^iii Jl, flflif iiiiv LIBRARY FJtI^^CI:TO^\ n. j. No. Case, «^> ^ _A No. Shelf, ^^^\ ^^^"^iiZj^ BR 45 .B35 1812 Hampton lectures AN APPEAL TO THE GOSPEL, OR AN INQUIRY INTO THE JUSTICE OF THE CHARGE, 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 I^ THE YEAR 1812, At the Lecture foHirded 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. " I 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 hasreticos, est illud crimen ita grave, ut nisi videatur, " nisi palpetur, nisi manibus -digitisque teneatur, credi facile de homine " Christiano non debeat." 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. 1812. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND RIGHT REVEREND JOHN RANDOLPH, D. D. LORD BISHOP OF LONDON. My Lord, JL HE following Difcourfes are the fruit of ftudies, commenced when I had the benefit of your Lordfhip's infl:ruc9:ions 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 jurifdidlion. Thefe confiderations induced me to fignify a wifli, with which you have been gracioufly pleafed to comply, that I might be permitted A 2 iv DEDICATION. to fend my Lectures into the world under the fandlion of your Lordthip's patronage; affured, at the fame time, that an attempt, which has for its objecft to refcue from mifreprefentation fome important articles of our holy Faith, and to vindicate the great body of the national Clergy from much unmerited afperlion, 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. I am. My Lord, Your Lordfhip's much obliged and very dutiful Servant, RICHARD MANT. Okiel College, May, 1812. PREFACE. JjLAYING in the following Inquiry ventured on a fubjedl, in itfelf perhaps of an invidious character, I am anxious to avoid all unne- celTarj 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- Yer{y, it has been my earnell delire to abftain from all intemperance of manner and of lan- guage. Firmly perfuaded of the truth of thofe dodrines, 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 condud, and induced to employ expreflions, unworthy of my Chriftian profeffion, I beg that fuch language may be looked upon as never uttered ; or at leall may be regarded with indulgence, as the effed of human weaknefs, and not of a deliberate intention to offend. In order to afcertain the fentiments of thofe, whofe allegations I have undertaken to ex- amine, I have principally had recourfe to the A 3 vi PREFACE. writings of the Founders of Methodifm, and of the moll eminent among thofe Minillers of the Eilablifliment, who, like the profefled Methodifts, have been diftinguiflied (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 acfted 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, I requeft that my remarks may not be underftood to apply to any man, far- ther than as he efpoufes the fentiments of thole, 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 refpedlful to ftate, that the materials of the following Le6lures were collected, and indeed the Le6lures themfelves were nearly com- pleted in their prefent form, before the " Re- PREFACE. vii " futation of Calvinifm" was announced. For the compofition of my Difcourfes I had avail- ed myfelf of a feafon of comparative leifure, v^rhich more numerous and prefling parochial engagements have fince prevented from re- curring : fo that, had it been my v^ilh, it would hardly have been in my power, to de- vote due attention to the examination of any frefh publications. The truth however is, that it was not my wilh to be indebted to fo recent a production; efpecially to one, which, from the exalted llation and well-known chara6ter of the Author, might be expecfted 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 fpecify my obligation,) I deter- mined to deny myfelf the fatisfadtion, 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 fliould have acfted a more prudent part, if I had de- clined my own attempt, on the appearance of the Bifliop of Lincoln's work. Had I been apprifed of his Lordfhip's undertaking at an earlier period, it is moft probable that I Ihould never have engaged in mine : or, when I firft A 4 viii PREFACE. became acquainted with that undertaking, had not my Difcourfes been defigned for a fpecific purpofe, and my intention of being a candidate for that particular appointment been declared, the work would then probably have been relinquillied. 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 fubjecft has led me to notice fome particulars, which can hardly have en- tered into a " Refutation of Calvinifm :" and even with refpe6l to thofe, which are common to both inquiries, the more fuperficial exami- nation of the Predelfinarian fyftem, to which my limits and my abilities have confined me, may (by the bleffing of God) be not unpro- fitable to thofe, who have not opportunity for ftudj^ing his Lordfhip's more elaborate produc- tion. I have only to add, that being defirous of comprifing the whole of my obfervations in the body of the work, inflead 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. ;cA '-' SERMON I. INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. 1 Cor. ix. l6. 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. 1. SERMON II. christian works a necessary condition of salvation. Matt. xix. i6, 17. And behold, one came and Jaid unto him, Good Majier, ivhat good thing Jhall I do, that I may have eternal life P And he Jaid unto him. Why calleji thou me goodf there is none good hut one, that is, God : but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. P. 59. X CONTENTS. SERMON III. CALVINISTIC PREDESTINATION NOT THE DOC- TRINE OF THE GOSPEL. Luke xiii. 23, 24. Then f aid one unto him. Lord, are there few that hefavedP And he f aid unto them. Strive to enter in at the Jlrait gate : for many, I fay unto you, tvill feeh to enter in, and fhall not he able. P. 113. SERMON ly. CALVINISM INCONSISTENT WITH THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES, AND WITH THE GENERAL CON- DITIONS OF THE GOSPEL COVENANT. John iii. 16. God fo loved the luorld, that he gave his only- begotten Son, that ivhofoever believeth in him fhould not perifh, but have everlafling life. P. 181. SERMON V. the operations of the holy ghost NEITHER IRRESISTIBLE, NOR PERCEPTIBLE. John vii. 37, 38, 39. In the lafi day, that great day of thefeafl, Je- fusjiood and cried, faying. If any man thirfl, let him come unto me, and drink. CONTENTS. xi He that helieveth on me, as the Scripture hath faid, out of his belly Jliall Jlow rivers of liv- ing ivater. But thisfpake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on himfJwuld receive. P. 255, SERMON VI. REGENERATION THE SPIRITUAL GRACE OF BAP- TISM. John iii. 5. Jefus anfweredy Verily, verily, I fay unto thee. Except a man be born of ivater and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. P. 327. SERMON VII. A SPECIAL AND INSTANTANEOUS CONVERSION NOT NECESSARY FOR CHRISTIANS. Matt, xviii. 2, 3. A?id Jefus called a little child unto him, and, fet him in the midjl of them. And faid. Verily, I fay unto you. Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye fhall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. P. 389. xii CONTENTS. SERMON YIIL assurance of eternal salvation:, and un- sinning perfection, not the privileges of a true christian. Matt. v. 3. Blejfed are the poor injpirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. P. 439. SERMON IX. CONCLUDING DISCOURSE. GENERAL REMARKS. 1 Cor. ix. 16. Though I preach the Gojpel, I have nothing to glory of: for necejfity 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 OF THE LATE REV. JOHN BAMPTON, CANON OF SALISBURY. " I give and bequeath my Lands and *^ Eftates to the Chancellor, Mafters, and Scholars " of the Univerlity 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 Univerlity of Ox- " ford for the time being fhall take and receive all " the rents, iflfues, and profits thereof, and (after all " taxes, reparations, and neceftary deductions made) " that he pay all the remainder to the endowment " of eight Divinity Ledlure Sermons, to be efta- " blifhed for ever in the faid Univerfity, and to be " performed in the manner following : " I direct and appoint, that, upon the firft Tuef- " day in Eafter Term, a Lecturer be yearly chofen 14 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 " *-wo in the afternoon, to preach eight Divinity -(edlure 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 A61 Term. '' Alfo I direct and appoint, that the eight Di- " vinity Le6lure Sermons Ihall be preached upon ^' either of the following Subjedls — to confirm and " eftablifh the Chriftian Faith, and to confute all " heretics and fchifmatics — upon the divine au- *' 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 Chriftian Faith, '' as comprehended in the Apoftles' and Nicene '* Creeds. '' Alfo I direct, that thirty copies of the eight " Divinity Le6lure Sermons fhall be always printed, " within two months after they are preached, and " one copy fhall be given to the Chancellor of the " Univerlity, 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- " leian Library ; and the expence of printing them " fhall be paid out of the revenue of the Land or *' Eftates given for eftablifhing the Divinity Lee- CANON BAMPTON'S WILL. 15 " ture Sermons ; and the Preacher ihall not be paid, " nor be entitled to the revenue, before they are " printed. *' Alfo I direct and appoint, that no perfon fhall " be quahfied to preach the Divinity Ledlure Ser- " mons, unlefs he hath taken the degree of Mafter *' of Arts at leaft, in one of the two Univerlities ** of Oxford or Cambridge ; and that the fame per- *' fon fhall never preach the Divinity Le6lure Ser- " mons twice." INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. I Cor. ix. i6. ThoKgh I preach the Go/pel, I have nothing to glory of : for necejjity is laid upon me ; yea^ wo is unto ?ne, if I preach not the Go/pel. vJUR blefled Saviour emphatically defcribed the purpofe of his miniftry, when, applying to himfelf a remarkable prophecy of Ifaiah, he declared ; " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, " becaufe he hath anointed me to preach the *' Gofpel to the poor\" And he employed the fame appropriate exprelTion, when, having de- legated to the Apoftles the commiffion, which he had received from his Father, and having conferred upon them the gift of the Holy Ghoft, he bade them, '' Go into all the world, " and preach the Gofpel to every creature^." Agreeable to the example and command- ment of the Mailer was the conduct of the Apoftles : both of thofe, who received their a Luke Iv. 18. ^ Mark xvl. 15, B 2 INTRODUCTORY commiflion at his hands, before he afcended ; and of him, to whom a fimilar difpenfation was miraculoully committed, after the afcen- fion of Chrift. To the Jew firft, and after- w^ards to the Gentile, they were indefatigable in preaching the Gofpel : in the execution of this office, they confidered and reprefented themfelves to be ading, as they really were, in obedience to the exprefs commands of God: they executed it, therefore, as a matter, not of choice, but of neceflity : not as a voluntary exercife, of the performance of which they might boall ; but as a folemn talk, by the omiffion or neglect of which they would be difgraced : not as a gratuitous undertaking, for which they might claim a recompence ; but as a bounden duty, which it were crimi- nal to relinquifh. '' Though I preach the *' Gofpel," fays St. Paul, in the energetic lan- guage of my text, " I have nothing to glory *^ of: for neceflity is laid upon me ; yea, wo " is unto me, if I preach not the Gofpel." Nor did they efteem themfelves more bound to preach the Gofpel in general, than to preach it in its purity ; uncorrupt, and unperverted. If dilgrace and wo were to be their lot, fliould they negledl to preach it; an equal pu- nifliment appears to have been apprehended by them, if they departed from its limplicity, and blended falfehood, or error, with the truth DISCOURSE. 3 of Chrift. Such is the purport of the autho- ritative fentence of the fame animated Apo- ftle. " Though we," he pronounces to his Galatian converts, " Though we, or an angel " from heaven, preach any other Gofpel unto " you than that which we have preached *' unto you, let him be accurfed ^" And, as if he were fearful that the fentiment would not be fufficiently imprefled upon his difci- ples, he deliberately repeats it in the follow- ing fentence with equal clearnefs and preci- fion : " As we faid before, fo fay I now again, " If any man preach any other Gofpel unto " you than that which ye have received, let " him be accurfed." Dilliinguifhed from the firft preachers of Chriftianity, inafmuch as they neither derive their commiflion immediately from Chrift, nor are empowered to confirm the word *' by figns " and wonders and mighty deeds," the fuc- ceeding minifters of the Gofpel are yet on the fame footing with the Apoftles in a very im- portant refpe6l. To them, in common with the Apoftles, " a difpenfation of the Gofpel is *' committed **." Neither feleded from their brethren by the perfonal interpofition of Chrift on earth, nor called to be his minifters by the fpecial appointment of a voice from heaven, ^ Gal. i. 8, 9. «' I Cor, ix. 17. B 2 4 INTRODUCTORY they have not their office impofed upon them by that neceffity, which affigned to the Apo- llles their more diftinguiflied ftations. To un- dertake the miniftry of the Gofpel is volun- tary on the part of its preachers now. But when they have been once legitimately called and ordained to that miniftry, and have wil- lingly taken upon themfelves the duties which are annexed to it, it is then no longer matter of choice, whether or not they will be preach- ers of the Gofpel. As opportunities prefent themfelves of publilhing the good tidings of falvation through Chrift, and of leading men to the knowledge of the truth in him, it is the duty of us, who are engaged in the miniftry, to be found active at our pods. " Our hand *' is to the plough," and it is not permitted us to " look back ^" The fword of the Spirit is intrufted to us ; and it is our bufinefs to wield it. Thus inlifted under the banner of Chrifl, *' Though we preach the Gofpel, we have no- " thing to glory of: for neceflity is laid upon *' us ; yea, wo is unto us, if we preach not *' the Gofpel." Like its firft preachers alfo, we are bound to preach it in the fame purity, wherewith it hath been delivered to us from the fountain of light and truth. The will of God, which was <= Luke ix. 62. DISCOURSE. & revealed to the Apoftles in general by the mouth of Chrift, and to St. Paul in particular by a more fpecial difpenfation, is delivered down to us in authentic documents, written under the infpiration of the Holy Gholl. From thofe documents the matter of our preaching is to be drawm ; and wo unto us, if we preach any other Gofpel, than that which we have fo received. Under thefe circumftances, no charge can be devifed againft the minifters of Chrift, of a more dilgraceful or a more capital nature, than that they are not Preachers of the Gof- pel. As therefore it is of fo grievous a cha- racter to thofe, againft whom it may be di- redted, it proportionally becomes every man, who may be difpofed to advance it againft any minifters of Chrift, to be w^ell aflured of the grounds, on which he advances it. " Whereas they call us heretics," obferved a learned apologift of the Englifli reformation, *' that is fo grievous a fin, that unlefs it can " be feen, unlefs it can be handled, unlefs it " can be gralped by the hands and fingers, it ^' ought not eafily to be believed of a Chriftian ££ f " " man . f Nam quod nos appellant haereticos, eft illud crimen ita grave, ut nili videatur, nifi palpetur, nifi nianibus digl- tifque teneatur, credi facile de homine Chriftiano non de- beat. Juelli Apologia, Enchiridion Theologic, vol.i. p. 200, B 3 6 INTRODUCTORY Whether fuch circumfpedlion is at all times obferved, is highly queftionable. Certain how- ever it is, that the charge itfelf has been of late, and is at prefent, perpetually advanced againft a great majority of the miniliers of the Church of England. Some of our own bre- thren in the miniftry, who are attached to certain peculiar tenets, and who in confe- quence claim the appellation of Evangelical or Gofpel preachers, thereby exclude, by impli- cation at leaft, if not exprefsly, from a fliare in that appellation thofe of their fellow-la- bourers, whofe opinions and ftyle of preach- ing do not correfpond with their own. It is no lefs notorious, that a large body of men, who have rifen to be, according to their own imaginations, minifters of the Gofpel, (how legitimately it is not my prefent purpofe to inquire ;) and multitudes befides, who refort to them in fearch of that fpiritual improve- ment, which, as they allege, they defpair of procuring at the mouth of a regularly ordain- ed priefthood ; make no fcruple of pronounc- ing, in the broadeft and moll unequivocal lan- guage, that the Gofpel is not preached in our Church. Upon this pretext Methodifm arofe and hath been maintained. In avowed opposition to the parochial Clergy, and the authorifed ru- lers of the eftablifhed Church, to '' heathenifli DISCOURSE. 7 "' priefts and mitred infidels," (for in the lan- guage of cenfiire the Methoditls have not been diftinguiflied for their temperance,) the found- ers and abettors of the fchifm have gone forth, " to difpel the grofs darknefs of ignorance and *' ungodlinefs ; and to fpread the light of the " Gofpel over a benighted land." The na- tional Clergy, as a body, have been, and con- tinue to be, ftigmatifed, as *' ignorant of evan- " gelical truth ;" as preachers of" Popifli and '' Socinian tenets ;" as " fubftituting a hea- " thenifh morality for the dodrine of Scrip- *' ture ;" and as *' corrupting, fophifticating, " and mutilating the truth of God." In the vocabulary of thefe modern reformers, Me- thodifm and the Gofpel are (ynonymous terms^. And fo exclulively do they aflume the appel- lation of Preachers of the Gofpel, and fo arro- gantly do they withhold it from others, that no minifterial qualification will exempt a man from this awful charge, unlefs his views of Scripture Ihould happen to coincide with their own. " I have feen it aflerted in print," faith a learned prelate, " by one of thefe felf-fent *' apofl:les, that the Gofpel was firfi: preached i See the works of Wefley, Whitefield, and other Me- thodifts, throughout. See alfo " Sermons and Extracts by Edmund Outram, D. D. Public Orator of Cambridge," containing a ufeful collection of extracts froaii the works of Arminian and Calviniftic Methodifts. B 4 8 INTRODUCTORY " on a certain day in a parifli, where, to my *' own certain knowledge, every duty of a " minirter of the Gofpel has been regularly " performed by a diligent confcientious cler- *' gyman . By this fentence it is evident, that the mat- ter of the difcourfes, delivered by the miniilers of the Church of England in general, is the mark at which their accufers aim. And it is either intended to be alleged againll them, that they renounce, and are apoftates from, the Gofpel, inftead of which they fubllitute a llyle of preaching of a different character ; a charge, which is pregnant with that " wo," de- nounced by the Apoftle in my text 5 or it is intended to be alleged, that the Gofpel is cor- rupted and perverted in their hands ; an accu- fation, no lefs than the other, of a moll alarm- ing and tremendous nature, if we call to mind the warning of the fame Apoftle, that fuch perfons are to be held " accurfed." We may however cherilh the hope, that our preaching is not obnoxious to fo grievous a charge as that which is here levelled againft us. And without calling in queftion the pu- rity of our accufers' motives, and without putting upon their oppolition any harflier con- ftrudtion than charity muft allow, we may ad- ^ Bifiiop Randolph's Charge at Bangor, 1808. p. 15. DISCOURSE. 9 mit a belief, that their zeal, whencefoever it may originate, and to whatever end it may be d; reeled, is at leaft " not according to know- *' ledge'." With this perfuafion, a love of truth and of juftice will fecond a becoming regard to our own charaders and welfare, if we endeavour to maintain our ground againfl: the alTaults of our opponents ; and iliould we, in repelling from ourfelves the awful charge, that we preach not the Gofpel, be driven to advance what may appear like recrimination, Chrillian charity, we truft, will authorife a meafure, which is not prompted by a fpirit of wanton hoftiUty ; but is provoked by unme- rited aggreffion, and rendered neceflary by felf- defence. An inquiry into the juftice of the charge, that the great body of the national Clergy do not preach the Gofpel, is propofed for the fubjed: of thefe difcourfes. Confiftent, as I truft it is, with the exprefs intention of the Founder of this ledure, and worthy of the ftridleft attention of thofe, for whofe benefit the ledlure appears to have been more imme- diately defigned, it is at the lame time un- queftionably a fubjedl of very great and gene- ral concern. May it pleafe Almighty God for Chrift's fake to give us the help of his Holy • Rom. X. 2. 10 INTRODUCTORY Spirit, and profper the inquiry, if it be honeft- \y diredled to the promotion of the Gofpel of his Son ! On all matters of religious controverfy, and on this, in common with others of the fame nature, appeal mull be made to the facred writings, as the only authentic records of the truth. Thefe are the fource, from which our arguments muft: principally be derived ; and thefe are the ted, to which all our reafonings muft ultimately be referred. " Holy Scrip- " ture," as our Church exprefTes it, '' contain- *' eth ail things necelfary to falvation ; fo that ** whatfoever is not read therein, nor may be *^ proved thereby, is not to be required of any *' man that it fhould be believed, as an article " of the faith, or be thought requifite or ne- " ceflary to falvation''," But whihi we regard the Scriptures as the only infallible criterion of found doctrine, I would add a falutary and feafonable caution, as to the ufe and application of them. It is the duty of every Chriftian, and it is the privi- lege of every Proteftant, to *' fearch the Scrip- '' tures;" for in them we read our title to eternal life, and they are they which teftify of Chrift : but it is not every man, who is duly qualified, at leaft on controverted pomts, to '' Art. vi. DISCOURSE. U explain them to advantage. " Scripture," faid a very learned man, " is given to all to learn ; " but to teach, and to interpret, only to a " few'." *' Ignorance of the Scriptures," as St. Jerome remarked many ages lince, " is the '* mother and nurfe of all error""." But error is never more widely fpread, or more deeply rooted, than when a familiarity with fcriptu- ral language is miftaken for a knowledge of Scripture : when, (as the fame father defcribes the ftate of religion in his own time, and would that the defcription did not apply to ours !) " perfons of whatever age, fex, or con- " dition, all arrogantly claim the privilege of " interpreting Scripture ; wreft it, mangle it, " teach before they have learned it ; and with *' a certain facility and boldnefs of fpeech " loudly proclaim to others, what they them- " felves do not underftand " ;" when, like ' Hales's Golden Remains, p. 12. ^ So quoted by Bp. Ridley. See his Life by Gl. Ridley, book vi. p. 470. The paflage alluded to, appears to be as follows : Propterea errant, quia fcripturas nefciunt ; et quia fcripturas ignorant, confequenter nefciunt virtutem Dei, hoc eft Chriftum. Hieron. Comment, in Matt. xxii. " Sola Scripturarum ars eft, quam libi omnes pailim vindicant: banc garrula anus, banc delirus fenex, banc fophifta verbofus, banc univerfi prsfumunt, lacerant, do- cent, antequam difcant : — et quadani facilitate verborum, immo audacia, ediflerunt aliis, quod ipfi non intelligunt. Hieron, Paulino, Ep. ciii. 13 INTRODUCTORY " thofe rafli prefumers," of whom St. Auftin complains, " in fupport of their ungrounded " opinions, they pretend the authority of thefe ^' facred books, and repeat much of them even *' by heart, as bearing witnefs to what they ^' hold i whereas indeed they do but pro- " nounce the words, but underftand, neither '^ what they fpeak, nor whereof they af- " firm °." In order to form '' a workman that needeth " not to be alhamed, rightly dividing the word *"' of truth ^" not only are much zeal and dili- gence necellary in fearching the Scriptures, but much lludy alfo in preparatory exercifes ; much care in comparing them ; much judg- ment in applying them ; much difcrimination in diflinguifliing between pallages of a limit- ed, and thofe of an univerfal and perpetual import; much humility and fobriety of mind o Quid enim moleftlse triftitioeque ingerant prudentibus fratribus temerarii praefum tores, fatis dici non potefl : cum, fiquando de prava et falfa opinione fua reprehendi et convinci coeperint ab eis, qui noftrorum libroruni auc- toritate non tenentur; ad defcndendum id quod leviflima temeritate et apertiffinia f'alfitate dixerunt, eofdem libros fandos, unde id probent, proferre conantur; vel etiam memoriter, quas ad teftimonium valere arbitrantur, multa inde verba pronunciant, non intelligentes neque quae ]o- quuntur, neque de quibus affirmant. Augiiji. de Gencfi ad literam. lib. i. c. xix. torn iii. p. 130. ed. Bened. P 2 Tim. ii. 15. DISCOURSE. IS in explaining more myllerious points of doc- trine 5 and efpecially a freedom from all pre- polTeflions, and a fteadfaft attention to the fa- cred volume, as one great whole ; confifting indeed of a variety of parts, but all the various parts of w^hich neceflarily depend on, and harmonife with, each other. That fuch caution is reafonable will appear to thofe, who reflect upon the various perfons, by whom ; the various perfons, to whom, and for whofe ufe ; and the manifold variety of local, temporary, and other circumftances, under which they were written : at the fame time bearing in mind, that they relate to Spiri- tual things, fome of which it furpalTes the ca- pacity of the human underftanding fully to comprehend ; but that they all proceed from one unerring fource, " the Father of lights, " with whom is no variablenefs neither fha- *' dow of turning'^;" and that they are all di- reded to one iimple and harmonious end, " the bearing of witnefs unto the truth '." Nor is it only from the reafonablenefs of the cafe, that I would inforce this falutary caution in examining and interpreting the Scriptures : but I feel juftified in inforcing it, by the exprefs teftimony of an infpired Apo- ftle, that in the epiftles of St. Paul, or in the 1 James i. 17. ^ John xviii. 37- 14 INTRODUCTORY fubjedts of his epiftles, (for the fenfe varies with the original text,) " there are fome *' things hard to be underftood, which they ** that are unlearned and unliable wrell, (" 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 paftage of St. Mat- thew, we are to love them lefs than Chrift ^ ; fo as not to fufter 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 preced- ing verfe, that Jacob " loved Rachel more " Luke xiv. 26. ^ Rom. ix. 13. y Matt. x. 37. DISCOURSE. 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 verlion of the Bible, and to feek afliftance from the original Scriptures : perhaps, becaufe our excellent tranflators did not at firft exprefs themfelves with fufficient preciiion ; perhaps, becaufe the language, which they employed, has in fome degree deviated from its former fignification ; perhaps alfo, becaufe their minds may have been bialTed by certain prepolfelfions in favour of particular opinions, which are no otherwife bound upon our belief, than as they can be proved by the pure word of Scr'pture. It is generally agreed that the phrafes, " Take no thought for your life ^ ;" " Take " no thought, faying, what fliall we eat ;" and again, '' Take no thought for the morrow ;" are a very inadequate expofition of our Sa- viour's precept ; the true intent of which mull be fought in the original palfages, f^vi (/>€- oifjLvoLTi, fjcvi i^e^ifA^vria-rjTe, be not anxioufly careful. 2 Gen. xxix. 30, 31. * Lowth on Hofea vi. 6. i'Matt. vi. 25,31,34. 28 INTRODUCTORY 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 Apollle employs a word (^Kptf^u) 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 alTailants ; al- though it may be more generally neceflary to conduct our defence upon a larger fcale. 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 paffage is of uni- verfal extent, without any limitation of age, soLv fjLYi ris yevr/iS-y], except one be born again. If he object, that, according to our Saviour's commiffion to his ApolHes, " 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 corredily rendered, as it is conftantly rendered in all the Oriental c I Cor. xi. 29. DISCOURSE. 29 verfions S make difciples of, or difciple all na- tions, fjiaB-yiT£v(roLT£ zsctna, to, eB-vrj. Or if he con- tend, that the total immerfion of the body is eflential to baptifm, we call upon him to prove, how the word in our Saviour's com- miflion muft of neceflity bear that conftruc- tion, when the fame word is elfewhere era- ployed by two of the facred hiftorians, to ex- prefs only the walhing 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 ;" oo-oi yia-av Terctyi^svoi us ^coviv ctiuviov : 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 difpolition, or pre- paration, for eternal life, believed : a tranfla- tion, which Whitby fupports by feveral in- liances of the Hke iignification of the word j and of which Pyle pronounces after Grotius, that He that feeth it not is blind ^ However ^ Beveridge's Works, vol. i. p. 305. e Luke xi. 38. and Mark vii. 4, 5. See Wall's Hlft. of Infant Baptifm, part ii. chap. viii. feft. 6. p. 319. f A£ts xiii. 48. s See Whitby's Commentary on A6ls xiii, 48, and 30 INTRODUCTORY 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, w^hat 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 forelight of the difpolition 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, sv^stoi ei^ tyiv (icca-iAeictv tov &eov^, according to a phrafe, which Wolfius, and after him Parkhurft, conlider to be equivalent with that before us, is a fad; 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 allumption of that, which is the very thing required to be proved. If this paflage is produced as a fandlion for the dodlrine of Calviniilic elecftion, another may be cited as a fand;ion for its correlative, the dodtrine of Calviniftic reprobation ; each with the fame femblance, and each with as little fubrtance, of reafon. St. Jude fpeaks of Pyle's Paraphrafe with his note. Sec alfo Parkhurft in VOC. TaTTU). ^ Luke ix. 62. DISCOURSE. 31 '* ungodly men, before of old ordained to this ** condemnation' ;" the expreflion is the fame as the former, in the Engliih verfion j but not in the Greek : ol -^raAcii Tr^oyey^ct^^tsvoi eif tovto to x^tf^a ; not made and ordained by God to be puniftied ; much lefs, ordained by God to fin, and fo to punifliment 5 but prcEfcripti, accord- ing to the vulgar Latin j profcribed in fome public record, fome programma, as certain commentators interpret it "^ ; or forelhewn, 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 exprefiion, and to the illustration in a fubfequent verfe, that " Enoch prophelied 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 requilite. St. Peter defcribes men, " which ftumble at the word, " being difobedient, whereunto alfo they were " appointed," si? 0 kcli sTsS-yicra^v ™ : an expreffion probably of the fame force as that of Tr^oys^ y^df^f^t^sm, jufl quoted from St. Jude ; men, whofe ftumbling had been declared and fore- » Jude ver. 4. ^ See Parkhurft in voc. irpoyponpw, » See Whitby in loc. ^ 1 Pet. ii. 8. 32 INTRODUCTORY told by the Prophets and by Chrift himfelf ; or who had been appointed to Humble at the word, as a punifhment for their difobedience : and St. Paul fpeaks of '' God enduring with " much long-fuffering the veflels of wrath, '* fitted to deftruAion ;" }cccTyjf)Ti(rfA,svcc stg ctTrco- ?^sioLv " : difpofed perhaps, or fitted, for defiruc- tion ; as thofe who were before reprefented to be TSToLyf^em, prepared or difpofed 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 velTels 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 wraths" as the Apoftle fpeaks in a former part of the fame epifi:le : 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 efFe6l to the agency of the Almighty ,• and that, as Whitby remarks from CEcume- nius, the old ecclefialiical interpretation of the words was adverfe to fuch a fuppofition ''. ^ Rom. ix. 22. ° 2 Tim. ii. 2i. P Rom. ii. 4, 5. ^ Whitby on the Five Points, p. 21. Eig 6 xat ereSijo-av. fjyx coj airo tou &cOtj si§ tovto a(pcopKrfj.svoic sigYjToti' ouSsfx-ia yup DISCOURSE. ^33 Once more: " the Scripture faith unto Pha- *' raoh. Even for this fame piirpofe have I ** raifed thee up, that I might lliew 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 deftruction, according to the fyitem of Calvin : but raifed thee up, epyjysi^A, from the plagues which would have cut thee off, as the murrain cut off thy cattle ; made thee to Hand, and preferved thee from the merited puniftiment, that thou mightell eventually be deftroyed by an even more me- morable and exemplary difafter. Such a fig- nification of the word is warranted by feveral palTages in the New Tellament ; 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 paifage, 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 inliance the fo- lemn ailertion of our Saviour, " I fay unto /3paoHU=Taj, ocXKoc toi; sauTOu; (TXcUtj ooyr,g xarrj^Tixocrj xai rj aTrsf- ■&i»a eTTrjxoAou^i^cr;, xai sij tjv ■sra.piaK^va.crav kxuTOv; Ta^iv eTcdr)- c-uv. Q^cumen. in i Epilh Pet. Comment, vol. ii. p. 496, • • r Rom. ix. 17, , s See Whitby in loc. D 34 INTRODUCTORY " you. That every idle word that men Ihall " fpeak, they lliall give account thereof in the "day of judgment V' were to be underftood ftridtly of ufelefs and unneceflary w^ords, it would be impoffible to converfe with inno- cence. But the context Ihews that they are defigned for fuch as *' an evil man brings out *' of the evil treafure of his heart ;" words, not limply 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 maUcioufnefs, to fkreen him in choofmg what- ever form of religion is agreeable to his fancy ; and in rejeding the legitimate authority of thofe, who have the fpiritual rule over him :, » Matt. xli. 35, 36. u I Cor. xi. 30. "^ GaL v. r.. DISCOURSE. 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 Apotlle fpeaks, are a freedom from, and a fubjecftion to, the yoke of circumcifion, and the other ordinances of the IMofaic law. *' Be ye perfed:/' fays our blelfed Lord to his difciples, " even as your Father, which is *' in heaven, is perfed: ^." Hence the Me- thodill thinks to derive a fupport to his opi- nion, that believers may attain to perfedlion in this life, fo as to be abfolutely freed from the dominion of tin. Upon this opinion I fliall have occalion to defcant hereafter ; I mention it at prefent, in order to exemplify the principle before us, by remarking, that the precept, taken in connection with the paf- lage, which precedes, and from which it is a manifeft conclufion, " Be ye therefore per- " fedl," is to be underllood as referring, not to univerfal perfection, but to a forgiving and merciful difpotition ; and in faCl appears to be only equivalent to the correfpondent paflage in the narrative of another evangelift, '^ Be ye *' therefore merciful, as your Father alfo is *' mercifuP." There are feveral infulated paflages, which are often applied in fupport of Calvjniftic pre^ y Matt. V, 48, z Luke vl, ^6, 36 INTRODUCTORY deftination, In a fenfe incompatible with their context. I forbear at prefent to fpecify them. Of one however in particular I would remark, that, whatever difficulty may attend it, when taken by itfelf, the context fupplies a moll fa- tisfa6tory folution. Allow the literal inter- pretation of the phrafe, " that God hardened *• the heart of Pharaoh," no fupport is thereby furniflied to the doctrine of abfolute irrefpec- tive reprobation. It was before the plagues began to be inliicfed, that the Lord announced to Mofes, that he would " harden Pharaoh's " heart';" but it is at the fame time a re- markable facl, that the threat was conllantly fufpended, in order (as it appears, and as was the cafe with refped: to the people of Nineveh under a fentence of deltruAion palled on them by the Almiglity ^) 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 againll thofe tcliimonies of Almighty power, which his very magicians, whom be had called in to rival them with their en- chantments, were reludantly compelled to ac- ^ Exod. iv. 21. ^ Jon. iil. 4, 5, 10. DISCOURSE. 37 knowledge ; before the fentence of the divine wrath was accomplillied 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 velTel of wrath, fo well fitted for de- ftru6lion, 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 tefiimony of his wrath, and make his power to be more illufirioufly known. Let it be allowed then, that God did literally harden Pharaoh's heart ; it mufi: 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 obfi:inacy and numerous provo- cations. That he hardened his own heart, was his fin ; that the Lord hardened it, was his punifliment ; it was an acft of righteous re- tributive jufl:ice upon an impenitent and obfi:i- 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 fpiritual ''," we ^ Exod. ix. IS. d I Cor. ii. 3. D 3 38 INTRODUCTORY lliould be cautious not to fix our thoughts on fome detached pafTage, and pufli it to its uU. moll extent ; but Ihould 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 apodolical 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 " bleffing " on them that mourn ^ ;" and warns us, that *' if any man will come after him, he mull ** deny himfelf, and take up his crofs daily, " and follow him ''*." Correcl as each of thefe fentiments unquellionably is, and confillent as they are with one another, they may be con- verted into occafions of pradlices, totally at variance with themfelves, and with the fpirit of the Chrillian religion. Whilll from the former the worldly man may deduce a feem- ing fancftion for indolence and inadivity, and in the latter the afcetic may perceive an obli- •^ I Their. V. 1 5. f Matt. x. 30. £ Matt. V. 4. h Luke ix. 23. DISCOURSE. 39 gation to unremitting penance and mortifica- tion ; the fober minded Chriftian, by a dif- creet comparifon of their refpedive imports, lees an injunction to deny himfelf every vi- cious enjoyment, and every recreation, w^hich may interfere with his fpiritual 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 holtile do6lrines of grace and free-will. ** A new heart will I ** give you," faith the Lord God to his people Ifrael, '* and a new Ipirit will I put within " you ; and I will take away the llony 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 flatutes, ** 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 " Tfrael, every one according to his own ways, " faith the Lord God. Repent, and turn your- " felves from all your tranfgreflions ; fo ini- '' quity Ihall not be your ruin. Call away '' from you all your tranfgrelTions, whereby » Ezek. XXX vi. 35, 27. D 4 ft) INTRODUCTORY " ye have tranfgrefled, and make you a new " heart and a new fpirit''." From a partial lurvey of fuch parages as the former, the Ma- nicha^an or the Calvin ill may argue, (and I fee not how, with this confined view of the fub- je6t, we are to meet his argument,) that man is a mere paffive machine, whofe inclinations and whofe con duel 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 paflages as the latter, that the free will of man is abfolute ; and that he is capa- ble of repenting, and turning from his tranf- greilions, and making himfelf a new heart and a new fpirit, without any fupernatural aid ? The fad: 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 mull alfo work. " God by his fpecial ", grace preventing us doth put into our minds '• good defires ; and by his continual help we ** bring the fame to good effect' ;" or, to cx- prefs the doclrine in one fentence of infpira- tion, we muft " work out our own falvation ^ Ezek. xviii. 30, ^i, 32. ^ Colleft for Eafter. DISCOURSE. 4 1 '' with fear and trembling 5 for it is God, *' which worketh in us, both to will and to *' do, of his good pleafure '"." 6. In the coniparifon of independent paf- fages, it is obvious to remark, as we proceed, that we fliould be careful to explain the more obfcure and diriicult by the clearer and more eafj. " The Holy Gholl," as BiHiop Hall ob- ferved in his difcourfe before the Synod of Dort, '' ought to be the judge of all contro- '" veriies ; and thofe palTages or texts in the " Bible, which feem to mention things ob- " fcurely or elfe tranfiently, fhould be tried " by thofe others, that fpeak out more plainly " and clearly, and treat of the matters with '^ dellgn "." A diftinguiflied Prefbyter of our Church hath noticed, that this rule '' w^as laid *' dow^n, although not liri6i:ly followed, by St. "Auguftin":" it were well, if the modern profelfors of that father's doctrines judged it more worthy of their attention. Our Lord had faid to his Difciples, " How " hardly fhall they that have riches, enter into ^ Phil. ii. 12, 13. " Brandt's Hiil. of the Reformation in the Low Coun- tries, iii. 33. book xx. ° Daubeny's Guide to the Chvu-ch, p. 88. Ubi autem apertius ponuntur, ibi difcenduni eft, quoniodo in locis intelHgantur obfcuris. Augiijt. de DoSi. Chrift. lib. iii. cap. xxvi. 43 INTRODUCTORY " the kingdom of God ^ :" but when he found them aftonifhed at \^■hat probably appeared ** a hard faying," he explained his intention by fubjoining, " how hard it is for them, that " trull in riches, to enter into the kingdom of *' God." And he hath been gracioully 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 ap- prehending. Thus fliould we experience any perplexity about the interpretation of that controverted palTage, " He will have mercy on whom he " will have mercy, and whom he will he har- '* deneth "^ j" 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 '* blelTed " are the merciful, for they lliall obtain mer- " cy';" that " God refirteth the proud, and '* giveth grace to the humble 'j" that *' the *' mercy of the Lord is from everlalling to " everlalling upon them that fear him, and " think of his commandments to do them':" and that on the other hand, '' Becaufe when " the Gentiles knew God, they glorified him P Mark x. 23, 24. ^ Rom. ix. 18. "■ Matt. v. 7. 8 James iv. 6. ^ Pfalm ciii. 17, 18. DISCOURSE. 43 " not as God, neither were thankful ; for this *' caufe God gave them up unto vile afFec- " tions":" that becaufe " his people would *' not hearken to his voice, and Ifrael w^ould " none of him, fo he gave them up unto their *' own hearts' luft, and they w^alked in their "own counfels":" and generally, that "he " refufeth to hear thofe, who have fet at " nought his counfel, and w^ould none of his " reproof; for that they hated knowledge, " and did not choofe the fear of the Lord ^.'* Or lliould we imagine that the Apoftle, under the Similitude of a potter " making one " velTel to honour and another to difhonour%" intended to infinuate an unconditional eledlion on the part of God in his dealings with indivi- duals ; the explicit declaration of the Prophet* jmight convince us, that the fimilitude was in- tended to illuftrate the dealings of God with refpecft to nations ; and thofe alfo, not always at leaft unconditional, but liable to be influ- enced by the condudl of the nations them- felves, even to fuch an extent, as for his pur- pofes to be faid to be altered, and his promife to be broken. Or fbould we fuppofe, that " the purpofe of " Rom. i. 21, 26. ^ Pfalm Ixxxi. 11, 12. y Prov. i. 25, 29. See the whole paflage. 2 Rom. ix. 21. a Jer. xviii, i — 11, and compare Numb. xiv. 30, 34. 44 INTRODUCTORY *' God according to election ^" noticed by St. Paul, had refpecl to the perfons of Jacob and Efau"; the unequivocal language of Mofes and of JNIalachi"^ might fhow, that it related to the nations, which Ihould fpring from them 5 ac- cording to the remark, of Iren^us, that the conception of Rebecca was a prophecy con- cerning the two nations. Or fliould we be led to doubt of the extent of the atonement made bj Chrill;, by fuch paflages as ftate, that he " laid down his life *' for his Iheep^;" " for his friends, who do " his commandments^;" for his " church^;" and that " he gave his life a ranfom for •■ many '' ;" and thence to infer that he did not die for all ; other plain declarations may convince us, that, although eventually he died for a part only, inafmuch as a part only com- plies with the conditions, on which his blood is made effectual to falvation ; yet fuch paf- fages were not intended to limit the atone- ment made by his death ; for that- he died to fave not his friends only, but " his enemies ;" not for the Church of God only, but " for the ^ Rom. Ix. II. '^ Gen. XXV. 23. <^ Mai. i. 2, 3, 4. Ex quibus nianifeflum eft, partum Rebecece prophetiani fuillc duoruni populoruiii. Irefi. lib. iv. cap. ^'6. e John X. 15. f Ibid. xv. i^, 14. & Eph. V. 25. ^ Matt. XX. 28. DISCOURSE. 45 '' unjuft, that he might bring them to God ;" not for the fheep only, that heard his voice, but for the flieep " that were loft ;" not for the many only, but '' for all' :" for all men ; for every man ; for the world, the whole world ; not in the Calvin iftic fenfe of all forts of men, or fome men of all forts, the world of the eled, and the like ; but in their plain and obvious fenfe, of the whole race of mankind, as contradiftinguifhed from believers ; that as all had tinned and fallen fliort 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 fuppoling 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 enthufiall does, and refer it to fome imaginary internal feeling ; we might be corredted 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';" ' Rom. V. 8, lo. I Pet. Hi. i8. Matt, xviii. 12. i Tim. il. 6. 3 Cor. V. 14. Heb. ii. 9. John xii. 47. i John ii. 2. Rom. V. 12, 18. ^ Rom. viii. 9, 14. l Gal. v. 22. 46 INTRODUCTORY as well as by the declaration of our Saviour with refpe(ft to thofe, who pretend to fpiritual gifts, that " by their fruits we fliall know *' them"." Nor fliall 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 fenlible and certain aflurance of falvation, and is incapable of fin ; or to adopt the doctrine of the Antinomian, that God fees no lin 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 intelHgible and univerfal confeffion of St. John, " If we fay *' that we have no fin, we deceive ourlelves, " and the truth is not in us "." 7. A farther rule, which I would propofe to aflift us in our interpretation of Scripture, un- lefs indeed it be conlidered as a fpecial modifi- cation of oite of the foregoing, is, that where the. fame term is employed at different times and under different circumftances, we ought not to be fatisficd with one independent de- fcription, but fliould compare and combine them together. It is in purfuance of this principle, that we ^ Matt. vii. 20. " I Cor. x, 12. ° i John i. 3. DISCOURSE. 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 aflerted, 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 two natures : that Arius denied him to be truly God; and ApoUinaris 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 *' law '." 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 P Mofheim, Cent. iii. part ii. chap, v- ^ See Bifhop Home's Sermon on the Word Incarnate, Difc. vol. i. p. 205. Mofheini, Cent. v. part ii. chap. y. and Cent. Iv. part ii. chap. v. ' Rom. iii. 28. s Gal. ii 16. 48 INTRODUCTORY ** man is jurtified, and not by faith only ' 5*' and who thrice within a fev/ 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 conchifions hkeiy to be drawn from St. Paul's words, as what Luther once la- mented that he had called it, an epillle of llraw : he goes fo far perhaps, as to accufe the divinely infpired author " of falfe tellimony, " of lying, of contradiding the Holy Spirit, " the Law, the Prophets, (thrill, and all the " Apoftles" ' and fo he perfills in an unreferv- ed and unqualified affirmation, that we are juftified by faith alone. Now as the epitlle of St. James, not lefs than thofe of his brother in the Apoltlefliip, forms part of the facred canon ; furely it would be both fafer and more becoming, in- llead of confining ourfelves to the teftimony ' Jam. ii. 24. " Ibid. 17, 20, 26. ^ Imo repertus eft non nemo, qui eo audacias atque adeo impietatis proceflit, ut in Authorem ejus epidola, cui Jacobi nonien infcribitur, calanunn liberius ftrinxerit, ,eumque falfitatis ac mendacii arguerit. Is fuit Althan)e- rus, qui (citante Grotio) in Scriptoreni, non niodo inno- xiuni, fed et divinum haec verba indignabundus effadit. Dire(9:e (inquit) in Scripturam agit; citat Scripturas fal- io ; et folus Spiritui l'an>5\o, Legi, Prophetts, ChrKio, Apoftoliique omnibus contradicit. Bulll Harm. yJpoJi. Introd. fed. 3. DISCOURSE. 49 of one alone, to compare and combine the de- clarations of both ApoiHes, as conliituting confident portions of the fame holy revelation. And the refult of fuch a comparifon would probably be a convidfion, that there is no in- confiftency in the portions of the two facred writers ; but that " faith," in St. James's ac- ceptation, iignifies an inaAive belief in the truths of the Gofpel, not producing holinels of life, and, in St. Paul's, faith in Chrill com- prehending 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 Hate, 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 Chrill in his human nature, which is not true of him in his divine. Election too, that other Shibboleth of a party, has two diftind: fcriptural fignifications, analogous to thofe borne by " the kingdom of " heaven." As the kingdom of heaven fome- times fignifies the whole body of profelled Chrif- tians in this world, and fometimes " the ailem- " bly of jufi; men made perfed:" in another; fo by the eled; 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 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 do6lrine, 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 alTerted in the former fignification of the term ; the Scriptures give no fancftion to the do6lrine, if applied to the latter. 8. Thefe interpretations will be confirmed by the application of another rule ; namely, that we give diligent attention to the delign and fcope of the compofition, which we are examining ; inftead of fixing upon it an arbi- trary conflrudlion, foreign perhaps from the objecft of the author, and perhaps alfo incom- patible with his principles. " It is a general *' and uncontefled rule," as Arcbbifhop Sharp remarks, " in the interpreting of Scripture and " all other writings, that the fcope of the au- *' thor and the fubjeA matter of his difcourfe '' is to fix and limit the fenfe of all his propo- " fitions; fo that though a proportion be feem- *' ingly univerfal, yet it is to be extended no " farther than the fubjed matter that is treat- ^' ed about ^" y Archbifliop Sharp's Works, vol. iv. p. 274. DISCOURSE. 51 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 lliare in the pri- vileges of the Gofpel covenant ; our blefled Lord employed the parable of the labourers in the vineyard. The iinner, eager to avail him- felf of any pretext for deferring the amend- ment of his life, w^ould fain coniider the para- ble as pointing to individual penitents, and the reward bellowed 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 balls of them ; for it has not any reference to Chrif- tians, or to repentance at all. Equally fallacious is the doctrine of faith independent of Chriftian works, to which I have been juft alluding ; and that other kin- dred tenet of the ablblute election of indivi- duals to eternal life, and the confequent re- probation of others : fallacious, inafmuch as they reft on an alTumption, that St. Paul was arguing for a different conclulion from that, which we apprehend to have been the real fcope and defign of his epiftles. For, whereas the hypothelis of our adverfarics muft proceed upon the opinion, that he was diftinguilhing E 2 52 INTRODUCTORY between faith, and works, as parts of the lame difpenfation ; the defign of the Apoftle appears to have been, to diftinguilh 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 election of nations, generally to be the inftruments of his providence; and more efpecially of fuch, as he then chofe to be the repolitories of the Chrif- tian faith. Q. Much additional light may be thrown upon the fubjedl of our inquiries, by an atten- tion to the time, the perfons, and other cir- cumftances, with which it is connected : as Bifliop Latimer remarked from St. Aullin, " The circumftances of the Scriptures en- *' lighten the Scriptures, and one Scripture " doth expound another to a man that is Itu- " dious, well-willing, and often calling upon " God in continual prayer ^" When the malefadlor addrefled 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 dillrefs, when his very Apoftles had all z Life of Ridley, p. 452. DISCOURSE. 53 forfaken him and fled, openly confefled his di- vine character, and implored his compaffion j ** Lord, remember me, when thou comell into '* thy kingdom ^ :" our Saviour gracioufly ac- cepted him, and faid, " Yerily, I fay unto thee, " To-day Ihalt thou be with me in paradife." But would it not be a moll delulive and mif- chievous inference, were we to contend from this for the efficacy of the death-bed repent- ance of one, who had pafled his life in deny- ing and diflionouring Chrill ? Or becaufe, in allufion to the Jews, who re- jedled God's gracious offers of mercy, and were therefore reje6led 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 fmall part of mankind is abfolutely elected by God to everlafting happinefs, from which the great bulk are abfolutely rejeded ? Or becaufe St. Paul, who was " a chofen *' veflel'" of Chrift for the propagation of the Gofpel, w^as inflantaneoufly converted to a be- lief in the truth by a heavenly vifion ; are we to exped, that the hardened finner will now experience an inftantaneous converfion from his iins, by an irrefillible ad of divine grace ? * Luke xxlii. 42, 43. ^ Matt, xx. i5. « A6ls ix. 15. E 3 S4 INTRODUCTORY Or becaufe the Apoftle defcribes his Gentile converts, previoufly to their ad million into the Chriftian Church, as " dead in trefpaHes and " fins, aliens from the commonwealth of If- " rael, and Grangers to the covenants of pro- ** mife*^ ;" are we now to addrefs a congrega- tion of baptized believers, as unregenerate : thereby f{:ripping ChrilVs holy ordinance of its facramental character ; and, by an a6l of our individual authority, annuUing the covenant of God? Or becaufe the holy Spirit operated in an extraordinary manner on the Apoftles and firll Chriftians, are we to glory in his irrefiltible and fenlible impulfes ; and to affirm, in the language of Methodifm, that '^ the Spirit is *' vifibly poured out in our aflemblies ;" that ** the Holy Ghofl 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 Ghofh comes upon us, and the " power of the Highefl overfliadows us ;" that " we daily experience the outgoings and in- " comings of the Holy Spirit in the fanAuary '* of our hearts ;" and that " we can feel him '* daily filling our fouls and bodies, as plainly ^ Eph. ii. I. 12. DISCOURSE. 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 Ihall attempt with God's good blefling to prove them, to be ; they arife in a great degree from inattention to the rule of interpretation now before us j which dire6ls us to confider, not only what is faid, but the various circumftances, under which it is fpoken : a rule, to the neglect of which fome of the mod extravagant peculiarities of Methodifm, both in opinion and in practice, may be re- ferred. 10. To the foregoing rules for the interpre- tation of Scripture, only one more remains to be added ; which however is of the moll ex- tenfive application and utihty: I mean, that no dodlrine, however fpecious, 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 1 7th article, that " we mull re- " ceive God's promifes in fuch wife, as they *' be generally fet forth to us in Holy Scrip- *' ture." This, as I have already faid, is of the moll extenlive application : nor do I conceive, that c See Whitefield's Works, vol. i. p. ao2. 223. 380, 237. 163. 166. 205. &c. E4 56 INTRODUCTORY any of the popular dodlrines, of faith indepen- dent of Chriftian works ; or Calvinitl:ic predef- tination ; or irrefiftible grace ; or the percep- tible influence of the Holy Spirit ; or regene- ration, dillinguillied from the inward fpiritual grace of baptifm; or an intiantaneous and fpe- cial converfion ; or a full and infallible affur- ance of falvation 5 or a flnlefs perfection in the true Chriftian ; can in any way ftand its telt. Thefe are the points, upon which the charge, that we are not preachers of the Gofpel, prin- cipally turns 5 and to which therefore your at- tention will be dire6led in the fucceeding lec- tures. I am well aware, that moll, if not all, of thefe fubje6ls have been often and ably dif- cufled ; and that the theological lliudent, who w^iflies to inveftigate them thoroughly, mufl; be referred to other fources for more ample fatisfaclion. Still to bring the fubjccls for- ward in fomething of a conne'Aed form, and for the fpecific purpofe, vrhich has been Hated ; thereby to dired; the thoughts of the younger part of this aflembly to the prefent ftate of religious opinions amongfl us, on which, it is efpecially neceflliry, that they lliould be informed ; to apprize them of the nature of the objedions, which are perpetually alleged againfl: the great body of the national Clergy; and to furnifli them, if it may be, with fome leading principles, by which thofe objec- DISCOURSE. ^1 tions may be repelled ; with the view, not of fuperfeding, but of encouraging, more exten- iive 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 invedive, which fometimes mark the accufations, that have been levelled againft us. To " fpeak the " truth in love V' fhould be the refolution, under divine grace, of every follower, and much more of every miniller 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, \^o be gen- *' tie unto all men, patient and forbearing, in " meeknefs inftructing thofe that oppofe them- " felves"." And that man ftrangely millakes the manner of fpirit he is of, who knows not, that peaceablenefs, and gentlenefs, and mercy, as well as purity, are infeparable characleriflics of " the wifdom that is from above *":" and that Chriftian charity ought never to be facri- f Eph. iv. 15. g a Tim. ii. 24, 25, h Jam. iii. J7. 58 INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. ficed even for the promotion of evangelical truth. Now unto God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghoft, three perfons in the unity of one Godhead, be afcribed all might, majef- ty, and dominion, henceforth and for ever. Amen. DISCOURSE II. Matt. xix. i6, 17. u4nd behold, one came and /aid unto him. Good Majier, what good thing Jhall I do^ that I may have eternal life? And he /aid mito him, JVhy callejl thou me good? there is none good hut one, that Is, God: hut if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments, JL his 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 maylt have eter- nal life. The other interpretation is that which is fandlioned 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, lii. cap. xviii. §. 9. 6o Chri/iian Jforhs a necejfary ** doth lead to everlafting life;" and accordingly pronounces, " that this is to be taken for a " moll true lellbn, taught by ChriiVs own " mouth, that the works of the moral com- *' mandments of God, be the very true works " of faith, which lead to the blefled life to h " come . Of thefe two very different fignifications the former has nothing to recommend it, but the fuppofition, that the inquirer was delirous of eftabiifliing 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 hiilorian, 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 afierting, that it is more agreeable to the general tenour of our Lord's inftruc- tions ; to the general franknefs and fimplicity of his charader; to the high efieem, which he uniformly exprelied 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. 6l whole character of the reply ; which tends to difparage thofe commandments, " the leall of *' which whofoever fhall break and Ihall teach *' men fo," is pronounced bj Chrift himfelf to be " the leafi; in the kingdom of heaven " ;" which is calculated to perplex the mind, and deaden the exertions, of the devout inquirer after happinefs ; whiUl it invefiis a clear and merciful exhortation of Him, who is " the " light and life of the world \" with the illu- five and mjflerious obfcurity of an oracular refponfe. Influenced in our judgment by fuch confi- derations, and fancftioned withal in our inter- pretation by the authority of our pure and evangelical Church, we maintain the indifpea- fable neceffity of obedience to the moral law, as a condition of eternal falvation : and urging upon our hearers the obligation of their bap- tifmal vow, whilfi: 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," indiffer- ent to their everlalling welfiire, Ihould turn away from fuch " preachers of righteoufnefs," might excite more concern, than aftonifli- ^ Matt. V. 19. *^ John i. 4. viil. 12, 62 Chrijlian Works a necejfary ment : but that *' the children of light," that Chriftians, who profefs to be, and many of whom (we doubt not) really are, Iblicitous for the falvation of their fouls, Ihould " forfake " the ailembling of themfelves together" to exhortations fuch as thefe ; that they fhould condemn the preacher, as a fetter forth of ftrange doctrines ; and reprobate his inftruc- tions, as a departure from the golpel of Chrift : a cafe like this would furely not be expeded ; and, unlefs on indifputable evidence, would fcarcely be admitted to exilt. To obviate however any charge of mifre- prefentation, with refpech to the condudl of our accufers ; and at the fame time to prevent my own fentiments from being mifunderftood ; it appears delirable, that the cafe, which is to be propofed for our prefent confideration, fhould be Hated with greater precilion. I fuppofe it, then, to be the practice of the generality 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 pradlice of Chrif- tian holinefs, or good works : to imprefs them with equal earneftnefs upon their hearers : to defcribe them, as jointly and equally neceflary to the attainment of everlafting life : to repre- fent them, not as meritorious caufes, (God for- bid !) but as indifpenfable conditions of bappi- Conditio?! of Salvation. 6$ nefs : in a word, to publifli in their difcourfes, what the Church appoints them to pronounce in the Liturgy, " the abfolution and remiflion " of lins to all them, that truly repent and un- ** feignedly believe Chrifl's holy Gofpel :" fo that as the venerable Latimer more largely ex- prefles the polition 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- " felling that he came into this world to make •* amends for our fins ; this man or woman *' fhall not perifti, 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 Chrillian cove- nant: we are told that our j unification 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- flers and Preachers of the Gofpel. The Calvinifiiic founder of Methodifm boldly demanded, " Who dares afi^ert, that we are •* not juftified merely by an ad of faith, with- " out any regard to works, paft, prefcnt, or to « Latimer's Sermons, vol. i. p. 371. 64 Chrijiian f forks a necejpiry ^'come^?" He condemns the affertion, that good works are a neceflarj condition of our being juftified in the fight of God, as " a new " Gofpel," which ** he is fure is not what the " Apoltles preached ; and which is as contra- *' Yj to the dodrine of the Church of Eng- " land, and the whole tenour of the Gofpel, as *' light is contrary to darknefs :" and for this caufe he reprobates " the generality of the Cler- '' ST ^^ ^^^^ Church of England, as preachers 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 antagonill affirmed, that '* the condi- " tion of our j unification is faith alone, and *' not good works'' ;" that " the moll deflruc- " tive of all thofe errors, which Rome, the " mother of abominations, hath brought forth, '' compared to which tranfubilantiation and a " hundred more are trifles light as air, is, that *' we are juitified 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- thodlfls and Papifts compared, part ii. p. 151. S Works, vol. iv. 15, 16, 28. b Wefley's Journal, No. 4. p. 17. ilbid. No. 3. p. 89. Co7iditio7i of Salvation. 65 fome even of our own brethren, more imme- diately in the bofom of the Church. One member of our eftabhfliment cenfures thofe, *' who look to a righteoufnefs of their own, " made up of terms, qualifications, conditions, " and fuch hke trumpery, for acceptance with " God*"." Another condemns, as unfcriptu- ral, the notions of thofe, who " dare proudly " and arrogantly teach, that obedience to Je- '* fus is the condition of falvation ;" and de- precates " zeal for holinefs," unlefs accompa- nied with his favourite notions of lalvation, as " a dreadful delufion '." A third vehemently protefts againfi: all duties, all obligations, as neceHary to falvation ; and pronounces, that '' the fingle qualification, expected by Chriil, " 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 alTumes to itfelf the exchi- five denomination of evangelical Minifi:ers, notices '^ the dodrine 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. Nowel's Anfwer to ditto, p. 124. ' Mafon's Spiritual Treafury, edit, and recom. by the Rev. W. Romaine, p- 91. and 29. "^ Prop againft all Defpair, p. 15. by Robert Hawker, D.D. 66 Chriftian IVorhs a necejpiry " and good works together ; or," fays he, " as " they often exprefs it, that faith and good " works are the conditions of our juftifica- '' tion°." Now I can have no fcruple in admitting the truth of the dodrine, that " we are juftified " by faith only." It is the dodrine of Scrip- ture : it is the dodrine of the reformation : it is the dodrine of the Church of England : I for one have fet mv hand to it, in what I be- lieve to be its fcriptural fignification ; and, if it be fcripturally underftood, I would forfeit that hand, rather than renounce the dodrine. In order then to fet this important dodrine in its proper light, I fliall endeavour to prove, ift, That the falvation and juftification, men- tioned in the paflages alluded to, are noticed with a view to the admiffion of Chriilians into favour and covenant with God, and not immediately to their ultimate forgivenefs and admiffion into everlalling happinefs : — And 2dly, That the faith, by or through which alone they are faid to be faved and jurtified, is - not intended to fignify faith in oppofition or contradiilindion to good, that is to fay, to Chriftian works. The former of thefe propo- litions I conceive to be of primary importance ' "True Churchmen afcertained, p. 217. by t)ie 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 lliall then feel myfelf at liberty to make fuch remarks, as will occur upon a general furvey of the queftion. As a preliminary Hep however, it may here incidentallv be remarked, that I ufe the words " juftiiied" 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 occalions, fo more efpe- cially in the indifcriminate application of the terms, " j unification" 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 Chriftian covenant : juftified, or accounted righteous before God by virtue of the imputed righteoufnefs of Chrift ; faved, or delivered from the penalty of fin, by the ranfom of Chrift's death, origin- ally paid for mankind in general, and now fpecially applied to themfelves. In the firft place, then, Chriftians are repre- fented as juftified, or faved ; as placed in a ftate of juftification, or falvation ; as being efteemed juft for the merits of Chrift ; as be- ing faved from the guilt, dominion, and pu» F 2 68 Chriftian JVorhs a necejfary 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 juftiiied when they are baptized °. I might reft the proof of this pofition on a general reference to any one of St. Paul's epiflles ; which I feledl in preference to the other books of the New Teftament, becaufe, as it is to his authority that we are referred for the dodlrine 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 anfvver 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 pailages, in which the docftrine is plainly alTerted. " By grace are ye faved through faith ^," fays the Apoftle to the Gentile converts at Ephefus : rather, ye have been faved, e^e c-sa-uir- fJLiVOl. *' Being juftified by faith, we have peace • Homilies, p. 24, Oxf. edit. p Eph. ii. 8. Condition of Salvation. 6q *' with God," is his language to the converted Jews at Rome "^ : ^iKdiooB-ems £k Trk'^eu?, having been jujiifiedy we have peace. To the fame Romans he fays, " We are faved^by hope"^;" rather, we wei^efaved, ea-uB-ni^tv, God '* hath faved us, and called us with an ** holy calling'," he affirms in his epillle to Timothy, conne6ling their being put into a Hate of falvation, with their being called to a profeflion of the Gofpel. In his epillle to Titus, he unites ialvation and juftification, defcribing them as the fruit of baptifmal regeneration, and as the intro- dudlion to the inheritance of eternal life : " According to his mercy he laved us, by the *' waihing of regeneration and renewing of the " Holy Gholi, which he Ihed on us abun- '* dantly through Jefus Chrift our Saviour ; ** that being juftified by his grace, we lliould *' be made heirs according to the hope of eter- '^nallife^" A limilar combination occurs in his firft epillle to the Corinthians, to whom he fpeaks of their j unification as a pall event, coupling it with baptifmal regeneration and fan6lifica- tion : " Such were fome of you j but ye are *' wafhed, but ye are fandlified, but ye are juf- 1 Rom V. i. ' Ibid. vili. 24. ' 2 Tim. i. 9. t Tit. iii. 5, 6, 7. F 3 70 Chriftian Worhs a neceffary *' tified in the name of the Lord Jefus, and by " the Spirit of our God "." The allufion is in a pad tenfe, and lliould have been rendered accordingly : vjyicca-B-tjTe, e^iKcuuB-yire, ye have been, or we7X fandlified ; ye have bee??, or we?e jiiftified. To the Corinthians again he fays, that they are now in a Hate of falvation, making their continuance in it conditional, or dependent upon the conformity of their condudt to his inftru(9:ions : " 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 3^e keep in me- " mory what I preached unto you, unlefs ye *' have believed in vain''." To the Romans again he mentions their j unification, as an event already palled, under the figure of freedom from fin ; and defcribes 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 •' everlaliing hfe':" havir?g hee?i made free. « I Cor. vi. II, 3c Ibid. XV. I. y Kom. vi. i8. ^ ibid. v. as. Condition of Salvation. 7 1 and, having been made fervantSy tXsv^e^u^sneg^ and, ^QvAuQ-evTSf ; pointing, as it Ihould feem, to fome remarkable time, namely, their ad- miffion into the Chriftian Church. To the Coloffians he fpeaks of their recon- ciliation to God, alfo as a pad event, to be fol- lowed by holinefs of life, and by fteadfallnefs in the faith and hope of the Golpel : " You " that were fometime alienated, and enemies "in your mind by wicked works, yet now " hath Chrift reconciled in the body of his " flelh 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 inllances of the application of fuch phrafes to particular per- fons and focieties, he defcribes the whole body of Chrillians by the appellation of " the faved," oi crcot^ofA^sm, in opposition to unbelievers : '' the *' preaching of the crofs is to them that perifh, ^' foolifhnefs ; but unto us which are faved,'* Tots' Jg cru^ofjLivoig ^fJLiv, " it is the power of God''.'* And St. Luke alfo, in the Ads of the Apollles, employs the fame term to denote believers in general, when he fays, that " the Lord added a Col. i. ai, 22, 33. ^ I Cor. i. 18. F 4 72 Chrijlian Worhs a necejpxry " unto the Church daily ^/' not fuch as Ihould be faved, as our verfion renders the palTage, ac- cording neither to the letter, nor to the fpirit, of the original ; but rovg (ru^of^svov^, the faved, or, as Parkhurfl tranllates it, thofc that tvere faved. From thefe paflages, which I have felecled, becaufe they exhibit the dodrine to be efta- blifiied in feveral points of view, and in con- nexion with various parts of the Gofpel dif- penfation, I apprehend it to be made fuffi- ciently clear, that the jull:ifi cation or falvation, mentioned in many pallages of Scripture, which ftate us to be jullified or faved by faith alone, has refpecft to the admiHion 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, Ihould be juftified. For, " as for infants, it is to be believed that their *' juftification is wrought by the fecret opera- " tion of the Holy Gholi in their baptifm, *' they being offered in the faith of the Church. " And this juftification may be called the firft " juftification, that is to fay, our iirft coming '* into God's houfe, which is the Church of " Chrift, at which coming we be received and « A6ls ii. 47. Condition of Salvation. 73 '^ admitted to be of the flock and family of '* our Saviour Chrift'' :) — and that it has not view to their ultimate forgivenefs and ad- miflion 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 Ryle thofe perfons are faid " to be faved, who are only in a way towards *' falvation, although tP^y do not arrive thi- ** ther ; and the means*'Conducing to falvation *' are faid to fave, alt-tlough their efFeA may " be defeated ; oru'Cpf^evoi and (rsa-Ma-jxevot are ** terms applied to all Chriftians ; and Chrift is •* 0 a-uQ-cLg, he that hath faved them, although ** fome of them tim iTri^ivcrctv, have believed in ** vain or to no efFedl, forfaking and renounc- ** ing their faith ; and baptifm faves them " who partake it, although being waflied, 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 dod:rine, " attefting to the one and proving the other " by teftimonies and arguments proper to that " purpofe : and whoever of their hearers de- ^ Neceflary Do6lrine and Erudition for any Chriftian Man, 1543. Article of Juftification. ^ If. Barrow's Works, vol. iii. p. 324. 74 Chrijlian Worhs a neccjjhry " clared himfelf perfuaded of the truth of *' what they taught, that he did heartily aflent " thereto, and refolved to profefs and pradife " accordingly, him, without more to do, they " prefently baptized, and inflated him in the " privileges appertaining to Chriftianity ; or, " in St. Paul's language, did juflify him, ac- " cording to their fubordinate manner, as the " minifters of God ^" And the fame very learned writer elfewhere remarks, what might ferve to cut fliort a g>ji?at deal of unnecell'ary controverfy on this pc-nt, that '* the jullifica- " tion, which St. PauLdifcourfeth of, feemeth '' in his meaning, only or efpecially to be that " a6t of grace, which is difpenfed to perfons " at their baptifm, or their entrance into the " Church ; when they openly profelling their *' faith, and undertaking the practice of Chrif- " tian duty, God moll 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 doc- trine, in connexion with our prefent fubje6t, is obvious. Whatever St. Paul may mean, when he affirms, that we are juftified or faved by faith ; and however exclulive j unifying or faving faith may be admitted to be, or how- f If. Barrow's Works, vol. ii. p. 45. s Ibid. vol. ii. p» 64. Condition of Salvation. J' 5 evet completely (to ufe the language of the Homily) " faith fliutteth good works out from '* the office of juflifying ;" that exclufion will not apply to the conditions, the obfervance or difregard of which afFedts our attainment of everlafling life. I now proceed to my other propoiition, that the faith, by or through which we are faid to be faved or juftified, is not intended to fignify faith, in oppofition or contradiftind:ion to good, that is to fay, to Chriftian, works. Now if the former cafe be ellabliflied, 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 difcuftion of the prefent fubjed:, (for " good works," as the Homily affirms, " cannot be done without a lively faith in " Ch^ift^") 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 blefting, which was annexed to their ad- miftion into the Chriftian Church. But as a clear view of this propolition is at h Page 25. Oxf. edit. 7 6 Ch'iftia7i Wot^hs a necejjary leaft of much fecondary importance ; and as the illuftration of it may ferve to throw hght at the fame time upon the former cafe, relat- ing to the time of our juftification in the Apo- ille's {qvi^q 5 I propofe to confider more fully the three feveral cafes, in which he alTerts, that we are juftified, 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 V' 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 conduct, and the goodnefs of their lives, as a fufficient ground of expedling the divine favour ; we may conceive the Apollle warning his Gentile converts in the following manner, to " beware " left any man fpoil them through philofophy " and vain deceit." It is true, that although God was not pleaf- ed to favour you, and the reft of the heathen world, with an efpecial revelation of his per- fe(3:ions ; '' he neverthelefs left not himfelf " without witnefs among you, in that he did *' 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 Ad; s XIV. i: Condition of Salvation, 77 ■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 bealls, " 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 affitlance 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 flefli ; you fulfilled the ** defires of the flcfh and of the mind ; you " were by nature the children of wrath, and ** were dead in trefpafl'es 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 * Rom. ii. 14, 15, m Rom. i. 21, 23. " Ibid. 26, 28. ^ Eph. iv. 19. P Eph. ii. i, 3, 78 Chrijlian JForhs a necejfary "your knowledge''," was fallen upon you: the arm of God, *^ who will render to every ** man according to his deeds'," was raifed to punilli you : *' indignation and wrath, tri- '* bulation and anguilh," w^hich are allotted to *' every foul of man that doeth evil %" muft have been alfo your lot. ^' Aliens from the ** commonwealth of Ifrael, and llrangers 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 Hate? One remedy alone remained. *' Now in Chrill Jefus, ye, who fometime " were far otf, are made nigh by the blood of **Chrift"." "You, w^ho 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- " lieveth^" ** by grace ye have been saved '' through faith ; ^nd that not of you rj elves, it " is the gift of God ; not of ivorks, hji any " manfhould boaJi\" Such I apprehend to be the line of argu- ment, purfued more or lefs diredly by the Apoftle, when he notices the condition of the Gentile world. And the purport of the whole q Rom. i. 28. ■■ Ibid. ii. 5. ^ Ibid. 8, 9. '■'■' t Eph.ii. 12. " Ibid. J3. ^ Ibid. i. 5. y Horn. i. 16. 2 Eph. ii. 8, 9. e^e o-etrwcTjaivoi, Condition of Salvation. 70 appears to be, that he might convince his Gentile converts of their linful, abandoned, and defperate iituation, before their converfion to Chrillianity ; 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 Hate of falva- tion by faithfully embracing it ; and of the little reafon they had to conlider their call and their fubfequent j unification, as in any degree the reward of any previous merits of their own, inftead of a free and gratuitous ad: of mercy on the part of God. For, let it be ob- ferved, that in the paliage to which I have laft alluded, no oppoiition whatever appears to have been intended between the " faith" and *' w^orks" of the Ephefians ; no preference of one over the other ; in a word, no compari- fon of one with the other. The intended op- pofition is between the free '' grace' of God, which called them to a profeffion of the Gof- pel, and their own *' tvorks' previoully 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 fubltance of St. Paul's dodrine on this head, it is allerted, that *' we " are accounted righteous before God, only " FOR the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jefus 80 Chrijlian JForhs a ncccjfary " Chrlft by faith, and not for our own worlts ^' and dejb^vings^ r and as in the moft ce- lebrated confeffions of the reformed Churches, it is diftindily and cautioufly noted, that by " being jullified hy faith alone is intended the *' being jullified hy grace alone, and not by the *' merit of our works''.'" And the *' faith,'* through which the Ephefians are faid to " be *' faved," or rather to '' have been faved^ to have been admitted to the privileges of the Gofpel covenant, is fo far from being a faith diftinguiflied from Chriftian works, that it is in faA not diilinguiflied from any works what- foever. 2. Suppofe again, that a Jew were obje6l- ^ Art. xi. * Quod autlienticas ecclefiarum reformat! nominis con- fefliones attlnet, certum eft eas omnes, vel faltem earum . primas ac nobiliflimas, a noftris partibus veluti ex profeflb ftare. Ouippe etiamfi illa^ quoque doceant, Ea: jide fold fine operil'us liominem jiijVificari ; effatum tamen illud eo fenfu explicant, queni nos pronis ulnis amplexamur. Scil. dlfertls verbis monent CoiifelTionum Authores, fenten- tlam iftam figurate accipiendam effe, ita ut in Fidei no- mine Gratia, quoe ei ex adverfo refpondet, intelligatur ; atque idem fit fola Fide jiijtificari, quod fola Gratia, non ex operuvi Merito, juftificari : ac proprie loquendo, fidem cceterafque virtutes bonaque opera ad juftificationem aeque valere, atque elfe neceflfaria : nee quicquam magis fidei in iflo negotio tribuendum, quam caeteris virtutibus ; adeoque lb, quatenus a juftificatione bona opera excludunt, eate- nus et fidem iplam rejicere. BuUi Harm. Apoji. DifT. I. cap. vi. fe6t. i. Condition of Salvation. 8 1 ing to the neceffity of Chriftianity, his objec- tion would take a different turn. He would objed:, that God had fpecially revealed his will to the Jews already ; that he had given them a law for the regulation of their con- duit ; and that he had 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 flefli, *' Chrift came, who is over all, God bleffed for *' ever. Amen^" Thefe things, I fay, he would allow. But Itill he would contend, that the law, to which they laid claim, was not fufKcient ; that it re- quired of them a perfed 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. In. 2. ^ Rom. ix. 4, 5, 82 Chrijiian Works a nccejfary " ten in the book of the law, to do them ** ;" that it provided no fufficient atonement for fin, no means of reconciHng the tinner to God ; that as " all had finned, and come lliort •' of the glory of God," fo " no man could be *'juftified by the law in the light of God^" that, in confequence, the Jew, no lefs than the Gentile, liood in need of a Redeemer j and that fuch redemption was offered to them by the grace of God in Chrift Jefus, " whom '* God had fet forth to be a propitiation " through faith in his blood, to declare his *' righteoufnefs for the remiffion of fins that " are paft, through the forbearance of God ; '^ to declare" (repeats the Apollle) '* his righ- " teoufnefs, that he might be jufi, and the ** jufiifier of him which believeth in Jefus V Such is the regular courfe of the Apofi:le's argument with refpehurch expreiles herfelf in the 17th Ar- ticle) *' the Devil doth thrutl curioiis and car- " nal perfons, lacking the fpirit of Clirift, ei- '' ther into defperation, or into wrctchleirnefs " of moli unclean living, no lefs perilous than '' defperation ;" our dodrine is, in the lan- guage of our Liturgy and Homilies, that " God *' willeth not the death of a tinner, but that *' he fliould rather turn from his fin and be *' faved';" and that, as the condemnation of every man, that fliall 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 Chrifi, 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 pall, if with a perfect " and true heart we return unto him." And quos damnationi addicit, his jufto quidem et irre- prehenfibili, fed incomprehenfibilij ipfius judicio vitae adi- tum praecludi. hiji. lib. iii. cap. xxiii. feft. 7. 1 See the Commination Service, and the Second Part of the Sermon of" Falling from God. K 2 132 Calvinijlic Prcdejlmation this do6lrine we fupport on the general pro- mifes of Scripture, and on innumerable indivi- dual paflages, 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 alTerted. " 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, " laith the Lord God. Repent, and turn your- " felves from all your tranfgreffions, fo iniqui- " ty fhall not be your ruin. Call away from " you all your tranfgreflions, whereby ye have *' tranlgrefled ; 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 ^'yc'"." It is not without extreme repugnance, that I can bring myfelf to credit my own llate- ment, that fuch opinions as thofe, which have been juft afcribed to our aiTailants, could ever have been foberly maintained, as the declara- tions of the oracles of God. Yet that fuch opinions in their full extent, ^ Ezek. xviii. 27, 30, 31, 32. not the DoBrine of the Gofpel. 133 if not to a greater extent than hath been ftated, were the doArine of Calvin himfelf, is a polition, to which his own writings bear un- queftionable teftimony : nor hath a fyllable been here advanced, which thofe writings do not exprefsly warrant. The auftere and rigor- ous character of the doctrine, (I wilh to fpeak of it in the mod unexceptionable and inofFen- five terms,) and its tendency withal to fofter the moft dangerous wickednefs, moll danger- ous, becaufe connected with an erroneous principle, may have alarmed the more timid of his profelTed 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 juftify 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 j and not- K 3 134 Calvlnlftic Pi^edejlinafton *' withftanding he rtopped there, and would " have perliiaded 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 Firil ; and fuch it is in the prefent time". What, for infiance, fhall we fliy of the fla- grant Antinomian tendency of thole expref- fions, wherein a living INIiniller of our Church, of great and extenfive popularity, aflerts the do61:rines of unconditional eledion and irre- filtible grace ? " Wifdom crieth aloud, not in " the temple oniy, and in the courts of the *• Lord's houfc, 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 thirli — if any man hear '* my voice : he doth not fay, if any good '•' man, or any moral man ; but a?ii/ man. As " VVincbefler on the 17th Article ; chap. 4. " The Author has thought it necelTary to bring forward at fome length the principal Calviniftic tenets in the woids of profefTed Calvinirts, chiefly of the prefent day. Should the reader find this feries of quotations irklbnje, and be contented with Calvin's own repreientation of the doctrines charaoterifed by his nan)e, he jiiay pafs on to page 144, where the moral tendency ot the iyftem is dif- cufled. jiot the Do6irine of the Go/pel. 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 loll: to be recovered. Go '' ye into all the world, and preach the Gofpel " to every creature. The fingle qualification '' I exped; is to believe the Gofpel : for he " that believeth Ihall 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, fliall come to " me; and him that cometh, I will in no wife " cart 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 all. And they " Jhall 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. Theyjhall *' come : and if they themfelves will not, thie " Lord will make them tviUivg in the day of " his power. It is he that worketh in them " both to luill and to do of his own good plea- '^fure^" P Prop againft all Defpair, by Robert Hawker, D.D. Vicar of Charles, Plymouth, p. 15, 16. K 4 1 36 Calv'mi/iic Predejlination What, again, Hiall we fay of the gloomy and unhallowed pidure 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 fliining 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 fovercign '* will and determinate pleafure of God," that " God did not barely fuffer, but pofitively in- " tended and decreed them, to continue in *' their natural bUndnefs and hardnefs of heart;" that they are " velTels of wrath fitted to de- ** firu(ftion," or, as he interprets the language of St. Paul, " put together, made up, formed, " or falliioned 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 « 1 See the Do£lrine of Abfolute Predeftination, ftated and allerted, &c. by Auguftus Toplady, A. B. late Vicar of Broad Hembury, Devon, edit. GlafgovVj 1807. pages 109, no, III, 112, 160. ' Evangelical Magazine, Auguft, 1808. p. 325. s Life of Toplady, prefixed to the above work, p. xvi. not the BoBrine of the Go/pel. 137 " courfe of his providence, he puts them into " circumftances of temptation, fuch as fliall '* caufe the perfons fo tempted, adually to " turn afide from the path of duty to commit " fin, and to involve both themfelves and •* others in evil." What again, with refpedl to the abfolute impoflibility of the non-eled attaining to fal- vation, fliall we fay of that monlirous pofition, that " the fentence of God, which rejects the *' reprobates, is fo fixed and immutable, that " it is impoflible they fliould be faved, though " they have performed all the works of the ** faints : and that therefore it is not true, that " thofe, who perifli 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 dodlrine of the impeccability and final perfeverance of the eled, or in the phrafeology of the fyflem, " 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 convI6t- *' ed by its own Evidence, extracted 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 Calvinijlic Predejiination learned Dr. Barrow, " which is oppofed to '' the unanimous confent of all Chriftendom '' for fifteen hundred years";") what fliall 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 (ins 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 fiiy, Here 1 had it, *' and here I leave it" !" What fliall we fay of the flagitious tendency of that aflertion, " God *' does no longer fland offended nor diipleaf- " 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 blafphemy to fpeak. It is thought *' that eledi pcrlbns are in a damnable fiate, 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 ele6t pcr- " fon, yet in the height of iniquity, and in the " excefs of riot, and committing all the abo- " Barrow's Works, vol. ii. p. 51. ^ Fifty Propofitions taken from the Mouth of Mr. J. Brierly, prop. 19. See Grey's Hudibras, part ii. chap. ii. vcr. 245. not the BoBrine of the Go/pel. 1 39 " 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 election in former times) " be taken " away in the very a6\ of any known fin, be- " fore it is pofTible 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 " aS: of fin, he doth in that very inllant give ** them fuch a particular and actual repent- ** ance, as fhall fave their fouls. For he hath ^' predeftinated them to everlafiing life; there- " fore having predefiinated them to the end, " he doth predeilinate to the means to obtain " it^" Nor is it in the days of ancient Puritanifm alone, that the aflertion, that *' the eledl fhall " be faved, do what they will," can boafi: its advocate, charged as it is with the moft noxi- ous and pefi;ilential confequences, " defl:roying y Quoted from Crifp in Fletcher's Firft Check to An- tinomianifm, p. 87, 88. 2 Pryn's Perpetuity of a Regenerate Man's Eftate, pages 339^ 341- 140 Calviniftic Prede/iination " the neceffitj of all care and endeavours after " righteoufnefs, and cutting the linews 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 Ivlethod- ifm, that " after the eled: 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 adl, 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 eledl is certain, and can by no means be " prevented;" when taken in connection with another of his pofitions, that " the vileft fin- *' ner may, for aught we can tell, appertain to " the eleAion 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 * Stebbing on the Spirit, chap. xv. {cS.. xi. ^ See Zeal without Innovation, p. 58. ^ See Enthufiafm of Papifts and Methodifts compared, part iii. pref. p. xxx. '' Toplady on Predeftination, p. ^2, 105. not the Do&rine of the Go/pel. 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 " harrafled, yet no wicked devil, nor their " own depraved hearts, Ihall 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 allc, on what ground it is maintained by another of our brethren. Hill living, and ftill engaged in the acftive exercife of his profeflion, 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 fpent before in hardnefs « Whitefield's Works, vol. i. p. 78. and vol. v. p. 245. f Hawker's Prop to Defpair, p. 11. 6 Hawker s Zion's Pilgrim, p. 60, ^ Ibid. p. 160, M2 Calvhiiflic Predejiination *' 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 anv thing in themfelves "^ ;" for what rcafon he lends his fanclion to the dodrine, that " as it was not any lovelinefs in eled: *' perfons which moved God to love them at " iirft, fo neither fliall their unlovely back- " flidings deprive them of it' ;" and more ef- pecially why he gives currency and authority to the wild polition, 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 dodrine, that *' though '' a believer be black as hell, polluted with " guilt, defiled with fin, yet in Chrill he is all " tair without fpot ; free from fin, as viewed *' by God in ChrJll, fully reconciled to God, *' and Handing without trefpallcs before him""." Still more particularly I would afk, what in- ' Hawker's Miferlcordia, p. ii6. ^ Walk of Faith, by the Reverend William Romaine, Works, vol. i. p. 258. J Coles on God's Sovereignty, edited by Romaine, p. 294. ^ Mafon's Spiritual Treafury, edited and recommended by Romaine, p. 14L. and 206. not the Dotirine of the Gofpel. 143 terpretation mull be affixed to the language of another modern Predeftinarian of eminence ; when, alluding to David's murder of Uriah and adultery with Bathllieba, he demands, *' Though I believe that David's fm difpleafed " the Lord, muit I therefore believe that Da- *' vid's perlbn 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 charad:er 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 *' fm and deaths" And again; " If Chrilt " has fulfilled the whole law and borne the " curfe, then all debts and claims againil his " people, be they more or be they lefs, be they *' fmall or be they great, be they before or be ** they after converfion, are for ever and for *' ever cancelled. All trefpafles are forgiven *' them. They are juftified from all things. '' They already have everlafting hfe^." " 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 Antinoniianifni, p. 72. o Ibid. p. 80. P Ibid. p. 82. 144 Calvin'ijl'tc Predejlination ** the everlafting righteoufnefs of the Redeem- ** er. Black in themfelves, they are comely ** through his comehnefs. He, who is of purer " eyes than to behold iniquity, can neverthe- " lefs addrefs them with. Thou art all fair, ** my love, my undefiled j there is no fpot in "thee"." Far be it from me to allert, that every man, who calls himfelf a Calvinift, does admit thefc abominable tenets, however they may feem in reafon, and by fair dedudion, 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 advan- tage of that fan6tion, which they fupply to licentious practice ! Some minds indeed there may be, and fuch unqueftionably there are, of fupcrior 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- leflhefs or immorality ; and who remain, as Tully teftified of the difciples of Epicurus, vir- tuous in fpite of their principles '. q Quoted from Sir Richard Hill, in Fletcher's Third Check to Antinomianifm, p. 84. ^ Sunt nonnullae difciplinae, quje, propofitis bonorum et malorum finibus, ofiicium amore pervertunt. Nam qui fua)mum bonum inftituit, ut nihil habeat cum virtute conjun6tum, idque fuis conimodis, non honeftatc metitur, not the Do&rine of the Gofpel. 145 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 - ftrate,) the peril to a mind of the common llamp is palpable and incalculable. Let a man of ordinary temper be perfuaded, that he is one of the eled: ; (and it reils with the Cal- vinift to {how, that perfons in general, who maintain his opinions, will not be fo perfuad- ed, unlefs on fubllantial 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 lins he may commit, he is fure to be faved not- withftanding j that whatever be his falls and backflidings, all trefpalies 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 Hands always abfolved in the ever- lafting righteoufnefs of the Redeemer : — that perfon is little acquainted with the corrupt and vicious propenlities of human nature, who hie, (i fibi ipfe confentiat, et non interdum naturae boni- tate vincatur, neque amicitiam colere poffit, nee juftitia^ Cic, de Off. cap. i. p. a. 146 Calviniflic Predejiination will undertake to anfwer for the confequencc ; 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 dodrine, nor conduce to the everlafting welfare of its pro- felfor. " The great advocates of eledlion and " reprobation," fays Bifliop Sherlock, a writer diftinguifhed for the clearnefs and folidity of his judgment, " always reckon themfelves in " the number of the ele(^ ; and that their ini- " quities, of which they are often confcious, '^ may not rife up againll them, they main- *^ tain, that the a6l of man cannot make void " the purpofe of God, or the fins of the ele(ft " 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 defi:ruc- •' tion, whilfi: they advance themfelves with '' all their fins to a throne of glory, prepared '^ for them before the world began *." " If I *' be eledled, no fins can pofiibly 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 ilate. *' An objection," remarks Heylyn, " not s Sherlock's Sermons, vol. n. p. 89. not the DoBrine of the Gofpel. 147 '' more old than common : but fuch I muft ** confefs, to which I never found a fatisfac- " tory anfwer from the pen of Supralapfarian, " or Sublapfarian, within the fmall compafs of " my reading \" What fruit, on the other hand, is to be ex- pelled from thofe, who believe themfelves to lie under a fentence of irrefpecftive 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 reckleflhefs of unclean living," a foul dead to every fenfe of religion, and a heart hardened in impenitence ? Or, if fuch a perfualion gain polTeffion of one, whofe mind is endowed with higher and more ingenuous qualities, and alive to a nicer fenlibility, to what other confequences can it be expecfted to lead, than a difmal melancholy ; a fixed and comfortlefs defpondence ; or a gloomy aliena- tion of reafon ; w^hich will endure as long as his mortal exiftence, and will at length break forth perhaps in a paroxyfm of frenzy, or in a death violent and premature ? For fuch a be- ing, an outcafl: in his own imagination from divine grace, and abandoned to irremediable condemnation, the prefent has no enjoyment * Heylyn's Quinquartieular Hiftory, part r. chap. iv. L 2 148 Calvinijiic Predejlination 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 flied : — for him " the God of all comfort" extends not the arms of his mercy : — '' the dayfpring from on *' high" does not vilit 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 j" but as the paflage from a fliort 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 j whilft the fame experience will alfo warrant an opinion, that the evils, which refult from the fyftem to the individual profeiibr, 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 ari opinion which its adherents may not the DoBrine of the Go/pel. 14Q fondly cherifli", 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 dod:rines, even to the banifliment, if not to the death, of one of his unhappy vic- tims''; when, inconfiftently with the aliertion of a late biographer, that *' he never ufed any " expreflions unworthy of a pious man ^," he llyled his opponents *' fools," and *' impious;" '' litigating with God ;" " forgetful that they " were men ;" " virulent dogs, barking and " vomiting forth their accufations againtl God ;" " malignant and impudent calumniators of his *' doctrine ^ :" in a word, acculing them of " See Calv. Inft. lib. iii. cap. xxi. fe6l. i. and White- field's Works, vol. iv. p. 6i. ^ Sebaftian Caftalio. See Heylyn's Quinq. Hlft. part i. chap. V. part iii. chap. xvi. Mofheim. cent. xvi. fe£t. iii, p. 2. . y Mackenzie's Life of Calvin, p. 140. 2 Figmenta, quae ad evertendam prsedeftinationem com- menti funt ftulti homines. In/i. lib. iii. cap. xxi. fe£t. 7. Quae fpeciofe ad fuggillandam Dei juftitiam prsetendit impietas. Ibid. Haec quidem piis et modeftis abunde fufficerent, et qui fe homines reminifcuntur. Quia tamen non unam fpe- ciera virulent! ifti canes evomunt contra Deum &c. Mul- tis modis cum Deo litigant ftulti homines. Ibid. cap. xxiii. fe6t. 2. divinae Providentias calumniator. Ibid. fe<9:. 5. Maligne atque impudenter banc do(9:rinam calumnian- tur alii. Ibid. fe£t. 13. L 3 150 Calvimjiic Predejiination every fpecles of depravity, moral as well as intellectual, with luch afperity of manner, and fuch virulence of language, as provoked the mild Bucer to write to him, that '' he regu- " lated 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 Ihould 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 correal Perfidi et impii nebulones. Epiftolii Col. 142. quemadmodum protervi ifti canes contra nos blate- rant. In Ezek. xviii. 32. ^ Judicas, prout amas vel odifti ; amas autem, vel odi- fti, prout libet. See the Examination of Tilenus, p. 324. ^ See Brandt's Hiftory of the Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. ii. p. 51, 48. not the DoBrine of the Gofpel. 1 5 1 the domineering and tyrannical conduct, the bitternefs and evil-fpeaking, the partiality and duplicity, the frauds, deceits, and equivo- cations, pradifed in fupport of their dodrine 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 fpirit of the Scotch Covenanters, v^ho fold their king ; and why did it not purify the hearts and lives of the Englifli regicides, who bought and flew him ; inflead of giving a fandion to their vices, whiUl they lived, and affording them, as v\'as 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. ^ " This minds me of a remarkable paffage told by Dr. '' Bates, who wrote the Elenchus Motuiim Nuperorum in " AngUa. He, as a phyfician, was called upon to aflift " that night that Oliver proved a true deliverer of his *' country. The Protestor was in great agonies of mind, " often ftarted, and aflced 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, fuid he, I am fafe. For he luppofed 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, beiides L 4 152 Calviniftic Predejlination 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 Calviniilic champion of Methodifm from committing, avowing, and juftifying a breach of faith towards his Armi- nian antagonift, for the purpofe of propagat- ing thefe very doctrines themfelves ^ ; and why did it not humble that imperious temper, " imperious" by his own confeflion \ 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 Pontiffs ? 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 fchif- matics j as impious hypocrites ; blafphemers ; " much blood fhed abroad, and the overthrow of the *' eftablifhed Church, could do him no hurt ! This is a ** Abort way of quieting confcience, and to lull men afleep " in their fins ! Thus poor fouls are deluded by thefe doc- " trines of decrees." Rehearfal, vol. iv. p. 45, c See Coke's Life of Wefley, p. 214. f Whitefield's Works, vol. i. p. 195. s Ibid. p. 95, loi, i8a, 312, &c. not the Do&rine of the Go/pel. 153 and perjured apoftates from the truth ? " Cer- " tainlj," remarked a late very learned Prelate^ " the greatell fault of the Calvinifts has been " their want of charity for thofe who differ " from them :" a fault, I cannot but add, little coniiiient with that " meeknefs," which White- field profelTed to difcover in Calvin \ and which he propofed as a pattern for his ow^n imita- tion. For my own part, to fuch " railing *' accufations'-' as thofe which have juft been noticed, I reply in the language of a friend of Arminius, on whom fimilar appellations were profufely lavished by his opponents, '' I *' am no Arian, no Papill, no Calvinift, no *' Lutheran, no Pelagian, but a Christian* " ordained to proclaim the perfections of Him, " who has called us out of darknefs into his " marvellous light''." But at the fame time, when I thus furvey the conduct of thofe, who have been moft vehement in the propagation of thefe peculiar tenets ; — when I refled; hovv aliene is religious intolerance from " the royal " law" of Chriftian charity ; — and when I likewife call to mind the promife of our blell- ed Lord, that " if any man will do his Father's *• will, he fhall know of the dodrine, whether ^ Bifliop Horfley's primary Charge at St. Afaph. ' Whitefield's Works, vol. i. p. 439. ^ Speech of Vitenbogart before the States of Holland. See Brandt's Hift. vol. ii. p. 56. 154 Calvmjlic Predeflination *' it be of God':" — when I recoiled moreover the tendency, that Calvinifm has already been reprefented to bear, with refpecft to the moral conduct, and the peace of heart, of its pro- feflbrs : — I cannot but look upon it with a very fufpicious eye ; and feel difpofed to ac- knowledge, with humble and hearty thanks to Almighty God, that a do6lrine, teeming with fuch dark prefages on the one hand, and with fuch profligacy on both ; and fo prone withal, if not to promote, at lead not to dif- courage, an acrimonious fpirit in its profeflbrs, is not the do6lrine which we preach. If therefore, as was before remarked, when it is objected to us that we do not preach the Gof- pel, thefe dodlrines are intended as the doc- trines of the Gofpel, we are not difpofed to llirink from the charge. The words, which we preach, are the words of peace and confo- lation, not thofe of horror and defpair : the fruits, which we attempt to rear, are the fruits of holincfs, from a meek and lowly heart ; not thofe of a prefumptuous temper, and an un- clean life: fearful of " making the heart of " the righteous fad, whom God has not made " fad, and of llrengthening the hands of the '* wicked, that he fliould not return from his *' wicked way, by promiflng him life ""," the I John vii. 37. « Ezek. xiii. 32. not the Do&rine of the Gofpel, 155 Gofpel which we preach, we believe to be the Gofpel of the Holy Spirit ; as for thofe doc- trines, which are fometimes preached for the Gofpel, we know not what fpirit they are of. Let me here paufe to remark on the cafe of thofe among our brethren of the eftabliihment, who, unwilling, as it appears, to " launch out *' into that unfordable abyfs of horror and " aftonilliment, the decree of eternal reproba- " tion"," veil their opinions upon the fubjed of predel^ination under the fpecious title of " a '' milder and moderate Calvinifm." " No- " thing," remarks their Apologift, '' is further " from my purpofe, than to infer from what " has been advanced in this fedion, that the " precife theological fyftem of John Calvin in " all its parts and to its full extent was in- '' tended to be eftabliilied in the thirty-nine " Articles to the exclufion of every milder fen- '' timent^" " When therefore," he continues after fome intermediate obfervations, " certain " writers have formed a frightful fyftem of " nothing but abfolute decrees, abfolute repro- ** bation, and other extravagancies, which we " abfolutely difavow, they may attack it as *' vehemently as they pleafe ; but it deferves " their confideration, that it is a creature « Examination of Tilenus, p. 292. 0 Overton's True Churchmen, Sec. p. 93. 156 Calvini/iic Predejlination "' of their own, and that in refped: to us at " leaft the moft pointed of their weapons "falls, Telum imbelle fine i6lu^. Whether the extravagant and frightful iyftem, which the writers here ahuded to attack, be in point of fa6i: a creature of their own ; and whether to allege that it is fo, be creditable to the ingenuoufnefs of him who affirms it ; are queftions not deftitute of importance, but thej mufi; be pafled over as foreign to my more immediate purpofe, to which I accordingly haften. Now we fliould rejoice in giving to all the followers of Chrift, and efpecially to thefe brethren and minifters of our own commu- nion, '^ the right hand of fellowfliip." 1 ad- mire their zeal, and I honour their exertions. When therefore I hear them apparently ex- cepting againft " feveral doctrines, which are "contained in Calvin's Inftitutions'':" when I hear them denying, as it (hould feem, " that " the fall of Adam was the efFeA of a divine " decree ;" admitting that the efficacy of " Chrift's redemption extends" to all man- kind ; and difavowing and condemning alto- gether the do6lrine of abfolute reprobation, as being " unfcriptural or liable toabufe':" when P Overton, p. 96. q See Overton, p. 93. ' Remarks on Dr. Kipling's Pamphlet by Academicu«, P-5- /lot the Do&rine of the Go/pel. 157 they exprefs themfelves as " wilhing unequi- " vocally to teach, that man's falvation is " wholly of grace, but that his perdition is ** of himfelf ; and neither to make God the " author of fin, nor man a mere machine and *' unfit to be treated as a moral agent*;" " the '* caufe of God's rejedion of any man being *' his fin and rejedion of the Gofpel :" when they moreover unrefervedly contend, as the unqueflionable dodrine of Scripture, that " we " fhall be judged, rewarded, and receive ac- " cording to our works ; that the wicked " Ihall be puniflied with different degrees of " punifhment proportioned to their demerits ; '* and that God will give to his faithful people ** higher degrees of glory in reward for higher " degrees of holinefs and good works ' :"— ^ when fome of thefe concefTions and declara- tions I hear, and others I think I hear, from the moderate Calvinifls, I am inclined to che- rifh a feeling of regret, that their attachment to an obnoxious, or, to employ the epithet of their Advocate, "an odious name"," fhould ferve to keep open a breach, not required by an efTential difference of dodrine. But when on the other hand I hear them maintain, too plainly to be miflaken, but in- s Overton, p. 89. * Ibid. p. 291, 292. " Overton's Preface, p. iv. 158 Calvimjiic Predejlination confiftently T apprehend with the opinions juil recited, that " the fundamental principles on " which the Calviniftic Ijllein refts, are incon- " trovertible'';" and that " the Authors of our *' national forms unqueftionably built upon " the fame foundation with this celebrated " Reformer, but have not carried the fuper- " ftrudlure to the fame height^:" — when I hear them referring more efpecially to the " dodlrines of Auftin, as the great modeP" of their opinions: — when I recoiled:, that one rigid maintainer of the higher iyftem of Cal- vinifm commemorates this father as " the *' great," " the excellent," " the evangelical," becaufe of his fteadfaft attachment to, and nervous fuccefsful defences of, the decrees of God *;" that another extols '* the piety, learn- " ing, and ability," with which he confutes *' the docftrines of free-will, univerfal redemp- " tion, and falling from grace'';" and that it is the avowal of Calvin himfelf ^, that " if he chofe *' to compofe an entire volume from Auftin, he " could readily convince the reader, that he ^ Overton, p. ^^^. Y Ibid. p. 94. ^ Ibid. p. 95, * Toplady on Predeftination, p. 136, 144, 151. ^ Goliath Slain, p. J24. • Si ex Auguftino integrum volumen contexere libeat, leftoribus oftendere proniptuni eflet, niihi non nifi ejus verbis opus efle : fed eos prolixitate onerare nolo. Calv, Inst, lib. iii. cap. xxii. fe6l. 8, 7iot the DoBrine of the Gojpel. 1 59 "had occaiion for none but his words:" — when moreover I reflecl, not on the reprefent- ation of a partizan on either fide, but on what I underftand to be the real do6i:rines of Auftin on the matter in debate ; as, that '' Almighty *' God does not will the falvation of all men, " but only of the eled';" that '' Chrift did *' not die for all men, but only for the eleA*";" that '' all men have not the means of falvation " given to them by God, but that the non- " eleA are abandoned in a gracelefs mafs of ** perdition, excluded from the gift of faith, " and denied the opportunity of believing ^ ; f " ^ Quod fcriptum eft, quod vult omnes homines falvos Jieri, nee tamen omnes falvi fiunt, multis quidem modis intelUgi poteft, ex quibus in aliis opufculis noftris aliquos commemoravimus : fed hie unum dicam. Ita dictum eft, Omnes homines vult falvos fieri, ut intelligantur omnes praedeflinati ; quia omne genus hominum in eis eft. Au- gvji. 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 propria Filio fuo non pepercit, fed pro nobis omnibus tradidit eum, quomodo etiam non cum illo omnia nobis donavit P Sed quibus ? Nobis prsefcitis, et praedeftinatis,juftificatis, glorificatis, de quibus fequitur. In Evang. Johan. Tra6i. cap. 45. f Haec eft prsedeftinatio fanftorum ; nihil aliud quam praefcientia fcilicet et prseparatio beneficiolrum Dei, quibus certiflfilme liberantur, quicunque liberantur. Ceteri autem l6o Calviniftic Predejiination that " the commiHion of fin and the blindnefs ** and hardnefs of heart of the finner are not •' barely permitted by God, but are pofitive " operative a6ls of his moft omnipotent power, *' and his free and unbialTed will^;" and that ** Judas was chofen, not hke the other Apollles ubi, nifi in mafla perditionis, jufto divino judicio relin- quuntur ? Ubi Tyrii relifti funt et Sidonii, qui etiam cre- dere potuerunt, fi mira ilia Chrifti figna vidiflent. Sed quoniam ut crederent, non erat eis datum, etiam unde crederent eft negatum. Ex quo apparet, habere quofdam in ipfo ingenio divinum naturaliter munus intelligentise, quo moveantur ad fidem, fi congrua fuis mentibus vel audiant verba, vel figna confpiciant : et tamen fi Dei altiore judicio a perditionis mafia non funt gratiae prse- deftinatione difcreti, nee ipfa eis adhibentur vel difta di- vina, vel fafta, per quae pofllent credere, fi audirent utique talia, vel viderent Audiunt enim haec et faciunt, quibus datum eft; non autem faciunt, five audiant five non audiant, quibus datum non eft. De Dono Perjeverantice, cap. xiv. g Quantum ad ipfos attinet (malos fell.) quod Deus noluit, fecerunt : quantum vero ad omnipotentiam Dei, nullo modo id efficere valuerunt. Hoc quippe ipfo, quod contra voluntatem ejus fecerunt, de ipfis faj ul svspys<7ioti awrow al itoXXai yevoovrai £^g xgifLx TratTiv ^|U,»v, sav jxri ot^icug auTOu 7ro>i.iT£uOjU.£vo«, ra xa\x xa» euapetrra svamiov «ut8 wojcojxgv (jls^' biKOvoictg. Ibid. xxi. 1 70 Calvinijiic Predejiinafion *' God, feeing that he was not received in their ** hearts by faith, nor thanked for his benefits *' beftowed upon them ; their unthankfulnefs " was the caufe of their deftru6lion ":" when in her baptifmal fervices and her Catechifm Ihe fpeaks of all baptized perfons, as compofing " the number of the faithful and eled: children " of God ;" and when in another of her Ho- milies, namely, on the Danger of Falling from God, fhe warns us, that ^' if we, which are the *' chofen vineyard of God, bring not forth " good grapes, God will at length let us alone, *' and fuffer us to bring forth even fuch fruit '* as we will, to bring forth brambles, briers, " and thorns, all naughtinefs, all vice, and that " fo abundantly, that they Ihall clean overgrow *' us, choke, ftrangle, and utterly deftroy us"." It may however be further allowed, that the election, mentioned in Scripture, is not always of nations or focieties, but fometimes of perfons alfo, whether Jews or Gentiles, to a profeflion of the Gofpel ; as, where St. John fpeaks of " the eled lady" and " the eled " lifter ^" that is, the Chriftian lady and her fitter : agreeably to which our Church de- fcribes every individual that fhe baptizes as " an eledl child of God :" but nothing will be o Homilies, p. 400. Oxf. edit. » Ibid. p. 69, 70. y Z John, ver. i, 13. not the DoBrine of the GofpeL 1 7 1 gained to the Calvinift by this conceflion, un- lefs it can alfo be made appear, that every in- dividual, who was elected to a profeifion of the Gofpel, was thereby elected hkewife to eternal life : a cafe, which it were difficult to fhow how the Apoftles could have known j and which, it is an undeniable fa6l, that they certainly did not believe. Still further, however, it may be allowed, that the election, mentioned in Scripture, is fometimes the election of individuals to eternal life; but then, as Waterland has remarked on ** the fweet and comfortable dodrine of pre- *' deftination fet forth in our feventeenth Ar- " tide," it is an eleiftion, ** confidered (not " IRRESPECTIVELY, nOt ABSOLUTELY) but with ** refped: to faith in Chrift, faith working by " love, and perfevering ^" *' For whom he *' did foreknow, he did alfo predeftinate to be *• conformed to the image of his Son ^." And let it be obferved, that of fuch only as God foreknew would be conformed to the image of his Son, is it predicated, that their ele<3:ion would be effectual to falvation : for, as the Apoftle adds, ** Moreover whom he did pre- ** deftinate," (doubtlefs in the fenfe, which it * See Winchefter on the Seventeenth Article, chap. %. Churchman's Remembrancer, N". II. p. 0,6. * Rom, viii, 29. 1 72 Calvhiiflic Predejlination bore in the preceding fentence,) " them he " alfo called ; and whom he called, them he " alfo juftified ; and whom he juftified, them *' he alfo glorified." No pailage can be ad- duced, which fo clearly indicates the whole procefs of the fcriptural, as diftinguilhed from the Calviniftic, eleAion of individuals to eternal life : looking forward to the conformity of the eled: to the image of Chrift ; commencing in the foreknowledge of God ; ratified by his purpofe ; and fo carried into execution, and pairing through the intermediate lleps to their being finally received into glory. And at the fame time no palTage perhaps can be adduced, which more fatisfadlorily fliows how much at variance with the fcriptural notion, and con- fequently how little worthy of credit, is the irrefpedive predeftination of Calvin. " Re- " member ever," faid a judicious Divine in his appeal to the Gofpel on this important fubjedl, " Remember ever, that luhom he did foreknow "is as much before he did predejlinatc, as " whom he did predejiinate is before he calU " erf^" Such was the view of predeftination taken by thofe, who were beft qualified to under- ftand the true fignification of the facred writ- b Plaifere's Appello Evangelium, p. 195. Churchman's Remembrancer, N^. V. p. 94. . > not the DoBrine of the Gofpel. 17 s higs ; I mean the primitive Fathers of the Chriftian Church. " It deferves to be coti- " fidered," fays Whitby, '' that all antiquity, " till the time of St. Auftin, do with one con- " fent concur in the interpretation of the Pfeud. " Ambrofius on this pafTage of St. Paul, Thofe " whom he foreknew would be devoted to his " fervice, them he chofe to the promifed re- " ward'." AndYoflius declares, what Whitby and others have noticed after him, that " all " the Greek Fathers always, and all the Latin ** Fathers who lived before St. Auftin, were " wont to fay, that they were predeftinated to " life, of whom God forefaw that they would ** live pioully and righteoully ; or, as others " fay, of whom he forefaw that they would " believe and perfevere 'i." Nay more; when Profper undertook to be the advocate of Auf- tin's opinions concerning abfolute election, he not only found himfelf unable to anfwer the obje<9:ions advanced againft the dodtrine, that it was " contrary to the opinion of the Fathers " and the fenfe of the Church '," and " that ^ Difcourfes, p. 60. d Graeci Patres femper, Patrum Latlnorum vero illi qui ante Auguftinum vixerunt, dicere folent, eos efle prae- deftlnatos ad vitam, quos Deus pie refiteque vifturos prae- vidit; five, ut alii loquuntur, quos praevidit credituros et perfeveraturos. Vojf. H'l/ior. Pelag. lib. vi. thef. viii. P-550- « Multi ergo fervorum Chrifti, qui in Maflilienfi urbe 1 74 Calviniftic Predejltnation " the things which he brought forward from " St. Paul's epiftle to the Romans had never *' been fo underftood by any of the ecclefiaftical *'menf;" but himfelf alfo frankly acknow- ledged ^, that *' having revifed the opinions of '' thofe, who had gone before on this fubjedl, *' he found them almoft all agreeing in one and ** the fame fentiment, whereby they under- '* flood the purpofe and predeftination of God " according to his prefcience ; that for this '* caufe God made fome men velTels of honour, ** others of diflionour, becaufe he forefaw the ** end of every one, and foreknew what, under ** the aid of divine grace, would be the will *' and adions of each." Nor is that a trifling confiftunt, in fan£titatis tuae fcriptis, quse adverfus Pelagi- anos haereticos condidifti, contraj-ium putant Patrum opi- nioni et ecclefiaflico fenfui, quicquid in eis de vocatione ele6lorum fecundum Dei propofitum difputafti. Prof peri Epi/i. ad Augujiinum, cap. ii. f Obftinationem fuam vetuftate defendunt ; et ea, quae de epiftola Apoftoli Pauli, Romanis fcribentis, ad mani- feftationem divinae gratiae praevenientis eleftorum merita proferuntur, a nullo unquam Ecclefiafticorum ita efle in- tellefta, ut nunc fentiuntur, affirmant. Ibid. cap. iii. g Illud etiam qualiter diluatur, quaefumus patienter in- fipientiam noftram ferendo demonllres ; quod, retra6tatis prioium de hac re opinionibus, pene omnium par invenitur et una fententia, qua propofitum et praedeftinationem Dei fecundum pi aefcientlam receperunt : ut ob hoc Deus alios vafa honoris, alios contumeliae fecerit, quia fmem uniufcu- jufque praeviderit, et fub ipfo gratiae adjutorio, in qua futurus eflet voluntate et adione, praefcierit. Ibid. c. viii. not the Do&rine of the Go/pel. 175 confeflion, which (as Grotius remarks ^ ) was freely made by Calvin, Beza, and others of the fame opinion ; that the Fathers of the apo- ftolical and primitive times thought and fpoke differently from them on thefe points'. So that it was not without high authority that Melandlhon, himfelf perhaps the moll learned of the Reformers, a man pronounced by Calvin to be " acute and prudent and well exercifed " in the Scriptures ''," and of whom it is well known that Cranmer and our Englilh Re- formers entertained the higheft opinion, and with whom, there is every reafon to believe, that they concurred in their theological fenti- h Brandt's Hift. of the Reformation, book xxiv. vol. ii, p. 313. • Haec omnia, quae pofuimus, controverfia apud multos non carent, maxime gratuita fidelium eleftio. Vulgo enim exiftimant Deum, prout cujufque merita praevidet, ita inter homines difcernere : quos ergo fua gratia non indignos fore praecognofcit, eos in filiorum locum co- optare ; quorum ingenia ad nialitiam et impietatem pro- penfura difpicit, eos mortis damnationi devovere. Sic interpofito praefcientise velo, eleftionem non modo obfcu- rant, fed originem aliunde habere fingunt. Neque haec vulgo recepta opinio folius vulgi eft ; habuit enim faeculis omnibus magnos authores. Calv. Liji. lib. iii. c. xxii. f. i. At Ambrofius, Origenes, Hieronymus cenfuerunt, Deum fuam gratiam inter homines difpenfare, prout ea quemque bene ufurum praeviderit. Adde et Auguftinum in ea fuiffe aliquando fententia. Ibid. fed. 8. ^ See Winchefter on the Seventeenth Article, p. 60. and Heylyn's Quinquart. Hift. part ii. cap. viii. fe6t. 2. 1 76 Calviniftic Predejiination merits, differed from fome of his brethren on the continent concerning thefe myfterious doc- trines ; and exprefled himfelf in terms, not only inconfiftent, but pointedly and ftrongly at variance, with the fyftem of Calvin 5 and reprobated fome of his fundamental principles, as herefies which the ancients moft feverely condemned ; as ^' the dreams of enthufiafm," " the dotage of Stoicifm," and " the ravings of " Manichaean madnefs ^." This llatement of the fcriptural fignifications of the term election , may perhaps ferve to guard the inexperienced and unwary againft much mifreprefentation, which I apprehend to be employed, and much mifconception which ^ Non igitur repugnes Evangelio; non indulgeas diffi- dentiae ; non cogites, ut fomniant Enthufiaftae, expe6lan- dum effe violentum motum, quo te rapiat Deus etiam repugnantem, et iteruni ruentem in fcelera, &c. Melanc- thonis Comm. in Rom. ix. Op. vol. iv. p. 160. His et fimiliter di6lis confirmati, veram et perpetuam cccleliae lententiam conftanter ampleftamur, et nequaquam applaudamus Stoicis et Manichaeis furoribus, qui funt contumeliofi adverfus Deunj, et pernitiofi vitae ; qui fingunt homines neceflario fcelera facere ; et re(Ste intelli- gamus di£la, quae contra veram fententiam detorquentur ad Stoica deliramenta. De Cmifa Peccati, Op. vol. ii. p. 237- Repudianda eft et Cyclopica cavillatio quorundam ve- termn et recentium, qui dicunt, non ideo peccare Deum, quia impellat ad mala, quia Deo non fit lex pofita. Haec Cyclopica imaginatio execranda eft, &c. Ibid. p. 238. not the Do6irine of the Go/pel. 1 77 prevails, on the fubjed ; and to fupply them with a clue for unravelling feveral detached paflages, fome of them, we allow, not delVitute of intricacy, which have been repeatedly ex- plained, but are (till continually forced upon our notice. It appears to me indeed to be a vital objection to the doctrines of Calvin, that they are grounded upon an imperfecl and par- tial view of revelation, and reft upon a dubious at leaft, if not a decidedly falfe, interpretation of fuch detached paflages, inllead of being eltabliflied on a compreheniive furvey of holy writ : otherwife tenets could never be main- tained, which are fo incompatible with the notions, which the Holy Spirit gives us, of God's attributes and his moral government of the univeti/e ; with the general conditions of the Gojpel covenant ; and with the promifes of God, as they are generally Jet forth to ns in holy Scripture. But I am venturing upon a point, not fo- reign indeed from my purpofe, but requiring a fuller inveltigation than it can receive at the prefent opportunity. I fliall here therefore quit the fubjcd; for the prefent with exhorting you, not to fufFer yourfelves to be puffed up with a vain conceit, that you are abfolutely elected to eternal happinefs? or to be deprefl'ed with an equally vain apprebenfion, that you are abfolutely reprobated and condemned to N 178 CalvhujUc Predejii nation everlading mifery : but confidering that the Jews, who were of old the eled: people of God, the objects of his love, fell from his fa- vour through their infidelity, and that the final fentence of every Chrifi:ian, who is now in the number of God's ele6t people, depends on his fidelity to God ; I would rather moft earnefi;ly admonifti you, to improve the grace that he fupplies you with, fo that you may ultimately " work out your falvation ;" and to " give all diligence to make your calling and ^' eledion fure." Such is the practical infer- ence, which the Apotlle drew from his own dodlrine of ele(ftion, for the benefit of the early converts to Chriftianity j and fuch is the infer- ence, which he has left behind him, for the benefit of Chrifiians of every age. " Thou wilt '' fay then," he argues with the converted Gentile, *' the branches were broken off," the children of Ifrael were rejecled from being the people of God, " that I might be gratied in. *' Well; becaufe of unbelief they were broken '* off, and thou llandell by faith. Be not " HIGH-MINDED, BUT FEAR. For if God fparcd " not the natural branches, take heed leji he " aJfo Jparc not thee. Behold therefore the *' goodnef^ and feverity of God ; on them " which fell, feverity ; but toward thee good- " nefs, if thou continue in his goodnejs; other- " WISE thou also SHALT BE CUT OFF." 7iot the Do&rine of the Go/pel. 1 79 Now unto '* God the Father, who hath *' made us and all the world j" unto " God the " Son, who hath redeemed us and all man- " kind ;" and unto " God the Holy Ghofl, " who fandlifieth us and all the ele6l people of '' God ;" be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. N 2 DISCOURSE IV. John iii. 16, 17. God fo loved the worlds that he gave his only-hegotten So7i, that whofoever helieveth in himJJioidd not perijii, but have everlajiing life. For God fent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, hut that the world through him might he Javed. I CONCLUDED my laft Difcourfe after re- marking, that the dod:rine of Calvinillic pre- deftination appears to me irreconcileable with the notions, which the Holy Spirit gives us in the Scriptures, of God's attributes and of his moral government of the univerfe ; with the general conditions of the Gofpel covenant ; and with the promifes of God, as they are ge- nerally fet forth to us in holy Scripture. Amongft an innumerable multitude of paf- fages, which contribute to give a confirtency and a harmony to the facred volume, the de- claration of our blefled Redeemer in the text, concerning the motive, which caufcd him to N 3 i 32 Calvimjm inconfijient ivith the be fent from God, and the purpofe, for which he was fent, holds a confpicuous place. It was from the able application of this paflage by Epifcopius, that the ever-memorable Hales, who had been educated in the Calviniftic opi- nions, and went a Calvinill to the Synod at Dort, was there perfuaded, as he was himfelf ufed to declare, to renounce the do6lrines of Calvin =* : nor does the fa6l deferve our allo- niiliment, when we confider, how incompati- ble thofe dodlrines appear with the univerfal love of God to man, and with the univerfal tender of falvation and everlafling life, which this paflage evidently propofes. It is not, however, fo much upon this, or upon any other individual paflage of Scripture, (unan- fwerable as many of them are,) that I would reft our defence, as upon the general fcope and tenour of the whole : and tliat, not only becaufe I confider fuch an appeal, as the mode, whereby we may be beft defended ; but alfo becaufe I coniider it, as the moll equitable * " I am very glad to hear you have gained thofe let- " tcrs-hito your hands, written from the Synod of Dort. " You may pleafe to take notice, that in his younger " days he was a Cahinift, and even then when he was " employed at that Synod ; and at the well prefling St. '• John iii. i6. by Epifcopius — There I lid John Caluin '^ good nighty as he has often told me." Farindou's Let- ter prefixed to Hales's Golden Remains. Div'me Attributes. 183 method of inveftigating, and the fafeft and moil certain way of arriving at, the truth. This is the kind of appeal, which, with the good bleffing of God, I propofe to make in the following difcourfe : wherein if I fail of fatisfjing our accufers of the goodnefs of our caufe, I truft that I iliall at lead be able to convince any impartial obferver, that in de- chning the dodrine of abfolute predellination we do not adl under the influence of fome rafli and groundlefs prepofleflion ; but that, if our opinions are erroneous, they appear to be fo well eliabliflied on the declarations of Scrip- ture, as that we may reafonably believe them to be fcriptural truth ; and that we are there- fore far from deferving that afperity of repre- henlion and thofe opprobrious appellations, wherewith we are branded for entertaining them. I. My firll objecl will be to lliow, that the Calviniftic do(^lrines are incompatible with the notions, which the Holy Spirit gives us in Scripture, of the attributes and moral goverii' ment of God. But here, before I proceed, I wifli to ob- viate an objection to our opinions, which our accufers attempt to eftablilli on the fame bafis, on which we propofe to eftablifli our opinions themfelves. We are told*', that '* to imagine ^° Hawker's Zion's Pilgrim, p. 158, 159. ^^ 4 ] 84 Calvinifm inconjiftent ivith the " our acceptance or refufal of grace to be the " refult of our own pleafiire, is to take from '.' God his omnipotence :" " to fancy that our *' improvement or mifimprovement of grace *' will render it effectual or the contrarv, 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 accomplillied, for the falvation of his " people in a covenant way, tliat fouls, re- " newed by God the Holy Ghotl and called *' with an holy calling, may yet finally perifli; " this is bringing down redemption- work to *' fo precarious and uncertain an ilfue, as mull: " leave it altogether undetermined whether a " fiiigle believer lliall be faved or not. And *' this throws to the ground the dillinguifliing " 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 rejecl or accept his grace, when we believe that the exercile of our will is folely the confequence of his permifTion, and of his not chooiing to overrule it, and to divell us of the refponlibi- lity of moral agents? How do we impeach his wifdom, abridge his glory, or Ihake his immu- tability, by fuppoling, that our falvation, in- llead of being fixed by an abfolute irrefpedive decree, is fufpended on our voluntary fulfil- ment of certain conditions ; when at the fame D'winc Attributes. 185 time we humbly confefs, that with that infal- libility, wherewith he forefees events that are contingent to man, he certain]}' foreknew, that feme would, and who they were that would, obferve the conditions : that with that immu- tability, wherewith he delights to reward vir- tue, he predellinated to life thofe of whom he foreknew that they would be faithful : and that the whole glory of the vi6lory 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- iifting grace of the Holy Spirit ? In fa6l, the fuppofition of conditional and refpecftive eledion is, in this view of the fub- jecft, as innocent of infringing thefe attributes of God, as is that of unconditional and irre- fpecftive eledlion. 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 a6l in confor- " mity to thefe perfeclions ; and muft not his *' purpofes be alluredly accomplifhed ; and '' muft not all his creatures, in one way or " another, be the means of their accomplifli- *' ment ? Is not his the kingdom, the power, 1 86 Calvinijm inconjijleni with the " and the glory ? Has he not told us, that his *' kingdom ruleth over all 5 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 fav unto him. What doeft thou^?" — When, I fay, thefe queftions are put to us in fupport of the allertion, '* that the fundamen- '* tal principles on which Calvinifm refts are " incontrovertible," I apprehend them to be either altogether irrelevant to the fubjecft, or elfe intended to infinuate againft us an invidi- ous and an unwarrantable charge. Each {yi- tern 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 accompliflmient : 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 acftion ; foreknowing, in the plenitude of his wifdom, what would be their conduct; and immutably framing his decrees according to his fore- knowledge. So that, notwithtlanding the re- mark, which has been afcribcd to a royal Cal- c Overton, p. 3.55. Divine Attributes. 187 vinift in former times, that '* if he did not be- " lieve abfolute predellination, he could not '' believe a Providence '^ ;" v^ e apprehend that it is to reprefent the Almighty ading upon a plan, as much when it proceeds upon a know- ledge of what ufe his creatures will make of his gifts, as when it is founded on his own ab- folute and overruling decree. As thefe attributes of the Deity then re- main unafFeded by the dodtrines, which w^e are maintaining, I proceed to lliow, how grievoully others are alTailed by the dodrines, 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 iull:ice^" 1. '' Juftice and judgment," fays the Pfalm- ill, " are the habitation of thy throne ^" '*' He '* is a God without iniquity," fays the Jewifli lawgiver; '^ jull: and right is he^." It is ac- cordingly attributed to him as an ellential pro- perty of juftice, throughout the Scriptures; in. d King William the Third. See Toplady on Predefti- nation, Pref. p. ii. « Refult of Falfe Principles^ by Dr. Womack, p. "2. f Pfalm Ixxxix. 14. £ Deut. xxxii. 4. 188 Calvtmfm incoirfijlent ivitli the the Old Teftament, and in the New ; under .the Law, and under the Gofpel ; by Prophets, and by Apoltles ; in palTages, too numerous to be fpecified, too prominent to be overlooked, and too plain to be mifunderii:ood, or mifre- prcfented ; that he is " no refpeder of per- *' fons," but that " he judgeth and rewardeth *' every man according to his works." I afk not then, how" is it reconcileable to our no- tions of juftice, that by an arbitrary, irrefpec- tive, unconditional decree he Ihould confer happinefs on a fmall portion of mankind, and condemn the bulk to inevitable mifery ; but I alk, how is this reconcileable with the general tenour of Scripture, which uniformly affirms the impartiality and equity of God to be the rule of his dealings with men ? For I cannot conlider as any exception to this uniformity a few infulatcd pafTages, of fome difficulty we allow, if feparately and fuperficially regarded ; but harmoniling with the main import of Scripture, when examined by tlie fair laws of interpretation. And here let it not be pretended, that " the '* works of God cannot be brought to any ted *' whatever^;" when he himfclf fupplies us with a tcft by an appeal to the equity of his proceedings. And let us not be told, that 1^ Toplady on Predeftination, p. 69. Divine Attributes. 1 89 *^ they who exclaim againft unconditional de- *' crees, as cruel, tyrannical, and unjuft, either '* 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 efFufton 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 authorifes, 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 do6lrine, which in our conception fubverts 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 ' Toplady on Predeftinatlon, p. 70. ^ Mafon's Spiritual Treafury, p. 159. * Zeal without Innovation, p. 52. ™ See Bifhop Hopkins's Works, vol. ii. p. 504. IQO Calvinifm incojifijient with the " the Jews were an ele<5t nation, and fo the ** objedlion would he as much againft their '' election, as againli this we are conlider- *• ing" :" for the eledlion of nations to tempo- ral privileges difFers, in manifold particulars, from the eleclion of individuals to eternal hap- pinefs. Nor is it an anfwer to the obje(ftion to affirm, that '' the fcope of the palfage plainly *' intends, that God refpeds no man's perfon, " either lefs or more, for his outw^ard condi- " tion or carnal privileges °." It in truth con- veys a much more univerfal meaning : it in- tends that God has no refpecft whatever for one man over another, as to their final accept- ance, except what is founded upon their im- provement of his grace ; and that upon that ground alone will be eftabliilied their refpec- tive fentences, when he '' will render unto every man according to his deeds." 2. Again, He is a 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 " Coles on God's Sovereignty, p. loo. o Ibid. P 0c9j, ou 'isoX?M'J cvTOjy, E^' &Ij ^!ZVfA«^;raj, cuJfv c'jT'Xc 'm; to ttravTUs eusgycTziv iOixtutov. Naz. Orat. z6. q Pfalm cxlv. 9. Divine Attributes. 191 the Scriptures of truth in reprefenting ^' mer- " cj as the darling perfedion 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 Bell and the Greateil, it was not without reafon, that he gave prece- dence to that which denoted his goodnefs, over that which lignified his power. When on the delivery of the Law, revealed as it was in ter- ror, the Lord proclaimed his name to Motes, he fliewed the quality of thofe attributes, wherein he moll 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 tranlgreffion, and fin '." And when the Apollle of the Gofpel teaches us, that ^' God is love ^" he appears defirous of magnifying beyond meafure this moll adorable of the divine perfedlions ; 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. fe6l. 7. ' Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. - I John iv. 8. 192 Calvinifm hiconjijient ivith the predeftinarian acknowledges it, but denies that it is " bis faving: mercv"." Yet what is this but to deny the mofl glorious exercire of the attribute ? " Doth God take care for oxen''?" faith the Apolile : yea, faith this doctrine,, much better than for man : for them he boun- tifully provides all that is needful for them ; but man, linful, fallen, but ftill immortal man, formed in the image of (Jod, and ftill retaining in his reafonable and living foul fome portion of his likenefs to bis divine original, from him he Ibuts up the bowels of his compallion, and excludes him from his loving-kindnefs and mercy. " Delighting as he does in mercy ^','* and "in the exercife of loving-kindnefs'';" abounding in love, even for his enemies ; nay, even " w^aiting to be gracious," and ** llretch- " ing out bis bands all the day long unto a re- *' bellious people ^5" and " not atflicling w\\- " lingly nor grieving the children of men**:" bow can we reconcile it to this attribute of the Godhead, that be Ihould form millions and millions of rational and immortal creatures for the very purpofe of making them eternally mi- ferable ; that he ihould place them in a ftatc of pretended trial, where be has previoufly de- " Whltefielcl, vol. iv. p. 69. * i Cor. ix. 9. y Micah vii. i8. ^ Jer. ix. 24. * If. XXX. 18. Ixv. 2. ^ Lam. iii. 33. Divine Attributes. 193 creed them to be, and actually renders them, incapable of fuccefs ; infpire them with hopes, which he has made impoHible to be reahzed ; and place before their view profpe6ls 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 *' conducft as this, no good man, no honeft *' man, would choofe to imitate, but would " detell 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 hohnefs ; 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 ffiould, moft efteem'^." In cor- refpondence with tliis attribute, it is the cau- tion of the wife fon of Sirach, *' Say not thou, " it is through the Lord that I fell away ; for " Dean Tucker's Sermon on Rom. ix. %i, ^ Bifliop Andrews ; fixtji fermon on the Jloly Hhoftj o i 94 Calvin'ifm inconjijlent tvith the " thou oughteft not to do the things that he '' hateth : fay not thou, he hath caufed me ta " err ; for he hath no need of the linful man^" And to the fame effect St. James, with divine authority, admoniflies 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 predellinating man to " death, but fo alfo predeftinating him to fin ; ** the only way to death'';" or to defcribe him with Pifcator, as '' having fo abfolutely " and efiicacioufly determined the will of '■' every man, that he cannot do more good e Ecclus. XV. iij 12. f Jam. i. 13. g Quia perditum Deus volebat, obftlnatio cordis divlna fult ad ruinam prijeparatio. Calv. In ft. II. iv. 3. Dubium non eft, quin utraque praeparatio ab arcano Dei conlilio pendeat. Comm. in Rom. ix. 23. h « Gomarus, who faw that his iron was in the fire, be- « gan to tell us, thatEpifcopius 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 Dcrt. G. R. P- 435- Divine Attrihutes. 195 " 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 necctrity of fin- " ning'^j" 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 Zuing- lius, that " God moveth the robber to kill, • Ergo tu fateris iflic Ingenue, Deum ab aeterno effica- citer abfoluteque decreviffe, ne quifj^iam hominum plus boni faciat, quam reipla facit, aut plus mali omittat, quani reipfa omittit. Pifcat, ad C. Vorjiii amicaiii Dupl. rejp. p. 175. ed. 1618. ^ Quia reprobatio immutabilis eft, &c. damns reprobos neceflitate peccandi, eoque et pereundi, ex hac Dei ordi- natione conftringi : atque ita conftringi, ut nequeant non peccare et perire. — Non dubitanuis itaque confiteri, ex immutabili reprobatione neceflitatem peccandi, et qnideni fine refipifcentia ad mortem ufque peccandi, eoque et aeter- nas pcenas dandi, reprobis incunibere. Zanchms de Nal. Dei, lib. v. cap. 2. de Prced(Jt. Op. Tom. ii. p. 57 [. 1 Refpondeo, — ordine caufarum, priufquam ilium con- deret, de fine, cujus caufa ilium erat conditurus, ac demum de caufis ipfis mediis, per quas ipfos erat ad conftitutum finem addu6lurus, conftanter et immoto propolito ftatuiiie. Ex quo confequitur recle et vere dici, omnes reprobos faftos elfe in Adamo fimul eodemque momento, ficut Deus ab aeterno conftituerat, non tantum vafa, id eft ho- mines, fed etiam vafa irce, id eft homines juftae per medias caufas in ipfis reprobis hasrentes damnationi, per media quidem contingenter ft^quuturse, ex decreto Dei autem prorfus neceflTario eventurte, deftinatos. Beza de Prade/t. Op. vol. iii. p. 431. Col. i. ed. 1582. O 2 iqQ Calvimfm incorijijlent ivitli the " and that he killeth, God forcing him there- " to"";" what is it to affirm with Knox, the Scotch reformer, that " the wncked are not *' only left by God's fufFering, but are com- *' pelled to fin by his power";" or to contend with the Englifli Perkins, w^hofe doctrines firli: called forth the ftridures of Arminius, that " God hath moll juftly decreed even the " wicked works of the wicked":" — what is it to reprefent him, with other predefiinarians, as not barely permitting fin, but " providentially " putting perfons into fuch circumftances of " temptation, as fiiall caufe the perfons fo " tempted actually to turn afide from the path " of duty, and to commit fin^;" as '' working " all things in all men, even wickednefs in the " wicked ;" and to affirm that " all things are *' done by the irreljfi:ible decree of God, yea, m Porro injuftitiam in Tefe nobis oftendere numen cum nulla ratione pofl'et, ut quod undique verum, fanftum, bo- num natura fit, per creaturam injuftitice exemplum pro- duxit, non quali creatura illam fuo marte produxerit, qure nee eft, nee vivit, nee operatur fine nuniine, fed quod nu- men ipfum author eft ejus, quod nobis eft injuftitia, illi vero nuUatenus eft. Ziiinglius deProvid. Dei, c. v. torn. i. p. 364. Tigiir. 1581. Movet ergo latronem ad occidendum, innocentem etiam ac imparatum ad mortem. Ih. c. vi. p. 366. Deo impuliore occidit. Ibid. ^ Heylyn's Ouinq. Hift. part ii. c. xvi. o Ibid, part iii. c. xx. part i. c. v. I' Toplady on Predeft. p. 60. Divifw Attributes. 1Q7 " whatever bad adlions, they alfo are necefla- " rily done'^;" — ^but to make God the author of fin ? " Truth it is," faith one of our excel- lent Reformers, " that God tempteth. Al- *' mighty God tempteth to our advantage, to *' do us good withal : the devil tempteth to *' our everlafting deftru6lion' ." For, as an- other of them contended, '' God is not the " caufe of fin, nor icould not have ma7i to If, however, thefe be not admitted as the avowed tenets of Calvinills in general, (al- though it muft not be forgotten, that in the opinion, not only of the oppofers of the fyf- tem, but of Calvin himfeh, and of many of his moll illullrious followers, they neceflarily make a part of it,) how is this attribute of ho- linefs at harmony with the afTertion of Auflin, that " God fuffers evil, and fufFers it not un- *' willingly, but willingly';" and that *' he q Quaecunque in mundo fiunt (tain mala quam bona) ea ex abfoluto decreto et fpeciali prsefinitione Dei fiunt. Pifcat. ul fup. p. 191. Et bona opera et mala ex decreto Dei fiunt necefllario. Ih. p. 212. Omnia fiunt ex decreto Dei irrefiftibili, (etiam peccata quiecunque fiunt,) eoque neceflario fiunt. lb. p. 168. "■ Latimer's Sermons, vol. i. p. 458. s Bifliop Hooper. Preface to the Declaration of the Ten Commandments. t Auguft. Enchir. cap. xxix. o 3 198 Cctlviuifm incoiifijlent witlL the "■ works in the hearts of men to incline their " wills vvhitherlbever he will, whether it be *' to good or to evil" ?" Surely whatever glofs the fupporters of thefe pofitions mav attempt to put upon their deformity, when we conned; them with the refolution of every thing into the '* certain, immutable, and moft efficacious " will of God%" and with the polition " that " whatever comes to pafs, comes to pafs by '* virtue of the abfolute omnipotent will of " God, which is the primary and fupreme *' caufe of all things-';" to affirm, that God willeth the being and commiffion of fin, is to affirm that his will, his certain, immutable, and moft efficacious will, his abfolute and om- nipotent will, is the primary and fupreme caufe of it. Shall I be called upon to difprove fuch pofi- tions 5 and to fhow, how God can be omnipo- tent, if fin be not the refult of his will ? I an- fwer, that fuch inquiries are much better ffiut up in the general declarations of Scripture, which teach us, that " God tempteth not any *' man," that " he is not a God that hath plea- ** fure in wickednefs ^," and that " this is the '' will of God even our fandlification ';" and in " De Grat. ct lib. Arb. c. xxi. ^ Enchir. xxvii. 7 Toplady, p. 43. ^ Pf. v. 4. a I Thef. iv. 3. Divine Attributes. 1 QQ tbofe general reprefentations, which refer us no farther for the caufe of fin, than to the fe- dudions of our fpiritual enemy, and to the de- praved appetites of our own finful nature. For, as to that palTage in Ifaiah, (and if there be any others of the fame tendency,) " I make " peace and create evil ; I the Lord do all " thefe things '';" that is a wife and pious dif- tindlion, which Melandhon infifts upon, be- tween fin and the punifliment of fin ; rightly maintaining, that it is of the latter that the Prophet fpeaks, for that he afcribes, not moral evil, but penal fufFerings to the creation of God, who ordained them in righteous ven- geance for the fins of his people. " b If. xlv. 7. See Toplady, p. 60. ^ Amos 3. Non eft malum in civitate, quod non fecit Dominus. Hujufmodi dij Ta<>y(zvj Tu yivofLsvcif uXXa xara jj,sv 7rpoaip=)5 jv, TOV Se xnta ^uvctTuiTepag, Veteris Ecclefias judicium fuit, Chriftum pro culpa uiiiverfali hominibus providiffc remedio univcrfali, folvendo Divine Attributes. 221 ing the docftrine of univerfal redemption may be boldly denied by an affirmation, that " God " delivered up his Son, not for all men, but " only for thofe that are in Chrili'';" or may be explained away by a fort of fophiftry, which fuppofes fuch texts to mean, that " his *' facrifice and undertaking are infinite and all- *' fufiicient, but that the application of this " facrifice and undertaking is every where " confined to the eled: people of God V' it may notwithfl:anding be confidently maintained, that other pafi^'ages remain, which reprefent the death of Chrill: as com menfu rate in its effeds with the fall of Adam "", " that," as Athanafius fays, " abfolving the firfi: man's fin, " he might take it away from the whole " race":" — which fpeak of him, as '' the pro- '* pitiation for the fins of the whole world ;" not the world of the eled:, according to the predefiinarian refinement, but "all men," ''the " whole human race," as Calvin once exprelTed it°; " all mankind," as dillinguiftied by our \vTpov infiniti pretii, ne ejus defeftu periret quifquam. Vo^', Hi/ior. Pelag. lib. vii. thef. iii. p. 680. ^ Whitefield's Works, vol. iv. p. 57. ' Pietas Oxonieniis, p. 6y. ^ I Cor. XV. 22. Rom. v. 22, 18, 19. " 'Iva exejvou Xuc/jv tyjV dfj^apriuv, onro 'STccvro^ avr^^v aprj tow ysvouj. Athan. in palT. cap. 12. torn. ii. p. 90. ed. Paris. 1698. ^ Meffias ilia omnia cumulate prceftitit, quae erant ad 222 Calvinifm incotifijient with the Church from " the eleA people of God^;" *' the whole world," as diftinguifhed by St. John from Chriltians, that very world, " which " lieth in wickednefs'^:" (for in the Scripture, and more efpecially in the writings of St. John, " the world," or " the whole world," never fignifies the ele6l only in oppofition to the wicked of the world, but Hill the wicked of the world in oppolition to the faithful Chrif- tian':) — and which defcribe him, as having " died for fome, who might neverthelefs perilh •* and be deftroyed';" as having "'bought " them, who neverthelefs denied him, and " brought on themfelves deftrucftion by bring- " ing in damnable herefies';" and as having OMNIUM redemptionem neceflfaria. Neque vero intra unum Ifraelem tantum illud beneficium ftetit, cum potius ad UNivERSUM HUMANUM GENUS ufque porrigendum efTet : quia per unum Chriflum universum humanum GENUS reconciliandum erat Deo. Prcefatio Johanms Cal- vini in Editionem Gallicam Novi Tejiamenti Neocomi, jinno MDXxxv. Calv.Ep. Col. 543. Nemo hinc excluditur, (ab hsereditate fcilicet regni pa- terni,) qui modo Chriftum, qualis offertur a Patre in falu- tem OMNIUM admittat, et admiflum comple^latur. Ibid. Col. 545. See Winchefter on the Seventeenth Article, p. 16. ed. Churchman's Remembrancer. P Catechifm. Summary of the Creed. 1 Cf. I John ii. 2. and v. 19. ' See Whitby on the Five Points, p. 130. ' I Cor. viii. it. Rom, xiv. 15. ' a Pet. ii. i. Divine Attributes. 228 '' fandlified them, who tread him under foot, ** and do defpite unto the Spirit of grace, and " count the blood of the covenant an unholy " thing"." " Let us," exclaims St. Clement, the fellow-labourer of St. Paul, and one the beft qualified to fupply a comment upon the language of the Apoftle ; " Let us look ftead- *' faftly upon the blood of Chrill:, and let us " fee, how precious to God his blood is ; *^ which, being fhed for our falvation, did '' bring the grace of repentance to the whole " world. Let us attentively regard all ages, " and obferve, that in every generation the " Lord granted place of repentance to them *' who would turn to him \" And fhall we be perfuaded, in fpite of fuch authorities as thefe, to give our alfent to a iyf- tem, which, (whilft it pretends to be the fyf- tem, that peculiarly exhibits the Almighty '' promoting his own glory and the greateft '' poflible ultimate good of his creatures ^,)" deprives the mercy of God and the facrifice of » Heb. X. 29. * ATsvi 0£w alfxa. aura, 6 t* Sia ttjv rjiMSTsgtxv crcoTYjpnicv sx^v^sv, 'cravTi TO) Kocr^ta j^sTavojaj %«p»v vTrriVsyxsv. ArevKrwitx-sv sjj tu; ysvscus wacraj, xat xara/x-a^co/Asv, on sv ysvsix. x«« yevsa [xsTavotag tottov sSoJxev 6 SfCTTroTrjj roig (Sii\0[j,svoig sTri$-pocfYivsLi stt uvtov. S. Clem. ad Cor. ep. i. cap. vii. y Overton, p. 89. 224 Calvinifm inconjijlent ivith the Chrift of the greateft portion of their glory ; charges with blafphemy the aflertion, that Chrift died, not only for thofe that are faved, but alfo for thofe that perifh^; reftrid:s the illimitable current of the grace of God ; and confines the operation of redeeming love to a favoured few'\f' " Our Lord knew," fays the Founder of the Calvinillic Methodifts, ** for " whom he died. There was an eternal com- " pa(ft between the Father and the Son. A " certain number was then given him, as the " purchafe and reward of his obedience and " death. For thefe he prayed, and not for the " world ; for thefe, and thefe only, he is now *' interceding; and with their falvation he will " be fully fatisfied^." Woe then to the rebel- lious and deceitful prophets, who '* prophelied " fmooth things" to every finner of the houfe of Ifrael, and faw for every child of Adam " vifions of peace, when there was no peace !" Woe to the falfe Apoftles, who called upon " all men every where to repent and believe " in him, who tailed death for every man, " and whom God had fet forth to be a pro- ** pitiation for the fins of the whole world !" O! the unutterable blindnefs of the heavenly hoft, when they hailed the nativity of the Sa- 2 Whitefield, vol. i. p. 212. vol. iv. p. 71. * Ibid. vol. i. p. 145. '' Ibid. vol. iv. p. 72. Divine Attributes, 225 viour as " good tidings of great joy to all '^ people ;" in a hymn of Glory to God in the higheft, of peace on earth, and of good-will towards men ! No more let all men be invited to exult in that Gofpel of falvation, which is good tidings of great joy only to a feleded few ! No longer let all men be taught, that " God fo loved the world, that he fent his '^ only-begotten Son into the world, that who- " foever believeth in him might not perifli but '' have everlafting life;" but that God fo hated the world, that he fent not his Son into the world to fave the world, but that, becaufe it believed not in him, in whom God rendered it incapable of believing, the world through him might be condemned! How widely different from this reprefent- ation of the divine benevolence, is that which has been tranfmitted to us by fome of the holy fathers of the Church. *' They compare " our Saviour to the Sun, who fhines indiffer- " ently to all the world, although there be '^ fome private corners and fecret caves, to '* which his light doth not come ; although ** fome fliut their windows and their eyes, and *' exclude it ; although fome are blind and " do not fee it. They compare our Lord to a *' Phyfician, who profelles to relieve fuch as *' iliall have recourfe to his helpj but doth *' cure only thofe, who feek for remedy, and Q 226 Calvimfm inconjljlent with the *' are willing to take the medicine. The co- " venant of grace, fay they, is a door Handing " open to all, whereinto all have liberty to *' enter. Evangelical grace is like a fountain " ftanding openly, to which all men have free " accefs ; at which all men may quench their ** thirlt, if they will inquire after it, and go *' thereto V It did not occur to them per- haps, and they would doubtlefs have deemed it derogatory to God's honour, if it had occur- red to them, to annul the univerfality of our Saviour's gracious invitation, " whofoever will, " let him take the water of life freely %" by the ingenious comment of a late Predeftinarian, that " none can will a part in thefe privileges, *' but thofe whom God previoufly makes wil- " ling and defirous ; and that he gives this " will to, and excites this defire in, none but *' his own ele6l''." The argument might be farther purfued, under a multiplicity of forms, and in a variety of particulars. But the leading remarks now thrown out may be fufficient for my purpofe ; and will probably convince thofe, whofe minds are open to their reception, that the do6lrine of abfolute eledion and reprobation is irrecon- t> See Barrow's Works, vol. iii. p. '^^^. or vol. i. p. 88, of Sermons felefted ; Oxford edition. c Rev. xxii. 17. •^ Toplady on Predeftination, p. 72. Divine Attrihiites, 227 cileable with the general declarations of Scrip- ture concerning the nature and government of God J and neceflarily involves confequences, " which, if there are fome things fo evil that " they can never be good, cannot be afcribed " to God without blafphemy^" I fliall there- fore decline any farther exemplification of the prefent argument ; for I fhrink from the dif- cuflion of a fubjed:, w^iich can hardly be ex- amined 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 inhabiteth " eternity, whofe name is holy ;" towards whom the hofts of heaven bend in lowly ado- ration, and ** call their crowns before his '' throne." II. I proceed therefore to confider the fub- jecft, with reference to the general covenant of the Gofpely and the promij'es of God, as they arc generally fet forth in holy Sciiptiire. Now the very notion of a covenant is in^ compatible with the dodlrine in difpute. By a covenant, in a religious fenfe, we underftand a compact or agreement, whereby God ftipu- lates to bellow certain blellings upon thofe, who engage to perform certain conditions, * See Stebbing on the Spirit, chap. vi. fe£t. 2. Q 2 228 Calvimfm inconjlflent ivlth 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 promifeV and confer the blef- fings, for which he was gracioufly pleafed to flipulate. 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 dodrine 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 mull therefore relinquilh 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 im- portance, and it is fo firm and conclufive on the matter in debate, that it requires to be more fully inforced and illufirated. I do not fcruple then to alTert, and I aflert it with a lleadfall f Office of Baptifm. Conditions of the Gofpel Covenant. 22Q reliance on its truth, without fear of confuta- tion, and with a truft in God that it is capable of demonflration, that the Gofpel difpenfation, in the whole and in its feveral parts, is ftriclly a covenant between God and man : — that all thofe fpiritual bleflings, which Chrift died to purchafe, and which the Holj 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 affillance of that grace which God is pleafed to bejftow,) 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 perifli eternally : — and that in confequence, if God be true, (I fliudder at the provifo, which I am compelled to introduce!) thofe fpiritual bleffings, and efpecially that falvation, which is the conclufion, fum, and fubliance of the whole, are not the efFed: of an arbitrary election on the part of God ; are not abfolute ; are not irrefpe^tive ; 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 2incondi- " tional^\' — that " the Gofpel is not to be " clogged with terms, qualifications, and con- 8 Hawker's Prop agalnft all Defpair, p. i8, Q 3 230 Calvimfm incovjijlent ?tith the general " ditions^;"' — that '' a condilional redemption. " is a contradidion in terms';" — that ** the *' promiies of the Gofpel are not conditional, •' made to the believer upon certain terms, as '' if upon doing his part, God would do his *' alfo'^j" — that " believers are jull:ified before •' God, without any refpecl to their works, *' pad, prcfent, or to come';" — in a word, that " to preach terms and conditions is to pervert " the Gofpel of Chrift, and to fubftitute a mere *' fyllem of man's devifing"." To thefe alTertions others of the fame im- port might eafily be added. What now is the proteliant doctrine on this head ? " Although *' God's promifes made in Chrift," fay our Re- formers, " be immutable, yet he maketh them " not to us hut ivith 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 protellant divines, who h Goliath Slain, p. 160. and Mafon's Spiritual Treafury, P- 75- • Toplady's Church of England vindicated from Armi- nianifm, p. 92. ^ Romaine's Walk of Faith. Works, vol. ii. p. 168, 1 Whitefield's Works, vol. v. p. 137. "1 Mafon's Spiritual Treafury, p. 178. " Neceflary Do6trine, &c. Declaration of Faith. Conditions of the Gofpel Covenant. 231 ** have dire6lly or indirectly reprefented re- " pentance and faith as conditions of prejent '' falvation, and holinefs of heart and life as *' conditions of eternal glory, as things fine " quibus non, without which falvation and "glory neither can nor will follow j — if all " thofe divines are guilty of herely, ninety- " nine out of an hundred are heretics °." And I queftion, whether fome of the declaimers againft conditions be not fometimes anfwer- able for the herely. What again is the do6lrine of Scripture ? " If thou wilt enter into life, keep the com- *' mandments^:" — "This do and thou ffialt " live'':" — " Believe in the Lord Jefus Chrift, *' and thou llialt be faved':" — " Whofoever '* lliall call on the name of the Lord lliall be " laved':" — " He that believeth and is bap- " tized fliall 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 Teflament, in the language of our Saviour and of his Apoftles, be fufficient to prove, that eternal life is fuf- o Fletcher's Firft Check, p. 66. p Matt, xix, 17. q Luke X. 28. "■ Aflsxvi. 31. s Rom. X. 13. t Mark xvi. 16. " John vi. 54. Q 4 13 3 2 Calvimjm inconjijlent with the general pended upon the performance of certain con- ditions ? or, that we may not be engaged in a flrife of Vv'ords, on the fulfihiicnt of certain duties and obUgations, the non-fulfilment of which will (generally fpeaking) exclude us from eternal life : on our having " certain in- " difpenlable prerequifites"," according to the phrafe of a Calviniftic writer; or, as it is juftly defined by a diltinguiflied Prcibytcr and Dig- nitary of our Church, " not the caufe, by *' which an effect is produced, but the circum- " fiance, without which that efFedl will not *' take place ^." What are thofe conditions, and what is the precife import of the expref- iions, juft cited from Scripture, are queltions, which do not afiecl our prefent argument. If eternal life and falvation be fufpended on the fulfilment of certain conditions, the doc^frine of God's abfolute ele(5lion 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 fpiritual gifts, ordained by Qod for the attainment of falvation, are alio con- ditional, and depend upon the performance of certain fpecified duties. Is it necellary, that we " be born again of water and of the Spirit.^ X Chriftian Obferver, June 1807. p. 379. y Daubeny'8 Vindiciae, p. 286. ' Conditions of the Go/pel Covenant. 233 The laver of baptifm is provided for our re- generation. Is it neceilary, that we " eat the ** flefli, and drink the blood," of Chrift? They are provided for us at the holy communion. IVIuft 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- ceilary : but in order to procure his help, the duty of prayer is appointed ; and we are allur- ed, that *' God will give his Holy Spirit, and " with him all good things, to them who alk '' him." And let it not be objeded to this llatement, 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 happinels : that, as Auftin exprelles it, " the ele6l are not chofen becaufe they be- *' lieve, but they are chofen that they may " believe^:" — that, as the Contra-Remonftrants at Port contended, '* God ordained who lliould "believe, and fo predeliinated both to grace *' and glory ^:" — or that, in the quaint phrafe- ology of the modern Predellinarian, " we muft 2 Intelligamus ergo vocationem, qua funt ele£li, non qui eliguntur, quia crediderunt, fed qui eliguntur ut cre- dant. Augiift. de Frcedeji. SanSioi: cap. xvii. ^ Hales's Letters from Dort, p. 452. 234 Calvin ifm inconjijlen t 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 mai/ " lay hold of eternal " life^:" — we are admonilhed to " run with *' temperance the Chrillian courfe," not be- caufe we have obtained, but " that we ma?/ '' 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 conlidered, that although our Sa- " viour Chrill hath ofFered himfelf upon the " crofs a fufficient redemption and fatisfacftion '' for the lins 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 refpecl 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, fliewed univerfally to the b Whitefield's Works, vol. i. p. i8i. Romaine's Works, vol. i. p. 361. Walk of Faith, c I Tim. vi. 12. d I Cor. ix. 24, 25. e Abp. Cranmcr. Conditions of the Gofpel Covenant. 235 " whole world, none iliall have the efFed: of " this benefit of our Saviour Chrill:, and enjoy " everlalling falvation by him ; but they that " tahej'uch tvays to attain the fame, as he hath *' taught and appointed by his holy word V And let it not be fuppofed, that this ftate- ment militates againft the undoubted doctrine of the Gofpel, that our falvation is wrought by the free grace of God; according to the in- linuation of Whitefield, that " one reafon why *' he thinks Calvinifm right is, becaufe proud " nature will not Hoop 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 do6lrine of falvation by *' grace through faith in the Redeemer, under ** whatever form or name it is profelled, to *' which in reality we at the bottom objeA^." That our notions of the divine decrees are in any way incompatible with the dodlrine of falvation by grace, we leave to be proved by our accufers. " The ancient Synods holden in ^ Neceflary DocSlrlne and Erudition for any Chriflian Man. Article of Juftification. 6 Whitefield's Eighteen Sermons, p. 113. ^ Overton, p. 97. 236 Calvimfm incoTiJiftent ivHJi the geiieral *' 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- " fokite decrees and its dependencies'. *' For," as the fame learned man hkewife remarks, *' both opinions," that is, of conditional and unconditional predellination, ** 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 " HIM to be the only foundation *"." Blelied be God, and we glory in avowing it, it is of his free grace, finners as we all are by nature, and fpiritually '' dead in trefpalles and Uns ','' that we are " faved and ca'led w^ith 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 waihing of regenera- " tion and renewing of the Holy Ghoft"." It is of his free grace, that he promifes to enable us, w^eak and imperfed: creatures as we always ' Speech to the Bargomafters of Amfterdam. Brandt's Hidory of" the Reformation, vol. ii. p. 216. ^ Ibid. p. 212. 1 Eph. ii. i. m 3 Tim. i.9. n xit. iii. 5, 7. 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 deiires," and to affill: us in " bringing them to good '' efFe6l." It is of his free grace, that '' he *' teaches us, that denying ungodlinefs and *' worldly lufts, we lliould live foberly, righte- " oufly, and godlily in this prefent w^orld ; " looking for that blefled hope, and the glo- " rious appearance of our great God and Sa- " viour Jefus Chrill:°." But frQC as is the grace of God, it operates by the inftrument- ality of certain appointed means. Life and breath, health and ftrength, all the enjoyments, and comforts, and necellaries 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 bleffings are conducive to our fpiritual welfare. The cafe is the fame, however, with refped: to the attainment, the maintenance, and the increafe of our bleffings, both temporal and fpiritual ; if we would pollefs them, and have them thrive in our polielfion, we mull: be dili- gent in pracftifing the appointed means ; and it is at the fame time the moll rational, and let me add the moll grateful, conducl, to prac- o Tir. ii. 12, 13. 238 Calvimfm incoiijijlent with the general tife with diligence the means which God hath appointed. I am aware it will here be objected, that the argument is not conclufive : for that if God has abfolutely eleded certain individuals to falvation, he will take care to ratify his elediion : — "if he has predeftinated to the ** end, he has alfo predeftinated to the means:" — if he has chofen to beftow certain gifts and graces on his elec^, 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 fufRciency 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 againit this error that our temperate Reformers directed their efforts, when with their wonted moderation they obferved, " All men be to be moniflied, *' and chiefly preachers, that in this higli '' matter they, looking on both fides, fo at- '' temper and moderate themfelves, that neither " they fo preach the grace of God, that they ''take away thereby free-will; nor on tlic Conditions of the Gofpel Covenant. 239 *' other iide 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 Manichce. Nor yet to fay, God hath *' WTitten fatal laws, as the Stoic ; and with ** neceflity of deltiny, violently pulleth one by " the hair into heaven, and thrutleth the other ^' headlong into hell '^." In correfpondence with this judicious deci- iion it remains to be Ihown, 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 rejeA them : — that, as the wife man affirms, *' Before man is life or death, and whether " him liketh (hall be given him ' : — or to ex- prefs the propolition in words before employ- ed, that every man has the power of falling from that grace, w^hich he may have enjoyed, fo as to perilh eternally ; and that every man has the power of performing the fer vices re- P Neceflary Doftrlne, &c. Article of P'ree-will. q Hooper's Preface to Declaration of the Ten CopJ' iiiandments. ' Ecclus. XV. 17. 240 Calvlmfm inconfijient tvitli 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, cauiing nothing ; and his decree not " altering or croHing, 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 mercy'." 1. With refped: to the former cafe, which may be thus exprefled 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 '^i" wherefore do the writings of the Apoftles, addrelied to *' the " elecl," " the called of God," " the faints," * Plaifere's Appello Evangelium, part i. chap. vi. p. 34. Churchman's Remembrancer, N^. V. p. 57. t Latimer's Sermons, vol. ii. p. 847. Conditions of the Go fpel Covenant. 241 ^' the fandtified and preferved by Chrift Jefus," " the beloved of God," abound in the moft fer- vent exhortations to fteadfaftnefs in the beUef and practice of the Gofpel, if they were inca- pable of falhng 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 eleded them to eternal life, and to whom the apoftolical language, which is made a foundation of this do6trine, could in this fenfe be reafonably applied ; they mufl be the primitive Chriftians ; they mull; be the very perfons, to whom thofe epillles were addrefled ; of whom thofe things were pre- dicated ; who were faluted by the very appel- lations, on the ufe of which the doArine is partly built. IWherefore then does St. Paul admonifli " all that be at Rome, beloved " of God, the called of Jefus Chrill, called to " be faints," " theeleftion according to grace," '' not to be high-minded but to fear," becaufe " if they continued not in God's goodnefs, '' they alfo fliould be cut ofF*^.^" Wherefore, in writing to the Corinthians, whom he falutes as *' fandified in Chrift Jefus, called to be " faints," and commends for " coming behind '' in no gift," does he remind them, that '' they E Rom. i. 6, 7. xi. 5, 20, 22. R 242 Calvinifm mconjijlent itith the getter al *' are flill carnal ;" and warn them that " he *' who thinketh he ftandeth fliould take heed " left 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- '' hour in vain '?" Wherefore to *' the faints at *' Ephefus and the faithful in Chrift Jefus," whom he defcribes as " blefled by God and " the Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift with all " fpiritual bleftings in Chrift, according as he " hath chofen us in him before the foundation " of the world, that we fliould 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 I Cor. i. 2, 7. iii. 4. > Gal. V. 7. iii. i. iv. 11. 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 Hand''?" Wherefore does he exhort *' the faints in " Chrift Jefus at Philippi," whom he com- mends for their Chriftian character, and de- fcribes as " partakers of his grace," to " be- '^ ware of the dangers which befet them ;" to '' ftand fall 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 CololTe," whom he ftyles " the ele6l of God, holy and beloved," does he promife the bleflings of Ch rift'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 Theflalonians, of whom he de- k Eph. i. 3, 4, 5, 6. iv. i, 17. v. 6. vi. u, 13. ' Phil. i. 1,7. iii. 3. iv. I. ii. 12, 26. ^ Col. i. 2. ill. 12. i. 23. R 2 244 Calvmifm inconfijient with the general clarcs, that he " knows their election of God," and that " God had from the beginning chofen ** them to falvation through fandification of *' the Spirit and belief of the truth," docs he llgnify his apprehenfion " left by fome means *' the tempter fliould have tempted them, and *' his labour fliould be in vain "?" Wherefore does St. John, addreffing himfelf to *' the elecl " lady and her children," admonifli them to " look to themfelves : that we lofe not," he adds, ** thofe things which we have wrought, " but that we receive a full reward"?" And wherefore does St. Peter, writing to thofe, whom he reprefents as " having obtained like *' precious faith with himfelf," and whom he ftyles " eled: according to the foreknowledge ** of God the Father," at the fame time motl fervently charge them, to " be fober and vigi- '* lant" 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 calling and election ''fure^>" Surely if there ever was an individual of a charader inferior to the apoftolical, who might be regarded as abfolutely predeftined to lal- « I Their, i. 4. iii. 5. 2 ThefT. ii. 13. " 2 John ver. 8. V 2 Pet. i. I. 1 Pet. i. 2. v. 8, iii. 17. i. jo. Conditions of the G of pel Covenant. 245 vation, it was Timothy, St. Paul's " own Ion *' 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 fooliili and hurtful lufts, which " drown men in perdition and deftru6lion ;" to " follow after righteoufnefs, godlinefs, faith, " love, patience, meeknefsj" to *' fight the '' good iight of faith," and fo to *' lay hold on '' eternal life''?" Surely if ever an Apoftle may be confidered as abfolutely elefted to everlafting life, it was St. Paul himfelf, converted by the miraculous interpofition of Chrift to a profellion of his re- ligion ; ** a vellel chofen by the Lord to bear ** his name before the Gentiles, and kings, and " the children of Ifrael ;" filled with the Holy Gholl ; and " fepa rated" 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 " I do, forgetting thofe things which are be- *' hind, and reaching forth unto thofe things " which are before, 1 prefs toward the mark •' for the prize of the high calling of God in ^' Chrill Jefus'?" And what meaning, fhort of q 1 Tim.iv. i6. vi. 9, li, 12. * Afts ix. i^, xiii, 2 » Pbil. iii. 13. R 3 246 Calvinifm inco7iJiJlcnt with the general a poflibility of his ultimate rejection, can be iinderftood by that declaration, where, urg- ing the neceffity 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 fubjecftion, left " that by any means, when I have preached *' to others, I myfelf fhould be a caflaway'." Peter undoubtedly did fall from grace: al- though by the interceliion 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 liill more awful warning to thofe, who have been eleded like him to the Gofpel, but who have certainly been endowed with lefs noble fpiritual 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 whilft 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 *' fliedding his blood :" that both the final per- feverance of the one, and the rejection of the other, were folely etii'Cted by God's free and < 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 let us adhere to the founder doctrine of Latimer, ('' that veteran and true apoflle of *' our nation and of Chrift"," as his brother martyr lliyled him,) unfophitlicated by the com- ment of the author to whom I have juft re- ferred ; " Chrid flied as much blood for Judas *' as he did for Peter ; Peter beheved it, and " therefore he was faved ; Judas would not " believe, and therefore he was condemned ; *' the fault being in him only, and in nobody "elfeV 2. With refpe6l 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 Chrilt ;" and that " men are the caufe of their own damna- " tion, for that God would have them faved, " but they refufe it, hke as did Judas the trai- " tor, whom Chrill w^ould have had to be " faved, but he refufed his falvation\-" if every man is not capable of performing the fervices »i Toplady on Predeft. p. 64, no, 68. * Ridley's Life ofBiiliop Ridley, p. 593. y Sermons, vol. ii. p. 556. See Winchefter on the feventeendi Article in the Churchman's Remembrancer, No. n. p. 66. and Mr. Churton's Biographical Pret". p. xvi. z Latimer's Sernjons, vol. ii. p. 891, 88S, R 4 13 -iS Caluinifni iiiconjijlent ivitli the geiieral requifite for falvation, what is the meaning of thofe gracious offers of mercy and fpiritual af- lillancc ; of thofe pathetic exhortations to re- pentance and amendment of life ; of thofe un- quahfied promifes of pardon to the penitent linner; with which the Scriptures every where abound ? What are we to underftand by the afl'urance of God that he '' will make his fin- " ful people a new heart and a new fpirit"*?" What are we to underftand 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 " fpirit, that fo iniquity may not be their ** ruin^?" What by his confcquent mod fo- lemn proteftations, that " though their fins be " as fcarlet, they fliall be made white as fnow; " though they be red like crimfon, they fhall " 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 underlland by his moll plain declarations, *' I *' will fend unto them all my meiiengers and *' prophets, riling up early and fending them, *' becaufe I have compallion on them''?" and ^ Ezck. xxxvi. 26. ^ Ezek. xviii. 30, 31. c If. i. 18. ]v «/xapT)V eKsV^sqiav tod ys- V£^«j o-jceuof sxKoyYii xai ^cojjj" ofuoutig 'sraXiv ol ixstjt.'j^£iTixcyoi :jv •&eoT>]Ta, xanoi ■nre'7r\rigwfJisvoi xai SiSsjO-svo* vrvsviJiccTi ayico, •ux avxyxYj tivi xJxpaTy^vrai, «AX' e^ouo'i to avrs^outrtov too Tqa~ Thriven auTOv:, xat •motsiv n ^sXovcriv etg tov aicova toutov. Macarii Horn. XV. p. 96. ed. Paris. 1621. * I Cor. jv. 7. '> Phil. iv. 13. not irrejijlihle. 2/3 *' ratify his election by his own voiced" The ailertion runs counter to the whole tenor of the Bible ; annvilling 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 curling, 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 linner, " If ye be willing " and obedient, ye Ihall eat the good of the " land 'y but if ye refufe and rebel, ye fhall be " devoured with the fvvord, for the mouth of " the Lord hath fpoken it*^:" what was the <= Duo autera errores hie cavendi funt: quia nonnuUi cooperarium Deo faciunt hominen), ut fuffragio fuo ratam eleftionem faciat : ita fecundum eos voluntas hominls fu- perior eft Dei confilio. Calv. Inji. lib. iii. cap. xxiv. fe](7fy o &sog tov av^pcoirov ouJ; yup >3V a^iog aixoiSrjg rj STtatvov, ovx ap' kuvrov 6\0[j,evog to aya^oVf aXXx THTO ysyofMsvog'' «§' ei xxKOg vTrr^p^s, lixxiog KoXxaiug STuy- ^xvsv, ovx. a(p' latiToy roiovrog wv, uKh! ovisv ^uva[ji,svog sivai sTspov -STuq 6 sysyovsi. E8jS«^s Ss ^jU.aj txvto. to aynv zjpopriTtxov SJV£v//.a 8(a Majtrsojf, x.T.X, Hcn zTstkiv 8ia HcraVoy tov sTspO'j 'STpo«/, euuTOv: ctTTiaTtitrocv SijAaS^j. Hjsoj ro\jTO\j; ^ x^c^>jTaa Xsyn' Kaf ^cXr)Ti, xai eiJxxo'jTriTe f:,0'j, tu ayx^x tyj; yr]c (puye^V sf' riiji.iv neiynvoL huXzy^ovtra, xxi tjjv algecnv, xai r>jv sxt^otdjv. Clem. Alex. Strom. lib. i. cap. xviii. toiu. i. p. 371. ed. Oxon. h John iii. ly. i Luke x. 42. not irrejiflihle. 275 tha for her neglect ? If the difcrimlnation of JNIarj had been exclulively effected bj the irrefiftible operation of divine grace, Martha might have pleaded the want of ability in her excule ; flie might have charged the fault of her negled, 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 filler 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 " ivoulcl not come unto Chrili, that they might '* have life and might be faved ™," (OT 0EAETE eh^siv TT^og f^s, ye are not ztilUng 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 fpeaks, '' but had pleafure in unrighteoufnefs°;" J^ Whitefield's Worksj vol.i. p. 125. ' Ajv «^JOj «|W,o<6'r)5-, tkc. Vid. Jiifi. Mart, ut fupra. u?X u)iovjj tou ocv^poiTTOU ■ Sed tandem allegandi veteres finis efto ; quando, non dico fi omnia omnium indicare velimus, (quod non pofTe- mus quidem,) fed vel fola quas pofTumus, nullus lit fu- turus finis : et eo minus labore iftoc opus, quando niaxi- nnxs Calvinus banc fuifTe antiquitatis fentcntiam non ob- fcure agnofcit, Sec. V()J'. H'lfi. Pelag. lib. vii. par. ii. P-75I- '"^ Ac voluntatcm movet, non qualiter multis feculis tra- ditum efl et creditum, ut noftroe poflea fit eletlionis, mo- tion! aut obtcmperare aut refragari ; fed illam efficaciter afficiendo. Calv. Inft. lib. ii. cap. iii. fe6l. 10. not perceptihle. 2g7 " preffion 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 rufliing wind":" — that he " gives a believer fuch a telHmony of his " adoption, that, while it is prefent to the " foul, he can no more doubt the reality of his " fonfliip, than he can doubt of the lliining of <*' the fun, while he Hands in the full blaze of " his beams :" — that he *' feels the Spirit in " his foul in the fame way as he 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 worfliip, in their daily employ- *' ments, and in fliort in all the various provi- :" dences by which they are exercifed^'." I cite the words of fome of the moft celebrated Methodills, thinking it unneceflary to multiply quotations from others of inferior note. Suf- fice it to obferve, that as, on the one hand, Wefley reprefented this dodrine of fenfible * Whitefield's Works, vol. iv. p. i8. " Wefley's Works, vol. xxvii. p. 31,32. Outram's Ex- tracts, p. 63. * Wefley's Sermons, vol. i. p. 155. y Hawker's Paraclefis, p. 66. See Outram's Extrads, p. 74. 298 The Operaiions of the Holy Ghojl impreliions, to be " one grand part of the tef- ** timony, which God had given the Methodills " to bear to all mankind ; and that it was by ** his peculiar blefling upon them in fearching ** the Scriptures, confirmed by the experience '* 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 Method ifts of every denomination have been more prone to infift, than on their in- ward impulfes and feelings ; their experieiices, in the phrafeology of the fe6l ; as the direct witnefs of the Holy Spirit in their hearts ; as diftinclive marks, and infallible evidences, of 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 hearts^;" or that *' the Spirit itfelf beareth w^itnefs with our " fpirit that wc are the children of God^" However arduous may be the talk of defining the limits of his agency, and drawing a line of feparation between his motions and the natural fuggellions of the human mind, (a talk, which the great Searcher of hearts alone may be deemed capable of performing,) ftill the belief «= Wefley's Sermons, vol. i. p. 164. * 2 Cor. i. 23. ^ Rom.viii. i5. not perceptible. 299 that we are blefled 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 denj^ the Jenfible influence of the Spirit } I anfwer ; we may " feel in ourfelves ** the working of the Spirit of Chritl'^:" — our Church employs the language ; and I fcruple not to repeat it, nor when fcripturally under- ftood to maintain it for the dodlrine of Scrip- ture: but we feel it no otherwife than we do our thoughts and meditations ; we cannot diflinguiih them, by their manner of affecting us, from our natural reafonings and the opera- tion of truth 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 re- 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 flie de- mands of her candidates for holy orders, not Are you inwardly moved, but " Do you trull, ** that you are inwardly moved by the Holy « J John V. 10. ^ Art. 17. * See Stebbing on the Holy Spirit, chap, vii. fed. 6. $00 The Operatiojis of the Holy Ghojl ** Ghoft, to take upon you this office and mi- *' niltration, to ferve God for the promoting ** of his glory, and the edifying of his peo- *' ple^>" For, as Calvin well and temperately remarks, " an inward call is the honell tefti- ** mony of our heart, that we undertake the ** office of the miniflry, not from ambition, or '* covetoufnefs, or any other finful defire ; but *' from a true fear of God and wilh to edify " the Church^." 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. g Eft autem (arcana vocatio) bonum cordis noftri tefti- moniuin, quod neque ambitione, neque avaritia, neque ulla alia cupiditate, fed fincero Dei timore, et aedificandae ecclefiae ftudio, oblatum munus recipiamus. Calv. Inji. lib. iv. cap. iii. feft. ii. h Homilies, p. 389. Oxf. Ed. ■ " O but how fliall I know that the Holy Ghoft is " within me? fome man perchance will fay. Forfooth ^^ as the tree is known by his fruit, fo alfo is the Holy *' Ghoft Here now is that glafs, wherein thou muft ** behold thyfclf, and difccrn whether thou have tlie " Holy Ghoft within thee, or the fpirit of the flefti, Sec." P-390. not perceptible. 301 the point, is the exprefs teftimony of a work, which Ipeaks the fentiments of our Reformers, and affords an admirable comment on the lan- guage of the Article ; " We feel Chrill dwell- ** ing within ourfelves in fuch fort, as we do " our own proper fouls ''." Thus much we believe on the authority of Scripture, and guided in our interpretation by our own evan- gelical Church. But if more than this be in- tended by one of the original Methodifts', when, in a difcourfe from this place, he ac- cufed thofe, who dilfented from his opinions, of fetting up " a devilifh difi:in(5lion, of which *' our Church knows nothing ; of renouncing " the Church of England, as well as the whole " Chriftian revelation, of denying the whole " Scriptures, the whole truth, and promife, and " teliimony of God"":" — if by that " experi- *' mental knowledge," which he defcribed as being " alone true Chrillianity," by that *' fpiritual fenfation, that divine confcioufnefs, ^' that witnefs of God, which is more and *' greater than ten thoufand human v^dtnelfes"," he meant, what his brother defined himlelf to mean, by the teflimony of the Spirit ; namely, ^ King Edward's Catcchifm. Enchir. Theolog. vol. i. p. 30. I The Rev. Charles Weiley. '^ See J. Wefley's Sermons, vol. i. p. 43, 44. " Ibid. p. ^6. 302 The Operations of the Holy Ghoji ** ail inward imprelTion on the fonl, whereby " the Spirit of God immediatelj and diredly *' witnefles to my fpirit, that I am a child of *' God, that Jefus Chrill hath loved me, and " given himfelf for me : that all my fins are *' blotted out, and I, even I, am reconciled to " God°:" — v^'e muft be allowed to demand for the doftrine much Wronger proofs both from Scripture and from our Church, than any which have hitherto been offered; and mean- while to protetl: againft the accufation as un- founded, uncharitable, and unjuft. At the fame time I have no fcruple in af- ferting, that thofe llrong and vivid impulfes, which are fometimes defcribed as the effect of the Spirit; the communications which he is faid to make to the eyes and ears of the in- fpired; the '' inexpreffible light with which '' he fuddenly furrounds them ;" and the rap- turous and ecftatic vifions with which he is faid to illuminate their minds ; *' giving," fays Wefley, *' now, as aforetime, remillion of fins " and the gift of the Holy Ghoft, even to us ** and to our children ; yea, and that always ** fuddenly, as far as I have known, and often ** in dreams or in the vifions of God''/' refem- o Sec J. Wedey's Sermons, vol. i. p. 152, 165. P See Wefley's Journals, N«.V. p. 28. VII.p. ico. III. P.60761* not perceptible. 303 ble lefs the fober promifes of Scripture, than the wild and fanciful dreams of Pagan fu perdition. The tellimony of the Spirit, which thofe pro- mifes inflrucft the humble Chrillian to expedl, is of a compofed and tranquil character. It is to fill him with comfort and calm joy in be- lieving; it is to give him '' the peace of God " which palTeth all underftanding :" it is to make him " rejoice in hope of the glory of " God'':" it is in a word to infufe into his foul that principle of harmony, which was com- municated to the contending elements of the world ; when the earth, which had been " without form and void," was clothed with beauty and fertility by the overfhadowing in- fluence of the Spirit ; and darknefs fled from the deep, as he " moved upon the face of the " waters." '* They that pretend to thefe heights," ob- ferved the pious and eloquent Bifliop Taylor, in language, which in the following century might have feemed directed againll the pre- tenflons of Methodifm ; '* They that pretend " to thefe heights call them the fecrets of the '* kingdom ; but they are fuch which no man " can defcribe ; fuch which God hath not re- " vealed in the publication of the Gofpel ; " fuch for the acquiring of which there are no 1 Rom. XV. 13. Phil. iv. 7. Rom. v. 7,. 304 The Operations of the Holy Ghojl " means prefcribed, and to which no man is " obliged, and which are not in any man's *' power to obtain : fuch which it is not lawful " to pray for or defire, and concerning which " we fliall never be called to an account." '' This we are fure of, that many illufions have " come in the likenefs of vilions; and abfurd " fancies under the pretence of raptures ; and " what fome have called the fpirit of prophecy " hath been the fpirit of lying ; and contem- " plation hath been nothing but melancholy ; ** and unnatural lengths and ftillnefs of prayer " hath been a mere dream and hypochondriacal '* devotion, and hath ended in pride or de- " fpair, or fome fottifli and dangerous tempta- " tion." " I will not fay," he adds, '' that all " violences and extravagances of a religious " fancy are illufions ; but I fay, that they are '' all unnatural, not hallowed by the warrant *' of a revelation, nothing reafonable, nothing " fecure. I am not fure that they ever confilt " with humility ; but it is confefled, that they *' are often produced by felf-love, arrogancy, '* and the great opinion others have of us. I " will not judge the condition of thofe perfons, " who are faid to have fuffered thefe extraor- " dinaries; for I know not the circumllances, " or caufes, or attendants, or the efFedls, or *' whether the ftories be true, that make re- *' port of them ; but I lliall only advife, that 7iot perceptible. 305 *' we follow the intimation of our blefled Sa- *' viour, that we fit down in the lowefi: place, " till the JNIaller of the feaft comes, and bids ** us fit up higher. If we entertain the inward " man in the purgative and illuminative way, *' that is, in adions of repentance, virtue, and " precife duty, that is the fureft way of uniting " us to God, whilll it is done by faith and " obedience ; and that alfo is love ; and in " thefe peace and fafety dwell. And after we ** have done our work, it is not difcretion in a ** fervant to halien to his meab and fnatch at " the refrefhment of vifionsy unions, and ab- " ftradions ; but firfl we mufi; gird ourfelves, " and wait upon the Mafter, and not fit down *' ourfelves, till we all be called at the great " fupper of the Lamb. It was therefore an ** excellent defire of St. Bernard, v/ho was as ** likely as any to have fuch altitudes of fpe- " culation, if God had really difpenfed them " to perfons holy, phantafi:ick, and religious : " I pray God grant to me peace of fpirit, joy ** in the Holy Ghofi^, to companionate others ** in the midft of my mirth, to be charitable in ** fimplicity, to rejoice with them that rejoice, " and to mourn with them that mourn : and *' with thefe I fhall be content. Other exalta- " tions of devotion I leave to Apollles and ** apoftolick men : the high hills are for the *' harts and the climbing goats, the llony 3o6 The Operations of the Holy Ghojl " rocks and the recelTes of the earth for the " conies '." In fhort, that the operation of the Holy Spirit is of that perceptible kind, which the Enthufiatl imagines, is an opinion, which the Scriptures do not appear to warrant : whilfl: the man, who, from the evidence of his feel- ings alone, believes that he is under the influ- ence of the Spirit, is in extreme danger of de- ceiving himfelf, and has no ground for ex- pelling that he fhall be believed by others. 1. He is likely to deceive himfelf: for not- withftanding the aflertion of the Enthuliaft, that *' he wants no other evidence than that *' divine confcioufnefs, that witnefs of God, ** which is more and greater than ten thoufand " human witnelTes':" that which he conceives to be the working of the Holy Spirit, may be nothing elfe than the effcift of ll:rong conftitu- tional feelings ; or of an overheated and dif- ordered imagination ; or of a weak and dif- tempered body ; or of high animal fpirits ; or of youthful giddinefs and inexperience ; or of popular applaufe ; or of pride, vanity, indo- lence, or felf-love; or it may be even nothing elfe than the fuggeftion of. the evil fpirit him- felf. >■ Bifliop Taylor's Life of Chrift, part i. fe6l. 5. " Wefley's Sermons, vol. i. p. 31^. not perceptible. 307 For fuch, on the one hand, is the weaknefs of human nature, that we are too prone to flatter and '* commend ourfelves," when we have no reafon to expert the divine approba- tion. " The heart of man," fays Calvin, " has " fo many retreats of vanity, abounds in fo *' many fecret abodes of falfehood, is over- ** fpread with fuch guileful hypocrify, that it " often deceives itfelf ; and experience Ihows, *' that the reprobate are fometimes moved " with the fame feelings as the eleA are, lb " that in their own judgment they differ no- " thing from the eled:'." Thus we are wf^rn- ed by a Prophet, that *' man's heart is deceit- ** ful above all things":" and the parable of the proud Pharifee may teach us, that a man may *' trull: in himfelf that he is righteous," and may find in his heart to thank God that he is better than other men, and yet not be " juftified" in the fight of God". Whilft, on the other hand, fuch are the ar- tifices of the evil fpirit, that in order to accom- plifli his malicious purpofes againfi; our happi- * Tot vanitatis receflus habet, tot mendacil latebris fcatet cor humanurn, tain fraudulenta hypocrifi obteftum eft, ut feipfum faepe fallat Experientia ollendit repro- bos interdum fimili fere feufu atque eleftos affici, ut ne fuo quidem jiidicio quicquam ab eleftis difFerant. Calv, Jnji, lib. iii. cap. ii. I'e^l. lo, 1 1, y Jer. xvii. 9. ^ Luke xviii. 9. X 2 308 The Operations of the Holy Ghojl nefs, he can be " transformed into an angel of *' light ^;" in other words, he can aflume a holy appearance to deceive us, as he did when he tempted our Saviour, and endeavoured to dazzle and delude his underftanding by citing palTages from Scripture. That we have to " wref- " tie againlt^" this malicious and crafty enemy, and that he employs all his ability to ruin us, are truths, concerning which the Scriptures give us ample reafon to be aflured. And there is perhaps no artifice, by which he may bethought more likely to work on the generality of minds, efpecially on the more feeble and unguarded, than by feducing them into a belief, that his motions and fuggeltions are thole of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul warns us of fome, againft whom, " becaufe they received not the love of *' truth, but had pleafure in unrightcoufnefs," God permitted Satan to exercife fuch power, as to make them *' trull in llrong delulion, " and believe a lie \" To the prevalence of fuch delufion in earlier times, whether it be afcribed to the weaknefs of human nature, unable to withtland the af- fault of its domineering palTions, or to the more myderious interpofition of diabolical agency, the hillory of the Church bears melancholy y 2 Cor. xi. 4. ■'I Pet. v, « 2 Theff. ii. 11. not perceptible. 309 and convincing teftimony. That it hath not ceafed in the preient day, (the obfervation may be invidious, but it is not raflily alleged,) the hillory of Methodilm teftifies ; and the acknowledgments of its profeflbrs authorife and eftablifh the allegation. I employ the language of the Founders of the fe6t, v^hen I affirm, that many of their ex- periences, wherein they reprefent themfelves as fenfibly wrought upon by the Spirit, and which they fometimes defcribe as "^ the moll ■* infallible of all proofs''," judging it '' an eafy " thing for a fpiritual man to know when the *' Holy Spirit makes an impreffion upon his " foul'," and that " it is as eafy to dillinguifh '* the witnefs of the Spirit from prefumption, " as day from night, or light from darknefs, or •' the light of a liar or glimmering taper from ''the light of the noonday fun'';" "often " proceeded from the llate and difpolition 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 enthuliafm ;" — were " groundlefs fpeculations ; — -were vain " and blafphemous conceits ;" — were " plain b Lavington on Enthufiafm, part il. p. 24. c Whitefield's Works, vol. iv. p. I2. d Wefley's Sermons, vol. i. p. 160. « Lavington on Enthufiafm, part ii. p. 106. x3 3 1 0 The Operations of the Holy Ghoji " 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 ^'* ** I 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 the}' judge '* not to have drunk fo freely of the Spirit of *' Chrill^." Whilft Wefley, after enumerating the lingular bleflings conferred upon his par- 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 *' enthvfiafm, imaginary infpiration , afcri/)ing *' to the all-2vife God all the wild, abjurd,felf' " iriconfifient dreams of an heated imagination. *' It brought forth pride, robbing the Giver of *' every good gift of the honour due to his " name. It brought forth prejudice, evil-fur- ' See Wedey's Journals, vol, v. p. 8i. vol. iv. p. 54, p. 55, 66. vol. V. p. 71. and Whitefield's Works, vol. i. p. 50. K Whitefield's Works, vol. i. p. 444. not perccptihle. 311 *' mifing, cenforioufnefs, judging and con- " demning one another: all totally fubverfive *' of that brotherly love, which is the very *' badge of the Chriltian profelTion ; without *' which whofoever liveth, is counted dead be- " fore God. It brought forth anger, hatred, '' malice, revenge, and every evil word and '* work : all direful fruit s^ not of the Holy *' Spirit, hut of the boftomlefs pit^" And let it not be fuppofed, that fuch delu- lion has been confined to thofe inferior mem- bers, who from fome uncommon weaknefs of conflitution, from fome peculiar feeblenefs of intelle6l, from fome defeat in mental cultiva- tion, or from that propenlity, which inclines inferior minds to follow the guidance of their fuperiors, may have been more fignally expof- cd to this infatuation. It was the confeffion of one, endowed with powers both conftitu- tional and intelledlual, greater than thole, 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 God'," 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- ^ Wefley's Sermons, vol. vi. p. 66. ' See Lavington, part ii. p. 15. ^ Evangelical Magazine, Nov. 1808. p. 473, 474. X4 3 1 2 The Operations of the Holy Ghojl fands are obedient, now that he is dead ; it was the confeffion of him, with whom (if his own allbrtions are to be credited ^) " the Lord's ' deahng was fomewhat out of the common ' way ;" whofe " fermons were attended with ' great manifeftations of the divine pref^icc;" to whofe *' miniilerial office God fet his feal ' in every place ;" who " experienced daily ' teachings of the blelfed Spirit, and carried ' on conltant communion with the moll; high * God and the ever-blefled Jefus :" who had ' alTuredly felt, who knew that it was Jefus * Chrift that revealed himfelf to his foul ;" who " knew and was alTured that God fent * forth to him his light and his truth;" to whom ^' it was revealed that Satan was grieved ' at his fuGcefs ;" who " felt every day more ' and more of the divine prefence and alTiIl- ' ance ;" who was '* diredled in Iiis deligns ' by the fpecial interpolition 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 love from morning to ' night;" *' talked with God as a man talketh * with his friend," and " fpoke with the de- ' monftration of the Spirit, and as the Spirit 1 Whitefield's Works, vol. iv. p. 45. vol. i, p. 259,44, 120, 228. 7iot perceptible. 3 1 3 '* gave him utterance ;" who " felt the bleiied " 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 *' blefled Spirit in the fandluary of his heart ;" who " felt the great God in a glorious manner " filling and overffiadowing 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 w^ith his work ;" that " by fe- '^ veral of his afiertions on thefe topics he had " given too much occafion for rcileclion ;" that " his mifiakes had been too many, and " his blunders too frequent, to m^ake him fct *' up for infallibility "." " I came foon into tlie '* world," he fays ; " I have carried high fail, *' whihl running through a whole torrent of " popularity and contempt ; and hy this means " have fometimes been in danger of ovcrfet- *' ting." *' I know too much of the devices of *' Satan, and the defperate wickednefs and de- " ceitfulnefs of my own heart not to be fenfi- "^ See Account of God's Dealings with the Rev. G. Whitefieldj fe6l. 3. Whitefield's Works, vol. i. p. 315, 458, 195, 205, 166, 195, 238, 237, 466. Lavington on Enthufiafm, part i. p. 50, 61, 66, 67, 54, 51. " Whitefield's Remarks on a Pamphlet, entitled, The Enthufiafm of Methodifts, &c. p. 43, ■^^i 40. 3 1 4 The Operations of the Holy Ghojl *' ble, that I am a man of like paflions with " others ; and confequently may have millaken ** 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 a6led wrong! *' I have been too raih and hafty in giving " charaAers both of places and perfons ! I '* have too much made impreflions, without " the written word, my rule of acting. 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 luritten and fpohen too much " in my oiunfpirity ivhen I thought I ivas writ- " ing and f peaking intirely by the affiflance of *' the Spirit of God"':' 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 fpiritual communications, mufl: excite our aftonifhment, if it be true : that he did perfevere in aflerting his claim to fuch communications upon the fame ground and in limilar language, is a fa6t, ^ Works, vol. iv. p, 127. P Remarks, &c. p. '^^. 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 behef, that it is correcting its former extrava- gancies, is adminiftering frefli materials to its rapacious appetite, and feeding itfelf with new delulions. Liable then as we all are to be deluded, 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 inconliderately 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 expedling to be believed by others, even if he admit his own inward feelings for fufBcient evidence to himfelf. " Monfl:rare " 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 ^ Works, vol. iv. p. 166. 3 1 6 The Operations of the Holy Ghoji it to be rejected? if the claim be once allowed, when is it to be denied ? if we once concede our alTent to the unfupported teftimony of him, who arrogates to himfelf the fan6tion of the Spirit, when are we confiftentlj to withhold it ? The pretentions of one man, abllracledly confidered, have as fair a demand upon our credit as thofe of another: and we niuft not only believe, that the Founders of Methodifm were adling under this divine influence, be- caufe they affirm it, when they were belieing their vows of ordination, by " bringing their " own dreams and phantafiesinto the Church'," and fowing in it dilfenlions, inflead of promot- ing quietnefs and peace ; by violating the ec- cleliartical 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 commiffion, and each accufing the other of preaching a new gofpel ; and that their fol- lowers were adling 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. 3 1 7 extravagances, which at various times have thrown dilgrace on the profeffion of the Gof- pel, and brought the very operations of the Holy Spirit into queftion ; and mull refer to the fame facred, pure, and unpolkited fource the fanciful pretenfions, which fandify the ritual of the Papifis, and have canonifed the faints of the Romifh calendar'; the pretenfions of the Herefiarch Manicha^^us to illuminations from the Paraclete*; the vain and arrogant prefumption of Montanus"; the rapturous vi- iions of the Mellalians"; 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 Southcott and of Brothers ; the profligacy and feditious enormities of Hacket the Englifli^ and Boccold the Ger- man ^ impoftor; the gloomy yet ardent bigo- try, which inftigated Ravaillac and Felton to ad:s of allaffi nation; the cool hypocrify, which veiled the judicial murder committed by Crom- » See Homily for Whit-Sunday, part 2. t Jortin's Remarks, vol. ii. p. 114. " Lavington on Enthufiafni, part i. Introd. ^ Moflieim, Cent. iv. part ii. c. 24. See Ridley's Ser- mdns on the Holy Ghoft, Serm. iv. y Moflieiu), Cent. xvii. fe6t. ii. part i, 2. 2 Collier's Ecclefiaftical Hiltory, part ii. b. 7. ^ Moflieim, Cent. xvi. led. iii. part ii. c.3. 3 1 8 The Operations of the Holy Ghojl well and his Puritans ; the blafphemous im- pieties o{ many of the Bilhops of Rome ; and even the audacious impollure, 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 ^" If now in thefe and in numberlefs parallel cafes, (for falfehood ever delights to veil her deformity under the garb of truth,) unfounded pretenfions have been advanced to celeftial in- Ipiration ; if the artful have allerted that plea for the purpofe of deceiving others, and if the weak have admitted it as the inflrument of their own delulion : furely we have ample reafon to withhold our alTent from every un- fupported claim ; nay, we have caufe to fum- mon fufpicion to the aid of wifdom, whenever fuch a claim is alleged ; letl our unguarded limplicity be deceived by enthufiafm or hypo- crify; enthufiafm, whofe very fincerity will infpire her with zeal, at the fame time that it ^ Gibbon, chap. I. vol. ix. p. 260. 8vo. ed. not perceptible. 3 1 9 will adl as an inilrument, to increaie the num- ber of her converts ; and hypocrily, that fpe- cious fiend, Which neither man nor angel can difcern, the only evil, that walks Invifible, except to God alone c. In cafes indeed of infinitely inferior import- ance, and much more then in matters of this high import, the tefi:imony borne by any one to his own charadter 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 firfi; 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 julHfy us in attributing to others : in fufpecfting the poffibility at leaft of felf-deception, even where iincerity may be allowed, and in admitting felf-commendation with caution. To the propriety of caution in fuch a cafe our Saviour exprefled his aUbnt : '' If I bear *' witnefs to myfelf," faid he, ^' my witnefs is " not true'*." At the fame time he laid down « Paradife Loft. ^ John v, 31. 320 The Operations of the Holy Ghojl the principle, on which his own claim to the chara■ Bp. Latimer's Sermons, vol. il. p. 779. " Enchir. Theolog. vol. i. p. 52. spiritual Grace of Baptifm . 355 exprefs piirpofe of regeneration, not only is his operation neceflary, but that it muft alfo (humanly fpeaking) 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 adl 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 *' fpecial prerogative" (faith Bifhop Andrews) " hath the Holy Ghoft in our baptifm above " the other two perfons of the Trinity. That " laver 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, elie there is no ** entering for us into the kingdom of God'.'* So that to deny the regenerating efFed; 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, « Senn. V, on the Holy Ghoft, p. $41, A a 2 356 Regcjicration the If indeed it could be made appear, that they never aAed together, we mull be content, (how much foever it might feem at variance with the exprefs affirmation of our Saviour,) flill we mull be content to admit the notion of their dillindl and independent operation. But when baptifm prefents itfelf to our minds, as a rite inllituted by Chrill for the admiflion of difciples into his Church, and when it may be fatisfadlorily argued from the highell au- thority, that baptifm is the vehicle of regene- ration ; why Ihould we look for any other ? Why Ihould we refort to a forced, an unna- tural, and a prefumptuous conllru6lion, to fupply us from a dillance with the uncertain Ihadow of a blelling, when the plainell and moll eal}^ interpretation of our Saviour's words places the fubllance immediately in our hands ? That this bleffing is conferred upon us by baptifm I alTert on the authority of Scripture. It is the dodlrine of the holy Scriptures, that we are by baptifm made heirs of falvation through Chrill ; and it is the declaration of our Saviour, that we cannot enter into the kingdom of God, which is equivalent to the expreflion that we cannot become heirs of fal- vation, except we be born anew of water and of the Spirit. If then we cannot become heirs of falvation, except we be born of water and spiritual Grace of Baptifm. 357 of the Spirit, and if we be made heirs of falva- tion by baptifm, I fee not how we are to evade the confequence, that the outward wafli- ing of baptifm is attended by the fanAification of the Spirit, and that we are born of water and of the Spirit, when we are baptized. Thus when our Saviour, on giving his commiflion to the Apoftles to go, teach all nations, bap- tizing them, accompanied it with the promife, that he that beheved and was baptized fliould be faved, it mull; clearly be underftood, that the communication of the Holy Spirit and Ipiritual regeneration were to attend on bap- tifm, which is here exprefsly reprefented as the means of falvation. A fingle text of Scripture, properly under- flood, may ferve for the foundation of a doc- trine. " Where there are a multitude of affir- " mations in Scripture," faid the learned re- former Bifliop Ridley, " and where there is *^ but one affirmation, all is one concerning " the truth of the matter : for that which any " one of the Evangelills fpake, infpired by the " Holy Ghoft, was as true as that which was *' fpoken of all"." But as the evidence will undoubtedly ftrike with accumulated force, if a doArine Ihall appear, not to rell on an in- fulated paflage, but to be exprefled or implied " Ridley's Life of Bifliop Ridley, p. 437« A a 3 35 S Hes^enei^ation the ■ft under a variety of forms, and to diffufe its leaven, as it were, through a large mafs of the facred volume, I fhall proceed to ftate feveral fcriptural authorities, on which the notion of our being regenerated by baptifm may be in- controvertibly maintained. St. Paul, in his epillle to Titus, having re- marked upon the depraved ftate of men before their converfion to Chriftianity^ thus proceeds : *' But after that the kindnefs and love of God *' our Saviour towards man appeared, not by " works of righteoufnefs which we have done, " but according to his mercy he faved us, by " the walliing of regeneration and renewing '^ of the Holy Ghoft, which he fhed on us *' abundantly through Jefus Chrift our Saviour: *' that being jullified by his grace w^e fliould '* be made heirs according to the hope of " eternal lifeT' by the wafliing of regenera- tion, ^loL Xovr^Qv TTcLXiyysvicncL^y *' by the laver of *' regeneration," as it is rendered in our bap- tifmal office; by " the fountain of the new- ^ " birth ^," as one of our Homilies exprelTes iti By comparing together the feveral parts of this pallage it is evident, that baptifm is here re- prefented as the mean through which, or the inftrument by which, the Holy Spirit of God » Tit. iii. 4,5,6, 7. y Homily on the Nativity, p. 345. spiritual Grace of Bapiifm. 359 v regenerates us ; and thereby makes us heirs of that eternal life, which the mercy of God our Saviour hath provided for thofe, whom he- juftifies and faves. The fame Apoftle, in his firft epiftle to the Corinthians, again reprefenting as before the wretchednefs of unbelievers, immediately adds, with reference to the Chriftian converts, whom he was addreffing, '' And fuch were fome of " you ; but ye are walhed, but ye are fandli- " fied, but ye are jullified, in the name of the " Lord Jefus, and by the Spirit of our God^" Where, as the Lord Jefus is mentioned as the meritorious caufe of fanAification and juftifi- cation, and the Spirit of our God as the effi- cient and operating caufe; fo alfo is the wafli- ing of baptifm mentioned as the inllrument by which thofe bleffings are conveyed : for " then it is," faith Bifliop Taylor, *' that God " pours forth, together with the facramental " waters, a falutary and holy fountain of " grace, to wafh the foul from all its flains *' and impure adherences \" It is true, that in this paflage there occurs no fuch expreflion as regeneration, or the being born again ; but, as it was before argued, if a perfon muft be born again, in order to be faved or juilified. z 1 Cor. vi. IT. * Taylor's Life of Chrift, p. 199. A a 4 36o Re^eiieration the o and if by baptifm he is faved or juftified, it then neceflarilv follows that by baptifm he is born again. The argument is more direct from what the fame ApoiHe fays to the Coloflians : '* Buried '* with Chrift in baptifm, wherein alfo ye are *' rifen with him, through the faith of the " operation of God, who hath raifcd him from " the dead. And you, being dead in your *' lins and the uncircumcifion of your fleih, *■ hath he quickened together with him ^." What can be plainer or ftronger to the point ? Dead in their fins, and buried in baptifm, by baptifm alfo they were raifed and quickened by God. To the Romans he employs the fame figure, defcribing baptifm as a burial, wherein they were dead unto fin and alive unto God : adding withal a particular, which confirms an opinion prefently to be infixed on, that no other than baptilmal regeneration is poffible in this world. For having obferved, that *' Chrifi: being raifed from the dead, dieth no •' more ; death hath no more dominion over " him : for in that he died, he died unto fin '* once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto "God';" the Apofi:le immediately fubjoins, *' Like wife reckon ye alfo yourfelves," like- fc Col. ii. la, 13, ^ Rom. v . 4, 11. spiritual Grace of Baptifm . 361 wife, in a like or in the fame manner, cvru zcti vy.si^ Aoyi(^£(r3-£ sccvtov^, " to be dead indeed unto '* fin, but alive unto God through Jefus Chrift " our Lord." Does not the language of the Apollle warrant the argument, that we are born anew in baptifm ; and in baptifm exclu- livel J ? In the epiftle to the Ephelians, again, he takes for the ground of an exhortation to con- jugal affection, that " Chrill loved the Church, •' and gave himfelf for it, that he might fanc- *' tify and cleanfe it with the wafliing of wa- " ter by the word ; that he might prefent it '' to himfelf a glorious Church, not having " fpot or wrinkle or any fuch thing ; but that *' it fliould be holy and without blemilli '^." San6:ification and purity, unfpotted and un- blemiflied holinefs, are here attributed to the Church of Chrift, as the effed; of the wafliing of water. But what water could produce fuch an effed; without the operation of the Spirit ? And what rite is performed by their joint operation, but the facrament of baptifm ? And by what appropriate fcriptural term is the effedl of their united influence to be de- nominated, but by. that of regeneration ? Similar quefl:ions arife from the affirmation of the fame Apofl:le to the Corinthians : " By d Eph. V. 25, 26, 27. 362 Regeneration the *' one Spirit are we all baptized into one •* body^" Allow the baptifm here Ipoken of to be iifed in a literal fenfe, and its fpiritual, and in courfe its regenerating influence follows. Maintain that the ufe of the term is figurative, as the Quaker does in this and other paflages of the New Teftament, and with him you may renounce the facrament of baptifm ; which perhaps it were more confident to do altoge-' ther, than to retain the ceremony, and to di- veft it, as far as can depend upon the denial, of that which gives it its value. The fame inference is to be drawn from St. Peter's firft exhortation to the Jews after our Saviour's afcenlion ; " Repent, and be *' baptized, every one of you in the name of " Jefus Chrift for the remiffion of fins, and ye *' fliall receive the gift of the Holy Gholt^" The fame inference follows from his language on his firll preaching to the Gentiles : when, although the Holy Ghoft immediately fell on them, fo that they fpake with tongues, and fome might probably have thought it unne- ceflary to baptize fuch as had already received the Holy Ghoft, yet (fays Bilhop Beveridge) " the Apoftle, confidering that this gift of the *' Holy Ghoft was only to enable them to " fpeak with tongues, not to regenerate them, e I Cor. xli. 13. f A6ls ii. 38. - spiritual Grace of Baptif HI. s6'6 *' inferred from thence that they ought the *' rather to be baptized : Can any man, faid " he, forbid water, that thefe fliould not be -* baptized, who have received the Holy Ghofl " as well as we ? And he therefore command- " ed them to be baptized in the name of the *' Lord ; which he would never have done, if " it had not been necefTary for them to be *' born of water and of the Spirit^." And fuch is the inference from Ananias's admoni- tion to Paul, after his miraculous conversion ; " And now, why tarriell thou ? Arife, and be *'' baptized, and wafh away thy lins, calling on '* the name of the T.ord'\" It may be here not unimportant to remark, that as we argue for baptifm being the vehicle of regeneration, becaufe it is the vehicle of falvation to which regeneration is necelTary : fo alfo we may come to the fame concluiion from this conlideration ; that all Chriftians, all perfons who have been baptized, are indifcri- minately faid to have been regenerated. In the palTages already cited from feveral epiftles of St. Paul, it will have appeared, that he ap- plies the term to large focieties of believers ; efpecially to the churches at Rome and at Co- lolTe. The language, which he addrefles to s Bp. Beveridge's Works, vcl. i. p. 305. t» Aas ii. 38. 364 Regeneration the Titus upon that fubject, appears to be at leaft equally comprehenfive ; whilll St. Peter and St. John, each in a catholic epidle, addrefled to immenfe focieties of Chriftians fcattered throughout the eaft, defcribe the perfons whom they addrefs as " fons of God ','' " begotten *' and born again *"." But wherefore, unlefs their regeneration was the eiFe6t of an ordi- nance, of which all Chrillians in general par- take? And if fo, of what ordinance but of bap- tifm? From thefe feveral authorities I apprehend it to be eftablillied, as the general doctrine of the Gofpel, that the new birth or regeneration, which is pronounced by our Saviour to be ne- ceflarj to falvation, or (as he exprelTes it) to feeing or entering into the kingdom of God, is effected by the operation of the Holy Ghoft at baptifm. To this purpofe beautiful and fatis- facftory is the illullration of the learned Jofepli Mede, where, fpeaking of St. Paul's text to Titus, as making baptifm and regeneration type and countertype, he adds, ^' The fame *' was reprefented by that vilion at our Sa- " viour's baptifm of the Holy Ghoft defcend- "•' ing upon him, as he came out of the water, ** in the fimilitude of a dove: for I fuppofe," he continues, " that in that baptifm of his the i I John iii. 2. "^ i Pet. i. 3, 23, spiritual Gi^ace of Baptifjn. 365 ** myfterj of all our baptifms was vifibly acled ; '* and that God fays to every one truly bap- " tized, as he faid to him, in a proportionable " fenfe. Thou art my fon, in whom I am well " pleafed'." Indeed to deny the regenerating efficacy of baptifm is to deny its facramental character ; to ilrip it of that which makes it moti valuable ; and to reduce it to a mere " beggarly element," a form without fub- ftance, a body without fpirit, a fign without Signification ; it is as one found Divine de- fcribes it, " to make it no better than a piece *' of folemn pageantry";" or (to adopt the comparifon of the fame learned writer to whom I lately referred) it is '' to make of it " an empty Ihcli, whofe kernel is taken out, " or a carcafs whofe foul is gone "." Of the folly of this condu61:, and of the fource from which it proceeds, one of our excellent Re- formers ftrongly exprefled his opinion, when he liiid, that " in all ages the devil hath ftirred ** up fome light heads to efteem the facra- " ments but lightly, as to be empty and bare " figns°:" and of the tendency of this con- du6l we have a memorable proof in the Cal- viniftic Founder of Methodifm, who deprecated ' Mede's Works, Difc. xvii. "^ Examination of Tilenus, p. 267. " Mede's Works, Book i. Difc. xliii. * Latimer. See Ridley's Life of Bp. Ridley, p. 453, s66 Regeneration the " difputing about baptifm, and other non- *' ellentials, as the effeft of a narrow fpirit, *' a party fedtarian zeal^." Strip the facra- ment of its fpiritual character, and we fee to what it is avowedly reduced. I am well aware, that no authority is ad- millible for the foundation of a do6lrine, ex- cept that of the infpired writings. It is how- ever fometimes of advantage to know, and it affords a lirong collateral fupport to a doc- trine if we can learn, how controverted ex- preffions have been understood by thofe, who were mod likely to be acquainted with their proper Hgnification. The teftimony of the ancient Fathers was efteenied one of the beft criterions of the fenfe of the holy Scriptures concerning the facraments, by " a worthy " martyr of God, the glory of the Englifh Re- " formation," who endured the flames in fup- port of the true evangelical doctrine of the Lord's fupper, and whofe opinion of the other facrament, coinciding with that of his brother in faith and martyrdom, already laid before you, is contained in his own declaration, that " as the body is nourillied by the bread and *' wine at the communion, and the foul by " grace and fpirit with the body of Chrifi: ; ** even fo in baptifm the body is waflied with P Whitefield's Works, vol. i. p. 394. spiritual Grace ofBaptifm. 367 ** the vilible water, and the foul is cleanfed *' from all filth by the invifible Holy Gholt'^." It may therefore be ufeful to remark, and it will be a curious remark to thofe who bear in mind the aflertion of one of our accufers about " baptifmal regeneration being the Diana of " the prefent age;" that the opinions of the early Chriftians uniformly fupport the doc- trine, which I have been deducing from the authority of Scripture. *' What Chrift means " by being born of water and of the Spirit," obferved Bifliop Beveridge abovit 150 years ago, ** is now made a queftion ; T fay now ; *' for it was never made fo till of late years. '* For many ages together none ever doubted '' it, but the w hole Chrillian world took it for *' granted, that our Saviour by thefe words ** meant only, that except a man be baptized ," according to his inftitution, he cannot enter " into the kingdom of God : this being the *' moft plain and obvious fenfe of the words, " forafmuch as there is no other way of being ** born again of water as well as of the Spirit, *' but only in the facrament of baptifm'." Baptifm indeed and regeneration, the terms which ipecifically denote the outward fign and the fpiritual grace, appear to have been ^ Ridley's Life of Bp. Ridley, p. 684, 669, 620. r Beveridge's Works, vol. i. p. 304. 368 Kegcncratlon the employed by the earlv Chriftians, as exprel- iions of the fame import. " Whoever," fays Juftin Martyr, *' are perfuaded and believe, *' that the things taught and faid by us are *' true, and undertake to live agreeably to " them, are led by us to a place where there *' is water, and are regenerated in the fame *' manner, in which we were regenerated; for *' they are waflied in the name of God the " Father and Lord of all, of our Saviour Jefus " Chrift, and of the Holy Spirit. For Chrift " faid, If ye be not regenerated, ye fhall not *^ enter into the kingdom of heaven'." And it is the dod:rine of Auftin, whofe opinion will doubtlefs weigh with thofe, who reprefent his doctrines as the model of their own, that *' they, who partake of the facrament of bap- *' tifm, die unto fin, as Chrift alfo died unto " fin, that is, unto the flefli, the image of fin ; *' and live, by being born again of the laver, " as he by rifing from the grave." And this do6lrine he maintains without any limitation, s 'Ocroi av •5J£/fl"^a)cri, xai ■uyKrTevcio] «vayevv>j.&>;Tf, ou [x-tj ei(r:Xbr,Te oj T>jv /3«5-iAe<«v t«v oogxvMV. Ju/i. Mart, ylpol. ii. P- 93- spiritual Grace of Baptifm. 369 or rather excepting againft every limitation, in point of age. " For" (he fubjoins) " from ** the infant newly born, even to the decrepit " old man, as no one is to be prohibited from " baptifm, fo there is no one who does not *' die unto fin in baptifm: but infants die only " to original fin, adults to all their fins, what- " foever they have added by their evil lives " to that which they contracted at their " births*." But, not to multiply quotations to this efie6l from the writers of antiquity, I adopt the words of a learned and found Di- vine of the laft century, after whofe mallerly difcuflion of the fubjecft it would appear pre- fumptuous in me to attempt it, did it not fall in with the general courfe of inquiry to which I have been led by the current of opinion in certain popular feCls ; and I obferve in his language that " it has been well proved at ^ Ipfum eft, quod in nobis celebratur, magnum bap- tifmatis lacramentuni, ut quicunque ad iftam pertinent gratiam, moriantur peccato, ficut ipfe peccato mortuus dicitur, quia mortuus eft carni, hoc eft, peccati fimilitudini; et vivant a lavacro renafcendo, ficut ipfe a fepulchro refur- gendo, quamlibet corporis setatem gerant. A parvulo enim recens nato ufque ad decrepitum fenem, ficut nullus eft prohibendus a baptifmo, ita nullus eft qui non peccato moriatur in baptifmo. Sed parvuli tantum originali; ma- jores autem etiam iis omnibus moriuntur peccatis, quse- cunque male vivendo addiderunt ad illud quod nafctndt^ ■traxerunt. Augufiin. Enchirid. xvi. B b 370 Reoreneration the *' large, beyond all reafonable contradiAion, " that both the Greek and Latin Fathers not •' only ufed the word regeneration for baptifm, *' but fo appropriated it alfo to baptifm, as to " exclude any other converfion or repentance, '* not confidered with baptifm, from being " fignified by that name; fo that according to " the ancients, regeneration or new birth was " either baptifm itfelf, (including both lign " and thing;) or a change of man's fpiritual " Hate, confidered as wrought by the Spirit in " or through baptifm"." The doctrine being thus generally ellablifli- ed, it refts with thofe, who contend for any other regeneration, to fhow either the excep- tions to its taking place at baptifm ; or that, having then taken place, it may afterwards be repeated. We have, as I believe, and as I truft hath been fufficiently demonftrated, fcrip- tural authority for averting, that baptifm is the vehicle of the new birth; fo that although I dare not make, I could not controvert the alfertion, if made in the language of Bifliop Hopkins, without the limitation with which he qualifies the proportion, that '* baptifmal ** regeneration mull be acknowledged by all, " that will not wilfully Ihut their eyes againft u Waterland on Regeneration. See Churchman's Re- membrancer, N". I. p. 9. spiritual Grace of Baptifm. 371 *' the clear evidence of Scripture ^" And if ever the new birth be not conveyed by bap- tifm, rightly adminiftered ; or if, when once regenerated, it be (I will not fay necefTary, but) poflible for any one to be born again, doubtlefs there is fcriptural authority to that purpofe. Let the authority then be adduced. Let it be fliown from holy writ, that any per- fon, to whom baptifm was rightly adminiller- ed, was not regenerated ; let it be (hown, that any perfon, having been once baptized, is de- fcribed under any circumftances whatever of repentance, reformation, renovation, or con- verlion, to have been again regenerated ; let it be lliown, that the Apoftles, who are per- petually exhorting their Christian converts to changes fuch as thefe, do once exhort them to become regenerate ; do once inforce the ne- ceflity of it; or even affirm, or at leaft in- linuate, its poffibility ; and we may then per- ceive fome reafon for wavering in our belief. It will then be ample time to condemn us for error, when we can be convicfted from the oracles of truth : meanwhile, ftanding, as we truft we do, on the unlhaken rock of the Gof- pel, let us not be accufed of a heathenilh fu- perftition, until the Gofpel can be brought to confute us. » Works, vol. ii. p. 4^53. 8vo. ed. B b 2 372 Regeneratiwi the The error of our accufers appears to have arifen from difregarding the outward form of regeneration; from an inattention to the union intended by our Saviour when he faid, that we muft be born of water and of the Spirit ; an inattention, of which Calvin fet the ex- ample by contending, that the expreflions " water and the Spirit mean only the Spirit, '' who cleanfes after the manner of water":" and from a confequent confufion between re- generation and renovation or converfion, with which it has often been identified, but from which it ought clearly to be diftinguillied. Let me not be efteemed prefumptuous, or infenfible to the authority of a venerable name, if I obferve, that a celebrated Prelate, veho ranks efpecially high in the eftimation of certain members of our Church, appears to have been under the influence of this con- fufion ; for he unequivocally avers, that in many places of Scripture regeneration is af- cribed to the holy ordinance of baptifm, as one of the effects of it, and explains the Aovr^ov zsctKiyyma-ioL?, the bath of regeneration, men- tioned by St. Paul, to fignify that baptifmal 7 Modum hie indicat, quo regenerat nos Deus, nempe per aquam et Spiritum ; quafi diceret, per Spiritum, qui, purgando et irrigando fideles animas, vice aquje fungitur. Aquam ergo et Spiritum fimpliciter accipio pro Spiritu^ quia aqua eft. Calv. In/tit, lib. iv. cap. xvi. fed. 25. spiritual Grace of Baptifm. 373 water, wherein we are buried with Chrift ; and neverthelefs confiders this baptifmal re- generation, as merely admitting us members of the vifible Church, and not as intitling us to eternal life ; and contends for another regene- ration, independent of the walhing by water, and identified by him with converfion, reno- vation, and the like\ Such a change of heart may be wrought either before, or after, baptifm ; in perfons either regenerate, or un- regenerate ; it qualifies them for regeneration, if unbaptized ; it reftores them to the privi- leges of baptifm, which they may have for- feited by being hardened in fin ; it accom- panies thofe who are, humanly fpeaking, good, through the w hole courfe of the Chrifi:ian life. St. Paul was converted three days before he was baptized : the incefi:uous Corinthian, who had been excommunicated from the fociety of his brethren, was refl:ored to them on his re- pentance ; and Simon Magus, " who" (as Bi- Ihop Wilfon fays) *' had received the walhing " of regeneration, and fo was intitled to par- " don upon his repentance ^" was exhorted by the Apofi:le to repent of his wicked nefs, and to " pray God, if perhaps the thought of " his heart might be forgiven :" and all of us 2 See Bp. Hopkins's Works, vol. ii. p.402, 468, 476. * See Wilfon's Works, vol. iv. p. 412. B b 3 374 Regeneratmi the are infl:ru6led to pray, agreeably to apoftolical language, that " being regenerated and adopted " for the children of God, we may be daily '' renewed by his Holy Spirit." But where are we inftrudled to pray after baptifm for re- generation ? Where is it intimated that the Corinthian was born again, fubfequently to his fall ? Where was Simon Magus admo- nifhed of the neceflity of undergoing another new birth ? Or where is St. Paul defcribed as regenerated, until Ananias baptized him and waflied away his fins ? That he was converted, and that his heart was renewed, is evident from the language, which he uttered when he had fallen to the earth, and from the obedience which he paid to the voice from heaven. That he was not regenerated until a later period is equally evident ; for when Ananias called on him to be baptized, he was Hill under the pol- lution of his fins. I am aware indeed that we fhall be told, that during the intermediate time he was experiencing the pangs and ago- nies of the new birth. The afl'ertion may be permitted to pafs ; for a gratuitous afiumption needs not to be ferioufly confuted. More de- ferving of our attention, and better calculated to give us correal notions, becaufe more agree- able to the reprefentations of Scripture, is the following fl:atement of the learned and judicious Hooker: " As we are not naturally men without spiritual Grace of Bap t{fm . 375 *' birth, fo neither are we Chriftian men in the " eye of the Church of God, but by new birth ; " nor, according to the manifeft ordinary " courfe of divine difpenfation new born, but '' by that baptifm, which both declareth and " maketh us Chriftians. In which refped: we " juftly hold it to be the door of our adual '* entrance into God's houfe, the firll apparent '' beginning of life ; a feal perhaps to the '^ grace of election before received, but to our '' fancftification here, a ftep that hath not any '' before it^" It has been judged, that the error, which I am combating, derives fupport from the words of St. John, that *' whofoever is born of God " doth not commit fin, for his feed remaineth " in him, and he cannot commit fin, becaufe " he is born of God^" Whence it is con- tended, that as baptifmal regeneration does not fecure a man from fin, another greater and better new birth mull be added to fupply the defea. I fhall not detain you at prefent by infifting on the impoflibility of any man attaining to a ftate of finlefs perfedlion, which thefe words, if ftridly interpreted, allert ; becaufe a more b Ecclefiaftical Polity, book v. chap. Ix. vol. ii. p. 248. Oxf. edition. ^ I John iii. 9. B b 4 376 Regenei^ation the convenient opportunity will be afforded me of entering upon a full difcuflion of that con- ceit. But I Ihall be fatisiied with contending at prefent, that the conclufion is abfurd, from a confideration of the words themfelves and of their context. It will, I prefume, be admitted, that the appellations of " born of God" and " the fons " of God" are controvertible terms : that if they occur in the fame compofition, and efpe- cially within a few fentences of each other, they mull: be underftood of the fame defcrip- tion of perfons ; at leaft, that what may be affirmed generally of the one, cannot be denied of the other. Now in the paflage before us, the Apoflle affirms, that '' whofoever is born '* of God cannot lin ;" and a few verfes be- fore he affirms, " Beloved, now are we the " fons of God:" fo that connecting the two ailertions together, he will be made to af- firm, that all the perfons, to whom his epi- flle was addrefled, were incapable of finning ; a hazardous affirmation this, if it be confidered, that the epiftle was certainly addrelfed to large focieties of Chriftians ; probably to thofe, who were difperfed throughout the provinces of the Greater and the Lefler Afia '^. The truth appears to be, that St. John in- f' See Preface to Pyle's Paraphrafe. spiritual Grace of Baptiftn. Z77 tended to give a defcription of thofe perfons, who, having been regularly adopted for the fons of God by the appointed means, con- tinued to ad; in a manner w^orthy of their adoption, by ilriving to profit by the grace of God, w^hich would then efFed:ually preferve them from the commiffion of the grofler lins. " Every regenerate perfon," fays Bilhop Taylor, in a paflage which well explains the meaning of the Apollle, " is in a condition, whofe very ** being is a contradidion and an oppolite de- " iign to (in. When he was regenerate and *' born anew of water and of the Spirit, the feed " of God, the original of piety was put into " him, and bidden to increafe and multiply. " The feed of God in St. John is the fame with " the word of God in St. James, by which he *' begat us; and as long as this remains, a " regenerate perfon cannot be given up to fin ; **' for when he is, he quits his baptifm, he re- " nounces the covenant, he alters his relation *' to God in the fame degree as he enters into ** a Hate of fin'." The words of the Apofi:le therefore are to be confidered as a caution to the regenerate, not to rely on their admifiion into filiation with God, as fufficient to fecure their eternal happinefs ; but to live up to their c Bp. Taylor's Life of Chrift, part ii. fed. rs. 378 Regeneration the high vocation, left they ihould ultimately lofe the privileges of their adoption by difobedience or unbelief, and become as though they had not been born again. Such was partly the defign of the epiftle, which was directed againft the errors of the Nicolaitans and other heretics, who taught, that the mere external profelTion of the Chrif- tian faith, and the privilege of being begotten into the true Church, would bring men to happinefs, whatever were their lives and prac- tices ^ And fuch appears to be the proper import of the particular paflage that I have quoted. But neither it, nor any other paftage in St. John, nor any other text of Scripture, appears to me to authorife the dod:rine of a fecond, or of any other diftincft from baptifmal regeneration. Under the limitation here contended for, we may admit the pofition of an acute writer, that " the views, difpolitions, and conduA of " real Chriftians invariably chara^lerife the " regenerate children of God in Scripture^." Under the fame limitation too may be ad- mitted that other pofition, by which difcredit is fometimes attempted to be brought on the f Preface to Pyle's Paraphrafe. s Overton, p. 109. Spiritua I Grace of Bap tifm . 379 do6lrine of baptifmal regeneration, that "there " is an infallible connexion between regene- *' ration and falvation, fo that all, that were " baptized in their infancy, mull neceflarily be *' faved*"." Pofitions, which are true, pre- cifely to the fame extent as the aliertion of the Apoftle, that " by baptifm we are dead •' unto fin and are freed from fin," and as the promife of our Saviour, that " he that believeth " and is baptized fhall be faved ;" in other words, they are true of thofe perfons, who are prelerved by faith and obedience in the pofief- fion of thofe privileges, to which by baptifm they were admitted : but in a more extended fignification they are by no means correcft ; and in the unqualified terms, wherein they are often conveyed, are calculated to perplex and miilead. If now what has been advanced be true, it mufl; be an error for perlbns baptized in their infancy to defcribe any fubfequent period of their lives as " a feafon of unregeneracy'," and to call upon men once baptized to become regenerate ; for no other new birth can take place in this world. In fadl we know of only three lives, and three correfpondent births. h See Alleine's Alarm to the Unconverted, 1S05. p. 39. Simpfon's Plea for Religion, p. ^6. Whitefield's Eigh- teen Sermons, p. 350, » Hawker's Zion's Pilgrim, p. 3. 380 Regoieration the Once we are born into the natural life, being born of Adam ; once we are born into the fpiritual life, being born of water and of the Spirit ; and once alio, if we take care to profit by our baptifmal privilege, we may be born into a life of glory, being born of the refurrec- tion at the laft day. Into our fpiritual life, with which we are at prefent concerned, as into the others alfo, we are born once: to fay that we are born into it more than once, has no foundation in reafon, no analogy in nature, nor (what is much ftronger to the purpofe) has it any warrant in Scripture. The condi- tion of the Chriftian life is well defcribed by one of our Reformers, in a work bearing the fan6lion of authority, where he diftinguifhes the ufes of the facraments ; that *' as in bap- " tifm we have been once born again, fo by " the Lord's fupper we are perpetually nou- *^ rifhed and fupported to a fpiritual and eter- " nal life *"." It is indeed in our fpiritual, as in our natural, life: as we may be ill in health, and may grow better and recover, but born again we cannot be ; fo we may be fpiritually ill, and again be renewed or reformed ; but in that cafe we ftill hope for everlafting falvation ^ Sicuti in baptifmo femel renati fumus, ita Coena Do- minica ad vitam I'piritualem atque fempiternam jugiter alimur atque fuflentamur. Noelli Catechijhms. Enehirid. Theol. vol. ii. p. 322. Spwitual Grace of Baptifm. 381 upon the ground of the covenant, into which we were originally baptized : for inafmuch as there is but *' one baptifm," fo there is but one regeneration in this world ; and as we cannot be baptized again, fo cannot we be a fecond time regenerated, or a fecond time be born again. Let it not be fuppofed that the prefent ar- gument is a mere queftion of words : far in- deed, very far from it. The abufe of words in this, as in many other cafes, leads to ma- terial errors in opinion, and to ferious evils in pradice. Let us figure to ourfelves a man, educated according to the principles of the Church of England, but feduced from ^' the words of " truth and fobernefs" which fhe delivers on the fubjecft of regeneration; and inticed or terrified into the popular belief that he is no Chriftian, and is not in a ftate of falvation, until he feel the pangs of the modern new birth. No violence will be done to nature and probability, if we fuppofe him reafoning with himfelf in fome fuch manner as the fol- lowing : * When an infant, I was baptized according * to the order of the national Church ; and the * Minifter pronounced by her diredlions, that I * was regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and re- ' ceived by our moil merciful Father as his own 382 Regeneration the * child by adoption. As foon as I was able to ' learn, I was taught what a great blefling was * then conferred upon me; and that, by having ' been admitted to baptifm, I had been made ^ the child of God, and had undergone a death * unto fin and a new birth unto righteoufnefs. ' When I had been fufficiently inftruded to ' be confirmed by the Bifhop, I heard from * him a repetition of the comfortable aflurance, ' that God had vouchfafed to regenerate me ' by water and the Holy Ghoft, and to give * me forgivenefs of all my fins. And I have * fince periodically joined with my brother * Chriftians in making our grateful acknow- ' ledgments to Almighty God, for being re- ' generate and made his children by adoption * and grace. ' The Church has thus uniformly inltrucfted * me to look back upon regeneration, as a ' thing which is palfed : flie has never taught ' me to look forward to it, as a thing which is * to come ; fhe has never bid me defire and ' pray for it, as a thing necefTary ; fhe has ' never warned me to expe6l it, as a thing ex- ' pedient ; fhe has never led me to regard it, * as a thing pofTible. I am now however con- ' vinced, notwithltanding her aflurances, com- ' fortable as they were, and her inllrucftions, ' found and fcriptural as they appeared to be, ' that Verily, verily, I mufl be born again. spiritual Grace of Baptifm . 383 * What can I think of fuch a Church ? Can * I regard her as a pillar and ground of the * truth ? Can I reverence her, who fo grofsly * deluded me by a vifionary regeneration, and ' threw an impenetrable veil over that, which * alone is efFecftual ? Who taught me to think ' that I was in the way of falvation, when I * had not yet pafled the threfhold? Who made * me believe I was a child of God, when I ' was ftill a child of the Devil ? Who treated * me as a Chriftian, when I was nothing but a '* baptized heathen?" Away with fuch an un- ' fcriptural Church ! With fuch a mother of * deceit and falfehood ! Away with fuch a ' monfter from the earth ! ' What too fhall I think of the Minifter, * who inftruded me, according to the Liturgy * and Articles of that Church, of which he is * too faithful a fon ? He recited to me her opi- * nions in words of her own providing ; and * he pretended to fupport them from the pulpit * on the authority of the Bible. But he is ' blind; he is ignorant ; he faw for me vifions ' of peace, when there was no peace ; he * fpoke of my having been quickened by the * Holy Spirit, who had infufed into me a new * principle of life, when I was ftill dead in ' trefpalles and iins. Can fuch an one be * a preacher of the Gofpel ? * W^hat again Ihall 1 think of baptifm ; of 384 Regeneration the ' that which I have been wont to confider as * the laver of regeneration ; of that, which I ' have been taught is a facrament, confifting of * an outward vifible fign, and an inward fpi- ' ritual grace ? Truly it doth not regenerate ; * it conveys no effedlual regeneration ; it is ' deftitute of an inward fpiritual grace ; it is * no facrament ; it is a non-efTential.' It will not have appeared perhaps that a fyl- lable has been here fuggefted, more than would probably be uttered, or than probably has been in effect uttered, by perfons in the Situation that I have fuppofed. And if a man can bring his mind to think thus meanly of bap- tifm, ordained as it was by Chrill himfelf, with a promife of falvation annexed to its legitimate adminiftration ; what will he thmk of Chrift's other ordinances ? What of the other facra- ment, the holy communion of Chrift's body and blood ? If the fpiritual part of baptifm be denied, why fliould the fpiritual part of the communion be allowed ? If water be not really the laver of regeneration, why fliould bread and wine be fpiritually the body and blood of Chrift, and convey ftrength and refrefhment to the foul ? Surely it is not too much to affirm, that the dripping of one of God's ordinances of that, which conftitutes its efl'ential value, has a natural tendency to bring the efficacy of the others into queftion, and to diminifti at spiritual Grace of Baptifm . 385 leaft, if not to annihilate, a man's rcfped; for them as means of fpiritiial grace. In this condition perhaps he will continue, fometimes exulting in hope, and fometimes funk in defpondency ; waiting for an extraor- dinary impulfe of the Holy Spirit, and neglect- ing the means of procuring his ordinary fanc- tifying graces; until the moment approach, in which, under the influence of fome powerful preacher, whofe word is Iharper than a two- edged fword, he is to undergo his myfterious regeneration; a regeneration, wherein, inftead of being born himfelf of water and of the Spirit, Chrift is to be '* born in his heart as he '" was born in the Viro-in's womb';" a rcs:ene- ration, without undergoing (he pangs of which he is taught that *' he may tlatter himfelf that " he may go to heaven, but will certainly find *' himfelf miferably mitlaken in the end":" when, having experienced a Hate of horror, agony, and defpair, which mocks the language of defcription, and which it were too painful, if it were pollible, to defcribe; a Hate of pangs and travails, which is neceflary to be fuftained by every one ere Chrill be formed in him ; a fiate, which has been compared by thofe who have felt its horrors, to the agonies of death, . 1 Whitefield's Eighteen Sermons, p. 307. "* Whitefield's Works, vol. i. p. I'i. c c iS6 Regeneration the £3' the pains of hell, and tortures inflided by- infuriate devils"; he fancies that he is begotten again ! that he is born of the Holy Spirit of God ! What will be the future life of a man thus regenerated, I do not venture to pronounce. But in noticing fome evil confequences of a dodlrine, which, for the fpiritual grace attend- ant upon the holy ordinance of Chrift, fubfti- tutes a wild and fanciful regeneration of man's invention, we may be allowed to fpeculate on the effects likely to be produced in one thus initiated to the new birth. To fpeculate, did I lay, on probable efFeds ? Rather to call to mind effects which have notorioufly enfued, and to confider whether they are not fuch as fober reafon might have forefeen. The hiflory of fome popular modern fe6ls does flri6lly tally with the expectations of reafon : and if among the regenerated of later days, who have been thus tormented into the new birth, many have fubfequently been dri- ven through every fpecies o^ extravagance to the very extreme of irrecoverable madnefs"; if many, after a temporary exultation in the love of God Ihed abroad in their hearts, have re- " Wefley'^ Journals, and Endiufiafm of Mediodlfts, &c. vol. iil. p. 23. and following pages. ® See an inftance in Weflcy's Journals, N°. V. p. 81. Enthufiafm of Mediodifts, Sec. vol. iii. p. 11 — 14. spiritual Grace of Bapfifm. 387 lap fed into intolerable perplexities, diflradion, and defpair^; if many, after fancying them- felves purified even as Chrift is pure, have turned back, and become twofold more the children of hell than before ''; if many, who pretended to be conformed to the image of Chrift, have at that very inftant continued xmder the dominion of grievous fins; if many, who imagine themfelves thoroughly renewed in the image of the meek and lowly Jefus, fwell with pharifaical pride, thanking God that they are not as other men are ; and if almoft all regard their lefs favoured brethren with fcorn, and *' fay. Stand by thyfelf, come *' not near to me, for I am holier than thou ;" and condemn thofe, who admit not their pre- tenfions and difcountenance their conceits, as unconverted unregenerate finners; it is no more than might have been expedled from men, who depreciate God's holy ordinance, deny its fan6lifying efficacy, and convert the workings of a feverifii brain, or the impulfe of vifionary feelings, into the operation of the Spirit of truth. Such a do6lrine the Enthufiaft may teach, and the deluded multitude may follow. But it was a very different regeneration, for which P Enthufiafm of Methodifts, &c. vol. li. p. 3, 140. 1 Wefley's Farther Appeal, p. 130. C C 2 388 Regeneration &c. Paul prepared the Gentiles, when he was fent to " open their eyes, and to turn them from ,*' darknefs to light, and from the power of " Satan unto God':" and it was a very diffe- rent vilion to which he was obedient, when he repelled the charge of infanity by fpeaking forth the words of truth and fobernefs ; and forced from the royal Jew that memorable and dilinterelled confeffion, " Almoft thou ** perfuadell me to be a Chrillian." Now unto God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghoft, three perfons in the unity of one Godhead, be all honour and glory for ever. Amen. r Adsxxvi. 1 8. DISCOURSE VII. Matt, xviii. 2, 3. ^And Jejiis called a Tittle child unto him, and Jet him in the midji of them, u4nd faid, Verily I fay unto you. Except ye he con- verted, and become as little children, ye Jliall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. x\LL the difpenfations of Providence are tem- pered by an harmonious principle; and in the moral, as well as in the natural, world, every efFecl has an evident relation to its caufe. In operations, whether intellectual or material, it is irrational to expect limilar refults in cafes, between which an important difference pre- vails, as to the powers of the agent, the dif- pofition of the patient, and the numerous con- tingent circumllances, by which they are re- fpe6tively modified. Eye-witneffes of the life, miracles, and re- furrecftion of Chritl ; capable from their per- fohal obfervation of demonflrating the fiilfil- c c 3 SQO Afpcdal and i?iJ!anfaneous Converjion ment of ancient prophecies; armed themfelves alfo with miraculous power, and endued by the Holy Gholl; with the faculty of fpeaking the language of every nation under heaven ; the Apoftles preached the do6lrines of Chrif- tianity to men, whofe fenfes bore teftimony to the fupernatural endowments of the preach- ers : and thus '* in the demontlration of the " Spirit and of power," they converted multi- tudes to a fteadfaft belief in Chrift, and to confequent hcHnefs of living. But therefore to fuppofe that the eloquence of a mere human preacher, aiTifted only by the ordinary vifita- tions of divine grace, is to be followed by the immediate converlion of multitudes of finners, to whom the truths of the Gofpel have been long familiar, to uniform habits of Chrillian purity, were as grofs an abfurdity as to fup- pofe, that a peafant could verify the boafl of Archimedes, and move the earth ; or that an allronomer could realize the fidionof romance, and divert the fun from his orbit. The doArine of converfion, as it is delivered by fome of our modern fed:aries, is fo much at variance with the more fober, more ration- al, and (I trull) more evangelical doArine of the national clergy ; and it is fo vehemently enforced as abfolutely neceflary to falvation, and the preaching of it is reprefented as lb in- difpenfable a criterion of the preaching of the not necejjary for Chrijlians. 391 Gofpel% that it of courfe claims a place in the prefent inquiry; and it is fo clofely connected, and by fome perfons lb thoroughly identified with regeneration, which was examined in my laft dilcourfe, that it naturally prefents itfelf for the fubje6t of our prefent refled;ions. Converfion, according to our notions, may not improperly be faid to confift of a rational conviAion of lin, and i^ni^Q of its wretchednefs -and danger; of a fincere penitence and forrow of heart, at having incurred the difpleafure of a holy God ; of fteadfaft purpofes of amend- ment with the blefling of the divine grace; of a regular and diligent employment of all the appointed means of grace; and of a real change of heart and life, of affediions and conduct, and a refolute perfeverance in well-doing. The triumph of fuch converiion as this is not attended by alternations of extreme joy and defpondency ; of the moft ecftatic rapture, and the moft gloomy defpair, fometimes by heavenly exultation, and fometimes by the agonies of hell. It has little of what is bril- liant and dazzling to decorate ; little of what is magnificent and impoling to dignify and exalt it. It cannot be defcribed as intended by the Lord to fet the world in a flame'': the a See Whitefield's Eighteen Sermons, p. 130. b Whitefield's Works, vol. i. p. 200. C C 4 392 Afpecial and injlantaneous Converfion minirter, who is God's inftrurnent to effedl it, cannot be pompoully reprefented to be carried as on eagle's wings'; or be elevated into a comparifon with Joihua, going from city to citj, and fubduing the devoted nations : its di- rection cannot be faid to be marked out by a fign from heaven, as the cloud employed by Providence to conduct the people of Ifrael on their march through the wildernefs'*: its pro- grefs cannot be defcribed to be terrible as an army \\\{\\ banners^: its efFeCis cannot be ex- tolled into a rivalry with the fuccefs of the victorious and imperial Conllantine^ But if its operations are How, they are certain ; if its effects are milder, thev are more fecure ; if its conquelts are lefs extenfive, and it draws a lefs numerous crowd of fuppliants at its chariot- wheels, it exerts a more permanent dominion over thofe, whom it has fubdued. Unambi- tious of earthly diltinction, and contented with doing good, its throne is the humble and con- trite fpirit, and its fccptre is righteoufnefs and peace. But I am anticipating remarks, which might appear more pertinent after the comparifon, which I propofe to inltitute in the prefent c Whiteficld's Works, vol. i. p. 367. d Ibid. vol. i. p. 370, 407, 451, 477. « Ibid. vol. i. p. 398. f Wefiey's Farther Appeal, p. 92. not necejjary for Chriflians. 393 difcourfe, between the fcriptural and method- iftical notions of converfion. The refult will probably authorife us to conclude, that by de- clining to adopt the latter, and by reprefenting converfion with a very different complexion from thofe artificial colours, with which it has been dilguifed by the enthufialt, we are af- cribing to it its legitimate character, and main- taining the fimplicity of the Gofpel and " the " truth as it is in Jefus." " Except ye be converted, and become as " little children, ye fliall not enter into the ** kingdom of heaven:" fiich was our Saviour's warning to the unbelieving Jews ; and it was a warning highly necefiliry to be imprefled, not upon them alone, but upon men of every defcription to whom the Gofpel was originally preached. The Gofpel militated againtl the prejudices, the pride, and the corrupt pafiions of all men : nor, unlefs they were fubdued and fuperfeded by humility, docility, modefiy, fimplicity, and that comparative innocence, which are the mofi: diftinguifliing qualities of childhood, could it be etfeciualiy received. Among the Jews, he who obfiinately refified, and he who more actively perfecuted, the faith of Chrifi; the Pharifee, who commended his own righteoufnefs, and trufl:ed to an exacft performance of the ritual ordinances of the law; the Sadducee, who denied a refurredion ; 394 Afpecial and injiantaneous Converjlon the Scribe, who was zealous for the Mofaic inftitutions ; even the difciple, who was am- bitious of fitting on the right hand or on the left of his Mafter, in what he expelled would be a temporal kingdom ; and generally every child of Abraham, who was habitually and fondly attached to the national belief of the perpetuity of their exclulive privileges: among the Gentiles, thofe who were fpoiled and fe- duced by philofophy and vain deceit; the fceptic, who doubted, and the infidel, who denied, the exiftence or the providence of a fupreme Being ; and the idolater, who wor- fliipped the creature more than the Creator, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man : and univerfally, both among Jews and among Gentiles, thofe who were living under the dominion of fin, or were not duly con- vinced of the neceffity of a Redeemer : every man, who was fubjed: to prepoflelTions fuch as thefe, (and they comprile almoll every foul of man that breathed,) nmll have been con- verted from his errors whether in principle or in practice : his heart mull have been opened, and foftened, and rendered capable of receiving frefh and totally different imprefiions, before he could become a believer in the truth, or a performer of the duties, of the Gofpel. Every man, who now alfo is under the in- not neceffciry for Chrijllans. 395 fluence of limilar prepoflellions, miift now alfo undergo a limilar change. Eveiy unbeliever and every finner, although made bj baptifm a member of Chrift and a child of God, mull be, in a certain i^n^^, converted, if he would ulti- mately fucceed to his inheritance of the king- dom of heaven. But to fancy, that every Chrillian whatever muft experience a conver- fion in order to be in a Hate of falvation : — to alTert, with the Arminian Founder of Method-. ifm, that " he who knows no time, when he '' had need of fuch a vail and mighty change " as a change from darknefs t^ light, from the " power of Satan unto God, from death unto " life, may by this alio know, if he give him- " felf leave to think, that he is not born of the '* Spirit, that he has never yet known God, *' but has millaken the voice of nature for the " voice of God °:" — to fuppofe, with his Cal- vinillic competitor, " that in every Chriflian " congregation there are two forts of people, " fome that know Chrill, and fome that do '* not know him, fome that are converted, and *' fome that are llrangers to converlion^;" and to alTert that " every perfon mud be converted " or be damned, and that they who die in ai> t Wefley's Sermons, vol. i. p. 157. i^ Whiteficld's Works, vol. v. p. 338. 3q6 Afpcclal and injlantancous Converjion " unconverted ftate mull be damned for ever':" — to contend, as is Hated to be the opinion of our felf-denominated evangelical brethren by their Apologill, that '' in order to a ftate of " falvation a change of mind, of views, and '* difpofitions muft be effedled in ever i/ per fori, " wherever born, however educated, or of '' whatever external conduct'':" — this is a con- ceit, which revelation warrants not, and which reafon and experience difclaim. That no man, however near he may ap- proach to the perfection of the Chrirtian cha- racter, and however lovely an example he may exhibit of the beauty of holinefs, is abfolutely perfe6l and free from the dominion of fin, I readily admit, and fliall hereafter have occa- fion to contend. Every man has been un- doubtedly guilty of " fins, negligences, and " ignorances," for which he will be brought to account, and will need the atoning blood of the Redeemer. But fome humble Chriftians alfo undoubtedly there are, who, having been once regenerated by water and the Holy Spi- rit, have lb followed his heavenly motions, and improved his fanclifying graces; have fo pur- fued the calm and blamelefs tenour of their « Whitefield's Eighteen Sermons, p. 124, 292. ^ Overton's True Churchmen, Sec, p. 160. not necejjary for Chrijlians. 397 -way ; have preferved that childlike limplicity of charadter, and that childUke innocence of condud, that their angels may not blulh to behold the face of their heavenly Father. Such was the converfation even under the Jewifli law of Zacharias and Elizabeth, " who " were both righteous before God, walking in " all the commandments and ordinances of " the Lord blamelefs'." And if the minillra- tion of Mofes, which was in comparifon a miniftration of death, was thus glorious, how fliall not the miniftration of Chrift, which is the miniftration of the Spirit, be rather glo- rious ? How ftiall not the covenant of God be eftabliftied, wherein he hath bound himfelf by an oath to Abraham, that he would '* grant us " a power to ferve him in holinefs and righ- " teoufnefs all the days of our life""?" And are we to be told that Chriftians, fuch as thefe, muft experience an intire change of heart, a thorough converfion of their ways ? It is not to afcribe any merit to their righ- teoufnefs ; it is no prejudice to the precious efficacy of the Redeemer's blood, or to the ^11-fufficiency of the Holy Spirit, (God forbid !) to fay that they need no converfion. By that blood they have been purified from the origi- nal corruption of their nature ; by that blood I Luke i. 6. 2 Cor. iii. 7, 8. f" Luke i. 76, 3Q8 Afpecial and injiantaneous Converjion they have been cleanfed of their adual fins ; by the Holy Spirit of God they have been re- generated ; his preventing grace hath con- dueled them ; his allitling grace hath coope- rated with, and given effed: to their zealous endeavours to perfevere in the courfe of piety and virtue ; his fan6lifying influence renews and invigorates them day by day. Let God have all the glory of their continuance in their Chrillian career: but let it not be judged ne- ceflary that they fliould undergo " a change of ** mind, of views, and difpofitions," when that change mull be from holinefs unto fin ; let them not be fubjed: to a converfion, which muft be the very reverfe of turning them from darknefs unto light, from the power of Satan unto God. It is the remark of a learned Prelate, to whole labours in the difcharge of a weighty and important office many of us have been in- debted for inftruction in found theology, that " we are not told in Scripture, as we are now " imperioully called upon, to divide our hear- *' ers, being behevers in Chriftianity in com- *' mon, into the claflbs of converted and un- *' converted. There is indeed a converfion *' from infidelity; or a converfion from fin, or •' from any particular fin, or courfe of finning. *' He which converteth a fiimer from the error " of his vvay (fo faith St. James moll divinely not neceffarij for Chrijiians. 399 ** in a far other llrain, and in the true fpirit of *' Chriftianity) fliall fave a foul from death, " and (hall hide a multitude of lins. But that *' among men, baptized as Chriftians, taught " from their infancy to believe the doArines " and pradife the duties of Chriftianitj, a fpe- •' cial converfion alfo at fome period of their *' life is necelTary to llamp them true Chrif- *' tians, is an unheard-of thing in the Gofpel, " and is plainly a novel inftitution of man. *' Thus taken it is a fpurious fubiiitute for the ** true hinge of Chriftianity, repentance ; with *' which in Scripture we find it conjoined as " one and the fame : Repent, and be con- " verted, that your lins may be blotted out"." To reprefent converfion, then, as univerfally neceflary to all Chriliians, bccaufe it was uni- verfally neceflary to all men, before they be- came Chriftians, or becaufe it is neceflary to all, who, whether through unbelief or impiety, have become apoflates, as it were, from the religion which they profefled, is a diftinguiflied and fundamental error in the methodiftical creed. And it is likely to redound very little either to the advancement, or to the honour, of genuine Chritlianity, thus to confound thofe who are eftranged from that faith or obe- dience, which are the duty of its profeflbrs, n Bp. Randolph's Charge at Bangor, i8o8. p. 16. 400 AJ'pccial and injlaiitaneous Converjion with thofe, who having remembered their Cre- ator and devoutly fubmittcd to be taught of him from their youth up, have confcientioufly endeavoured both to beheve and to live, as it becometh the followers of Chrift. In defcribing converlion as neceflary to every profeflbr of the Gcfpel, forae of our felf- deno- minated evangelical brethren appear to err in common with our more extravagant accufers : for, notwithftanding the -more fober and quali- fied language of one, who feems to llep for- ward as the advocate of their caufe, and whom I always willi to mention with honour for his Chriftian moderation", their profelled, and (if I millake not) their more accredited advocate affirms, that " in order to a tlate of falvation " fuch a change muft be etiedted in every per- " fon, wherever born, hov*'ever educated, or " of whatever external conduct." In the na- ture of the thing, however, and in the method of its being effected, where previous habits of irreligion and worldly-mindedncfs render it necelTary, I trull we do not materially differ ; for my own part, conlidering it in the light, in which it is reprefented by the former of thefe writers, or underftanding with the latter, that it conlifts in " the actual reformation of " the heart and character ; that the author of ^ See Zeal without hmovation, pages 96. and following. 7iot necejfary for Chriftians. 401 ** this happy change is the Holy Spirit, but " that it is generally efFecfted, and is always to *' be fought after, in the diligent ufe of the ap- " pointed means of grace ; that it is no in- '' llantaneous operation, which tiniflies the *' whole bufinefs of religion at once, but that *' it is the ferious commencement of a work, *' which it requires the vigorous exertions of " the whole life to complete ^ :" confidering converfion, I fay, in this light, I can cheer- fully concur with our brethren in maintaining the necefiity of fuch a change to every one, who is fatisfied w^ith mere nominal Chriftia- nity, or with any thing Ihort of true Chrillian holinefs both of heart and life ; although I cannot but be of opinion that we are adhering more clofely to the fimplicity of evangelical truth, wliilft, with our venerable Church, we imprefs the neceffity of fuch a change upon our hearers by the appellation of a true re- pentance ; and that we are at the fame time more free from caufing perplexity in the minds of thofe, who are of themfelves little capable of difcrimination ; and that we more unequi- vocally difcountenance the unwarranted con- ceits, by declining the phrafeology, of enthu- fiafm. To proceed : As the Methodifts err in re- P Overton, p. 162, 163, Dd 402 Afpccial and Injlantaneous Converjion fpe6l of the extent, by multiplying the fub- jeds, of converfion ; they err no lefs in relpedl of the rapidity, with which it is to be effecfted. It is reprefented as an operation, which is completed always fuddenly ; very frequently in a moment ; inftantaneoufly, and with the rapidity of lightning. *' The Gofpel," faid one of their leaders, " like its Author, is the fame " yefterday, to-day, and for ever; and if preach- " ed as it ought to be, will prick numbers to " the heart, and extort the cry of the trem- " bling gaoler. What muft I do to be faved? *' as furely now, as it did feventeen hundred " years ago. Thefe are the fudden and fur- " prifing efFecfts I always defire to have ; and " I heartily pray God," he adds, addreffing himfelf to a contemporary Prelate, '^ your " Lordfhip and all your clergy may always fee " fuch effects in confequence of their preach- *' ing*^." And more fully, in order that the notion of an inftantaneous change may not appear deficient in parallels and unfupported by the authority of Scripture, we are informed by the other great leader of the fchifm, who once entertained doubts concerning the doc- trine, of which he afterwards became a deter- mined advocate, " I could not comprehend *' what was meant by an inflantaneous work ; ^ Whitefield's Works, vol. iv. p. 14. not necejfary for Clirijlians, 403 " I could not underftand, how this faith could '* be given in a moment ; how a man could at " once be thus turned from darknefs to light ; " from fin and mifery to righteoufnefs and joy " in the Holy Ghoft. I fearched the Scriptures '* again, touching this very thing, particularly *^ the Adls of the Apoflles ; but to my utter " aftonilhment found fcarce any other in- *' fiances there of other than inftantaneous " converfions ; fcarce any other fo flow as that " of St. Paul, who was three days in the pangs ** of the new birth \" Now that we may not lofe by fuch a fum- mary reference to Scripture the benefit of that light, which a more ample examination of the inflances there recorded is admirably calcu- lated to fupply ; we will take a view of fome of the mofl ftriking examples, which it con- tains, of fudden and inflantaneous converfion : carrying with us at the fame time this, not unimportant, remark, that the converfions there recorded are for the mofl part, if not in- tirely, converfions of Jews and Heathens, that is of unbelievers, to a belief in the Chriflian revelation ; and not of hardened finners to ha- bits of piety and virtue. Their converfion in- deed was followed by the fruits of a Chriflian r Wefley's Journals, N^. II. p. 92. Coke's Life of Wef- ley. p. ■I43• D d 2 404 Afpecial and wjlanfaneous Converfion faith ; but the converfion itfelf was a turning from darknefs unto light ; from the obfcurity of heathen fuperftition, or the comparative twilight of the Jewifh revelation, to the Chrif- tian Day fp ring, which vifited them from on high : which firft enlightened their under- ftandings, and then guided their feet into the way of peace. In the firfi; place then, I obferve, that, where the converfion was fudden or inllantaneous, it was the confequence of miraculous evidence to the truth. When the preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecofi: added to the Church three thoufand fouls, they were men, who had been " amazed and confounded" by the efFu- fion of the Holy Gholt, and the fupernatural gift of tongues'. When five thoufand men be- lieved the word preached by Peter and John, it was whilfl: they were " filled with wonder " and amazement" at the refi:oration of him,- who had been lame from his mother's womb*. It was the fight of the paralytic, who had been refiiored to health by the word of Peter, which occafioned all the people of Lydda and Saron to *' turn unto the Lord"." It was the blindnefs inflided by Paul on Ely mas the for- cerer, which made the Proconful of Afia *' be- *' lieve, in afi:oni{hment at the dodlrine of the 6 Ads ii. ' Ibid. Hi. iv. " Ibid, ix. not neceffary for Chriflians, 405 ** Lord"." It was the fupernatural earthquake, and the compofure, little lefs fupernatural, of Paul and Silas, which forced from the jailor at Thjateira his earneft inquiry, " Sirs, what Ihall " I do to be faved^? It was '' the light from " heaven above the bright nefs of the fun," and the voice of '' the heavenly vifion," which con- verted Paul himfelf from an a6live perfecutor, into a moft zealous propagator, of the truth ^ Such are the moft ftriking examples, which the evangelical hiftory affords, of fudden or inftantaneous converfions. And need I infift more fully on the caufes, to which they are to be immediately referred ? Need I repeat a for- mer obfervation, that, where fuch caufes do not exift, fuch effedls are not to be expelled ? And am I not warranted in affirming, not- withftanding the pretenlions which fome of the abettors of modern enthuliafm have ad- vanced, that fuch caufes do not at preient exift ? In cafes fuch as thefe, the chain of interro- gatories employed heretofore by the Puritan, and now adopted by the Methodift, might eafily have been anfvvered ; and the convert might have diftindly fpecified the place, the year, the month, the day, nay the very hour of the day, wherein he was wrought upon by the X A£ls xiii. y Ibid. xvi. ^ Ibid. ix. xxii. xxvi. D d 3 4o6 Afpecialand injiantayieous Converjlon divine grace. But even in the primitive ages of the Church, we perceive the julHce of our blelTed Lord's remark, that " the kingdom of ^' God cometh not vvath obfervation^;" and that more frequently it is *' as if a man fhould caft " feed into the ground, and fliould fleep, and " rife night and day, and the feed Ihould " Ipring and grow up, he knoweth not how^." Agreeably to this, it is to be noticed, fe- condly, that fome of the converfions, fpecified in the A6ls of the Apoftles, were more gradu- ally efFecfted, than thofe which have now been cited. And it is equally worthy of notice, and it is precifely what a fober inquirer would expect, that thofe are the very converfions, which were not wrought by the immediate interpolition of miraculous power, but were the confequence of a cool and deliberate atten- tion to lefs overbearing evidence. If the con- verlion were wrought by a miracle, it mull, one would fuppofe, be inftantaneous : if re- fulting from the deductions of reafon, it mufl in courfe be flower and more gradual. Imprefled with the '' word of exhortation'* delivered by St. Paul, but perhaps not tho- roughly perfuaded by his dodrine, the Gen- tiles of Antioch " befought that the fame *' words might be preached unto them the •^ Luke xvii. 20. ^ Mark iv. 26, 27. not necejfary for Chrijiians. 407 " next fabbath-day '." The interval was pro- bably employed in meditations and inquiries on the fubjed: of his difcourfe : and when, on the appointed day, the Apoftle refumed his ar- gument, and tendered to the Gentiles the fame falvation in Chrift, which he had offered to the Jews, we read that " they were glad, and " glorified the word of the Lord ; and as many " as were ordained, believed ;" as many as were difpofed by previous preparation for eter- nal life ; as were fit or well-difpofed for the kingdom of heaven ^ When Paul preached in the fynagogue of Theflalonica, fome Jews be- lieved ; not infiantly, upon his firfi: addreffing them ; but when '' on three fabbath-day s he *' had reafoned with them out of the Scrip- *' tures ; opening and alledging, that Chrifi; " mufi: needs have fuffered, and rifen again *' from the dead ; and that this Jefus, whom I *' preach unto you, is Chrifi'." And at Berea " they received the word with readinefs of " mind, and fearched the Scriptures daily, " whether thofe things were fo. Therefore *' many of them believed :" not fuddenly, for that their conviction was gradual, the pafiage unquefiionably indicates ; not being '' brought ^' to God by force," as Whitefield afiirms of c A6ts xiii. ^ Luke ix. 62. "^ A6ls xvii. D d4 403 Afpedal and injiantaneous Converjlon his modern converts^ ; not " finding God irre- *' fiftibly adding upon their foul," as Wefley pronounces of believers, that '* the grace which '* brings faith and thereby falvation into the "foul is irrellftible at that moment^;" not wrought upon by the Spirit of God, operating independently of, and in a manner dil^inguiflied from evidence, and argument, and moral fua- fion ; but fubfequently to, and in confequence of, their daily invelligation of the Scriptures, and ingenuous companion between them and the dodrine of the Apoftle. Thefe examples may, I truft, be regarded as juft fpecimens of the converfions, which pre- vailed in the primitive ages of Chriftianity, and which are recorded in the A6ls of the Apo- llles : nor are they mutilated, or diftorted, to give colour to a favourite fy Item. To me they appear to mark out a very evident line of dif- tincftion between two different kinds of con- verfion ; the one being rapidly efFecfted by the overbearing evidence of the finger of God ; the other being the flow and progreflive refult of a deliberate attention to the ordinary methods of conviction, and a willing and rational ac- quiefcence in that refult. This kind of con- f Whltefield's Eighteen Sermons, p. 94. g Wefley's Journals, N". V. p. 107. not necejjary for Chrijiians. 409 Verfion bed agrees with the teftimonj of Ire- naeiis, that " God redeems men from the apo- *' Hate fpirit not by force, but by perfualion^;" and with the notion, which others of the an- cient Chriftians give of faith, confifting of a dehberate alTent of the underllanding, and a free confent of the will. " Faith," faith Cle- ment of Alexandria, " is a fpontaneous ac- ** ceptance and compliance with divine reli- ''gion'." And, ''To be made at firfi:," faith Juftin Martyr, " was not in our power : but '' God perfuadeth us to follow thofe things *' which he liketh, choofing by the rational ** faculties, which he hath given us ; and fo '' leadcth us to faith'." Examples of the latter kind it is furely moll: reafonable to expect, in times fubfequent to the age of miracles. Where the miraculous teftimony has ceafed, it is to be expeded, that the inllantaneous effed: fliould ceale alfo : and as to the particular example of St. Paul, which h ea qune funt fua redlmens ab ea (fcil. apoftafia) non cum vi, fed fecundum fuadelam ; quemadmodum decebat Deum, fuadentem et non vim inferentem, acci- pere, quae vellet. Iren. lib. v. cap. i. ' Ilif/f OTpoAyj^I/ij kx8(Tios sj-i, ^iocrsSiias (TvyxciTa^e(7ig &c. Clem. Alex. Strom. \\. p. 265. See Barrow's Works. ^ To JU,£V OLf-XYiV ySVE^cq 8K YifJ^STSpOV Y^V TO 8fi S^CiKOXn^riCTaf olj (fjAov auTca, a.\^o\)^iV8i 8j' ojv auTOj eS«)pr]0"aTO XoyiKWV hwa- jtxewv, ■arada t;, xai jjj srjf/y ayn ri[^x§. Juji. Mart. ApoL ii, p. 58. 410 Afpecial and injlantaneous Cotive?J^ion we have already feen cited, and on which the fupporters of this novel doArine of converlion are much difpofed to dwell, I adopt the re- mark of an invaluable writer on this and its kindred topics, that '' the converlion of St. *' Paul was not according to the common *' way and rule, but extraordinary ; in regard '* whereof he may very well ftyle himfelf an *' abortive. For the ordinary courfe is not for ** the kingdom of heaven to offer violence to ** us, and take us hy force ; but for us to do fo *' by it'/' *' The difpenfation of the Gofpel," fays the fame judicious writer, " which is the " miniftration of the Spirit, goes forth doubt- ** lefs with a mighty power of conviction ; but " how far it works upon particular perfons af- " felted under the influences of it, is not fo *' eafily to be refolved. There are in the con- *' verlion of-finners cafes extraordinary, which " mull not be drawn into example, nor preju- " dice the general rule, as in St. Paul, Aullin, *' &c. But ordinarily, that there is fome dif- ** pofition and temper of mind, more apt than *' others to receive the effedual imprellions of *' it, is mod certain. Such is the honest and " good heart in the parable ; fuch are the *' honeft and meek, and the poor in fpirit : ** fuch as do the truth and the will of God, fo 1 Examination of Tilenus, p. 273. not necejfary for Clirijlians. 4 1 1 " far as their information ferves them ; fuch « are the weary, and heavy-laden, and the " like ; they are refembled to fheep, and to *' babes ; and are faid to be of God, to have *' learned the Father, and to know him. Thefe *' are faid to be ordained, that is, difpofed, and " in a fit pofture for eternal life ; and of this '' ingenuous and noble temper were the people " of Berea. They were, as it were, in the " fuburbs or confines, not far from the king- " dom of God ; and upon the firft call by the ** word of grace, they obeyed and Itept into '^it""." Not that I would be underllood to ailert, that Providence may not perhaps, even in the prefent day, be fometimes pleafed to interpofe in a manner more aweful and impreffive, than is agreeable to the ordinary courfe of his pro- ceedings; and to arrefi: the finner in his career of infidelity or wickednefs ; and to turn him from darknefs unto light. But it is the error of enthufiafm to invert the order of God's proceedings; and to miilake that for the rule, which in reality conftitutes the exception. Under the influence of Mctho- difm, which has been again and again repre- fented by its founders and its difciples, as an extraordinary difpenfation of Providence, '' in ni Womack on Falfe Principles, p. 327. 4 1 2 Afpecial and hijlantaneous Converjion " favour of which God wrought a new thing ** upon the earth ;" fupported bj the evidence of even " greater things than the railing of " dead bodies to life";" and fuch, that *' if men ** will not believe the evidence God has given " that he fent it, neither would they believe " though one rofe from the dead";" men are taught to exped: thefe inftantaneous and irre- liftible converlions, as matters of courfe and of necelTitj. " Are not all thefe things," de- mands its Calvinillic Founder, after giving his own colouring to the examples of miraculous converlion recorded in the Acls, " Are not all " thefe things written for our learning? Is not " God the fame yefterday, to-day, and for *' ever ? And may he not now, as well as for- " merly, reveal his arm and difplay his power, " in bringing linners home to himfelf, as fud- " denly and inllantaneoufly as in the iirfi: " planting of the Gofpel Church ^ ?" The con- fequence mull; naturally be, a careleflnefs about grovs'ing in grace, and a negle6t of the out- ward regular means : and this carelellhefs and neglect are augmented by their being often ta- tioully reminded of thofe, wlio are faid to have been recovered from the mod fettled defpair and the moft excruciating horror by a kind of n Wefley's Sermons, vol. vi. p. 66. o Whitefield's Works, vol. iv. p. i8. vol. i. p. 50. P Ibid, vol.iv. p. 161. not necejfary for Chrijlians, 4 1 3 fupernatural interpofition, after having in vain habitually pracftifed all the means of grace "^ ; and of others, who are faid to have been im- pelled to wean themfelves from inveterate wickednefs, and to embrace a religious life, by a ftrong preternatural agency, without having prad:ifed thofe means at all '. It is true, we hear them telling their de- luded followers, that they ought to be con- verted; expoftulating with them for not choof- ing to be converted, and for putting off their converfion, for not turning to God directly; in- treating them to repent and be converted: Yet wherefore? when in almoll; the fame breath they tell them, that the Author of this conver- lion is the Holy Ghoft ; that it is not their own free will ; it is not moral fuafion ; that nothing Ihort of the influence of the Spirit of the living God can effe6l this change in their hearts '. Yet it was by outward and ordinary means, by evidence and arguments and moral fuafion, that converfions of the ordinary kind were ef- fected by the Apoftles themfelves. Such we have {^en to be the cale with refped: to the 1 Wefley's Journals, N". TIT. p. 15, 32, 54. ^ See Enthufiafni of Methoditls, 8cc. vol. ii. p. 146. Wefley's Journals, N^. TIT. p. 109. * Whitefield's Eighteen Sermons, pages 118. and fol- lowing. 41-1 Afpecial and injlantancous Converjion Gentiles of Antiocb, and the Jews of Thellalo- nica and Berea. And fuch was the mode adopted by Paul, when " the Lord opened the ** heart" of Lydia of Thyateira, not to believe, but " to attend to the-- things fpoken by" the Apoftle*; and by Philip, when he unfolded to the Ethiopian eunuch the memorable prophecy of Ifaiah, and " began at the fame fcripture, " and preached unto him Jefus"." Even when miraculous atteftations were con- ferred in immediate aid of their miniftry, the Apoftles employed found and fober arguments to convince the reafon ; and directed their ef- forts to enlighten the underftandings, rather than to excite the palTions and feelings, of their hearers. The fermon of Peter, which was oc- calioned by the allonifhment confequent upon the miraculous gift of tongues, was occupied in convincing the inquiring multitude, that there w^as no illuiion in their claim to infpira- lion ; that it was a completion of one of their ancient prophecies, feveral others of which had alfo been fulfilled in the perfon of Chrill ; and in preffing on their minds the miraculous a6ls of his life, and his refurred;ion, and afcenfion into heaven. It was with fimilar arguments, that he wrought upon the minds of the five thoufand, who flocked together on the cure of ' Ads xvi. " A6ls viii. not neceffary for Chnftians. 415 the lame man. And the converfion of Corne- lius, the firft fruits of the Gentile world, which had been begun by a fupernatural viiion, vouch- fafed him in confideration of his adis of devo- tion and charity, correfpondent to the propor- tion of knowledge which he pofleiled, was promoted by Peter bearing witnefs to the mi- racles and refurrecftion of Chrill ''. Very unlike thefe words of truth and fober- nefs is the character of that preaching, which the milTionary of Methodifm, protefting as he does againil the operation of moral perfuafion upon the foul^ employs for the inftrument of his inftantaneous converfions. Reafon is left to llumber on her poft ; and her authority is fuperfeded at leaft, if not annihilated, while, with language the moll portentous, enforced by the moft vehement articulation and the wildell extravagance of gefture, he gives the rein to the imagination, alarms the feelings, and flimulates the paffions ; now exciting an ecftatic love for Chrift in terms of rapture, of which it hath been truly obferved that ** en- '* thufiafts and pious myftics have been re- *^ markably fond%" but which more become a preacher of the Koran, than of the Gofpel ; X Aas X. y Whitefield's Works, vol. i. p. 113. 2 Jortin's Remarks on Ecc. Hill:, vol. ii. p. 8r. 4i6 A f pedal and iiiftantaneous Converjion now dwelling with horrible delight on the terrors of God's wrath, and figuring to the flirinking mind, with a minute and frightful particularity, the agonies of hell and the tor- ments of the damned. The efFecft correfponds with its caufe. But I dare not lay before your eyes fpecific and detailed examples of thofe formidable iymp- toms, which accompany the converfion of the difciple, and tcllify the efficacious power of the teacher. Alternate extremes of weeping and of laughter ; fobs and Ihrieks and groans and wailing and gnafliing of teeth ; the voice now ilifled by agony, and now burlling forth in tones of execration, blafphemy, and defpair; tremors and faintings and droppings to the ground, as if llruck by lightning and thunder ; palenefs and torpor; convulfions and contor- tions, as in the pangs of death, as out of the belly of hell ; things terrible to behold, too horrible to be borne, and which words cannot defcribe : fuch are the fy mptoms of conver- lion, which the very preachers, who have ex- cited them, have gloried to furvey, have ex- ulted and triumphed in enumerating \ a See Wefley's Journals, N^. III. p. 32, 0,6, 50, 51, 52, 53» 54, 5S^ 5^> 6'' 62, 7i,.74j 75, 79, ^-> 95, 9^, ^c. &c. Enthufiarni of Methodifts, he. vol. iii, p. 23. and following pages. Ibid. p. 135, 136. not necejjary for Chrijlians. 417 A fcene more melancholy hardly prefentcd itfelf to the powerful imagination of Milton ^\ when he defcribed, as the moft loathfome con- fequence and moft compendious teftimony of human corruption, his vilionary lazar-houfe, wherein were laid Numbers of all difeas'd ; all maladies Of ghaftly fpafm, or racking torture, qualms Of heartlick agony, ConvullionSj epileplies, Demoniack phrenzy, moaping melancholy, And moonftruck madnefs Dire was the toffing, deep the groans ; defpair Tended the iick, bulieft from couch to couch. But they are very different fenfations from thofe of triumph and exultation, which he at- tributes to the confcious author of fuch mifery, when he reprefents him exclaiming, O miferable mankind, to what fall Degraded, to what wretched Hate referv'd ! ■ Can thus The image of God in man, created once So goodly and eredl, though faulty lince, To fuch unfightly fufferings be debas'd. Under inhuman pains ? Why fhould not man. Retaining ftill divine fimilitude In part, from fuch deformities be free. And for his Maker's image fake exempt ? Such fentiments have undoubtedly palled ^ This paragraph was not delivered from the pulpit. E e 4 1 8 Afpecial and injlantaneous Converjion through the minds of many confiderate men, on perufing the annals of modern enthufiafm ; and contemplating their nature, fallen indeed and corrupted, but renewed, and repaired, and rendered capable of being conformed again to the image of Chrift, thus cruelly debafed to the extreme point of degradation. And are we to be referred to Scripture for parallels to fuch extravagances as thefe ? Are we to be fent to Scripture for examples of men in a ftate of intelle6lual defolation, re- duced to a level with the very beatls that pe- rifh, in order that they may be clothed with finlefs perfedlion, and revel in the afliirance of happinefs ? Is not this more like making them pafs through fire to Moloch, than leading them with willing Heps to reft upon God's holy hill ? The Bible however is before us : let us turn to the cafes of converfion which it commemo- rates ; and let us take them for the criterion of our opinions. And what refemblance to thefe enormities, which are defcribed as the frequent proofs and iymptoms of converfion ; — or even to thofe pangs and travails of foul, which, we are taught, that all experience before a tho- rough converfion is efFeded in the heart"; — ^ Whitefield's Short Account of God's Dealings with die Rev. George Whitefield, p. y^. not necejfary for Chriflkms. 4\g to thofe " dreadful confli(9:s," that *' plowing *' up of the heart''," which the enthufiall tells us '* miiji take place in us, or we Ihall never be ** prepared for the kingdom of heaven j" — what refemblance to thefe extravagances fliail we difcover in the compunction of the con- verts on the day of Pentecoft, v/liich led to the rational inquiry, '* Men and brethren, *' what fliall we do?" and was followed by their " gladly receiving the word, and being *' immediately baptized?" What refemblance to thefe extravagances do we perceive in the alarm of the keeper of the prilbn, which filled him indeed with a trembling anxiety for his falvation, but which did not difable him from liHening to the word of the Lord, and attend- ing carefully on its preachers, and embracing the Gofpel on a convidion of its truth ? What lymptom of an alienated mind do we difcern in the confiderate behaviour of Sergius Paulus? or in the collected language and calm joy of the Ethiopian eunuch ? or in the reafonings and inveftigations of the Jews at Theflidonica and Berea ? or in the exultation and praifes of the lame man, or in the wonder and amaze- ment of thofe who beheld his cure, at Jerufa- lem ? or in the gladnefs and thankfgivings of the Gentiles at Antioch ? or in the attention ■i Whitefield's Eighteen Sermons, p. 94. E e 2 420 A fpecial and injlaiitaneous Converfion and humility of Ljdia at Thyateira ? or in the temperate condu6t of the centurion and his houfehold at Cafarea, or of the multitude at Lydda and Saron ? Or, that we may meet the enthuliaft on his favourite and ftrongeft ground, what features of refemblance can we trace be- tween the converfions of the difciples of Me- thodifm, and that of the Apoftle St. Paul? We have authority for affirming, that, after Paul had recovered from the inftantaneous effe6l of *• the heavenly vilion," which met him on the way, and he was led by the hand and brought into Damafcus, " he was three days " without fight, and neither did eat nor drink;" that he prayed ; and that he was vifited with a fupernatural notice of the approaching refto- ration of his fight. But on what authority is it affirmed, that during thefe three days he continued, not only fick in body, but " under " great agonies of foul %" labouring (according to the phrafeology of enthufiafm) in the pangs and travails of the new birth } That the re- pentance of St. Paul for his perfecution of the Gofpel was fincere and perfe6t, and that the diftrefs of mind which he experienced on a difcovery of his error, however " verily he had " thought with himfelf" that he had been in the line of his duty, was intenfe, no man per- c EntHufiafm cf Methodifts, 8cc. vol. Hi. p. 135. not necejfary for Chrijlians. 421 Iiaps in his fenfes will doubt. That his re- pentance was of that character, which is in- tended by great agonies of foul, and by the pangs and travails of the new birth; much lefs that it was accompanied with thofe fright- ful lymptoms, to which we are feeking a fcriptural parallel, hardly an}^ one in his fenfes, with the plain narrative of Scripture before his eyes, would venture to affirm. Nor does it redound to the credit of that man's foundnefs of underftanding, or piety and hu- mility of heart, who could deliberately com- pare a young female enthufiaft llruck down by the power of God's word \ by which the relater meant to denote the efficacy of his own preaching, to Paul arrefted in the career of his perfecutions by a fupernatural light, and falling to the earth under the piercing expoftu- lations of the Almighty. On the prefumption of this comparifon, confiftent as it is with the general ftyle of its employer, I forbear to enlarge. The com- parifon itfelf however naturally induces a re- flection as to the characters of thofe perfons, of whom the converts recorded in the evan- gelical hillory confllted, and of thofe, who have fwelled the catalogue of the victims of modern delufion. * Whitefield. SeeEnthufiafm of Mcthodifts, &c. vol.iii, E e 3 422 Ajpecial and injiaiitaneoiis Couverjion It was the obfervation of Origen ^ that " if ' any one would candidly confider the Chrif- ' tians, they could produce him more who ' had been converted from a Y\^e not the * worft, than from a very wicked courfe: for ' they," he adds, '' whofe confcience fpeaks ' favourably in their behalf, are difpofed to ' wifli that our dodrine concerning the future * rewards of goodnefs may be true; and fo are ' more ready to aflent to tlie Gofpel than pro- ' fligate men." And Jortin, who quotes the obfervation, judiciouily remarks upon it ; "I ' know it may be faid, that among the firft ' Chriltians there were feveral, who had led ' bad lives before : but there are many de- ' grees of wickednefs ; and there is no reafon * to fuppofe that thefe dinners were for the ' moft part of the w^orft fort; and though ' fome perfons, who have been very wicked, ' may become very good, and fuch were found ' amongft the firft Chrillians, yet where the ' exceptions are few, the general obfervation * is not afFe6led by them ; for thus much is S 'HjOtcij ts, £1 Tij xaravojjcroc/ ^^ojv svyvw[xovwg to a^goi28>39,4i, 103. I i 4 488 Unjinning Perfe&hn either that there was inward corruption in our Lord, or that the fervant can be as his Mafter, and confequently incorrupt ^ I have not enu- merated the various contradictory pofitions, into which they have been betrayed by their zeal for this dodrine, at one time attributing to it properties, which at another they have been compelled to quahfy or to deny\ I have not mentioned the teeming inconfifiency of the Founder of Methodifm, who had long patronifed the do6lrine, who had lliown on every occation the moll: decided partiality to thofe who profelTed it, and who for many years feldom preached a fermon without largely inlifting on it, and yet never could be per- fuaded to profefs it himfelf ''. I have not com- mented on the unfcriptural diftincftion, which it introduces, between common and accepted believers; between thofe of a lower, and thofe of a more favoured, clafs^ 1 have not brought forward to view the language of prefumption, held by the PerfeAionift, affirming himfelf to have " no temper contrary to love, no defire *' contrary to the will of God '^ ;" to be " quite '' free from evil propenlities, pride, and irre- 2 Enthufiafm of Methodifts, &c. vol. i. p. 45, 47. * See Wefley's Account, &c. p. 21. and the notes. ^ Hampfon's Life of Wefley, vol. iii. p. ^6. c Ibid. p. 55. << Wefley's Journals, No. XV. p. 35. not the Privilege of a true Chrijiian. 48g " gular pailions, and never during a long feries " of years to have loft that fanftification for a " moment^;" to be faved not only from the guilt, but alfo from the defert, of punifhment^ I have not contrafted with this the language of humility, wherein the moft pious and vir- tuous men have been accuftomed to acknow- ledge their own imperfection. I have not dwelt upon the language, wherein St. John, and the other Apoftles, and all the facred wri- ters defcribe the Chriftian courfe as a continual growing in grace, and uniformly fpeak of men, even of the moft perfed, as guilty of occafional lins. I have not adverted to the conceffion of the advocates of the doctrine, that the perfec- tion for which they contend was not enjoyed by the generality of believers before them, nor by thofe to whom St. Paul wrote his epi- ftles, nor by St. Paul himfelf, when his former epiftles were written ^. I have not laid before you inftances of thofe frailties, not to mention thofe more grievous fins, which have ftained the purity of fuch as the Scriptures hold up to our imitation, as the moft juft and the moft perfect men. Nor have I enlarged on the con- current tellimony of Prophets and Apoftles, ^ Methodift Magazine, Jan. 1803. See Outram's Ex- trafts, p. 18. f Wefley's Sermons, vol. i. p. 220, 221. 8 Wefley's Account of Chriftian Perfeclionj p. 31. 4Q0 Unfinning Perfedion and on the general tenor of the Old and New Teftaments, which reprefent the facrifice of Chrift as neceflary to every man, not only to purify him from original corruption, but alfo to make continual atonement for actual fins. Each of thefe topics would fupply an ample field for difcufiion : I Ihall be fatisfied however with having thus curforily fuggefied them to your minds, trufting that the previous remarks will have been fufficient to fhow the fallacy of an opinion peculiar to a comparatively fmall body of Chrifiians, and novel as it is peculiar. I call it a novel dodrine; for fuch I apprehend it to be amongft us, although in former ages it has not been without its advocates. " The " Montanifi:s," as Bifliop Lavington has re- marked in the words of the Hiltorian of that fe6t, " took themfelves to be perfeA^:" and the learned Barrow obferves, that " there have in- '* deed been feds of men, fuch as the Nova- '* tians, and the Pelagians, who have pretended ** to perfedion and purity : but thefe men," (continues that powerful and -copious divine in terms of animadverfion, well deferving the attention of the modern Perfedionift,) *' But " thefe men, one would think, did never read " the Scripture ; did never confult experience; ^ Enthufiafm of Methodifts and Papifts compared, vol. i. p. 6. See alfo Outram's Extrafts, p. 9. not the Privilege of a true Chrijiian. 4Q\ *' did never refle^l on their minds ; did never " compare their practice with their duty ; had " no confcience at all, or a vfery blind and llu- " pid one. Who can Jay, I have made my " heart clean, I am pure from Jin, v^^as a quef- '^ tion of Solomon, to which he thought no " man could anfwer affirmatively of himfelf. " // I jijiijy myjelf my oivn mouth Jhall con- " dem7i me; ij I Jay, I am perJeB, it Jhall *' prove me perverj'e, was the afleveration of *' that perfon, whofe virtue had undergone the " {eYQvtik trials. In many things ive offend all; " was the confelTion of an Apollle, in the '* name of the wifeft and beft men *." It will be elucidating by a beautiful example the fcriptural notions of alTurance and perfec- tion ; of perfedlion, to w^hich the Chrillian is daily drawing more near, and of afTurance not vouchfafed unto him until the clofe of his mortal life ; if I call to your recolleclion the laft moments of a " moti learned, moll: humble " and holy man," a man of faintlike and apo- ftolical limplicity. " I have lived," faid he, " to " fee this world is made up of perturbations, " and I have been long preparing to leave '' it, and gathering comfort for the dreadful ** hour of making my account with God, which " I now apprehend to be near. And though ' Barrow s Works, vol. iii. p. 239. 4Q2 U7ijinning Perfedion " I have by bis grace loved him in my youth, " and feared him in mine age, and laboured to ** have a confcience void of offence to him and " to all men; yet, if thou, O Lord, be extreme ** to mark what I have done amifs, who can " abide it ? And therefore where I have failed, '' Lord, fhow mercy to me : for I plead not " my righteoufnefs, but the forgivenefs of my " unrighteoufnefs, for his merits who died to '* purchafe a pardon for penitent finners. And *' lince I owe thee a death. Lord, let it not be " terrible, and then take thine own time: I " fubmit to it ! Let not mine, O Lord, but let '' thy will be done ! With which exprellion," adds his biographer, *' he fell into a dangerous " llumber, dangerous as to his recovery ; yet '* recover he did, but it was only to fpeak *' thefe few words : God hath heard my daily " petitions ; for I am at peace with all men, " and he is at peace with me : from which " blefled aflurance I feel that inward joy, *' which this world can neither give nor take ** from me. More he would have fpoken ; but " his fpirits failed him ; and after a Ihort con- " fli6l between nature and death, a quiet figh '* put a period to his lall breath, and fo he fell *' afleep." Such were the dying fentiments of a man, whom his biographer characfterifes by great learning, remarkable meeknefs, godl}^ fimpli- not the Privilege of a true Chrijlian. 4g3 city, and Chriftian moderation: whom his con- temporaries elteemed as moil: capable of *' teach- " ing learning by inftruAion, and virtue by ex- " ample ;" whom not this Univerfity alone, but our Church and Nation, have uniformly efteemed, as one of their brighteft luminaries ; and to whofe merits the teftimony of two fuc- ceffive monarchs has been fandioned by the approbation of the good, the wife, and the great ; who have concurred in adopting the appellation, that his fovereigns had beftowed, and in tranfmitting his honour to pofterity as ** the learned, or judicious, or reverend, or ve- '* nerable Hooker"'." Virtually difclaiming the modern dodrine of alTu ranee, by declaring that " the llirongefl: " in faith that liveth on the earth, has always " need to labour, ftrive, and pray, that his af- " furance concerning heavenly and fpiritual " things may grow, increafe, and be augment- " ed :" and difclaiming the modern doArine of perfedion by an humble acknowledgment of his own unrighteoufnefs, he bore his teftimony to the truths, which I have been endeavouring to eftablifli, even before the oppofite herefies had taken root amongft us. With lingular gratification I clofe the prefent difcourfe by k Ifaac Walton's Life of Hooker. Works, Oxford ed. p. 90, 25, 79, 60. 494 Unjinning PerfeBion, &c. fuch an atteftation to the foundnefs of the te- nets, which I have been deducing from the Oracles of God : for I cannot confider it as a matter of trifling moment, that they are thus incidentally fupported by one, whofe heart was the living pid:ure of that poornefs of fpirit, to which is promifed the blefling of "the kingdom of heaven ; and whofe mind was of a capacity to trace the operations of law, emanating from the bofom of the Creator, and difFufing har- mony throughout his works'. Now unto " the high and lofty One that in- " habiteth eternity, whofe name is Holy ; who *' dwelleth in the high and holy place, with *' him alfo that is of a contrite and humble ** fpirit :" unto Him be glory and dominion for ever ! ^ See EgcI. Polity. Conclufion of the firft book. DISCOURSE IX. I Cor. ix. i6. Though 1 preach the Gofpel, I have nothing to glory of; for necejjtty is laid upon me: yea, wo is unto me, if I preach not the Gofpel. At the commencement of thefe Lectures, to the conclufion of which we are now rapidly advancing, the words, that have been jull: re- cited, were fele6led for your attention ; be- caufe I was defirous that our minds might be imprefled, at the outfet of the propofed in- quiry, with a due fenfe of the folemnity of the charge, into the grounds of which it was my defign, with God's bleffing, to examine : a charge, as was then remarked, which, if it were fubftantiated, mull involve us in the guilt of corrupting, or renouncing, '* the truth " as it is in Jefus;" and which muft in confe- quence expofe us to the " wo," (as it is ex- prefled in the text,) to the " curfe," (as St. Paul elfewhere exprelTes it,) denounced on 496 Concluding Difcourje, thofe, who " preach not the Gofpel" of our Lord and Saviour Jefus Chrift. Alive to the refponfibihty, v^hich attaches to us as minifters of the Gofpel, and to the tremendous punifhment which awaits us, if we wilfully pervert or abandon the true evan- gelical faith ; T have endeavoured to give a juft fcriptural expolition of thofe more promi- nent fubjecfts, on which the charge in queftion is principally founded ; to detail the particulars of the charge, as alleged by our accufers ; to ftate, what I apprehend to be, the fubflance of our teaching on the controverted points; and to defend and vindicate our teaching by that, which alone can be pleaded in its defence, namely, the pure and unadulterated word of God. The feveral lubjecfts of the conditions of man's juftification ; of his predefti nation to life or death ; of the efficacy, and percepti- bility, of the operations of the Holy Spirit ; of regeneration ; of converfion ; of all'urance ; and of perfection ; have been thus fucceffively pro- pofed to your thoughts : not, (for I would here repeat what was faid in my introductory difcourfe,) not for the purpofe of fuperfeding, but of encouraging, more full and more mi- nute invelligation in thole, for whofe benefit thefe Lectures appear to have been principally defigned. Whilll, therefore, I attempt to draw the attention of the younger part of my hear- General Remarks, 497 »ers to the foregoing topics, in order that they may be the better enabled to perform their mi nifterial duties with fuccefs; let me intreat them to profecute the examination by the light of the facred Scriptures; alTilled by thofe human aids, which have been fo largely vouch- fafed by a bountiful Providence to this coun- try, and the iludy of which it is a prominent object of our academical inllitutions to pro- mote. A late excellent Prelate, who contributed much to the ornament and fpiritual edification of our Univerfity, in which he occupied a dif- tinguilhed poft, in a difcourfe from this place remarked, that '* as herefies make their peri- *' odical revolutions in the Church, like comets *' in the heavens, to flied a baleful influence ** on all about them, the time feemed to be -*' coming, when Antinomianifm was to be -" again rampant amongll us. And what won- ** der" (he adds) " that this or any other he- .** rely fhould be introduced and propagated, " if men, inftead of having recourfe to the ** catholic dodors of the ancient Church, and " to fuch of our divines as have trodden in *• their Heps, will extrad: their theology from '* the lateft and loweft of the modern fe(3:aries, .*• thus beginning where they ihould end : if, ** i'nrtead of drawing living water for the ufe *' of the fandluary from the frelli fprings of K k 498 Concluding Difcourfe. " primitive antiquity, they take up with fuch " as comes to them at fecond or third hand " from the lake of Geneva : if the fpirit of a *' Cyprian, exerted in the maintenance of the *' vigor Epijcopatus and the conftitution of the " Church, be accounted for bigotry and nar- " rownefs; and Clement and Ignatius pafs for " but very moderate divines, v^hen compared *' with the new lights of the Tabernacle and " Foundery. Should this method of lludying '* divinity prevail, to the exclufion of the " other, there will foon be neither order left *' in the Church, nor certainty in the faith*." The feafon of anarchy and inftability, which this excellent Prelate fo pathetically anticipat- ed, appears to be gaining ground upon us with rapid llrides : whilft men, defpifing all eccM- aftical fubordination and difcipline, all unity of *' mind and judgment," and elleeming them- felves wifer than their teachers, tenaciouflj adhere to fuch practices and opinions as are right in their own eyes; or rather fuch, as are agreeable to their own inclination and conceit. Thus feelarifm, in all its manifold variety of forms, is perpetually inlifting frefli profelytes, who are dillinguilhed, rather by hoftility to the national faith, than by attachment to any fettled fy llem of dodlrines ; and of whom it * Bp. Home's Sermons, vol. y. p. 66. General Remarks* 4Qg may more eafily be affirmed, what they are not, than what they are. Meanwhile the ac- cufation againft the clergy, that the Gofpel is not preached in the Church, is circulated with unremitting aiTiduitj: — by fome, whole fu- perior knowledge might reafonably have led us to expedt from them a more enlarged cha- rity : — and by others, who are alike unac- quainted, both with the true fcope of the Gof- pel, and with the doctrines of the national clergy ; and in whofe excufe it might be pleaded, that " they know neither what they " fay, nor w hereof they affirm," were not their ignorance accompanied with a high degree of fpiritual pride ; wdth a fupercilious contempt of others; and an overweening efteem for themfelves. The coarfe and crude attacks of this latter clafs of our alTailants has not pro- voked me to a reply. My remarks have been almoft intirely confined to thofe, whom a more liberal education, or a legitimate appointment to the miniftry, or the refpedlability of their perfonal characters, has rendered fitter obje61:s of notice ; although fome of them have not unfrequently difgraced themfelves by language, totally unworthy of an enlightened, or a reli-r gious mind. The principal fpecific forms, un- der which the accufation is conveyed againft us, have been examined in the foregoing lec- tures. It will be my objed, in this conclud- K k 2 ^00 Concluding Difcourfe, ing difcourfe, to offer feme remarks on th^ general charaAer of the charge. I. Firft, then, I obferve, that the charge alleged againft the national clergy, that they are not preachers of the Gofpel, is arrogant and prejumptuous. It is fo with refpe6t to thofe, who make it: — men, oftentimes "of " the lowell of the people ;" oftentimes defi- cient in the ordinary means of procuring in- formation ; and proportionally rude and ig- norant : — men, at the beft, " of like paffions'* and like infirmities with thofe, whom they condemn ; polTefTed of no fuperior natural en- dowments, of no fuperior opportunities for the acquifition of knowledge, and (notwithfland- ing the pretenfions, which fome of them have made to apofiolical authority) of no fuperior ipiritual gifts. It is prefumptuous, again, with refpe6l to the doctrines, on which it refls. Take, for inflance, the doArine of abfolute predellination, that which is the mofl com- monly and the mofl vehemently urged. " The *' five difputed points," fays a learned writer, much converfant in thefe controverfies, ** The *' five difputed points, which in thefe lafl •' times are reproached by the name of Armi- •' nianifm, had more or lefs exercifed the *' Church in all times and ages, efpccially after ** the breaking out of the Pelagian herefies, *' when all the niceties thereof were more General Rejnarh. 501 '* thoroughly canvalTed. Neither the piety and *' fobriety of the primitive times, nor the au- " thority of the popes, nor the commanding ** fpirit of Luther, nor the more powerful name ** of Calvin, have prevailed fo far, but that the " Church, and every broken fragment of it, ** hath found fome fubdivifion about thefe de- " bates ^" Whence then this fancied infalli- bility, v^^herev^ith our accufers aiTume the cha- ra6ter and office of the judge, and confidently pronounce fentence in their own behalf? Wherefore, upon queftions notorioufly much controverted, and therefore, it is to be pre- fumed, of fome difficulty and perplexity, do they aflume the prerogative of deciding, as in a cafe of no difficulty or intricacy at all ? Is it confiftent with modefty, with humihty, with decency, thus to condemn without appeal, not only the great body of the Englifli clergy, againil whom they more immediately diredl their attacks ; but fome alfo of the mofi: glo- rious names, which fhed a luftre on the annals of the Chriftian Church ? I fpeak not of the earliefi: Fathers of the Church, whofe opinions have been proved to run with a full current againft thofe of Calvin and his followers : yet, fetting their authority afide, numerous and noble is the catalogue of thofe, who have un- ^ Heylyn's Hiftoria Quinquarticularis, Preface, K k 3 502 Concluding Difcourfe. equivocally dilTented from the do^lrines of abfolute predertination, partial redemption, and irrefiilible grace ; and who muft unquetiion- ably fliare in the fentence of condemnation, which is confidently pronounced upon us. We reft our defence indeed upon the declarations of Scripture : but in the interpretation of Scripture, the judgment of learned men de- ferves, and demands, attention. And furelj the ncynes of Chryfoftom and Jerome ; of Me- lanclhon, and Arminius, and Grotius ; of La- timer and Cranmer; of Jackfon, and Taylor, and Leflie, and Beveridge, and Barrow; might abate the confidence of the abfolute Predefti- narian ; and moderate his afperity in the con- demnation of opinions, for which fuch advo- cates have flood forward in their fupport. But even allowing the Calviniftic doctrines to be probably true, fiill is it not prefumptU- ous, we may afk, to reprefent the preaching of them as the criterion of miniflerial fidelity; and to condemn thofe, who forbear to preach them, as guilty of apoflaly from their profeflion? " I ** hold," faid the learned Mede, " that commu- *' nion is not to be broken but for fundamen- ** tals ; of which kind I take none of the difFe- '* rences between the Calvinifls and Lutherans ** to be*"." A belief in thefe myfterious articles « Jofeph Mede's Works, book iv. p. 865. General RemarJss. 503 will hardly be judged neceflary to falvation. If true, they are involved in fuch obfcurity, that a man (it is prefumed) may fafely doubt concerning them, or even be ignorant of them altogether. Now the edification of the hearers Ihould be the meafure of the preacher's doc^ trine: afluredly therefore thofe doctrines, which it is not necellary for the people to believe, it cannot be neceffary for the preacher to inforce. Nay, of the neceffity, or even of the expedi- ency of inforcing them, let Calvin be the judge, when he pronounces, " Should any one *' thus addrefs the people. If ye believe not, it *' is becaufe God hath already predellinated " you to deftrudion," — yet what is this but to preach pure and confillent Calvinifm ? — " that man not only cherifhes llothfulnefs, but *' alfo gives encouragement to iin*^." At the fame time of this we may be certain, that, whatever the Apoftles thought on thefe points, they manifefted lefs anxiety to amufe their con- verts with mere fpeculative dodlrines, " which ** minifter queftions, rather than godly edify- *' ing%" than to build them up in the pradice of a holy life, eftablifhed on faith in the Re- ^ Si quis ita plebem compellet, fi non creditis, ideo fit, quia jam divinitus exitio praedeftinati eftis, is nou modo ignaviam fovet, fed etiam indulget malitias. Cah\ Inji. lib. iii. cap. xxiii. fe£l. 14. I Tim. i. 4. . ' Kk4 504 Condudwg Difcovi'fe. deemer; and that inflead of employing lan^ guage, which might afford occalion for felf- conceit or defpondency, for careleiinefs or uncleannefs of living, they uniformly addreifed themfelves to the linner, as to one capable of repenting and being forgiven ; and to the faint, as to one, capable of *' falling from his *' ov^n fteadfallnefs," and finally " coming *' fhort of falvation." *' For my ovi^n part," faid the wife and pious Bifliop Andrews, when his fentiments were demanded on the dodrines of the Lam- beth Articles, " I honeftly confefs, I have fol- " lowed the advice of Aufiin; Thefe myfteries, *' which I am not able to open, being (hut up, " I have gazed upon with awe: and therefore ■" for thefe fixteen years, fince I was made a " Priell, I have, neither in public nor in pri- " vate, either difputed or preached about them ; *' and even now alfo I had rather hear con- " cerning them, than fpeak. And indeed " lince it is a llippery fubjed:, and has on each " lide dangerous precipices ; and fince the *' paflages of Paul, from which it is for the *' mod part derived, have always been reckoned *' amongfl thofe things hard to be underjiood, of ** which Peter fpeaks ; and lince there are not ** many among the Clergy, who can IkilfuUy ** unfold them, and very few among the peo- *' pie, who can profitably hear them ; I would General Remarh, 5oS ^' advife, if it were polTible, that iilence be in- ^' joined on both fides ; and that they be not " fo loofely and crudely propounded by every " one, as the cuftom is. Certainly I account " it much more profitable, that our people be ** intl:rud:ed to feek their falvation in the ma- *' nifefi: precepts of a holy and faithful life, as " is the advice of Peter alfo, than in the fe- " crets of the divine counfel : of which an " over-curious examination is apt to produce " dimnefs and dizzinefs of fight, but feldom '^produces edification, at leall in narrow *:\ minds V Such was the language of a very , f Ego certe (ingenue fateor) fecutus fum Auguftini confilium, Myfteria haec, quae aperire non poffum, claufa miratus fum ; et proinde per hos i6 annos, ex quo Pref- byter fum fa<9:us, me neque publice neque privatim vel difputafle de eis, vel pro concione traftalfe : etiam nunc quoque malle de eis audire, quani dicere. Et quidem cum lubricus locus fit, et habeat utrinque periculofa prse- cipitia, cumque loci Paulini (unde fere eruitur) inter Sytr- vojjra ilia (de quibus Petrus) femper fint habiti; cumque nee multi in Clero fint, qui ea dextre expedire, et per- pauci in populo, qui idonei illius auditores effe poffint; fuaderem, fi fieri poflfit, ut indiceretur utrinque filentium ; nee ita pafllim et crude proponerentur a qulbufque ut aflblet. Certo multo magis expedire arbltror, ut doceatur populus nofier falutem fuam quaerere in manifeftis vitae fanftae et fideliter infl;itutoe, (quod et Petrus fuadet,) quam in occultis confilii divini; cujus curiofa nimis infpeftio vertigines et fcotomata generare potefl: et folet ; aedifica- tiones certe in anguftis ingeniis vix folet. Judicium L. Andrews Ep. Winton. de Art. Lamb. p. 28. So6 Concluding Difcourfe. excellent Prelate, a diftinguilhed ornament and pillar of the Church, which, as the noble Hif- torian of the Rebellion truly teiiifies, he " un- " derftood and loved ^." Wherein the prac- tice, which he defcribes himfelf to have fol- lowed, and which he recommends for the adoption of others, is inconfiftent with the found principles of the Gofpel, and with the example of its infpired teachers, is an inquiry, not unworthy the attention of our accufers : and until it Ihall be fatisfadorily anfwered, we may venture to quellion their modefty in con- demning us by reafon of our forbearance as td the myllerious doArines in debate. And if the prefumption of our opponents be great, in thus authoritatively deciding upon fubjedls, which have long divided the opinions of the greatefi; men, and in taking the preach- ing of their own fentiments upon thefe fub- jecfts for the criterion of minifterial fidelity ; they are not lefs reprehenfible in pronouncing fentence upon points, whereon the fentiments, ^vhich they efpoufe, derive little or no coun- tenance from antiquity ; or even were not at all encouraged until fince the period of the Reformation. '' The do6lrine that no man, *' being once in God's favour, can ever quite " lofe it," is affirmed by the learned Dodlor s Clarendon's Hiftory of the Rebellion, vol. i. book i. General Ee?mrh. 507 Barrow, to have " the unanimous confent of - all Chriftendom for fifteen hundred years c. 3p.ainft it' " " What Chrift meant by be- - ing born of water and of the Spirit," faith Bifliop Beveridge, - is now made a queftion : " 1 fay now; for it was never made fo, till - of late years. For many ages together none - ever doubted of it, but the whole Chnftian - world took it for granted, that our Saviour - by thefe words meant onl), that except a - man be baptized according to his inftitution. '' he cannot enter into the kingdom of God'. Perfeaion if it has been occasionally fupport- ed by fome particular feds, as by the Nova- tians of old time, and certain eathufiafts about the age of the Reformation, has never had any pretenfions to be confidered as a dodrme of the catholic Church. Whilft ailurance was fo far from being admitted and taught in the primitive times, that it was not alTerted even by that Father, " whofe fuppofed patronage - {lands our accufers in fo much Head upon « other occafions^" and whofe opinions fome of them reprefent as the model of their own Yet thefe are among the leading points, which are made the fubjed of the charge againft us: - h Barrow's Works, vol. ii. p. 5^- . i Beveridge's Works, vol. i. p. $04. k Barrow, ut fupra. 5 OS Concluding Difcourfe. a charge, the operation of which thus appears not to be confined to thofe, againll whom it is directly levelled, out comprehends a very great majority of the whole Chriftian world. 11. Whilll the charge is thus fhown to be prefumptuous, it is ilfo (as is the nature of all general charges againll: large bodies of men) accompanied with much mifrepr^efentationy and in confequence tncharitahle and unjiijl. The clergy of the Caurch of England confifls of feveral thoufands of individuals ; with whofe fentiments and flyle of preaching, otherwife than as they are to be inferred from our aflent to the authorifed declarations of the Church, it is impoflible, that they, who advance the charge, can be acquainted, but upon fome very difputable authority. Yet often on fuch authority as ihis; and often (it is not to be queftioned) on no authority at all, is the fen- tence of condemnation pronounced upon us ; and we have reafon to complain in the words of the primitive Chriftians, which an hillorian of the reformed churches has applied to a per- iecuted body in his own days, *' Our denomi- *' nation carries a condemnation with it, with- *' out any convi6lion of our guilt V ^ Condemnatl fumus quia nominamur, non quia con- vlncliDur. See Heylyn's Hift, (^uinquart. part i. chap., v. fed. 12. General Remarh, SOQ But this unjufl and uncharitable fpirit is evinced flill more clearly, where the charge is confidently propagated in fpite of pofitive tef- timony to its falfehood. Let me inftance iri one favourite form, under which it has been frequently repeated ; namely, that in our na- tional Church " mere heathenifli m.orality has " generally fuperfeded the preaching of the ** Gofpel^" Now whatever may be the iflue of the queftion, as to the terms of our juftifica- tion ; and whether we err, or not, in afcribing the importance, which we do, to holinefs of life ; is it to be broadly alTerted, that the ho- linefs, which we inforce, is a mere heatheni/h morality P Ought it to be admitted by others ? Is it, can it be, believed by the alTertors them- felves? — Let us fuppofe, for the argument's fake, that there may have been, that there may be, fome amongft us, who, in their zeal to promote the moral virtues, have not been fuf- ficiently cautious in difcriminating between Chriftian, and heathen, morality ; in dillin- guifliing between " works done before the *' grace of Chrift, and the infpiration of his ** Spirit ^'* and thofe *' good works, which ** fpring out neceflarily of a true and lively *' faith':" in excluding our works, however g Apology for Sunday Schools, by the Rev. Rowland HiU, p. 27. ^ Art. 13^ i Art. 12, 5 1 0 Coitdudhig Difcourfe. and whenever wrought, from all pretenfions to contribute a tittle towards the purchafe of our juftification ; and in afcribing our being ** accounted righteous before God only to the " merit of our Lord and Saviour Jefus Chrift'':" — Let this cafe, I fay, be fuppofed ; and let us concur in the jullice of whatever feverity of animadverfion the accufer may inflid: upon it, as a dereliction of the Gofpel of Chrill for the morality of heathens ; is the fame fentence therefore to be pronounced on thofe, who, maintaining unequivocally with the Church the dodrine of " j unification only for the *' merits of Chrift by faith, and not for our " own works or defervings," and pronouncing ,with her, that no works of ours can " put *' away our fins, and endure the feverity of " God's judgment ;" with her alfo afTert, that " good works, which are the fruits of faith, " are pleafing and acceptable to God in Chrift," and " are the right trade and pathway unto " heaven'?" From the metropolitan chair of this kingdom, amid the fludious retreats of this Univerfity, and in one of the mofl obfcure and retired corners of our land, the judicious Seeker, the excellent and amiable Home, the ve» nerable Wilfon were proclaiming the glory of ^ Article II. ^ Homily on Good Works, General Remarks. Sll the Redeemer, and labouring to lead their flocks ** belide the waters of comfort, and in the " paths of righteoufnefs, for his name's fake,'* whihi Methodifm was planted and propagated under the fandlion of the fpecious plea, that *' the people were utterly ignorant of the Gof- ** pel," and that " for the moralizing iniquity *' of the pried the land mourned""." Being dead, they Hill fpeak in their furviving works ; and plainly enough, to expofe the uncharita- blenefs and injuftice of our accufers. Many, we doubt not, of their contemporaries deferve to participate in their praife; and many, many, we truft, ftill remain; inheritors of the purity of their faith, if not of their talents for in- forcing it ; and fearlefs of the aflaults of the enemy, as long as they fliall have grace to hold faft the found apoftolical method of in- ftrudiion, pradtifed by thefe faithful Minillers of Chrift. III. The temper, with which the charge is urged, is agreeable to the preceding particular in the charge itfelf ; a temper, which appears to partake little of that charity, which is the diftinguifliing badge of a difciple of Chrift ; of that *' meeknefs in inftru6ling thofe who op- ** pofe themfelves," which is the indifpenfable duty of a fervant of the Lord. " A whole ....,'" WhltefieWs Works, vol, v. p. 155. 5 1 2 Concluding Difcourje. " body of lukewarm, prejudiced, envious, ma* *' lignant clergy ; oppofers of true vital reli* " gion ; blind leaders of the blind; heretics; *' traitors ; perjured apoftates ; hateful hypo- ** crites ; murderers of fouls ; our Saviour's *' moft bitter enemies";" — fuch are the terms, which the patrons of Methodifm have fcrupled not to employ in their defcriptions of the re- gular clergy, under the pretence of *' doing *' God fervice." *' Reproachful language," faid an heathen prince to one who had accofted him with infolence, '* is wont to irritate the " mind of him, againft whom it is uttered : *' but although thy addrefs hath been inju- *' rious, thou haft not provoked me to be un- •' feemly in my reply"." The refolution is worthy of a Chriftian. Let us adopt it ; and *' being reviled, let us revile not again." Yet there is one obfervation, which T cannot with- hold, with refpe(3: to the temper of our ac- cufers ; that the language of bitternefs, which it prompts, betrays that perfecuting fort of fpirit, which would hardly be contented with invedive, if other weapons were in its power. ■ a Whltefield's Works, vol. i. p, 389, 390. vol. v. p. 271. -yol. vi. p. 95. Pietas Oxon. Sec. See alfo Outram's Ex- tra£ls, p. 124 — 139. o i2 ^sjv£ 27rapT»>)T«, oy=j5=« xutiovtu avbgamco ^iXszi sirscvx- •ysjv TOv dyjaov av /xsvtoj aTroh^ajMsvog uSgnJixctTa sv tw Koyo) cv f*,e jTTfjo-aj »^Yi(ji,ovci sv t>) «jbto»^>j yin§i»i- Herod, lib. vii. General Remarh. 5 1 3 ** You have the word, and we have the fword," faid the Popifli Prolocutor Wefton ^ when he felt his inability to cope with the fcriptural authorities, by which his Proteftant opponents, the Fathers of the Englilh Church, fupported -their opinions. They had the fword; and they ufed it. The language of our accufers may warrant a wifli, that the fword may never fall into their hands; left a repetition of the fcenes, which defolated the Church in a fome- what later moft melancholy and eventful pe- riod of our hiftory, fliould convince us by fad experience, as the originals convinced our fore- fathers ; that bigotry and intolerance are not confined to the adherents of Popery ; and that higher degrees of charity are not always found to accompany pretentions to fuperior purity of faith. IV. it deferves to be remarked, that the charge is vague and undefined. Often indeed it is alleged by men, who have is indiftincft a notion of the Gofpel, as they have an imper- fect acquaintance with the preaching of the clergy. But taking it in the moft favourable light, as alleged by the more informed of our accufers, it is ftill of fo fludluating an import, as to defy all attempts to fatisfy it. That we do not preach the Gofpel, is the charge ad-' P Ridley's Life of Bp. Ridley, book vii. p. 488. l1 514 Concluding Dijcourfe, vanced by our various enemies : a charge, td appearance the fame with all of them, but in fubftance irreconcileably different. For let us refle6t an inftant on the perfons, by whom it is advanced ; men, like Ephraim and Manafleh combined together againft Ju- dah**, as widely at variance with each other, as either of them can be hollile to us : — men, who have no other principle of harmony, than that which united Herod and Pontius Pilate in the perfecution of Chrill : — men, who have exprefsly " accufed each other, of preaching ** damnable and elfentially erroneous doc- *' trines, horrid blafphemies, another gofpel, " and the like'," What then is it poffible that we can do, to lilence the clamour of our accufers ? Shall we efpoufe the fentiments of the Welleyan Methodift ? The charge will ftill be levelled againft us by the Calvinifi: ; and we may be rebuked in the language of Whitefield, when he told his rival in their fchifm, that " they preached two different gofpels ; and *' therefore he not only would not join with, " or give him the right hand of fellowfliip, " but was refolved to preach againft him and " his brother, wherefoever he preached at all'.'* q If. ix. 21. "■ See Enthufiafm of Methodifts, &c. part ii. Preface, p. xxi. * Coke's Life of Wefley, p. 214. General Remarhs. 515 "Shall we range ourfelves under the banners of the Calvinift? This will hardly content the followers of Weflej, who declared, that '* he *^ had an immediate call from God to publifli *' to the world, that Mr. Whitefield's dodtrine *' was highly injurious to Chrift'." Or fuppofe that we could decide in favour of fome great divifion of our accufers ; the fame difficulty would occur, as to the fubdi- viHon, which we fliould adopt. Let us deter- mine on the party of Wefley. Shall we then attach ourfelves to thofe, who flill take the lead in the regular connection; or to thofe, who have feparated from it, by reafon of a di- verfity of opinion on fome important doctrinal points, whereon they claim the fandlion of the authority of the original Founder of the fe6l"? Let us declare ourfelves of the Calviniftic party. Shall we then maintain '' the rigours " of the iyrtem," in conformity with its fun- damental principles ; and agreeably to the doArines of Calvin, and of confillent Calvinifts, and to the declarations of the Lambeth Arti- cles : or lliall we profefs ourfelves the ad- vocates of " a milder and more moderate Cal- " vinifm," and *' abfolutely difavow the doc- ** trine of abfolute decrees and abfolute repro- * Nott's Bampton Le6lures, p. 248. note. " Nightingale's Portraiture of Methodifni, p. 409, 481, L 1 2 5 id Concluding Difcourfe, " bation *," as an extravagant and frightful lyilem ? Or fuppofe again, that this difficulty was furmounted; and that our eledion was made, not only of the feci but of the fedary, not only of the party but of the man, that ihall have dominion over our faith. Inconliftent as our accufers are with themfelves, as well as at variance with each other, by what rule Ihall we be guided in diftinguifhing, between thofe opinions of the individual, which we fhall ef- poufe, as of evangelical purity ; and thofe, which we fliall rejedl, as a departure from it ? Taking, for inftance, the Apologift of moderate Calvin ifm for our guide, fhall we with him af- fert, that*' the fundamental principles, on which *' the Calviniftic fyftem refts, are incontroverti- *' ble;" or Ihall we unite with him in renounc- ing fome of thofe principles, until we have llrip- ped Calvinifm of its chara(3;erillic features, as a lyllem of faith ; and made of it a mutilated llru6lure, which its founder would have de- rided, as the edifice of childifhnefs and folly ^ Attaching ourfelves to another celebrated champion of our felf-denominated evangelical brethren, Ihall we teach our people that the falvation offered by the Gofpel is ** wholly un- " conditional," and irreverlibly determined by * Overton's True Churchmen, &c. General Uemarhs, 517 the abfolute will of God ; or fhall we repre- fent it, as depending upon men's improvement of the opportunity of grace offered^? With Whitefieid, fhall we preach univerfal, or par- tial, redemption ? the defecftibility, or the in- defedlibility, of grace ? Shall we expoftulate with our hearers for not choofing to be con- verted, or {hall we tell them that their con- verfion is not of their own free will ? With Wefley fhall we contend, that a man can " have all the mind that was in Chrilt, and " always walk as he walked ;" or fliall we deny that any man can be " abfolutely per- " fedl ?" Shall we aflert, that a man cannot have living faith, without knowing that he hath it? or that he may be juftified, that is, may have this living faith, yet not know it, till a long time after ^? Shall we affirm *' the " condition of our acceptance with God to be *' not our holinefs either of heart or life, but "faith alone, faith as contradilfinguifhed from " holinefs, as well as from good works ;" or lliall we contend for a *' faith, which is ne- " ceflarily incluiive of all good works and all *' hohnefs'';" or fhall we maintain it as a po- y See Hawker's Prop againft all Defpair, p. i8. Ml- ferlcordia, p. 43, 65. ^ See Tucker's Hiftory of the Principles of Methodifm, p. 20,32. * See Nott's Bampton Le6lures, p. 246. L I 3 518 Concluding Difcourfe. lition, which cannot be '' denied without fight- '^ ing about words, that holinefs is a condition *' of our final acceptance with God''?" Thefe inconliftencies and difligreements of our accufers, not only with each other, but with themlelves, will juftify us in regarding their opinions with jealoufy ; confident, as they all are, in fupport, each of his favourite dodrines ; and profefiing, as fome ot them have done, to have been direciled to a know- ledge of the truth, even in the minuteft cir- cumfiances, by a fpecial revelation from God. Amid fuch contending claims, great delibera- tion not only is allowable, but becomes a duty, before we embrace any fyftem of opi- nions, thus propofed to us, as articles of the Gofpel faith: left we fiiould at length difcover, that, like the m.oderate Calvinift, we are **halt- ** ing between two opinions," confiftently at- tached to neither; or left, with Whitefield, conceiving ourfelves to be favoured at fome future period with a more clear knowledge of divine truth, we fhould be compelled to re- trad: and recant : or left, having laboured in vain for years, like Welley, " to convert *' others," and teach them the truths of Chrif- tianity, we fhould after all difcover, that we b Weflcy's Farther Appeal. See Outram's Extrads, p. 104. General Remarh. 5]g had " never been converted ourfelves\** Thus Hands the cafe, with refpedt to our own fatis- faction : in the mean time, as to our accufers, before we can cherilh a well-grounded hope of fatisfjing them, they may reafonably be re- quired to difplay a greater degree of harmony, one with another, and of confiftency, each with himfelf. Till then, we may be permitted to adopt for our pattern the condud: of the Lord Treafurer Burleigh, on occafion of the complaint of the Difciplinarians, in Queen Elizabeth's time, againft the Liturgy then in ufe. " He demanded," as Fuller reports it, ,** whether they defired the taking away thereof. *' They anfvvered. No ; but only the amend- ^' ment of what was oiFenfive therein. He " required them to make a better, fuch as " they would have fettled in the Head thereof. " Whereupon, the firft claffis formed a new " one, fomewhat according to the form of " Geneva. The fecond claffis, difliking it, " altered it in fix hundred particulars. The '* third quarrelled at thefe alterations, and re- " folved on a new model. The fourth claffis ** diiTented from the former. Thus, becaufe " they could not agree amongft themfelves," continues the hillorian, " that wife llatefman c Wefley's Firfl Journal, p. 78. Coke's Life of Wef- ley, p. 133- l14 520 Concliidhig Difcourfe. ** put them off for the prefent, until they ^* fhould prefent him a pattern with a perfect '* confent'." V. I proceed to remark, that we are ac- cufed of abandoning the docirines of the lie- formation; the doSrines of the Church of Eng- land. Now that fome of the opinions of our ac- cufers were maintained by certain perfons at the earliert periods of the Reformation, and in this country, may readily be allowed. The doctrine of perfection, for inftance, was fo maintained, as we learn from our Articles, by which, as well as by the Augfburg Confeffion, it is condemned ^ The dodrine of not falhng from grace had alfo its advocates ; for fo we are informed by Billiop Latimer, who pointedly deprecates it, as a novel upliart opinion ^ Thus again, with regard to the Calvinillic tenets in general ; of which an hillorian fpeaks in lan- guage, well calculated to excite attention, from the correfpondence, which it exhibits, between thofe times and the prefent. " There were '* fome men," he fays, *' who, in the begin- *' ning of the reign of King Edward the Sixth, '* bulily ftickled in the maintenance of Calvin's «^ Fuller's Church Hirtory, book ix. p. 178. « Art. 15. and ConfeHio Auguft. Art. 11. ^ See abovcj Serm. v. General Remarhs* 521 '' do(9^rines. And thinking themf elves to he " MORE EVANGELICAL tliau the vejl of their *' brethren, they either took unto them/elves, or *' had given by others, the ??«?7ze o/ Gospellers. *' Of this they were informed by the reve- *' rend prelate and right godly martyr Bifliop " Hooper, in the preface to his Expofition of *' the Ten Commandments : Our Gofpellei^s, " faith he, be better learned than the Holy " Ghoit ; for they wickedly attribute the caufe " of punilhments and adverlity to God's provi- '* dence, which is the caufe of no ill, as he '' himfelf can do no ill ; and over every mif- " chief that is done, they fay, it is God's will. ** In which," adds Heylyn, " we have the men *' and their dodrine ; the name of Gofpellers, ** and the reafon why that name was afcribed " unto them^." Thus far, then, it may be conceded, that the doc^lrines for which our accufers contend, the doctrines of Calvin efpecially, were not without their advocates, in the age of the Re- formation, either at home or abroad. But is it to be underftood, that thefe dodlrines formed part of that fyftem of faith, which was gene- rally adopted by thofe, who feparated from the Church of Rome ? Unquetlionably they did not. Earneftly as they were maintained % Hill. Quinquart. part iii. chap. xvi. p. 589. S22 Concluding Dlfcourfe, hy their great patron, whofe name they bear, and by thofe divines, with whom he was more clofely connefted, and who (as judicious "Hooker fays) *' deemed his books almofi: the " very canon, by which both docftrine and dif- " ciphne were to be judged'';" let it not be fup- pofed, that the etlablifliment of thefe doctrines in a general view formed any part of the Re- formation from the corruptions of Popery : let it not be fuppofed, that thefe dodrines did in fa6l conftitute a part of the creed of thole, whether individuals or churches, whom we are bound to regard with the moll grateful and fond attachment. — Abroad ; — whatever may have been the opinions of Calvin, and his ad- herents, and thofe churches, in France, in Switzerland, and in the Netherlands, which were *' call according to the mold which he " made' 5" let it never be believed, that thofe were elleemed the dodlrines of the Reforma- tion, which Melan6lhon condemned as *' the " dotage of Stoicifm and the ravings of Mani- *' ch^an madnefs ;" which the Confeflions of Augfburg and of Saxony unequivocally difcou- rage ; and which the Lutherans deprecate, un- der the name of *' the Predellinarian pelli- " lence ;" from which they flirink with even ^ Pref. to Ecclef. Polity, p. 139. Oxford edit. > Hooker, General Remarks. 52 i greater abhorrence, than from Popery itfelf ; and which thej accule of dethroning God, and making the devil the obje6l of worfhip in his Head ''. — At home ; — whatever opinions may have been efpoufed by our northern neighbours, who " in creeling the fabric of *' their own reformation, took the felf-fame '^ pattern'" as thofe, who had moulded them- felves after Calvin's example; let it not be be- lieved, that thefe doctrines were ever intended to be fet forth for the do6lrines of the Englilh Church ; reformed as it was by men, who, fteadfaiily adhering to the fentiments of the primitive fathers, in the contlrudlion of the formularies compofed for regulating the faith of the country, chofe for their coadjutor, not Cal- vin, but Melancfthon ; and for the model of their articles of faith, the language of the Auguftan Confeffion : and who have moft plainly, and un- queftionably, and repeatedly alTerted the doc- trines of God's willing all men to be faved ; of univerfal redemption purchafed by the facrifice of Chrifi:; of the cooperating and affitting grace of the Holy Spirit ; and of the polTibility of falling from God, fo as to be utterly and finally deftroyed : doctrines, by the ellablifliment of which, as the learned Bifliop Bull has un- ^ See The Rehearfal, vol. iv. p. 27,48. Heylyn's Quinq. Hift. p. 521. 1 Hooker, 524 Concluding Difcourje, anfwerably remarked, " the whole frame and *' fabric of Calvinifm is Ihattered and over- ''thrown"'." We know indeed that there was a period, not long fubfequent to the Reformation of our Church, and immediately fucceeding the Ma- rian perfecution, when " Calvinifm overfpread " a great part of it, as Arianifm did the eaftern " churches in the older times" ;" and an at- tempt was made, and repeated in the follow- ing reign, to eftabhlh the predeftinarian te- nets, as part of the faith of the country, by, what are termed, the Lambeth Articles: an at- tempt, we may obferve in palling, which had evidently been fuperfluous, had the creed al- ready ellablilhed fpoken the fentiments of the projedors. But as well might it be contended from the fubfequent growth of Arianifm, that "1 A Calvin! turn dlfcipllna, turn do(^nna, (qua parte Ipfe a Mclanchthone aliifque inftaurati purioris Chrifti- anifmi magiftris antiquioribus abierit) prorfus alienos fu- ifle prlmos Reformationis noftros Authores, fatis conftat. Nhtiirum pofitis his duabus hypothefibus, i. Chriftum etiani eos, qui pereunt, vere redeinifTe ; 2. Pofle vere in Chriftum credentes, et per Chriftum juftificatos, a Fide et Juftificatione, lua culpa penitus deficere atque aeternum perire ; (quae manit'efta funt atque indubitata Ecclefiae noftrae dogmata) corruit tota Calvinifmi, qui dicitur, mo- les et machina : quod cuivis rem vel mediocriter atten- denti mox liquebit. ylpolog. pro Harm. p. 57. " Heylyn's preface. General Remm^hs. 525 the fame had been the dodtrine of the primi- tive church ; as it might be contended that Calvinifm was " the native and original doc- ** trine of the Church of England," becaufe peculiar circumftanccs afterwards conduced to its encouragement. The attempt, when made, to eftablifh abfolute predeftination as an article of the national creed, firfi: in the reign of Eliza- beth, and then of James the Firft, was rendered abortive (under Providence) bv the wifdom of our rulers, whofe fandion was neceflary to its fuccefs. And God be praifed that it was fo ! Still, had it fucceeded to the full extent of its projectors' wifhes, the queftion, with which we are now concerned, would have remained nnafFe6led by that refult. Our doBinnes ivould flill he the primitive doBrincs of the reformed E,ngUf}i Church. The Canons of the Synod of Dort affed: not the opinions of Melandhon, and the declarations of the Augfburg Confef- lion; nor identify the principles of Calvin with thofe of the Reformation abroad : no more would the eftablifliment of the Lambeth Ar- ticles have made thofe to be the primitive doc- trines of our Englifh Reformation, which are irreconcileable with our Church's authorifed formularies and declarations of faith, as pro- mulgated by Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley. YL Connedled with the charge, that we do not preach the doctrines of the Reforma- 62^ Concluding Difcoiirfe. tion, is another form, under which the accufa- tion is conveyed ; namely, that the do6lrines, which we do preach, are thofe of Pelagianijin and Popei^y. On the intemperance of our ac- cufers I have already had occafion to remark : at prefent I w^ll add no more on that head, than the pious and benevolent caution of Bi- lliop Sanderfon in a feafon of much and bitter controverfy ; " that, if w^e cannot grow to be *' of the fame belief in every thing, we might *' at leall be brought to fliow more charity " either to other, than to damn one another " for every difference ; and more ingenuity, *' than to feek to render the one the other " more odious to the world than we ought^ *' by reprefenting each other's opinions worfe " than they are°." It has however been always the unfortunate portion of thofe, who have maintained the dodrines, which we efpoufe, on the fubjedl of predefiination, to be aHailed with the moll un- merited charges, and to be laid under the im- putation of opinions which their fouls abhor- red. Of the maintainers of thofe doArines, during the progrefs of the Reformation, it was affirmed, '* whether with greater ignorance or *' malice," fays Heylyn, '' it is hard to fay, ** that there was a fynod called at Dort to o Bp. Sanderfon's Works, Pref, fe6t, xix. General Remarh. 52? ** fupprefs the Arminians ; and that the faid " Arminians held among other herefies, firft, *' that God was the author of lin ; and, fe- •' condlj, that he created the far greater part of " mankind, only of purpofe for to damn them, " with feveral others of that kind : which *' every man of reafon knows, not only to be •' the confequence and refult of Calvin's doc- ** trine ; but to be politively maintained and *' taught by fome of his followers ^" By this and fimilar artifices did fome of the early pa- trons of Calvinifm endeavour to render their adverfaries hateful : whilft the cry of Pelagi- anifm and Popery has been tranfmitted from Calvinift to Calvinift, of whatever age, country, or degree : a cry (I am bold to fay) as utterly unfounded, as that, which would condemn us for making God the author of lin. For what, let it be demanded, is Pelagianifm ? Pelagius, fays a celebrated ecclefiaftical hifto- rian, " looked upon the doctrines, which were " commonly received concerning the original " corruption of human nature, and the necef- ** lity of divine grace to enlighten the under- ** {landing and to purify the heart, as prejudi- " cial to the progrefs of holinefs and virtue, " and tending to lull mankind into a prefump- *' tuous and fatal fecurity. He maintained, P Hid. Quinquart. parti, chap. v. p. 533. ^^'8 Concluding Difcoiirfe. " that thefe dodrines were as falfe as they ^^ were pernicious ; that the llns of our firft pa- *' rents were imputed to them alone, and not " to their pofterity ; that we derive no corrup- *' tion from their fall, but are born as pure and *^ unfpotted, as Adam came out of the forming *' hand of his Creator ; that mankind therefore *' are capable of repentance and amendment, " and of arriving to the higheit degrees of " piety and virtue by the ufe of their natural ** faculties and powers ; that indeed external *' grace is neceflary to excite their endeavours, *• but that they have no need of the internal *' fuccours of the divine Spirit "•." How thefe opinions can be afcribed to men, who not only exprefsly condemn the vanity of the Pe- lagians in denying " the fault and corruption " of human nature ;" but who alfo believe, that " the condition of man after the fall of " Adam is fuch, that he cannot turn and pre- *' pare himfelf, by his own natural ftrength *' and good works, to faith and calling upon " God ; and that therefore we have no power ** to do good works pleating and acceptable to *' God, without the grace of God by Chrift * preventing us, that we may have a good " will, and working with us when we have *' that good will :" — (for undoubtedly I am at ^ Moiheim, vol. ii. p. 87. General Remarks. 52g liberty to affume, that the dodrines, to which we folemnlj aflent, we do honeftly believe:) — how the opinions of Pelagianifm, I fay, can be fairly afcribed to men, who notorioufly profefs the very oppofite belief, it is for our accufers, if pofTible, fatisfadorily to explain : and until they can fucceed in the attempt, we mull be allowed to think and to fay, that no credit is refleded on the caufe by the employment of fuch meafures in fupport of it; nor on its ad- vocates, who can have recourfe to fuch mea-^ fures for its fupport. Then again, as to the charge of Popery ; it is a fword which cuts either way. The Papifts have been divided on thefe points, not lefs than the Proteftants. The difputes of the Ar- minians and Calvinills in the reformed churches have been the counterpart of thofe of the Francifcans and Dominicans in the church of llome. Nay, according to an obfervation in the ufeful and elaborate work of one of the moll eminent of my predeceflbrs, '* Though," as Bifliop Bull very juftly fays, " the doftrine " of predelHnation * was never thought of for '* the four firlt ages,' nor even after that time " by the Greek church ; yet it appears to have " been part of the creed of the leading men in *' the Romifli communion from the time of its ** great advocate Auguftine to that of the Re- M m 530 Concluding Difcourfe. *' formation'." So that, if we would reply to a railing accufation in correfpondent language, we might retort the charge of Poperj on our opponents. But palTing from this view of the fubjed, and admitting, (if it be defired,) that the Anti- Calviniftic tenets are the authorifed creed of the Papilis, as ellablrflied by the Council of Trent ; Hill, without any attachment to the church of Rome, and on the found principles of Protertantifm, it may be contended, that a do6lrine is not therefore to be rejcded, merely becaufe it is an article of the creed of the Ro- miih church. If the contrary principle be once admitted, what Ihall we think of the dodrines of the Trinity; and of the incarna- tion, and the twofold nature, of the Son of God ; doclrines, which we believe, unquef- tionably in common with the church of Rome? — What fhall we think of the whole of the Apoftle's Creed ? What of the Lord's Prayer itfelf? With refped to both of which, we know the time, when they were condemned and thrown afide by our Calviniiiic brethren, as rags and remnants of Popery ? *' I believe," faid an excellent Bifliop of our Church, who could fpeak experimentally of the mifchievous efFedls of this praAice in the difaftrous times, ' Eveleigh's Bampton Leftures, p. 167. note. Xjeneral Remarks. 531 to which I am alluding ; '* I believe all thofe " men will be found much miftaken, who " either meafure the Proteftant religion by an " oppofition to Popery, or account all Popery, " that is taught or pradlifed in the church of " Rome. Our godly forefathers, to whom, " under God, we owe the purity of our reli- " gion, and fome of whom laid down their " lives for the defence of the fame, were fure -' of another mind ; if we may, from what *' they did, judge what they thought. They " had no purpofe, nor had they any warrant, " to fet up a new religion, but to reform the " old ; by purging it from thofe innovations, *' which in trad: of time, fome fooner, fome " later, had mingled with it, and corrupted it, ** both in the dodrine and worfliip. Accord- " ing to this purpofe they proceeded, without *• conftraint or precipitancy, freely and ad- ** vifedly as in peaceable times, and brought *' their intentions to a happy end ; as by the " refult thereof, contained in the Articles and ** Liturgy of our Church, arid the prefaces *' thereunto, doth fully appear. From hence *' chiefly, as I conceive, we are to take our ** beft fcantling, whereby to judge what is, *' and what is not, to be efteemed Popery. " All thofe doctrines then, held by the mo- " dern church of Rome, which are either con- " trary to the written word of God, or but M m 2 532 Concluding Difcoiirfe. " fuperadded thereunto, as necelTary points of *' faith, to be of all Chriftians believed un- ** der pain of damnation ; and all thofe fu- " perltitions, ufed in the vvorfhip of God, " which either are unlawful, as being con- " trary to the word ; or being not contrary, *' and therefore arbitrary and indifferent, are ** made elTentials, and impofed as neceflary " parts of worfliip : thefe are, as I take it, *' the things, whereunto the name of Popery ** doth properly and peculiarly belong'." Upon the principles, thus clearly and fatisfactorily laid down, we may be contented to reft our defence, as to the prefent point ; little foli- citous, whether our opinions be, or be not, the fame with thofe of the Papift, provided they be agreeable to the Scriptures of truth. In the mean time, prefuming upon the corrednefs of the defcription of Popery, thus delineated by Bifhop Sanderfon, we may fuggeft it to the conftderation of our Calviniftic brethren, whether the importance, which they attach to their peculiar tenets, as neceflary points of the true evangelical faith, does not breathe fomewhat of a Popifh fpirit : and farther we may requeft them to confider, whether the temper, with which Calvin and his Proteftant followers, both at home and abroad, in former * Bp. Sanderfon's Works, Pref. fe6l. 15. General Remarks. 533 arid in the prefent times, have maintained their tenets, is not congenial to the temper of their brethren in the church of Rome; who have been diiiinguifhed, as for their attachment to the predettinarian doctrines, fo alfo for their zealous patronage, and adive promotion, of the Inquifition \ VII. After all ; meeting our accufers upon the ground of their own charadierittic and avowed principles, as advocates of abfolute predeftination and irrefillible grace; we may demand of them, What conduct they would wifh us to adopt ? The end of every man, you affirm, is prcdellinated by a divine decree, which has irreverlibly determined, not the end only, but the means. It is determined then, what individuals among our hearers lliall be faved ; and what part fhall be performed by us in order to their falvation. In the firft place, indeed, our own converfion is neceflary; for, according to your apprehenfions, we are ourfelves in an unconverted ftate. Then, fe- condly, if converted ourfelves by the refiftlefs grace of God, which we are utterly unable either to forward or to retard, ftill we can do nothing towards the converfion of others, but that which is abfolutely decreed. Upon your principles, every argument, exhortation, and * See Heylyn's Quinq. Ilift. part i. chap. vi. p. ^^6^ M m 3 534 Concluding Difcourfe, 1-emonftrance, which you can emplo}'', for the conviction either of us, or of your hearers, is nugatory and foohfli. It is altogether of the will of God, the linner may plead, whether I Ihall be faved or not ; you may call upon me to believe and repent ; but I cannot have either faith or repentance, unlefs it be the will of God for me to have them ; and if that be his will, I Ihall have them, whether I will or not. And to the fame efFe6t may we argue, and the mod acute Calvinift may be chal- lenged to reply to the argument. If it be the will of God, that my mind fliould be en- lightened, and T become a preacher of the Gof- pel, I fhall be fo ; if not, I fhall not. Here then the matter may be left, with the obfervation of a great Statefman in the days of Queen Elizabeth, when the attempt was firft made to eftablifh amongft us the doctrines of Calvin, embodied in the Lambeth Articles. Having feverely condemned the prefumption of thofe divines, who ventured on '' dangerous defini- " tions," and " dared to make decrees, with- *' out legal authority, concerning the moft *' weighty quellions, on which, for many *' ages, the moft learned men had never been " able to agree ; it was not difficult," he faid, *' to difcover, what was the aim of thofe, who *' had been moft earneft in this affair. For " thus they think and teach ; that every General Re?nariks. 535 "human aAion, whether it be good or evil, is ** bound by the law of an unchangeable de- •* cree: nay, that this neceffity is impofed on *' the very wills of men, fo that men cannot " will, otherwife than they do. If which ** things be true," he continued, " mod auguil '* Sovereign, in vain do I and the other faith- " ful fervants of your Majefty, long and cau- ** tioufl}^ confult on what is needful to be " done for your and the kingdom's benefit: *' iince upon thofe things, which neceffarily " come to pafs, all confultation is manifeftly " abfurd "." " At magnus ille vir (qua erat pnidentia) facile Intelll- gens, periculofas efle defiiiitiones in controverfiis adeo de- certatis, vehenienter fattum hoc onine improbavit; dixit- que efFefturum fe ut ejus autores confilii fui poeniteret. Nee fefellit promiffi fidem. Reginam quippe convenit, ac gravi oratione demonftrat, in his quae ad ftatum reli- gionis pertinent, per Anglias leges neminem pofl'e nifi ex au6loritate Reginae, et quidem accedente parliamenti con- fenfu, quicquam decernere. Neque id fruftra inditutum. Magnum enim efle in animos humanos regnum religionisj et facillime eo obtentu in partes iri et factiones. At nunc .paucos Theologos aufos decreta facere de gravifliinis qujeftionibus, fuper quibus muhis jam a feculis inter eruditiffima ingenia convenire nunquam potuerit. Neque obfcurum, quo tenderent, qui hoc inipetraflent : nam eos ita exiftimare atque docere, Quicquid gereretur rermn hw manarum, honum id malum've eJJ'et, id omne conjlringi lege ■immutahilis decreti; ipjis quoque hominum volinitatihus hanc impojitam necejjitatem, ut aliter quam vellent, homines velle non poffeiit. Quae fi vera (inquit) funt, Domina Au- M m 4 53(5 Concluding Difcourfe, I have thus brought to a conclufion the iri- quirjj which was propofed at the commence- ment of thefe Lectures. The motive, with which they were undertaken, was a lincere defire, with the bleffing of Almighty God, to maintain againlt gainfayers the found orthodox doftrines of that Gofpel, which we are ac- cufed of corrupting or forfaking ; and at the fame time to contribute my aid, however feeble, that (as Epifcopius pleaded for himfelf and his brethren at Dort) " the Church might " not be traduced, by reafon of the private " conceits of fome of her Minifters"." Whe- ther my objeA will in any degree have been attained ; whether it will have appeared, that the great body of the national clergy are af- failed with unmerited cenfure ; whether any individual, either among our enemies or among our friends, will have been recalled or pre- ferved from error, or confirmed or reeftablifhed in the truth ; at lead I trull, that nothing, in the profecution of the inquiry, will have ef- caped me, unworthy of the afiembly, which I addrefs; or of the ftation, which I occupy; or guftifliina, fruftra ego aliique fideles Majeftatis tuaj nii- niiiri, quid in re quaque opus fit f'afto, quid ex ufu futu- rum fit et Rcgni et luo, fufpenfa diu confilia verfamus, cum de his qua; eveniunt neceffario, ftulta fit plane omnis confultatio. Artie. Lumht'tli. HijL p. 6. ^ Hales's Letters. Geiieral Remarks. 637 of the caufe, which I efpoufe: and that the attempt itfelf will not be deemed deferving of reprehenfion, when it is confidered, according to the beautiful language of a late learned Divine, that *' it was deligned, flight and im- *' perfed: as it is, for the fervice of Truth, by " one who would be glad to attend and grace " her triumphs; as her foldier, if he has had " the honour to ferve fuccefsfully under her " banners ; or as a captive, tied to her chariot ** wheels, if he has, though undelignedly, com- *' mitted any offence againft her''." In the mean time, hov^^ever this may be, there are two important practical remarks, fuggefted by the foregoing inquiry, which de- ferve to be imprelled upon our minds, as con- taining matter, not only of general moment to us in our profeffional characters, but alfo, in the exifting temper of men's minds, of great fpecial obligation. And, firft, confldering the adlivity of our enemies, and the propenlity, which they dili- gently folier, to difparage the clerical cha- radler, we fliould be ftimulated more than ever, to " take heed to ourfelves" by a diligent difcharge of the duties of our profeffion, and by a ftridl attention to our perfonal condudl. Of our parifliioners, and of mankind in ge- y Jortln's Remarks on Ecclefiaflical Hiftory. Preface, 538 Concluding Difcourje. neral, the great bulk are not capable of decid- ing on controverted topics, but they are all able to judge of external conduct. By careful attention to their interefts, both temporal and fpiritual, we may attach them to our perfons ; and thus, by natural confequence, to our mi- niftry : and it will be no difficult conclufion for them to draw, that inafmuch as we labour to " do the will of God, we know of the doc- " trine, whether it is of God." Secondly, The fame confideration Ihould operate on us as an additional caution, to " take heed to the do6lrine;" to preach the Gofpel of Chrift in its original purity and fim- plicity. Truth lies between the feveral ex- tremes of Antinomian licentioiifnefs, and mere morality ; of irrefillible grace, and unafTilted free-will. This is the path, in which we fhould endeavour to walk; ever remembering, that the right method of confuting erroneous opi- nions is not by maintaining the oppolite errors, but by fetting forth, and contending for, the true evangelical faith. Conduct;, fuch as this, is bed adapted, under the favour of a bountiful Providence, to eftablifli our friends, and to de- feat our enemies. The}^ who accufe us with an honeft confcience and a meek and Chriltian fpirit, may thereby be induced to withdraw their oppofition, at Icall to be temperate in urging it ; to forbear from being active adver- General Remarks. ^530 laries, if they cannot be prevailed on to be- come cordial friends. Whilft, as to others, provided we afford them no juft occafion of offence, the refponfibilitj of the divifions and heart-burnings, which they promote, will fall upon their own heads. *' Wo unto him," faith our Lord, " by whom the offence cometh !'* God forbid, my brethren, that it fhould come by us 1 Within thefe hallowed walls, on the very Ipot, where we are now aifembled, the Fathers of our Reformed Church refifled the power and malice of their perfecutors, and bore refolute teftimony to *' the truth, as it is " in Jefus." Within the precindls of our Univerlity, they fealed that teftimony by their blood. Men indeed they were, not exempt from the weaknefs and imperfections of their nature : but they were men, fecond to none, whom Almighty God ever fent in his mercy to blefs a favoured kmd, either in natural abi- lity ; or in acquired learning ; or in the Chrif- tian graces of humility and meeknefs ; or in the patience, wherewith they inveftigated the truth ; or in the fortitude, with which they defended it, through difgrace and tribulation"; during temptation and perfecution ; amid im- prifonment, in the flames, and unto death. May God Almighty give us grace to ferve him faithfully, as they did ; to tread fleadfaltly in their footlleps ; and to " bear up the pillars" 540 Concluding Dijcourje, of that Church, of which they laid the foun* dation. And never, never may we fupply juil occafion for the charge, that we have forfaken their example ; nor incur the heavy " wo" denounced by the Spirit of truth, on thofe who " preach not the Gofpel" of Chrift ! Now unto him, " God manifeft in the flefli;" unto him, who is " over all, God blefled for '' evermore ;" unto him, in the unity of the Father and the Holy Spirit, three perfons and one God, be all blefling and honour and glory and power, henceforth and for ever. Amen. THE END. ERRATUM. P. 376. J. 9. for controvertible read convertible. r- ^^fc 'MUminS/iULuM