New Teftament; and accords both with the Hebrew text, as is noticed in the margin of our Bible, and with the Septua- gint and other verfions of Exodus’. 4. Without confining ourfelves however to a fingle pafflage, and at the fame time without ftretching our view over a wide extent of Scripture, an attention to the immediate con- text will often enable us to convid error, and to difcover the truth. If for inftance the fo- lemn affertion of our Saviour, “I fay unto Ppabevercss, HAAG TOIG EXUTOUS TxEUY OoyNs KaTHPTIKOTI xe 1 Cmet~ Sia emnnodouSyce, xas ers Hy muperxevacay Eavrous taki ereIyoeye CEcumen. in 1 Epift. Pet. Comment. vol. ii. p. 496. «Rom ik. 1705" * See Whitby in log. D ! 34 Introduétory .Difcourfe. «« you, That every idle word that men hall *« fpeak, they fhall give account thereof in the *‘ day of judgment',”” were to be underftood firi@ly of ufelefs and unneceflary words, it would be impoffible to conyerfe with inno- cence. But the context fhows that they are defigned for fuch as “ an evil man brings out ‘‘ of the evil treafure of his heart ;” words, not fimply unprofitable, but wicked and per- ~ nicious. If again damnation were the punifh- ment denounced on the unworthy communi- cant at the Lord’s Supper, the apprehenfion of fo dreadful a penalty might operate with rea- fon on the tender confcience ; which may be relieved by learning, what the context evi- dently points out, that the word, which has been already obferved to mean judgment ge- nerally, can in this place only mean judgment of a temporal kind”. “ Stand faft in the liberty, wherewith Chrift ‘hath made us free,” fays the Apoftle to the Galatians ; “‘ and be not entangled again with “the yoke of bondage*.” The {fchifmatic catches at the text, and ufes it as a cloke of malicioufne(s, to fkreen him in choofing what- ever form of religion is agreeable to his fancy; and in rejecting the legitimate authority of thofe, who have the fpiritual rule over him; * Matt. xi. 35,36. “41 Cor. xi.30, * Gal.y. a. Introductory Difcourfe. 35 not confidering, what the few preceding or the two following verfes would be fufficient to fhow, that the liberty and the bondage, of | which the Apoftle fpeaks, are a freedom from, and a fubjeGion to, the yoke of circumcifion, and the other ordinances of the Mofaic law. «Be ye perfe@,” fays our bleffed Lord to his difciples, “© even as your Father, which is *‘in heaven, is perfect’.”” Hence the Me- thodift thinks to derive a fupport to his opi- nion, that believers may attain to perfection in this life, fo as to be abfolutely freed from the dominion of fin. Upon this opinion I fhall have occafion to defcant hereafter: I mention it at prefent, in order to exemplify the principle before us, by remarking, that the precept, taken in connedtion with the paf- fage, which precedes, and from which it is a manifeft conclufion, ‘‘ Be ye therefore per- ** fect,” is to be underftood as referring, not to univerfal perfection, but to a forgiving and merciful difpofition ; and in fact appears to be only equivalent to the correfpondent paflage in the narrative of another Evangelift, “‘ Be ye “ therefore merciful, as your Father alfo is “ merciful.” | There are feveral infulated paflages, which are often applied in fupport of Calviniftic pre- Y Matt. v, 48. 3 Luke vi. 36. = D 2 36 Introductory Difcourfe. deftination, in a fenfe incompatible with their context. I forbear at prefent to f{pecify them. Of one however in particular | would remark, that, whatever difficulty may attend it, when taken by itfelf, the context fupplies a moft fa- tisfactory folution. Allow the literal inter- pretation of the phrafe, “ that God hardened ** the heart of Pharaoh,’ no fupport is thereby furnifhed tg the do@rine of abfolute irrefpec- tive reprobation. It was before the plagues began to be inflicted, that the Lord announced to Mofes, that he would “ harden Pharaoh’s “heart*;” but it is at the fame time a re- markable fact, that the threat was conftantly fufpended, in order (as it appears, and as was the cafe with refpect to the people of Nineveh under a fentence of deftruétion paffed on them by the Almighty ”,) that Pharaoh might have it in his power to “ fet his heart” to the judgments, which God was executing upon him, and to be obedient unto the word of the Lord. Five plagues had already been wrought in his prefence by ‘“ the finger of God;” and he had continually and perverfely hardened his heart againft thofe teftimonies of almighty power, which his very magicians, whom he had called in to rival them with their en- chantments, were reluétantly compelled to ac- * Exod. iv. 91. > Jonah iii. 4, 5, 10. Introduétory Difcourfe.. 37 knowledge ; before the fentence of the divine wrath was accomplifhed againft him, and ‘‘the Lord hardened his heart, as he had ‘¢ fpoken unto Mofes*.” The meafure of his iniquity was now full; and he had rendered himfelf by his own hardnefs and impenitent heart a veflel of wrath, fo well fitted for de- ftruction, that God would now have cut him off, as a punifhment for his fins, but that he rather chofe to endure him with much long- fuffering, in order that he might thereby give a more confpicuous teftimony of his wrath, and make his power to be more illuftrioufly known. Let it be allowed then, that God did literally harden Pharaoh’s heart; it muft alfo be allowed, that this his final obduracy was not the refult of God’s abfolute irrefpective will; but was drawn down upon him by his own previous obftinacy and numerous provo- cations. ‘That he hardened his own heart, was his fin; that the Lord hardened it, was his punifhment: it was an act of righteous re- tributive juftice upon an impenitent and obfti- nate finner, who had defpifed the riches of God’s mercy and forbearance, and challenged the feverity of his anger. 5. But further; as it is our bufinefs to— “< compare fpiritual things with {piritual *,”” we © Exod. ix. 12. @ 1 Cor. ii. 3. - D3 38 Iniroduttory Difcourfe. fhould be cautious not to fix our thoughts on fome detached paflage, and puth it to its ut~’ moft extent ; but fhould rather examine, whe- ther fome other may not occur, which has a tendency to modify the former, and which (as part of the fame divine revelation) has an equal claim to our regard. For, as our twen- tieth Article obferves, ‘“ it is not lawful fo to “expound one place of Scripture, that it be ** repugnant to another.” *« Rejoice evermore ’,” is an sini pre- cept ; agreeably to which our Lord hath af- fured us with indifputable truth, that <* his “ yoke is eafy, and his burden is light!” but he alfo with equal truth pronounces a “ blefi- **ing on them that mourn®;” and warns us, ‘< that if any man will come after him, he muft rr Seal himfelf, and take up his crofs daily, and follow him".’’ Correct as each of thefe utente unqueftionably is, and confiftent as they are with one another, they may be con- verted into occafions of practices, totally at variance with themfelves, and with the {pirit of the Chriftian religion. Whilft from the- former the worldly man may deduce a feem- ing fanétion for indolence and inattivity, and in the latter the afcetic may perceive an obli- © 1 Theff. v. 16. f Matt. x. 30. = Matt.v.4. 0 h Luke ix. 23. - Introduétory Difcourfe. 39 gation to unremitting penance and mortifica- tion; the fober-minded Chriftian, by a dif- creet comparifon of their refpeétive imports, fees an injunction to deny himfelf every vi- cious enjoyment, and every recreation, which may interfere with his {piritual improvement ; and at the fame time an encouragement to perfevere with cheerfulnefs in the purfuit of that wifdom, “ whofe ways are ways of plea- *« fantnefs, and all whofe paths are peace.” The fame rule may not unaptly be applied to reconcile the feemingly hoftile do@rines of grace and free-will. ‘‘ A new heart will I “ give you,” faith the Lord God to his people Ifrael, “and a new fpirit will I put within “ you; and I will take away the ftony heart ** out of your flefh, and I will give you a heart “of flefh: and I will put my fpirit within “you, and caufe you to walk in my ftatutes, “and ye fhall keep my judgments, and do “them'.” But what fays the Prophet in an- other place? “I will judge you, O houfe of “ Ifrael, every one according to his own ways, “ faith the Lord God. Repent, and turn your- “felves from all your tranfgreffions; fo ini- “ quity fhall not be your ruin. Caft away “from you all your tranfgreflions, whereby i Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. D4 40 Introduttory Difcourfe. “‘ ye have tranfgrefled, and make you a new. “‘ heart and a new fpirit’.” From a partial furvey of fuch paflages as the former, the Ma-. nichzan or the Calvinift may argue, (and I fee not how, with this confined view of the fub- ject, we are to meet his argument,) that man is a mere paflive machine, whofe inclinations and whofe condué& are regulated by a power, independent of his will, and fubverfive of his free agency. And why may not the Pelagian or the Socinian conclude, with equal reafon, from fuch paffages as the latter, that the free will of man is abfolute ; and that he is capa- ble of repenting, and turning from his tranf- greflions, and making himfelf a new heart and a new {fpirit, without any fupernatural aid? The fact is, the truth lies between the two pofitions ; and a comparifon of, them ferves to point it out. For the renewing of the {fpirit of a man, neither the divine grace, nor the human will, is inefficacious. God works; and man muft alfo work. ‘ God by his {pecial ** grace preventing us doth put into our minds “good defires; and by his continual help we “ bring the fame to good effect!;” or, to ex-. prefs the doctrine in one fentence of infpira- tion, we muft “ work out our own falvation. k Ezek. xvili. 30, 31, 32. 1 Colle& for Eafter. Introductory Difeourfe. 41 ‘« with fear and trembling: for it is God ** which worketh in us both to will and to “do of his good pleafure™.” 6. In the comparifon of independent paf- fages, it is obvious to remark, as we proceed, that we fhould be careful to explain the more obfcure and difficult by the clearer and more eafy. ‘‘ The Holy Ghoft,” as Bithop Hall ob- ferved in his difcourfe before the Synod of Dort, “ought to be the judge of all contro- *‘ verfies ; and thofe paffages or texts in the «Bible, which feem to mention things ob- *fcurely or elfe tranfiently, fhould be tried ** by thofe others, that {peak out more plainly *“and clearly, and treat of the matters with * defign™.”’ A diftinguifhed Prefbyter of our Church hath noticed, that this rule ‘“ was laid * down, although not ftri¢tly followed, by St. “ Auguitin®:” it were well, if the modern profeflors of that father’s do¢trines judged it more worthy of their attention. Our Lord had faid to his difciples, «« How. “‘ hardly fhall they that have riches enter into m Phil. ii. 12, 13. /® Brandt’s Hift. of the Hesormiatian in the Low Coun- tries, vol. iii. p. 32. book xx. ° Daubeny’s Guide to the Church, p. 88. Ubi autem apertius ponuntur, ibi difcendum eft, quomodo in locis intelligantur obfcuris. Auguft. de Do&. Chrift. lib. iii. Cap. Xxvi. : 42 Introductory Difcourfe. *« the kingdom of God?:” but when he found them aftonifhed at what probably appeared “a hard faying,” he explained his intention by fubjoining, <‘ how hard it is for them, that “< truft in riches, to enter into the kingdom of — “God.” And he hath been graciouily pleaf- ed by his holy Spirit to illuftrate, for our be- nefit, many other pofitions, the intent of which we might otherwife have failed of apprehending. Thus fhould we experience any perplexity about the interpretation of that controverted paflage, “He will have mercy on whom he | « will have mercy, and whom he will he har- ** deneth‘;” and conceive it capable of de- noting an arbitrary and irrefpedive will in God’s dealings with mankind: our under- ftanding may be enlightened by fuch plain declarations as thofe which ftate, that ‘* bleffed “are the merciful, for they fhall obtain mer- * Rom. ix. 11. © Gen. xxv. 23. 4 Mal. i. 2, 3, 4. Ex quibus manifeftum eft, partum Rebeccz prophetiam fuiffe duorum populorum, IJren. lib. iv. cap. 38. * John x.15. — - f Ibid. xv. 13, 14. § Eph, v. 25. » bh Matt. xx. 28. Introduétory Difcourfe. ‘45 * unjuft, that he might bring them to God ;” not for the fheep only, that heard his voice, but for the fheep “ that were loft ;” not for the many only, but “ for alli:” for all men; for every man; for the. world, the whole world ; not in the Calviniftic fenfe of all forts of men, or fome men of all forts, the world of the ele&t, and the like; but in their plain and obvious fenfe, of the whole race of mankind, as contradiftinguifhed from believers ; that as all had finned and fallen fhort of the glory of God, and by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, fo by the righteoufnefs of one the free gift might come upon all men unto juftification of life. Or fuppofing again, that it were not evident to our apprehenfion, what St. Paul meant to convey by “ the Spirit dwelling in us,” and by our being “ led by the Spirit" ;” and that we were tempted to miftake the nature of his influence, as the enthufiaft does, and refer it to fome imaginary internal feeling ; we might be corrected by his ftating exprefsly in an- other place, that “the fruit of the Spirit is * love, joy, peace, long-fuffering, gentlenefs, *«goodnefs, faith, meeknefs, temperance! ;” 1 Rom. v. 8, 10. 1 Pet. iii. 18. Matt. xviii. 12. 1 Tim. it. 6. 2 Cor. v.14. Heb. ii. 9. John xii. 47. 1 John ii. 2. Rom. v, 12, 18. k Rom, viii. 9, 14, ! Gal, v. 22. 46 Introduétory Difcourfe. as well as by the declaration of our Saviour with refpe& to thofe, who pretend to fpiritual gifts, that “ by their fruits we fhall know */thent™.”’ Nor fhall we fuffer ourfelves, on the autho- rity of a few texts of doubtful or erroneous interpretation, to be feduced into the Mora- vian and Methodiftical tenets, that a true Chriftian has a fenfible and certain affurance of falvation, and is incapable of fin; or to adopt the doctrine of the Antinomian, that God fees no fin in believers ; while we bear in mind the clear admonition of St. Paul, “ Let “him that thinketh he ftandeth, take heed « left he fall"; and the no lefs intelligible and univerfal confeffion of St. John, “If we fay “‘ that we have no fin, we deceive ee «and the truth is not in us®.” 7. A farther rule, which I would pee: to affift us in our interpretation of Scripture, un- lefs indeed it be confidered as a {pecial modifi- cation of one of the foregoing, is, tHat where the fame term is employed at different times and under different circumftances, we ought not to be fatisfied with one independent de- fcription, but fhould compare and combine them together. It is in purfuance of this principle that we ™m Matt. vii, 20. ® 2 Cor.x,. 12. © Johni, 8. Introdu€ory Difcourfe. 47 believe in three perfons united in one God- head ; and in the union of the divine and hu- man natures in the perfon of Chrift. And it - was from a difregard of this principle, that Noetus afferted, that the Father had united himfelf with the man Chrift, and was born and crucified with him; and that Sabellius pretended there was no difference between the perfons of the Trinity, but that they were all one perfon under three names’: that Nef- torius divided Chrift into two perfons; and Eutyches confounded in his perfon his twe natures: that Arius denied him to be truly God; and Apollinaris affirmed, that he was not really man*. I would apply this principle to the much controverted queftion of juftification. ‘“ We *‘ conclude,” fays St. Paul, “that a man is <‘ juftified by faith, without the deeds of the “ Jaw’. And again, ‘“ Knowing that a man “is not juftified by the works of the law, but «by the’ faith of Jefus Chrift’.” On thefe, and fome fimilar texts, the Solifidian faftens: he overlooks, or defpifes, the teftimony of an- other Apoftle, who affirms that “‘ by works a ® Mofheim, Cent. iii. part ii. chap. 5. 4 See Bifhop Horne’s Sermon on the Word Incarnate, Dife. yol.i. p. 205. Mofheim, Cent. y. part ii. chap. y. and Cent. iv. part ii, chap. v. * Rom. iii. 28. * Gal. ii, 16. 48 Introductory Difcourfe. “man is juftified, and not by faith onlyt; and who thrice within a few fentences pro- nounces, that ‘* faith without works is dead" ;” he treats the epiftle, wherein this teftimony occurs, and which appears intended to obviate the falfe conclufions likely to be drawn from St. Paul’s words, as what Luther once la- mented that he had called it, an epiftle of firaw : he goes fo far perhaps, as to accufe the divinely infpired author “ of falfe teftimony, “of lying, of contradicting the Holy Spirit, the Law, the Prophets, Chrift, and all the “ Apoftles*,” and fo he perfifts in an unrefery- ed and unqualified affirmation, that. we are juftified by faith alone. Now as the epiftle of St. James, not lefs than thofe of his brother in the. Apoftlethip, forms part of the facred canon; furely it would be both fafer and more becoming, in- fiead of confining ourfelves to the teftimony — t James ii. 24. u Ibid. 17,20,26. © _* Imo repertus eft non nemo, qui eo audacie atque adeo impietatis proceffit, ut in Authorem ejus epiftole, cui Jacobi nomen infcribitur, calamum liberius ftrinxerit, eumque falfitatis ac mendacii arguerit. Is fuit Althame- rus, qui (citante Grotio) in Scriptorem, non modo inno- xium, fed et divinum hec verba indignabundus effudit. Dire&e (inquit) in Scripturam agit; citat Scripturas fal- _ fo; et folus Spiritui fancto, Legi, Prophetis, Chrifto, Apoftolifque omnibus contradicit. Bulli Harm. Apoft. Introd. fe&. 3. ° . Introduétory Difcourfe. 49 of one alone, to compare and combine the declarations of both Apoftles, as conftituting confiftent portions of the fame holy revelation. And the refult of fuch a comparifon would probably be a conviction, that there is no in- confiftency in the pofitions of the two facred writers ; but that <<‘ faith,” in St. James’s ac- ceptation, fignifies an inactive belief in the truths of the Gofpel, not producing holinefs of life, and, in St. Paul’s, faith in Chrift compre- hending Chriftian holinefs; that “ by works,” St. James intends a religious and charitable, that is a Chriftian, life; and St. Paul, the per- formances of man in his natural ftate, or a compliance with the outward ordinances, and fometimes with the moral obligations, of the Mofaic law: and that the pofition is accord- ingly true in one fenfe, but not in another, as that is true of Chrift in his human nature, which is not true of him in his divine. Ele&tion too, that other Shibboleth of a party, has two diftinct {criptural fignifications, analogous to thofe borne by “ the kingdom of “heaven.” As the kingdom of heaven fome- times fignifies the whole body of profeffed Chrif- tians in this world, and fometimes “ the affem- ** bly of juft men made perfect” in another; fo by the eleét are intended fometimes all thofe perfons, who are in covenant with God, and profefs his religion, as all the people of the E 50 Introductory Difeourfe. Jews under the old difpenfation, and all Chrif= tians under the new; fometimes they alone are intended, who give all diligence to make ‘their lives agreeable to the doétrine, which they profefs, and are chofen by God to eternal life on a forefight of their faith and obedience: However plainly the doctrine of God’s elec- tion being abfolute and unconditional may ‘be afferted in the former fignification of the term} the Scriptures give no fanction to the doétrine, if applied to the latter. u 8. Thefe interpretations will be ebuiaimed by the application of another rule; namely, that we give diligent attention to the defign and fcope of the compofition, which we are examining ; inftead of fixing upon it an arbi- trary conftruction, foreign perhaps from the object of the author, and perhaps alfo incom- patible with his principles. “It is a general - and uncontefted rule,” as Archbifhop Sharp remarks, “ in the interpreting of Scripture and “all other writings, that the fcope of the au- “ thor and the fubjec&t matter of his difcourfe ‘is to fix and limit the fenfe of all his propo- ** fitions; fo that though a propofition be feem- ingly univerfal, yet it is to be extended no *« farther than the fubje@& matter that is treat- ** ed about.” ~ y Archbifhop Sharp’s Works, vol. iv. p. 274. Introdufory Difcourfe. a ‘ That he might not do unneceflary violence to the feelings and prejudices of the Jews ; and, at the fame time, that he might open to — their minds Almighty God’s intention of ad- mitting the Gentiles to a full fhare in the pri- vileges of the Gofpel covenant ; our blefled Lord employed the parable of the labourers in the vineyard. The finner, eager to avail him- felf of any pretext for deferring the amend- ment of his life, would fain confider the pa- table as pointing to individual penitents, and the reward beftowed on the labourer, who had wrought but one hour, as an emblem of for- givenefs, promifed to a late, it may be a death- bed repentance. His hopes are fallacious: as far at leaft as this parable is made the bafis of ‘them ; for it has not any reference to Chrif- tians, or to repentance at all. — _ Equally fallacious is the dod¢trine of faith independent of Chriftian works, to which I have been juft alluding ; and that other kin- dred tenet of the abfolute election of indivi- ‘duals to eternal life, and the confequent re- ‘probation of others: fallacious, inafmuch as they reft on an affumption, that St. Paul was arguing for a different conclufion from that, which we apprehend to have been the real {cope and defign of his epiftles. For, whereas the hypothefis of our adverfaries muft proceed upon the opinion, that he was diftinguifhing E2 52 Introductory Difcourfe. between faith, and works, as parts of the fame difpenfation ; the defign of the Apoftle appears to have been, to diftinguifh between the two -difpenfations of Mofes and of Chrift: and, whereas in the latter cafe their hypothefis pre- fumes upon his arguments having a perfonal tendency ; he appears in reality to be vindi- cating the juftice of God in the eleétion of na- tions, generally to be the inftruments of his providence; and more efpecially of fuch, as he then chofe to be the repotiterign, of the Chik tian faith. g. Much additional light may be thrown upon the fubject of our inquiries, by an atten- tion to the time, the perfons, and other cir- cumftances, with which it is connected: as Bifhop Latimer remarked from St. Auftin, «The circumftances of the Scriptures en- “lighten the Scriptures, and one Scripture ‘‘ doth expound another to a man that is ftu- ‘< dious, well-willing, and often iti upon “ God in continual prayer?.” When the malefactor addrefied himfelf to his expiring Redeemer, (in whom perhaps he had never before had an opportunity of de- claring his belief, and whom perhaps he had never before heard or feen ;) and in the feafon of his diftrefs, when his very Apoftles had all 2 Life of Ridley, P- 452. Introdutory Difcourfe. 53 forfaken him and fled, openly confefled his di- vine character, and implored his compaffion ; - * Lord, remember me when thou comeft into “thy kingdom?:” our Saviour gracioufly ac- cepted him, and faid, “* Verily I fay unto thee, «« To-day fhalt thou be with me in paradife.” But would it not be a moft delufive and mif- chievous inference, were we to contend from this for the efficacy of the death-bed repent- ance of one, who had paffed his life in deny- ing and difhonouring Chrift ? . Or becaufe, in allufion to the Jews, who re- jected God’s gracious offers of mercy, and were therefore rejected from being his people, our Saviour pronounced, that “* many are call- ‘© ed, but few chofen®;” are we therefore to admit the predeftinarian doctrine, that a {mall part of mankind is abfolutely elected by God to everlafting happinefs, from which the great bulk are abfolutely rejected ? | Or becaufe St. Paul, who was “ a. chofen “ veffel’” of Chrift for the propagation of the Gofpel, was inftantaneoufly converted to a be- lief in the truth by a heavenly vifion ; are we to expect, that the hardened finner will now experience an inftantaneous converfion from his fins, by an irrefiftible act of divine grace ? a Luke xxiii. 42, 43. b Matt. xx. 16, € Acts ix. 15. be 54 Introduétory Difcourfe. Or becaufe the Apoftle defcribes his Gentile’ converts, previoufly to their admiffion into the © Chriftian Church, as ‘‘ dead in trefpaffes and’ “ fins, aliens from the commonwealth of If-° “rael, and ftrangers to the covenants of pro- “ mife* ;”’ are we now to addrefs a congrega- tion of baptized believers, as unregenerate : thereby ftripping Chrift’s holy ordinance of its facramental charaGer ; and, by an act of our individual authority, annulling the covenant of God? ais Or becaufe the holy Spirit operated in an extraordinary manner on the Apoftles and firft™ Chriftians, are we to glory in his irrefiftible. and fentible impulfes ; and to affirm, in the. language of Methodifm, that “ the Spirit is: “ vifibly poured out in our affemblies ;” that “« the Holy Ghoft defcends in a glorious man-. “ ner ;” that he ‘* comes like a rufhing mighty ** wind, and moves over the whole congrega- * tion ;” or that “ the great God in a glorious « manner fills and overfhadows our fouls;” that ‘‘ the Holy Ghoft comes upon us, and the “< power of the Higheft overfhadows us ;” that’ «‘ we daily experience the outgoings and in-: “ comings of the Holy Spirit in the fanétuary . “* of our hearts ;” and that ‘“* we can feel him «« daily filling our fouls and bodies, as plainly @ Eph. ii. I. 12. Introductory, Difcourfe. 55 * as we feel the air which we breathe, or the “ food we eat‘? If thefe be errors, as I believe them, and on | fome future occafion fhall attempt with God’s good bleffing to prove them, to be; they arife in a great degree from inattention to the rule of interpretation now before us; which directs us to confider, not only what is faid, but the various circumftances, under which it is fpoken: a rule, to the neglec& of which fome of the moft extravagant peculiarities of Methodifm, both in opinion and in practice, may be re- ferred. | 1o. To the foregoing rules for the interpre- tation of Scripture, only one more remains to -be added ; which however is of the moft ex- tenfive application and utility: I mean, that no doctrine, however {pecious, is to be admit- ted as part of the Gofpel, which is not agree- able to the general tenour of the whole; in conformity with the prudent decifion of our Church in her 17th Article, that ‘“ we mutt re- “ceive God’s promifes in fuch wife, as they n, De generally, fet forth to us in Maly Scrip- “ ture.” ‘This, as I have already faid, is of the moft extenfive application : nor do I conceive, that ¢ See Whitefield’s Works, vol. i. p. 202. 223. 280, 237. 163. 166. 205. &e, 3 E4 56 Introduétory Difcourfe. any of the popular do¢trines, of faith indepen- dent of Chriftian works; or Calviniftic predef- tination ; or irrefiftible grace ; or the percep- tible influence of the Holy Spirit; or regene- ration, diftinguifhed from the inward fpiritual grace of baptifm; or an inftantaneous and fpe- cial converfion ; or a full and infallible affur- ance of falvation; or a finlefs perfection in the true Chriftian ; can in any way ftand its teft. Thefe are the points, upon which the charge, that we are not preachers of the Gofpel, prin- cipally turns; and to which therefore your at- tention will be directed in the fucceeding lec- tures. Iam well aware, that moft, if not all, of thefe fubjecéts have been often and ably dif cuffed ; and that the theological ftudent, who wifhes to inveftigate them thoroughly, muft be referred to other fources for more ample fatisfaction. Still to bring the fubjects for- ward in fomething of a connected form, and for the fpecific purpofe, which has been ftated ; thereby to direét the thoughts of the younger part of this affembly to the prefent ftate of religious opinions amongft us, on which, it is efpecially neceflary, that they fhould be informed; to apprize them of the nature of the objections, which are perpetually alleged againft the great body of the national Clergy ; and to furnifh them, if it may be, with fome leading principles, by which thofe objec- \ IntroduGtory Difcourfe. 87 tions may be repelled ; with the view, not of fuperfeding, but of encouraging, more exten- five inquiries on the matters in debate; has appeared to me an attempt, calculated to pro- mote the knowledge of the true Gofpel of Je- fus Chrift.. It'is with this defign, that I have ventured to engage in my prefent undertak- ing : however weak and imperfect may be the execution in other refpects, at leaft I truft, that it will not be difgraced by that intemperance of language, and that acrimony of invective, which fometimes mark the accufations, that have been leveiled againft us. To “ {peak the ‘truth in love’,’ fhould be the refolution, under divine grace, of every follower, and much more of every minifter of Chrift. Zea- lous as we may, and ought to, be,in the pro- pagation of our religious opinions, it is our duty, as “ the fervants of the Lord, to be gen- *‘ tle unto all men, patient and forbearing, in « meeknefs inftructing thofe that oppofe them- * felves*.” And that man ftrangely miftakes the manner of fpirit he is of, who knows not, that peaceablenefs, and gentlenefs, and mercy, as well as purity, are infeparable chara@teriftics . of “the wifdom that is from above":” and that Chriftian charity ought never to be facri- f Ephef. iv. 15. & 2 Tim. il, 245 25. h James iii, 17. 58 Introduétory Difcourfe. ficed even for the promotion of evangelical truth. Now unto God the Father, God the a. and God the Holy Ghoft, three perfons in the unity of one Godhead, be afcribed all might, ma- . jefty, and dominion, henceforth and for eyer. Amen. DISCOURSE I. © Mart. xix. 16, 17. And behold, one came and faid unto him, Good Mafter, what good thing fhull I do, that I may have eternal life ? | ¢ And he faid unto him, Why calleft thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. Tus reply of our Lord is judged capable of two interpretations. By Calvin it is conftrued into an intimation, that eternal life is not to be ‘attained by obedience to the laws of God’. As if Chrift had faid, If thou wilt enter into. life, keep the commandments; but thou canft not keep the commandments : therefore thou canft do no good thing, that thou maytt have eter-. nal life. The other interpretation is that which is fanctioned by our Church ; who re- prefents Chrift as ‘declaring by thefe words, . “‘ that the laws of God be the very way, that * Calv. Inft. lib. iii. cap. xviii. §. 9... 60 Chriftian Works a neceffary | ** doth lead to everlafting life ;” and according- ly pronounces, “ that this is to be taken for a *“moft true leffon, taught by Chrift’s own “mouth, that the works of the! moral com- “ mandments of God, be the very true works “of faith, which lead to the bleffed life to “tome.” Of thefe two.very different fignifications the former has nothing to recommend it, but the fuppofition, that the inquirer was defirous of eftablifhing a prefumptuous claim to falvation upon the fancied merit of his own righteouf- nefs: a fuppofition, which feems to derive lefs fupport from the narrative of the facred hiftorian, than from the hypercritical refine- ment of the commentator. Of the latter, and,. I think it may be fafely added, the more ob- vious fignification, the circumftances will war- rant us in aflerting, that it is more agreeable to the general tenour of our Lord’s inftruc- tions; to the general franknefs and fimplicity of his character ; to the high efteem, which he uniformly exprefled and encouraged for the moral law ; and to the cheerfulnefs, and per- fpicuity, with which he communicated infor- mation in the great affair of man’s happinefs ; than an interpretation which changes the’ » Homilies; Second Part of the Sermon of Good Works, p. 41. Oxford edit. Condition of Salvation. 61 whole chara¢ter of the reply ; which tends to difparage thofe commandments, “ the leaft of «« which whofoever fhall break and fhall teach ** men fo,” is pronounced by Chrift himfelf to be “ the leaft in the kingdom of heaven‘ ;” which is calculated to perplex the mind, and deaden the exertions, of the devout inquirer after happinefs ; whilft it invefts a clear and merciful exhortation of Him, who is “ the *« light and life of the world*,” with the illu- five and myfterious ob{curity of an oracular refponfe. Influenced in our judgment by fuch con- fiderations, and fan@ioned withal in our in- terpretation by the authority of our pure and evangelical Church, we maintain the indifpen- fable neceflity of obedience to the moral law, as a condition of eternal falyation: and urging upon our hearers the obligation of their bap- tifmal vow, whilft we call upon them on the one hand to believe all the articles of the Chriftian faith, we fail not to warn them on the other, that “if they will enter into life, “ they muft keep the commandments.” That ** the children of this world,” indiffe- _ rent to their everlafting welfare, fhould turn away from fuch “ preachers of righteoufnefs,” might excite more concern, than aftonifh- ¢ Matt. v. 19. d John i. 4. viii. 12. 62 _ Chriftian Works a neceffary ment: but that “ the children of light,” that Chriftians, who profefs to be, and’ many of whom (we doubt not) really are, folicitous for the falvation of their fouls, fhould “ forfake "the aflembling of themfelves together” to exhortations fuch as thefe; that they thould condemn the preacher, as a fetter forth of firange dodtrines; and reprobate his inftruc- tions, as a departure from the Gofpel of Chrift: ~ acafe like this would furely not be expected ; and, unlefs on indifputable evidence, would {carcely be admitted to exift. To obviate however any charge of mifrepre- fentation, with refpe& to the conduct of our - accufers ; and at the fame time to: prevent my own fentiments from ‘being mifunderftood 3 it appears defirable, that the cafe, which is to be propofed for our prefent confideration, fhould be:ftated with greater precifion. I fuppofe it, then, to be the practice of the ddiaichaliby of our national clergy, in difcharge of their duty as preachers of the Gofpel, to divide their attention between faith in the Chriftian doctrines, and the practice of Chrif- tian holinefs, or good works : to imprefs them with equal earneftnefs upon their hearers: to defcribe them, as jointly and equally neceffary to the attainment of everlafting life : to repre- fent them, not as meritorious caufes, (God for- bid!) but as indifpenfable conditions of happi- Condition of Salvation. ’ 63 _ nefs: in a word, to publith in their difcourfes, what the Church appoints them to pronounce in the Liturgy, ‘ the abfolution and remiffion © *< of fins’to all them, that truly repent and un- «© feignedly believe Chrift’s holy Gofpel:” fo that as the venerable Latimer more largely ex- preffes the pofition of the Church, “ whofoever «from the bottom of his heart is forry for his “ fins, and ftudieth ‘to leave them, and live ** uprightly, and believeth in our Saviour, con- «fefling that he came into this world to make “amends for our fins; this man or woman «« fhall not perith, but have forgivenefs of fins, «and fo obtain everlafting life*.” ‘Offence is taken at our preaching, as an unfcriptural ex- pofition of the terms of the Chriftian cove- nant: we are told that our juitification and falvation are to be wrought by faith alone, in- dependently of good works; that faith is all in all; and that, by uniting with faith any other condition or qualification for happinefs, we forfeit our title to the appellation of Mini- fters and Preachers of the Gofpel. — The Calviniftic Founder of Methodifm boldly demanded, ‘‘ Who dares affert, that we are “ not juftified merely by an act of faith, with- ** out any regard to works, paft, prefent, or to * Latimer’s Sermons, vol. i. p. 371. 64 — Chriftian Works a neceffary “‘ come‘?’’ He condemns the affertion, that. good works are a neceflary condition of our being juftified in the fight of God, as “a new * gofpel,” which “ he is fure is not what the ** Apoftles preached ; and which is as contrary “to the doctrine of the Church of England, *« and the whole tenour of the Gofpel, as light *‘is contrary to darknefs :’”’ and for this caufe he reprobates ‘‘ the generality of the Clergy “‘ of the Church of England, as preaches of a “new gofpel, as blind guides ;” and laments over a venerable Prelate of our Church, as no better than “‘ a Roman Cardinal®.” . His Ar- minian antagonift affirmed, that “ the condi- “tion of our juftification is faith alone, and “‘ not good works” ;” that “ the moft deftruc- *« tive of all thofe errors, which Rome, the ‘“‘ mother of abominations, hath brought forth, ** compared to which tranfubftantiation and a ‘* hundred more are trifles light as air, is, that “‘ we are juftified by works, or (to exprefs the “ thing a little more decently) by faith and “ works'.” The charge continues to be main-_ tained, not only by their followers, but by f Whitefield, Third Journal, p. 2. Enthufiafm of Me- thodifts and Papifts compared, part ii. p. 151. &§ Works, vol. iv: p. 15, 16, 28. _h Wefley’s Journal, N°. IV. p. 17. i Ibid, No. III. p. 89. Condition of Salvation. 65 fome even of our own brethren, more im- mediately in the bofom of the Church. One member of our Eftablifhment cenfures thofe, “ who look to a righteoufnefs of their own, ** made up of terms, qualifications, conditions, « and fuch like trumpery, for acceptance with < God *.’ Another condemns, as un{criptural, the notions of thofe, who “ dare proudly and “ arrogantly teach, that obedience to Jefus ** is the condition of falvation ;” and depre- cates ‘“‘ zeal for holinefs,” unlefs accompanied with his favourite notions of falvation, as “a ** dreadful delufion’.”” A third vehemently pro- tefts againft all duties, all obligations, as ne- ceflary to falyation; and pronounces, that “‘ the fingle qualification, expected by Chrift, * is, that a man believe the Gofpel™.” And it is not without an air of fupercilioufnefs and contempt, that the advocate of that party in the Church, which affumes to itfelf the exclu- five denomination of evangelical Minifters, no- tices ‘“‘ the doctrine of the moft orthodox of «‘ his opponents at their moft orthodox mo- «‘ments ; that is, that we are juftified by faith ® Pietas Oxonienfis, p. 73. 2d edit. by Sir Richard Hill. Dr. Nowell’s Antwer to ditto, p. 124. 1 Mafon’s Spiritual Treafury, edited and recommended by the Rev. W. Romaine, p. 91. and 29. ™ Prop againft all Defpair, p. 15. by Robert Hawker, 2D. F 66 Chriftian Works a neceffary * and good works together ; or,” fays he, **as «they often exprefs it, that faith and good ** works are the conditions of our juttifica- * tion®.” Now I can have no fcruple in admitting the » truth of the dodtrine, that ‘* we are jufti “‘ by faith only.”’ It is the doétrine of Scrip- ture: it is the a of the Reformation : itis: the done le f the Church of England : I for one have fet my hand to it, in whatI . believe to be its feriptural fignification ; and, if it be fcripturally underftood, I would forfeit that hand, rather than renounce the doétrine. ‘In order then to fet this important doftrine’ in its proper light, I thall endeavour to prove, ist, That the falvation and ‘juftification, men- tioned in the paflages alluded to, are noticed witha view to the admiffion of Chriftians into favour and covenant with God, and not immediately to their ultimate forgivenefs and: admiflion into everlafting happinefs:—And 2dly, That the faith, by or through which alone they are faid to be faved and juftified, is not intended to fignify faith in oppofition or contradiftinétion to good, that is to fay, to Chriftian works. |The former of thefe propo- fitions I conceive to be of primary importance « 2 True Churchmen afcertained, p. 217. by the Rev. J. Overton. Condition of Salvation. 67 to the argument, and the latter to bear upon it with much collateral force. Having there- fore endeavoured to clear our way in the firft place by the eftablifhment of their truth, I “fhall then feel myfelf at liberty to make fuch refarks, as will occur upon a lean furvey of the queftion. As a preliminary ftep hovvever, it may here incidentally be remarked, tliat I ufe the words * juftified” and “ faved” indifcriminately. I do fo, becaufe they appear to me to be fo ufed in Scripture; and to be fo adopted by our Church, as on other occafions, fo more efpe- cially in the indifcriminate application of the terms, “ juftification” and “ falvation,” as the title of one of her Homilies. Thus much at leaft I take to be certain, that perfons are re- prefented as being both juftified, and faved, on their admiffion into the Chrittian covenant : juftified, or accounted righteous before God by virtue of the imputed righteoufnefs of Chrit’; faved, or delivered ale the penalty of fin, by the ranfom of Chrift’s death, origin- ally paid for mankind in general, and now fpe- cially applied to themfelves. In the firft place, then, Chriftians are re- prefented as juttified, or faved; as placed in a ftate of juttification, or falvation; as being efteemed juft for the merits of Chrift; as be- ing faved from the guilt, dominion, and pu- F2 68 Chriftian Works a neceffary nifhment of fin; and as being reconciled to, and admitted into favour with, God; when they originally become partakers of the Gof- pel covenant: or as our Church explicitly af- firms in her Catechifm, that by baptifm they are “called to a ftate of falvation ;” and in her Homily, that they are juftified when they are baptized’. I might reft the proof of this oak ona general reference to any one of St. Paul’s epiftles ; which I fele& in preference to the other books of the New Teftament, becaufe, as it is to his authority that we are referred for the doétrine of juftification by faith alone, his authority is the moft unqueftionable for deciding, what he meant by juftification. And I might be fatisfied with a candid anfwer to the following queftion, Whether Chriftians in general are not perpetually mentioned by him, as already juftified or faved? It may however be more convincing, if I adduce a few of the numerous paflages, in which the dodtrine is plainly afferted. « By grace are ye faved through faith”,” fays the Apoftle to the Gentile converts at Ephefus: rather, ye have been faved, ese cerwr- Evo. ¥ Bete juftified by faith, we have peace © Homilies, p. 24. Oxf. edit. P Eph. ii, 8. Condition of Salvation. 69 *« with God,” is his language to the converted Jews at Rome’: dixamSevres ex misews, having been juftified, we have peace. To the fame Romans he fays, ‘« We are faved by hope’ ;” rather, we were faved, erwnwev. God «“ hath faved us, and called us with an “ holy calling*,’ he affirms in his epiftle to Timothy, connecting their being put into a ftate of falvation with their being called to a profeffion of the Gofpel. In his epiftle to Titus, he unites falvation and juttification, defcribing them as the fruit of baptifmal regeneration, and as the intro- duction to the inheritance of eternal life: “« According to his mercy he faved us, by the * wafhing of regeneration and renewing of the « Holy Ghoft, which he fhed on us abun- “dantly through Jefus Chrift our Saviour ; “ that being juftified by his grace, we fhould “ be made heirs according to the reps of eter- nal life.” A fimilar combination occurs in his firft epiftle to the Corinthians, to whom he fpeaks of their juftification as a paft event, coupling it with baptifmal regeneration and fan@tifica- tion: ‘‘ Such were fome of you; but ye are *« wafhed, but ye are fanctified, but ye are juf- 4 Rom. v. 1. r bid. viii. 24. * 2 Timi. 9. t Tit, ili. 5, 6, 7 F3 70 Chriftian Works a neceffary “ tified in the name of the Lord Jefus, and by “the Spirit of our God*.” The allufion is in a paft tenfe, and fhould have been render- ed accordingly : #y:acSure, edimanaSare, ye have been, or were fanctified ; ye have “apigaed « Juftified. To the Corinthians again he fays, that they are now in a ftate of falvation, making their continuance in it conditional, or dependent upon the conformity of their conduc to his inftruGtions: “ I declare unto you the Gofpel «which I preached unto you, which alfo ye “have received, and wherein ye ftand: by “‘ which alfo ye are faved, if ye keep in me- * mory what I preached unto you, unlefs wie «* have believed in vain*.”’ - To the Romans again he mentions aber juftification, as an event already pafled, under the figure of freedom from fin; and deferibes it, as obliging them to holinefs and righteouf- nefs in this world, and as conducting them to everlafting life: “ Being made free from fin, * ye became the fervants of righteoufnefs*:” and a few verfes below, “ Being made free “from fin, and become fervants of God, ye “have your fruit unto holinefs, and the end “ everlafting life’: having been made free, w 1 Cor. vi. 1%. x Thidvave rs y Rom. vi. 18. z Ibid. v. 22. Condition of Salvation, 7 and, having been made fervanis, ercutegaSerres, and, dwAwSerres 5 pointing, as it fhould feem, to fome remarkable time, namely, their ad- miffion into the Chriftian Church. » Te the Coloffians he fpeaks of their recon- ciliation to God, alfo as a paft event, to be fol- lowed by holinefs of life, and by fteadfaftnefs in the faith and hope of the Gofpel: “ You “« that were fometime alienated, and enemies “in your mind by wicked works, yet now © | « hath Chrift reconciled in the body of his ‘«flefh through death, to prefent you holy, “and unblameable, and unreproveable in his “ fight, if ye continue in the faith grounded “and fettled, and be not moved away from “ the hope of the Gofpel’*.” ' Agreeably to thefe feveral inftances of the application of fuch phrafes to particular per- ‘fons and focieties, he defcribes the whole body of Chriftians by the appellation of << the-faved,” ci caQoeevor, in oppofition to unbelievers: “ the “« preaching of the crofs is to them that perifh “ foolifhnefs ; but unto us which are faved,” reg Oe ce Copevas jw, ‘ it is the power of God.” And St. Luke alfo, in the Ads of the Apoftles, employs the fame term to denote believers in general, when he fays, that “ the Lord added * Col. i, 21, 22, 23. b x Cor. i, 18. FA 72 Chriftian Works a neceffary ** unto the Church daily‘,” not fuch as fhould be faved, as our verfion renders the paflage, ac- cording neither to the letter, nor to the fpirit, of the original ; but rovs caCowevous, the faved, or, as Parkhurft tranflates it, thofe that were Saved. | . From thefe paflages, which I have felected, becaufe they exhibit the doctrine to be efta- blifhed in feveral points of view, and in con- nection with yarious parts of the Gofpel dif- penfation, I apprehend it to be made fuffi- ciently clear, that the juftification or falvation, mentioned in many paflages of Scripture, which ftate us to be juftified or faved by faith — alone, has refpect to the admiffion of Chrif- tians into favour and covenant with God :— (‘* This,” as our Reformers fay, ‘“ is the very *‘ plain ordinary way, by the which God hath «« determined, that man being of age and com- ‘ing to Chriftendom, fhould be juftified. For, “as for infants, it is to be believed that their * jufti_c. tion is wrought by the fecret opera- * tion of the Holy Ghoft in their baptifm, ** they being offered in the faith of the Church. «« And this juttification may be called the firft « juftification, that is to fay, our firft coming. * into God’s houfe, which is the Church of ** Chrift, at which coming we be received and e Aéts ii. 47. ’ Condition of Salvation. 78 * admitted to be of the flock and family of « our Saviour Chrift*:’)—and that it has not view to their ultimate forgivenefs and ad-— miffion to everlafting happinefs, except in as far as they comply with the conditions, which at that time they engage to perform. «« We may obferve,” (I employ the words of that profound theologian Dr. Barrow,) “ that *‘in the Scripture ftyle thofe perfons are faid “< to be faved, who are only in a way towards “ falvation, although they do not arrive. thi- “ther; and the means conducing to falvation “are faid to fave, although their effet may “be defeated; caComweas and. cerwopeve are *« terms applied to all Chriftians ; and Chrift is 6 cwras, he that hath faved them, although *‘fome of them «xy exicevrav, have believed in “ vain or to no effeé, forfaking and renounc- “ing their faith; and baptifm faves them «* who partake it, although being wathed, they “return to their wallowing in the mire*.” Again; “It was the Apoftles’ method,” he remarks, “to declare and inculcate the main *« points of the Chriftian hiftory and dodtrine, “ attefting to the one and proving the other “ by teftimonies and arguments proper to that *« purpofe : and whoever of their hearers de- 4 Neceffary Doétrine and Erudition for any Chriftian Man, 1543. Article of Ju(tification. « If. Barrow’s Works, vol. iil. p. 324. 74 Chrifian Works a neceffary “clared himfelf perfuaded of the truth» of «what they taught, that he did heartily affent “ thereto, and refolved to profefs and practife “accordingly, him, without more: to'do, they | “ prefently baptized, and inftated him in. the “ privileges appertaining to Chtiftianity ; or; “in St. Paul’s language, did jaftify him, ac- % cording to their fubordinate manner, as the minifters of God‘.” And the fame’ very learned writér elfewhere remarks, what might ferve to cut fhort a great deal of unneceflary controverfy on this point, that “ the juttifica- ‘“‘ tion, which St. Paul difcourfeth of, feemeth “in his meaning, only or efpecially to be that ** act of grace, which is difpenfed to perfons “at their baptifm, or their entrance into the “ Church; when they openly profeffing their “ faith, and undertaking the practice of Chrif- “tian duty, God moft folemnly and formally “doth abfolve them from all guilt, and ac- *“cepteth them into a ftate of favour with “ him®.” The inference to be deduced from this doo: trine, in connection with our prefent fubject, © is obvious. Whatever St. Paul may mean, when he affirms, that we are juftified or faved by faith ; and however exclufive juftifying or faving faith may be admitted to be, or how- ‘ If. Barrow’s Works, vol. ii. p. 45. ; & Ibid, vol. ii. p. 64. Condition of Salvation. 75 ever completely (to ufe the language of the Homily) « faith thutteth good works out from « the office of juftifying ;” that exclufion will not apply to the conditions, the obfervance or difregard of which affects our attainment of everlatting life. I now proceed to my other propofition, that the faith, by or through which we are faid to be faved or juftified, is not intended to fignify faith, in oppofition or contradiftin@ion to good, that is to fay, to Chriftian, works. Now if the former cafe be eftablithed, the latter appears to follow of courfe. Good works, by which I mean Chriftian works, and by which none but Chriftian works can be meant in a difcuffion of the prefent fubject, (for “ good works,” as the Homily affirms, * cannot be done without a lively faith in « Chrift",”) fuch as obedience, godlinefs, holi- nefs, charity, or by whatever term or terms it may be thought proper to fignify the fruits of a Chriftian faith, could not have been per- formed by men, before they became Chrif- tians; and of courfe could hardly have been intended by the Apoftle in his contemplation of a bleffling, which was annexed to their ad- miffion into the Chriftian Church. But as a clear view of this propofition is at _h Page 25. Oxf. edit. “6 Chriftian Works a neceffary leaft of much fecondary importance; and as the illuftration of it may ferve to throw light at the fame time upon the former cafe, relat- ing to the time of our juftification in the Apo- file’s fenfe; I propofe to confider more fully the three feveral cafes, in which he afferts, that we are juttified, or faved, by faith, with- out works or without the deeds of the law. 1. To meet the arguments of a heathen, who, reafoning “after the tradition of men, “after the rudiments of the world',” might contend againft the Gofpel on the plea of its being unneceflary ; and urge the light of na- ture, as a fufficient guide for their conduét, _ and the goodnefs of their lives, as a fufficient ground of expecting the divine favour; we may conceive the Apoftle warning his Gentile converts in the following manner, to “ beware ** left any man ipoil them through philofophy *‘ and vain deceit.” It is true, that although God was not pleag: ed to favour you, and the reft of the heathen world, with an efpecial revelation of his per- fe@ions; “he neverthelefs left not himfelf ** without witnefs among you, in that he did a good, and gave you rain from heaven and * fruitful feafons, filling your hearts with joy “ and gladnefs‘.” And although he was not i Col. ii. 8. k Acts xiv. 17. 2 Condition of Salwation: yg pleafed to favour you with an efpecial revela- tion of his will; he neverthelefs «* made you «a law unto yourfelves, by giving you a con- | ** fcience, which bore witnefs in your hearts, © and thoughts which accufed or elfe excufed * one another’.”’ But then, as to the know- ledge which you had of the Deity, when you ‘knew God, you glorified him not as God, ‘«« but changed the glory of the uncorruptible ** God into an image made like to corruptible “man, and to birds, and four-footed beafts, “ and creeping things™.”’ And as to the dif- charge of your moral duty, and the warnings of your confcience, you provoked God by your wickednefs to withdraw his afliftance from you; fo that you have been “ given over *‘ to vile affections, and to a reprobate,” or undifcerning, ‘“ mind, to do thofe things which *« are not convenient", and to “ work all un- «« cleannefs with greedinefs’.” «‘ You walked “‘in the lufts of the flefh; you fulfilled the “‘ defires of the flefh and of the mind; you “ were by nature the children of wrath, and *‘ were dead in tre{paffes and fins”.” What was to become of creatures in fuch a finful and abandoned ftate? The anger of God, “ whom you did not like to retain in © 1 Rom. ii. 14,15. ™ Rom.i. 21, 23. ™® Ibid. 26, 28,. © Eph. iv.’ 19. P Eph, il. 1, 3. 78 Chriftian Works a neceffary “your knowledge’,” was fallen upon you: the arm of God, “ who will render to every “man according to his deeds’,” was raifed to punifh you: “ indignation and wrath, tri- ** bulation and anguifh,” which are allotted to “every foul of man that doeth eyil*,” muft have been alfo your lot. ‘Aliens from the * commonwealth of Ifrael, and. ftrangers to “‘ the covenants of promife,” you were “ with- “ out hope,” as you were “ without God in “ the world'.” What was to become of creatures in fo def- perate a ftate? One remedy alone remained. “ Now in Chrift Jefus, ye, who fometime “ were far off, are made nigh by the blood of « Chrift".” “ You, who were dead in tref- ** pafles and fins, hath he quickened*.” Con-= verts to that “‘ Gofpel, which is the power of “God unto falvation to every one that be- “Jieveth’,” “by grace YE HAVE BEEN SAVED “ through faith ; and that not of yourfelves, it “as the gift of God; not of works, left gc “man should boaft’.” Such I apprehend to be the line of argu- ment, purfued more or lefs direétly by the Apoftle, when he notices the condition of the’ Gentile world. And the purport of the whole 4 Rom. i. 28. t Ibid. ii. 6. s Thid. 8, 9. t Eph. ii. 12. u Ibid. 13. x Ibid. 1. 5. yY Rom, i. 16. 2 Eph. il. 8, 9. ese ceocoopevol. . Condition of Salvation. 79 appears to be, that he might convince his Gentile converts of their finful, abandoned, and defperate fituation, before their converfion to Chriftianity ; of the neceffity, under which they lay, if they defired the divine favour, of becoming difciples of Chrift and embracing the Gofpel; of their great and unmerited hap- pinefs.in being brought into a ftate of falva- tion by faithfully embracing it; and of the little reafon they had to confider their call and their fubfequent juttification, as in any degree the reward of any previous merits of their own, inftead of a free and gratuitous act of -mercy on the part of God. | For, let it be ob- ferved, that in the paffage to which I have laft alluded, no oppofition whatever appears to have been intended between the << faith’’ and ** works’ of the Ephefians ; no preference of one oyer the other; in a word, no compari- fon of one with the other. The seh eo vias op- pofition is between the free “ grace’ of God, which called them to a profeffion of the Gof-. pel, and their own “ works” previoufly to that vocation, of which they might be difpofed to boaft, as the meritorious caufe of their being called: as in the article, wherein our Church briefly comprifes the fubftance of St. Paul’s ia on this head, it is afferted, that ‘‘ we “are accounted righteous before God, only “For the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jefus 80 Chriftian Works a neceffary * Chrift by faith, and not ror our own works “and defervings? ;” and as in the moft ce- lebrated confeffions of the reformed Churches, -— it is diftinély and cautioufly noted, that by *« being juftified by faith alone is intended the * being juttified by grace alone, and not by the “merit of our works*.” And the “ faith,” through which the Ephefians are. faid to “ ot “ faved,” or rather to “have been faved,” have been admitted to the privileges of ei Gofpel covenant, is fo far from being a faith diftinguithed from Chriftian works, that it is in fact not diftinguifhed from any Wark what- foever. t 2. Suppofe again, that a Jew. were objea- = ATE, Xi. ' 2 Quod authenticas eeclefiarum reformati nominis con- feffiones attinet, certum eft eas omnes, vel faltem earum primas ac nobiliffimas, a noftris partibus veluti ex profeffo ftare. Quippe etiamfi ille quoque doceant, Ex fide fola fine operilus hominem jujiificari; effatum tamen illud eo fenfu explicant, quem nos pronis ulnis amplexamur. Scil. difertis verbis monent Confeffionum Authores, fenten- tiam ifam figurate accipiendam effe, ita ut in Fide? no- mine Gratia, que ei ex adverfo refpondet, intelligatur ; atque idem fit fola Fide juftificari, quod fola Gratia, non ex operum Merito, juftificari: ac proprie loquendo, fidem ceterafque virtutes bonaque opera ad juftificationem eque valere, atque effe neceffaria: nec quicquam magis fidei in ifto negotio tribuendum, quam ceteris virtutibus; adeo- que fe, quatenus a jultificatione bona opera excludunt, eatenus et fidem ipfam rejicere. Bulli Harm. Apoft. Diff. I. cap. vi. fect. 1. Condition of Salvation. 81 ‘ing to the neceflity of Chriftianity, his objec- tion would take a different turn. He would object, that God had fpecially revealed his will to the Jews already; that he had given them a law for the regulation of their con- duct; and that he cat made them partakers of his covenant. The argument of the Apoftle would confe- quently take a different direction in reply; but it would lead to the fame conclufion as that, which we have been juft following. We may accordingly imagine him allowing the fuperior privileges of the Jews, in that “to them were committed the oracles of * God’ ;” and-“‘ to them pertained the adop- “* tion, and the glory, and the covenants, and “the giving of the law, and the fervice of *« God, and the promifes; whofe were the fa- ‘ thers, and of whom, as concerning the fleth, .“ Chrift came, who is over all, God blefled for “ever. Amen‘“.” Thefe things, I fay, he would allow. But {till he would contend, that the law, to which ‘they laid claim, was not fufficient ; that it re- quired of them a perfect obedience; that it pronounced a “‘ curfe upon every one, who * continued not in all things,’ whether of 'a ceremonial or moral nature, ‘“‘ which are writ- > Rom. iii. 2. © Rom. ix. 4, 5. 82 Chriftian Works a neceffary ‘‘ ten in the book of the law to do them‘;” that it provided no fufficient atonement for, fin, no means of reconciling the finner to God ; that as “all had finned, and come fhort “ of the glory of God,” fo ““no man could be ii juttified by the law in the fight of God‘ :” that, in confequence, the Jew, no lefs than the Gentile, ftood in need of a Redeemer ; and that fuch redemption was offered to them by the grace of God in Chrift Jefus, «« whom * God had fet forth tobe a propitiation “through faith in his blood, to declare his *‘ righteoufnefs for the renibrent of fins that “are paft, through the forbearance of God ; «to declare” (repeats the Apoftle) “ his righ- teoufnefs, that he might be juft, and the © “ juftifier of him which believeth in Jefus ‘.” Such is the regular courfe of the Apoftle’s argument with refpect. to the Jews; and fo we are prepared for his general conclufion, that ‘a man is juftified by faith without the « deeds of the law*.” : But are we hence to infer, that St. Paul in- tended by this decifion to give a preference to Chriftian faith above Chriftian holinefs? Un- doubtedly not. His language is ftriftly of the fame import as that, which he employed in a 4 Gal. iii. 10. * Rom. iii. 23. f Ibid. 24, 25, 26. s Ibid. 28. ~ Condition of Salvation. 83 f{peech to the Jews of Antioch; where, hay- ing declared that “ through Jefus was preach- “ed unto them the forgivenefs of fins,” he adds, “« And by him all that believe are jutti- *‘ fied from all things, from which ye could “ not be juftified by the law of Mofes*.” And the whole fcope of his argument requires us to underftand the manifeft, decided, and im- portant fuperiority, which he afcribes to the Chriftian over the Mofaic difpenfation ; to the atonement made by Chrift over the deeds of the law, both ceremonial and moral, which could not be perfeétly performed, and by the non-performance of which the benefits of the covenant were forfeited. But it is firangely to mifconceive the Apoftle’s reafon- ing, and to mifreprefent his conclufion; if we contend, that he defigned to eftablifh any comparifon, diftinétion, or oppofition between faith and works, as parts of the fame difpen- fation. 3. Again; we find a fimilar conclufion, im- plying the fame fort of diftinction, upon a queftion fomewhat diffimilar. When the Jews, who had been converted to the Chriftian faith, “‘ zealous of the law,” to which by education and national prejudices they were clofely attached, infifted on the ne- » Adts xiii. 38, 39. i Tbid. xxi. 20. G2 84 Chriftian Works a neceffary ceffity of maintaining circumcifion and the other ordinances of the Jewih ritual; St. Paul, in concert with the apoftolical college, was earneft. in exhorting them, to “ ftand faft ‘in the liberty wherewith Chrift had made “them free, and not to be entangled again in “the yoke of bondage*.” And he difcuffes the queftion at large, efpecially in his epiftle to the Galatians, fupporting his judgment by a variety of arguments, all of which hinge upon this fingle point. ‘* We, who are Jews ‘“‘ by nature, and not finners of the Gentiles, “‘ knowing that a man is not juttified by the “works of the law, but by the faith of Jefus “‘ Chrift, even we have believed in Jefus Chrift, “that we might be juftified by the faith of “ Chrift, and not by the works of the law: *« for by the works of the law thal: no — be “« juftified’.” What now does he mean in this paflage, confidered fairly in connection with the: quef- tion before him, by “‘ the works of the law ?” Has it the moft diftant relation to the works of a Chriftian life?—-And what does he mean by “the faith of Jefus Chrift?” Is there any confideration, which will confine it to faith in — Chrift, as contradiftinguifhed from obedience? — —Evidently by “the works of the law” he ~ ® Gal. vy. I. 1 Gal. i. 15, 16. Condition of Salvation. 85 underftands thofe ceremonial obfervances, thofe *« weak and beggarly elements, whereunto the *¢ Jewifh converts defired again to be in bond- “age”; and by “the faith of Chrift,” that active, enlarged, and comprehenfive principle, which he defcribes in the courfe of his argu- ment ; when he fays, that ‘‘in Jefus Chritt * neither circumcifion availeth any thing, nor “‘ uncircumeifion, but faith which worketh by * Jove”: and which he elfewhere denomi- nates by different equivalent terms in two pa- rallel paffages; where he informs the fame Galatians, that “in Chrift Jefus neither cir- “ cumcifion availeth any thing, nor uncircum- “ cifion, but a new creature®;” and the Co- rinthians, that “‘ circumcifion is nothing, and * uncircumceifion is nothing, but. THE KEEPING ‘* OF THE COMMANDMENTS OF GoD?.”’ Thefe remarks. upon the feveral. cafes, wherein St. Paul {peaks of our juttification by faith, will probably throw light upon the former pofition, that we are juftified on our admiffion into covenant with God. And al- though, as was before obferved, the eftablith- ment of that pofition might be fufficient for our purpofe; and although thefe remarks. do not. bear fo direétly upon the fubject of our immediate inquiry ; I am willing to perfuade ™ Gal. iv. 19. » Tbid. v. 6. © Ibid. vi. 15. P 1 Cor. Vii. 19. G 3 86 Chriftian Works a neceffary myfelf, that they will not have appeared irre- levant: but that they may be confidered to fupply an important collateral ‘evidence in fupport of the truth; by fhowing, that the fancied diftinction, which this great Apoftle is fo often reprefented to make between Chrif= tian faith, and Chriftian works, | to the great difparagement of the latter, does in reality not exift in his writings; but is founded on a mif= conception of his argument, and a confequent mifreprefentation of his doétrines. ‘Such’a mifreprefentation was probably of very, early date, and gave occafion to “ the falfe and pef= * tilent conceits of fome perfons, who, mif= “taking St: Paul’s expreffions and dodtrine, ** perverted them to the maintenance of Solit “« fidian, Eunomian, and Antinomian’ princi- « ples, greatly prejudicial to good praétice*.” And it appears to have been a fenfe of its fal- lacy and danger, which, in the judgment of ‘Auttin and of many of the ancients, prompted the reft of the Apoftles to be more affiduous ‘and earneft in the recommendation of Chrif- tian holinefs’; and more tier, induced at : Qe FOS q Bartow’s Works, vol. ii. p- 57- t Tilud etiam notatu haud indignum eft, quod veterum multi (eofque inter Auguftinus) cenfent, epiftolam: Jaco- bi, et Johannis primam, et Judz, et eam qu Petri fecun- da dicitur, feriptas adverfus eos, qui Paulinas Epiftolas ptaye interpretantes, fidem dicebant fine bonis operibus Condition of Salvation. 87 St. James to infitt fo ftrongly on the neceflity of a lively operative faith; to contend that «« by works a man is juftified, and not by faith only’ ;” to reprefent “faith as made per- *« fe&t by workst;” and to affert, and to reite- rate his affertion, not without an appearance of contempt for the “* vanity” of the opinions he was correcting, «that faith, if it hath not “« works, is dead, being alone*.” Having thus endeavoured to clear our way by removing, what appear to me, certain er- roneous and unfcriptural notions, by which it was obftructed, I am at liberty to take a more general furvey of the fubject; and to prove from an enlarged view of the facred writings, that good works area condition, indifpenfably neceflary for thofe, who would derive any ul- timate benefit from their participation in the Gofpel covenant, and be finally juftified in the fight of God. I fay “ finally juttified ;” for, inafmuch as the juftification noticed by St. Paul, which we have confidered to be (as the learned Barrow reprefents the Apoftle’s doc- trine) ‘‘ the immediate confequent or {pecial “ adjun& of baptif{m*,”’ avowedly takes effect ad falutem fufficere. See Bithop Bull’s Harmonia Apoft. Diff. II. cap. iv. fe&. 2. and Bifhop Horne’s Sixteen Ser- mons, p. 65. s Jamesii. 24. _t Tbid. 22. « Ibid. 17, 20, 26. = Works, vol. ii. p. ‘te @4 88 Chriftian Works a neceffary in this world ; and as our Saviour no lefs in- difputably {peaks of our juftification “in the “ day of judgment’,” we hold ourfelves war- ranted in diftinguifhing, with Cranmer.and his brethren in the reformation’, between our firft and our final juftification; and in main- taining with the homily, after Chryfoftom: that juftification or falvation once had, may be “ Joft again*:” .notwithftanding the fupereili- ous. rejection of the doétrine by our opponents as “a Popifh and a Socinian notion,” “ of the « very effence of Popery,’” “ the offspring of ‘pride oppofing the word. of. truth®.” » For we are not to be deterred from our adherence to what we efteem the truth of Scripture, by thé ftratagem, rather ingenious than credit: able, of an invidious appellation ; conceiving it to have been pioufly and wifely anfwered by'a Sovereign of our own, “ Tofay that an “argument is naught, becaufe. the Papifts “ make ufe of it, or that a thing is good, be- “ caufe it is praétifed by fome of the reform- *©ed churches, does not carry any conviction | nsagis sh) Sakon ~ y Matt. Xil. 37. z See the Neceflary Doétrine, &c. as above. ; 2 See Homily on Good Works, part i. page 40. Oxford edie, 0 9ixie die) tA b Overton, p. 179, 209. Sir Richard Hills Reforma- tion Truth reftored, pref. p. xiii. Venn’s Duty of Man, prefg, «) 1! lor eto 50.00 Ee ~ Condition of Salwation. 89 “at all with it in my mind; nor will it ever, until you can’ demonftrate, either that the “© Jatter are infallible, or that the former main- “ tain no truths at all””” The fact appears to ‘be correctly ftated by the remark of a zealous oppofer of Antinomianifm ; and the remark deferves the ferious attention of thofe, who think to difparage our caufe by fuch invidious and “ railing accufations ;” that “in our well- ** meant zeal ‘againft Popery we have been «driven to an extreme, and have not done “good works juftice’.” ’ With thefe notions of juftification, which I sielt I neither value myfelf, nor with to be adopted by others, farther than as they caqrre- fpond with the reprefentations of Scripture, I cannot enter into the objection of a very re- fpectable and temperate advocate, in the pre- fent day, of juftification by faith alone; who, allowing the expreffion of conditions of falva- tion, “ when ufed in reference to the final re- *« fult of religion,” fteadily excepts againft the notion of “‘ conditions of juftification’.” As the fubje& prefents itfelf to my mind, furvey- ed through the medium of holy writ, there is a falvation, as well as a juftification, which we © Charles the Firft. See Brandt’s Hiftory of the Refor- mation in the Low Countries, Dedication, p. 11. 4 -Fletcher’s Firft Check to Antinomianifm, p. 72. © See Zeal without Innovation, p. 84. 90 Chriftian Works a neceffary regard as “‘ a perfectly gratuitous aé&t of God,” conferred on us by faith alone ; faith, not dif- tinguifhed from good works, but in the fenfe, wherein it has now been explained: there is alfo a.juttification, as well as a falvation, no lefs referred <‘ to the final refult of religion,” and no lefs depending on certain conditions. In other words I would be underftood to fay, that we fhall not be juftified in the fight of God at the laft day, without the concurrence of Chriftian works, co- operating with ala tian faith. It would however be a wafte of aah time, and an infult upon your patience, were I to fet myfelf formally. and fully to. demonttrate, what is delivered with fuch plainnefs, and at the fame time with fuch variety of expreflions throughout the New Teftament, that as “ with- “ out faith it is impoffible to pleafe God',” fo alfo “‘ without holinefs no man Jfhall fee the « Lords :’—that if, in the language of King Edward’s Catechifm, ‘ faith, or rather truft “alone, doth lay hand upon, underftand, and “* perceive our righteous making to be given ‘“us of God freely, that is to fay, by no de- “ ferts of our own, but by the free grace of “ the Almighty Father" ;” in the language of | : | f Heb. xi. 6. & Ibid. xii. 14. » Enchiridion Theologicum, vol. i. p. 43. Condition of Salvation. gt the fame, it is * godlinefs, which plainly open- «eth the way toheaven, if we will feek to attain thereunto! :”—that if, as the Homily afferts, ‘ the only mean and inftrument re- quired of our parts is faith, that is to fay, a « fure truft and confidence in the mercies of * God*,” fo alfo “ it is to be taken for a moft ‘true leffon, taught by Chrift’s own mouth, ‘«« that the works of the moral commandments “of God be the very true works of faith, «© which lead to the bleffed life to come’;” and ‘‘ being wrought in faith, are ordained by “God. to be the right trade and pathway “ unto heaven” :”—that, in one word, as Ed- ward’s Caeechife again exprefles it, <“ the fum “ of Chriftian region fiandeth in TWo Po.NTs ; << in true FAITH IN Gop, and afiured perfuafion *‘ conceived of all thofe things, which. are ** contained in the holy Scriptures ; and in cHa- «rity, which belongeth both to God i to our << neighbour”.” When therefore we hear the Methodit con- fidently maintaining, that “there is no happi- ««nefs till we can feel an union of the foul «with God, and that ¢hat and that only is true sage undefiled religion®;”’ we feel little _ i Enchiridion Theologicum, vol. i. p- 66. k Homilies, Oxford edit. p. 362. 1 Ibid. p. 4l. m Jbid. p. 49. » Enchir. Theol. i. 9. © Whitefield’s Works, vol.i. p. 339. 92 Chriftian Works a neceffary difpofed to accede to his pofition, and rather incline to embrace the more evangelical doc- — trine of a learned writer of earlier times. < I *‘ muft) confefs,’ faid the ever-memorable Hales, “ that I have not yet made that profi- *‘ ciency in the f{chools of our age, as that I “ could fee, why the fecond table and the acts “ of it are not as properly the parts of religion “and Chriftianity, as the aéts and obferva- “‘ tions. of the firft. If I miftake, then it is St. «< James that hath abufed me ; for he, deferib- “ing religion by its proper acts, tells us, that “true religion and undefiled before God and ‘‘ the Father is this, to vifit the fatherlefs and «the widow in their affli@tion, and to keep ‘ himfelf unfpotted of the world. So that the ‘¢ thing, which, in an efpecial refine dialeé& of «« the new Chriftian language, fignifies nothing “ with him‘) faitheSe.John'? »* The books iaatelanaae *< the dead raeigenlillag! of t x “'tenin the books, according: tc What faith St. Jude ? “« Behold; the Lo: “eth with ten thoufand of ‘his faints, to’ exe= “* cute judgment upon ally andagal convince all “that are ungodly among them of | all t “ ungodly deeds which they ‘h <‘ committed".” What faith St. ican: s* ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, fF i a own leita I ee 738 * past iat vi Jacobus feil asad 4 Sanéti, ubique idem perfonantis. Idem ‘tefta phete, idem Apottoli, idem. Chriftus tnadutanes Apofi. lib. i. cap. ii. fe. 2. cone ¢ te e 1 Petia f Ads x. 345 35+ Ae & Rev. xx. 79.028 Bre «| /B Ver, 145. 155° de | i Jamesi. 22. 4 Chriftian Works a neceffary “‘ worketh good, to the Jew firft, and alfo to * the Gentile: for there is no refpect of per- “fons with God™.” For as he prefently ar- gues in words, applicable not only, as Calvin contemptuoufly contends", to the Jews, but generally, as the context indifputably proves, to ‘ every foul of man’”’ that defires to be juf- tified, ‘‘ Not the hearers of the law fhall be ‘< juft before God, but the doers of the law « fhall be juftified’.” Words, which afford no weak foundation for the opinion, cited with approbation, by Bifhop Bull, in “ that palmary «« work,’ as the late Bifhop Horne denominated it, in a difcourfe from this place, “That Paul “defired fo earnefily to recommend good ‘* works, as neceflary to juftification and eter- «« nal life, in order to’ put the reader on his *«‘ guard; left, by mifunderftanding his fubfe- *‘ quent doctrine, wherein he teaches juftifica- ** tion by faith without works, he fhould find ‘«* a ftumbling-block, or fall into error.” Nay, m Roi. ii. 3—11. 2 Qui hoc loco abutuntur ad erigendam operum juttifi- cationem, etiam puerorum cachinnis funt digniffimi. Pro- inde ineptum eft et extra locum, hue longas de juftifica- tione quzftiones ingerere, ad folvendum tam futile cavil- lum. Tantum enim urget apud Judzos Apoftolus illud, de quo meminerat, legis judicium &c. Calv. in loc. © Rom. ii. 13. P Horne’s Sixteen Sermons, p. 66. 4 Prius autem quam illuftrem hunc locum miffum fa- Condition of Salvation. 99 our bleffed Saviour himfelf, who, when he pronounced the forgivenefs of fins, declared to the finner, “‘ Thy faith hath faved thee';”’ alfo cautioned the object of his mercy to “ fin no ‘“¢ more, left a worfe thing come upon hims:” —and generally he pronounced to all men that works, and not faith alone, are the conditions of everlafting happinefs, when he declared, “ If “‘ thou wilt enter into life, keep the command- “ ments ;” ‘If ye know thefe things, happy “ are ye if ye do them':’’ « In the day of judg- “ment by thy words thou fhalt be juftified, “and by thy words thou fhalt be condemn- «‘ed":” “ Behold, I come quickly, and my “reward is with me, to give every man ac- “ cording as his work shall be. 1 am Alpha “and Omega, the beginning and the end, the “ firft and the laft. Bleffed are they that do_ *« his commandments, that they may have right: ciam, vifum eft, que ad eum fcribit doctiffimus Eftius, commemorare: ‘ Sane,” inquit, ‘videri poteft, Paulum “ idcirco tam diligenter commendare voluiffe bona opera, “ ut ad juftitiam ac vitam eternam neceffaria, quo Lecto- _ “rem premuniret, ne fequentem ipfius do¢ctrinam, qua * juftificationem tradit ex fide fine operibus, male intelli- * gendo offendiculum pateretur, aut in errorem incurre-. “ ret.” Certe eatenus faltem ei lubens affentior, ut cre-. dam, non fine magna Dei providentia id factum fuiffe. Harm. Apoft. Diff. ii. cap. iv. fect. 8. T Luke vii. 50. s John v. 14. * John xiii. 17. u Matt. xii. 37. H 2 100 Chriftian Works a neceffary «to the tree of life*.’ “Come, ye blefléd of “« my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for, ** you from the foundation of the world; for’ “‘ | was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I. ** was thirfty, and ye gave me drink; I wasa “« ftranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye ** clothed me; I was fick, and ye vifited me ; «| was in prifon, and ye came unto me. Ve- “rily I fay unto you, Inafmuch as ye have “‘ done it unto one of the leaft of thefe my ‘«« brethren, ye have done it unto me. Depart “‘ from me, ye curfed, into everlafting fire, pre- ‘«« pared for the devil and his angels: for ve- “rily I fay unto you, Inafmuch as ye did it *¢ not to one of the leaft of thefe, ye did it not: “unto me’.” “The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves thall hear “€ the voice of the Son of man, and fhall come *‘ forth; THEY THAT HAVE DONE GOOD UNTO “€ THE RESURRECTION OF LIFE, AND THEY THAT ‘‘ HAVE DONE EVIL UNTO THE RESURRECTION “‘ OF DAMNATION*.” How different from thefe f{criptural expofi- tions of the terms of everlafting happinefs, are the remonftrances and exhortations, addreffed by the Solifidian to his hearers! “« Why doft “‘ thou lean to-works,”’ is the expoftulation of n ~ * Rev. xxii. 12, 13, 14. y Matt. xxv. 34. z John v. 48, 49. Condition of Salvation. 101 a late minifter of our Church, “ fince falvation ‘fis by faith? Why doft thou difquiet thyfelf “ about attaining the righteoufnefs of the law, ‘and thereby fuffer the law to difturb the “ peace of thy confcience, fince thou haft a far “better righteoufnefs, which ought to reign “there, even the righteoufnefs, which is of «God by faith*?”’ ‘* Remember thou art. not “‘ required to obey in order to be faved) for *“‘ thine obedience; but ‘thou art already fav- «© ed’.” «'The fingle qualification for falva- “tion which \Chrift expects,” fays a living teacher of our Ifrael, ‘is to believe the Gof- “pel: for ‘he! that believeth fhall be faved. ‘What! if they do fuch and fuch duties? ‘.” Such, in earlier times, had been the practice of our own apoftolical reformers, who, both individually and collectively, avoided and dif- couraged fuch doubtful difputations ; agree- ably to the memorable declaration of him, whom Fuller calls “ the profoundeft {cholar of “that army of martyrs‘,” “the moft learned “and judicious of all the prelates,” as Heylyn ftyles him’; I mean Bifhop Ridley; who re- plied to one, that defired to engage him in the queftion about God’s eleétion and predeftina- > Brandt’s Hiftory of the Reformation in the, Low Countries, vol. iii. p. 57. © Fuller’s Church Hiftory, book viii. fect. 25. 4 Heylyn’s Quinquart. Hift. part ii. chap. viii. fea. 8. 12 ¥16 \WiGalvini/fic: Predafiimatiae tion, “In thefe matters I am fo fearful, that «J dare not {peak further, yea almoft none “ otherwife, than the very text doth, as it “ were, lead me by the hand*.” In thefe fentiments we concur: and to this conduct we would cheerfully conform. When however thefe myfterious fubje&s are’ fre- quently, oftentatioufly, and largely brought into difcuffion by others, who refufe to ac- quiefce in mutual: forbearance ; when, in the progrefs of the difcuffion, the nature of the Chriftian. difpenfation appears to us to be grievoufly mifreprefented ; when erroneous notions of the terms of falvation appear to be» infufed into the hearers; when the glory of God appears to be affailed, and his attributes to be infringed, and his revelation to, be, ca-_ lumniated ; when our doétrines withal, be- caufe we fhrink from the public inyeftigation of thefe myfterious topics, are broadly ftigma- - tized as unevangelical, and made a foundation _ for the charge, that we are not preachers of the Gofpel ; and when we cannot but per- ceive, that the minds of thofe committed to our care are thereby alienated from our teach- ing, that their refpect is diminifhed for our perfons, and that an obftacle is prefented to our minifterial fuccefs: we apprehend that the * € Ridley’s Life of Bifhop Ridley, p. 553- not the Doétrine of the Gofpel. 117 queftion then affumes a very different com- plexion ; and we deem ourfelves warranted by that folicitude, which, as minifters of Chritt, we ought to feel for the purity of his word and for the falvation of the fouls of his people, in attempting, however feebly, to ftem the torrent of herefy and falfe doctrine; and to illuftrate, as far as we are enabled by that light, which the holy Scriptures fupply, the myfteries of the kingdom of God. Having made thefe preliminary obfervations, as exprefling my motives for venturing upon ground, which I+ approach with awe, and would otherwife leave untrodden ; I fhall im- mediately proceed to ftate, that if, when we are accufed of corrupting and perverting the Gofpel, it is intended, that the preaching of the generality of the national clergy does not agree with the doctrines of the Gofpel, as they _ are interpreted by thofe Chriftians, who inhe- rit their name and their peculiar opinions from | their founder Calvin, we are contented to plead guilty to the charge, Such was the purport of the accufation in the hands of the Calviniftic eftablither of Me- thodifm, when he charged “the generality “of the clergy with hateful hypocrify, in "“ {peaking contrary to the Articles, and to the “‘ form of found words delivered in the Scrip- 13 118 Calviniftic Predeftination * tures‘;” himfelf pronouncing Calyinifm to be * fcriptural truth®.” Such was its pur- port in the hands of another graduate of this Univerfity, when he denounced the minifters of our Church, as “ dangerous heretics and *« {chifmatics,” for “‘ impioufly and hypocriti- . ** cally fetting their hands to doétrines, which ‘“‘ in their hearts they never affented to ;” and for “‘ adopting the pride-foothing Arminian «« herefy of univerfal redemption;” and ‘ main- “taining the Popifh herefies of univerfal re- ** demption, free will, and falling from grace ; ‘«* bla{phemies as poifonous as thofe of Arius, « Pelagius, and Socinus".”” Such, again, was its purport, at a fomewhat later period, in the hands of a beneficed minifter of our Church, when he paffed the fellowing comprehenfive fentence againft thofe, who were not of his perfuafion. ‘‘ Arminianifm,” he laments, “is “‘ the grand religious evil of this age and coun- “try. It has more or lefs infected every Pro- “ tefiant denomination amongft us, and bids “fair for leaving us, in a fhort time, not fo ‘much as the very profeffion of godlinefs. «« The power of Chrittianity has, for the moft “part, taken its flight long ago; and even f Whitefield’s Works, vol. vi. p. 95. & Eighteen Sermons, p. 160. ~» Pietas Oxonienfis, p. 44. and 81. not the Doctrine of the Gofpel. 119 ‘« the form of it feems to be on the point of «« bidding us farewell. Time has been, when the Calviniftic doétrines were confidered and « defended, as the palladium: of our eftablifhed ‘«« Church, by her Bithops and Clergy ; by the « Univerfities and the whole body of the laity. “It was (during the reigns of Edward VI. « Queen Elifabeth, James I. and the greater «« part of Charles I.) as difficult to meet with a “ clergyman, who did not preach the doctrines “< of the Church of England, as it is now, to «« find one who does. We have generally for- ‘« faken the principles of the réformation : and ‘« Ichabod, or thy glory is departed, has been ‘“‘ written on moft of our pulpits and church *« doors ever fince’.” The charge, thus urged and repeated at fe- veral periods of the laft century, (a charge, the confidence of which might well be diminifhed by a confideration of the acknowledged faé, as to the comparative numbers and authority of the accufers and the accufed,) continues to be advanced with the fame purport, and with unabated confidence, at the prefent time. It were unneceflary to enumerate the evidences of a truth, which mutt be notorious to all who hear me. I fhall be fatisfied therefore with remarking, that it is with this view, that one i Toplady on Predeftination, pref. p. 5. 14 120 Calviniftic Predeftination © of the authors,.to whom I have juft referred, after the interval of half a century ftill conti- nues to lament over ‘‘ the poor deferted and ** diftraéted Church of England, ftruggling for * breath in the midft of Popifh and Pelagian ‘‘ mire“: and that it is ayowedly in a great degree upon the ground of Calvinifm, that the advocate of a party in the Church claims for his party the appellation of “ ‘True Churchmen * and evangelical Minifters’,” and denies it to their fellow-labourers in the vineyard. The al- legation againft our true churchmanthip is not our prefent affair; although perhaps it may incidentally be noticed. It has indeed been weighed in the balance ; and it has been found wanting”. Our bufinefs is with the charge, as it excludes us from the title of Evangelical Minifters : to which charge, inafmuch as it refts upon our declining to preach the doc- trines of Calvin, we are (as I faid before) con- tented to plead guilty. And that we do for the following fimple reafon; becaufe the doc- k Sir Richard Hill’s Reformation Truth reftored, pref. . vill. : 1 The True Churchmen afcertained, &c. by John Over- ton, A.B. m See the Articles of the Church of England proved not to be Calviniftic, by Thomas Kipling, D. D. and Vin- dicie Ecclefie Anglican by the Reverend Charles Dau- beny. not the Doétrine of the Gofpel. 121 trines of Calvin appear to us to be irreconcile- able with the do@rines of Chrift and of his Apoftles; and if we adhere to the latter, and preach the Gofpel in that purity, in which they have delivered it, we conceive that we mutt diffent from, and reject, the former. It furely will not be underftood from this declaration, that I mean to proteft againft all the doétrines maintained by Calvin and his followers. Some articles of faith are common to moft, or all, of the profeffors of Chriftianity. Many articles of faith, and among thefe feve- ral of the prime and fundamental tenets of our religion, are common to us and to the Calvin- ifts. The doétrines, which I have in view, are fuch as belong peculiarly to that denomi- nation of believers ; and conftitute the charac- teriftic mark, which diftinguifhes them from their brother Chriftians. To prevent however the pofflibility of se. apprehenfion, and to exhibit at the fame time a clear and compendious view of the nature of the controverfy between us, I propofe to ftate, as concifely as I am able, the moft effential articles, on which we differ from the Calvin- ifts,and which are made the bafis of fo folemn an accufation againft us. _ Thus for inftance it is the doétrine of Calvin and of his followers I would be underftood in the fubfequent ftatement as referring to 122 — Calviniftic Predeftination thofe perfons, who maintain the avowed prin- ciples of Calvin, and do not fhrink from their obvious confequences; for as to thofe opinions, which their abettors denominate ‘“‘ moderate « Calvinifm,” I fhall have occafion to advert to them prefently; and will here only remark in paffing, that the framer of the more perfect fyftem himfelf would have fcorned them, as an unworthy fubterfuge, and reprobated the appellation, as a contradiction in terms :—I fay then, it is the Calviniftic do¢trine, that God has by an eternal, abfolute, irrefpective, and immutable decree elected and predeftinated certain individuals to falvation, from which, by the fame decree of predeftination, he has ex- cluded the great mafs of mankind, excluding them from the benefits purchafed by the death of his Son™. Our doétrine is, that » Predeftinationem vocamus zternum Dei decretum, quo apud fe conftitutum habuit, quid de unoquoque ho- mine fieri vellet. Non enim pari conditidne creantur omnes : fed aliis vita eterna, aliis damnatio eterna pre- ordinatur. Itaque prout in alterutrum finem quifque con- ditus eft, ita vel ad vitam, vel ad mortem, praedeftinatum dicimus. Calv. Infiit. lib. ili. cap. xxi. fect. 5. Quod ergo Scriptura clare oftendit, dicimus; zterno et immutabili confilio Deum femel conflituiffe, quos olim femel affumere vellet in falutem, quos rurfum exitio de- vovere. Hoc confilium, quoad eleétos, in gratuita ejus mifericordia fundatum effe afferimus, nullo humane dig- nitatis refpectu: quos vero damnationi addicit, his jufto not the Doétrine of the Gofpel. 1238 God hath made no fuch abfolute election and predeftination of perfons, but that Chrift is the common Saviour of mankind at large :—a doc- trine, which we fupport on the general tenor of Scripture, and efpecially on thefe and the like paflages; that “ God is no refpecter of per- “fons, but in every nation he that feareth “ God and worketh righteoufnefs is accepted “ with him®;” that “ God fent his Son into “ the world, that whofoever believeth in ‘him ** might not perifh, but have everlafting life? ;”” that ‘* Jefus Chrift the righteous is the pro- ‘* pitiation for our fins, and not for ours only, «* but for the fins of the whole world‘; that “he is the Saviour of all men, {pecially of “ them that believe’; that he ‘ tafted death “ for every man‘;” and that ‘God our Sa- “ yiour would have all men to be faved, and “« come to the knowledge of the truth, for the “ man Jefus Chrift gave himfelf a ranfom for all‘ :""—a dodtrine too, which we apprehend quidem et irreprehenfibili, fed incomprehenfibili ipfius judicio, vite aditum precludi. . Ibid. fect. 7. -—reprobos yel a notitia fui nominis vel a Spiritus fui fan&tificatione excludendo. Ibid. - —illos vult excludere. Ibid. cap. xxiii. fe&. 1. Deum ex perdita maffa eligere et reprobare. De Pre- deft, p. 613. . © Ads x. 34, 35. P John iu. 16. 4 1 John ii. 1, 2. r Tim. iv. 10. s Heb. ii. 9. * Tim. ii. 4, 5,6. 124 Calviniftic Predeftination to be unequivocally recognifed by our Church throughout her Liturgy in general, which uni- formly fuppofes Chrift to be the “ Redeemer * of the world” in the obvious fignification of the words; and efpecially in her baptifmal fer- vices and in her Catechifm, where fhe defcribes every individual in her congregation, as one of “the elect people of God,” as one of the «© redeemed” of Chrift; in her Communion fervice, where fhe mentions the body of Chrift as being given, and the blood of Chrift as be- ing fhed, for every individual communicant, fap every individual member of her body; in her Homily for the Nativity, where fhe teaches, that Chrift ‘‘ made perfect fatisfaction’ “« by his death for the fins of all people" ;” and in her 31ft Article, which affirms, agreeably to a fimilar declaration in the Communion fervice, that << the offering of Chrift once made is that “perfect redemption, propitiation, and fatif- “ faction for all the fins of the whole world.” The Calvinift teaches, that the falvation of thofe, whom he terms ele¢t, is arbitrary, irre- {pective, and unconditional; that it does not proceed from any refpect to their qualities, prefent or to come; that it does not depend upon any difference between them, and other. men ; that it is not influenced by any relative u Homilies, p. 340. Oxf. edit. not the Doétrine of the Gofpel. 125 worthinefs, which God forefees in them ; but that it is exclufively owing to the mere will and pleafure of God*:—a doctrine, we may remark by the way, of very diffolute tenden- cy, and calculated to make men any thing, rather than “‘ zealous of good works.” We teach on the other hand, that no one, towhom the Gofpel of Chrift is preached, and to whom the promife of falvation is tendered through the blood of Chrift, can attain eternal happi- nefs without fulfilling certain conditions :— and this we teach, becaufe, amongft a multi- tude of plain texts to the purpofe, the promifes of falvation always have refpect to the repent- ance, faith, obedience, holinefs, or other qua- lifications of them, to whom the promifes are to be made good: becaufe this life is perpe- _* Quod hominem unum eligit Deus, altero rejecto, id non provenit ab hominis refpectu. n/t. lib. iii. cap. xxiii. feét. 10. * Deum eligere quos illi vifum eft. De Pred. p. 613. —nullo humane dignitatis refpe&tu. Ibid. _Non-ex hominum dignitate vel indignitate pendet dif- crimen.. Ibid. p. 612. Falfum eft, ac verbo Dei contrarium, dogma, Deum, prout unumquemque gratia fua dignum vel indignum przeyidet, ita vel eligere vel reprobare. Comment. in Rom. ie Dei nutu fieri, ut aliis &c. Inft. lib. iii. cap. xxi. fe. 1. Infiftere debemus in iftas particulas, cujus vult, et quem vult, ultra quas procedere nobis non permittit. Comment. in Rom. ix. 18, 126 Calviniftic Predeftination tually reprefented as a truft, for which we are refponfible ; as a ftewardthip, of which we'are to give an account ; asa ftate of trial and pro- bation’, wherein God tries and | proves us; whether we will walk in his ways or not: and becaufe our bleffed Savidur briefly inftrués us in the nature of our future fentence; and in the plan of God’s dealings with mankind; when he fays, ‘« Behold, I come quickly; and ‘“my reward is with me, to give every man ‘according as his work fhall be*.” This we apprehend to be taught by our Church in her Liturgy, where fhe ‘‘ pronounces the abfolution “and remiffion of fins,” exprefsly appropriat- ing it to “them that truly repent; and un- “‘ feignedly believe God’s holy Gofpel;” and where fhe defcribes our pardon and acceptance with Chrift as fufpended upon various condi- tions; “if we come unto him with faithful “repentance ; if we fubmit ourfelyes unto “him, and from henceforth walk in his ways; “if we will take his eafy yoke, and light bur- ‘den upon us, to follow him in lowlinefs, pa- “ tience, and charity, and be ordered by the ‘** governance of his. Holy Spirit, feeking al- “‘ ways his glory, and ferving him duly in our “vocation with thankfgiving*:”—and ‘this y James i. 2,3. 1 Pet. i. 7. iv. 12. 2 Revelations xxii. 12. @ Commination fervice. not the Dottrine of the Gofpel. 127 we apprehend her to teach in one of her creeds, which in her eighth Article fhe afferts ** may be proved by moft certain warrants of “holy Scripture,” affirming it as the ground on which every man’s final fentence will pro- ceed, that “‘ they which have done good fhall “« go into life everlafting, and they which have «* done evil into everlatting fire.” The Calvinift teaches, that the falvation and eternal life of thofe, whom he ftyles the elec, are perpetually fure and infallible, are never in doubt or fufpenfe; but that the ele&, having received the grace of God, eannot fall from _ grace; fo as to be in danger of final perdition”: thereby opening a fpacious paffage for care- leffnefs, wickednefs, and prefumption. We teach, according to our views of the doctrine of our Church in her baptifmal fervices and in her Catechifm, that they, who have “ re- *‘ ceived the grace of God,” and are admitted into ‘the number of his faithful and ele@ b Omnibus eleétis certa eft vita eterna—excidere ne- mo poteft—nulla violentia, nullove impetu quifquam ra- pitur—invidta Dei potentia nititur eorum falus. De Pred. p. 614. Deus non modo falutem offert, fed ita affignat, ut fuf- penfa vel dubia non fit effectus certitudo. Inf. lib. Hil, cap. xxi. fet. 7. Salutem noftram Dominus perpetuo certam et tutam fore docet. Ibid. cap. xxii, {6&. 10. 128 Calviniflic Predeftination “children,” may not, and that fome do not, ultimately remain in that ftate of eleétion and grace: that, in the language of her Liturgy, we who are God’s people and inheritance, may have “his Holy Spirit taken from us:” or, as it is expreffed in her. 16th Article, that “they who have received the Holy Ghoft, ““ may depart from grace given, and fall into ‘«fin,’ deadly fin, according to the context ; with a poflibility indeed, but therefore with- out a certainty, of repenting and rifing again ;, and therefore with a poflibility alfo of perifh- ing eternally: or, as her fentiments are more largely conveyed in her “ Homily. of falling “from God,” that they ‘‘ which are the cho- ‘“« fen vineyard of God, may be no longer of ‘his kingdom, may be no longer governed ‘“by his Holy Spirit, may be put from the ‘“grace and benefits that they had, and ever «might have enjoyed through Chrift; may «be deprived of the heavenly light and life, «¢ which they had in Chrift, whilft they abode ‘in him; may be (as they were once) as men <‘ without God in this world, or rather in “« worfe taking. And, in fhort, may be given -* into the power of the Devil, which beareth * the rule in all them that be caft away from “ God, as he did in Saul and Judas: and may “ be brought to fo vile a condition, that they not the Doctrine of the Gofpel. 129 ** fhall be left meet for no better purpofe, than “to be for ever condemned in hell*.””, And this we teach, becaufe, among a multitude of other authorities, God has told us by the mouth of his Prophet Ezekiel, that ““when a “‘ righteous man turneth away from his righ- “* teoufnefs, and committeth iniquity, and dieth ‘in them, for his iniquity that he hath done *< fhall he die“: becaufe St. Peter exhorts the Chriftian converts to “‘ give diligence to make * their calling and eleétion fure*:” becaufe St. Paul admonifhes the Corinthians, “let him «« that thinketh he ftandeth, take heed left he “< fall’,” and “ befeeches them that they re- *‘ ceive not the grace of God in vain®:” be- caufe he affirms of perfons, ‘“‘ who have once “been partakers of the Holy Ghoft, that fuch “ men may fo fall away, that it may be im- *‘ poffible to renew them again unto repent- “ance”: and becaufe he defcribes himfelf as firiving with the moft refolute and indefati- gable exertion, “left that by any means, when ‘¢ he had preached to others, he himfelf fhould ** be a caft-away'.” It is the Calviniftic doctrine, that all thofe, who are not in the number of the eled, are ¢ Homilies, p. 71, Oxf. edit. 4 Ezek. xviii. 26. € 9, Pet. i. To. f 1 Cor. x. 12. . 8 2, Cor. vi. I. h Heb. vi. 4, 6. i 1 Cor. ix. 26, 27. K 4 130 Calviniftic Predeftination -pafled over, rejected, or reprobated by God; who has by an eternal and unalterable decree preordained, predeftinated and doomed them, before they were born, to certain and ever- lafting death, ruin, perdition and damnation; for which he himfelf fits and prepares them ; to which they are devoted, not becaufe he forefees their unworthinefs, but folely becaufe he wills it; and which, from the very hour of their birth, he hath made it impoffible for them to efcape, and hath precluded and repels them from the means of efcaping*. Avoiding k Liquet Deum occulto confilio libere, quos vult, eli- gere, aliis rejeétis. In/i. lib. iii. cap. xxi. fet. 7. —aliis damnatio eterna preordinatur. Ibid. fect. 5. Quos Deus preterit, reprobat. Ibid. cap. xxiii. feét. 1. —dicimus, eterno et immutabili confilio Deum fe- mel conftituifle, quos olim femel vellet—exitio devovere. Ibid. cap. xxi. fe&. 7. Alioqui dixiffet Paulus, reprobos fe dedere vel projicere in exitium. Nunc vero fignificat, antequam nafcantur, jam fuz forti addiétos effe. Comm. in Rom. ix. 23. Dubium non eft, quin utraque preparatio ab arcano Dei confilio pendeat. Ibid. Quia perditum Deus volebat, obftinatio cordis vine fuit ad ruinam preparatio. In/i. lib. ii. cap. iv. fect. 3. Falfum eft Deum, prout unumquemque gratia fua—in- dignum previdet, ita—reprobare. Comm. in Rom. ix. 11. Dei nutu fieri—ut alii ab ejus aditu arceantur. Inf. lib. iii. cap. xxi. fect. 1. Confilio nutuque fuo ita ordinat, ut inter homines ita nafcantur, ab utero certe morti devoti, qui fuo exitio ip- fius nomen glorificent. lid. cap. xxili~fe&. 6. not the Doétrine of the Gofpel. 131 *‘ this moft dangerous downfall, whereby” (as eur Church exprefles herfelf in the 17th Ar- ticle) «‘ the Devil doth thruft curious and car- «nal perfons, lacking the {pirit of Chrift, ei- “ther into defperation, or into wretchlefinefs “ of moft unclean living, no lefs perilous than ** defperation ;” our doétrine is, in the lan- guage of our Liturgy and Homilies, that «‘ God ‘« willeth not the death of a finner, but that “he fhould rather turn from his fin and be “ faved';” and that, as the condemnation of every man, that fhall perifh, ‘will have been ‘‘ heaped upon himfelf by his own wickednefs ‘and the ftubbornnefs of his heart; which * defpifed the goodnefs, patience, and long- “ fuffering of God, when he called him con- ‘€ tinually to repentance ;” fo there is no man but by.the grace of God he may efcape and be faved through Chrift, provided he “ take “« heed betime, while the day of falvation laft- “eth; and abufe not the goodnefs of God, “‘ who calleth us mercifully to amendment, “and of his endlefs pity promifeth us forgive- “‘ nefs of that which is paft, if with a perfec “‘ and true heart we return unto him.” And quos damnationi addicit, his jufto quidem et irre- | prehenfibili, fed incomprehenfibili, ipfius judicio vite adi- tum precludi. Inf. lib. iii. cap. xxiii. feQ. 7. ! See the Commination Service, and the Second Part of the Sermon of Falling from God. KZ 132 Calviniftic Predeftination this doctrine we fupport on the general pro-— mifes of Scripture, and on innumerable indivi- dual paffages, which might be cited in fupport of its feveral parts; and more efpecially on the declaration in the Prophet Ezekiel, where they are all exprefsly afferted. ‘ When the ** wicked man turneth away from his wicked- ‘‘nefs that he hath committed, and doeth “‘ that which is lawful and right, he fhall fave “his foul alive. I will judge you, O houfe of “‘ Ifrael, every one according to his ways, ‘* faith the Lord God. Repent, and turn your- ‘« felves from all your tranfgreflions ; fo iniqui- ‘* ty fhall not be your ruin. Caft away from: *< you all your tranfgreflions, whereby ye have *« tranfgrefled ; and make you a new heart “and a new fpirit: for why will ye die, O ‘< houfe of Ifrael? For I have no pleafure in “the death of him that dieth, faith the Lord ‘‘ God: wherefore turn yourfelves, and live “é ye is It is not without extreme repugnance, that I can bring myfelf to credit my own ftate- ment, that fuch opinions as thofe, which have been juft afcribed to our affailants, could ever have been foberly maintained, as the declara- tions of the oracles of God. Yet that fuch opinions in their full extent, m Ezek. xvili..27, 30, 31, 32. ” not the Doétrine of the Gofpel. = 138 if not to a greater extent than hath been ftated, were the do@rine of Calvin himfelf, is a pofition, to which his own writings bear -unquettionable teftimony : nor hath a fyllable been here advanced, which thofe writings do not exprefsly warrant. The auftere and rigor- ous character of the do¢trine, (I with to fpeak of it in the moft unexceptionable and inoffen- © five terms,) and its tendency withal to fofter the moft dangerous wickednefs, moft danger- ous, becaufe congected with an erroneous principle, may have alarmed the more timid of his profetled followers ; and have deterred them from adopting it with all its frightful confequences, however neceflarily they may refult from his fundamental tenets. There have not however been wanting thofe among his difciples, both in earlier and in recent times, who have been hardy enough to em- ploy fuch language, as will fully juttify us, not only in declining to propagate, but in depre- cating the propagation of, tenets fo prepofte- rous in themfelves, and of fuch manifeft injury to the caufe of pure religion. Such was the cafe at the period of the Reformation, when, as a late learned Divine remarks, ‘‘ Calvinifm “prevailed among a few Gofpellers, who “drew confequences from it, which Calvin ““ would willingly have guarded againft: but “he had laid down the premifes; and not- K 3 134 Calviniftic Predeftination — ‘‘ withftanding he ftopped there, and would “have perfuaded others to do the fame, yet “‘ the corrupt hearts of thefe men boldly drew. “ the conclufion for him*.” Such alfo was the cafe in the time of Charles the Firft; and fuch it is in the prefent time’. What, for inftance, fhall we fay of the fla- grant Antinomian tendency of thofe expref- fions, wherein a living Minifter of our Church, of great and extenfive popularity, afferts the doctrines of unconditional «election and irre- fiftible grace? ‘“‘ Wifdom crieth aloud, not in * the temple only, and in the courts of the ‘* Lord’s houfe, but in the ftreets and the lanes “of the city, among the gracelefs and the *‘ idle; thofe who are too gracelefs to attend “the ordinances of duty, and too idle to be ‘* concerned for their falvation. And when ‘* Jefus calls, obferve who they are he calls. « He fays, If any man thirft—if any man hear **my voice: he doth not fay, If any good ** man, or any moral man; but amy man, As » Winchefter on the Seventeenth Article, chap. 4, © The Author has thought it neceffary to bring for- ward at fome length the principal Calviniftic tenets in the words of profeffed Calvinifts, chiefly of the prefent day. Should the reader find this feries of quotations irk- — fome, and be contented with Calvin’s own reprefentation of the dotrines characterized by his name, he may pafs on to page 144, where the moral tendency of the fyftem is difcuffed. not the Doctrine of the Gofpel. 135 ‘if he had faid, I will have my offer made ‘among fuch as the world may fancy too *« worthlefs to be made partakers of my falva- “‘ tion, and too far left to be recovered. Go *€ ye into all the world, and preach the Gofpel “to every creature. The fingle qualification «IT expect is to believe the Gofpel: for he *‘ that believeth fhall be faved. And even that “ belief my Spirit fhall beftow: He maketh “ my people willing in the day of his power. «All that the Father giveth me, fhall come to “ me; and him that cometh, I will in no wife *< caft out. Obferve again the extenfivenefs, “the freedom, the fovereignty of his grace. « All that the Father giveth. Not one, or “ two, or ten thoufand: but atx. And they «« fhall come. What, if they do fuch and “fuch duties? Not a word of the kind. “ What, if they perform fuch obligations? * Not a fyllable like it. It is an abfolute pro- *« mife of the Lord Jefus, founded in his own * abfolute power. Here are neither ifs nor *« buts. No conditions, nor terms. T hey fhall “come: and if they themfelves will not, the “« Lord will make them willing in the day of ‘his power. It is he that worketh in them * both to wll and to do of his own good plea- << fare"? P Prop againft all Defpair, by Robert Hawker, D. D. Vicar of Charles, Plymouth, p. 15, 16. K4 136 Calinifiic Predeftination What, again, thall we fay of the gloomy — and unhallowed picture of reprobation, ex~ hibited by another of our brethren, not many — years deceafed*, and ftill commemorated by his admirers as ‘an eminent fervant of Chrift’,” “a burning and a {fhining light*!’ Who af- ferts concerning the reprobate, whom he elfe- where defcribes as “ neceflarily and inevitably ** condemned to infernal death hereafter,” and whofe fentence he afcribes with Calvin “ not “to their forefeen fins, but to the fovereign *‘ will and determinate pleafure of God,” that “‘ God did not barely fuffer, but pefitively in- ** tended and decreed them, to continue in « their natural blindnefs and hardnefs of heart;” that they are “ veflels of wrath fitted to de- ‘“ftruction,” or, as he interprets the language of St. Paul, “put together, made up, formed, “or fafhioned for perdition;” that “ God “choofes and pitches upon men to do the «* moft execrable deeds ; and that ‘* he does «< not only negatively withhold from the wick- *‘ ed his grace, which alone can reftrain them “from evil; but that occafionally, in the q See the Doérine of Abfolute Predeftination, ftated and afferted, &c. by Auguftus Toplady, A. B. late Vicar of Broad Hembury, Devon. edit. Glafgow, 1807. pages ICQ, L10, III, 112, 160. © Evangelical Magazine, Auguft, 1808. p. 395. s Life of Toplady, prefixed to the above work, p. xvi. not the Dottrine of the Gofpel. 137 “* courfe of his providence, he puts them into *‘ circumftances of temptation, fuch as thall *caufe the perfons fo tempted actually to “turn afide from the path of duty to commit *‘ fin, and to involve both themfelves and ** others in evil.” What again, with refpec&t to the abfolute impoffibility of the non-ele& attaining to fal- vation, fhall we fay of that monftrous pofition, that “ the fentence of God, which rejects the ** reprobates, is fo fixed and immutable, that “* it is impofliblé they fhould be faved, though “they have performed all the works of the ‘“¢ faints: and that therefore it is not true, that *¢ thofe, who perifh through their own fault, “might have been faved through grace, if “they had not ceafed labouring for faving “* grace’ ?”’ What again, with reference to the doctrine of the impeccability and final perfeverance of _ the elect, or in the phrafeology of the fyftem, ‘* once a faint and always a faint, once a child “« of God and always a child of God;” (a doc- trine, let me obferve by the way after the t See “The Refult of Falfe Principles, or Error conviét- “ ed by its own Evidence, extraéted from the original of * Dr. Womack, fometime Lord Bifhop of St. David’s.” edit. 1790. p. 78. An admirable expofure of the mif- chievous tendency of Calvinifm. 138 = ..,- Caluiniftic Predeftination learned Dr. Barrow, “ which is “oppofed. to “the unanimous confent of all Chriftendom “© for fifteen hundred years";”) what fhall we fay of the arrogance and blafphemous impiety of that declaration, that ‘‘ the child of God in ‘the power of grace doth perform every duty ‘« fo well, that to afk pardon for failing either ‘*in matter or in manner is a fin; that it is *“‘ unlawful to pray for forgivenefs of fins after ‘* converfion ; and that, if he does at any time ‘* fall, he can by the power of grace carry his “fin unto the Lord, and fay, Here I had it, ‘«* and here I leave it*!”’ What thall we fay of the flagitious tendency of that affertion, “God «© does no longer ftand offended nor difpleaf- * ed, though a believer, after he is a believer, «‘ do fin often; except he will be offended, ‘“‘ where there is no caufe to be offended, ‘¢ which is blaf{phemy to fpeak. It is thought ‘‘ that elect perfons are in a damnable ftate, in ‘« the time they walk in excefs of riot: let me ‘« fpeak freely to you, that the Lord has no ‘‘ more to lay to the charge of an elect per- ‘< fon, yet in the height of iniquity, and in the “‘ excefs of riot, and committing all the abo- u Barrow’s Works, vol. ii. p. 51. x Fifty Propofitions taken from the Mouth of Mr. J. Brierly, prop. 19. See Grey’s Hudibras, part ii, chap. ti, ver. 245. not the Dottrine of the Gofpel. 139 *“minations that can be committed’??’ Or how can we fufficiently abominate the fanc- tion conferred upon every fpecies of profliga- cy, in fuch an affirmation as the following, fo- lemnly delivered, and deliberately repeated and maintained? ‘‘ Let any true faint of God” (faid one of the Puritanical fupporters of Cal- viniftic eleétion in former times) “ be taken “ away in the very act of any known fin, be- ** fore it is poffible for him to repent, I make ‘no doubt or fcruple of it, but that he fhall «< as furely be faved, as if he had lived to have *< repented of it.” “I fay that when God * doth take away any of the faints in the very * act of fin, he doth in that very inftant give “‘them fuch a particular and actual repent- «* ance, as fhall fave their fouls. For he hath “predeftinated them to everlafting life; there- “ fore haying predeftinated them to the end, «« he doth predeftinate to the means to obtain (ith Nor is it in the days of ancient Puritanifm alone, that the affertion, that <‘‘ the ele& thall “be faved, do what they will,” can boatt its advocate, charged as it is with the moft noxi- ous and peftilential confequences, “ deftroying ¥ Quoted from Crifp in Fletcher’s Firft Check to An- tinomianifm, p. 87, 88. z Pryn’s Perpetuity of a Regenerate Man’s Eftate, pages 3392 344: 140 Calviniftic Predeftination “ the neceflity of all care and endeavours after “ righteoufnefs, and cutting the finews of all “« religion®.”” Nor is it, in principle at leaft, if it be avowedly, of fuch rare occurrence, as a recent writer, in his well-intentioned zeal for religious unity, would perfuade us to be- lieve’. I dwell not upon the fcandalous af- fertion of certain early preachers of Method- ifm, that “after the ele& have received the “ Spirit, they cannot fin; and if they commit ‘‘ any fin, it is only an error in fuch; and let “them do whatever they pleafe after their ‘‘ adoption, however finful the aé, they are “ fure to be faved notwithftanding®” But I rather afk, what is the principle, on which proceeds the language of a late Minifter of our Church, that “ the falvation of every one of « the elect is certain, and can by no means be ** prevented ;” when taken in conne@tion with another of his pofitions, that ‘‘ the vileft fin- “ner may, for aught we can tell, appertain to “ the election of grace, and be one day wrought “ upon by the Spirit of God*.” I would afk, wherefore it is affirmed by another, who went out from us, that “ he feared not the falling 2 Stebbing on the Spirit, chap. xv. fect. 11. b See Zeal without Innovation, p. 58. © See Enthufiafm of Papifts and Methodifts compared, part iii. pref. p. xxx. ¢ Toplady on Predeftination, p. 53, 105. not the Doétrine of the Gofpel. 141 “ finally, although he feared he fhould pro- ** voke God to let him fall foully ;’’ and gene- rally, that “‘ though God’s people may fall *« foully, however their poor fouls may be “ harafled, yet no wicked devil, nor their ** own depraved hearts, fhall be able to fepa- “rate them from the love of God: God has ** loved them, God has fixed his heart upon “them, and having loved his own, he loves “them unto the end‘. I would afk, on what ground it is maintained by another of our brethren, ftill living, and ftill engaged in the active exercife of his profeffion, that “ eve- “ry idea of moral goodnefs, as a qualification «for obtaining pardon mercy and peace from “God is done away'‘:” that << no demerit on “the part of believers can arife to defeat the “‘ operation of God’s grace®;” that ‘ the pre- “* fent life is not a life of probation and trial" ;” and that we have reafon to “hope, that the * laft day will bring forward to the admiring “view of applauding worlds numberlefs ex- *“‘ amples of falvation, where divine grace has * glorioufly triumphed in the converfion of *‘finners in their laft moments, when the “ whole life has been {pent before in hardnefs ¢ Whitefield’s Works, vol. i. p. 78. and vol. v. p. 245. * Hawker’s Prop to Defpair, p. 11. 6 Hawker’s Zion’s Pilgrim, p. 60. h Ibid. p. 160. 142 _ Calviniftic Predeftination ‘‘ and impenitence'.” I would afk, with what view it is affirmed by a fourth, that the “ will ‘* of God to do good to his children does not “« depend on their will, or on their faithfulnefs, “or on any thing in themfelves*;” for what reafon he lends his fanéction to the dodtrine, that “as it was not any lovelinefs in elect “‘ perfons which moved God to love them at “ firft, fo neither fhall their unlovely. back- ‘* flidings deprive them of it!;” and more ef- pecially why he gives currency and authority to the wild pofition, that ‘* fuppofe a believer “be taken away in his fin, and hath not time «to repent of it, there was that in him, that “«< would have repented, and God reckons of a “« man according to that he would do;” or to the equally dangerous dodtrine, that “ though ‘“a believer be black as hell, polluted with guilt, defiled with fin, yet in Chrift he is all ‘ fair without fpot ; free from fin, as viewed “by God in Chrift, fully reconciled to God, “ and ftanding without trefpafles before him™.” Still more particularly I would afk, what in- i Hawker’s Mifericordia, p. 116. k Walk of Faith, by the Reverend William Romaine; Works, vol. i. p. 258. 1 Coles on God’s Sovereignty, edited by Romaine, ee” b. m Mafon’s Spiritual Treafury, edited and recommended by Romaine, p. 141. and 206, not the Doctrine of the Gofpel. 143 terpretation mutt be affixed to the language of another modern Predeftinarian of eminence ; when, alluding to David’s murder of Uriah and adultery with Bathfheba, he demands, «Though I believe that David’s fin difpleafed « the Lord, muft I therefore believe that Da- “« vid’s perfon was under the curfe of the law ? “Surely no. Like Ephraim he was ftill a “ pleafant child : though he went on froward- ** ly, he did not lofe the character of the man “« after God’s own heart".””. And again; “ No “ falls or backflidings in God’s children can « ever bring them again under condemnation, “«* becaufe the law of the fpirit of life in Chrift ‘© Jefus hath made them free from the law of “‘ fin and death°.” And again; “ If Chrift “has fulfilled the whole law and borne the *€ curfe, then all debts and claims againft his ‘* people, be they more or be they lefs, be they “« {mall or be they great, be they before or be “ they after converfion, are for ever and for “ever cancelled. All trefpaffes are forgiven “them. They are juftified from all things. They already have everlafting life’. «« God “‘ views them without fpot, or wrinkle, or any “ fuch thing: they ftand always compleat in _ ® Quoted from Sir Richard Hill, in Fletcher’s Third Check to Antinomianifm, p. 72. ° Ibid. p. 80. - -p Tbid. p. 8. 144 Calviniflic Predeftination * the everlafting righteoufnefs of the Redeem- “‘er. Black in themfelves, they are comely ‘* through his comelinefs. He, who is of purer “eyes than to behold iniquity, can neverthe- © Jefs addrefs them with, Thou art all fair, ** my love, my undefiled; there is no {pot in ““ttiee*.” Far be it from me to affert, that every man, who calls himfelf a Calvinift, does admit thefe abominable tenets, however they may feem in reafon, and by fair deduétion, to form a con-_ ftituent part of his creed, and avowed as they are by fome of our accufers: or that every man, who does maintain thefe fentiments, as - part of his creed, is prepared to take adyan- tage of that fanction, which they fupply to licentious practice! Some minds indeed there may be, and fuch unqueftionably there are, of fuperior quality, whofe love of God is too de- vout, and their piety too ardent, to fuffer them to ufe their tenets as a licence for care- leffnefs or immorality; and who remain, as Tully teftified of the difciples of Epicurus, vir- tuous in {pite of their principles’. | 4 Quoted from Sir Richard Hill, in Fletcher’s Third Check to Antinomianifm, p. 84. ‘ Sunt nonnulle difcipline, que, propofitis bonorum et malorum finibus, officium amore pervertunt. Nam qui fummum benum inftituit, ut nihil habeat cum virtute conjunétum, idque fuis commodis, non honeftate metitur, not the DoGrine of the Gofpel. 148 But this may be fafely affirmed ; that where- ever fuch principles are maintained, (and that there are fome perfons bold enough to main-. tain them, the foregoing extracts will demon- firate,) the peril to a mind of the common ftamp is palpable and incalculable. Leta man of ordinary temper be perfuaded, that he is one of the elect; (and it refts with the Cal- vinift to fhow, that perfons in general, who maintain his opinions, will not be fo perfuad- ed, unlefs on fubftantial grounds ;) and let him moreover be perfuaded of what we have feen there are not wanting teachers to perfuade him, that no duties are required to be per- formed, no obligations to be fulfilled, no terms, no conditions to be obferved, in order to qua- lify him for falvation ; but that whatever fins he may commit, he is fure to be faved not- withftanding ; that whatever be his falls and backflidings, all trefpaffes are forgiven him; that God views him without fpot, or wrinkle, or any fuch thing; that he is juftified from all things ; that he already has everlafting life ; that he ftands always abfolved in the ever- lafting righteoufnefs of the Redeemer :—that perfon is little acquainted with the corrupt and vicious propenfities of human nature, who hic, fi fibi- ipfe confentiat, et non miienh nature boni- tate vincatur, neque amicitiam colere poffit, nec juftitiam. Cic, de Off. lib. i. cap, 2. 2 146 Calviniftic Predeftination will undertake to anfwer for the confequence ; or rather it may be faid, who will not under- take to affirm, that the confequence will nei- ther redound to the credit of the doétrine, nor - conduce to the everlafting welfare of its pro- feffor. <‘ The great advocates of election and — ‘* reprobation,” fays Bifhop Sherlock, a writer diftinguifhed for the clearnefs and folidity of his judgment, “always reckon themfelves in ** the number of the eleé&t; and that their ini- “* quities, of which they are often confcious, “‘may not rife up againft them, they main- * tain, that the aé&t of man cannot make void *« the purpofe of God, or the fins of the ele& “« deprive them of the benefit of God’s eternal ‘decree. Thus fecured, they defpife the vir- ** tues and moral attainments of all men, and ** doom them with all their virtues to deftruc- ** tion, whilft they advance themfelyes with ‘* all their fins to a throne of glory, prepared “ for them before the world began*.” “ If I * be elected, no fins can poflibly bereave me “of the kingdom of heaven; if reprobated, ‘no good deeds can advance me to it.” ‘Such was the language of a German potentate in former times, when his friends admonifhed - him of his vicious converfation, and dangerous ftate. “‘ An objection,” remarks Heylyn, “ not s Sherlock’s Sermons, vol. ii. p. 89. not the Doctrine of the Gofpel. 147 «“ more old than common: but fuch, I mutt “< confefs, to which I never found a fatisfactory «anfwer from the pen of Supralapfarian, or “ Sublapfarian, within the {mall compafs wd “* my reading *.’ What fruit, on the other hand, is to be ex- pected from thofe, who believe themfelves to lie under a fentence of irrefpective and inevi- table reprobation ; intended and decreed to everlafting torments by the unalterable will, and fitted for perdition by the omnipotent hand, of God? What in a man of ordinary temper, but “a reckleffnefs of unclean living,” a foul dead to every fenfe of religion, and a heart hardened in impenitence ? Or, if fuch a perfuafion gain poffeffion of one, whofe mind is endowed with higher and more ingenuous qualities, and alive to a nicer fenfibility, to what other confequences can it be expected to lead, than a difmal melancholy ; a fixed and comfortlefs defpondence ; or a gloomy aliena- tion of reafon ; which will endure as long as his mortal exittence, and will at length break forth perhaps in a paroxy{m of frenzy, or in a death violent and premature? For fuch a be- ing, an outcaft in his own imagination from divine grace, and abandoned to irremediable - condemnation, the prefent has no enjoyment * Heylyn’s Quinquarticular Hiftory, part i. chap. iv. L 2 148 Calviniftic Predeftination to cheer, nor has the future any promife to comfort him. For him the blood of the Sa- viour of the world has not been fhed :—for him “ the God of all comfort” extends not the arms of his mercy :—‘ the dayfpring from on “high” does not vifit him with one gleam of hope, “to guide his feet into the way of ** peace :”—but he advances through clouds and thick darknefs towards the vale of the fhadow of death, which he furveys before him, not as a refuge, ‘“ where the wicked ceafe ‘from troubling and the weary be at reft;” not as an avenue to the abode of happinefs, where his earthly fufferings are to be recom- penfed by “ an eternal weight of glory ;”” but as the paflage from a fhort life of intolerable mifery and apprehenfion, to an interminable exiftence of far more exceeding horror! This is not a picture of the imagination : _ would to God that it were! The experience, both of earlier and of more recent times, will _ furnifh too many originals ; whilft the fame experience will alfo warrant an opinion, that the evils, which refult from the fyftem to the individual profeffor, are not redeemed by any benefits, to which it gives rife in his inter- courfe with fociety. That Calvinifm has a general tendency to create and fofter humility and a Chriftian tem- per, is an opinion which its adherents may not the Doétrine of the Gofpel. 149 fondly cherifh*, but which the evidence of hiftory will not fubftantiate. If it be fo, why did it not reftrain the intolerant and perfecut- ing fpirit, with which Calvin himfelf main- tained his doctrines, even to the banifhment, if not to the death, of one of his unhappy vic- tims*; when, inconfiftently with the affertion of a late biographer, that “ he never ufed any * expreffions unworthy of a pious man’,” he ftyled his opponents “ fools,” and “ impious ;” “« jitigating with God ;” “ forgetful that they ““ were men ;” “ virulent dogs, barking and vo- “ miting forth their accufations again{ft God ;” “ malignant and impudent calumniators of his “ doctrine’: in a word, accufing them of a See Calv. Inft. lib. iii. cap. xxi. fe&t. 1. and White- field’s Works, vol. iv. p. 61. _ ® Sebaftian Caftalio. See Heylyn’s Quinquart. Hitt, part i. chap. v. part iii. chap xvi. | dfotheing cent. xvi. fe&. iii. p. 2. y Mackenzie’s Life of Calvin, p. 140. z Figmenta, que ad evertendam predeftinationem com- menti funt ftulti homines. In/é. lib. iii. cap, xxi. fe. 7. Que fpeciofe ad fuggillandam Dei juftitiam pretendit impietas. lid. - Hee quidem piis et modeftis abunde fufficerent, et qui fe homines reminifcuntur. Quia tamen non unam fpe- eiém virulenti ifti canes evomunt contra Deum &c. Mul- tis modis cum Deo litigant ftulti homines. Ilid. cap. xxiii. fed. 2. ——divinz Providentiz st sansiseane Ibid. fe&. 5. Maligne atque impudenter hanc doftrinam calumnian- tur alu. Jbid. fe&. 13. L3 150 - Calviniflic Predeflination every {pecies of depravity, moral as well as intellectual, with fuch afperity of manner, and fuch virulence of language, as provoked the ‘mild Bucer to write to him, that “ he regu- “Jated his judgment by his paffions of love and hatred, and thefe by his mere will ;” and to beftow on him the appellation of “a ** Fratricide*?” If it be fo, why did it not check the arrogance, the turbulence, the flan- ders of his early partizans; the Contra-Re- monftrants on the continent; and their abet- — tors, the Gofpellers, as they were termed, among ourfelves? Why did it not mitigate that implacable temper, wherewith the oppo- nents of Arminius belied, calumniated, and falfely accufed him; and wherewith his col- league Gomarus in particular averred, that “he fhould be afraid to die in his principles, “and appear before the tribunal of God ;” and that, in fo uncharitable a manner, as to draw from one, that heard him, the memora- ble declaration, that ‘* he had rather die with © “ the faith of Arminius, than with the charity “of his accufer’.”” Why did it not correct — Perfidi et impii nebulones. Epi/t. Col. 142. ——quemadmodum protervi ifti canes contra nos bla- terant. In Exek. xviii. 32. a Judicas, prout amas vel odifti; amas autem, vel odifti, Diut libet. See the Examination of Tilenus, p. 324. 'b See Braridt’s Hiftory of the Reformation i in the Low — Countries, vol. ii. p. 51, as not the Doctrine of the Gofpel. 151 the domineering and tyrannical condudt, the bitternefs and evil-{peaking, the partiality and duplicity, the frauds, deceits, and equivoca- tions, practifed in fupport of their doétrine by the delegates at Dort, to fuch an extent as to excite the difguft and animadverfion even of their adherents themfelves‘? Why did it not moderate the bigotry, the intolerance, and the factious {pirit of the Scotch Covenanters, who fold their King; and why did it not purify the hearts and lives of the Englith regicides, who bought and flew him; inftead of giving a fanction to their vices, whilft they lived, and affording them, as was notorioufly the cafe with Cromwell", peace and confolation in the ¢ See Examination of Tilenus, Pref. Epift. p. 253. Brandt’s Hift. vol. iii. p. 308—12. Hales’s and Balcan- qual’s Letters from the Synod, efpecially p. 482. and fol- lowing. Heylyn’s Quinquartic. Hift. part i. chap. v. d «This minds me of a remarkable paflage told by Dr. ** Bates, who wrote the Elenchus Motuum Nuperorum in *« Anglia. He, as a phyfician, was called upon to affitt ‘that night that Oliver proved a true deliverer of his “country. The Protector was in great agonies of mind, “ often ftarted, and afked them, if they faw any thing? “ At length he called for his chaplains; and the firft ** queftion he afked them, was, If there was any falling “ from grace? To which being anfwered in the negative, “ Then, faid he, I am fafe. For he fuppofed that fome “time or other in his life he might have had a little “grace. And then his ufurpation, with the murder of “the King, and devaftation of three kingdoms, befides L4 152 Calimiftic Predeftination hour of death; from the perfuafion, that, what- ever were their fins, they could not fall from grace, which they had once enjoyed ? Why did it not prevent the Calviniftic champion of Methodifm from committing, avewing, and juftifying a breach of faith towards his Ar- minian antagonift, for the purpofe of propa- gating thefe very doctrines themfelves*; and why did it not humble that imperious temper, *‘ imperious” by his own confeffion’, which ‘prompted him to ufurp and exercife dominion over the faith of his brethren, yea of his fa- thers, in Chrift ; and to pronounce on thefe' controverted points with all the arrogance and. fancied infallibility of a Roman Pontiff®? Fi- nally, why does it not infufe a milder, a more tolerant, and a more Chriftian fpirit into: its advocates of the prefent day; and incline them to regard us, who are of a-different per- _ fuafion, with “ brotherly love,” inftead of de- nouncing us, as dangerous heretics and {chif-. matics ; as impious hypocrites ; blafphemers ; “ much blood fhed abroad, and the overthrow of the “ eftablifhed Church, could do him no hurt! This is a *¢ fhort way. of ates confcience, and to lull men afleep ‘in their fins! Thus poor fouls are deluded by thefe doc- “ Goliath Slain, p. 124. ¢ Si ex Auguftino integrum volumen contexere libeat, leGtoribus oftendere promptum effet, mihi non nifi ejus verbis opus effe: fed eos prolixitate onerare nolo. tsa Inf. lib. iii. cap. xxii. fect. 8. de not the Doétrine of the Gofpel. 159 ** had occafion. for none but his words :’— when moreover I reflect, not on the reprefent- ation of a partizan on either fide, but on what I underftand to be the real doctrines of Auftin on the matter in debate; as, that ‘‘ Almighty “© God does not will the falvation of all men, “ but only of the ele&t“;” that ‘ Chrift did ‘* not die for all men, but only for the elect‘;”’ that ‘‘ all men have not the means of falvation ** given to them by God, but that the non- “ ele&t are abandoned in a gracelefs mafs of “‘ perdition, excluded from the gift of faith, “and denied: the opportunity of believing‘ ;” 4 Quod feriptum eft, quod vult omnes homines falvos fieri, nec tamen omnes falvi fiunt, multis quidem modis intelligi poteft, ex quibus in aliis opufculis noftris aliquos commemoravimus: fed hic unum dicam. Ita dictum eft, Omnes homines vult falvos fieri, ut intelligantur omnes predeftinati; quia omne genus hominum in eis eft. Au- guft. de Correptione et Gratia, cap. xiv. Ita debemus intelligere quod fcriptum fit, Qui omnes homines vult falvos fieri, tanquam diceretur, nullum homi- nem fieri falvum, nifi quem fieri ipfe voluerit : non quod nullus fit hominum, nifi quem falvum fieri velit, fed quod nullus fiat, nifi quem velit. Enchiridion, cap. xxix. : ¢ Adde adhuc, Qui proprio Filio fuo non pepercit, fed pro nobis omnibus tradidit eum, quomodo etiam non cum illo omnia nobis donavit ? Sed quibus? Nobis prefcitis, et predeftinatis, juftificatis, glorificatis, de quibus fequitur. In Evang. Johan. Traét. cap. 45. f Hee eft predeftinatio fan&orum ; nihil aliud quam prefcientia fcilicet et preeparatio beneficiorum Dei, quibus certiffime liberantur, quicunque liberantur. Ceteri autem 160 ' Calviniftic Predeftination that “ the commiffion of fin and the blindnefs ‘* and hardnefs of heart of the finner are-not *‘ barely permitted by God, but are pofitive operative acts of his moft omnipotent power, ‘ and his free and unbiafled will®;” and that *« Judas was chofen, not like the other Apoftles ubi, nifi in maffa perditionis, jufto divino judicio relin- quuntur? Ubi Tyrii reli€ti funt et Sidonii, qui etiam cre- dere potuerunt, fi mira illa Chrifti figna vidiffent. Sed ‘quoniam ut crederent, non erat eis datum, etiam unde crederent eft negatum. Ex quo apparet, habere quofdam in ipfo ingenio divinum naturaliter munus intelligentiz, quo moveantur ad fidem, fi congrua fuis mentibus yel audiant verba, vel figna confpiciant: et tamen fi Dei altiore judicio a perditionis maffa non funt gratie pre- _deftinatione difcreti, nec ipfa eis adhibentur vel diéta di- vina, vel facta, per que poffent credere, fi audirent utique talia, yel viderent..... Audiunt enim hee et faciunt, quibus datum eft; non autem faciunt, five audiant five non audiant, quibus datum non eft. De Dono Perfeverantia, cap. xiv. s Quantum ad ipfos attinet (malos fcil.) quod Deus noluit, fecerunt : quantum vero ad omnipotentiam Dei, nullo modo id efficere valuerunt. Hoc quippe ipfo, quod contra voluntatem ejus fecerunt, de ipfis fa&ta eft voluntas ejus. Propterea namque, magna opera Domini, exquifita in omnes voluntates ejus; ut miro et ineffabili modo non fiat preter ejus voluntatem, quod etiam contra ejus fit voluntatem. Quia non fieret, fi non fineret; nec utique nolens finit, fed volens. Enchir. cap. xxix. Non eft dubitandum, voluntati Dei humanas voluntates non poffe refiftere, quo minus faciat ipfe, quod vult : quan- doquidem etiam de ipfis hominum voluntatibus, quod vult, eum vult, facit :—fine dubio habens humanorum cordium, not the Doétrine of theGofpel. 161. «in mercy to partake of Chrift’s kingdom, but ' that he was chofen) and pitched upon in * judgment on purpofe:to commit the damna- * ble act of betraying his Mafter,and to be * the means of thedding his blood* :’’—I catch through the veil of mildnefs and moderation too clear a view of that frightful phantom of “ thofe rigours of the fyftem},” from which our Calviniftic brethren: would fain, be releafed, bid AGSMRT tte quo placeret, Sali aahiln gape omnipotentifiimam potefta- tem. De Corrept. et Grat. cap. xiv. Deus omnipotens, five per mifericordiamt cujus vult mifereatur, five per judicium quem vult*obduret, nec inique aliquid facit, nec nifi volens quidquam facit, et omnia quecunque vult facit.. Enchir. cap. xxix. Agit Omnipotens in cordibus hominum etiam motum. voluntatis eorum, ut per eos agat, quod per eos agere ipfe voluerit. “De Grat. é lib. Arlit. cap. xxi. '—Manifeftatur, operari Deum in cordibus hominum ‘ad inclinandas eorum voluntates quocunque voluerit, five ad’ bona, pro fua milericordia; five ad mala, pro meritis eorum, judicio utique fuo, aliquando aperto, aliquando oceulto, femper autem jen De Grat. et lib. Arlbit. cap. xxi, 8 Electi autem funtad cbse cum Chrifto, non quo- modo eleétus eft Judas ad opus cui congruebat. Ab illo quippe eleGtus eft, qui novit bene uti etiam malis, ut et per ejus opus damnabile, illud, propter quod ipfe venerat, opus venerabile compleretur. Cum itaque audimus, Nonne- ego vos duodecim elegi, et unus ex vobis diabolus eft, illos debemus intelligere electos per mifericordiam, illum per judicium ; illos ad obtinendum regnum fuum, illum ad effundendum Hawker’s Zion’s Pilgrim, p. 158, 3 159. N4 184 Calvinifim inconfiftent with the *‘ our acceptance or refufal of grace to be the *‘ refult of our own pleafure, is to take from ‘God his omnipotence:” ‘ to fancy that our “improvement or mifimprovement of grace ‘« will render it effectual or the contrary, is to “take from God both his wifdom and his «glory; and “ to believe after what God “the Father hath given, and God the Son “hath accomplifhed, for the falvation of his “‘ people in a covenant way, that fouls, re- “« newed by God the Holy Ghoft and called ** with an holy calling, may yet finally perith; “‘ this is bringing down redemption-work to «« fo precarious and uncertain an iflue, as muft “leave it altogether undetermined whether a ** fingle believer fhall be faved or not.. And ** this throws to the ground the diftinguithing ‘“« character of God’s immutability.” But how - do we infringe God’s omnipotence, by fuppof- ing, that it is of our own will either to reje& or accept his grace, when we believe that the exercife of our will is folely the confequence of his permiffion, and of his not choofing to overrule it, and to diveft us of the refponfibi- lity of moral agents? How do we impeach his | wifdom, abridge his glory, or fhake his immu- tability, by fuppofing, that our falvation, in- ftead of being fixed by an abfolute irrefpective decree, is fufpended on our voluntary fulfil- ment of certain conditions ; when at the fame Divine Attributes. 185 time we humbly confefs, that with that infal- libility; wherewith he forefees events that are contingent to man, he certainly foreknew, that fome would, and who they were that would, obferve the conditions: that with that immu- tability, wherewith he delights to reward vir- tue, he predeftinated to life thofe of whom he foreknew that they would be faithful: and that the whole glory of the victory of thofe, who perfevere, is to be afcribed to the free mercy of the Father, to the meritorious facri- fice of the Son, and to the preventing and af- fitting grace of the Holy Spirit ? In fad, the fuppofition of conditional. sed ref{pective election is, in this view of the fub- ject, as innocent of infringing thefe attributes of God, as is that of unconditional and irre- {pedtive election. When therefore it is de- manded of us by the advocate of moderate Calvinifm, “‘ Had not the glorious Being, who “‘ created the world, a right to create it for ** what purpofes he pleafed ? And has he not ** the fame right to govern, his own world ac- “ cording to his pleafure? And if his perfec- *‘ tions are infinite, muft he not act in confor- ** mity to thefe perfections ; and muft not his *‘ purpofes be afluredly accomplifhed; and ** muft not all his creatures, in one way or *‘ another, be the means of their accomplith- “ment? Is not his the kingdom, the power, 186 Calvinifm inconjiftent with the “and the glory? Has he not told us, that his ‘© kingdom ruleth over all; that he worketh ‘‘ all things after the counfel of ‘his own will ; «that he doeth according to his will in the | ‘armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants “of earth; and that none can ftay his hand, ‘or fay unto him, What doeft thou’ ?’— When, I fay, thefe queftions are put to us in fupport of the affertion, “ that the fundamen- “tal principles on which Calvinifm refts are ‘‘ incontrovertible,” I apprehend them to be either altogether irrelevant to the fubje@, or elfe intended to infinuate againft us an invi- dious and an unwarrantable charge. Each fyf- tem is founded on the fovereign will of the Almighty. By the Calvinift it is fuppofed, that God chofe to pafs certain abfolute de- crees, and formed and difpofed his creatures for their accomplifhment: our hypothefis re- prefents him as no lefs “‘ working after the * counfel of his own will; as choofing, in his fovereign power and authority, to form his creatures with a freedom of will and aétion ; foreknowing, in the plenitude of his wifdom, what would be their conduct ; and immutably framing his decrees according to his fore- knowledge. So that, notwithftanding the re- mark, which has been afcribed to a royal Cal- © Overton, p. 355- Divine Attributes. 187 yinift in former times, that ‘‘ if he did not be- “lieve abfolute predeftination, he could not *« believe a Providence‘ ;” we apprehend that — it is to reprefent the Almighty acting upon a plan, as much when it proceeds upon a know- ledge of what ufe his creatures will make of his gifts, aswhen it is founded on his own ab- folute and overruling decree. As thefe attributes of the Deity then re- main unaffected by the doétrines, which we are maintaining, I. proceed to fhow, how grievoufly others are aflailed by the doétrines, which we combat. It was faid with keen, but not unmerited feverity to a Calvinift in former times, ‘‘ While you are fo careful to re- _* ferve to the Almighty a power to damn even “ poor humbled and prepared finners, you “* feem to be more tender of his fovereignty, « than of his goodnefs, mercy, or juftice*®.” 2s,‘ Juftice and judgment,” fays the Pfalm- ift, “< are the habitation of thy throne’.” “‘ He “is a God without iniquity,” fays the Jewith _lawgiver; “ juft and right is hes.” It. is ac- cordingly attributed to him as an effential pro- perty of juftice, throughout the Scriptures ; in 4 King William the Third. See Toplady on Predetti- nation, Pref. p. 11. ¢ Refult of Falfe Principles, by Dr. Womack, p. 72. f Pfalm Ixxxix. 14. £ Deut. xxxii. 4. ee S Uy 188 Calvinifm inconfiftent with the the Old Teftament, ‘and in the New; under the Law, and under the Gofpel; by Prophets, ' \and by Apoftles ; in paflages, too numerous to be fpecified, too prominent to be overlooked, and too plain to’ be mifunderftood or mifre- | prefented ; that he is “no refpeéter of per- | « fons;” but that “ he judgeth and rewardeth | “every man according to his’ works!” Tiatk not then, how is it reconcileable to our no- tions of juftice, that’ by an arbitrary, irrefpec- tive, unconditional decree, he fthould confer happinefs on a fmall portion of mankind, and condemn the bulk to inevitable iene ; but I afk, how is this reconcileable with the | 4 tenor of Scripture, which uniformly aff the impartiality and equity of God to be’ he rule of his dealings with men? For I cannot confider as any exception to this uniformity a. few infulated paflages, of fome difficulty we allow, if feparately and fuperficially Tegarded ; but harmonizing with the main import of Scripture, when examined by the fair laws of interpretation. And here let it not be pretended, that * the ‘¢ works of God cannot be brought to any teft «« whatever";’’ when he himfelf fupplies us with a teft by an appeal to the equity of his _ proceedings. And let us not be told, that h Toplady on Predeftination, p. 69. . Dwine Attributes. 189 ‘« they who exclaim againft, unconditional de- “ erees, as cruel, tyrannical, and unjuft, either be < know not what they fay nor whereof they « affirm, or are wilful blafphemers of his name “ and perverfe rebels againft his fovereignty';”’ that it is the effufion of “ the pride of our car- ‘« nal reafon, and the rebellion of our corrupt ‘nature *.”. Did we difcover a clear revela- tion in Scripture, that the decrees of God are what our accufers reprefent them, we fhould fubmit to that revelation, however myfterious, ftrange, and hard to be underftood, with all humility and proftration of foul, convinced that ‘‘ the Judge of all the earth” cannot do otherwife than right. But when God himfelf authorizes, and encourages, and challenges us to examine his treatment of his. creatures in the balance of the moft nice impartiality, we cannot feel inclined to admit a doétrine, which in our conception fubyerts the equity of his proceedings ; and “‘ reduces them into. a. fyf- * tem of favouritifm!;” and attributes to him partiality, in proffering falvation to ‘“ fome ‘¢ and not to all, feeing all are equally liable to “ damnation.” Nor does it meet the difficulty to fay, that i Toplady on Predetination, p- 40. * Mafon’s Spiritual Treafury, p. 159. 1 Zeal without Innovation, p. 52. m See Bifhop Hopkins’s Works, vol. ii. p. 504. 190 —- Calvinifm incon/iftent with the «* the: Jews were an ele&t nation, and fo the ‘‘ objection would lie as much againft their. ‘election, as againft this we are confider- “ing” :” for the election of nations to tempo- ral privileges differs, in manifold particulars, from the election of individuals to eternal hap- pinefs. Nor is it an anfwer to the objeétion to affirm, that ‘‘ the {cope of the paflage plainly ‘intends, that God refpeéts no man’s perfon, «either lefs or more, for his outward condi- ‘* tion or carnal privileges®.”” It in truth con- veys a much more univerfal meaning: it in- tends that God has no refpeét whatever for one man over another, as to their final accept- ance, except what is founded upon their provement of his grace; and that upon that ground alone will be eftablifhed their refpec- tive fentences, when he “ will render unto ‘* every man according to his deeds.” 2. Again, He isa God of mercy and good- nefs: an attribute, amidft all his wonderful perfections, peculiarly worthy of being ad- mired’. ‘ His mercy,” fays the Pfalmift, “ is “ over all his works‘;” and natural religion appears to avouch the fame, concurring with n Coles on God’s Sovereignty, p. 100. © Tbid. P @ée0c, ob aoAAwy ovrwy, EP” ois Sauualeras, oudev otrws we To movras evepyere iiwrarov. Naz. Orat. 26. § Pfalm cxlv. 9. Divine Attributes. 191 the Scriptures of truth in reprefenting “‘ mer- ‘‘ ey as the darling perfection of his nature, “and that, in the glory whereof he is moft. “« principally delighted'.” When the heathen defcribed the Deity by his two attributes of Optimus, Maximus, the Beft and the Greatett, it was not without reafon, that he gave prece- dence to that which denoted his goodnefs, over that which fignified his power. When on the delivery of the Law, revealed as it was in ter- ror, the Lord proclaimed his name to Mofes, he fhowed the quality of thofe attributes, wherein he moft delighted; for he placed in the front of the proclamation, ‘The Lord, the “ Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-fuf- “ fering, and abundant in goodnefs and truth; ‘‘ keeping mercy for thoufands ; forgiving ini- “‘ quity, and tranfgreffion, and fin’.” And ~ when the Apoftle of the, Gofpel teaches -us, that “‘ God is love',” he appears defirous of magnifying beyond meafure this moft adorable of the divine perfections ; of concentrating in it (if I may fo exprefs myfelf) the reft of the divine attributes; and of identifying the God- head with love. «His mercy is over all his works :” the * Stebbing on the Spirit, chap. vi. fect. 7. s Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. t x John iv. 8. 192 Calvinifin incon/iftent with the predeftinarian acknowledges it, but denies that it is * his faving mercy".” Yet what is this but to deny the moft glorious exercife of the attribute ? “‘ Doth God take care for oxen*?” faith the Apoftle: yea, faith this doétrine, ~ much better than for man: for them he boun- tifully provides all that is needful for them ; but man, finful, fallen, but {till immortal man, formed in the image of God, and ftill retaining in his reafonable and living foul fome portion of his likenefs to his divine original, from him he fhuts up the bowels of his compaffion, and excludes him from his loving-kindnefs nnd mercy. ‘‘ Delighting as he does in merey’, and “in the exercife of loving-kindn .; abounding in love, even for his enemies ; ‘ay’ even ‘ waiting to be gracious,” and “ feet ‘ing out his hands all the day long unto a re- ** bellious people*; ; and “ not affli@ing wil- « lingly nor grieving the children of men” :” how can we reconcile it to this attribute of the Godhead, that he fhould form millions and millions of rational and immortal creatures for the very purpofe of making them eternally mi- ferable ; that he fhould place them in a ftate of pretended trial, where he has previoufly de- u Whitefield, vol. iv. p. 69. x 1 Cor. ix. 9. y Micah vii. 18. z Jer. 1x. 24. 2 If. xxx. 18, Ixv. 2. 5 Lam. iii. 33. Dwine Attributes. 193 creed them to be, and actually renders them, incapable of fuccefs ; infpire them with hopes, which he has made impofiible to be realized ; and place before their view profpects of hap- pinefs, which he has put it totally out of their power to attain? “ Is not this,” demands a late dignitary of our Church, “ to reprefent “the good God in a very injurious light, as if ‘‘ he was not only partial, but exceedingly ** cruel? We are always taught, that it is our ‘duty, our intereft, and our happinefs, to be ‘‘ like God, and to imitate his divine perfec- * tions as near as we can. But furely fuch “conduct as this, no good man, no honeft ‘“‘ man, would choofe to imitate, but would *¢ deteft and abhor. How then dare we af- “* cribe that conduct to Him, which is fo un- «worthy of ourfelves, and would be fuch a «* difgrace to us‘?” 3. Again; he is a God of holinefs: an at- tribute, which one of our old divines:repre- fents, ‘‘ as his fovereign attribute; as that, ** which of all others God doth, and which of «¢ all others we fhould, moft efteem *.”” In cor- refpondence with this attribute, it is the cau- tion of the wife Son of Sirach, “‘ Say not thou, ** it is through the Lord that I fell away; for © Dean Tucker’s Sermon on Rom. ix. 21. ¢ Bifhop Andrews; fixth fermon on the Holy Ghoft, p- 653- oO 194 Calvinifin inconfiftent with the *« thou oughteft not to do the things that he *‘ hateth: fay not thou, he hath caufed me to “err; for he hath no need of the finful man*.” And to the fame effect St. James, with divine authority, admonifhes us, “ Let no man fay «« when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; « for God tempteth not any man‘.” But what is it to reprefent him, with Calvin, as fitting and preparing men by “ crimes for deftruc- * tion®;” what is it to reprefent him, with Gomar, as ‘‘ not only predeftinating man to ‘« death, but fo alfo predeftinating him to fin, **the only way to death";”’ or to deferibe him with Pifcator, as ‘‘ having fo abfolutely ‘« and: efficacioufly determined the will of “ every man, that he cannot do more good ¢ Ecclus. xv. 11, 12. f Jam. i. 13. § Quia perditum Deus volebat, obftinatio cordis diyina fuit ad ruinam preparatio. Calv. Inf. II. iv. 3. Dubium non eft, quin utraque preeparatio ab arcano Dei confilio pendeat. Comm. in Rom. ix. 23. h « Gomarus, who faw that his iron was in the fire, het, “ gan to tell us, that Epifcopius had falfified the tenent of ‘© reprobation ; that no man taught that God abfolutely « decreed to caft man away without fin: but as he did *¢ decree the end, fo he did decree the means: that is, as ‘ he predeftinated man to death, fo he predeftinated him “ to fin, the only way to death: and fo he mended the ** queftion, as tinkers mend kettles, and made it worfe * than it was before.” Hales’s Letters from Dort. G. R. P: 435- Diwine Attributes. 105 ‘« than he really does, nor omit more evil than “he really omits; or to allow with Zan- chius, that “ the reprobate are bound by the “« ordinance of God under the neceffity of fin- “ ning*;” or to affirm with Beza, that “ God “hath predeftinated, not only unto damna- “ tion, but alfo unto the caufes of it, whomfo-. “< ever he faw meet! ;” or to aflert with Zuin- glius, that “God moveth the robber to kill, i Ergo tu fateris iftic ingenue, Deum ab eterno effica- citer abfoluteque decrevifle, ne quifpiam hominum plus boni faciat, quam reipfa facit, aut plus mali omittat, quam reipfa omittit. Pifcat. ad C. Vorfiii amicam Dupl. refp. p- 175. ed. 1618. k Quia reprobatio immutabilis eft, &c. damus reprobos neceflitate peccandi, eoque et pereundi, ex hac Dei ordi- natione conftringi: atque ita confiringi, ut nequeant non peccare et perire.—Non dubitamtis itaque confiteri, ex immutabili reprobatione neceflitatem peccandi, et quidem fine refipifcentia ad mortem ufque peccandi, eoque et zter- nas poenas dandi, reprobis incumbere. Zanchius de Nat. Dei, lib. v. cap. 2. de Predefit. Op. tom. ii. p. 571. | Refpondeo,—ordine caufarum, priufquam illum con- deret, de fine, cujus caufa illum erat conditurus, ac demum de caufis ipfis mediis, per quas ipfos erat ad conftitutum finem adduéturus, conftanter et immoto propofito ftatuiffe. Ex quo confequitur re&te et vere dici, omnes reprobos fa&tos effe in Adamo fmul eodemque momento, ficut Deus ab eterno conftituerat, non tantum vyafa, id eft ho- mines, fed etiam vafa ire, id eft homines jufte per medias caufas in ipfis reprobis herentes damnationi, per media quidem contingenter fequature, ex decreto Dei autem prorfus neceflario eventure, deftinatos. Beza de Predefi. Op. vol. iii. p. 431. Col. i. ed. 1582. O02. 196 Calvinifm inconfiftent with the “and that he killeth, God forcing him there- “ See Barrow’s Works, vol. ili. p. 335. or vol. i. p. 88. of Sermons feleéted ; Oxford edition. “¢ Rev. xxii. 17. 4 Toplady on Predeftination, p. 72. Dwine Attributes. 7 cileable with the general declarations of Scrip- ture concerning the nature and government of God; and neceffarily involves confequences, “« which, if there are fome things fo evil that “ they can never be good, cannot be afcribed “ to God without blafphemy*.”’ I fhall there- fore decline any farther exemplification of the prefent argument ; for I thrink from the dif- cuflion of a fubject, which can hardly be exa- mined without fome degree of apparent irre- verence: and without feeming to derogate from the majefty, by even bringing into quef- tion the attributes and the moral government, of ‘the High and Lofty One, which inha- “biteth eternity, whofe name is holy;” to- wards whom the hotts of heaven bend in lowly adoration, and “ caft their crowns before his “ throne.” Il. I proceed therefore to confider the fub- ject, with reference to the general covenant of the Gofpel, and the promifes of God, as they are generally fet forth in holy Scripture. Now the very notion of a covenant is in- | compatible with the doctrine in difpute. By a covenant, in a religious fenfe, we underftand a compact or agreement, whereby God ftipu- lates to beftow certain bleflings upon thofe, | who engage to perform certain conditions. ¢ See Stebbing on the Spirit, chap. vi. fed. 2. Q2 \ } 228. Calvinifin inconfiftent with the general And, as “ he is faithful who promifes,” pro= vided thofe, with whom he enters into cove- nant, perform the conditions they engage for, *« God for his part will moft furely keep and ‘‘ perform his promife',” and confer the blef- fings, for which he was gracioufly pleafed to ftipulate. The terms of the Gofpel covenant are, falvation with all its auxiliary bleffings on the part of God; faith and obedience on the part of man. I take the reprefentation of the cafe from our Church’s office of Baptifm, whereby we are admitted into covenant with | God. Here then is our alternative. That God elects certain individuals to unconditional fal- vation, is the doctrine of Calvin; the Gofpel: ” teaches, that the falvation of every man is con-. ditional: both pofitions cannot be true: if we believe one, we cannot believe the other: we muft therefore relinquith either the Inftitutes, or the Bible; either abfolute predeftination,, or the Gofpel covenant; either the imagina-. tions of man, or the fure word of God. The argument however is of fuch immenfe, importance, and it is fo firm and conclufive on. the matter in debate, that it requires to be more fully inforced and illuftrated. I do not fcruple. then to affert, and I affert it with a fteadfaft. f Office of Baptifin. - ~~ Conditions of the Gofpel Covenant. 229 reliance on its truth, without fear of confuta- tion, and with a truft in God that it is capable of demonttration, that the Gofpel difpenfation, in the whole and in its feveral parts, is ftrictly a covenant between God and man :—that all thofe fpiritual bleflings, which Chrift died to purchafe, and which the Holy Spirit was fent to confer, are annexed to the difcharge of certain duties, to the performance of fpecific fervices:—that every man has the power (with the affiftance of that grace which God is pleafed to beftow) of difcharging thofe du- ties, of performing thofe fervices :—that every ‘man alfo has the power of falling from that grace, which he may once have enjoyed, fo as to perith eternally :—and that in confequence, if God be true, (I fhudder at the provifo, which I am compelled to introduce!) thofe {piritual bleffings, and efpecially that falvation, which is the conclufion, fum, and fubftance of the whole, are not the effect of an arbitrary election on the part of God ; are not abfolute ; are not irrefpective ; but are conditional, and depend upon the will and exertions of man. Our adverfaries tell us, that “ the Gofpel in * offering falvation, offers it wholly uncondi- *« tional® ;’—that “the Gofpel is not to be “ clogged with terms, qualifications, and con- 6 Hawker’s Prop againft all Defpair, p. 18. ~ Q 3 230 Calvinifim inconfiftent with the general ** ditions";”—that ‘a conditional redemption “¢is a contradiction in terms';’—that ‘ the ** promifes of the Gofpel are not conditional, ** made to the believer upon certain terms, as ‘if, upon doing his part, God would do his ** alfo‘;”—that ‘ believers are juftified before *“ God, without any refpe& to their works, “« paft, prefent, or to come’ ;’’—in a word, that ‘“* to preach terms and conditions is to pervert “‘ the Gofpel of Chrift, and to fubftitute a mere *«« fyftem of man’s devifing™.”’ To thefe affertions others of the fame im- port might eafily be added. What now is the Proteftant doctrine on this head ? * Although “ God’s promifes made in Chrift,” fay our Re- formers, ‘‘ be immutable, yet he maketh them « not to us but with condition, fo that his pro- ««mife ftanding, we may yet fail of the. pro-’ “‘ mife, becaufe we keep not our promife*.” Or, to take the queftion more at large, I anfwer in the words of a zealous oppofer of Antino- mianifm, ‘“‘ If all the Proteftant divines, who” h Goliath Slain, p. 160. and Mafon’s Spiritual Treafury, i495. i Toplady’s Church of England vindicated from Armi- nianifm, p. 92. k Romaine’s Walk of Faith. Works, vol. ii. p. 168. 1 Whitefield’s Works, vol. v. p. 137. ™m Mafon’s Spiritual Treafury, p. 178. ® Neceflary Doétrine, &c. Declaration of Faith. Conditions of the Gofpel Covenant. 231 “have directly or indire@tly reprefented re- “‘pentance and faith as conditions of prefent * falvation, and holinefs of heart and life as ** conditions of eternal glory, as things fine “ guibus non, without which falvation and “glory neither can nor will follow ;—if all ** thofe divines are guilty of herefy, ninety- « nine out of an hundred are heretics°.”” And I queftion, whether fome of the declaimers againft conditions be not fometimes anfwerable for the herefy. What again is the doctrine of Scripture ? “ If thou wilt enter into life, keep the com- ** mandments?:’—* This do, and thou fhalt “ live%:’""—“* Believe in the Lord Jefus Chritt, “and thou fhalt be faved*:”’—‘* Whofoever “* fhall call on the name of the Lord fhall be *« faved*:”—** He that believeth and is bap- “« tized fhall be faved':”— Whofo eateth my “ flefh and drinketh my blood hath eternal *« life, and I will raife him up at the laft day“.”’ Shall I adduce more texts from the Holy Scriptures? or will thefe already cited from the feveral parts of the New Teftament, in the language of our Saviour and of his Apoftles, be fufficient to prove, that eternal life is faf- © Fletcher’s Firft Check, p. 66. P Matt. xix. 17. q Luke x. 28. t Ads xvi. 31. s Rom. x. 13. t Mark xvi. 16. u John vi. 54. 232 Calvinifin inconfiftent with the general pended upon the performance of certain con- ditions? or, that we may not be engaged in a ftrife of words, on the fulfilment of certain duties and obligations, the non-fulfilment of — which will (generally f{peaking) exclude us from eternal life: on our having ‘ certain in- “« difpenfable prerequifites*,” according to the phrafe of a Calviniftic writer ; or, as it is juftly defined by a diftinguifhed Prefbyter and Dig- nitary of our Church, “ not the caufe, by ‘«¢ which an effeét is produced, but the circum- * ftance, without which that effe& will not “take place’.”” What are thofe conditions, and what is the precife import of the expref- fions, juft cited from Scripture, are queftions, which do not affe& our prefent argument. If eternal life and falvation be fufpended on the fulfilment of certain conditions, the do@rine of God’s abfolute election of men to falvation falls to the ground. It is however not only that falvation and eternal life are fufpended on certain conditions; but the feveral {piritual gifts, ordained by God for the attainment of falvation, are alfo con- ditional, and depend upon the performance of certain fpecified duties. Is it neceflary, that we “ be born again of water and of the Spirit?” 2 x Chriftian Obferver, June 1807. p. 379- y Daubeny’s Vindiciz, p. 286. ' Conditions of the Gofpel Covenant. 233 The laver of baptifm is provided for our re- generation. Is it neceflary, that we <‘ eat the * flefh, and drink the blood,” of Chrift?. They are provided for us at the holy communion. Mutt we believe in order to be faved ? “ Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the “word of God.” If we would enter into life, muft we “keep the commandments?” For this purpofe the help of the Holy Spirit is ne- ceffary : but in order to procure his help, the duty of prayer is appointed ; and we are af- fured, that ‘God will give his Holy Spirit, ‘© and with him all good things, to them who * afk him.” And let it not be objected to this ftatement, that the duties, for which we contend, are held forth in Scripture, not as conditions, but as confequences and evidences, of our election to eternal happinefs: that, as Auftin exprefles it; “ the eleét are not chofen becaufe they be- * lieve, but they are chofen that they may be- *¢ lieve’ :’—that, as the Contra-Remonftrants at Dort contended, ‘* God ordained who fhould “ believe, and fo predeftinated both to grace “and glory *:"—or that, in the quaint phrafe- ology of the modern Predeftinarian, ‘« we muft z Intelligamus ergo vocationem, qua funt ele&ti, non qui eliguntur, quia crediderunt, fed qui eliguntur ut cre- dant. Augufi. de Predefi. Sanftor. cap. xvii. 2 Hales’s Letters from Dort, p: 452. 234 Calvinifm inconfiftent with the general — “not miftake working for life, for working « from life’.”. According to the plain tenor of Scripture, we are exhorted to ** fight the “* good fight of faith,” not becaufe we have laid hold, but that we may ‘“ lay hold of eternal « life‘:’"—we are admonithed to “ run with “* temperance the Chriftian courfe,” not be- caufe we have obtained, but “ that we may *‘ obtain an incorruptible crown*:”—we are perpetually reminded to believe in Chrift, and to keep his commandments, not becaufe we are, but that we may be admitted into life everlafting. So teaches our great Reformer“: “It is to be confidered, that although our Sa- “ viour Chrift hath offered himfelf upon the «* crofs a fufficient redemption and fatisfaction *‘ for the fins of the world, and hath made “ himfelf an open way and entry unto God “the Father for all mankind, only by his * worthy merit and deferving ; and willing all «men to be faved, calleth upon all the world “without refpect of perfons to come and be «partakers of the righteoufnefs, peace, and *“‘ glory which is in him; yet for all this be- ** nignity and grace, fhewed univerfally to the b Whitefield’s Works, vol. i. p. 181. Romaine’s Works, vol. i. p. 361. Walk of Faith. e x Tim. vi. 12. d 1 Cor. ix. 24, 25. ¢ Archbifhop Cranmer. Conditions of the Gofpel Covenant. 235 «“ whole world, none fhall have the effe& of *« this benefit of our Saviour Chrift, and enjoy “ everlafting falvation by him ;- but they that “* take fuch ways to attain the fame, as he hath *« taught and appointed by his hoty word'.” And let it not be fuppofed, that this ftate- ment militates againft the undoubted doétrine of the Gofpel, that our falvation is wrought by the free grace of God ; according to the in- finuation of Whitefield, that ‘ one reafon why “he thinks Calvinifm right is, becaufe proud ** nature will not ftoop to be faved by grace®:” —nor let it expofe us to the repetition of an uncharitable and injurious afperfion from the advocate of moderate Calvinifm, that “ it is “‘ not either the name or nature of Calvinifm, “© as fuch, to which we confine our attacks; ‘but that it is the doétrine of falvation by “ grace through faith in the Redeemer, under “‘ whatever form or name it is profeffed, to “¢ which in reality we at the bottom object”.” That our notions of the divine decrees are in any way incompatible with the doétrine of - falvation by grace, we leave to be proved by our accufers. “‘ The ancient Synods holden in f Neceflary Doétrine and Erudition for any Chriftian Man. Article of Juftification. & Whitefield’s Eighteen Sermons, p. 113. h Overton, p. 97. 236. Calvinifin inconfiftent with the general “ the time of St. Auftin,’ (I am citing’ the words of Grotius,) “‘ inform us, that the doc- << trine of grace may well be maintained, with- ‘¢ out determining any thing about that of ab-- “ folute decrees and its dependenciés'.” “ For,” as the fame learned man likewife remarks, ‘both opinions,” that is, of conditional and unconditional predeftination, ‘‘ agree in this, ‘“‘ that all the decrees and operations of God, ‘ relating to the falvation of men, are founded “ in Chrift Jefus ; and accordingly we hold “ uIM to be the only foundation *.” Bleffed be God, and we glory in avowing it, it is of his free grace, finners as we all are by nature, and {piritually «‘ dead in trefpaffes and * fins',” that-we are “ faved and called with ‘s an holy calling, not according to our works, ‘‘ but according to the divine purpofe and ‘‘ grace given us in Chrift Jefus before the *‘ world began™.” It is of his free grace, cor- rupt as we are by nature, that “ we are cleanf- ‘¢ ed and juftified by the wafhing of regenera- “ tion and renewing of the Holy Ghoft™.” «It is of his free grace, that he promifes to enable us, weak and imperfect creatures as we always i Speech to the Burgomafters of Amfterdam. Brandt’s Hiftory of the Reformation, vol. il. p. 216. k Ibid. p. 212. : | Eph, ii. 1. m 2 Tim. i. 9. 2, Titsiddin 59. Conditions of the Gofpel Covenant. 237 continue, to perform, however incompletely, the conditions of our falvation. It is of his free grace, that he promifes his Holy Spirit, both to “ put into our’ minds good defires,” and to affift us in ‘ bringing them to good “ effect.” It is of his free grace, that ‘* he “teaches us, that denying ungodlinefs and “‘ worldly lufts, we fhould live foberly, righte- *oufly, and godlily in this prefent world; *‘ looking for that bleffed hope, and the glo- “« rlous appearance of our great God and Sa- “ viour Jefus Chrift’.” But free as is the grace of God, it operates by the inftrumen- tality of certain appointed means. Life and breath, health and ftrength, all the enjoyments, and comforts, and neceflaries of this life are the gifts of God, and are beftowed upon us of his free grace. So it is with our fpiritual gifts; with faith, with obedience, and whatever other bleflings are conducive to our fpiritual welfare. The cafe is the fame, however, with refpect to the attainment, the maintenance, and the increafe of our bleffings, both temporal and’ {piritual ; if we would poffefs them, and have them thrive in our poffeffion, we muft be dili- gent in practifing the appointed means; and it is at the fame time the moft rational, and let me add the moft grateful, condud, to prac- * Tits 0. 12,13. 238 Calvinif/m inconfiftent with the general tife with diligence the means which God hath appointed. I am aware it will here be ehicdieds that the argument is not conclufive: for that if God has abfolutely eleéted certain individuals to falvation, he will take care to ratify his election :—*.if he has predeftinated to ithe «< end, he has alfo predeftinated to the means:” —if he has chofen to beftow certain gifts and graces on his eleét, he will alfo lead them to the means, by which thofe gifts and graces are to be ‘conferred. It was into this: error that fome men fell at the time of the Reform- ation ; when, in oppofition to the Anabaptifts, who ran into one extreme, and maintained their own fufficiency to attain falvation, fome of the Gofpellers, as they were called, not able; to reconcile free-will with grace, ran into the other extreme, totally denied the free-will of man, and refolved the whole procefs of his falvation or reprobation into the abfolute de- crees of God: and it was againft this error that our temperate Reformers direfted their efforts, when with their wonted moderation they obferved, ‘‘ All men be to be monithed, ‘« and chiefly preachers, that in this high mat- «ter they, looking on both fides, fo attem- * per and moderate themfelves, that neither “‘ they fo preach the grace of God, that they *‘ take away thereby free-will; nor on the Conditions of the Gofpel Covenant. 239 “other fide fo extol free-will, that injury be *« done to the grace of God’.” “It is not a “¢ Chriftian man’s part,’’ faid one of that noble army of Martyrs, “‘ to attribute his falvation “to his own free-will, with the Pelagian, and “* extenuate original fin. Nor to make God ‘‘ the author of ill and our damnation with “the Manichee. Nor yet to fay, God hath ‘written fatal laws, as the Stoic; and with “‘ neceflity of deftiny, violently pulleth one by ‘«‘ the hair into heaven, and thrufteth the other ‘* headlong into hell*.” In correfpondence with this judicious deci- fion it remains to be fhown, that, as it is of the free grace of God, that falvation is prof- fered and the means of falvation applied to man ; fo it is of the free-will of man to accept or reject them :—that, as the wife man affirms, ‘« Before man is life or death, and whether *‘ him liketh fhall be given him" :”—or to ex- prefs the propofition in words before employ- ed, that every man has the power of falling from that grace, which he may have enjoyed, fo as to perifh eternally ; and that every man has the power of performing the fervices re- P Neceffary Doétrine, &c. Article of Free-will. 4 Hooper’s Preface to Declaration of the Ten Com- mandments. * Ecclus. xv. 17. 240: Calvinifm inconfiftent with the general quifite for eternal falvation: a power, it may be obferved by the way, not in any degree pre~ cluded by the foreknowledge of God, nor by’ the decree which God in his prefcience has de-: termined; for (as it hath been well remarked’ by one of our earlier divines) ‘ God’s decree’ ‘being confequent on his foreknowledge,’ “man’s falvation or damnation: is only infalli- “ble to God’s knowledge, but free and con-’ ‘* tingent to man; God’s knowledge, as know-' * ledge, caufing nothing ; and his decree not’ « altering or croffing, but ratifying that, which’ ‘* he knew would be the work of man, working “out his own falvation by co-working with “the grace of God; or working his own dam-' * nation, by forfaking God’s merey*.” . 1. With refpe& to the former. cafe, viii may be thus expreffed in the language of the venerable Latimer, “‘ that we may one time be “‘in the book of life, and another time come’ “ out again, as it appears by David, who was. ‘ written in the book of life; but when he “ finned, he was at the fame time out of the ‘“< book of God’s favour, until he had repented “‘ and was forry for his faults‘ :’” wherefore do: the writings of the Apoftles, addreffed to “ the « elect,” “ the called of God,” “ the faints,” s Plaifere’s Appello Evangelium, part i. chap. vi. p. 34. Churchman’s Remembrancer, N°. V. p. ‘57 t Latimer’s Sermons, vol. il. p. 847. Conditions of the Gofpel Covenant. 241 ** the fanctified and preferved by Chrift Jefus,” ** the beloved of God,” abound in the moft fer- vent exhortations to fteadfaftnefs in the belief and practice of the Gofpel, if they were inca- pable of falling from grace given, and lofing their title to eternal life ? ; ‘ Surely if ever there were a body of men, of whom it could be with truth pronounced, that God had abfolutely eleGted them to eternal life, and to whom the apoftolical language, which is made a foundation of this do¢trine, could in this fenfe be reafonably applied; they muft be the primitive Chriftians; they muft be the very perfons, to whom thofe epifiles were addreffed ; of whom thofe things were pre- dicated ; who were faluted by the very appel- lations, on the ufe of which the doctrine is partly built. Wherefore then does St. Paul admonitfh “all that be at Rome, beloyed “of God, the called of Jefus Chritt, called to “ be faints,” ‘‘ the election according to grace,” ** not to be high-minded but to fear,” becaufe “if they continued not in God’s goodneis, “they alfo fhould be cut offs?’ Wherefore, in writing to the Corinthians, whom he falates as “ fanctified in Chrift Jefus, called to be *« faints,” and commends for “ coming behind ** in no gift,” does he remind them, that “‘ they & Rom. i. 6, 7. xi. 5, 20, 22: R a4 a7 242 Calvinifm inconfiftent with the general : ” “are ftill carnal ;” and warn them that ‘ he ‘“‘ who thinketh he ftandeth fhould take heed “ Jeft he fall ;” and “ befeech them, that they ‘receive not the grace of God in vain’? Wherefore, in writing to the churches of Ga- — latia, to whom he bears witnefs that “ they <¢ did run well,” does he accufe them of “ not ‘* obeying the truth;” and demand, ‘* who had ‘“‘ bewitched them, before whofe eyes Jefus “‘ Chrift had been evidently fet forth, crucified “before them ;” and exprefs himfelf ‘ afraid “ of them, left he had beftowed upon them la- ‘“‘ bour in vain: ?”” Wherefore to “ the faints at «« Ephefus and the faithful in Chrift Jefus,” whom he defcribes as “ bleffed by God and «the Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift with all “« fpiritual bleflings in Chrift, according as he « hath chofen us in him before the foundation — “of the world, that we fhould be holy and *‘ without blame before him in love; having ‘* predeftinated us to the adoption of children * by Jefus Chrift to himfelf, according to the. € good pleafure of his will, to the praife of the *« glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us ““ accepted in the beloved ;” does he “ befeech “‘ them to walk worthy of the vocation, where- “* with they are called ;’’ and exhort them, to h y Cor. i. 2, 7. ill. 4. ! Gal. v. 7. iii. 1. iv, IZ. Conditions of the Gofpel Covenant. 243 ‘« walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity ‘‘ of their mind ;” and caution them to “let “< no man deceive them with vain words; for “‘ becaufe of thefe things the wrath of God “‘cometh on the children of difobedience ;” and bid them “ put on the whole armour of “ God, that they may be able to ftand againft “the wiles of the devil, to withftand in the “ evil day, and having done all to ftand*?” Wherefore does he exhort “ the faints in ** Chrift Jefus at Philippi,” whom he com- mends for their Chriftian character, and de- {cribes as “‘ partakers of his grace,” to ‘ be- ** ware of the dangers which befet them ;” to “ ftand faft in the Lord ;” and to ‘“* work out “ their own falvation with fear and trembling ;”’ that he may “ rejoice in the day of Chrift, that “‘ he has not run in vain, neither laboured in “‘ vain!?”” Wherefore, in writing to “ the faints ‘< and faithful brethren at Coloffe,” whom he ftyles «« the elect of God, holy and beloved,” does he promife the bleffings of Chrift’s facri- fice, ‘‘ if they continued in the faith rooted and «* fettled, and were not moved away from the “hope of the Gofpel™?’ Wherefore to the church of the Theffalonians, of whom he de- k Eph. 1.3, 4, 5,6. iv. I} 17. v. 6. Vis LI, 13. 1 Phil. i. 1, 7. iii. 2. iv. 1. ii. 12, 26. m Col. i. 2. iii. 12. i: 23. R2 ee : » ea oa 244 Calvinifininconfiftent with the general clares, that he “ knows their ele@tion of God,” and that’ «‘ God had from the beginning chofen’ ‘them to falvation through fanétification of «the Spirit and belief of the truth,” does he fignify his apprehenfion “ left by fome means *« the tempter fhould have tempted them, and “his labour fhould be in vain" ?” Wherefore does St. John, addrefling himfelf to “ the ele& © “lady and her children,” admonifh them to “look to themfelves; that we lofe not,” he adds, ‘* thofe things which we have wrought, “‘ but that we receive a full reward °3 ?” And wherefore does St. Peter, writing to thofe, whom he reprefents as “ having obtained like “* precious faith with himfelf,” ‘and whom he ftyles « elect according to the foreknowledge ‘of God the Father,” at the fame time moft fervently charge them, to ‘* be fober and Vigi- | ««Jant” in withftanding the artifices of the de- vil; to ‘* beware, left they being led away «‘ with the error of the wicked, fhould fall ‘¢ from their own fteadfaftnefs;” and to give ’ « diligence to make their ethane and election ‘“ahure PP?" j Surely if there ever was an individual of a charaéter inferior to the apoftolical, who might be regarded as abfolutely predeftined to fal- a 1 Theff. i. 4. iii. 5. 2 Theff. ii. 13. © 2 John, ver. 8. P 2 Pet. i. x. 1 Pet. i..2. v. 8. iti. 17, 1. 10. Conditions of the Gofpel Covenant. 245 wation, it was Timothy, St. Paul’s “‘ own fon *« in the faith.” Wherefore then does St. Paul charge him with paternal authority, to “‘ take «* heed unto himfelf,’ that fo he , might be faved ; to “ flee foolifh and hurtful lufts, which ‘‘ drown men in perdition and deftruction ;” to “ follow after righteoufnefs, godlinefs, faith, *« loye, patience, meeknefs;” to “ fight the “« good fight of faith,” and fo to “ lay hold on << eternal life +?” | Surely if ever an Apoftle may be confidered as abfolutely elected to everlafting life, it was St. Paul himfelf, converted by the miraculous interpofition of Chrift to a profeffion of his re- — ligion ; ‘‘ a veflel chofen by the Lord to bear <«‘ his name before the Gentiles, and kings, and * the children of Hrael ;” filled with the Holy Ghoft; and « feparated’’ by his efpecial ap- pointment “to the work whereunto he had “< called him’.” » Wherefore then does St. Paul affirm of himfelf: «‘ Brethren, I count not my- ' « felf to have apprehended; but this one thing «1 do, forgetting thofe things which are be- «« hind, and reaching forth unto thofe things *‘ which are before, | prefs toward the mark “ for the prize of the high calling of God in *« Chrift Jefus*?” And what meaning, fhort of q 1 Tim. iv. 16. vi. 9, II, 12. © Ads ix.’ 55," smn, 2g" } s Phil. iii. 13. R 3 246 Calvinifm inconfiftent with the general a poffibility of his ultimate rejection, can be. underftood by that declaration, where, urging the neceflity of temperance in the Chriftian race, he immediately fubjoins, “ I therefore fo ’ “run, not as uncertainly; fo fight I, not as “one that beateth the air; but I keep under * my body, and bring it into fubjeétion, left © “that by any means, when I have preached * to others, I myfelf fhould be a caftaway *?” ‘Peter undoubtedly did fall from grace: al- though by the interceflion of Chrift, which implies that he was in danger of an irrecover- able fall, he was enabled to repent and rife again. And the example of Judas affords a ftill more awful warning to thofe, who have been elected like him to the Gofpel, but who have certainly been endowed with lefs noble {piritual gifts than he, to take good heed, left they alfo prove traitors to their Mafter, and fall into final perdition. Judas indeed, we may © be told, “‘ as truly lived, moved, and had his _ “ being from God, as Peter: that whilit the other Apoftles ** were chofen to partake of « Chrift’s kingdom, he was chofen and pitched — “ upon to betray him, and to be the means of * fhedding his blood ;” that both the final per- feverance of the one, and the rejection of the other, were folely effected by God’s free and t 1 Cor, ix. 26, 27, Conditions of the Gofpel Covenant. 247 abfolute will, for that “ he gave repentance to «« Peter, and left Judas to perifh in his fin.” Rather Jet us adhere to the founder doétrine of Latimer, (‘“‘ that veteran and true apottle of ‘© our nation and of Chrift*,” as his brother martyr ftyled him, ) unfophifticated by the com- ment of the author to whom I have juft re- ferred ; “‘ Chrift fhed as much blood for Judas ‘as he did for Peter; Peter believed it, and “therefore he was faved; Judas would not ** believe, and therefore he was condemned ; “the fault being in him only, and in nobody * elfe’,”” 2. With refpeé& to the latter point that was | to be! proved, namely, as the fame venerable Reformer expreffes it, that ‘‘ there are none of *‘ us all, but we may be faved by Chrift;” and that “‘ men are the caufe of their own damna- “ tion, for that God would have them faved, “ but they refufe it, like as did Judas the trai- _ tor, whom Chrift would have had to be - faved, but he refufed his falvation’:” if every man is not capable of performing the fervices « Toplady on Predeft. p. 64, 110, 68. x Ridley’s Life of Bifhop Ridley, p. 593. y Sermons, vol. ii. page 556. See Winchefter on the feventeenth Article in the Churchman’s Remembrancer, No. ii. p. 66. and Mr. Churton’s Biographical Preface, ip. Xvi. # Latimer’s Sermons, vol. ii. p. 891, 888. R4 er ae 248 Calvinifin incon/fiftent with the general a requifite for falvation, what is the meaning of © thofe gracious offers of mercy, and fpiritual af- fiftance ; of thofe pathetic exhortations to re- pentance and amendment of life; of thofe un- qualified promifes of pardon to the penitent finner; with which the Scriptures every where abound? What are we to underftand by the affurance of God, that he ‘ will make his fin- “ ful people a new heart and a new fpirit*?” " ¥ What are we to underttand by his earneft in-_ | treaties, that the wicked < will repent, and “ turn themfelves from all their iniquities, and ‘““ make themfelves a new heart and a new *‘ {pirit, that fo iniquity may not be their “ruin’?” What by his confequent moft fo- lemn proteftations, that ‘ though their fing be “ as {carlet, they fhall be made white as {now; “ though they be red like crimfon, they thall « be as wool‘?”’ that “ if the wicked will for- — «fake his ways, and the unrighteous man his *‘ paths, and turn unto the Lord, he will have *« mercy upon him; and unto his God, that he ‘¢ will abundantly pardon“? What are we to underitand by his moft plain declarations, cl «will fend unto them all my meflengers and « prophets, rifing up early and fending them, “‘ becaufe 1 have compaffion on them‘ ?” and a Ezek. xxxvi. 26. bEzek. xviii. 30, 31. c If i. 18. qT ila. 7a ¢ q Chron. xxxyi. 15. Jer. XXv. 4. XXxV. 5. a Conditions of the Gofpel Covenant. 249 by his moft equitable appeal to their own judg- ment, “‘ See, I have fet before thee life and “death, good and evil, in that 1 command “« thee to love the Lord thy God, and to walk “in his ways‘?” and by his moft folemn at- teftation, “‘ I call heaven and earth to record “ againft you, that I have fet before you life << and death, bleffing and curfing?” and by his confequent inference and exhortation, ‘“ There- ‘«« fore choofe life?’ and by his moft tender expoftulations, ‘‘ Why will ye die*?” and by his earneft inquiries, “ What more could I “ have done’’ to prevent your death, “‘ which «,” more lovely than the garden of Eden, from which Adam by tranfgreffion fell: where we “ fhall hunger “no more, neither thirft any more, neither ** fhall the fun light on us, nor any heat. For “the Lamb which is in the midft of the “throne fhall feed us, and fhall lead us unto “living fountains of waters,” and {hall « fa- ** tisfy us with the plenteoufnefs of his houfe, ‘and give us drink of the river of his plea- ‘manne ©." There is not a do¢trine in the facred volume, which is more clearly revealed, nor one which more abounds in motives to holinefs of life, or in topics of rational exultation, than this, which attributes our ability to “‘ work out our “falvation” to the preventing and aflifting grace of the Holy Spirit of God. At the fame time unhappily there is not one, which has been peryerted into a more overflowing fource of corruption and error. There is not one, which has been wrefted in former times into a motive or a fanction for more daring im- piety and profligacy. There is not one, which | has been more tortured in the prefent day, fo P Rev, ii. 7. © Rey, vii. 16, 17. Pf. xxxvi. 8. 3 ‘7 258 The Operations of the Holy Ghoft as to adminifter fuel to the flame of enthufiafm, or to afford a convenient cloke to diforder and — licentioufnefs. The fchifmatic fanétifies his | breach of conftituted order, his difobedience of eftablithed laws, his licentioufnefs of principle in religious concerns, and his corre{pondent licentioufnefs of practice, whereby he converts the Church of Chrift into a fcene of difcord, tumult, and confufion, by pleading that he acts under the guidance of the Holy Spirit: and becaufe we deny the fufficiency of an ap- peal to the inward motions of. the Spirit, and refer to the revelation of his will contained i in his written word ; and becaufe the more fober notions of his influence, which that word ap- pears to us to fupply, do not carry us the fame length as the unbridled conceptions of the en- thufiaft; we are calumniated, as facrificing the truth of God at the idolatrous fhrine of human learning or human prefumption; as being our- felves deftitute of the Spirit, and as renouncing the Gofpel, of Chritt. Convinced of the perpetual operation of the Holy Spirit on the hearts of believers ;.con- templating him, with lowly devout and grate- . ful adoration, as the Regenerator, the Re- newer, the Guide, the Enlightener, the Strength- ener, the Comforter, and the Sanétifier of all the elect people of God; firmly perfuaded of thefe important truths, as moft evidently re- not irrefiftible. 259: vealed in Scripture, and as forming an effen- tial part of the fcheme of our redemption; I can unite with the moft ardent advocate for divine grace in loudly proclaiming, that “the “« Holy Ghoft, like his almighty Purchafer, is “the fame to-day as he was yefterday ;. that * he is now, as well as formerly, in the ufe of “all inftituted means, appointed to convince “« the world of fin, of righteoufnefs, and judg- “< ment; to lead them.into all truth by {piritu- « ally opening their underftandings, that they “‘ may underftand the Scriptures; and to renew “a clean heart and right {pirit within them “here, in order that they may be thereby “‘ prepared for the full enjoyment of a triune ‘< and ever blefled God hereafter*.’’ But con- vinced at the fame time, with our pure and evangelical Church, that we may “ abufe the «« goodnefs of God, when he calleth us to re- “« pentance‘,’’ and that we may “‘ depart from “‘ grace given, and fall into fin;‘” and further convinced with her, that “ the inward motions “of the Holy Ghoft” in our hearts are an ob- ject lefs of fenfe than of faith, lefs of certainty than of “ truft®;” I fee not on what authority 4 Whitefield’s Works, vol. iv. p. 287. '€ Commination Service. / f Article 16. . & See the Ordering of Deacons. $2 360 The Operations of the Holy Ghoft we are required, either to believe ourfelves, or to teach others, that his ordinary operations — on the minds of men have that arrefiflible, or — that /enfible, influence, which are wont to be — afcribed to them by thofe, who accufe us of not preaching the Gofpel. There is much found fenfe in the ikea tion of an acute Remarker on Ecclefiaftical Hiftory, and the times, wherein we live, fully prove the importance and the value of the ob- fervation, that ‘ whilft we acknowledge the “‘ gracious influences of Providence in every «thing, that tends to make us better and “‘ wifer and happier, we muft be very careful “to keep the fober mean between the ex- ** tremes, the one of excluding the divine in- “ terpofition in the natural and moral world ; _ © the other of deftroying human agency, or of “ afcribing the wild fancies of our own heads “to the fuggeftions of the Holy Spirit®” Whether this fober mean is obferved by thofe, who with the Calvinift attribute every thing in the work of man’s falvation to the exclufive and irrefiftible energy of the divine grace ; or. by thofe, who with the Enthufiaft are for re- folving his influence into fenfible manifeftations and experiences, to the neglect, if not to the exclufion, of all other rules of judging; is a h Jortin on Ecclefiaftical Hiftory, vol. ii. p. 26. not irre/iftible. 261 queftion which the prefent inquiry will pro- bably tend to anfwer. - I. On the trrefftibility of the divine grace our accufers {peak in the ftrongeft terms. The fact, I apprehend, is notorious; but it may be well to eftablith it by the adduction of particular proofs. ‘They tell us then, that ‘divine grace proceeds efficaciouily and cer- ** tainly to the attainment of its end‘ :’—that “ its impulfes are ftrong, and can by no means “ be refifted * :’—that ‘‘ God himfelf had need “to draw with omnipotent efficacy, to draw “‘us off from the world and fin and felf, that “we may come fincerely and eagerly to «« Chrift’:”—that “ converting grace is irre- * fiftible, that is, efficacious, invincible, and “« certainly victorious ™ :”—that “ the finner in “‘ vain ftrives to refift the refiftlefs grace of “ God" :”—that “there proceeds from God “an efficacious power, which {weetly over- “rules the finner’s natural will° :’’—that << nei- “ther evidences the moft confpicuous and “ multiplied, nor arguments the moft power- “ ful and convincing, nor demonftration itfelf, i Chriftian Obferver, Jan. 1806. p. 34. k Whitefield’s Works, vol. vi. p. 380. ! Evangelical Magazine, April 1808. p. 153. ™ Toplady; Church of England vindicated, p. 78. » Rowland Hill’s Sermon on Sunday Schools, p. 26. ° Whitefield’s Works, vol. vi. p. 54. $3 262 The Operations of the Holy Ghoft — “can produce faith, which is a divine work; “‘a creation in the heart by the Spirit of | “« Chrift” :”—that “ the elect /hall come to God, “and if they themfelves will not, the Lord *« will make them willing in the day of his © power’:’—that “ believers are conftrained “by a powerful and irrefiftible influence :”— and that “it is only fovereign, diftinguith- BOSS; Hp grace, which brings men to *« heaven’. To meet thefe and fimilar pofitions, which are frequent in the mouths of our accufers, we may, in the firft place, proceed upon the ground of thofe general arguments, which prove the election of men to be conditional. In proof of that doctrine we maintain, that “ Chrift died for all men,” in the plain, and obvious, and large fignification of the phrafe ; —that falvation is proffered to all men ;—that “* the grace of God, that bringeth falvation,” the faving grace of God, 4 yapis rou eeu 4 cary- eis, “ hath appeared to all men*.” But, if the faving grace of God hath appeared to all men, and if all men notwithftanding are not faved, (a fuppofition, which is too well fupported by Pp Evangelical Magazine for 1807. p. 81. 4 Hawker’s Prop againft all Defpair. ¥ Whitefield’s Works, vol. i. p. 182. s Tits. aa. “not irrefiftible. 263 the warrant of holy Scripture,) it follows, that the grace of God is not irrefiftible: that it is not certainly victorious: that it does mot ‘proceed efficacioufly and certainly to the at- tainment of its end: that in fhort it may be, and is, refitted. But as a confutation of thefe erroneous pofitions is of great importance to the caufe of truth, the more efpecially by rea- fon, not only of their own prepofterous: cha- racter, but of the mifchievous confequences to which they lead, I propofe to give fome con- fideration to the fubject, independent of the general queftion with which it is connected ; and endeavour to fhow, by exprefs teftimonies and direé&t arguments from Scripture, the ex- tent of the influence to be afcribed to the di- vine grace. I apprehend it then to be plainly fet forth in Scripture, that the operation of the Holy Spirit on the minds of men is not irrefiftible : ‘but that, whilft he “ prevents us with his moft “ gracious favour and furthers us with his «continual helpt,” and whilft from him we derive all our “ fufficiency*” to do what is ‘pleafing to God ; inftead of “ overruling us in ““ our words and actions*,” a doérine which t Communion Service. a9 Core aiid 5." °; * Overton, p. 125. / 6 4 264 The Operations of the Holy Ghoft we fee perverfely afcribed to the Scriptures and to the Church of England, he leayes us at the fame time the will, either to a&t in obedi- ence to his heavenly motions, or not. ‘“ Al- *‘ beit God is the principal caufe and chief “ worker of this juftification in us, without ~ “* whofe grace no man can do no good thing, *« but following his free-will in the ftate of ‘a finner, increafeth his own injuttice, and “ multiplieth his fin; yet fo it pleafeth the “ high wifdom of God, that man prevented «by his grace (which being offered, man ** may, if he will, refufe or receive) fhall be « alfo a worker by his free confent, and obe- “‘ dience to the fame, in the attaining of his “ own juftification’.” <‘‘ It is furely of the * grace of God only, that firft we be infpired “and moved to any good thing; but to refift “ temptations, and to perfift in goodnefs and * go forward, it is both of the grace of God, “ and of our free will and endeavour’.”’ Such iS the doGrine, which Cranmer and our Re- formers deduced from ‘“‘ the oracles of God.” Such was the doétrine, believed in the ancient Jewith Church, when the wife Son of Sirach commented on the words of Mofes, “ God y Necefflary Doétrine and Erudition for any Chriftian Man. Article of Juftification. 2 Ibid. Article of Free-will. not irrefiftible. 265 *“« himfelf made man from the beginning, and “ left him in the hand of his counfel; if thou «wilt, to keep the commandments, and to “perform acceptable faithfulnefs. He hath “‘ fet fire and water before thee; ftretch forth * thy hand unto whether thou wilt. Before ‘© man is life and death; and whether him «‘ Jiketh fhall be given him.” And fuch was the doctrine of the primitive Church of Chrift, whofe opinion, with the reafon of it, is briefly exprefied by Irenzeus, where he fays, «‘ God «‘ always preferved the liberty of the will in “‘ man, that they might be juftly condemned “‘for their difobedience, who did not obey «him, and that they who believed and obeyed “him might be honoured with incorrupti- <* bility °.” _ Shall we be told, that by this dodtrine, which afcribes ‘‘ the acceptance or refufal of the divine grace to the pleafure of man, we “take from God his omnipotence‘? God forbid, we an{fwer, that fuch a blafphemous a Ecclus. xv. 14—17. “b—id quod erat femper liberum et fue poteftatis i in homine femper fervaffe Deum et fuam exhortationem: ut jufte damnentur qui non obediunt ei, quoniam non obedi- erunt; et qui obedierunt et crediderunt ei, honorentur incorruptibilitate. ren. lib. iv. cap. 29. © Hawker’s Zion’s Pilgrim. ‘266 The Operations of the Holy Ghoft imagination fhould ever have had place in our ‘minds, or fhould derive any colour from our — opinions! It was finely remarked by one, who ‘was well acquainted with the fallacies of — ‘thofe reftri€tive doétrines, in the profeffion of ‘which he had been educated, but from which he gloried in being delivered, that “ though ‘“ fpeaking of his abfolute power, God can © compel and neceflitate the will of man, and “¢ fo we do not make him ftronger than God, — “as is very weakly concluded by fome; ‘yet « he will not, becaufe he will not violate that *‘order, which he hath fet in our creation. «« He made man after his own image, invefted ‘him with a reafonable foul, having the ufe “of underftanding, and the freedom of will: «© he endowed him with a power to confider <<‘ and deliberate, to confult and choofe; and ** fo by confequence he gave him dominion <‘ over himfelf and his own actions; that hav- ‘ing made him lord of the whole world, he “might not be a flave to himfelf, but might — << firft exercife his fovereignty in the free pof- ** feflion of his own mind. ‘To force his will, << were to deftroy the nature of his creature, ‘‘ which grace is not defigned to do, but only “¢ to heal and affift it; and therefore God deals “ with man, as a free agent, by inftrudtions “ and commands, by promifes and threaten- not irrefiftible. 267 «ings, by allurements and reproofs, by re- “wards and punifhments. So true is the “faying of Tertullian, Nemo invitus fit bo- wes : - What though we are inftructed by the in- fallible word of truth, that ‘“‘ no man can “come unto Chrift, except the Father draw *«“him*;” and that if we would be fons- of God, we muft be “led by the Spirit*? Are we alfo told, that we muft be chained, and dragged, and irrefiftibly forced to the altar, Jike brute beafts, which have no underftanding? Is this the ‘“* reafonable fervice,” wherewith the Apoftle * befeeches us, by the mercies of « God, to prefent our bodies a living facrifice, «holy, acceptable unto God*?”’ Are thefe the “© free-will offerings,’ with which the Pfalmift teaches us the Lord will “‘ be pleafed"?” Nay, does not the very language of fuch declarations itfelf contradi& the notion of irrefiftible force? ‘And does not our bleffed Lord refolve his own expreffion into the fame, as the “ being taught “of God,” the “having heard and having “«Jearned of the Father’ ?” <«« Many men un- “* derftand thefe words,” fays Bifhop Hooper, ** in a wrong fenfe, as though God required in ‘4 Examination of Tilenus, p. 278. © John vi. 44. . _ f Rom. viii. 14. Rom. xii. 1. h Pf. cxix. 108. i John vi. 45. 268 The Operations of the Holy Ghoft “a reafonable man no more than im a dead “‘ poft; and marketh not the words. that «« follow, Every man, that heareth and learn- “eth of my Father, cometh to me. God «‘ draweth with his word and the Holy Ghoft; «but man’s duty is to hear and learn, that is “ to fay, receive the grace offered, confent to “the promife, and not repugn the God that “ calleth. God doth promife the Holy Ghof “unto them that afk him, and not to them *‘ that contemn him*.” And fuch was the interpretation of the wife Melanéthon, whom his lefs gentle brother in the reformation ac- cufed of ‘ prevaricating with Chryfoftom',” becaufe he afferted the neceflity of a willing mind. “It is objected” (faid that pious and learned Reformer) ‘ by the timid foul, I can- “ not believe, unlefs God kindle my faith. I *‘ anfwer, it is true that men are drawn by “God ; but they are drawn by the word of «the Gofpel, to which God wills thee to af- “fent, and at the fame time to afk affiftance, *‘ as it is written, How much more fhall he give the Holy Spirit to them that afk him. « Do not then refift the Gofpel ; do not en- k Bp. Hooper. Preface to Declaration of the Ten Come mandments. . 1 Multogue fatius eft quam tergiverfari cum Chryf- oftomo. Calv. Inji. lib. iii. cap. xxiv. fe&. 13. not irrefiftible. 269 “courage miftruft; do not think, as Enthu- “ fiafts dream, that thou muft wait for a vio- “lent motion, whereby God may~drag thee “on, although thou refift, and ruth backward “into wickednefs: but affent to the divine “ voice, and at the fame time pray for aflift- “‘ ance, as the fuppliant in Mark, Lord, I be- «Jieve, help thou my unbelief. When thou ** doeft this, it is certain, that thou art drawn “and aflifted by God; according to his oath, «© As I live, faith the Lord, I will not the « death of a finner, but that he be converted ‘‘and live. To this effeét are thofe fayings, “« God draws, but he draws the willing mind ; “and again, Only be thou willing, and God «‘ haftens to meet thee, as Bafil fays in his dif- “« courfe on the prodigal fon, to whom, as he * returns, his Father goes forth to meet him, «« and flies into his embrace. Thefe things we “« fay,” he adds, ‘‘ to comfort thofe who are in “the Church, and underftand that they are “called by the voice of the Gofpel, and are _“ willing to be converted. But if any without “+ repentance agitate curious queftions, with “ fuch it were vain to difpute™.”’ m Sed objicit trepida mens, Non poffum credere, nifi Deo fidem accendente. Refpondeo, Verum eft homines a Deo trahi; fed trahuntur per vocem Evangelii, cui vult te Deus affentiri, et fimul petere auxilium, ficut {criptum eft, Quanto magis dabit Spiritum fanctum petentibus. 270. The Operations of the Holy Ghoft Have we the power then to refift the Spirit, when he would lead and draw us unto God ?. And is that true, which our Reformers have affirmed, that “although the goodnefs of God. “ offereth his fpecial grace to all men, yet. “‘ they only enjoy it, which by their free-will “do accept and embrace the fame, and that *‘ others by free-will abufe the grace and be- “nefits of God™?” The Scriptures teach us. that we may. We may “hate” and “ rebel “ againft the light":’’ we may “ do defpite “‘ unto the Spirit of grace°:” we may “ neglect Non igitur repugnes Evangelio; non indulgeas diffi- dentiz ; non cogites, ut fomniant Enthufiafte, expe&tan- dum effe violentum motum, quo te rapiat Deus etiam re- pugnantem, et iterum ruentem in fcelera: féd affentiaris voci divinz, et fimul petito auxilium, ficut ille apud Mar- cum, Credo, Domine, fed opem fer imbecillitati_ mez. Hoc cum fit, certum eft te a Deo trahi et adjuvari, fi ficut jurat, Vivo ego, dicit Dominus, nolo mortem peccatoris, fed ut convertatur et vivat. In hanc fententiam et hec di&a funt, Deus trahit, fed volentem trahit. Item, Tan- tum velis, et Deus preoccurrit, ut Bafilius dicit in con- cione de filio prodigo, cui redeunti Pater obvyiam procedit, et involatin amplexum. Heec dicimus ad confolandos eos, ‘qui funt in Ecclefia, et fe intelligunt vocari yoce Evan- gelii, et volunt converti. Si qui autem fine pznitentia movent curiofas quzftiones, cum talibus fruftra difputatur. Epi/t. ad Rom. cap. ix. Op. vol. iy. p. 160. m Neceffary Doétrine and Erudition, &e. Article of Free-will. © n John iii. 20. Job xxiy. 14. ° Heb. x. 29. not irrefiftible.. > 228 *« to ftir up the gift of God that is in us,” and fo “‘ quench” his gracious, influence in. our hearts’: we may “ refift him,”) till he will no longer ‘ ftrive with us*:’’ we may “rebel _“ againft him,” and “ grieve” him, and << vex” him, “ réjecting”’ the proffered means of falva- tion, and “ thrufting from us the word of life,” till, he will be ‘‘ turned” from us’: we may provoke him by obftinate impenitence and dif- obedience, until he will remove his light, from before us*: we may “ refufe to turn at his “« counfel, and may defpife his reproof,” until he will clofe his ear to our entreaties, and will refufe to be found of us‘: “ if we forfake him, “«« he will forfake us*:” and “ if we do not like “ to retain, him in our knowledge, he will give ““us over to a reprobate mind, to do thofe ‘« things which are not convenient*:” ‘* God “« doth by his goodnefs approach to all,” faith St. Bafil, «“ but we fet ourfelves at diftance by “ fin’ ;” and, as another Father of the Church remarks, ‘‘ they who are a¢tuated by the Holy P x Tim. iv. 14. 2 Tim. i. 6. 1 Theff. v. 19. a Acts vil. ot. Gen, vi. 3. * Tf, Ixiii. 10, Eph. iv. 30. Matt. xxi. 42, 43. AGs xiil..46. * Rey. ii. 5. t Proy. i. 23—30. ¥ 2 Chron. xy. 2. x Rom. i. 28. , _ Y Thy éavtou ayaSoryts aac 6 Kugsos eyyifer, oaxpuvomey de Faurous Hues die Tys auaptias, Baf. in Pf. xxxilie Op. tom. i. p- 155. ed. Paris. 1721. 272 The Operations of the Holy Ghoft “* Spirit, are not held under any neceffity, but «have a liberty to turn themfelves, and do “« what they will in this life’.” ' With refpe@ indeed to thofe gifts, which were miraculoufly conferred by the’ Holy Spirit on fome of the primitive converts for “ the “work of the miniftry, and the edifying of ‘the Church,” they feem to have él the effect of an irréfiftible and overruling power, and to have required no cooperation in the will of the recipient. And with a view to fuch gifts as-thefe St. Paul appears to demand, «Who maketh thee to differ from another* ?” But with refpe& to his ordinary grace, though that grace and ability is from Chrift, it is our indifpenfable office to actuate that ability, and to cooperate with that grace, which is fent to “* ftretigthen”,” but not to force us, in the dif- charge of our duty. ‘It is an error,” fays Calvin, “ to make “«man cooperate with God, fo that he may 2 Oure yup 6 redci0s cig TO ayadov, » Badus eis THY cmapTIay, xab Tomy Eavroy oxev0s Tov iaborou, UP ob TO GACY KaTExpIdy E55 TO XAKOY, avoryxy Tivs Bederas* HAA’ ever THY EASUIEQIAY TOU Yye> vests TXEVOS EXADYNS Kas Coys? Ofrolws Dar Of pemudIermevos ENG THY JEOTHTA, xaITOL wemAnpwuevor xa Oedewevos TUEUMATE aryim, OUx cLvcyny TIVE KEXPUTHYTAI, AAA’ EXoUTE TO aUTELOUTIOY TOU TPA mnvar aureus, xai aroresy 6 SeAoucw ess Tov atwva tourov. Macarit Hom. xv. p. 96. ed. Paris. 1621. a q Cor. iy. 7. » Phil. iy. 13. not irrefiftible. 273 « ratify his ele@ion by his own voice‘.” The affertion runs counter to the whole tenor of the Bible ; annulling its commands and ex- hortations ; its promifes and threats; all its commendations of the good, and all its judg- ments on the wicked. Why when God, by the mouth of Mofes, fet before the Ifraelites life and death, bleffing and curfing, did he command and invite and encourage them to ** choofe life *,” if the choice was not in their power? This is the inference of Juftin Martyr*. When by the mouth of Ifaiah he promifes re- wards to his faithful fervants, and denounces punifhment on the finner, “ If ye be willing «and obedient, ye fhall eat the good of the “land; but if ye refufe and rebel, ye fhall be “« devoured with the fword, for the mouth of “the Lord hath fpoken it‘: what was the ¢ Duo autem errores. hic cavendi funt: quia nonnulli cooperarium Deo faciunt hominem, ut fuffragio fuo ratam ele&tionem faciat: ita fecundum eos voluntas hominis fu- perior eft Dei confilio. Calv. Inj. lib. iii. cap. xxiv. fe&. 3, *d Deut. xxx. 19.. © Ov yap womep ta aArAa, olov devdgne xoy TeTpumoda, pundev Suvapeva Dpouipeoes parreiy, emoincey 0 Oeos Tov avdowmov" oude yap yy a&vos awoiSys 4 Emaivov, oux af Exurov EAomevos To ayaSoy, adAe TATO yEvomevOs® 2d a xaxos UmNOXE, Oimatos xoAuTEWS ETUY- HavEV, OUX a ExuTOU TOLOUTOS WY, MAA’ oUdEY OuveevOS Elvees ETEPOY wap 6 eyeyover. Edidake 0 junc tavra to adyioy apodntinoy aveupa bia Macewe, x.T.A. Kas aaadsy dix Hoaiou rou érepow e@pogyrov, x.7T.A. Jufl. Mart. Apol. ii. p. 81. f If. i. 19, 20. J 3 ’ aia “| me 274 The Operations of the Holy Ghoft meaning of the declaration, if it was not in — their own choice either to obey or to refufe? This is inferred by Juftin again, and Clement — of Alexandria®, and others of the early Fathers. j Why did our Saviour. pronounce, that “ this. ‘‘ is the condemnation, that light is come into *‘ the world, and men loved darknefs rather “‘ than light, becaufe their deeds were evil" ;” if they did not exert their wills in refifting a. light, which would otherwife have been ef- fetual for their falvation ? Why was our Sa- viour fo. tranfported with admiration at the faith of fome, as well as at the unbelief of ; others, if that faith were wrought fo irrefifti- bly, that the believer contributed nothing to-. wards it; and if the unbeliever, fo far from — refifting, had not even the means of being converted ? When our Saviour tells Martha, «One thing is needful, and Mary hath chofen ~ “that good part’; why does he commend — Mary for her difcrimination, and reprove Mar- & Tlavrey towvy avSowmay xexrnuevov, of tmaxeooy Badydevres” KAYTOS wroLaTSycav. ov yup eoTiy adixin capa Tw Oew. aurina ef ‘éxarepou yevos of Gio TEUTayTES, OUTOH Anos @EpsoUTiOS. ROY TOs | apakers tay Amostodwy ebpois av xararekiv, OF prev ovy amodeza- Hésvob Tov Aoyoy autou ebamTiSyoay. oi 0 wy SeAnoavres TEISEOIOYy éautous amectycay SnAady. LIpos rourovs 4 wmpogyraa Aeyer Kay Seante, xas Eloaxovente pov, Ta wyata TS yas PuyerIe EP Tyasy : xepeva SueAsyyouce, xa Tyy aipeciv, xas Thy extpomyy. Clem. Alex. Strom. lib. j. cap. xviii. tom. i: p. 371. ed. Oxon. h John ili. 19. ? Luke x. 42 not irrefiftzble. 275 tha for her neglect? If the difcrimination of Mary had been exclufively effected by the irrefiftible operation of divine grace; Martha might have pleaded the want of ability in her excufe ; fhe might have charged the fault of her neglect, in not making the like’ choice, on his deficiency in a matter fo needful; and have replied, in the language of a modern Cal- vinift, that “ her fifter could not fo properly “be faid to have chofen, as to have been “‘chofen by the Lord*.”’ Wherefore is it faid with approbation of fome, that they “ re- ** ceived the word gladly,”*and “* with readi- *‘nefs of mind’;” unlefs that gladnefs and readinefs were, in fome fort, the refult of their own freedom of will, which conftituted them moral and accountable agents? And wherefore are others condemned, for that they “‘ would not come unto Chrift, that they might * have life and might be faved™,” (OY OEAETE erSeny moos we, ye are not willing to come to me ;)—that “ they were willingly ignorant,” as St. Peter fays, “that by the word of God * the heavens were of old" ;”—that “ they re- “* ceived not the love of the truth,” as St. Paul {peaks, “ but had pleafure in unrighteoufnefs°;”” k Whitefield’s Works, vol. i. p. 125. 1 A&ts ii. 41. xvii. 11. m John v. 40, 34. _ 3 2 Pet. iil. 5. ° 2 Theffl. ii. 10, 12. poe 276 The Operations of the Holy Ghoft —unlefs they had the liberty of being different from what they actually were? For there ap-— pears nothing inconfiftent either with reafon, or revelation, in the opinions of the ‘early — writers of the Church; that “ man would not “ be a fit object of praife or recompence, did “‘he not choofe good of himfelf, nor worthy «of punifhment for doing evil, if he did not “this of himfelf°;”’—that ‘ neither praifes *‘ nor reprehenfions, rewards nor punifhments «are jutt, if the foul hath not the power of *‘ choofing or abftaining, but evil is involun-— “ tary’ ;”—and that even as to Judas himfelf, as Origen affirms, “‘ blame would not have ‘ 440. 2 Mafon’s Spiritual Treafury, p. 119. 2 Ibid. p. 146. U2 292 The Operations of the Holy Ghoft preflion, conftantly intending fome degree of apprehenfion and uncertainty: and it would — at the fame time be more conducive to holi- nefs, if inftead of employing the text as a foundation for infallible fecurity, he would adopt the inference of the ancient Commenta- tors; ‘‘ If Paul, fo great a man, one who had “preached and laboured fo much, dreaded ‘ this termination of his labours, what caufe *“ have we to fear, left it fhould befal us ** alfo” !” Admirable to this effeé are the fentence and the admonition of the venerable Latimer ; and they are well worth the attention of thofe profeffed admirers of the dodtrines of the Re- formation, who condemn fuch as fay, “ that a «‘perfon may be in Chrift to-day, and go to «the devil to-morrow,” and blefs God that they have not fo learned Chrift’. “I will “ you to pray,” faid that faithful Paftor and true Apoftle of the Gofpel of Chrift, « 1 will ‘you to pray, that God will continue his Spi- “ritin you. I do not put you in comfort, — “that if ye once have the Spirit, ye cannot «lofe it. There be new fpirits ftart up now *‘ of late, which fay, after we have received “ the Spirit, we cannot fin. I will make but | b See Whitby in loc. * Whitefield’s Works, vol. v. p. 245- not irrefiftible. 293 one argument. St. Paul had brought the «« Galatians to the profeffion of the faith, and «left them in that ftate: they had received “ the Spirit once, but they finned again, as he teftified of them himfelf. He faith, Ye did “run well: ye were once ina right way : *‘ and again, Ye did receive the Spirit, not by “‘ the works of the law, but by the righteouf- “« nefs of faith. Once they had. the Spirit by “ faith: but falfe prophets came, when he was “gone from them,; and they fell from all, “that Paul had planted them in; and then «< faid Paul, O foolifh Galatians, who hath be- ‘ witched you? If this be true, we may lofe « the Spirit, that we have once poffefjfed. Ir “IS.A FOND THING, I WILL NOY TARRY IN {4 epg? Upon the whole, whilft the Scripture is clear and exprefs in aflerting the operation of the Holy Spirit on our minds, it aflerts in language equally plain and unequivocal the freedom of our wills; whether regenerate, or unregenerate ; whether before, or after, our incorporation with Chrift; and our power to yield to, or to withftand, his, influence. We conclude therefore, that his influence is not wrrefiftible; that he “* works zm us;” but, in order for his working to be effectual, that he 4 Latimer’s Sermons, vol. i. p. 218. U3 294 The Operations of the Holy Ghoft muft alfo work with us, and we muft “ work “with him.” Founded upon this are the ex- hortations, which we addrefs to our people ; whilft carefully reminding them on the one hand, that “ we are not fufficient of ourfelves “to think” or do “ any thing as of ourfelves, *¢ but that our fufficiency is of God*,” “ who ‘* worketh in us both to will and to do of his “* good pleafure ;” we are equally affiduous on — the other, in exhorting them to “ fight the ** good fight of faith,” to << ftrive for the maf- “tery,” to “ give diligence to make their call- “ing and election fure,” and to “ work out “their own falvation with fear and trem- “bling.” Bearing in mind the prudent cau- tion of our Reformers, that “ all men be to be * monifhed, and efpecially preachers, that in «this high matter, they, looking on both “ fides, fo attemper and moderate themfelves, ‘* that they neither fo preach the grace of God, “that they take away thereby free-will; nor — “on the other fide, fo extol free-will, that “¢ injury be done to the grace of God8:” whilft we promote the humility of our hearers by admonifhing them, that faith and repentance are “the gifts of God",” we ftimulate their ex- e 2 Cor. ili. 5. f y Tim. vi. 12. 1 Cor. ix. 25. 2 Pet. i. 10. Phil. ii. 1% s Neceffary Dodtrine, &c. Chapter on Free-will. . 5 Rom. xii. 3. Adts xi. 18. not irrefiftible. - 295 ertions, by reminding them, that “« God com- ««mandeth all men to repent and: believe'.” Whilft we encourage them by the promife of God ‘to his people, that he will ‘*-circumcife “their hearts” and “ cleanfe them from all “ jniquity*;” we ftir up their ativity by his precept, that they “ circumcife their’ own « hearts,” and “wath themfelves and make ** themfelves clean'.” Whilft we call on them, to pray to God with the Pfalmift, that he will “ create in them a new heart, and re- “ new aright fpirit within them™;” we warn them, that God calls upon his people by a Prophet, to ‘‘ caft away from them all their “ tranfgreflions, and make themfelves a new “heart and a new fpirit®.’ Whilft we ani- mate the hopes of the defponding by God’s gracious promife, that « he will put his fear “in the hearts of his people, that they fhall “not depart from him’;” we endeavour to awaken the carelefs, and to humble the proud, by fetting before them the end of thofe, who “did not choofe the fear of the Lord?.” “Thus,” faid Theodoret*, having eftablifhed i Aéts xvii. 30. 1 John iii. 23. k Deut. xxx. 6. Jer. xxxiii. 8. 1 Jer. iv. 4. If. i. 16. m Pfalm li. 10. n Ezek. xviii. 31. © Jeppexaii qo: | ; P Prov. i. 29. 9 Ovx av yap oute 6 Ococ, ayados ye wy nar Dixasos, woiny uA 296. The Operations of the Holy Ghoft that the grace of God lays no neceflity on the will of man, and concluding with an affertion which Voffius largely proves’, and which — Calvin admits*; ‘‘ thus,” faid he, ‘* have we «¢ Chrittians,” thus, I add, have we Minifters of the Church of England, “ been tantat by ‘ our anceftors, and thus we teach.” II. Secondly; (and let. the obfervation be cherifhed for the encouragement of thofe, who although they truly honour and ferve God, yet are but little fenfible to themfelves of the operation of the Holy Spirit ;) his in- fluence is not of that fenfible kind, which the Enthufiaft reprefents it: affirming, that “‘ the *‘ manifeftation of God’s Spirit may be perceiv- *¢ ed by the foul as really as is any fenfible im- Tos Gapevonov Biov aomeCouevors eivemoakey, EMEP pce MOLT’ cxvely/~ xy japravoy’ x.T.A.—Tavra megs tTys Tov avtiowmov Pucews Ppoverv, xo EdiOuyIynwev xa Cidacxouev. Theodoret. Serm. v. de Nat. Hominis. Op. ed. Paris. 1642. tom. iv. p. 559- t Sed tandem allegandi veteres finis efto; quando, non dico fi omnia omnium indicare yelimus, (quod non pofle~ mus quidem,) fed vel fola que poffumus, nullus fit fu- turus finis: et eo minus labore iftoc opus, quando maxi- mus Calvinus hanc fuiffe antiquitatis fententiam non ob- {cure agnofcit, &c. Vof Hifi. Pelag. lib. vii. par. ii. Pp. 751: ee s Ac voluntatem movet, non qualiter multis feculis tra- ditum eft et creditum, ut noftre poftea fit eleGtionis, mo- tioni aut obtemperare aut refragari; fed illam efficaciter afficiendo. Calv. Injt. lib. ii. cap. iii. fe&t. 10. - _ not perceptible. 207 ** preflion upon the body':”—that “ he fills “the whole heart with a divine power, and “draws all the faculties of the foul after “ Chrift, as a mighty rufhing wind*:”—that he “« gives a believer fuch a teftimony of his “‘ adoption, that, while it is prefent to the “« foul, he can no more doubt the reality of his “ fonfhip, than he can doubt of the fhining of ‘« the fun, while he ftands in the full blaze of “his beams:’—that he “ feels the Spirit in «his foul'in the fame way ashe feels the ‘«< wind ftrike upon his bodily organs* :”°—and that ‘it is a truth which remains not now to “be queftioned but by fceptics, that the Lord “ comes nigh to his people in fenfible mani- “ feftations of his gracious prefence in their . “ feafons of worthip, in their daily employ-~ ** ments, and in {hort in all the various provi- «dences by which they are exercifedy.” - I _ cite the words of fome of the moft celebrated Methodifts, thinking it unneceflary to multiply quotations from others of inferior note. Suf- fice it to obferye, that as, on the one hand, © Wefley reprefented this doérine of fenfible t Whitefield’s Works, vol. iv. p. 18. u Wefley’s Works, vol. xxvii. p. 31, 32. Outram’s Ex- tracts, p. 63. x Wefley’s Sermons, vol. i. p. 155. y Hawker’s Paraclefis, p. 66. See Outram’s Extraéts, Pp: 74 298 The Operations of the Holy Ghoft impreflions, to be “ one grand ‘part of ‘the tef- “ timony, which God had given the Methodifts ‘to bear to all mankind; and ‘that it was by “his peculiar blefling upon them in fearching “ the Scriptures, confirmed’ by ‘the: experiénce “of his children, that this great evangelical “truth was recovered, which had been for “many years well nigh loft and forgotten’;” fo, on the other hand, there is no point on which Methodiits of every denomination have’ been more prone to infift, than on their in- ward impulfes and feelings ; their experiences, in the phrafeology of the fect; as the direct witnefs of the Holy Spirit in their hearts; as diftinétive marks, and infallible evidences, af the approbation of Heaven. Far from me be the arrogance and the folly of denying, that ‘“‘ God hath given us the ear- “ neft of the Spirit in our hearts4;” or that “the Spirit itfelf beareth witnefS with our ‘« fpirit that. we are the children of God>.” However arduous may be the tafk of defining the limits of his agency, and drawing a line of feparation between his motions and the natural fuggeftions of the human mind, (a tafk, which the great Searcher of hearts alone may be deemed capable of performing,) ftill the belief z Wefley’s Sermons, vol. i. p. 164. ; «2 Cor. w 22. > Rom. viii. 16. | f — a not perceptible. 299 that we are bleffed with this ‘“ inward wit- “ nefs°,” is a fource of confolation, peace, and encouragement to the humble believer: he embraces it with gladnefs, and he acknow- ledges it with gratitude. Do I then deny the fenfible influence of the Spirit ? I anfwer ; we may “ feel in ourfelves “ the working of the Spirit of Chrift¢ :’—our Church employs the language; and I fcruple not to repeat it, nor when {cripturally under- ftood to maintain it for the doctrine of Scrip- ture: but we feel it no otherwife than we do our thoughts and meditations ; we cannot diftinguifh them, by their manner of affecting us, from our natural reafonings and the opera- tion of trutu upon our fouls; fo that, if God had only defigned to give the Holy Spirit to us, without making any mention of it in his word, we could never have known, unlefs it had been communicated to us by fome private ré- velation, that our fouls are moved by a divine power, when we love God and keep his com- mandments*®. Agreeable to this interpretation is the language of our Church, when fhe de- mands of her candidates for holy orders, not Are you inwardly moved, but ‘‘ Do you truft, “that you are inwardly moved by the Holy ¢ 1 John v. Io. d Art. 17. © See Stebbing on the Holy Spirit, chap. vii. fect. 6. 300 The Operations of the Holy Ghoft * Ghoft, to take upon you this office and mi- “‘ niftration, to ferve God for the promoting “of his glory, and the edifying of his peo- *‘ plef 2” For, as Calvin well and temperately remarks, ‘“‘ an inward call is the honeft tefti- *‘ mony of our heart, that we undertake the *« office of the miniftry, not from ambition, or ** covetoufnefs, or any other finful defire ; but “from a true fear of God and with to edify *¢ the Churchs.”. Agreeable to this alfo is the language of the Homily, which fpeaks of the operation of God’s Holy Spirit within us, as a mighty indeed, but alfo as a ‘“:fecret’”. work- ing}; and refers us to the fruits of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and conduct as the only proof ‘‘ whereby we can know that he is ‘‘in us'.” And fuch, to come more clofely to f Ordering of Deacons. & Eft autem (arcana vocatio) bonum cordis noftri tefti- monium, quod neque ambitione, neque ayaritia, neque ulla alia cupiditate, fed fincero Dei timore, et zdificande ecclefie ftudio, oblatum munus recipiamus. Calv. Inft. lib. iv. cap. iii. fect. 11. h Homilies, p. 389. Oxf. Ed. i «,” judging it “‘ an eafy ‘« thing for a {piritual man to know when the « Holy Spirit makes an impreflion upon his «< foul‘,” and that “< it is as eafy to diftinguifh “ the witnefs of the Spirit from prefumption, “« as day from night, or light from darknefs, or « the light of a ftar or glimmering taper from “the light of the noonday fun¢;” “ often «proceeded from the ftate and difpofition of “the body, the temperament of the blood and “animal fpirits®; that they were “ mere “ empty dreams of an heated imagination ;’’— were “‘ genuine inftances of enthufiafm ;”— were ‘‘ groundlefs fpeculations ;”—were ‘“ vain “© and blafphemous conceits ;’—-were “ plain b Lavington on Enthufiafm, part ii. p. 24. © Whitefield’s Works, vol. iv. p. 12. 4 Welfley’s Sermons, vol. i. p. 160. ¢ Lavington ou Enthufiafm, part ii. p. 106. x 3 310 The Operations of the Holy Ghoft ‘‘ proofs that the pretenders to infpiration ‘ were under the full dominion of the fpirit of * pride and of lies ;’—were “ wiles of the « devil,” who, for the purpofe of deluding — them, ‘‘ was mimicking God’s work, and had « transformed himfelf into an angel of light §.”"__ «J find,” faid Whitefield of the Moravian | brethren, (and wherefore is it not as applicable — to his own followers?) ‘that they are as | “‘ weak and fallible as thofe, whom they judge — “‘ not to have drunk fo freely of the Spirit of — « Chrifts.” Whilft Wefley, after enumerating — the fingular bleflings conferred upon his pare tizans, and reprefenting Almighty God as « having wrought a new thing in the earth in «their favour,” thus unrefervedly declares the | fruits of Methodifm : “ It brought forth error ‘“* in ten thoufand fhapes, turning many of the — «‘fimple out of the way. It brought forth “ enthufiafm, imaginary infpiration, afcribing — « to the all-wife God all the wild, abfurd, felf-_ < inconfiftent dreams of an heated imagination. — «It brought forth pride, robbing the Giver of — “every good gift of the honour due to bint -“ name. It brought forth prejudice, evil-far= f See Wefley’s Journals, vol. v. p. 81. vol. iv. p. 54, 55, 66. vol. v. p. 71. and Whitefield’s Works, vol. i. P- 50: . s Whitefield’s Works, vol. i. p. 444. not perceptible. 311 “ mifing, cenforioufnefs, judging and con- *« demning one another: all totally fubverfive ‘of that brotherly love, which is the very “ badge of the Chriftian profeffion ; without “© which whofoever liveth, is counted dead be- “fore God. It brought forth anger, hatted, “‘ malice, revenge, and every evil word and “work: all direful fruits, not of the Holy «« Spirit, but of the bottomlefs pit.” And let it not be fuppofed, that fuch delu- fion has been confined to thofe inferior mem- bers, who from fome uncommon weaknefs of conttitution, from fome peculiar feeblenefs of intelle&, from fome defect in mental cultiva- tion, or from that propenfity, which. inclines inferior minds to follow the guidance of their fuperiors, may have been more fignally expof- ed to this infatuation. It was the confeffion of one, endowed with powers both conftitu- tional and intellectual, greater than thofe, which fall to the ordinary lot of mortality ; whofe mind had been ftored with the acquire- ments of education ; to whofe lips, as to thofe of ‘‘an angel of Godi,” thoufands liftened with enthufiafm while he was living, and to whofe fpirit, as to that of a man of apoftolical and faintlike virtues‘, thoufands and ten thou- h Wefley’s Sermons, vol. vi. p. 66. i See Lavington, part il. p. 15. k peice Magazine, Nov. 1808. p. 4935 474. x4 312 The Operations of the Holy Ghoft fands are obedient, now that he is dead; it © was the confeffion of him, with whom (if his — own affertions are to be credited!) « the Lord’s — dealing was fomewhat out of the common “way; whofe “ fermons were attended with ‘‘ great manifettations of the divine prefence;” to whofe ‘‘ minitterial office God fet his feal ‘in every place;” who << experienced daily “ teachings of the bleffed Spirit, and carried “© on conftant communion with the moft high «God and the ever-bleffed Jefus:” who had “‘ affuredly felt, who knew that it was Jefus «‘ Chrift that revealed himfelf to his foul;” who ‘* knew and was aflured that God fent ‘“‘ forth to him his light and his truth;” to whom “it was revealed that Satan was grieved “at his fuccefs;”” who <“ felt-every day more “and more of the divine prefence and affift- “ance; who was ‘“ direéted in his defigns *« by the fpecial interpofition of Providence,” and was ‘“ endowed in the execution of them “« with power from above:” who “ leaned on “the bofom of his Saviour, and was carried “in the arms of his Jove from morning to “‘ night ;” ‘‘ talked with God as a man talketh «with his friend,” and “ {poke with the de- ‘“‘ monftration of the Spirit, and as the Spirit 1 Whitefield’s Works, vol. iv. p. 45. vol. i. Pe 259, 445 120, 228, not perceptible. 318 4 gave him utterance ;” who “ felt the bleffed «Spirit daily filling his foul and body, as “« plainly as he felt the air which he breathed, *‘ or the food which he ate ;” who “ daily ex- “* perienced the outgoing and incoming of the “ bleffed Spirit in the fanétuary of his heart ;” who * felt the great God in a glorious manner ** filling and overfhadowing his foul,”’ and was * often filled with the whole Godhead, with “* the fulnefs of God™:’—it was his frank and voluntary confeffion, that ‘* imagination had ** mixed itfelf with his work ;” that “ by fe- ** veral of his affertions on thefe topics he had *‘ given too much occafion for reflection ;” that “his miftakes had been too many, and *« his blunders too frequent, to make him fet ** up for infallibility®.”’ «‘ I came foon into the ‘© world,” he fays ; “‘T have carried high fail, “ whilft running through a whole torrent of * popularity and contempt; and by this means *‘have fometimes been in danger of overfet- “ting.” “1 know too much of the devices of *« Satan, and the defperate wickednefs and de- “ ceitfulnefs of my own heart, not to be fen- m See Account of God’s Dealings with the Rev. G. Whitefield, fe&. 3. Whitefield’s Works, vol. i. p. 315, 458, 195, 205, 166, 195, 228, 237, 466. Lavington on Enthufiafm, part i. p. 50, 61, 66, 67, 54, 5I- " Whitefield’s Remarks on a Pamphlet, entitled, The Enthnfiafm of Methodifts, &c. p. 43, 33, 40 bate i : a. , a 314 The Operations of the Holy Ghoft “ fible, that I am a man of like paffions with | “ others; and confequently may have miftaken — “‘ nature for grace, imagination for revelation, — “and the fire of my own temper for the pure © ‘and facred flame of holy zeal which cometh “from God’s altar®.” ‘ Alas! alas! in how “ many things have I judged and aéted wrong! ~ ‘« I have been too rafh and hafty in giving “ characters both of places and perfons! I “‘ have too much made impreffions, without “ the written word, my rule of aéting. Being “fond of Scripture language, I have often ‘“‘ ufed a ftyle too apoftolical, and at the fame “‘time I have been too bitter in my zeal. «- Wild-fire has been mixed with it; and I find “« I have frequently written and {poken too much “an my own fpirit, when I thought I was writ- -« ing and {peaking intirely by the affiftance of “ the Spirit of God P.” f That one, who had made fuch an open and unequivocal avowal of his delufions, fhould have neverthelefs perfevered in fetting up his own inward feelings as the criterion of {piritual communications, muft excite our aftonifhment, if it be true: that he did perfevere in afferting his claim to fuch communications upon the fame ground and in fimilar language, is a fact, — el aa an © Works, vol. iv. p. 127. ® Remarks, &c. p. 35. not perceptible. 315 the evidence of which we have not far to feek: and it may warn us of the danger of encou- raging that enthufiaftic temper, which, at the very inftant that it may flatter itfelf with the belief, that it is correéting its former extrava- gancies, is adminiftering frefh materials to its rapacious appetite, and feeding itfelf with new delufions. Liable then as we all are to be dadittied: the man who feels in himfelf thofe inward. mo- tions, which he is willing to be perfuaded are the workings of the Holy Spirit, would do well to be cautious how he inconfiderately gives way to the evidence of his feelings ; inftead of trying, by a furer teft, whether they may not be afcribed to the paflions or infirmities of his nature, or to the fuggeftions of his crafty enemy the devil, and not to the gracious influ- ence of the Spirit of God. 2. Nor, again, has fuch a man reafonable caufe for expecting to be believed by others, even if he admit his own inward feelings for fufficient evidence to himfelf. <«‘ Montftrare « nequeo, fentio tantum,” is an appeal, which as every man, as well as Whitefield’, may ar- bitrarily advance, fo no man can _reafonably require to be admitted. For if the appeal be once admitted, when is 4 Works, yol. iv, p. 166. ‘ “_ a " 316 The Operations of the Holy Ghoft it to be rejected? if the claim be once allowed, when is it to be denied? if weonce concede our affent to the unfupported teftimony of him, who arrogates to himfelf the fanction of the Spirit, when are we confiftently to withhold it? The pretenfions of one man, abftraétedly confidered, have as fair a demand upon our credit as thofe of another: and we muft not only believe, that the Founders of Methodifm were acting under this divine influence, be~ caufe they affirm it, when they were belieing their vows of ordination, by “ bringing their “* own dreams and phantafies into the Church’,” and fowing in it diffenfions, inftead of promot- ing quietnefs and peace; by violating the ec-. clefiattical order of the realm, and by renounc- ing the authority of thofe, to whom were committed the charge and government over them, each claiming to himfelf an apoftolical commiflion, and each accufing the other of preaching a new gofpel; and that their fol- lowers were acting under the impulfe of the fame heavenly monitor, becaufe they alfo affirm it, when their very fuperiors pronounced them to be under the full dominion of an heated imagination, or of the fpirit of pride - and of lies: but we muft for the fame reafon admit, as divine infpirations, thofe manifold ¥ Homilies, p. 395. not perceptible. 317 extravagancies, which at various times have thrown difgrace on the profeflion of the Gof- pel, and brought the very operations of the Holy Spirit into queftion; and muft refer to the fame facred, pure, and unpolluted fource the fanciful pretenfions, which fanctify the ritual of the Papifts, and have canonized the faints of the Romith calendar‘; the pretenfions of the Herefiarch Manichzus to illuminations from the Paracletet; the vain and arrogant prefumption of Montanus"; the rapturous vi- fions of the Meflalians*; the myftic conceits of Molinos, the ecftafies of Loyola, the illumi- nations of Bourignon, the delirious dreams of Swedenborg, the ignorant fanaticifm of Fox’, and the ravings of Southeott and of Brothers ; the profligacy and feditious enormities of Hacket the Englifh*, and Boccold the Ger- man, impoftor; the gloomy yet ardent bigo- try, which inftigated Ravaillac and Felton to acts of affaflination; the cool hypocrify, which yeiled the judicial murder committed by Crom- & See Homily for Whit-Sunday, part 2. t Jortin’s Remarks, vol. ii. p. 114. « Lavington on Enthufiafm, part i. Introd. . * Mofheim, Cent. iv. part ii.c. 24. See Ridiey’s Ser- mons on the Holy Ghoft, Serm. iv. y Mofheim, Cent. xvii. fect. ii. part 1, 2. z Collier’s Ecclefiaftical Hiftory, part ii. b. 7. * Mofheim, Cent. xvi. fect. iii. part ii. c. 3. 318 The Operations of the Holy Ghoft well and his Puritans; the blafphemous im-— pieties of many of the Bifhops of Rome; and even the audacious impofture, the cruelty, and _ the fenfuality, of the pretended Prophet -of Arabia. Mahomet arrogated to himfelf a more abundant portion of the Spirit, than he allowed to Him, to whom alone it had been “ given “without meafure ;’ while “ in the cave of ‘« Hera,” as the farcaftic hiftorian has remarked; with more than his cuftomary juftice, “ he “‘ confulted the fpirit of fraud or enthufiafm, ““ whofe abode was not in the heavens, but in *‘ the mind of the prophet”. 3 i If now in thefe and in numberlefs sails cafes, (for falfehood ever delights to veil her deformity under the*garb of truth,) unfounded pretenfions have been advanced to celeftial in- {piration; if the artful have afferted that plea for the purpofe of deceiving others, and if the weak have admitted it as the inftrument of their own delufion: furely we have ample reafon to withhold our affent from every un- fupported claim; nay, we have caufe to fum- mon fufpicion to the aid of wifdom, whenever fuch a claim is alleged; left our unguarded fimplicity be deceived by enthufiafm or hypo- crify; enthufiafm, whofe very fincerity will infpire her with zeal, at the fame time that it » Gibbon, chap. |. vol. ix. p. 260. 8vo. ed. ; not perceptible. _ 319 will a& as an inftrument, to increafe the num- ber of her converts; and hypocrify, that f{pe- cious fiend, lee mt Which neither man nor angel can difcern, —the only evil, that walks \ Inyifible, except to God alone*. In cafes indeed of infinitely inferior import- ance, and much more then in matters of this high import, the teftimony borne by any one to his own character has a reafonable ten- dency to excite fufpicion in the minds of others. That felf-love, which is a prime ingre- dient in our compofition, and which prompts us to the exercife of the firft law of nature, felf-prefervation, fometimes difclofes itfelf in a lefs creditable form; and teftifies its domi- nion by ftimulating us to.approve and com: mend ourfelves, too often without the warrant of reafon. ‘This infirmity, which we feel in ourfelves, both Scripture and experience juftify us in attributing to others: in fufpedcting the poflibility at leaft of felf-deception, even where fincerity may be allowed, and in admitting felf-commendation with caution. To the propriety of caution in fuch a cafe our Saviour exprefied his affent; “If I bear “‘ witnefs to myfelf,” faid he, ‘“ my witnefs is “ not true’.” At the fame time he laid down © Paradife Loft. 4 John vy. 31. 320 The Operations of the Holy Ghoft the principle, on which his own claim to the character he afferted, was to be tried and de- termined ; when he added, “ The works that *‘ the Father hath given me to finifh, the fame © « works that I do, bear witnefs of me that the “Father hath fent me.” And the fame cri- terion he propofed for judging of the opera- tions of the Spirit, by referring to i fruits and his effects. When the Holy Ghoft defcended upon the Apoftles at the day of Pentecoft, his coming was with the found of a rufhing mighty wind, which filled all the houfe, where they were — fitting: and he fat upon each of them in the fhape of cloven fiery tongues. The effect was — in proportion to the greatnefs of the infpira- — tion: for from that time the Apoftles were indued with a power of {peaking languages, with which they had been till then unac- — quainted, and of performing the moft wonder- — ful miracles, which before that time they might have, which indeed they had, eri tut 4 in vain. But even in thofe early feafons of more abundant infpiration, ‘ fuch a coming” (as one of our old Prelates hath obferved) “ was rare ‘and nothing ufual with the Holy Ghoft; “which is an invifible Spirit, and cometh for “the moft part invifibly. So faith Job, He “ cometh to me, and I fee him not; he paf- £ not perceptible. . 321 ‘« feth hard by me, and I perceive him not. It « was thus here for this once: but after, he «came upon Cornelius and his company, and “ after that upon the twelve at Ephefus; but *« on neither that aught could be feen or heard, { only difcerned by fome effect he wrought “in them. He that beft knew the Spirit, fets “ us down the manner of his coming: Spzritus “ fpwat, fed nefcis unde aut quo: He doth “come and in{fpire; but how or which way, * that know you not*.” The influence of the Spirit in thefe latter days is lefs powerful: it is lefs fenfibly felt by thofe who enjoy it, and it is lefs ftrikingly ob- vious to others. For after the previous re- marks, I prefume to queftion the correctnefs of our modern Enthufiafts in their narrations both of thofe violent and extraordinary infpi- rations, which have been vouchfafed to in- dividuals, and of thofe public teftimonies, by which God has been faid to confirm the mi- niftry of the preachers: when, as they have defcribed it, “‘ moft remarkable outpourings of “ the Spirit have been feen in their affemblies ;” when “the power of the Lord has come ““mightily upon the congregation, and the *“« Holy Ghoft has overfhadowed them ;” when © Bifhop Andrews; Firft Sermon of the Holy Ghoft, Works, p. 600. ¥ 322 The Operations of the Holy Ghoft “the Spirit has come down like a mighty — * rufhing wind, and carried all before it;” when “ the ftately fteps of their glorious Em- — *‘ manuel have been feen in his fanétuary, and “his glory has fhone with exceeding bright- *‘ nefs ;’° when ** God has, as it were, bowed — ‘‘ the heavens, and come down; when “ the *« flame of love has gone before him, the rocks — ** have been broken in pieces, and the moun- — ‘tains have flowed down at his prefence;” when “ their prayers have been accompanied ** by an abiding univerfal fhock; and a yiolent ~ “‘ impetuous power has fuddenly come on the “‘ great congregation, overrunning all oppofi- — “ tion; and the place has been aloft rent by — “‘ the power and prefence of God‘.” sai I truft, that we may reafonably withhold — our aflent from narratives, which lay claim to 4 fuch dittinguifhed vifitations of the Deity; and doubt whether the operations of the Spirit” | have ever produced fo violent and fenfible an effect, or have been attended by fuch oyer=-_ ' powering fymptoms, fince the apoftolical age; even if defcriptions fo highly wrought can be properly applied to the vifitations, youchfafed to the Apofiles themfelves. But whilft we he-— f See Whitefield’s Works, vol. i. p. 184, 201, 224, 202. 22.25 337, 409, 312, &c. &c. Wefley’s Journals, Ne. Til. p. 29. No. IX. p. 18. Sermons, vol. iv. p. 155« _ * not perceptible. 328 fitate in giving credit to fuch perceptible and vifible effeéts in the prefent day, we may be- lieve that he is not the lefs certain in his. in- fluence, nor the lefs manifefted by his effects. What are thefe effects of the Spirit, it were impoflible to inquire at any confiderable length. But confidering the extreme danger, even by the avowal of the advocates of experiences themfelves, ‘‘ of miftaking emotions of the “‘ affections for experimental and_ practical ** godlinefs®,” it may be defirable to notice with as much brevity as poflible fome things which are not, and fome things which are, to be afcribed to his influence. No impurity of any kind can proceed from him ; for he is “ the Spirit of holinefs" :’—no hypocrify, nor fraud, nor falfehood of any kind can proceed from him ; for he is ‘ the * Spirit of truthi:’—no pride, no vanity, no boafting, no oftentation, no prefumptuous con- ‘fidence in our own {fecurity, can be the effect _ of the Spirit ; for he “ refifteth the proud, and ** giveth grace to the humble*:’—no difobedi- ence, no contempt of lawful order and autho- rity, can be the work of the Spirit; for ‘ he is “not the author of confufion, but of peace; § Minutes of Conference, 1800. p. 25. Outram’s Ex- tras. h Rom. i. 4. i John xv. 26. kz Pets v, 5. 324 The Operations of the Holy Ghoft “as in all churches of the faints':”—no ha~ tred, or malice ; no flander, or evil-fpeaking ; no murder, nor any aét or thought of revenge, can be fuggefted by him; for he is the Spirit of peace, of mercy, of patience, of confolation, and of love™:—in a word, he cannot be fup- pofed to influence us to do any thing unrigh- teous, any thing at all inconfiftent with the will and word of God; for he is the Spirit of righteoufnefs”. And thus by confidering what things are not the effects of the Holy Spirit, we are led to underftand on the other hand thofe that are. Purity of heart, fhown by purity of words and actions ; true devotion and piety to God, and the walking honeftly, and the {peaking of truth every man with his neighbour ; lowli- nefs and meeknefs ; “ not to think of himfelf ** more highly than a man ought to think, but “ to think foberly, according as God has dealt “to every man the meafure of faith® :” obedi- ence and fubmiftion to “ them that have the € “rule over” us, to lawful and conftituted au- thorities both in church and ftate: mildnefs, gentlenefs, and forbearance; and charity, which is approved by our thinking and fpeaking fa- ! 3 ‘Cor. Xig.%3: my Theff. vy. 23. Jam. iii.17. Rom. xy. 5. John xvi. 7. q Cor? amie n Eph. v. 9. ° Rom. xii. 3. --P Heb, xiii. 17. not perceptible. 325 vourably of our neighbour, by a willingnefs to «do good unto all men, and efpecially unto « them who are of the houtehold of faith,’ by forgiving thofe, who have injured or offended us, as we would hope for forgivenefs. of our offences at God’s hand, and by endeavouring as much as lieth in us to live peaceably with all men : to fpeak in one word, Faith; not an unfruitful affent to the truths of the Gofpel, but a lively and an active faith in Chrift: fuch a faith, as in the language of St. Paul, ‘‘ work- “eth by love,” or, as St. James expreffes it, ** (hows itfelf” by the works of a religious and charitable life ; thefe are the moft undoubted effects of the Holy Spirit. My brethren, “ det “‘ no man decewe you. HE THAT DOETH RIGH- ‘‘ TEOUSNESS, IS RIGHTEOUS’. And he who thus labours to do, what is commanded by the Spirit of God in the written word of God, may then, and then only, be affured, that he drinks of the living water of the Spirit; and _ may look forward with humble and joyful hope to the inheritance, purchafed by the blood of Chrift for his faithful followers, in the eternal kingdom of his Father. Thither may Almighty God vouchfafe to bring us all by the fanctification of his Spirit, and for the fake and through the mediation of dr John 10,°7% Y 3 are ; - for ever. en. ae ~~ ot Arig SVR, SRR TAK f\ i Ae Lot hicbarwiiocs ; iT} oe) #63 3 yi lee, ‘Holy Ghoft, th aidides) be all re churches te geek PENS? third na FON Be, anal hyhaa tek eto i 3 etic, coy ae OVER ML ch mA icy ek iby ides nies its LC RBSS ode ini PR shia (3 } ak ey “la $5 ‘6 "ey: 1) ot oe VAT Ne vue Sagey P- Pe 19 beaks meal eS rie, st Wak Me r fa eed a ' 5 oe 0 Je vee i itt M : ei “et DISCOURSE VI. JoHN Ill. 5. Jefus anfwered, Verily, verily, I fay unto thee, Except aman be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. AT the time that Almighty God firft feleéed the Jews for his peculiar people, he inftituted the rite of circumcifion, whereby they were to be admitted into covenant with him. This inftitution was defigned not only for an out- ward and vifible mark to diftinguifh thofe, who profefied their belief in the true God; but at the fame time for a memorial to remind them of his covenant; and for a monument to in- cite them to perform their part of the cove- nant; and for a token that God would perform his part. This inftitution, which was defigned for the Jews as the chofen people of God, was ex- tended to thofe firangers alfo, who became profelytes to the true faith. But in addition y4 328 Regeneration the to this, another ceremony was appointed by the Jews themfelves, derived, as they imagin- ed, from the law of Mofes, and certainly ftamped with the fanction of high antiquity. Proud of their own peculiar fanétity, as the elect people of God, and regarding all the reft of mankind as in a ftate of uncleannefs, they would not admit converts into their church without wathing, to denote their being cleanfed from, their natural impurity. Profelytes, thus purified and admitted into the Jewith church by baptifm, were faid to be regenerated, or born again: nor was this a mere empty appel- lation; but being confidered dead to their former relations, hey became intitled to rights and privileges, from which by nature they were excluded. The duration of God’s covenant with the Jews being limited, the rite of circumeifion was of courfe limited, and was to ceafe upon the completion of God’s promife in the fending of Chrift. God had now accomplithed his co- venant with Abraham. by fending that feed of Abraham, in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blefled. And as there was no longer to be any diftinétion in favour of the Jews, the children of Abraham, above the other nations of the world, the outward mark of diftinétion was no longer ufeful. God was now to fhow no refpeé& unto perfons, to the Spiritual Grace of Bapti/in. 320 cireumcifed or to the uncircumcifed; but in every nation, among the Gentiles as well as among the Jews, he that feared God and worked righteoufnefs was. iia to be ac- | cepted with him. But upon the introduction of ‘the new co- venant in Chrift, God was pleafed to inftitute a new ceremony ; whereby mankind at large were to be admitted into covenant with him, as the Jews had been by the rite of circumci- fion. For this purpofe Chrift adopted baptifm, which had béen confecrated by his brethren after the flefh to a fimilar ufe; and ordained it as the rite, by which thofe, who believed in him, fhould be admitted to the privileges of his religion. ‘‘ He kept the ceremony,” fays Bifhop Taylor, ‘‘ that they, who were led “* only by outward things, might be the better ¢* called in, and eafier enticed into the religion, “when they entered by a ceremony, which . their nation always ufed in the like cafes: **and therefore, without change of the out- “ward act, he put into it a new fpirit, and * gave it a new grace and a proper efficacy: * he fublimed it to higher ends, and adorned ‘it with ftars of heaven: he made it to fig- ‘* nify greater myfteries, to convey greater blef- “* fings, to confign the bigger promifes, to _ *€cleanfe deeper than the fkin, and to carry * profelytes farther than the gates of the in- _ 330 Regeneration the *« ftitution.. For fo he was pleafed to do in *‘ the other facrament: he took the ceremony ** which he found ready in the cuftom of the «© Jews, where the Major-domo after the Paf- “chal fupper gave bread and wine to every ** perfon of his family; he changed nothing of ~ « it without, but transferred the right to greater ** myfteries, and put his own Spirit to their fign, «and it became a facrament evangelical*.” It was to this facrament of baptifm, the i in- ftitution of which he was anticipating, that our Saviour alluded, when he declared to the Jewith Rabbi, who was inquiring into the na- — ture of his doctrine, “ Verily, verily, I fay unto “« thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot «fee the kingdom of God:” and when, in reply to a farther inquiry, he repeated his former declaration, and ftated it in more li- mited and fpecific terms, ‘‘ Verily, verily, I } « fay unto thee, Except a man be born of wa- — “ter and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into — *« the kingdom of God.” It fhould appear, I - fay, that he was here alluding by anticipation ~ to the facrament of baptifm, which he intend- ed to ordain; and to that fupernatural grace, which was thereby to be conferred through the inftrumentality of water, and by the © agency of the Holy Ghoft: adopting not only _ * Life of Chrift, part i. fet. 9. Spiritual Grace of Bapti/m. 331 the ceremony itfelf, which he meant to exalt to more noble and fpiritual purpofes ; but alfo the very term, by: which the Jews had de- feribed the change wrought in the baptized, although he undoubtedly employed it,_in a fimilar indeed, but in an infinitely more dig- nified fenfe. To the profelyte from heathen- ifm to the Jewith faith, baptifm had been a death to his natural incapacities, and a new birth to the civil privileges of a Jew: to him, who fhould be admitted to a profeflion of the Chriftian faith, and who fhould be “ born not “© of blood, nor of the will of the fleth, nor of * the will of man, but of God>,” it was to be a death unto fin, and a new birth unto thofe fpiritua] privileges, which fhould accompany his deliverance ‘‘ from the bondage of corrup- * tion into the glorious liberty of the children * of Gods.’ The Jewith profelyte had been baptized with water: the Chrittian was to be baptized, not with water only, but with the Holy Ghott. ‘ Baptifm,” fays the fame pious and learned Prelate, to whom [ jutt referred, aflerting at the fame time the doctrine, and explaining the ground of it; “ Baptifm is a ** new birth, by which we enter into the new * world, the new creation, the bleflings and * {piritualities of the kingdom. And this is 6 John i. 13. ¢ Rom, vill. 21. 332 Regeneration the > “the expreffion, which our Saviour himfelf “‘ ufed to Nicodemus, UnlefS a man be born “of water and the Spirit. And. it is by St. “Paul called Aare aarsnyyeversas, the laver of “‘ regeneration. For now we begin to ‘be “« reckoned in a new cenfus, or account, God ‘*is become our father, Chrift our elder bro- * ther, the Spirit the earneft of our inheritance, “«the Church our mother; our food is the ““ body and blood of our Lord; faith is our “learning; religion our employment; and “our whole life is fpiritual, and heaven the ** object of our hopes, and the mighty price of *‘ our high calling. And from this time for= ward we have a new principle put into us, “the Spirit of grace, which, befides our foul *« and body, is a principle of a¢tion, of one na- *‘ ture, and fhall with them enter into the por- ** tion of our inheritance. And becaufe from *“* henceforward we are a new Creation, the «Church ufes to aflign new relations to the *«catechumens, {piritual fathers and fufcep- ‘*tors*.”” 8 I make no {cruple of confidering the words of our Saviour in the text,.as indicating the facrament of baptifm,; becaufe I believe it to be the doétrine of the Bible, and I am fure it is the doétrine of the Church of England, € Life of Chrift, part i. fect. ix, Spiritual Grace of Baptifm. 338 agreeably to which I conceive it to be the opi- nion of the generality of the national clergy, that by that facrament we are made Chriftians, and are born anew of water and of the Holy Spirit: or that I may exprefs. myfelf in the words of the late apoftolical Bifhop Walfon, that ‘ Regeneration or New-Birth is that {pi- *< ritual change, which is wrought by the Holy ‘“‘ Spirit upon any perfon in the ufe of bap- “ tifm; whereby he is tranflated out of his ** natural ftate, as a defcendant of Adam, toa “ fpiritual ftate in Chrift; that is, to a ftate of “ falvation; in which, if it is not his own “ fault, he will be faved*.” This doétrine however is virtually at leaft, if not actually, denied by fome minifters of our Church: and it is denied in terms, which charge the main- tainers of it with blindnefs and ignorance; with innovating on evangelical truth; with being oppofers of the doctrines of the Gofpel, and patrons of a heathenifh fupertftition. As it may be important to prove, beyond the pofflibility of a fufpicion to the contrary, that the accufation, which is te be made the fubje& of our prefent inquiry, implicates the Church of England as well as the generality of her minifters, I fhall venture to fhow by the adduction of feveral paffages in her Liturgy, © Works, vol. iv. p. 411. 8vo. 334 Regeneration the which it might be otherwife fuperfluous to {pecify before fuch an aflembly as the prefent, that the doctrine of regeneration by baptifm is moft clearly afferted. by her: or, in other words, that ‘‘ the fuppofes, in ftriét conformity ‘‘ with the Scriptures,’ not merely “ that ‘all real Chriftians are regenerate by God’s * Holy Spirit',’ by which I underftand all thofe, who live a Chriftian life; but that thofe alfo are fo regenerated, to whom baptifm is rightly adminiftered, notwithftanding by their future conduct they may forfeit the 1 edi of their new birth. The office with which I begin is the mi- niftration of public baptifm to infants, which the prieft, having afcertained that the child has not been baptized, is direéted to commence in this form: ‘‘ Dearly beloved; forafmuch as ‘¢ all men are conceived and born in fin, and <‘ that our Saviour Chrift faith, none can enter “into the kingdom of God, except he be re- ‘ generate and born anew of water and of the “ Holy Ghoft; I befeech you to call upon “God the Father through our Lord Jefus « Chrift, that of his bounteous mercy he will ‘grant unto this child that thing which by ‘¢ nature he cannot have, that he may be bap- “tized with water and the Holy Ghoft, and f See Ovyerton’s True Churchmen, &e, p. 109. 2 P Spiritual Grace of Baptifm. 335 ** be received into Chrift’s holy Church, and ** be made a lively member of the fame.” I give the addrefs at length, becaufe it is placed at the very opening of the miniftration of bap- tifm, and is defigned to draw the attention of the hearers to the purpofe, for which baptifm is adminiftered. It confifts of two parts; an admonition to the people to pray, and a reafon for the admonition: what they are to pray for, partly is, that «‘ the child may be baptized ‘* with water and the Holy Ghoft:” the reafon -for their being called on fo to pray, is, “‘ foraf- * much as Chrift faith, none can enter into “ the kingdom of God, except he be regene- “rate and born anew of water and of the ** Holy Ghoft.’’ Putting thefe paflages to- gether, what elfe is the prayer that the child may be baptized with water and the Holy Ghoft, than a prayer that by baptifm he may be born anew? Proceeding to the prayers, I do not reft on that general expreffion in the firft, where we pray God “ to wafh and fanctify the child with “the Holy Ghoft:” but going forward to the fecond, 1 beg your attention to that paflage, wherein the prieft is directed to fay, “ Al- ** mighty God, we call upon thee for this in- “ fant; that he, coming to thy holy baptifm, ‘* may receive remiffion of his fins by {piritual “regeneration.” ‘lhe paflage needs no com- nt f 336 Regeneration the ment: it will only be recollected that the quef- tion is, what does the Church of England un- derftand by our Saviour’s expreffion of being born of water and of the Spirit? Nor is it ne- ceflary to make any other comment on the fol- lowing extraéts, while I point to that prayer, where we intreat Almighty God to “ give his * Holy Spirit to the infant about to be bap- “tized, that he may be born again:’’ to the prayer of confecration, where we intreat him, to “ fanétify the water to the myftical wafhing “‘ away of fin, and to grant that the child, now “ to be baptized therein, may receive the ful- “nefs of his grace, and ever remain in the “number of his faithful and ele& children :” to the addrefs immediately following the bap- tifmal rite, wherein the prieft calls on the con- gregation to give thanks to Almighty God, exprefsly for this caufe, ‘‘ feeing that the child ** is regenerate; and to the thankfgiving that follows, wherein we are inftructed to “ yield “thee hearty thanks, moft merciful Father, * that it hath pleafed thee to regenerate the “infant with thy Holy Spirit, and to receive — “him for thine own child by adoption.” Thefe words mutt be left to fpeak for them- felves. They admit of no illuftration or ex- planation. Language cannot be plainer. Let us proceed to the miniftration of private baptifm of children, where, it may be firft re- Spiritual Grace of Baptifin. 337 marked, that the prayers being the fame as in the public baptifm, the fame expreflions of courfe occur, as thofe already noticed. But when the child, that has been privately bap- tized, is admitted into the public congregation, the doétrine is repeated under feveral.new forms of expreffion. The child, being born in original fin, is faid to “ be now by the laver ‘ of regeneration in baptifm received into the ** number of the children of God:’’ a prayer is offered to Almighty God to “ give his Holy «‘ Spirit to the infant,’ not, as in the former office, that: he may be born again, but that he “ being born again may continue God’s fer- “vant: the congregation is required to give thanks to Almighty God, for that the child “is by baptifm regenerate :” and in the fame form of prayer as before, thanks are yielded to our moft merciful Father, for «« having pleafed “to regenerate the infant with his Holy Spi- “rit, and to receive him for his own child by “adoption.” This great variety of expreffions, wherein the fame dodtrine is fo repeatedly conveyed, proves to my mind moft fatisfacto- rily, how tenacious the Church of England is of the doctrine of baptifmal regeneration, and how anxious fhe is to imprefs it upon her members. This variety we trace {till farther exempli- fied in the miniftration of baptifm to fach as y 338 Regeneration the are of riper years; where, although the fervice is for the moft part the fame as that for the baptifm of infants, certain particulars are added, not inrmaterial to be fpecified in this inquiry. Thus inftead of the gofpel from the 1oth chapter of St. Mark, which is adapted to the condition of infants, but would be out of place in the baptifm of adults, the paflage felected is the converfation, wherein Chrift afferts to Ni- codemus the neceflity of the new-birth ; and which is made the foundation of the following exhortation : ‘‘ Beloved, ye hear in this gofpel “ the exprefs words of our Saviour Chrift, that “* except a man be born of water and of the « Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of «God. Whereby ye may perceive the great “ neceflity of this facrament, where it may be « had.” It muft be enough barely to quote this paflage : it would be an infult upon any man’s underftanding, to attempt to make it clearer; and it would be fuperfluous to add more from‘the fame office. If a bare ftate- ment of this faét does not convince a man, nothing, I am perfuaded, can convince him, that it is by baptifm, in the judgment of the Church of England, that a man is Tr of water and of the Spirit. I am afraid of fatiguing and wearing out your patience by multiplying evidences of what mutt already be fo clear. Knowing Spiritual Grace of Baptifm. 339 however as I do, and as every one at all ac- quainted with the ftate of religion in this country muft know, that there are perfons, who, not content with denying the doctrine of baptifmal regeneration themfelves, would fain faften their herefy upon our Church, and feduloufly labour to propagate it as hers; I mutt folicit your attention whilft I proceed to fhow by a ftill greater accumulation of proof what her doétrine is; and that fhe does not confine her affertion of it to her baptifmal offices, but diffeminates it over other parts of her Liturgy. After being baptized, the firft pale wa duty in which the Church requires a child to be engaged is the learning of his Catechifm ; and here, reminding him of the privileges to which he was then admitted, the very firft thing that fhe teaches him is, that ‘in his baptifm he “‘ was made a member of Chrift, a child of “God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of “heaven.” In his baptifm he was made a child of God! Made a child of God; not formed fo at his natural birth, but made fo by a fecond, a new, a {fpiritual birth; made fo at his baptifm. As he proceeds, however, the doctrine is more fully and explicitly revealed to him. He is then inftruéted, that a facra- ment is ‘‘an outward vifible fign of an inward * fpiritual grace given unto us:”’ and that it Z2 340 z Regeneration the ‘is ordained by Chrift himfélf, as a means “* whereby we receive the fame” grace, “‘ and “as a pledge to aflure us thereof.” He is in- ftructed, that baptifm is a facrament; and as fuch, of courfe confifting of an outward and vifible fign, and of an inward and fpiritual grace :—he is inftruéted, that the outward fign is ‘‘ water, wherein the perfon is baptized in *< the name of the Father, and of the Son, and * of the Holy Ghoft;” and being interrogated, what is its inward and fpiritual grace, he is inftru@ted to anfwer, “a death unto fin, and ‘‘a new birth unto righteoufnefs; for being “ by nature born in fin, and the children of “ wrath, we are hereby made the children of | * grace; hereby, that is, by baptifm; neither the argument nor the ftru€ture of the fentence can admit of any other interpretation. What can be plainer? Had it been the intention of the Compofers of the Catechifm, as indeed I doubt not it was, to affert moft unequivocally the doctrine of baptifmal regeneration, how could it have been more direétly afferted ? Plainer language cannot be found. “ The «‘ outward fign of baptifm is water: the fpi- *‘ ritual grace is a death unto fin, and a new ** birth unto righteoufnefs ; for we are hereby *«* made the children of grace.” The next religious office, in which the child is engaged, is the order of Confirmation; where- Spiritual Grace of Bapti/m. 341 in he ratifies and confirms the vows made for him by his fureties at baptifm. _We have here then of courfe an allufion to that holy in- ‘flitution ; and as if it were cautioufly provided, that the facramental character of the inftitu- tion fhould be kept fteadily in view, we are reminded of the regeneration conveyed by it to the baptized. ‘The Bifhop who prefides at the office is thus directed to pray: ‘‘ Almighty “« and ever-living God, who hatft vouchfafed to ‘* regenerate thefe thy fervants by water and “the Holy Ghoft, and hatt given unto them *« forgivene(s of all their fins; ftrengthen them, *“ we befeech thee, O Lord, with the Holy “« Ghoft the Comforter.” The affertion is plain and direét: the Church affirms by the mouth of one of her Governors, and fhe af- firms it in the moft folemn form of a prayer to the almighty and ever-living God, that he has vouchfafed to regenerate his fervants, who come now to be confirmed; by water and the Holy Ghott: not, as hath been confidently | alleged, ‘‘ with a view to blefflings contingent ‘upon their future endeavourss,” but with a view to thofe, which at baptifm they auall y receive. Hitherto we have feen frequent notice taken 6 See Overton, p. 104. Zz 3 342 Regeneration the ‘ by the Church of the doétrine of regeneration; and it is remarkable, that the parts of the © Common-Prayer-Book, which we have been hitherto examining, have either an immediate connection with, or an obvious relation to, baptifm. And I think it no lefs remarkable, that there is (if Iam not ftrangely miftaken) only one place more in the whole Book of Common-Prayer, wherein the doétrine of re- generation or the new-birth is noticed; and there it is noticed in perfect conformity with her expreffions, that have been already cited, as an event already paffled, and one in which her members in general have partaken. In her collect for Chriftmas-day, the Church is led, from a mention of the birth of Chrift, to mention the fpiritual birth of thofe who are regenerated in him; who are made partakers of his nature, as he had condefcended to be- come partaker of theirs. The colleé runs in this form: ‘* Almighty God, who haft given “us thy only-begotten Son to take our nature “upon him, and as at this time to be born “ of a pure virgin; grant that we, being re- “« generate, and made thy children by adoption *‘and grace, may daily be renewed by thy “ Holy Spirit.” The petition is exclufively for daily renovation: the notice of our regene- ration, and of our adoption as the children of Spiritual Grace of Baptifm. 343 God, is retrofpective; and is the grateful ac- knowledgment of a blefling, once, conferred, and not to be repeated. . From the Liturgy if we direct.c our attention to the Articles of our Church, we. fhall find a perfe& harmony maintained about the doc- trine in queftion. In three of the Articles it is incidentally alluded to in fuch ,a. manner, as to fhow that the Church takes for granted the connection between baptifm and the new birth. In the gth it is laid down, that ‘ the ** original infection of nature doth remain, yea ‘in them that are regenerated ;” and by the context it appears, that by the regenerated are intended “‘ they that believe and are baptized :” in the 15th Chriftians univerfally are defignat- ed by the appellation of thofe, «« who are bap- “tized and born again in Chrift:” and the 16th Article {peaks of the condition of << thofe, “‘ who fall into fin after baptifm ;” that is, ac- cording to an equivalent expreflion, after they have ‘‘ received the Holy Ghoft.” But that, which is more pointedly and more fully to our purpofe, is the 27th Article, which exprefsly fets forth the doctrine of the Church concern- ing baptifm: ‘‘ Baptifm is, not only a fign of ‘* profefflion and a mark of difference, whereby ‘¢ Chriftian men are difcerned from others that “are not chriftened; but it is alfo a fign of ** regeneration or new birth, whereby, as by LA 344 Regeneration the “an inftrument, they that receive baptifm “rightly are grafted into the Church; the b *‘ promifes of forgivenefs of fin, and of our ‘ adoption to be the fons of God by the Holy “ Ghoft, are vifibly figned and fealed; faith is “confirmed and grace increafed by virtue of “ prayer unto God.” I give the whole of the defcription: the part of it, effential to our pre- fent inquiry, exactly correfponding with the defcription in the Catechifm, which fpeaks of the outward vifible fign and the inward {pi- ritual grace, is, that baptifm, or the wafhing with water, is a fign of regeneration or new birth; and that by it, as by an inftrument, the promife of our adoption to be the fons of God by the Holy Ghoft is vifibly figned and fealed. Such is the dodtrine of our Church with re- gard to regeneration: nor does fhe confider it asa matter of mere abftraé fpeculation; for in conformity with this fhe requires her mi- nifters to inftrucét the people, that ‘* the bap- *‘ tifm of their children ought not to be de- “ferred longer than till the firft or fecond “‘ Sunday after their birth";” “ left” (as one of her moft highly efteemed Bithops hath ob- ferved) ‘“‘importune and unneceflary delay ‘* occafion that the child die before it is dedi- h Rubrick before the office of private Baptifm. Spiritual Grace of Baptifm. 345 cated to the fervice of God and the religion “of the Lord. Jefus; before it be born again, ** admitted to the promife of the Gofpel, and ‘reckoned in the account of the fecond ** Adami.” And fhe accordingly pronounces, what gives to the dodtrine, that I am main- taining, its. great practical importance, that “it is certain by God’s word, that children, “‘ which are baptized, dying before they com- “mit aGual fin, are undoubtedly faved.” As to thofe; who do not die in infancy, fhe teaches, that the privilege of falvation, thus beftowed by God through the regeneration of baptifm, is continued to them, if they grow up in faith and obedience: if not, it is taken from them, until they repent; for, as it is afirmed in the 16th Article, “‘ the grant of “repentance is not to be denied to fuch as * fall into fin after baptifm. After we have “received the Holy Ghoft, we may depart “ from grace given, and fall into fin; and by “the grace of God we may arife again, and “amend our lives.” I have thus ftated the feveral paffages in the Liturgy and Articles, wherein our Church notices regeneration, or the being born again. I have not knowingly omitted one. And I : Bithop Taylor’s Advice to his Clergy. Enchir. Theol. vol. il. p. 280. 346 Regeneration the - will now venture to fay, that I do not think it poffible that a doubt can exiftupon the mind of any fair inquirer, with refpeé to the opi- nion entertained by our Church;'on the quef- tion of baptifmal regeneration. Indeed’ fo unequivocal was her opinion’ upon this point underftood to be, that when; after the reftora- tion of the royal family and the regal govern- ment in Charles the Second, it was enacted, that thofe minifters, who had gained pofleffion of any benefices during the’ rébellion, fhould relinquith their preferment, unlefs they con- formed to the principles and doétrines of the’ Church of England, the Nonconformift Mi- nifters, who quitted their ftations, affigned this reafon, in common with others, for their non- conformity ; that “ the Church clearly teaches * the doctrine of real baptifmal regeneration*.” It is therefore with fome degree of pain and furprife, that I fee any doubt of the inward and fpiritual grace of baptifm expreffed by a living Minifter of our Eftablifhment, whofe moderation and Chriftian charity appear not to be furpaffed by his piety and zeal’: and I efteem it no gratuitous conceflion, which is made by the lefs gentle advocate of a party in k Nonconformift’s Memorial, Introd. p. 39. a Bax- ter’s Life, p. 313, 327, 342. 1 See Zeal without Innovation, p. 109. Spiritual Grace of Bapti/m. 847 the Church, that ‘‘ fhe fpeaks of every child “that fhe has baptized, as regenerate, as a « partaker of the privileges of the Gofpel, and . “asin fome fenfe called to a ftate of falva- * tion.” But it is an uncharitable and a cruel infinuation, if he means to charge thofe whom he calls his opponents, with concluding hence, *«¢ that our. Church knows of no diftinction but * that between profefied Chriftians and pro- “« feffled' Heathens, Jews, &c. and that fhe *‘ really confiders all, who are her nominal «¢ members, in fuch a fenfe in a ftate of falva- “‘ tion, as that they will efcape future punith- ** ment and obtain everlafting happinefs, what- «< ever be their charaGers.” God forbid that we fhould be juftly expofed to fo formidable an accufation! Let us rather truft, that whilft with the Church, we maintain the regenerat- ing efficacy of baptifm to thofe, who die before they commit actual fin, with her alfo we con- fider, in the language of the fame Author, that « none who have arrived at maturity and ‘are capable fubjects, are in fuch a fenfe “ Chriftians, as that they will obtain happinefs *« and heaven, except thofe who are influenced *¢ by Chriftian principles and exhibit a Chrif- ** tian condu& ; who are penitents, believers, «« and habitual obfervers of God’s laws™.” m See Overton’s True Churchmen, p. 102, 106. ‘ 348 Regeneration the... I have dwelt longer upon this point, extra- neous as it is to the fubjeét I have more im- mediately in hand, and have multiplied proofs to a greater extent than may appear neceflary — * to thofe, who are contented to take the plain declarations of our Church in their plain and obvious meaning. ‘ To fuch perfons it may be matter of no {mall aftonifhment, that one of the Founders of Methodifm*, who uniformly gloried in his fidelity to the doétrines of the © Church of England, declared that “ baptifmal “regeneration might with all our beft endea- “vours be ineffectual ;” affirming of himfelf, that ‘‘ though he had ufed all the means for ‘“€ twenty years, yet he was not a Chriftian;” and adopting the authoritative: language of © our Saviour, “ Verily, verily, | muft be born | “again.” To fuch perfons it muft be matter — of aftonifhment, that the other great leader of the {chifm, himfelf alfo a Minifter.of the na- — tional Church, declared with inconceivable effrontery, that ‘‘ he would as foon believe the “doctrine of tranfubftantiation, as that all ‘* people, who are baptized, are born again®;” — and pronounced with a fpirit of uncharitable- nefs equal to his effrontery, that “ baptifmal ‘“‘ regeneration was the Diana of the prefent n J. Welley. ° Whitefield’s Eighteen Sermons, p. 351.- Spiritual Grace of Baptifm. 349 “clergy and of the prefent age’:” a ground- lefs (1 fuppofe) and a wicked fupertftition, for which, like the idolaters of Ephefus, or the advocates of unaffifted, unenlightened reafon, (for their conceits he alfo denominates, ‘ that ** great and boafted Diana,”’) we renounce the articles of the Chriftian faith, which at our baptifm we promifed to believe. Nor will it be heard without furprife, mingled perhaps with fome degree of indignation, that not only among the deluded partizans of fchifmatical enthufiafm, but in the very bofom of the Church, there are men, who have pledged themfelves moft folemnly to the fupport of her do¢trines, and who arrogate to themfelves the diftinétion of being her only faithful fons ; whofe preaching neverthelefs is in irreconcile- able oppofition to her unequivocal and nume- rous declarations on this important article of her creed. Regeneration is, as it were, in- {cribed on their banners, and is one of the watchwords of their fect: regeneration, not the fruit of Chrift’s holy ordinance of baptifm, but the effect of their declamation; not the blefling of a foul, peacefully devoted to Chritt’s - fervice, but the mark of one zealous in the caufe of their party. They, who can be per- fuaded to embrace the tenets of that party, are 'P Whitefield’s Works, vol. iv. p. 162, 241. vol..v. p. 205. ye ‘ " 7 350 | Regeneration ‘the, defcribed as labouring in the pangs and tra- vails of the new birth, until Chrift be formed in them; whilft all who tread in the found paths of the Church, of Scripture; and of an- tiquity, unfeduced by their invitations and un- terrified by their threats, are reprefented, to- gether with their minifters, thofe blind lead- ers. of the blind, as unregenerate unconitend " ag? a finners. I will not retort upon our accufers the charges, which they lavifh upon us. 1 will not even infift more ftrongly upon the difcre- pancy, which prevails between their tenets and thofe which the foregoing quotations will have fatisfactorily fhown to be the tenets of our Church. I will in this place do no more than exprefs my hope and belief, that the re- marks, which are now about to be offered, and ~ which {hall be derived principally from holy Scripture, will at leaft acquit us of the temerity of blindly fubfcribing to a do¢trine without an appearance of fufficient evidence; even fhould they fail of proving, that the doctrine itfelf, unlike the image of the Ephefian Diana, did really “‘ come down from heaven.” Now it is certain, that by being born again, of which our Saviour {peaks in fuch lofty lan= guage, fomething is defigned abfolutely ne- ceflary to be attained by thofe, who would enter into the kingdom of God. It is matter Spiritual Grace of Bapti/m. 851 therefore, not of mere idle fpeculation, but of the neareft and deareft intereft, that we ex- amine what is meant by being born again: in order that we may “ be filled with all joy and “ peace in believing” that we partake of it, if, as we apprehend, it is conferred by the facrament of baptifm ; or, if not, that we may be enabled to difcover, what it is that is thus neceflary for our falvation; and where, and when, and how, it is to be obtained. In the firft place then, we derive a ftrong probability in behalf of our fuppofition from this confideration ; that, if the work of regene- ration is not effected by baptifm, it is almoft impoflible for any fober man to fay when and by what means it is: and that we are thus left without any other guide, than the very quef- tionable criterion of our own imaginations or our own feelings, to determine, whether we are in poffeflion of that, which our Saviour has pronounced to be an indifpenfable requifite of falvation. A fituation this of doubt, fuf- penfe, and anxiety, with regard to our eternal welfare, to which, it is reafonable to believe, that, with fuch a revelation of his will as Chriftianity profeffes to be, “the Father of ** mercies and God of all comfort’ would not expofe his humble creatures. For, that I may profecute a former obferva- tion, if f{piritual regeneration be not conferred 352 ‘Regeneration the — by baptifm, when (we may reafonably de- mand) and by what means is it conferred ? In what other ceremony, and at what other feafon, fhall we find that joint operation of water and of the Holy Spirit, of which Chrift affirms we mutt be born? I fay that joint ope- ration; for furely thofe, which Chrift himfelf hath joined together, it is not for man to put afunder. I am the more difpofed to prefs this argu- ment, and to bring it forward in the moft pro- minent point of view, not only becaufe it ap- ' pears to me decifive on the queftion; but alfo, becaufe the importance of the argument feems to be recognifed by the filence of our oppo- nents, who in their zeal to enforce regene- ration, the being born again, the being born of God, the being born of the Spirit, ftudioufly — keep out of fight the inftrument, whereby Chrift fays we muft be born again. But “ that “* we may be thus born of the Spirit,” (I ufe the words of Bifhop Beveridge,) “‘ we muft be — “< born alfo of water, which our Saviour here “« puts in the firft place. Not as if there was «any fuch virtue in water, whereby it could “‘ regenerate us; but becaufe this is the rite or ‘‘ ordinance appointed by Chrift, wherein he ‘“‘ regenerates us by his Holy Spirit: our re- ‘¢ generation is wholly the act of the Spirit of « Chrift. But there muft be fomething done Spiritual Grace of Baptifm. 353 ‘on our parts in order to it; and fomething *« that is inftituted and ordained by Chrift him- *«< felf, which in the Old Teftament was cir- * cumcifion, in the New, baptifm or wafhing | “‘ with water; the eafieft that could be in- ‘vented, and the moft proper to fignify his “ cleanfing and regenerating us by his Holy *« Spirit. And feeing this is inftituted ‘by « Chrift himfelf, as we cannot be born of wa- *‘ ter without the Spirit, fo neither can we in “an ordinary way be born of the Spirit with- ** out water, ufed or applied in obedience and “conformity to his inftitution. Chrift hath * joined them together, and it is not in our ** power to part them; he that would be born “* of the Spirit, muft be born of water alfo%.” Upon this point the obfervation of one of our firft and moft celebrated Reformers is not unworthy of attention. ‘ Like as Chrift was “ born in rags,’ fays the venerable Latimer, “fo the converfion of the whole world is by “‘ rags, by things which are moft vile in this “ world. For what is fo common as water? *‘ every foul ditch is full of it: yet we wath * out remiffion of our fins by baptifm; for * like as he was found in rags, fo we mutt *« find him by baptifm. There we begin: we ** are wafhed with water, and then the words 9 Beveridge’s Sermons, vol. i. p. 304. Aa 354 Regeneration the “‘ are added ; for we are baptized in the name “of the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghoft, “whereby the baptif{m receiveth its ftrength. “« Now this facrament of -baptifm is a thing of ‘« oreat weight; for it afcertaineth and affureth ‘us, that like as the water wafheth the body “and cleanfeth it, fo the’ blood of Chrift our « Saviour cleanfeth and wafheth it from all ‘filth and uncleannefs of fins’.” And fo it is taught in King Edward’s Catechifm, that ‘“‘baptifm doth reprefent and fet before our “* eyes that we are by the Spirit of Chrift new born, and cleanfed from fin; that we be “‘ members and parts of his Church, received ‘into the communion of faints. For water ** fignifieth the Spirit®.” a , For the purpofe therefore of regeneration, we conceive this union of water, as the inftru- ment, and of the Spirit, as the efficient prin- ciple, to be abfolutely neceffary: and although we acknowledge with humble and grateful hearts, that the continued and unceafing in- fluence of the Spirit is requifite for the welfare of our fouls, and that we are daily renewed by his fanctifying power, fometimes perhaps without the inftrumentality of outward means; ftill we are juftified in contending, that for the t Bp. Latimer’s Sermons, vol. il. p. 779. s Enchir. Theolog. vol. i. p. 52. ' Spiritual Grace of Baptif. 355 exprefs purpofe of regeneration, not only is his operation neceffary, but that it muft alfo (humanly {peaking) be adminiftered through the mediation of water. It is not for man to difpenfe with the ordinances of God. Nay, for man to take upon him to difpenfe ~ with God’s ordinances, is not only generally an act of prefumption, but it is alfo in a par- ticular manner to derogate from the honour due to that Holy Spirit, by whom we are fealed unto the day of redemption. “ For a * {pecial prerogative” (faith Bifhop Andrews) “hath the Holy Ghoft in our baptifm above «‘ the other two perfons of the Trinity. That «‘Javer is his laver properly, where we are “ not only to be baptized into him, as into “ the other two ; but alfo even to be baptized «¢ with him, which is proper to him alone. For “ befides the water, we are there to be born «« anew of the Holy Ghoft alfo, elfe there is no *‘ entering for us into the kingdom of God'.” So that to deny the regenerating effect of bap- tifm is in fome fenfe to do defpite unto the Spirit of grace, and to rob him of his peculiar honour. And farther; not only is it prefumptuous to attempt to feparate water from the Spirit, but it is at the fame time altogether unneceffary. t Serm. V. on the Holy Ghof, p. 641. Aa2