f 7 IC* &?*'*■■ ■i l - £ W3-1 LUMNI LIBRARY, *; THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, | PRINCETON, N. J. Case, ^>,o^ZZ^ £ . £ ^ ,£e<^^se< r* t *\ 9 t, ( "i ) To tfirprincipal InhabhsMs^of the Pari/h of Made hy in the Comity of Salop. Gentlemen, ££&£ YO U are no lefs intitled to my private labours, than the inferior clafs of my parifhioners. As you do not chufe to partake with them of my evening inftru&ions, I take the liberty to prefent you with fome of my morning meditations. May thefe well-meant endeavours of my pen, be more acceptable to you than thofe of my tongue ! And may you carefully read in your clofets, what you have perhaps inattentively heard in the church ! I r> appeal to the Searcher of hearts, that I had rather impart truth than receive tithes : You kindly beftow the latter upon me ; grant me, I pray, the fatisfa&ion of feeing you favourably -receive the former, from, Gentlemen, Your affe&ionate Minifter and obedient Servant, Madeky, 1772. J. FLETCHER. r ( i» ) Q fr.». ■■■■■■■ ■ -J--JL-M r ^ CONTENTS. y& Introdudlion. ' FIRST PART. TH E Doclrine ofmaiis corrupt and loft eft ate is Jiatcdat large , in the wards of the Prophets y Apofiles, and Jefus Chrifl ; and recapitulated in thofi of the Articles , Homilies, and Liturgy of the Church of England, SECOND PART. Man is confidered as an inhabitant of the natural world, and his fall is proved by arguments deduced from the mifery, in which he is now undeniably invol- wed ; compared with the happinefs, of which we can- not help conceiving him pojfejjcd, when he came out of the hands of his gracious Creator* A view of this m if cry in the folio* ving particulars, — -i. "The dlforders of the globe we inhabit % and the dreadful fcourges with which it is v if ted. — n. The deplorable andjhocking circumfiances of our birth*— III. The painful and dangerous travail of women.— IV. The untimely diffolution of fill-born, or new-born child fen. — v. Our natural unclean line/s, bclplefjhcfs, ignorance, and nakednefs*—\i. The grofs darknefs in ivhicb CONTENTS. v which we naturally are, both with refpcH to God and a future fate, — V 1 1 . The general rebellion of the brute creation againfl us. — VI u. The. various poifons that lurk in the animal , vegetable , and mineral world, re a* dy to defray w,«-ix, The heavy curfe of toil and fvceal to which we are liable ; infiances of which are given in the hard and dangerous labours of the author s pa- rijhioners. — x. The other innumerable calamities of life 9 —Arid XI. The pavgs of death. THIRD PART. Man is confidered as a citizen of the moral worlds a free agent, accountable to his Creator for his tempers and conducl ; and his fall is farther demonf rated by ar- guments dravjn from — xn. His co?nm : JJion offln.— XI If. His omifjion of duty. — xiv. The triumphs of fenfual appetites over his intellectual faadties.—xvx The corruption of the powers that con/litute a good head ; the underfanding, imagination, ?nemory, and rcajbn, — x v I • The depravity of the powers which form a good heart : the will, confeience, and affeclions.-— xvil. His manifeft alienation from God. — xviii. His amazing d if regard even of his near eft relative ';."— XIX. His unaccountable unconcern about himfclf. — xx. His detejlable tempers. — #xi. The general out-break- ing of human cor nation in all individuals. — xxn. The univerfal overflowing of it in all nations : Five objections anjivered.—xx 1 1 1 . Some Jlriking proofs of this depravity in the general propenfity of manki?id to vain,- irrational, or cruel diverfions ; and — xxiv*. In the univerfality of the mofi ridiculous, uvpior^s, in* hu:i:: ▼I. CONTENTS. human , and diabolical fins, — xxv. The aggravating circumftances attending the difplay of this corruption.— xxvr. The many ineffectual endeavours toflem its tor" rent. — xxvu. The ob ft 'mate rejijlancc it makes to di- vine grace in the unconverted.— xxv 1 1 1. The amazing Jlruggles of good men with it. — xxix. The tefamony cf the Heathens and Dei lis concerning it; and after all «— xxx. The prepofierous conceit which the unconvert- ed have of their oivn goodnefs* FOURTH PART. Man is confidcredas an inhabitant of the Chriftian world, and his fallen, fate is further proved byfx fcriptural arguments ^ introduced hy a Jhort demonfira- lion of the authenticity of the fcript tires, and by a little attack upon the amazing credulity of Dcifs. The beads of thefe arguments are, — xxxi. Theimpoffibility that fallen, corrupt Adam, Jhould have had an upright innocent pofterity ; with anfwers tofome capital objecli- ens. — xxxn. The fpirituality andfeverityofGod 9 s law, which the unrenewed man continually breaks ; and —xxxi 1 1. Ourfrong propenfty to unbelief, the mofi deflruflive of all fns according to the gofpeL— xxxi v. The abfurdity of the Chriftian religion with refpeH to infants, and fir iH moraJifts ; xxxv . The harjhnefs and cruelty of Chr if? s fundamental doctrines ; and xxxv i . The extravagance of the grand article of the Chriftian faith ; if mankind are not in a corrupt and loft efate. s FIFTH CONTENTS. vii FIFTH PART. 7 he do Brine of man s fall being cflablifhed ly fuch a variety of arguments ; firfl, a few natural inferences are added : fecendly, various fatal confequences at- tending the ignorance of our lofi eftate : thirdly, the unfpealvable advantages arifingfrom the right know- ledge of it. The whole is concluded with an. Address to the ferious Reader, who enquires what he mujl do to be faved, — And with an Appendix, concerning the evangelical harmony, that fulfills between living faith > and loving obedience. INTRODUCTION. ( viii ) «$> 4? 4? •$», 4? ' $» 4? 4? 4? 4? *$» -fr «$» 4? INTRODUCTION. IN religious matters we eafily run into ex- tremes. Nothing is more common than to fee people embracing one error, under the plau- fible pretence of avoiding another. Many, through fear of infidelity, during the night of ignorance and ftorm of paffion, run againft the wild rocks of fuperftition and enthu- fiafm ; and frequently do it with fuch force that they make Jhlpwreck of the faith ^ and have little of godlinefs left, except a few broken pieces of its form. Numbers, to fhun that fatal error, fleer quite a contrary courfe : Suppofing themfelves guided by the compafs of reafon, when they only fol- low that of prejudice, with equal violence they dafti their fpeculative brains againft the oppofite rocks of deifm and prophanenefs ; and fondly congratulate themfelves on efcaping thefhelves of fanaticifm, whilft the leaky bark of their hopes is ready to fink, and that of their morals is perhaps funk already. Thus, both equally over- INTRODUCTION. i:: overlook fober, rational, heart-felt piety, that lies between thofe wide and dangerous extremes. To point out the happy medium which they have miffed, and call them back to the narrow path, where Reafon and Revelation walk hand in hand, is the defign of thefe fheets. May the Father of lights fo fhine. upon the Reader's mind, that he may clearly difcover Truth, and not- withftanding the feverity of her afpect, prefer her to the moft foo thing error ! If he is one of thofe, who affeft to be the warm votaries of Reafon, he is intreated to be a clofe- thinker, as v/ell as a free-thinker ; and with care- ful attention to confider Reafon's dictates, be- fore he concludes, that they agree with his fa- vourite fentiments. He has, no doubt, too much candour, not to grant fo equitable a requeft ; too much juftice, to fet afide Matter of faff ; and too much good fenfe, to difregard an Appeal to common fenfe. Should he incline to the oppofite extreme, and cry down our rational powers ; he is defired to remember, Right Reafon, which is that I ap- peal to, is a ray of the light that enlightens every man who comes into the world, and a beam of the eternal Logos, the glorious Sun of 'right eoufnefs. God, far from blaming a proper ufe of the no- ble faculty, by which we are chiefly diftinguifh- ed from brutes, gracioufly invites us to the ex- ercife x INTRODUCTION. ercife of it ; Come now, fays he, and let us reafon together. Jefus commends the unjuft Jleward, for reafoning better upon his wrong, than the chil- dren of light, upon their right principles. Samuel defires the Ifraelites to Jland fill, that he may reason with them before the Lord. St. Peter charges believers to give an anfiver to every one> that afketh them a Reason of their hope. And St. Paul, who reafoned fo conclufively himfelf, in- timates, that wicked men are unreasonable ; and declares, that a total dedication of ourfelves to God is our reasonable fervice : And, while he challenges the vain difputcrs of this world, who would .nake jells pafs for proofs, invectives for arguments, and fcphiftry for reafon; he char- ges Titus to ufe, not merely found fpeech, but, (as the original alfo means) Sound Reason, that he who is of the contrary part may be ajhamed* Let us then, following his advice and exam- ple, pay a due regard both to Reafon and Reve- lation : So {hall \#e, according to his candid direction, break the-fliackles of prejudice, prove mil things; and, by divine grace, hold fafi that which is good. AN ( M ) A N APPEAL T O MATTER of FACT, &c. FIRST PART. )&3fe5£^ N every religion there is a principal *$ j ^ trutn or error, which, like the firft W __„r^ link of a chain, necefiarily draws ?R3l 5/* a f ter j t a n ^e partS5 w i tn w hich it is eflV tially connected. This leading princi- ple, in Christianity diftinguifhed from Deifm, is the Doftrine of our corrupt and loft eftate : for if man is not at variance with* his Creator, what need of a Mediate between God and him ? If he is not a depraved^ undone creature, what ne- ceflity of fo wonderful a Rejlorer and Saviour as the Son of God ? If he is not tnjldved to fin, why is he redeemed by Jefus Chrift ? If he is .not polluted^ why rnuft he be wajhed in the bioodoj that immaculate Lamb f If his foul is not dif- crdtred, what occafion is there for fuch a divine Pfyjiaart 12 Aii A P P E A L, &V. Phyfcian P If he is not belpkfs and miferable, why is he perpetually invited to fecure the ^/TfT?- ance and confotatiom of the Holy Spirit ? And, in a word, if he is not born in fin, why is a ?iezu birth foabfclutely neceffary, that Chrift declares with the moft folemn afTeverations, without it na man can fee the kingdom of God ? This doctrine then being of fuch importance, that genuine Chriftianity ftands or falls with it ; it may be proper to ftate it at large : and as this cannot be done in ftronger and plainer words, than thofe of the facred writers, and our pious reformers ; I beg leave to collect them, and pre- fent the reader with a picture of our natural eftate, drawn at full length by thofe ancient and mafterly hands, I. Mofes, who informs us, that God created man in his own image y and after his likenefs, foon cafts a fhade upon his original dignity, by giving us a fad account of his fall. He reprefents him after his difobedience, as a criminal under kn~ tence of death; a wretch rilled with guilt, fhame, dread and horror ; and a vagabond, turned out of a loft paradif* into a curfed wildernefs, where all bears the ftamp of defolation for his fake. Gen. iii. 17. In confequence of this apoftacy he died, and all die in him : for by one man fin entered into the worlds and death by fin ; andfo death pajpd upon all m$n y for that all have finned in him, who FIRSTPART. 13 who was all mankind feminally and federally collected in one individual. 1 Cor. xv. 12. Rom. v. 12. The facred hiftorian, having informed us how the firft man was corrupted, obferves, that he begat^afon in his vwn image ^ finful and mortal like himfelf; that his firft-born was a murder- er ; that Abel himfelf offered facrifices to avert divine wrath, and that the violent temper of Cain foon broke out in all the human fpecies. 'The earthy fays he, vkn fdled with violence — all ficfh had corrupted its way — and God- / aw the wick- ednefs of man was great in the earthy fo great that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil) continually. Only evil) without any mixture of good : And continually, without any intermifiion of the evil. Gen. vi. 5. When the deluge was over, the Lord himfelf gave the fame account of his obftinately rebel- lious creature. The imagination of man's heart y faid he to Noah, is evil from his youth) Gen. viii. 21. — Job's friends paint us with the fame co- lours : One of them obferves, that Man is bom like the wild ojfes colt : And another, that he is abominable and filthy 9 and drinks iniquity like water. Job xi. 12, and xv, 16. David doth not alter the hideous portrait : The Lord) fays he, looked down from heaven upon the children of men ; tofeg if there were any that did under/land and feck God. And the refult of the B di- 14 An A P P E A L, tic, divine infpe&ion is : They are all gone afide, they are all together become filthy : There is none that doth goody no net one. Pfa. xiv. 2. Solomon gives a hnifhing ftroke to his father's draught, by in- formilig us, that Foolifhncfs is bound in the heart of a child, and not of a child only, for he adds, The heart of the Jons of men is full of evil, and while they live madnefs is in their heart. Prov. xxii. 15. Eccl. ix. 3. Ifaiah corroborates the aflfertions of the royal Prophets, in the following mournful confeffions : All WC} Ukcfheep have gone afiray — We are all as an unclean thing, and all our right eoufneffes are as Jilthyrags. Ifa. liii, 6. and lxiv. 6. Jeremiah confirms the deplorable truth,, where he fays : The fin ofjudah is ivritten with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond ; it is graven upon the tables of their hearts. — O Jerufalem, wafh thy heart from wickednefs, that thou may ft be Javed. — For the heart is deceitful above all things, and defperately wicked : Who can know it? Jer. iv. 14, and xvii. 1. 9. Thus the Prophets delineate mankind in a natural, impenitent ftate. And do the Apoftles dip their pencil in brighter colours ? Let them fpeak for themfelves. The chief of them in- forms us, that the natural, unrenewed man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, and that they are fooliflmcfs to him. 1 Cor. ii. 14. And he lays it down as matter of fa£t,"that the carnal mind y the tafte FIRST PART, x 5 tafte and difpofition of every unregenerate per- fon, is not only averfe to goodnefs, but enmity itfelf cigainjl God, the adorable fountain of alp excellence. A blacker line can hardly be drawn, to defcribe a fallen, diabolical nature. Rom. viii. 7. Various are the names, which the Apoftle of the Gentiles gives to our original corruption ; and they are all expreflive of its pernicious na- ture, and dreadful effects. He calls it emphati- cally Sin 9 a fin fo full of activity and energy, that it is the life and fpring of all others : — Indwelling Sin, a fin which is not like the leaves and fruits of a bad tree, that appear for a time, and then dropoff \ but like the fap that dwells and works within, always ready to break out at every bud : — The body of Sin , becaufe it is an affernblage of all poffible fins in embryo, as our body is an af- fernblage of all the members which conftitute the human frame : — The Law of Jin*, and the Law in our members- becaufe it hath a constraining- force, and rules in our mortal bodies, as a mighty tyrant in the kingdom which he hath ufurped : — The old man, becaufe we have it from the firfl: man, Adam ; and becaufe it is as old as the firfl: ftamina of our frame, with which it is moft clofely interwoven : The flejh, as being propa- gated by carnal generation, and always oppofing the Spirit, the gracious principle which we have from Adam the fecond : — And Concupifcence, that B 2 myftic 16 An A P P E A L, Sec. myitic Jezebel, who I orth the infinite variety of fifhly, worldly, and mental lufis, which r againjl the foul. Nor are St. James and St. John lefs feverc than St. Paul, upon the unconverted man. The one obferves, that his wifdom, the befl property naturally belonging to him, defcendeth not from above , but is earthly, fenfual, and devili/b : And the other positively declares, that The whole world in wickednefs. Jam. iii. 15. 1 John. v. 19. Our Lord, whofe fpirit infpired the Prophets and Apoftles, confirms their lamentable teftimo- riy. To make us feriouily confider fin, our mor- tal difeafe, he reminds us, that The whole have no need of a Phyfician, but they that are Jick. Luke v. 31. He declares, that men love darknefs rather than light. That the world hates thcm\ and that its works are evil. John iii. 19. & xv. 18. & vii. 7. He directs all to pray for the pardon of Jin, as being evil, and owing ten thoufand talents to their heavenly creditor. Mat. vi. 12. vii. 11. xviii. 24. And he aflures us, that the things which defile the man, come from within ; and that out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, mur- ders, thefts, covetoufnefs, wickednefs, deceit, lafcivi- oufnefs, an evil eye, blafphcmy, pridc,foolifhnefs, and, in a word, all moral evil. Mark vii. 21. Mat. xv. 19. Some indeed confine what the fcriptures fay of the depravity of the human heart, to the abandon- ed heathens, and perfecuting jews; as if the pro- feflbrs FIRST PART. 17 fefibrs of morality, and chriftianity, were noC concerned in the dreadful charge. Bat if the a- poftolic writings affirm, that Chrift came not to call the righteous , but SINNERS ; that he died for the UNGODLY ; and that he fuffered, the juji for the unjust ; it is plain that, unlefs he did not fuf- fer and die for moral men and chriftians, they are by nature fnners, ungodly, and unjuji as the reft of mankind. Rom. v. 6. 1 Pet. iii. 18. If this aflertion feems fevere, let fome of the beft men that ever lived, decide the point, not by the experience of immoral perfons, but by their own. 1 r abhor my [elf y fays Job, and repent in dufl and afhes. Job xlii. 6. Behold I was Jhapen in iniquity, fays David, and in Jin did my mother conceive me. Pf.li. 5. Wo is me for I am undone, fays Ifaiah, beeaufe I am a man o[ unclean lips. I fa, vi. 5. I know, fays St. Paul, that in me, that is, in my fiefh,. dwelleth no good thing. Rom. vii. 18. We our [elves, fays he, to Titus, were fometime: foolifh, difobedient,. deceived, ferving divers lufls and* pleafures, living in malice and envy,, hateful and bat- ing one another. Tit. iii. 3. And fpeaking of him- felf, and the Chriftians at Ephefus, he leaves upon record this memorable fentence : We were BY NATURE the children ef wrath even as others. Eph. ii. 3. Such humbling thoughts have the beft men entertained both of their natural ef- tate, andthemfelves ! B 3 But 18 An A P P E A L, ice. But as no one is a more proper perfon to ap- peal to, in this matter, than this learned Apof- tie, who, by continually converfing with jews, heathens, and chriftians in his travels, had fuch an opportunity of knowing mankind \ let us hear him Aim up the fuffrages of his infpired bre- thren. What then, fays he, are ive better than they ? Better than the immoral pagan, and hypocriti- cal jews defcribed in the two preceding chap- ters ? No, in no wife. And he proves it by ob- ferving: (i) The universality of human corruption : all are under Jin as it is written. There is none righteous, no not que : (2) The Ixtetct of it in individuals, as it affedts the whole man, efpecially his mind ; There is none that underflandeth the things of God : His affec- tions, There is none that feehth after God: And his actions, They are all gone out of the way of duty: There is none that doth goody no not one; For all have their converfation in the lujls of the fie fh, and of the mind. (3) The out -breakings of this corruption through all the parts of the bo- dy: Their throat, their lips, their mouth, their feet, their eyes, and all their members are together become unprofitable, and infir time nts of unrighteoufnefs . As for their tongue, fays St. James, it is a world of iniquity, it dcfileth the whole body, and fets on fire the courfe of nature, and isfet on fire of hell. And laftly, its malignity and virulence : It is loathfome as an open fepulchre, terrible as one who runs toflxd blood, and mortal as the poifon ofetjps. From FIRST PART. 19 From the whole, fpeakingof all mankind in their unregenerate ftate, he juftly infers, that de- finition andmifcry are in their ways. And, left the felf-righteous fhould flatter themfelves, that this alarming declaration doth not regard them, he adds, that the fcripturcs conclude all under fin*, that there is no difference, for ALL have finned, and comejhort of the glory of God \ and that the moral law denounces a general curfe againit its viola- tors, that EVERY MOUTH may be flapped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Rom. iii. 9. to 23. vi. 19. Eph. ii. 2.^ If man is thus corrupt and guilty, he muft be liable to condign punifhment. Therefore, as the Prophets and Apoftles agree with our Lord, in their difmal defcriptions of this depravity; fo they harmonize with him, in their alarming ac- counts of his danger. Till he flies to t,he Re- deemer as a condemned malefactor, and fecures an intereft in the falvation provided for the loft,, they reprefent him as on the brink of ruin. They inform us, that the wrath of God is re- vealed from heaven j not only againft fome atroci- cious crimes, but againji all unrighteoufnefs of men, Rom. i. 18. That every tranfgre/Jtonand difobedience,fhall receive ajufi rccompenceofrewardy Heb. ii. 2. That the foul that finnethfhall die, be- caufe the wages of fin is death, Ezek. xviii. 4. Rom. vi. 23. They declare, that they are curfed y who do err frem God's commandments : That curfed is 20 An A P P E A L, &c. - x U the man, whofe heart de part eth from the Lord: That cur fed is every one, who continues not in all things , which are written in the bock of the law to do them: That whofoever Jhall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point , is guilty of all : And that, as many as have finned without law, /halt a I fo pcrijh without laiv. Pf. cxix. 21. Jer. xvii. 5. Gal. iii. 10. Jam. ii. 10. Rom. ii. 12. They intreat us to turn, left we fhould be found with the many, in the broad way to defiruc- iion, Ez. xviii. 23. Mat. vii. 13. They affectio- nately inform us, that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God : That our God is a confuming fire to the unregenerate : That in- dignation and wrath , tribulation and ' anguifh, hang over every foul of man who doth evil: That the Lord /hall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, to take vengeance on them, who know him not, and obey not the gofpel : That the wicked f hall be turned into hell,, and all the people that forget God: That they fh all he punifhed with eternal deftruBion, from the pre- fence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power : And that they allfhall be damned, who believe not the truth, but have plea fur e in unrighteoufnefs. Heb. x. 31. and xii. 29. Rom. ii. 9. 2 Thef. i. 8. and ii. 12. Pf. ix. 17. Nor does our Lord, who is both the fountain and pattern of true charity, fpeak a different language. He bids us fear him, who is able to defiroy both foul and body in hell : Luke xii. 5. He fa- lemnly FIRST PART. 11 lemnly charges us to oppofe corrupt nature with t{^ utmoft refolution, left we be cojl into bell, . where the worm dicth not,, and the fir eh not quench- ed. Mark ix. 43. With tendernefs he informs us, that whyoever Jhall fay to ids brother, That fool! Jhall be in danger of bed fire ; That not only the wicked, but finable fcrvant .Jhall be cafi into outer darknefs, where will be weepings wailing, and gnajhing aj 'teeth : And that he him- felf, far from conniving at Cm, will fix the doom of all impenitent finner?, by this dreadful kn- tence : Depart from me ye c nrfed itito cvcrla(lingfire y prepared for the Devil and his angels. Mat. v. 22. and xxv. 30, 41. IT. I flatter myfelf that the dosSlrine, which we are to try by the touch-ftone of reafon, has been already fuificiently eftablifhed from fcrip- ture. Neverthelefs, that the Reader may have the fulleft view of fo momentous a fubje&, I ihall yet prefent him with a recapitulation of the whole, in the words of our pious Reformers, taken out of the Articles, Homilies, and Litur- gy of the Church of England. The 9th Article thus defcribes our depravity and danger. Original, or birth-fin is the fault, and corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam ; whereby man is very far gone from original right eoufnefs, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, fo that thefiejh lujkib 22 An APPEAL, &c. lujleth always contrary to thefplrit ; and therefore in every pcrj on born into this world, it deferveth God's wrath and damnation. The 35th Article gives fandtion to the Homi- lies in the following words -, The book of Homilies contains a good and whole fome doctrine, and there- fore we judge them to be read in Churches, by mini- fxevs, diligently and diftinclly, that they may be un- derjloodby the people. Let us then fee, how they fet forth the good and whole fame, though lamenta- ble and humbling doctrine of our lofteflate. The title of the 2d is : A Sermon of the mijery cf mankind, and of his condemnation to death ever- lafiing by his fin. In the clofe of it, the contents are fummed up in thefe words : JVc have heard how evil we are of ourf elves \ how of our J elves, and by our f elves, we have no goodnefs, help, or fa hat ion: but on the contrary, fin, damnation, and death ever" lafiing. Our Church is uniform in her woful accounts of man's mifery. Hear her in the ift Homily for Whitfunday : Man of his own nature (fince the fall) is fiefhly and carnal, corrupt and nought, finful and dif obedient to God, without any fpark of goodnefs in him, without any virtuous or godly mo- tion, only given to evil thoughts and wicked deeds. In the Homily on the nativity (he fpeaks thus : He (difobedient man) was now curfed and abhor' d: Infiead of the image of God, he was now become the image of the Devil, the bond-flave of hell. Altogether fpotted FIRST PART. 2 3 fpottedand defiled, he feemcd to be nothing elfe but a lump of Jin \ and therefore, by the juji judgment of God he was condemned to everlafiing death. Thus, in Adam, all men became univerfally mortal, having in themfeives nothing but * everlafing damnation of body and foul. The fame doctrine is delivered v/ith the fame plainnefs in the fecond part of the Homily on the paiilon. Adam died the death, that is, became mortal, loft the favour of God, and was cajl out of paradife, being no longer a citizen of heaven, but a firebrand of hell, and a bond-Jlave of the devil. And St. Paul bean withe fs, that by Adam' } s offence death came upon all men to condemnation, zvho became plain reprobates and caf away s^ * being perpetual y damned to the everlafiing pains of hell-fire. Agreeable to this we are taught, in the 2d part of the Homily on repentance, that part of that virtue conjifis in an unfeigned acknowledgement of our fins to God, whom, by them, we have fo griev- oujly offended, that if hejhould deal with us accord- ing * Prejudiced penons, who inftead of considering the entire fyf- tem of truth, run away with a part detached from the whole, will be offended here, as if our Church "damn'd every body/' But the candid Reader will eafily obfeive, thai nitead of dooming any one to deftrudtion, (he only declares, that he Saviour finds allmen in a ftate of condemnation and mifery, where they would eternally re- main, were it not for the companionate equity of our gracious God, which does not permit him to fentence to a confeioufnefs of eternal torments, any one of h.s creatures, for a fin, of which they never were ptrjonally guilty; and of which, confequently, they can never have any cotifcioufnefsi £j An APPEAL, &c. ing to his jufiice, vjc defer ve a thou [and he Its, if there were fo many. The fame vein of wholefome, tho' unpleafant doctrine runs through the Liturgy of our church. She opens her fervice by exhorting us not to difi femble, nor cloak, our manifold fins and wickednefe. She acknowledges in her confeffions, that we have erred and frayed from God's ways like lofifheep, — - that there is no health in us, — that we are miferable finners, miferable offenders, to whom our fns are. grievous, and the burden of them is intolerable. She begins her baptifmal office by reminding us, that all men are conceived and bom in fin. She teaches in her catechifm, that we are by nature bom in fin, and the children of wrath. She confef- fes in the collect before the general thankfgiv- ing, that we are tied and bound with the chain of our fins, and intreats God to let the pitifulnefs of his great mercy loofe us : And in her fufFrages ftie befeeches him to have mercy upon us, to fpare u* 9 and make fpeed to five us \ a language that can fuit none but condemned finners. Duly fenfible of our extreme danger till we have fecured an intereft in Chrifr, at the grave (he fupplicates the moft holy God, not to deliver us into the bitter pains of eternal death ; and in the litany fhe befeeches our Lord Jefus Chrift, by his agony and bloody fweatj by his crofs and paffion 9 to deliver us from his wrath and everlafiing damna- tion. Thus is our church every where confift- ent with herfelf, and with the oracles of God, in SECOND PART. i 5 in reprcfenting us as corrupt, condemned crea- tures, in Adam ; till we are penitent, absolved believers in Jefus Chrift. The doctrine to be demonstrated in this trea- tife being thus fully ftated, in the confentane- ous words of the facred Writers, and our pious -Reformers, I fhall clofe this Part by an appeal to the Reader's candor and common fenfe. If fuch are the fentiments of our church, are thofe church-men reafonable, who intimate, that all the maintainers of them, are either her open or fe- cret enemies ? And may they rank with modeft, humbk chriftians, who, inftead of the felf-abaf- ing fcripture doitrine here laid down, boldly fubftitute pompou?, pharifaic defcriptions of the prcfent dignity and redHtude of human na- ture ?— Without waiting for the obvious an- fwer, I pafs to the firft clafs of arguments, on which the truth of this mortifying dodtrine is eftablifhed. f :li " £ '"-* -*- v * s i ' "••••* ■•—••••►•*•*->•*•* v ~ £ • lg f SECOND PART. AS no man is bound to believe what is con- trary to common fenfe; if the above ftated doctrine appears irrational, Scriptures, Articles, Homilies, and Liturgy, are quoted in vain : When men of parts are prefled with their C An- 26 An A P P E A L, Sec. authority, they ftart from it as an impofition on their reafon, and make as honourable a retreat as they pofiibly can. Some, to extricate themfelves at once, fet the Bible afide, as full of incredible affertions. Others, with more modefty, plead that the Scrip- tures, have been frequently mifunderftood, and are fo in the prefent cafe. They put grammar criticrfm, and common fenfe to the rack, to fhew that when the infpired writers fay, the human heart is defperately wicked, they mean that it is ex- tremely good ; or at leaft like blank paper, rea- dy to receive either the chara&ers of virtue or of vice. With refpeft to the teftimony of our re- formers, they would have you to underftand, that in this enlightened age, we muft leave their harfh, uncharitable fentiments to the old Puri- tans, and the prefent Methodifts. That fuch objectors may fubferibeas a folemn truth, v/hat they have hitherto rejected as a dan- gerous error -, and that humbled finners may fee the propriety of an heart-felt repentance, and the abfolute need of an almighty Redeemer ; they are here prefented with fome proofs of our depravity, taken from the aftonifhing feverity of God's difpenfations towards mankind. AXIOM, If we confider the fupreme Being, as creating a world for the manifeftation of his glory, the difplay SECOND PART. 2 j difplay of his perfections, and the communica- tion of his happinefs to an intelligent creature, whom he would attach tohimfelf by the ftrong- eft ties of gratitude and love ; we at once per- ceive, that he never could form this earth and man in their prefent, difordered, deplorable con- dition. It is not fo abfurd to fuppofe the meri- dian fun productive of darknefs, as to imagine that infinite Goodnefs ever produced any kind or degree of evil. > Infinite Holinefs andWifdom having afl;fted in- finite Goodnefs, to draw the original plan of the world ; it could not but be entirely worthy of its glorious Author, absolutely free from every moral defilement, and natural diforder : Nor could infinite Power poflibly be at alofs, to exe- cute what the other divine attributes had con- trived. Therefore, unlefs we embrace the fenfe- lefs opinion of the materialifts, who deny the being of a God ; or admit the ridiculous creed of the Manichees, who adore two Gods, the one the gracious author of all the good, and the other the mifchievous principle of all the evil in the world ; we muft conclude with Mofes, that every thing which God made %vas at firft very good' y or in other words, that order and beauty, harmony and happinefs, were ftamped upon every part of the creation, and efpecially on man, the mafter-piece of creatkig^xwer in this fub- lunary world. On this axiom I raife my C 2 Ift. A R- -8 An APPEAL, &fc. I. ARGUMEN T. Does not the natural ftate of the earth cafl: a light upon the fpiritual condition of its inhabi- tants ? Amidfr. a thoufand beauties, that indicate ♦ what it was, when God pronounced it very goody and as the original alfo imports, extremely beauti- ful : Amidft the elegant and grand ruins, which form the variety of our fmiling landfcapcs, arid romantic profpecls ; can an impartial inquirer help taking notice of a thoufand ftriking proofs, that a multiplied curfe refts upon this globe ; and that man,, who inhabits it y is now difgrac- ed by the God of nature and providence ? Here, deceitful morafTes, or faithlefs quick- fands obftrucT: our way : There, miry, impafla- ble roads, or inhofpitable fandy deferts, endan- ger our life. In one place, we are flopped by ftupendous chains of rocky mountains, broken, into frightful precipices, or hideous caverns : And in another, we meet with ruinous valleys, cut deep by torrents and water-falls, whofe tre- mendous roar ftuns the aftonifhed traveller. Many of the hills are ftony, rude, and wafte ; and moft of the plains are covered over with ftrata of barren fand, ftiffclay, or infertile gravel. Thorns, * thirties, and noxious weeds grow fpon- Thofe who oppofe the do&rine of the fall, fay that " Weeds have their ufe." I grant they are fervircable to thoufands of poor SECOND PART, 29 fpontaneoufly every where, and yield a trouble- fome, never-failing crop : While the beft foil, carefully plowed by the laborious hufbandman, and fown with precious feed, frequently repays his expenfive toil with light flieaves, or a blaft- ed harveft. Confider that immenfe part of the globe, which lies between the tropics : jt is parched up by the fcorching beams of the vertical fun : There, the tauny inhabitants fan themfelves in vain ; they pant, they melt, they faint on the fultry couch ; and, like the birds of night, dare not appear abroad, tilL evening (hades temper the infufferable blaze of day. View the frozen countries around the poles : In fummer, the fun juft glances upon them by his feeble, hori- zontal rays : In winter, he totally deferts them, and they lie bound with rigorous frofts, and bu- ried in continual night. There, the torpid in- habitants know neither harveft nor vintage, the ocean feems a boundlefs plain of ice, and the continent immenfe hills of fnow. The temperate zones are indeed bleffed with milder climates : But even here, how irregular are the feafons ! To go no farther than this fa- C 3 vour'd people, who ea*n their bread by pulling the general nuifance ouc of cur fields and gardens : But till our Obje&ors have proved that thiftles are more ufeful, and therefore grow more fpontaneouilv, and multiply more abundantly, than corn ; we fhall difcover the badnefs of their caufe through the flightnefs of their objeftion. 3 o An A P P E A L, &e. voured ifland, What means the ftrange forefight, by which the ice of January is laid in to temper the ardors of July ; and the burning mineral is ftored up in June, to mitigate the froft in De- cember ? But notwithstanding thefe precau- tions, what continual complaints are heard, about the intenfenefs of the heat, the feverity of the cold, or the fudden, pernicious change from the one to the other ! Let us defcend to particulars. In winter, how often do drifts of fnovv bury the ftarved fheep, and intomb the frozen traveller ! In fummer, how frequently do dreadful florins of hail cut down, or inceffant Ihowers of rain wafh away the fruits of the earth ! Perhaps, to com- pleat the defolation, Water pours down from all the neighbouring hills ; and the fwelling ftreams, joining with over-flowing rivers, caufe fudden inundations, lay wafie the richeft paf- tures, and carry off the fwimming flocks ; while the frighted * inhabitants of the vale, either re- tire to the top of their deluged houfes, or by the timely affrftance of boats fly from the immi- nent and increafing danger. If heaven feems to diflblve into water in one place, in another it is like brafs y it yields nei- ther fruitful rains nor cooling dews : The earth is * This was the cafe of fevcral families in the author's pariih^ .November 1770. S E C O N D P A R T. 51 is like iron under it, and the perilling cattle loil out their parched tongues, where they once drank the refrefhing ftream. Suppofe a few hap- py diftri&s efcape thefe dreadful fcourges for a number of years, are they not? at laft vifited with redoubled feverity ? And, wbilft abufed affluence vanifhes as a dream before the intolerable dearth, do not a ftarving f riotous populace, leave then* wretched cottages, to plunder the houfes of their wealthy neighbours, defperateiy venturing the gallows for a morfel of bread. When fome, fecure from the attacks of water, quietly enjoy the comforts of plenty, Fire per- haps furprizes them in an inftant : They awake involved in fmoke, and furrounded by crack- ling flames, through which (if it is not too late) they fly naked, at the hazard of their neck, and think themfelves happy if, while they leave be- hind them young children, or aged parents, burning in the blaze of all their goods, they efcape themfelves with diflocated joints or bro- ken bones. Their piercing fhrieks, and th* fall of th^'r houfe, feem to portend a general con~ flagration ; loud confufion increafes, difaftrous ruin fpreads ; and perhaps, before they can be flopped, a ftreet, a fuburb, a whole city is re- duced to afhes. Turn your imagination from the fmokino- ruins, to fix it upon the terrifying effects of the Air f This happened fome years ago in this neighbourhood. 32 An A P P E A L, &c. Air, agitated into roaring tempefts and boifte- rous hurricanes. Before their impetuous blaft, mafts of fhips, and cedars of Lebanon, are like broken reeds ; men of war, and folid buildings 9 ' * o like the driven chaff*. Here r they ftrip the groaning forefts, tear the bofom of the earth, and obfcure the fky with clouds of whirling fand : And there, they plow up the liquid foam- ing plains, and with fportive fury turn up moun- tains for ridges, or cut valleys inftead of fur- rows. As they pafs along, the confounded ele- ments dreadfully roar under the mighty fcourge, the rolling fea toffes herfelf up to heaven, and folid land isjwtpi with the befom of deftrufiic To heighten the horror of the fcene, Thunder, themajeftic voice of an angry God, and the aw- ful artillery of heaven, burfts in loud claps from the lowring fky. Diftant hills reverberate and increafe the alarming found, and with rocking edifices declare to man, that vengeance belongeth unto God: And, to inforce the folemn warning, repeated flafhes of lightnings with horrible glare dazzle his eyes, and with forked fires ftrikecon- fternation into his breaft ; if they do not actu- ally ftrike him dead, in the midft of his matter- ed habitation. Nor doth Heaven alone dart deftru&ive fires ; Earth, our mother Earth, as if it were not e- nough frequently to corupt the atmofphere by peftilential vapours, borrows the affiflance of the SECOND PART. 53 devouring element, to terrify and fcourge her guilty children. By fudden, frightful chafms, and the mouth of her burning mountains, fhe vomits clouds of fmoke, fulphureous flames, and calcined rocks ; fhe emits ftreams of melted minerals, covers the adjacent plains with boil- ing, fiery lavas ; and, as if fhe wanted to eafs herfelf of the burden of her inhabitants, fud- denly rifes againft them, and in battles ofjhaking at once crufhes, deftroys, and buries them in heaps of ruins. Thefe aftonjfhing fcenes, like a bloody bat- tle that is feen at a diftance, may indeed enter- tain us : They may amufe our imagination, when in a peaceful apartment, we behold them beautifully reprefented by the pen of a Virgil, or the pencil of a Raphael. But to be in the midft of them, as thoufands are fooner or later, is inexpreffibly dreadful : It is actually to fee the fore-runners of divine vengeance, and hear the fhaking of God's deftm&ive rod : It is to behold at once a lively emblem, and an awful pledge of that fire and brim/lone, farm and tern- pejl, which the righteous Governor of the world will rain upon the ungodly ; when the heavens Jhall pafs away with a great noife, the elements Jhall melt with fervent heat, and the earth, with all the works that are therein Jhall be burnt up. Now as reafon loudly declares, that the God of order, juflice, and goodnefs, could never eftablifh 34 An A P P E A L, fcc. eftablifh and continue this fearful courfe of things, but to punifh the diforders of the moral world by thofe of the natural; we muft con- clude that man is guilty, from the alarming to- kens of divine difpleafure, which fooner or later are fo confpicuous in every part of the habitable globe. II. A R G U M EN T. We have taken a view of the refidence of man- kind : let us now behold them entering upon the difordered fcene. And here Reafon informs us, that fome myftery of iniquity lies hid under the loathfome, painful, and frequently mortal cir- cumftances, which accompany their birth. For it can never be imagined, that a righteous and good God, would fuffer innocent and pure creatures, to come into the world (killed in no language but that of mifery, venting kfelf in bitter cries, or doleful accents. It is a matter of faft, that infants generally re- turn their firfl: breath with a groan, and ialute the light with the voice of forrow : Generally, I fay, for fometimes they are born half-dead, and cannot without the utmoft difficulty be brought to breathe and groan. But all are born at the hazard of their lives: For, while fome cannot prefs into the land of the living, without being dangeroufly bruifed ; others have their tender bones diflocated. Some are almoft ftrangled; and SECOND PART. 3S and it is the horrible fate of others, to be forced into the world by inftruments of torture; hav- ing their fcull bored through or broken to pieces, or their, quivering limbs cut or torn off from the unfortunate trunk. Again, While fome appear on the ftage of 1 ife embarraf- fed withfuperfluous parts, others unaccountably mutilated, want thofe which are necefiary : And what is more terrible ftill, a few, whofe hideous, mifhapen bodies feem calculated to reprefent the deformity of a fallen foul, rank among frightful monfters; and to terminate the horror of the pa- rents, are actually fmothered and deftroyed. The fpeclators, it is true, concerned for the honour of mankind, frequently draw a veil o- ver thefe fhocking and bloody fcenes ; but a philofopher will find them out, and will ratio- nally infer, that the deplorable and dangerous manner in which mankind are born, proves them to be degenerate, fallen creatures.* III. AR- * Logicians will excufe the author, if he prefers the common, ■unaffected manner of propofing his arguments ; to the formal me- thod of the fchools. But they may eaiily try his enthymemes by giving them the form of fylogiims, thus, I. Argument. If the rod of God is fearfully fnaken over this globe, the difordered habitation of mankind; it is a fign they are under his difpleafurc. But God's rod is fearfully fhaken over this globe, &c. There- fore mankind are under his plealure. II. Argument. A pure and innocent creature cannot be bora under fuch and fuch deplorable circumftances. But man is born under fuch and fuch deplorable circumftances. Therefore man is not a pure and innocent creature. 36 An A P P E A L, &c. III. ARGUMENT. If we let our thoughts afcend, from the little fufferers to the mothers that bear them ; we fhall find another dreadful proof of the divine difplea- fure and of our natural depravity. Does not a good mafter, much more a gracious God, delight in the profperity and happinefs of his faithfnl fervants? If mankind were naturally in their Creator's favour, would he not order the fruit of the wnrnb to drop from it, without any more inconveniency, than ripe vegetables fall from the opening hufk, or full-grown fruit from the difburdened tree? But how widely different is the cafe ! Fix your attention on pregnant mothers : See their difquietude and fears. Some go before- hand through an imaginary travail, almoft as painful to the mind, as the real labour is to the body. The dreaded hour comes at laft. Good God ! What lingering, what tearing pains ; what redoubled throes, what killing agonies at- tend it ! See the curfe — or rather, fee it not. Let the daughter of her who tafted the forbid- den fruit without the man, drink that bitter cup without him. Fly from the mournful fcene, fly to diftant apartments — But in vain — The din of forrow purfues and overtakes you there. A child of man is at the point of being born ; his tortured mother proclaims the news in the bit-' SECOND PART, 37 bittereft accents. They increafe with her in- creafing agony. Sympathize and pray, while flie fuffers and groans — Perhaps while fhe fuf- fers and dies : For it is poffibly her dying groan that reaches your ear. Perhaps nature is fpent in the hard travel ; her fon is born, and with Jacob's wife, fhe clofes her languid eye and ex- pires. Perhaps the inftruments of death are upon her : The keen fteel mangles her delicate frame : As Cxfar's mother, (he generoufly fuf- fers her body to be opened, that her unborn child may not be torn from her in pieces ; and the fertile tree is unnaturally cut down, that its fruit may be fafely gathered. Perhaps neither mother nor child can be faved, and one grave is going to deprive a diftracted mortal of a beloved Rachel, and a long expected Benjamin. If this is the cafe, O Earth, Earth, Earth, conceal thefe flain, cover their blood, and detain in thy darkbofom, the fearful curfe that brought them there. Vain wifh ! Too active to be confined^ m thy deepeft vaults, it ranges through thA world : With unrelenting fierce- nefs it purfues trembling mothers, and forces them to lift up their voice for fpeedy relief: Though varied according to the accents of an hundred languages, it is the fame voice, that of the bittereft anguifh : And while it is reverbe- rated from hamlet to hamlet, from city to city, it ftrikes the unprejudiced inquirer, and makes D him 3 S An APPEAL, Sec him confefs, that thefe Mouds of unbribed wit- nefles, by their loud confentaneous evidence, impeach Sin, the tormenter of the woman, and murderer of her offspring. But fuppofe the cafe is not fo fatal, and fhe is at laft delivered ; her labour may be over, yet not her pain and danger ; a lingering weaknefs may carry her (lowly to her grave. If (he re- covers, (he may be a mother, and yet unable to aft a mother's part. Her pining child fucks her difordered breafr in vain : Either the fprings of his balmy food are dried up, or they overflow with a putrid loathfome fluid, and excruciating ulcers caufe the foft lips of the infant, to ap- pear terrible as the edge of the fword. If fhe happily efcapes this common kind of diftrefs, yet (he may date the beginning of fome chronical difeafe, from her dangerous lying-in ; and, in - confequence of her hard wreftling for the blefling of a child, may with the patriarch go halting all her days. How fenfible are the marks of divine indignation, in all thefe fcenes of forrow ! And confequently how vifible our finfulnefs and guilt. Nor can the juftnefs of the inference be deni- ed, under pretence that the females of other ani- mals, which neither do nor can fin, bring forth their young with pain, as well as women. For, if we take a view of the whole earth, we (hall not fee any females, except the daughters of Eve, SECOND PART. 39 Eve, who groan under a periodical diforder, that intails languor and pain, weaknefs and mortal difeafes, on their moft blooming days. Nor do we in general find any, that are delivered of their offspring with half the forrow and danger of women. Thefe two remarkable c i re um fiances loudly call upon us, to look for the caufe of the forrow, which attends the delivery of female animals, where that forrow is moft fenfibly felt; and to admire the perfect agreement, that fub- fifts between the obfervations of natural philo- fophers, and the affertion of the moft ancient hiftorian. Gen. iii. 16. IV. A R G U M E N T. If we advert to mankind, even before they burft the womb of their tortured mothers, they afford us a new proof of their total degeneracy. For reafon dictates, that if they were not con- ceived in fin, the Father of mercies could not, confiftently with his goodnefs and juftice, com- mand the cold hand of death to nip them in the unopened, or juft opened bud. This neverthe- lefs happens every hour. Who can number the early mifcarriages of the womb ? How many millions of miferable embrios feel the pangs of death before thofe of birth, and prepofteroufly turn the fruitful womb into a living grave ? And how many millions more of wretched in- fants, efcape the dangers of their birth-day, and D 2 falute 40 An A P P E A L, &c. falute the troublefome light, only to take their untimely leave of it, after languifhing a few days on the rack of a convulfive, or torturing diforder ? I afk again, Would a good and right- eous God feal the death-warrant of fuch multi- tudes of his unborn, or newly-born creatures, if their natural depravity did not render them proper fubje&s of diflblution ? It is true, the young of beafts fuffer and die, as well as infants ; but it is only becaufe they are involved in our mifery. They partake of it as the attendants of a noble traitor fhare in his deferved ruin. Sin, that inconceivable, vi- rulent and powerful evil, drew down God's righteous curfe upon all that was created for man's ufe, as well as upon man himfelf. Hence only fprings the degeneracy and death, that turn beafts to one promifcuous duft with mankind. Compare Gen. iii. 17. Rom. v. 12. and viii. 22. We may then juftly infer, from the fuffer- ings and death of ftill-born or new-born chil- dren, that man is totally degenerate, and liable to deftru&ion, even from his mother's womb. V. ARGUMENT. But take your leave of the infant corpfe, al- ready buried in the womb, or depofited in a coffin of a fpan long ; fix your attention on the heal- thy, fucking child. See him ftupidly flaring in his nurfe's lap, or aukwardly paffing through child- SECOND PART. 41 childhood to manhood. How vifible is his de- generacy in every ftage ! Part of the divine image, in which he was made in Adam, confifted in purity, power, and knowledge : But now, he is naturally the leaft cleanly, as well as the moft helplefs and igno- rant of all animals. Yes, if the reader could forgive the indelicacy of the affertion, for the fake of its truth, I would venture to fliew, that there is no comparifon between the cleanlinefs of the little a£tive animals, which fuck the fil- thy fwine ; and of helplefs infants, who fuck the purer breafts of their tender mothers. But, cafting a veil over the dribbling, loathfome,, little creatures; without fear of being contra- dicted, I aver, that the young of thofe brutes, which are ftupid to a proverb, know their dams, and follow them as foon as they are dropped ; whilft infants are months without taking any. particular notice of their parents, and without being able, I fhall not fay to follow them, but. even to bear the weight of their fwaddled body, or ftand upon their tottering legs.. With reference to the knowledge neceflary for the fupport of animal life,, it is undeniable that brutes have greatly the advantage of mankind. Fowls and fifties, immediately and with amazing fagacity, fingle out their proper nourifhment among a thoufand ufelefs and noxious things : But infants put indifferently to their mouth all D 3 that 42 An A P P E A L, &c. that comes to their hand, whether it be food or poifon, a coral or a knife : And, what is more aftonifhing ftill, grown-up perfons fcarce ever attain to the knowledge of the quantity, or qua- lity of the meat and drink, which are moftfui ta- ble to their conftitutions. All difordered dogs fix at once upon the falu- tary vegetable, that can (in fome cafes) relieve their diftrefs : But many phyficians, even after feveral years ftudy and pra&ice, hurt and fome- times kill their patients by improper medicines. Birds of paflage by mere inftindt, find the north and the fouth more readily than mariners by the compafs. Untaught fpiders weave their webs, and uninftru&ed bees make their combs to the greateft perfe&icn : But fallen man muft ferve a tedious apprenticefhip to learn his own bufi- nefs ; and with all the help of matters, tools, and patterns, feldom proves an ingenious artift. Again, other animals are provided with a na- tural covering, that anfwers the double end of ufefulnefs and ornament: But indigent man is obliged to borrow from plants, beafts, and worms, the materials with which he hides his nakednefs, or defends his feeblenefs; and a great part of his fhort life is fpent in providing, or putting on and ofF garments, the gaudy tokens of his lhame, or ragged badges of his fall. Are not thefe plain proofs, that man, who ac - cording to his fuperior rank, and primitive ex- cellency, SECOND PART. 45 cellency, mould in all things have the pre-emi- nence, is now a degraded being, curfed for his apoftacy with native uncleanlinefs, helplefthefs, ignorance, and nakednefs above all other ani- mals ? VI. A R G U M E N T. Man's natural ignorance, great as it is, might neverthelefs be overlooked, if he had but the right knowledge of his Creator. But alas ! The holy and righteous God judicially with- draws himfelf from his unholy, apoftate crea- ture. Man is not properly acquainted with Him in zvhom he lives , and moves , and hath his be- ing. This humbling truth may be demonftrated by the following obfervations. God is infinitely perfect •> all the perfection which is found in the moft exalted creatures, is but the reflexion of the tranfcendent effulgence, belonging to that glorious Sun of fpiritual beauty ; it is but the furface of the unfathom- able depths of goodnefs, and lovelinefs, which regenerate fouls difcover in that boundlefs ocean of all excellence. If therefore men faw God, they could far lefs help being ftruck with holy awe, overwhelmed with pleafing wonder, and ravifhed with delightful admiration ; than a man born blind, and reftored to fight in the blaze of a fummer's day, could help being tranf- ported at the glory of the new and unexpe&ed fcene. 44 An A P P E A L, feV. fcene. Could we but fee virtue in all bcr beauty* , faid an heathen, Jhe would ravijli our hearts ; How much greater would our ravifhment be, if we were indulged with a clear, immediate difcovery of the divine beauty, the eternal original- of all virtue, the exuberant fountain of all perfection and delight ? But alas F how few thus behold, know, and admire God, may eafily be feen by the impious or vain conduit of mankind. If a multitude of men ingenuoufly confefs, they know not the king ; if they take his ftatue, or one of his attendants for him -> or if they doubt whether there be a king ; or fport with his name and laws in his prefence ; we reafon- ably conclude, that they neither^ nor know the royal perfon. And is not this the cafe of the fuperftitious, who, like the Athenians, worfhip an unknown God P Of idolaters, who bow to favourite mortals, or lifelefs images, as to the true God ? Of infidels, who doubt the very be- ing of a God ? And of open finners, the bulk of mankind, who live every where as if there was none ? Our natural ignorance of God, manifests it- felf ftill more evidently, by the confeffions both of real and nominal Chriftians* The former, before they knew God, and were admitted to behold his glory Jhining in the face of Jefus Chrift, bitterly complained as Ifaiah, Verily thou art a God * Si virtus confpicereturoculis, mirabiles amores excitaret fui. Cic. SECOND PART. 4 £ God that hi deft thyfclf; or mournfully afked with David, How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? It is plain then, that, by nature, they were as others, without God (practical atheifts) in the world, and have as much reafon as St. Paul to declare, that the world by wifdom knew not God. As for nominal Chriftians, though they daily pray that the fellow/hip of the Holy Ghoft may be with us all, it is evident they are utter ftrangers to communion with God by his Holy Spirit. For if we affirm, that he blefles his children with a fpiritual difcovery of his prefence, and mani- fejls himfelfto them as he doth not to the world, they fay we are mad, or call us enthufiafts. This behaviour fhews, beyond all confeffions, that they are totally unacquainted with the light of God's countenance : For, what greater proof can a blind man give, that he has no knowledge of the fun, than to fufpecT: his neighbour of lunacy, for affirming that funfhine is a delightful reality ? From this moral demonftration of our natural ignorance of God, I draw the following con- cluiion. If the Lord, who is a mild and conde- fcending king to all his loyal fubje&s, a father full of endearing and tender love to all his duti- ful children, hides his face from mankind in a natural ftate ; and if what little they know of him, is only by conjecture, hear-fay, or t infer- ence ; This is the knowledge of Gad mentioned Rom. i. 21. It is fufficient to leave without excufe thofe. who do not improve it till 46 Aa APPEAL, kc. ence ; it is a proof, that they are under his dif- pleafure ; and confequently, that they are re- bellious, fallen creatures. For what but rebellion could thus feparate be- tween beings fo nearly related, as an infinitely graciouc Creator, and favourite creatures, whofe foul is, according to an heathen, divine particu- la aur# -, and according to Mofes, the very breath of God? We may then rationally conclude with the evangelical prophet, that our iniquities have feparated between us and our God, and that our Jim have hid his Jace from us, eclipfed the fun of right- eoufnefs, and brought fuch darknefs on our fouls, that, by nature, we know neither what we are, nor what we fhould be ; neither whence we come, nor whither we are going; neither the grand bufinefs we have to do, nor the dan- ger that attends our leaving it undone. VII. ARGUMENT. If by nature mankind know not the Lord to be their God, is it furprizing that beafts fhould not know mankind to be their lords ? Neverthe - lefs reafon agrees with fcripture in maintaining, that man, by far the noblefl work of God here below, mould, according to the reafon and fit- nefs of things, bear rule over all the fublunary creation. But alas ! even in this refpeft, Hovj is they attain to the favj»2 knowledge mentioned, John xvii. 3. z John v. 20. SECOND PART. 47 is the c-rown fallen from his head ! Inferior animals have as little regard for him, as he has for his God. Notwithftanding his artful contrivances, ree- dy birds and mifchievous beafts eat *>p 5 tn le down, or deftroy part of the huh of his rural labour. In warmer climes, armies of locufts, more .terrible than hofts of men, frequently darken the air, or cover the ground, and equally mock at human power and craft. Wherever they light, all verdure difappears, and the fum- mer's fruitfulncfs is turned into wintry defla- tion. If locufts do not reach this happy ifland ; caterpillars, and a variety of other feemingly in- fignificant, but really formidable infects, make a more conftant, though lefsgeneral attack upon our trees and gardens. In vain are theydeftroy- ed by millions, they cannot be fully conquered ; and the yearly-returning plague forces the con- fiderate fpectator, to acknowledge the finger of a fin-avenging providence. Happy would it be for man, if rebellious ani- mals were fatisfied with the produce of his fields and orchards : But alas ! They thirft a f ter his blood, and attack his perfon. Lions, tigers, rattle -fnakes, crocodiles, and (harks, whenever they have an opportunity, impetuouily attack, furioufly tear, and greedily devour him. And what is moft aftonifhing, the bafeft reptiles are not 4 S An A P P E A L, &c. not afraid to breed in his ftomach, to live in his very bowels, and to confume his inward parts : While fwarms of flying, leaping, or creeping infects, too vile to be named, but not to humble a proud apoftate, have the infolence to fix upon his fkin ; and by piercing or furrowing his flefh, fuck his blood, and feaft upon him from his cradle to the grave. Domeftic animals, it is true, do man excel- lent fervice : But, is it not becaufe he either forces, or bribes them to it, by continual labour and expence, with which he breaks and main- tains them ? What bufinefs have multitudes of men, but to ferve the drudges of mankind ? What are fmiths, farriers, farmers' fervants, grooms, hoftlers, &c. but the flaves. of brutes, warning, currying, fhoeing, feeding, and wait- ing upon them both by day and by night ? And yet, notwithftanding the prerogative granted to Noah's piety, Gen. ix. 2. and the care taken of domeftic animals, do they not re- bel as often as they dare ? Here, fheep, deemed the quieteft of all, run aftray, or break into the field of a litigious neighbour : There, the furi- ous bull purfues and gores, or the raging dog fets upon and tears the inoffenfive traveller. To-day you read, that an impetuous, foaming fteed hath hurried away, thrown off, and dragged along his unfortunate mafter, whofe blood fpririkling the duft, and brains dallied upon the ftones, S E C-O N D P A R T. 49 ftones; dire& the fearchof hisdifconfolate friend: And to-morrow you may hear, that a vicious horfe has darted his iron-fenced hoof into his attendant's breaft or forehead, and has lamed or killed him on the fpot. And would the wife governor of the world, the kind prote&or of his obedient creatures, per- mit this rebellion, even of the tameft animals, and hafeft vermin againft man, if man himfelf was not a daring rebel againft him 1 VIIL ARGUMENT. That a contemptible kifeft ftiould dare to fet upon, and be able to devour a proud monarch, an He*od in the midft of his guards, is terrible : But the mifchief flops not here. Numerous tribes of other bafe animals are armed with poi- fcnous tongues or flings, and ufe them againft mankind with peculiar rage. To fay nothing of mad dogs, have not alps, vipers*, tarantulas, fcorpions, and other venomous ferpents and in- fers, the deftru&ive fkill of extracting the quin- teffence of the curfe, which fin, our moral poi- fon, hath brought upon the earth ? When we come within their reach, do they not bite or fling us with the utmoft fury ? And by infufing their fubtle venom into our blood, fpread they E not * Some will fay that viper's flefh h ufeful in phyfick. I grant it ; but is the polfon of that creature ufeful ? This mufl be proved before the argument can be invalidated, s * . An A P P E A L, &c. not anguifli and deftru&ion through our ago- nizing frame ? Anfwer, ye thoufands, who died in the wildernefs of the bite of fiery ferpents ; and ye multitudes, who in almoft all countries have fhared their deplorable fate. Let us defcend to the vegetable world. How many deceitful roots, plants, and fruits depofit their pernicious juices in the ftomach of thofe, who unwarily feed upon them ! Did not Elifha, and the fons of the prophets, narrowly efcape being poifoned all together, by one of them fa- tally miftaking a pot-herb ? And do not many go quickly or flowly to their grave by fuch me- lancholy accidents ? Minerals and metals are not the laft to enter into the general confpiracy againft mankind. Under inoffenfive appearances, do not they con- tain what is deftructive to the animal frame ? And have not many fallen a facrifice to their ig- norance of the mifchief lurking in arfenic, and other * mineral productions ? Nor are metallic effluvia lefs hurtful to hundreds ; and the health of mankind is perhaps more injured by copper alone, than it is preferved by all the mineral waters in the world : It is acknowledged, that numbers are poifoned by food prepared in utenfils * It Is obje&ed, that excellent remedies are prepared with anti- mony and mercury : But it is well known that the perfons who life them only expel one poifon with another ; as the decayed con* ftitutions of thofe who have frequent recourfc to fuch violent medi- cines abundantly prove. SECOND PART. $x utenfils made of that dangerous metal ; and how many are infenfibly hurt by the fame means, is only known to a wife and righteous providence. Thus God leaves us in a world, where mif- chief lurks under a variety of things apparently ufeful, without giving us the Jeaft intimation of deftruction near. To fay that infinite goodnefs can deal thus with innocent creatures, is offering vio- lence to our reafon, and an affront to divine juf- tice. Conclude then with me, Reader, that we have loft our original innocence, and forfeited ©ur Creator's favour. IX. ARGUMENT. But if the generality of mankind efcape all the various forts of poifon, do they efcape the curfe of toil and fvveat ? And is not a great ma- jority of them, reduced to fuch fordid want, and prefling neceflity ; as to be obliged to do the greateft drudgery for a wretched maintenance ? When God made men to have dominion over the works of his bands-, when he put all things in fub- jeftion under their feet, and crcivncd them with glory and honour ; they filled up each happy hour iru evidencing their love to him and to each other; they fpent their golden moments in admiring the variety and beauty of his works, finding out the divine fignatures impreffed upon them, fwaying their mild fceptre over the obedient creation^ and enjoying the rich, incorruptible fruits, E 2 which js An APPEAL, &c. which the earth fpontaneoufly produced in the greateft perfection and abundance. Thus their pleafure was without idlenefs or pain, and their employment without toil or wearinefs. But no fooner did difobedience open the flood- gates of natural evil, than arduous labour came in full tide upon mankind ; and a thoufand pain- ful arts were invented to mitigate the manifold curfe, which fin had brought upon them. Since the fall, our bodies are become vulne- rable and fhamefully naked; and it is the bufi- nefs of thoufands to make, or fell all forts of gar- ments for our defence and ornament. The earth has loft her original fertility; and thoufands more with iron inftruments open her bofom, to force her to yield us a maintenance j or with immenfe labour fecure her precarious, decaying fruits : Immoderate rains deprive her of her foli- dity, and earthquakes or deluges deftroy her even- nefs; numbers therefore are painfully employed in making or mending roads. Each country af- fords fome only of the neceflaries or convenien- cies of life; this obliges the mercantile inhabi- tants to tranfport, with immenfe trouble and danger, the produce of one place, to fupply the wants of another. We are expofed to a variety of dangers : Our perfons and property muft be fecured againft the inclemency of the weather, the attacks of evil beafts, and the afiaults of wicked men: Hence the fatigue of millions of work- S E C O N D P A R T, £3 workmen in wood and ftone, metals and mine- rals ; and the toils and hazards of millions more, who live by making, wearing, or ufing the va- rious inftruments of war and flaughter. Diforder and injuftice give rife to government, - politics, and a labyrinth of laws; and thefe em- ploy myriads of officers, lawyers, magiftrates, 2nd rulers. We are fubje£t to athoufand pains and maladies; hence myriads more prefcribe and prepare remedies, or attend and nurfe the fick. Our univerfal ignorance occafions the te- dious labour of giving and receiving inftruftion, in all the branches of human and divine know- ledge. And to complete the whole, the origi- nal tongue of mankind is confounded, and even neighbouring nations are barbarians to each o- ther : From hence arife the painful lucubrations of critics and linguifts, with the infinite trouble of teaching and learning various languages. The curfe introduced by fin is the occafion of all thefe toils. They are foon mentioned, but alas ! how long, how grievous do they appear to thofe that feel their feverity ! How many fighs have they forced from the breafts, how much fweat from the bodies of mankind ! Unite the former, a tempeft might infuei Collect the lat- ter, it would fwell into rivers. To go no farther than this populous parifh,.. with what hardihips, and dangers do our indi- gent neighbours earn their bread ! See thofe who E 3 ranfack. 5+ An APPEAL, &c. ranfack the bowels of the earth to get the black mineral we burn : How little is their lot prefer- able to that of the Spanifh felons, who work the golden mines ? They take their leave of die light of the fun, and fufpended by a rope, are let down many fathoms perpendicularly towards the center of the globe : They traverfe the rocks through which they have dug their horizontal ways : The murderer's cell is a palace, in com- parifon of the black fpot to which they repair : The vagrant's pofture in the ftocks, is prefera- ble to that in which they labour. Form If you can an idea of the mifery of men kneeling, ftooping, or lying on one fide, to toil all day in a confined place, where a child could hardly ftand : Whilft a younger company, with their hands and feet on the black dufty ground, and a chain about their body, creep and drag along, like four-footed beafts, heavy loads of the dirty mineral, through ways almoft impaflable to the curious obferver. In thefe low and dreary'vaults, all the ele- ments feem combined againft them. Deftru&ive damps, and clouds of noxious duft infect the air they breathe. Sometime water inceflantly dif- tills on their naked bodies ; or burfting upon them in ftreams, drowns them, and deluges their work. At other times, pieces of detached rocks crufh them to death, or the earth breaking in upon SECONDPART. $$ upon them buries them alive. And frequently fulphureous vapours, kindled in an inftant by the light of their candles, form fubterraneous thunder and lightning : What a dreadful phe- nomenon ! How impetuous is the blaft f How fierce the rolling flames ! How intolerable the noifom fmell ! How dreadful the continued roar ! How violent and fatal the explofion ! Wonderful providence ! Some of the unhap- py men have time to proftrate themfelves ; the fiery fcourge grazes their back, the ground fhields their breafts ; they efcape. See them wound up out of the blazing dungeon, and fay if thefe are not brands plucked out of the fire. A peftiferous fteam, and clouds of fuffbcating fmoke purfue them. Half dead themfelves, they hold their dead or dying companions in their trembling arms. Merciful God of Shadrach ? Kind protestor of Mefhech ! Mighty deliverer of Abednego ! Patient preferver of rebellious Jonah f Will not thefe utter a fong — a fong of praife to Thee — praife ardent as the flames they efcape — lafting as the life thou prolongeft ? — Alas ! they refufe ! And fome — O tell it not among the Heathens, left they for ever abhor the name of Chrijiian — Some return to the very pits, where they have been branded with fulphu- reous fire by the warning hand of Providence ; and there, fporting themfelves again with the naoft infernal wifhes, call aloud for a fire that caiuiot 5 Aii A P P E A L, Sec. cannot be quenched, and challenge the Almigh- ty to caft them into hell, that bottomlefs pit whence there is no return. Leave thefe black men at their perilous work,' and fee yonder bargemen haling that loaded vef- fel againft wind and ftream. Since the dawn of day, they have wreftled with the impetuous current; and now, that it almoft overpowers them, how do they exert all their remaining ftrength, and ftrain their every nerve ! How are they bathed in fweat and rain ! Fattened to their lines as horfes to their traces, wherein do they differ from the laborious brutes ? Not in an ere£t pofture of body, for in the intenfenefs of their toil they bend forward, their head is foremoft, and their hands upon the ground. If the.re is any difference it confifts in this : Horfes are indulged with a collar to fave their breaft ; and thefe, as if theirs was not worth faving, draw without one : The beafts tug in patient filence and mutual harmony ; but the men with loud contention and horrible imprecations. O fin, what haft thou done ! Is it not enough that thefe drudges fhould toil like brutes, muft they alfo curfe one another like devils ? If you have gone beyond the hearing of their impious oaths, flop to confider the fons of Vul- can confined to thefe forges and furnaces. Is their lot much preferable ? A fultry air, and clouds of fmoke and duft, are the element in which SECOND PART. ft which they labour. The confufed noife of wa- ter falling, fleam hifiing, fire-engines working, wheels turning, files creaking, hammers beat- ing, ore burfting, and bellows roaring, form the difmal concert that ftrikes the ears ; while a con- tinual eruption of flames, afcending from the mouth of their artificial volcanos, dazzle their eyes with an horrible glare. Maflfy bars of hot iron are the heavy tools they handle, cylinders of the firft magnitude the enormous weights they heave, vefTels full of melted metal the dan- gerous loads they carry, ftreams of the fame burning fluid the fiery rivers, which they con- duel into the deep cavities of their fubterrane- eus moulds i and millions of flving fparks, with a thoufand drops of liquid, hifling iron, the hor- rible fhowers to which they are expofed. See them caft ; you would think them in a bath and not in a furnace : They bedew the burning fand with their ftreaming fweat : nor are their wet garments dried up, either by the fierce fires that they attend, or the fiery ftreams which they manage. Certainly of all men, thefe have rea- fon to remember thejuft fentenceof an offended God : In the fweat of thy face/halt thou eat thy Iread all the days of thy life. All indeed do not go through the fame toil ; but all have their fhare of it, either in body or in mind. Behold the ftudious Son of Learning ; his intenfe application hath wafted his flefh, ex- 58 An A P P E A L, &c. exhaufted his fpirits, and almoft dried up his radical moifture* Confider the man of fortune : Can his thoufands a year exempt him from the curfe of Adam ? No ; he toils perhaps harder in his fports and debaucheries, than the poor plowman that works his eftate. View that corpulent epicure, who idles away the whole day, between the feftal board and the dozing couch. You may think that he, at leaft, is free from the curfe which I defcribe : But you are miftaken : while he is living, as he thinks, a life of luxurious eafe and gentle inactivity, he fills himfelf with crude humours, and makes way for the gnawing gout and racking gravel. See even now, how ftrongly he perfpires, and with what uneafmefs he draws his Ihort breath, and wipes his dewy, fhining face; Surely he toils under the load of an undigefted meal. A porter carries a burden upon his brawny fhoul- ders, but this wretch has conveyed one into his fick ftomach. He will not work •> let him alone, and ere long acute pains will bathe him in a$ profufe a fweat, as that of the furnace-man ; and ftrong medicines will exercife him tofuch a de- gree, that he will envy even the collier's lot. It is evident therefore, that mankind are un- der a curfe of toil and fweat*, according to the divine * It has been a.Terte^, that the (hart pleafure of .eating and drinking makes amends for the feyercft toil. The beft way to bring fuch idk,fenfual obje&ors to reafon, would be to make them SECOND PART. S9 divine fentence recorded by Mofes ; and that they are frequently condemned by providence to as hard labour for life, as wretched felons row- Jng in the galleys, or digging in the mines*. But, as it is abfolutely incredible, that a good God, who by a word can fupply the wants of all his creatures, fliould have fentenced innocent .mankind to thefe inconceivable hardfhips to procure or enjoy the neceflaries of life ; it is evi- dent they are guilty, miferable offenders, X. ARGUMENT. Hard labour and fweat, make up but one of the innumerable calamities, incident to the wretched inhabitants of this world. Turn your eyes which way you pleafe, and you will fee fome flying from, others groaning under, the rod of God; and the greateft number bufily making a fcourge for the backs of their fellow- creatures, or their own. To pafs over the mifery of the brute creation : To fay nothing of the fubtilty and rapaciouf- nefs 5 earn every meal by two or three hours threfhing. Befides, what great pleafure can thofe have in eating, who actually fiarve, or juft flay gnawing hunger, by food coarfer than that which their rick neighbours give to their dogs } * God's image disherited of day, Here, plung'd in mines forgets a fun was made ; . There, Beings deathlefs as their haughty Lord, Are hammer'd to the galling oar for life, And plow the winter's wave, and reap defpair. You 5 3 6o An A P P E A L, be- liefs, with which (after the example of men*) they lay wait for, and prey upon one another : To caft a veil over the agonies of millions, that are daily (tabbed, ftrangled, fhot, and even flead, boiled, or fwallowed up alive, for the fupport of man's life, or the indulgence of his luxury : And not to mention again the almoft uninter- rupted cries of feeble infancy : Only take no- lice of the tedious confinement of childhood, the blafted fchemes of youth, the anxious cares of riper years, and the deep groans of wrinkled, decrepid, tottering old age : — Fix your attention upon family trials : Here, a prodigal father ruins his children, or imdutiful children break the hearts of their fond parents ; There, an unkind huf- baud embitters the life of his wife, or an impru- dent wife ftains the honour of her hufband : A fervant difobeys, a relation mifbehaves, a fon lies ill, a tenant breaks, a neighbour provokes, a ri- val fupplants, a friend betrays, or an enemy tri- umphs : Peace feldom continues one day. Liften to the fighs of the afflicted, the moans of the difconfolate, the complaints of the oppref- fed, and fhrieks of the tortured : Confider the deformity of the faces of fome, and diftortion or • Eager ambition's fiery chafe I fee ; I fee the circl ; ng hunt of noify men, Burft Law's inclofure, leap the mounds of Right, Purfuing and purfucd, each others prey ; As wolves, for rap:ne ; as the fox, for wiles ; Till Death f that mighty hunter, earths them all. Young. SECOND PART, 6r mutilation of the limbs of others : To awaken your compaffion, * here a beggar holds out the flump of a thigh or an arm : There, a ragged wretch hops after you, upon one leg and two crutches ; and a little farther you meet with a poor creature, ufing his hands inftead of feet, and dragging through the mire the cumbrous weight of a body without lower parts. Imagine, if poffible, the hardfhips of thofe who are deftitute of one of their fcnfes : Here, the blind is guided by a dog, or gropes for his way in the blaze of noon : There, the deaf lies on the brink of danger, inattentive to the loudeft calls : Here, fits the dumb fentenced to eternal filerice : There dribbles the idiot doomed to perpetual childhood ; and yonder the paralytic fhakes without inter million, or lies fenfelefs, the frightful image of a living corpfe. Leaving thefe wretched creatures, confider the tears of the difappointed, the forrows of the cap- tives, the anxieties of the accufed, the fears of the guilty, and terrors of the condemned. Take a turn through jails, inquifitions, houfes of cor- rection, and places of execution. Proceed to the mournful rooms of the languifhing, and weari- fomebeds of the fick; and let not the fear of feeing human woe, in fome of its moft deplorable F ap- * Some for hard mailers broken under arms, In battle lop'd away, with half their limbs, Beg bitter bread thro' realms their valour fav'd. Youxc. Si An APPEAL, tec ranees* preve rom vifiting hofpitals, infirmaries, and bediarns : A place Before your eyes appears, fad, nohbm, dark, A lazar-houfe it feems, wherein are laid Numbers of all difeas'd : all maladies Of ghaftly fpafm, or racking torture, qualms Ofheart-fick agony, all fev'rous kUids, Convulfions, epilepfies, fierce catarrhs, Inteftine ftone, and ulcer, cholic pangs, Daemoniac phrenzy, moaping melancholy, And moon-ftruck madnefs, pining atrophv, Marafmus, and wide-wafting peftilence, Dropfies, and afthmas, and joint-racking rheums. Dire is the tofling ! Deep the groans ! Defpair Attends'the fick, bufieft from couch to couch : And over them, triumphant Death his dart Shakes ; but delays to ftrike, tho' oft invok'd With vows, as their chief good, and final hope, Milton. To clofe the horrible profpe&, view the ruins of cities and kingdoms, the calamities of wrecks and fieges, the horrors of fea-fights and fields of battle ; with all the crimes, devaluations and cruelties, that accompany revenge, contention, and war ; and you will be obliged to conclude with Job, that corrupt man is born to trouble as the /parks fly upward > with David, that the earth is full of darknefs and cruel habitations ; and with every SECOND PART. 63 every impartial enquirer, that our depravity, and God's juftice, concur to make this world a vale oftcars, as well as a field of toil and fweat ; a vaft prifon for rebels already " tied with the chains of their fins," a boundlefs fcaffbld for their ex- ecution, a golgotha, an aceldama^ an immenfe field of torture and blood. \ Some will probably fay r " This picture of the world is drawn with black lines, but kinder providence blends light and fhade together, and tempera our calamities with nurnberlefs blef- finis." I anfwer : It cannot be too thankfully acknowledged, that, while patience fufpends theftroke of juftice, God, for ChniVs fake, re - ftores us a thoufand forfeited bleflings, that his goodnefs may lead us to repentance. But alas 1 What is the confequence, where divine grace does not prove victorious over corrupt nature ? To all our fins, do we not add the crime of ei- ther enjoying the favours of providence with the greateft ingratitude, or of abufing them with the moft provoking infolence. Our actions are far more expreffive of our re- al fentiments, than our words. Why this vari- ety of exquifite food, fays the voluptuarv, whofe life loudly fpeaks what his lips dare not utter ? Why this abundance of delicious wines, but to tempt my unbridled appetite, and pleafe my lux- urious palate ? — Would God have given foft- nefs to filks, brightnefs to colours, and lufhe F 2 to 64 An A P P E A L, feV. to diamonds, fays the felf-applauding fmileof a foolifh virgin, who worfhips herfelf in a glafs ? Would he have commanded the white of the lily thus to meet the blufh of the rofe, and heighten fo elegant a proportion of features, if he had not defigned that the united powers of art, drefs, and beauty, fliould make me mare his divine honours ? — Why areweblefled with dear children and amiable friends, fays the ridiculous behaviour of fond parents and raptured lovers, but that we fhould fufpend our happinefs on their ravifhing fmiles, and place them as favour- ite idols in the ferine of our hearts ? — And why has heaven favoured me both with a ftrong con- stitution, and an affluent fortune, fays the rich {lave of brutifh lulls, but that I may drink deep- er of earthly joys and fenfual delights? Thus bleffings abufed or unimproved, become curfes in our hands : God's indulgence encou- rages us to offend him : We have the fatal Ikill of extracting poifon from the fweeteft flowers ; and madly turn the gifts of Providence into weapons, to attack our Benefactor and deftroy ourfelves. That there are then fuch perverted gift?, docs not prove that mankind are innocent, but that God's patienze endureth yet daily^ and that >• Uvcth to make intcrceffion for us. Should it be farther objected, that " our plea- fures counter-balance our calamities :" I an- fwer : The greateft part of mankind are fo op- prefied SECOND PART. 6^ prefied with want and cares, toil and ficknefs, that their intervals of eafe may rather be termed " an alleviation of mifery," than " an enjoy- ment of happinefs." Our pains are real and lafting, our joys imaginary and momentary. Could we exercife all our fenfes upon the moft pleafing objeels, the tooth-ach would render all infipid and burdenfome ; a fit of the gout alone damps every worldly joy, while all earthly de- lights together cannot give us eafe under it : So vaitly fuperior is the bitternefs of one bodily pain, tothe fweetnefs of all the pleafures of fenfe ! If objectors ftill urge, that u fufttrings are. needful for our trial :" I reply, They are necef- fary for our pumjhmcnt and correction^ but not for our trial* A good king can try the loyalty of his fubje£ts, without putting them to the rack. Let Nero and Bonner try the innocent by all forts, of tortures, but let not their barbarity be charg- ed upon a God ftri&ly juft, and infinitely good.. However, " calamities prove a blefling to fome." — And fodoes tranfportation : But who. ever inferred from thence, that reformed felons were transported for the trial of their virtue, and not for the punifhmcnt of their crimes ? I con- clude therefore, that our calamities and miferies demonstrate our corruption,, as ftrongjy as the punifliments of the baftinado and pillory, ap- pointed by an equitable judge, prove the guilt of thofe, on whom they are frequently and fevere- ly infliiled. F 3 XI. 66 An APPEAL, &c, XI. ARGUMENT. Would to God the multiplied calamities of life, were a fufficient punifhment for our defpe- rate wickednefs ! But alas ! they only make way for the pangs of death. Like traitors, or rather like wolves and vipers^ to which the Son of God compares natural men, we are all de- voted to deftru£tion. Ye?, as we kill thofe mif- chievous creatures, fo God deftroys the linful fons of men. If the reader is offended, and denies the mor- tifying affertion, let him vifit with me the mournful fpot, where thoufands are daily exe- cuted, and where hundreds make this moment their dying fpeech. I do not mean what fome call " the bed of honour," a field of battle, but a common death -bed. Obferving, as we go along thofe black tro- phies of the king of terrors, thofe efcutcheons, which prepofterous vanity fixes up in honour of the deceafed, when kind charity fhould hang them out as a warning to the living ; let us re- pair to thofe mournful apartments, where weep- ing attendants fupport the dying, where fwoon- ing friends embrace the dead, or whence diftrac- ted relatives carry out the pale remains of all their joy. Guided by their groans and funeral lights, let us proceed to the dreary charnel-houfes and cal* SECOND PART, 67 varies, which we decently call vaults and church- yards : and without flopping to look at the mo- numents of fome, whom my objector remem- bers as. vigorous as himfelf ; and of others, who were perhaps his partners in nightly revels ; let us baften to fee the duft of his mouldered an- ceftors, and to read upon yonder coffins, the dear name of a parent, a child, perhaps a wife, turn- ed off from his bofom into the gulph of eternity. If this fight does not convince him, I (hall open one of the noifome repofitories, and fhew him the deep hollows of thofe eyes, that darted tender fenfation into his foul ; and odious rep- tiles fattened upon the once charming, now ghaftly face, he doated upon. — But methinks he turns pale at the very propofal, and, rather than be confronted with fuch witneffes, acknow - ledges, that he is condemned to die, with all his dear relatives, and the whole human race. And is this the cafe ? Are we then under ftn^ tence of death ? How awful is the confideration ! Of all the things that nature dreads, is not death the moft terrible ? And is it not (as being the greateftof temporal evils) appointed by human and divine laws, for the punifhment of capital offenders; whether they are named felons and traitors^ or more genteely called men and Jznners? Let matter of fa£t decide. Whilft earthly judges condemn murderers, and traitors, to be hanged or beheaded j does not the 6S An APPEAL, &c. the Judge of all) fentence finful mankind, either to pine away with old age, or be wafted with confumptions, burned with fevers, fcalded with hot humors, eaten up with cancers, putrified by mortifications, fuftocated by afthmas, ftrangled by quinfeys, poifoned by the cup of excefs, ftab- bed w r ith the knife of luxury, or racked to death by diforders as loathfome, and accidents as va- rious as their fins ? If you confider the circumftances of their ex- ecution, where is the material difference be- tween the malefaftor and the finner ? The jailor and the turn- key confine the one to his cell : The diforder and the phyfician confine the other to his bed. The one lives upon bread and water : The other upon draughts and bolufes. The one can walk with his fetters : The other loaded with blifters can fcarcely turn himfelf. The one enjoys freedom from pain, and has the- perfeft ufe of his fenfes : The other complains he is racked all over, and is frequently delirious. The executioner does his office upon the one in- a few minutes : But the phyfician and his medi- cines, make the other linger for days, before he can die out of his mifery. An honeft fherifF v and conftables armed with ftaves, wait upon one y while a greedy undertaker and . his party, with like emblems of authority, accompany the other: And if it is any advantage to have a nu- merous attendance, withouccemparifon the felon has the greater train* When SECONDPART. 69 When the pangs of death are over, does not the difference made between the corpfes confift more in appearance than reality ? The murder- er is difTected in the furgeon's hall gratis, and the rich finner is embowelled in his own apart- ment at great expence. The robber expofed to open air, waftes away in hoops of iron ; and the gentleman confined to a damp vault, moulders away in (beets of lead : And while the fowls of the air greedily prey upon the one, the vermin of the earth eagerly devour the other. And if you confider them as launching into the world of fpirits ; is not the advantage, in one refpect, on the male factor's fide ? He is folemn- ly allured he mull die ; and when the death-war- rant comes down, all about him bid him pre- pare, and make the bell of his fhort time : But the phyfician and chaplain, friends and attend- ants, generally flatter the honourable finner to the laft : And what is the confequence ? He either fleeps on in carnal fecurity, till death puts an end to all his delufive dreams ; or, if he has fome notion that he muft repent, for fear of dif- compofing his fpirits, he ftill puts it off till to- morrow ; and in the midft of his delays God fays, Thou Fool^ THIS NIGHT thy foul Jhall be required of thee. What wonder is it then, if when the converted thief goes from the ignominious tree to paradife, the impenitent rich man pafTes from his purple bed> into an awful eternity, and there lifts up bis eyes in unexpected torments ? If 70 An APPEAL, &c. If thefe are truths too obvious to be denied, wilt thou, Sinner, as the thoughtlefs vulgar, blunt their edge, by faying, with amazing un- concern, " Death is a debt we muft all pay ta nature?" Alas! This is granting the point ; for if all have contracted fo dreadful a debt, all are in a corrupt and loft eftate. Nor is this debt to be paid to Nature, but to fii/titt ; otherwife dying would be as eafy as fleeping, or any other natural adtion : But it rs beyond expreffion ter- rible to thee, fromwhofe foul the Redeemer has net extracted Jin, the monfter's Jiing : And if thou doft not fee it now in the mod alarming light, it is becaufe either thou ft it at a great diftance; or the double veil of rafh pre- fumption, and brutifh ftupidity, is yet upon thy hardened heart. Or wilt thou, as the poor heathens, comfort thyfelf with the cruel thought, that " thou {halt not die alone ?" Alas ! dying companions may increafe, but cannot take off the horror of diffo- lution. Befides, though we live in a crowd, we generally die alone : Each muft drink that bit- ter cup, as if he were the only mortal in the univerfe. What muft we do then, in fuch deplorable circumftances ? What ! But humble ourfelves in the duft, and bow low to the fecpter of divine juftk confeffir.g that fince the righteous Got! has condemned us to Certain death, and in gene- ral SECOND PART. y L ral to a far more lingering and painful death, than murderers and traitors are made to under- go, we are certainly degenerate creatures and capital offenders, who ftand in abfolute need of an Almighty Redeemer. Permit me now, candid reader, to make a fo- lemn appeal to thy reafon affifted by the fear of God. From all that has been advanced, does it not appear, that man is no more the favoured, happy, and innocent creature he was, when he came out of the hands of his infinitely gracious Creator ? And is it not evident that, whether we confider him as born into this disordered world, or dying out of it, or paffing from the womb to the grave, under a variety of calami- tous circumftances, God's providential dealings with him prove, that he is by nature in a cor- rupt and loft eftate ? A part, how fmall 1 of this terraqueous globe Is tenanted by man, the reft a wafte, Rocks, deferts, frozen feas, and burning fands, Wild haunts of monfters, poifons, flings, and Such is earth's melancholy map - y but far [death. More fad, this earth is a true map of man : So bounded are its haughty lord's delights To woe's wide empire, where deep troubles tofs, Loud forrows howl, invenom'd paflions bite, Ravenous calamities our vitals feize, And threatning fate wide opens to devour. Young. i ' An APPEAL, &c. " > A A A ▲. ^ ▲ A .4k Jfc. ▲ A. 4t Jk. Jk. Jk. Jtk. Jk. A AA -; #*i THIRD PART. WE have hitherto confidercd man as a mi- ferable inhabitant of a wretched world. We have fcen him furrounded by multitudes of wants; purfued by legions of diflrefles, mala- dies, and woes ; arretted by the king of terrors ; caft into the grave; and fnut up there, the loathfome prey of corruption and worms. Let us now conflder him as a moral agent ; and by examining his difpofition, chara£ter, and con- duel, let us fee whether he is wifely punifhed, according to the fentence of impartial juftice; or wantonly tormented, at the caprice of arbi- trary power. We cannot help acknowledging, it is highly reafonable, firft, that all intelligent creatures fhould love, reverence, and obey their Creator ; becaufe he is moft eminently their Father, their Mafter, and their King : Secondly, that they fhould affift, fupport, and love each ether, as fellow-fubjecls, fellow-fervants, and children of the fame univerfal parent : And thirdly, that they fhould preferve their fouls and bodies in peace and purity ; by which means alone they can be happy in themfelves, profitable to man, and acceptable to God. This is what we ge- nerally call natural religion, which is evidently founded THIRD PART, 73 founded upon eternal rcafon, the fitnefs of things, and the eflential relation of perfons. The propriety of thefe fanctions is fo felf- evident, that the Gentiles , who have not the writ- ten law, are a law unto themfelves, and do (but alas ? how feldom, and from what motives ! ) the things, contained in the law, thus fhewing that the work} the fum and fubftance of the law, though much blotted by the fall, is ftill written in their heart. Nor will it be erafed thence in hell itfelf; for nothing but a fight of the .equity of God's law., can clear his vindictive jufticc in the guilty breaft, give a fcorpion's fling to the worm that gnaws- the ftubborn offender, and arm his up- braiding «:onfciencx with a whip of biting fer- pents. Since the moral law fo ilrongly recommends itfelf to reafon, let us fee how univerfally it is obferved or broken : So lhall matter of fact de- cide, whether we are pure and upright, or pol- luted and depraved. XII. ARGUMENT. Thofe who reject the fcriptures, univerfally agree, that all have finned, and that in many things we offend all. Hence it appears, that perfons of various conftitutions, ranks, and education ; in all nations, religions, times, and places; are born in fuch a ftate, and with fuch a nature, that they infallibly commit many fins in thought, word, or deed, G But 7+ An A P P E A L, &c. But one tranfgreffion would be fufficient, to render them obnoxious to God's difpleafure, and to bring them under the fearful curfe_of his broken law : For, even according to the fta- tutes of this realm, a man, who once robs a tra- veller of a fmall fum of money, forfeits his life ; as well as the bloody highwayman, who for years barbaroufly murders all thofe whom he ftops, and accumulates immenfe wealth by his repeated barbarities. The reafon is obvious : Both incur the penal- ty of the law which forbids robbery; for both effectually break it, though one does it oftner and with more aggravating circumftances than the other. So fure then as one robbery deferves the gallows, one fin deferves death ; The foul that finneth, fays God's law, and not the foul that committeth fo many fins, of fuch or fuch an hei- noufnefs, itjhall die. Hence it is, that the firft fin of the firft man was punifhed both with fpi- ritual and bodily death, and with ten thoufand other evils. The juftice of this fan&ion will appear in a fatisfa&ory light, if we confider the following remarks : i. In our prefent natural ftate, we are fuch ftrangers to God's glory, and thefpirituality of his law; and we are fo ufed to drink the deadly poifon of iniquity like water, that we have no idea of the horror, which fhould feize upon us, after a breach pf the divine law. We are therefore as unfit THIRD PART. yg unfit judges of the atrocioufnefs of fin, as law- lefs, hardened aflaffins, who fhed human blood like water, are of the heinoufnefs of murder. 2. As every wilful fin arifes from a difregaid of that fovereign authority, which is equally ftamped upon all the commandments; it hath in it the principle and nature of all poflible iniqui- ty, that is, the difregard and contempt of the Almighty. 3. There is no proper merit before God, in the longeft and moft exaft courfe of obedience, but infinite demerit in one, even the leaft aft of wil- ful difobedience. TV her we have done all that is commanded us ) we are ftill unprofitable fervants ; ftr the felf-fufficient God has no more need of jtfs, than a mighty monarch, of the vileft infefts th^t creep in the duft beneath his feet : And our belt actions, ftriftly fpeaking, deferve absolutely no- thing from our Creator and Preferver, became we owe him all we have, and are, and can pofli- bly do. But if we tranfgrefs in one point,, we ruin all our obedience, and expofe ourielves to the juft penalty of his broken law. The follow- ing example may illuftrate this obfervation. If a rich man gives a thou/and meals to an in- digent neighbour, he afts only as a man^ he does , nothing but his duty; and the judge allows him no reward. But if he gives'himonly one dofe of poifon, he afts as a murder er^ and muft die a fhameful death. So greatly doss one aft of fin G 2 out* *6 An APPEAL, kc. outweigh a thoufand a£ts of obedience ! How exceedingly abfurd then, is the common notion, that our good works counter-balance our bad ones ! Add to this, that 4. Guilt neceflarily arifes in proportion to the bafenefs of the offender, the greatnefs of the fa- vours conferred upon him, ,and the dignity of the perfon offended. An infulting behaviour to a fervant is a fault, to a Magiflrate it is a crime, to a King it is treafon. And what is wilful- fin, but an injury offered by an impotent rebel, to the infinitely powerful Law-giver of the unr- verfe, to the kindefl: of Benefactors, to the gra- cious Creator and Preferver of men — an infult giVen to the fupreme Majefty of heaven and ?'rth, in whofe glorious prefence the dignity of the greateft Potentates and Archangels, as truly disappears, as the fplendor of the ftars in the blaze of the meridian fun ? Sin therefore flying into the face of fuch a Law-giver, Benefa£lor, and Monarch, has in it a kind of infinite deme- rit from its infinite Objecft; and rebellious, ungrateful, wretched man, who commits it a thoufand times with a thoufand aggravations, may, in the nervous language of our Church, be faid, in fome fenfe, to defcrvc a thou [and bells if there were fo many. XIII. ARGUMENT. Our natural depravity manifefts itfelf by con- ftant omiffio/is of duty, as much as by flagrant com- SECOND PART. 77 commiflions of fin, and perhaps much more. Take one inftance out of many, that might be produced. Conftant difplays of preferving goodnefs, and prefents undefervedly and unin- terruptedly beftowed upon us, deferve a perpe- tual tribute of heart-felt gratitude : God de- mands it in his law ; and conscience, his agent in our fouls, declares, it ought in jufHce to be payed. But where fhall we find a Deift, properly con- scious of what he owes the fupreme Being, for his u creation, prefervation, and all the bleffings of this life ?'' And where, a Chriftian duly fenfible of " God's ineftimable love in the re- demption of the world by our Lord Jefus Chrift?" A due fenfe of his ever-multiplied mercies, would fill our fouls with never-ceafing wonder, and make our lips overflow with rap- turous praife. The poet's language would fuit our grateful fenfations, and without exaggera- tion paint the juft ardor of our tranfports. Bound ev'ry heart, and ev'ry bofom burn. Praife, flow forever (if aftonifhment Will give thee leave) my praife, for ever flow: Praife ardent, cordial, conftant, &c Is not any thing fhort of this thankful frame of mind, a fin of omiffion, a degree of ingrati- tude, of which all are naturally guilty j and for G 3 which fS An APPEAL, &c. wh'ich, it is to be feared, the beft owe ten thou- i fand talents both to divine goodjiefs and juftice ? Throw only a few bones to a dog, and you win him: He follows you : Your word becomes his law : Upon the firft motion of your hand he flies through land and water to execute your commands: Obedience is his delight, and your prefence his paradife : "He convinces you of it by all the demonftrations of joy, which he is capa- ble of giving : And if he .unhappily lofes fight of you, he exerts all his fagacity to trace your footfteps : nor will he reft, till he finds his bene- "faclor again. Shall a brute be fo thankful to a man for fome offals, while man himfelf is fo full of ingratitude to God, who created him, preferves his life from deftrudtion, and hourly crowns him with mercies and loving-kindnefs ! How fhould fhame cover our guilty faces ! Surely if the roy- al prophet could fay, he was a beafi before God \ may we not well confefs, that in point of grati- tude, we are worfe than the dulleft, and moft ftupid part of the brute creation ? For even The o,v, fays the Lord, knoweth his owner ^ and the afs his majlcr's crib ; but Ifrael doth not know me, my people doth not conjider my daily favours. And if the very heathens affirmed that § to call a man, ungrateful to an human benefactor, was to fay of him allpojjible evil in one word; how can we ex- prefs § Ingratum fi dizerls; omnia dicis. Juv. THIRD PART, ^ 79 .prefs the bafenefs and depravity of mankind, who are univerfally fo ungrateful, to fo boun- teous a benefactor as God himfelf? XIV. ARGUMENT. But, though we feem made of cold inatten- tion, when the fight of ^divine mercies fhould kindle our heart into gratitude and praife ; we foon get out of this languid frame of mind : For, in the purfuit of fenfual gratifications, we are all activity and warmth ; we feem an ardent compound of life and fire. What can be the reafon of this amazing dif- ference ? — What but rebellious knk and wan- ton appetite, raifed at the fight or idea of fome forbidden objedl ! The bait of pleafure appears, corrupt nature fummons all her powers, every nerve of expe&ation is ftretched ; every pulfe of defire beats high -> the blood is in a general fer- ment ; the fpirits are in an univerfal hurry ; and though the hook of a fatal confequence is often apparent, the alluring bait muft be fwallowed. The fear of God, the moft ineftimable of all treafures, is already gone ; and if the finful gra- tification cannot be enjoyed upon any other term, a good reputation fhall go alfo. Reafon indeed makes remonftrances ; but the loud cla- mours of flefli and blood, foon drown her foft whifpers. The carnal mind fteps imperioufly upon the throne: Senfe, that conquers the greateft 3o An A P P E A L, &c. greateft conquerors, bears down all oppofition t The yielding man is led captive by a brutifh luft ; and while angels blufh, there is joy in hell over the a&ual, and compleat degradation of an heaven-born fpirit. Some indeed affirm, that thefe confli&s fuit a ftate of probation and trial. But it is evident, that either our temptations are too violent for our ftrength, or our flrength too weak for our temptations ; fince, notwithftanding the additi- onal help of divine grace, there never was a mere mortal, over whom they never triumphed. Nor can we exculpate ourfelves by pleading, that thefe triumphs of fenfe over reafon, are nei- ther long nor frequent. Alas ! How many per- petrate an a£ of wickednefs in a moment, and iuffer death itfelf for a crime which they never repeated ! See that chryftal veflel. It's brightnefs and brittlenefs reprefent the fhining, and delicate nature of true virtue. If I let it fall, and break it, what avails it to fay, " I never broke it be- fore. — I dropped it but once — I am exceffively forry for my careleflhefs— - I will fet the pieces together, and never break it again :" Will thefe excufes and refolutions prevent the veflel from being broken — broken for ever ? The reader may eafily make the application. Even heathen moralifts, by their fabulous ac- count of the companions of Ulyfies, turned into Twine, THIRD PART. ft fwine, upon drinking once of Circe's enchanted cup, teach us, that one fall into fenfuality, turns a man into a brute; juft as one flip into un- chaftity or difhonefty, changes a modefl: woman into a ftrumpet, or an honef! man into a thief. Again, Ought not reafon to have as abfolute a com- mand over appetite, as a fkilful rider has over a well-broken horfe ? But fuppofe we faw ali horfemenuniverfallymaftered,one time or other* by their beafts ; and forced, though but for a few minutes, to receive the bit, and go or flop at the pleafure of the wanton brutes : fhould we not wonder, and juftly infer, that man had loft the kind of fuperiority, which he ftill maintains over domeftic animals ? And what then, but the commonnefs of the cafe, can prevent our being fhocked, when we. fee rational creatures over- come, and led captive by carnal appetites ? Is not this the wanton, rebellious heart mounting upon his vanquifhed, daftardly rider ? We may then conclude, that the univerfal rebellion of our lower faculties againft our fu- perior powers, and the triumphs of fcnk over reafon, demonftrate, that human nature has fuf- fered as fatal a revolution, as thefe kingdoms did, when a degraded king was ken bleeding on the fcaffold, and a bafe ufurper lording it in the feat of majefty, XV. 8l An A P P E A L, &c. XV. ARGUMENT. Happy would it be for us, if our fall mani- fefted itfelf only by fome tranfient advantages of fenfe over reafon. But alas ! the experience of of the beft demonftrates the truth of Ifaiah's Words, The whole head isjick. To fay nothing of the grofs ftupidity,and un- conquerable ignorance,, that keep the generality of mankind juft above the level of brutes > how ftrong, how clear is the Understanding of men of fenfe in worldly affairs ! How weak, how dark in fpiritual things ! How few idiots are there, but can diftinguifh between the fha- dow and the fubftance, the cup and the liquor, the drefs and the perfon ! But how many learn- ed men, to this day, fee no difference between water-baptifm and fpiritual regeneration, be- tween the means of grace and grace itfelf, be- tween the form and the power of godlinefs ! At our devotions, is not our mind generally like the roving butterfly ; and at our favourite diverfions, and lucrative bufinefs, like the fattening leech ? Can it not fix itfelf on any thing, fooner than on the one thing needful ; and find out any way, be- fore that of peace and falvation ? What can be more extravagant than our Ima- gination ? How often have we caught this wild power, forming and purfuing phantoms, building and pulling down caftles in the air ! How THIRD PART. Sj How frequently hath it raifed us into proud con* ceits, and then funk us into gloomy apprehen- fions ! And where is the man, that it never led into fuch mental fcenes of vanity and lewdnefs, as would have made him the objedl of univerfal contempt if the vail of a grave and modeft coun- tenance, had not happily concealed him from public notice ? And has our Memory efcaped unimpaired by ' the fall ? Alas ! let us only confider, how eafily we forget the favours of our Creator, and recol- lect the injuries of our fellow-creatures ; how little we retain of a good book or pious difcourfe, and how much of a play or frivolous converfa- tion : and how exa&Iy we remember an invita- tion to a party of pleafure, whilft the loudeft calls to turn to God, and prepare for death, are nofooner heard than forgotten. — Let us, I fay, confider thefe things^ and we (hall be forced to confefs, that this ufeful power lofes like a fieve the living water of truth, drinks in like a fponge the muddy ftreams of vanity, and is never fo retentive, as when it is excited by revenge, or Tome other deteftable temper, " A wretch that is condemned to die to-mor- row, cannot forget it, fays Baxter ; yet poor Tinners, who are uncertain to live an hour, and certain fpeedily to fee the Majefty of the Lord, to their inconceivable joy or terror, can forget thefe things, for which they have their memory; an* £* An APPEAL, feV. and which, one would think, fhould drown the matters of this world, as the report of a cannon doss a whifper, or as the fun obfcures the poor- eft glow-worm. O wonderful ftupidity of an unregenerate foul ! O aftonifhing diftra&ion of the ungodly ! That ever men can forget eternal joy, eternal woe, the eternal God, and the place of their unchangeable abode \ when they ftand even at the door, and there is but the tkin vail of flefh between them, and that amazing fight, that eternal gulph, into which thoufands are daily plunging !" Nor does our f Reason make us amends for the defeats of our other faculties. Its beams* it is true, wonderfully guide fome perfons thro* the circle of fciences* and the mazes of com- mercial cr political affairs. But when it fhould lead us in fearch of the truth which is after godii- »f/s, unlefs it is affifted from above, how are its faint rays obftructed by the grof* medium of flefh and blood, broken by that of paflion, and fometimes loft in that of prejudice ! Wife fons ofreafon, learned Philofophers, your 288 opi- nions concerning the chief good ^ are a multiplied proof of my fad affertion : All mifs the mark : Not one of them makes the fupreme felicity to confift in the knowledge and enjoyment of God, the f By Reafm I mean that power, by which we' pafs judgment upon, and draw inferences from, what the Undcrflaru&ng has fun- pi j apprehended. THIRD PART. 8; the amiable and adorable Parent of all good. True reafon, alas ! is as rare as true piety. The poor thing, which, in fpiritual matters, the world calls Reafon y is only the ape of that noble faculty. How partial, how unreafonablc* is this falfe pretender ! If it does not altogether •overlook the awful realities of the invifible which is too frequently the cafe, howbufy is it to reafon away faith, and raife objections againft the mofl: evident truth, || even that, which I now contend for ? And when right Reafon has beew H worfted * Our earth's the bedlam of th«univerfe, Where reafon (undifeas'd in heaven) runs mad, And nmfes folly's children as her own, Fond of the fouleft. f Young. |] A late publication in vindication of relagjanifm appears to me no fmall instance of this. Tftfc Rev. Author^akes his eftimate of human nature, not from univerfal experience, but his indulged imagination ; not from St. Paul the chief of the apoflles, but from Dr. Taylor, to whom he acknowledges his obligations for fever al of the tejl paffages in his fennon. Palling over the expofition of his text, where he oddly fuppofes that our Lor ] meant, by the drawings of God, the natural powers of man ; which is as reafonable as to fup- pofe, that when he faid, Without me you can do nothing, he meant that me fhould fignify ourfelzes : — Faffing this over, I (hall juft point out his capital miftake. He tells us, that All our faculties and powers are good and beautiful in their order, [that they were fo before the fall is fully granted] and tend naturally to the happi- nefs both of the individual and the fyflem : And he adds, that How weak foever and imperfefi our intellectual faculties nicy be,yettofpeak reproachfully of them in general is afpecies of blafphemy againft our Creator. If to expofe tbe prefent weaknefs of our rational facul- ties, and (hew how greatly they are difordered and impaired by the fall, ^ what this Divine calls jpeaking reproachfully of thcw t 86 An APPEA L, &c worfted by fenfe, how ready is the impoftor to plead againft the faculty v/hich it perfonates ! How fkilful in cloaking bad habits under the genteel name of " human foibles !" And how ingenious, in defending the mod irrational and dangerous methods of lofing time, as " inno- cent fports, and harmlefs diverfions ! " Thefe obfervations, which muft appear felf- evident to all, who know the world or themfelves, inconteftably prove the degeneracy of all our rational powers, and confequently the univer- sality of our natural corruption. XVI. have not the beft men been found guilty of this pretended blaffhe- n:y ? How far the Apoftles and Reformers carried it, may be feen in the Srft part of this treatife. How he can clear himfeli'of it, as a fubfcriber to the 9th, 10th, and 35th Articles of our Church, I cannot fee : And by what means he will jutfify his conduct to the world, in receiving hundreds a year to maintain the doctrine of the Church of England, while hepublickly expofes it as afpecies cfblafphetny, is ftill a greater myftcry. Far from feeing that all the faculties and poive--s t by which this is done, are good and beaitti* fuly I cannot help thinking'fome of them are materially defective; and that though fuch a conducl: may very much tend to the emolu- ment of the individual, it has little tendency to the happtnefs of the ■■■■:. For my part, were I to commence advocate for the tip* i \gbtnefi of human nature, I would fave appearances, left Dr. Toy- lor himfelf mould fay, Non defenforibus iftis, &c. But dropping this point, I appeal to common fenfe : Who is moil guilty of blaf* fhemy agahft our Crea.'or ; he who fays God made man both holy and happy, affirming that the prefent weaknefs of our rational powers, is entirely owing to the original apoftacy of mankind : or he, who intimates, that the gracious Author of our being, formed our intellectual faculties weak and imperfect as they now are ? If it is not the latter, my underitanding i§ tfrangely defective.— — THIRDPART. 87 xvf. argument; When the whole head isjick^ is not the whole heart faint? Can our. Will, Conference, and Affec- tions, run parallel to the line of duty j when cur Underftanding, Imagination, Memory, and Reafon are fo much warped from original re£li- tude ? Impoffible ! Experience, thou ,beft of judges, I appeal to thee. Erect thy fair tribu- nal in the Reader's breaft, and bear an honeft teftimony to the truth of the following affertions. Our Will, in general is full of obftinacy : We muft have our own way, right or wrong. 'Tis pregnant with inconftancy : We are paf- fionately fond of a thing one day, and tir'd of it the next : We form good refolutions in the morning, and break them before night. 'Tis impotent: When we fee what is right, inftead H-2 of In vain does this learned Divine tell us, that the candU of the Lo^d which ivas lighted up in man at firfl, ivhen the Inspiration of the- Almighty gave htm imderjlandlng, ivas not txtmgttijbtd by the origi- nal apojlacy, but has kept burning ever f. nee, and that the divine flame has catched from father tofon, and has been propagated quite dcivn to theprefent generation : If it is reafonable to charge with afpecies of hlafphemy thofe who reverence their Creator too much, to father our prefent ftate of imperfection upon him, I muft confefs my rea- fon fails : I have outlived the divine flame for one, or it never catch* * edfrom my father to me, A fear left fome well-meaning perfci fhould miftake the taper of Pelagius, or the lamp of Dr. Taylor, for the candle of the Lord, and follow it in the deftru&ive paths of error, extorts this note from my pen, See the objections that foU low the xxii Argument, S8 An A P P E A L, &c. of doing it with all our might, wc frequently remain as ina&ive, as if we were bound by in- vifible chains ; and we wonder by what charm, the wheels of duty thus flop againft our apparent inclinations ; till we difcover, that the fpring of our will is broken, or naturally works the wrong way. Yes, it is not only unable to fol- low the good, that the underftanding approves ; but full of perverfenefs to purfue the evil, that reafon disapproves : We are prone to do, con- trary to our defign, thofe things which breed remorfe and wound confeience : and fooner or later, we may all fay with the heathen princefs,. who was going to murder her child : Video meliora, proboque, Deteriora fequor*. Nor is Conscience itfelf untainted. Alas I how flow is it to reprove in fome cafes ! In others, how apt not to do it at all ! In one perfonit is eafy under mountains of guilt ; and in another, it is unreafonably fcrupulous about mere trifles: It eithery?n7//z5 at a gnat , or /wallows a camel : When it is alarm'd, in fome it fhews itfelf ready to be made eafy by every wrong me- thod ; in others, it obftinately refufes to be paci- fied by the right. To-day, you may with pro- priety compare it to a dumb dog, that does not bark * If the reader wants to know the Englifh of thefe words, he may find it, Rom* v:i. 15. THIRD PART. 8 -, ba*rk at a thief; and to-morrow, to a fnarling cur, that flies indifferently at a friend, a foe, or afhadow ; and then madly turns upon him- felf, and tears his own flefli; If Confcience, the beft power of the uncon- verted man, is fo corrupt, Good God ! what are his Affections ? Almoft perpetually deficient in fome, and exceflive in others, when do they attain to, or (top at, the line of moderation ? Who can tell, how oft he has been the fport of their irregularity and violence ? One hour we are hurried into rafhnefs by their impetuofity ; the next, we are bound in floth by their inacti- vity, Sometimes every blaft of foolifh hope, or ill-grounded fear ; every gale of bafe defire, or unreafonable averlion ; every wave of idola- trous love, or finful hatred ; every furge of mif- placed admiration, or groundlefs horror; every billow of noify joy, or undue forrow, toffes, raifes, or finks our foul ; as a fhip in a ftorm, which has neither rudder nor ballaft. At other times, we are totally becalmed ; all our fails are furled, not one breath of devout or human af- fection ftirs in our ftoical, frozen bread: ; and we remain ftupidly infenfible, till the fpark of temptation, dropping upon the combuftible mat- ter in our hearts, blows us up again into loud pafiion : And then, how dreadful and ridiculpus together, is the new explofion ! If experience pronounces, that thefe reflecti- ons are juft, the point is gained. Our whole H 3 heart 90 An A P P E A L, Sec. bemt is faint, through the unaccountable difor- ders of our 11////, the lethargy or boifterous fits of our con/deuce, and the fwooning or high fe- ver of our affections : And we may without hy- pocrify, join in our daily confeffion, and fay, There is no health in us. XVII. ARGUMENT. The danger of thefe complicated maladies of our fouls, evidences itfelf by the moft fatal of all fymptoms, our manifcjl alienation from God. Yes, fhocking as the confeffion is, we muff make it, if truth has any dominion in our bread : Unrenewed Man loves not his God. That eternal Beauty, for whofe contemplation ; that fupreme Good, for whofe enjoyment he was created, is generally forgotten, defpifed, or hat- ed. If the thought of his holy Majefty prefents itfelf, he looks upon it as an intruder : It lays him under as difagreeable a reftraint, as that, which the prefenceof a grave, pious mafter puts upon a wanton idle fervant : Nor can he quiet- ly purfue his finful courfes, till he has driven away the troublefome idea -> or imagined with the Epicure a carelefs God, who wants refolu- tion to call him to an account, and juftice to punifh him for his iniquity. Does any one offer an indignity to his favour- ite friend, or only fpeak contemptibly of the object of his eftccm, he feels as if he was the perfon THIRD PART. 9 r perfon infulted, and reddening with indignation directly efpoufes his caufe : But every body, the meaneft of his attendants not excepted, may with impunity infult the King of kings in his prefence, and take the mod: prophane liberties with his name and word, his laws and minif- ters : He hears the wild blafphemy, and regards it not ; he fees the horrid outrage, and refents it not ; and yet, amazing infatuation ! he pre- tends to love God. If he goes to the play, he can fix his roving eyes, and wandering mind, three hours together upon the fame trifling objects, noronly without wearinefs, but with uncommon delight. If he has an appointment with the perfon whom he adores as a deity ; his fpirits are elevated, ex- pectation and joy flutter in his dilated breaft : He fweetly anticipates the pleafing interview, or impatiently chides the flowly-flowing mi- nutes : His feelings are inexpreffible. But if he attends the great congregation, which he too often omits upon the moft frivolous pretences, it is rather out of form and decency, than out of devotion and love ; rather with indifference or reluctance, than with delight and tranfport: And when he is prefent there, how abfent are his thoughts ! How wandering his eyes ! How trifling, fupine, irreverent his whole behavi- our ! He would be afhamed to fpeak to the meaneft of his fervants, with as little attention as 92 An A P P E A L, Sec, as he fometimes prays to the Majefly of heaven* . Were he to flare about when he gives them or- ders, as he does when he prefentshis (applicati- ons to the Lord of Lords, he would be afraid that they would think he was half drunk, on had a touch of lunacy. Suppofe he ftill retains a fenfe of outward de- cency, while the Church goes through her fo- lemn offices -, yet how heavy are his fpirits ! How heartlefs his confefTions : how cold his prayers ! The bleiling comes at laft, and he is bleffed indeed — not with the grace of our Lord Jcfus Chrijl, and the fdlowjblp of the Holy GhoJ? y for that he gladly leaves to " poor enthufiafts," but with a releafe from his confinement and te- dious work. And now that he has " done his duty, and ferved God," he haftes away to the company that fuits his tafle. See him there. Do not his very looks de- clare, he is in his own element ? With what eagernefs of fpirit, energy of gefture, and volu- bility of tongue, does he talk over his laft enter- tainment, chafe, or bargain ? Does not the oil of chearfulnefs make all his motions as free and eafy, as if weight and fri&ion had no place at all in his light and airy frame I I * Men homage pay to men, Thoughtlefs beneath whofe dreadful eye they bow In mutual awe profound, of clay to clay, Of guilt to guilt, and turn their backs on Thee, Great Sire ! whom thrones celeftial ceafelefs ling ; To proftrate angels an amazing fcene ! Young. THIRD PART. 93 Love of God, thou fweeteft, ftrongeft of all powers ! didft thou ever thus metamorphofe his foul, and impart fuch a fprightly activity to his body ? And you that converfe moft familiarly withhim, Did you ever hear him fay, Come, and I will tell you what the Lord has done for my foul : Tajle, and fee how good the Lord is ? — No, never ; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth fpeak- eth : Nor can it be expedted that God, who hath no place in his joyous reflexions, Should have one in his chearful converfation. On the con- trary, it will be matter of furprize to thofe who introduce the delightful fubje<5t of the love of God, if he does not wave it off, as dull, melan- choly, or enthufiaftical, But as he will give you to understand, " he is no hypocrite, and therefore confines devotion to his clofet," follow him there — Alas! hefcarce ever bends the knee to Him that fees infecret : Or, if he fays his prayers as regularly as he winds his watch, it is much in the fame fpirit: For fuppofe he does not hurry them over, or cut them as fhort as poffible - 9 yet the carelefs for- mal manner in which he offers them up, indi- cates as plainly as his public conduit, the aver- fion lurking in his heart againft God : And yet he fancies he loves Him : With a fneer that in- dicates felf-applaufe, and a pharifaic contempt of others; " Away with all your feelings and raptures, fays he, This is the love of God, that we hep 94. An APPEAL, &c. keep his commandments.' 9 But alas ! which of them does he keep ? Certainly not thej?r/? — for the Lord is not the fu pre me object of his hopes and fears, his confidence and joy: Nor yet the laft — for difcontent and wrong defires are (till indulged in his felfifliand worldly heart. How unfortunate therefore is his appeal to the com- tnandmentS) by which his fecret enmity to the law, government, and nature of God is brought to the cleareft light ! XVIII. ARGUMENT. But as the heart-felt love of God is fuppofed to be downright enthufiafm by fome moralifts, who, dafhing in pieces the firfl: table of the law againfl the fecond, pretend that all our duty to God confifts in the love of our neighbour; let us examine the unconverted man's charity, and fee whether he bears more love to his fellow- creatures, than to his Creator. Nothing can be more erroneous than his no- tions of charity. He confounds it with the bare giving of alms \ not confidering that it is poflible to do this kind of good, from the moft felfifh and uncharitable motives. Therefore, when the fear of being accounted covetous, the defire of paffing for generous, the vanity of feeing his name in a lift of noble fubfcribers, the fhame of being outdone by his equals, the teazing impor- tunity of an obftinate beggar, the moving ad- drefs THIRD PART, 9 $ ilrefs of a folicitor whom he would blufh to de- ny, or the pharifaic notion of making amends for his fins, and purchafing heaven by his alms — when any, I fay, of thefe Snifter motives fets him upon ailifting induftrious poverty, relieving friendlefs old age, or fupporting infirm and mu- tilated indigence, he fancies, that he gives an indubitable proof of his charity. Sometimes too he affixes to that word, the idea of a fond hope, that every body is going to heaven : For if you intimate, that the rich vo- luptuary is not with Lazarus in Abraham's bo- fom, and that the foolifh virgins are not pro- rcifcuoufly admitted to glory with the wife, he wonders at " your uncharitablenefs," and thanks God " he never entertained fuch un- chriftian thoughts of his neighbours. " He conliders not, that charity is the fair off- fpring of the love of God, to which he is yet an utter ftranger ; and that it confifts in an univer- fal, difinterefted benevolence to all mankind, our worft enemies not excepted : A benevolence, • that fweetly evidences itfelf by bearing with patience the evil which they do to us, and kind- ly doing them all the good we poffibly can, both with refpecT: to their foul and body, their pro- perty and reputation. If this is a juft definition of charity, the un- renewed man has not even the outfide of it. To prove it, I might appeal to his impatience and ill- 9 6 Ad APPEAL, Sec. ill-humour, his unkind words and cutting ral- leries (for I fuppofe him too moral ever to flan- cfer or curfe any one : ) I might mention his fu- percilious behaviour to fome, who are intitled to his affability as men, countrymen and neigh- bours : I might expatiate on hisreadinefs to ex- culpate, enrich, or aggrandize himfelf at the expence of others, whenever he can do it with- out expofing himfelf. But, waving all thefe particulars, I afk : Whom does he truly love ? You anfwer : Doubt- lefs theperfon to whom he makes daily protefta- tions of the warmeft regard." — But how does he prove this regard ? Why, perhaps by the molt artful infinuations, and dangerous attempts to rob her of her virtue. Perhaps he has alrea- dy gained his end — Unhappy Magdalen ! How much better would it have been for thee, to have fallen into the hands of an highwayman ! Thou wouldft only have loft thymoney, but now thou art defpoiied of the honour of thy fex, and the peace of thy mind : Thou art robbed at once of virgin innocence, a fair reputation, and pof- fibly an healthy conftitution. If this is a fpe- cimen of the unconverted man's love, what muit be his hatred ! But I happily miftake : " He is no libertine, he has a virtuous wife, and amiable children, and he loves them, fay you, with the tendereft affe&ion." I reply, that thefe relations, being immortal THIRD PART, 97 immortal fpirits , confined for a few years, in a tenement of clay, and continually on the remove for eternity \ his laudable regard for their frail bodies, and proper care of their temporal pro/per ity 9 are not a fufficient proef, that he loves them in a right manner. For even according to |] v. Heathens, our foul is our better part, our truefelf And what tender concern does the unrenewed man feel for the foul of his bofom friend ? Does he regard it more than the body of his grom, or the life of his horfe ? Does he, with any degree of importunity, carry it daily in thearms of love and prayer, to the throne of grace for life and falvati- on ? Does he, by good instructions, and a virtu- ous example, excite his children to fecure an e- ternal inheritance ? And is he at leaft as defirous to fee them wife and pious ; as well-bred, rich, handfome and great? Alas ! I fear it is juft the reverfe. He is probably the firft to poifon their tender minds, with fome of the dangerous max- ims, that vanity and ambition have invented : And, fuppofing he has a favourite dog, it is well if he is not more anxious, for the prefervation of that one domeftic animal, than for the falva- tion of all their fouls. If thefe obfervations are founded upon matter of fa£t, as daily experience demonftrates, I ap- peal to common fenfe, and afk : Can the natu- ral man, with all his fondnefs, be faid to have a true love even for hisneareft relatives ? And is I not j) Nos non corpora fumus : Corpus cu.'clem vas eft aut alicr.od aaimi receptaculum. Cic. Tufc. Quxlt. lib. i. 93 An A P P E A L, See. not the regard that he manifefts for their bodies, more like the common inftindt, by which doves cleave to their mates, and fwallows provide for their young ; than like the generous affeftion, which a rational creature ought to bear to im- mortal sfirits, awfully hovering in a fcale of probation, which is juft going to turn for hell or heaven. XIX. ARGUMENT. Nor is it furprizing, that the unrenewed man fiiould be devoid of all true love to his neareft relations : for he is fo compleatly fallen, that he bears no true love even to himfclf. Let us overlook thofe who cut their throats, fhoot, drown", or hang themfelves. Let us take no no- tice of thofe who facrifice a year's health for a night's revel ! who enflame their blood into fe- vers, or derive putrefaction into their bones, for the momentary gratification of a fhameful appe- tite ; and are fo hot in the purfuit of a bafe plea- fure, that they leap after it even into the jaws of an untimely grave : Let us, I fay, pais by thofe innumerable, unhappy victims of intemperance, and debaucherv, who fquander their money up- on panders and harlots, and have as little regard for their health, as for their fortune and repu- tation : and let us conftder the cafe of thofe good-natured, decent perfons, who profefs to have a real value for both. Upon the principle laid down in the laft argu- ment, may I not alk, What love have thefe for ^y their THIRDPART. 99 their immortal part, their true /elf? What do they do for their fouls ? Or rather, what do they not leave undone ? And who can fhew lefs con- cern for their greateft intereft than they ? Alas ? in fpiritual matters, the wifeft of ,them feem on a level with the moft foolifh. They anxioufly fecure their title to a few pofFeflions in this tranfitory world, out of which the ftream of time carries them with unabated impetuofity ; while they remain ftupidly thoughtlefs of their portion in the unchangeable world, into which they are jufl: going to launch* : They take par- ticular notice of every trivial incident in life, every idle report raifed in their neighbourhood, and fupinely overlook the great realities of death and judgment, hell and heaven. You fee them perpetually contriving how to preferve, indulge, and adorn their dying bodies; and daily neglefting the fafety, welfare and I 2 or- * Time flies, death urges, knells call, heaven invites, Hell threatens ; all exerts ; in effort all ; More than creation labours ! labours more ! And is there in creation, what, amidit This tumult wniverfal, wing'd difpatch, And ardent energy, fupinely yawns ? Man fleeps ; and man alone ; and man, whofe fate, Fate irreversible, intire, extreme, Endlefs, hair-hung, breeze- (taken, o'er the gulph A moment trembles ; drops ! and man, for whom All elfe is in alarm ; man, the fole caufe Of this furrounding ftorm 1 and yet he fleeps, As the (torm rock'd to reft. Yovsre, ico An A P P E A L, feV. ornament of their immortal fouls. So great is their folly, that earthly toys make them flight heavenly thrones ! Sowilful their felf-deception, that a point of time || hides from them a bound- lefs eternity ! So perverted is their moral tafte, that th:y naufeate the word of truth, the pre- cious food of fouls, and greedily run upon the tempter's hook, if it is but made of folid gold, or gilt over with the fpecious appearance of ho- nour, or onlv with the profpecl of a fa- vourite diveriion. And whilft, by uneafy fret- ful tempers, they too often impair their bodily health ; by exorbitant affections and pungent cares, they frequently break their hearts, or pierce themfelves through with many forrows. Does fuch a condu£r, deferve the name of well- ordered [elf-hve^ or prepofterous felf-hatred? O man, finful man, how totally art thou depraved, if thou art not only thy own moft dangerous enemy, but often thy moft cruel tormentor ! XX. ARGUMEN T. This depravity is productive of the moft de- teftable brood. When it has fupprefled the love of God, perverted the love of our neigh- bour lj And is it in the flight of threefcore years To pufh eternity from human thought, And bury fouls immortal in the duft ? A foul immortal fpending all her fires, Wafting her firength in ftrenuous idlenefs ; THIRD PART. 101 bour, and vitiated felf-love ; it foon gives birth to a variety of execrable tempers, and dire affec- tions, which fhould have no place but in the breafts of fiends, no outbreaking but in the chambers of hell. If you afk their name : I anfwer, — Pride, that odious vice, which feeds on the praifes it flily procures, lives by the applaufe it has meanly courted, and is equally ftabb'd by the reproof of a friend, and the fneer of a foe. — Thefpirit ofin- dependance, which cannot bear controul, is gal- led by the eafieft yoke, gnaws the flender cords of juft authority, as if they were the heavy chains of tyrannical power ; nor ever ceafes ftruggling till they break, and he can fay : M Now I am my own matter." — Ambition and Vanity, which, like Proteus, take a thoufand fhapes, and wind a thoufand ways, to climb up to the high feat of power, fhine on the tottering ftage of honour, wear the golden badge of fortune, glitter in the gaudy pomp of drefs, and draw by diftinguifhing appearances, the admiration of a gaping multi- tude. — Sloth, which unnerves the foul, infeebles the body, and makes the whole man deaf to the calls of duty, loath to fet about his bufinefs, {even when want, fear, or fhame, drives him to I 3 it). Thrown into tumult,, raptur'd, or alarnvd, At ought this fcene can threaten or indulge, Refembles Ocean into tempefr wrought To waft a feather, or to drown a fly. Younc, ioz An APPEAL, Sec. it) ready to poftpone or omit it upon any pre- tence, and willing to give up even the interefts of fociety, virtue and religion, (o he may faun- ter undifturbed, doze the time av/ay in ftupid inactivity, or enjoy himfelf in that daftardly in- dolence, which paries in the world for quietnefs and good-nature. — Envy^ that looks with an evil eye at the good things our competitors enjoy, takes a fecret pleafure in their misfortunes, un- der various pretexts expofes their faults, flyly tries to add to our reputation what it detracts from theirs, and flings our heart when they eclipfe us by their greater fuccefs, or fuperior excellencies. — Coveloufucfs^ which is always dif- fatisfied with its portion, watches it with tor- menting fears, increafes it by every fordid mean, and turning its own executioner, juftly pines forv/ant over the treafure, it madly faves for a prodigal heir. — Impatience^ which frets at every thing, finds fault with every perfon, and madly tears herfelf under the diftreffing fenfe of apre- fent evil, or the anxious expectation of an ab- fent good. — Wrath y which diftorts our faces, racks our breaits, alarms our houfholds, threat- tns, curfes, ftamps and ftorms even upon imagi- nary or trifling provocations. — Jealoufy, that through a fatal fkill in diabolical optics, fees contempt in all the words of a favourite friend, difcovers .nfidelity in all his actions, lives upon the wicked fufpicions it begets, and turns the fweets THIRD PART. fweets of the mildeft paffion into wormwood and gall. — Idolatrous lev*, which preys upon the fpirits, confumes the flefh, tears the throb- bing heart, and when it is difappointed, fre- quently forces its wretched fiaves to lay violent hands upon themfelves. — Hatred of our fellow- low-creatures, which keeps us void of tender benevolence, a chief ingredient in the blifs of angels ; and fills us with fome of the moft un- happy fenfations belonging to accurfed fpirits, — Malice, which takes an unnatural, hellifh plea- fure in teazing beafts, and hurting men in their perfons, properties, or reputation, — And the cff- fpring of malice, Revenge*, who always thirfts after mifchief or blood -, and fhares the only de- light of devils, when he can repay a real or fan- cied injury feven-fold. — Hypccrify, who borrows the cloke of religion : bids her flexible mufcles imitate vital piety ; attends at the facred altars, to make a fhow of her fictitious devotion ; there raifes her affected zeal, in proportion to the number of the fpeclators ; calls upon God to get •r Man hard of heart to man ! Of horrid things Moft horrid ! Midft ftupendoas, highly ftrange ! Yet oft his courtefies are fmoother wrongs ; Pride brandilhes the favours he confers, And contumelious his humanity : What then his vengeance > Hear it not, ye ftars \ And thou pale moon ! turn paler at the found, Man is to man the foreft, fureft ill.— Heav'ns Sov'reign faves all beings but Himfelf, That hideous fight; a naked human heart, Yovxe* 104 An APPEAL, &c. get the praife of man ; and lifts up adulterous eyes and thievifh hands to heaven, to procure herfelf the good things of earth. — And hypocri- fy's fitter, narrow -hearted Bigotry , who puflies from her civility and good nature; flops her ears againft arguments and entreaties ; calls hu- guenetS) infidels^ papijls, or heretics all who do not directly fubferibe to her abfurd or impious creeds; dogs them with a malignant eye ; throws ftoncs or dirt at them about an empty ceremony, or an indifferent opinion ; and at laft, if fhe can, fets churches or kingdoms on fire, about a turban, a furplice, or a cowl. — Perjidioufnefs^ who puts on the looks of true benevolence, fpeaks the lan- guage of the warmeft affe&ion ; with folemn proteftations invites men to depend on her fin- cerity, while flie lays a deep plot for their fud- den deftruction ; and with repeated oaths be- feeches heaven to be witnefs of her artlefs in- nocence, while fhe moves the center of hell to accomplifh her dire defigns* The fatal hour is come ; her ftratagem has fucceeded ; and fhe now kifies and betrays, drinks health and poi- fons ; offers a friendly embrace, and gives a deadly ftab. — Defpair, who fcorns to be beholden to mercy, gives the lie to all the declarations if- fued from the throne of grace, obftinately turns his wild eyes from the great, expiatory facri- fice ; and at laft, impatient to drink the cup of trembling, wildly looks for fome weapon ta de- THIRD PART. 105 deftroy himfelf. — Dijiracilon^ begotten by the fhocking mixture of two, or more of thefe in- fernal pafIions raifed to the higheft degrees of extravagance : DiJlraBion^ that wrings her hands, tears her difhevelPd hair, fixes her ghaftly eyes, turns her fwimmingbrai ns, quench* es the laft fpark of reafon ; and like a fierce ty- ger, muft at laft be chained by the hand of cau- tion, and confined with iron bars in her dreary dwelling. And, to clofe the difmal train, Self-murder^ who always points v/retched mortals to ponds and rivers, orprefents them with cords, razors, piftols, daggers, and poifon, and perpetually urges them to the choice of one of them. " You are guilty, miferable creatures, whifpers he : The fun of profperity is forever fet, the deepeft night of diftrefs is come upon you : You are in a hell of woe : The hell prepared for Satan, cannot be worfe than that which you feel, but it may be more tolerable : Take this, and boldly force your pafTage out of the curfed ftate in which you groan. " He perfuades, and his defperate victims, tired of the company of their fellow-mortals, fly for refuge to that of devils; they {hut their eyes \ and, horrible to fay ! but how much more horrible to do ! deliberately - venture from one hell into another to feek eafe ; or, tofpeak with more truth, leap with all the miferies of a known hell, into all the horrors of one which is unknown. And io6 An APPEAL, Sec. And are your hearts, O ye fons of men, the favourite feats of this infernal crew? Then fhameon the wretch that made the firft panegyric on the dignity of human nature ! He proved my point : He began in Pride, and ended in Difiraftlon. Deteftable as thefe vices and tempers are, where is the natural man, that is always free from them ? Where is even the child ten years old, who never felt moft of thefe vipers, upon fome occafion or other, (hooting their venom through his lip c , darting their baleful influence through his eyes, or at leaft ftirring and hiffing in his difturbed breaft? If any one never felt them, he may be pronounced more than mor- tal : But if he has, his own experience furnifh- eshim with a fenfible demonftration, that he is a fallen fpirit, infected with the poifon that ra- ges in the devil himfelf. XXI. ARGUMENT. Bad roots, which vigoroufly fhoot in the fpring, will naturally produce their dangerous fruit in fummer. We may therefore go one ftep further, and afk, Where_is the man thirty years old, whofe depravity has not broke out in the greateft variety of finful a£ts ? Among the per- fons of that age, who were never efteemed worfe than their neighbours, fhall we find a Forehead that never betrayed daring infolence? —A THIRD PART. 107 — -A Cheek, that never indicated concealed guilt by an involuntary blufh, or unnatural palenefs ? — A Nccij that never was ftretched out in pride and vain confidence ? — An Eye, that never caflr adifdainful, malignant, or wanton look ? — An Ear, that an evil curioiity never opened to fro- thy, loofe, or defaming diicourfe ? — A Tongue, that never was tainted with unedifytng, falfe, indecent, or uncharitable language? — K Pa- late, that never became the feat of luxurious indulgence? — A Throat, that never was the channel of excels ? — A Stomach, that never felt tiie.oppreflive load of abufed mercies? — Hands, that never plucked, or touched the forbidden fruit of pleafing fin ? — Feet, that never once moved in the broad, downward road of iniqui- ty? — And a Bofom, that never heaved under the dreadful workings of fome exorbitant paf- fion ? Where in fhort, is there a Face ever fo difagreeable, that never was the object of felf- worfhip in a glafs? And where a Body, however deformed, that never was fet up as a favourite idol, by the fallen fpirit that inhabits it ? If iniquity thus works by all the powers, and breaks out through all the parts of the human body ; we may conclude by woful experience, not only that the plague of fin is begun, but that it rages with univerfal fury ; and to ufe again the evangelical prophet's words, that from thefole of the foot, even to the head of the natural man io8 An A P P E A I, &c. man, there is no fpiritual foundnej] in him, but wounds, and bruifes, and putrifyingf XXII. ARGUMENT. What can be faid of each individual, may, with the fame propriety, be affirmed of all the different nations of the earth. Let an impartial judge take four unconverted men, or children, from the four parts of the world : Let him exr- mine their actions, and trace them back to their fpring ; and, if he makes fome allowance for the accidental difference of their climate, con- ftitution, tafte, and education ; he will foon find their difpofitions as equally earthly, fenfual y and dtv'ilijhy as if they had all been caft in the fame mould. Yes, as oak-trees are oaks all the world over, though by particular cir- cumftances fome grow taller and harder, and fome more knotted and crooked than ethers : So all unrcgencrate men refemble one another; for all are proud, felf-willed, impenitent, and lovers of pleafure, mere than lovers of'Gdd* Do not floth, gluttony, dru fe, and un- cleannefs; cheating, defrauding, ftealing, and oppreffion ; lying, perjury, treachery, and cruelty; ftalk openly, or lurk fecretly every where ? Are not all thefe vices predominant among black and white people, among favage and civilized nations, among Turks and Jews, Heathens and Chriftians? Whether they live on T H 1 R D PA R T. 109 on the banks of the Ganges or the Thames, the Miffifippi or the Seine? Whether they ftarve in the fnows of Lapland, or burn in the fands of Guinea ? O Sin, thou fatal peft, thou foul-deftroying plague, would to God thy fixed abode were *mhj in the Levant ! and that, like the external peftilence, thou wert chiefly confined to the Turkifh dominions ! But alas ! the grofs im- morality and prophanenefs, the various crimes and villanies, the defperate impiety and wild blafphemy, under which every kingdom and city have groaned, and ftill continue to do night and day, over the face of the whole earth, are black fpots fo fimilar, and fymptoms fo equally ter- rible, that we are obliged to confefs, they muft have a common internal principle ^ which can be no other than a bad habit of foul; a fal- len, corrupted nature. Yes, the univerfality and equality of the effefts, (hew to an unpre- judiced mind, that the caule is univerfal, and equally interwoven with that nature, which is common to all nations, and remains the fame in all countries and ages, FIVE OBJECTIONS. I. If the felf-righteous moralift anfwers, that " fin and wickednefs are not fo univerfal as this argument fuppofes :" I reply, that the K more Iio An A P P E A L, tec. more we are acquainted with ourfdves, with the hiftory of the dead, and fecret tranfa£tions of the living j the more we are convinced, that, if all are not guilty of outward enormities, all are deeply tainted with fpiritual wicked nefs. Eventhofe excellent perfons-, who, like Jere- miah, have been in part JanBificd 'before they came forth out of the womb, can from fad experience confefs with him, that The heart is deceitful above Were I to defcribe thefe faints of the world by a comparifon, I would fay, that fome of them refembleperfons, who artfully conceal their ul- cers, under the moft agreeable appearance of cleanlinefs and health. Many that admire their faces and looks, little fufpect what a putrid, virulent fluid runs out of their fecret fores. O- thers of them, whofe hypocrify is not of fo grofs a kind, are like perfons infected with a mortal difeafe, who though the mafs of their blood is tainted, and fome noble part attacked, ftill walk about, do bufinefs, and look as frefli -coloured as if they were the picture of health. Ye fons of iEfculapius, who, without feeling their pulfe, and carefully weighing every fymptom, pro- nounce them very well upon their look alone, do ye not blunder in phyfic, juft as my objectors do in divinity ? IV. But ftill they urge, "that itis wrong to fa- ther our fmfulnefs upon a pretended natural de- pravity, when it may be entirely owing to the force of ill example, the influence of a bad edu- cation, or the ftrong ferments of youthful blood. n6 An A P F E A L, &c. AH thefc, I reply, like rich foil and rank ma- nure, caufe original corruption tofhoot the high- er, but do not form its pernicious feeds. That thefe feeds lurk within the heart, before they are forced up by the heat of temptation, appears in- dubitable, if we confidcr, (i.) That all chil- dren, on particular occafions > manifeft fomc ear- ly inclination to thofe fins, which the feeble- nefs of their bodily organs v and the want of pro- per ferments in their blood do not permit them to commit : (2. ) That infants betray envy, ill- humour, impatience, felfiftmefs, anger, and ob- ftinacy, even before they can take particular no- tice of ill examples, and understand badcoun- fels : And (3.) That though uncleannefs, for- nication, and adultery, on account of the fhame and danger attending them, are committed with fo much fecrecy, that the examples of them arc feldom, if ever, given in public ; they are never - thelefs fome of the crimes which are moft uui- verfally or eagerly committed. Befides, if we were not more inclined to vice than virtue, good examples w r ould be as com- mon* and have as much force as bad ones. There- fore, the generality of bad examples cannot artfe but from the general finfulnefs of man ; and to account for this general finfulnefs by the gene- rality of bad examples, is begging the queftion, and not proving the point. Add to this, that as weeds* fince the curfe, grow even in fields fown with the beft wheat , fo T H I R D P A R T 117 fo vice, fince the fall, grows in the midft of the beft examples, and the mod excellent educacion : Witnefs the barbarous crimes committed by pi- ous Jacob's children, and penitent Adam's el- deft fon. V. " But if Cain finned, fay our objectors, and all mankind fin alfo, it is no more than Adam himfelf once did by his own free choice, though he was created as exempt from original depra- vity as an angel. What need is there then to fuppofe, that he communicated to his pofterity an inbred pronenefs to fin r" To this I reply : It is not one accident or fin- gle event, but a continual repetition of the fame event, that proves a pronenefs. If a man, who is perfectly in his fenfes, by fome unforefeen ac- cident falls into a fit of madnefs, we may ac- count for his misfortune from that accident ; and no certain judgment can be formed of the bodily habit of his family. But if all his chil- dren, through an hundred generations, are not only fubjedT: to the fame mad fits, but alfo die in confequence of them, in all forts of climates, and under all forts of phyficians - y common knk will not allow us to doubt, that it is now a fami- ly diforder, incurable by human art. The man is Adam, the family mankind, and the madnefs fin. Reader, you are defired to make the appli- cation. XXIII. Xi8 An APPEAL, &c. XXIII. ARGUMENT. : " But all are not employed in fin and wick- cdnefs, for many go through a conftant round of innocent diver/ions ; and thefe, at leaft, muft be innocent and happy" — Let us then confider the amufements of mankind : Or rather, without flopping to look at the wife dance of thelfraelites round the golden calf, and the modeft, fober, and humane diverfions of the Heathens, in the feftivals of their lewd, drunken, and bloody gods ; let us only fee, how far our own pleafures de- monftrate the innocence and bappinefs of mankind. How exceffively foolifh are the plays of chil- dren ! How full of mifchief and cruelty the fports of boys ! How vain, foppifh, arid frothy the joys of young people ! And how much be- low the dignity of upright, pure creatures, the fnares that perfons of different fexes perpetually lay for each other ! When they are together^ is not this their favourite amufement, till they are defervedly caught in the net, which they im- prudently fpread ? But fee them afunder. Here, a circle of idle women, fupping a de- co£Hon of Indian herbs, talk or laugh all toge- ther, like fo many chirping birds or chattering monkies, and fcandal excepted, everyway to as good purpofe. — And there, a club of graver men blow, by the hour, clouds of ftinking fmokeout of their mouth, or wafh it down thdr throat with re- THIRD PART, 119 repeated draughts of intoxicating liquors. The ftrong fumes have already reached their heads ; and while fome ftagger home, others triumphant- ly keep the field of excefs \ though one is al- ready ftamped with the heavinefs of the ox, ano- ther worked up to the fiercenefs and roar of the lion, and a third brought down to the filthinefe of the vomiting dog. Leave them at their manly fport, to follow thofe mufical founds, mixed: with a noife of ftamping ; and you will find others profufelyperfpiring,and violently fatiguing themfelves, in fkipping up and down a room for a whole night, andridicu- loufly turning their backs and faces to each othex an hundred different ways. Would not a man. of fenk prefer running ten miles upon an ufeful errand, to this ufelefs manner of lofing his reft, heating his blood, exhaufting his fpirits, unfitting himfelf for the duties of the following day, and laying the foundation of a putrid fever or a confumption, by breathing the midnight air corrupted by clouds of duft, by the unwholefome fumes of candles, and by the more pernicious fteam, that iflues from the body of many perfons, who ufe a ftrong exercife in a confined place. In the next room indeed they are more quiet, but are they more rationally employed ? Why do they fo earneftly rattle thofe ivory cubes; and fo anxioufly ftudy thofe packs of loofe and fpotted leaves ? Is happlnefs graven upon the one, rso An APPEAL, It* one, or ftamped upon the other ? Anfwer, ye Gamefters, who curfe your ftars, as ye go home with an empty purfe and a heart full of rage ! " We hope there is no harm in taking an in- nocent game at cards, reply a ridiculous party of fupcrannuated ladies •> gain is not our aim, we only play to kill time." You are not then fo well employed as the foolifh Heathen Emperor, who amufed himfelf in killing troublefome flies and wearifome time together. The delight of rational creatures, much more of Chriftians on the brink of the grave, is to redeem, improve, and folidly enjoy time ; but yours alas ! confifts m the bare, irreparable hjs of that invaluable treafure. Oh, what account will you give of the fouls you neglect, and the talents you bury ! And fhall we kill each day ? If trifling kill, Sure vice muft butcher : Oh! what heaps of flain Call out for vengeance on us ! Time deftroy'd Is fuicide, where more than blood is fpilt. Young. And are public diverfions better evidences ox our innocence and happinefs ? Let reafon de- cide. In cities, fome are lavifh of the gold, which fhould be laid by for the payment of their debts, or the relief of the poor, to buy an op- portunity of acting under a mafk an imperti- nent, or immodeft part without a blufh ; and others are guilty of the fame injuflicc or prodi- gality, that they may be entitled to the honour of THIRD PART. 121 of waiting upon a company of idle buffoons, and feeing them act what would make a modeft wo- man blufh, or hearing them fpeak what perfons of true piety, or pure morals, would gladly pay them never to utter. Are country amufements more rational and in- nocent ? What (hall we fay of thofe chriftian, or rather heathenifh feftivals called Wakes, an- nually kept in honour of the Saint to whom the parifh-church was formerly dedicated ? Are they not celebrated with the idlenefs, vanity and de- bauchery of the Floralia ; with the noife, riots, and frantic mirth of the Bacchanals ; rather than with the decent folemnity, pious chearful- nefs, and ftri£t temperance, which chara&erife the religion of the holy Jefus ? Theaffizes are held, the Judge partes an awful fentence of tranfportation or death upon guilty wretches who ftand pale and trembling before his tribunal \ and twenty couple of gay gentle- men and ladies, as if they rejoiced in the infa- my and deftru&ion of their fellow-mortals, hire on the occafion a band of muficians, and dance all night, perhaps in the very apartment, where the diftradted victims of juftice a few hours be- fore wrung their hands, and rattled their irons. The Races are advertifed, all the country is in motion, neither bufinefs, rain, nor ftorm, can prevent thoufands from running for miles, and fometimes through the worft of roads, to feaft L their in An A P P E A L, &x. their eyes upon the danger of their fellow-crea- tures, and divert themfelves with the mifery of the moll ufeful animals. Daring mortals haz- ard their necks upon fwift courfers, which are tortured by the fevereft lafhes of the whip, and inceflant pricks or tearing gafhes of the fpur, that they may exert their utmoft force, ftrain every nerve, and make continued efforts even beyond the powers of nature : Whence (to fay nothing of fatal accidents, which yet alas ! too frequently happen) they fometimes pant away their wretched lives in a bath of fweat and blood ; and all this, that they may afford a bar- barous pleafure to their idle, wanton, and bar- barous beholders. In one place the inhuman fport is afforded by an unhappy bird, fixed at fome diftance, that the fons of cruelty may long exercife their mercilefs ikill, in its lingering and painful dcftru&ion : Or by two of them trained up, and high-fed for the battle. The hour fixed for the obftinate engagement is come ; and as if it was not enough that they fhould pick each other's eyes out, with the ftrong bills, that nature has given them ; human malice, or rather diabolical cru- elty, comes to the afliftance of their native fiercenefsi Silver fpurs, or ftcel talons, lharper than thofe of the eagle, are barbaroufly fattened to their feet ; thus armed they are excited fo leap at each other, and in an hundred repeated onfets T H I R D P A R TV 123 orfets to tear their feathers and flefh, as if they were contending vultures ; and if at laft one blinded, covered with blood and wounds, and unable to ftand any longer the metallic claws of his antagonift, enters into the agonies of death ; the numerous ring of ftamping, clap- ping, fhouting, eagerly betting, or horridly curb- ing fpedtators, is as highly delighted, as if tfie tortured, dying creature, was the common ene- my of mankind. In another place,- a multitude of fpe&ators is delightfully entertained by two brawny men, who unmercifully knock one another down, as if they were oxen appointed for the {laughter, and continue the favage play, till one, with his flefh bruifed and his bones fhattered, bleedings and gafping as in the pangs of death, yields to his antagonift, and thus puts an end to thefhock- ing fport. But it is perhaps a different fpe&acle, that re- commends itfelf to the bloody tafte of our bap- tized Heathens. Fierce dogs are excited by fiercer men, with fury to fallen upon the nofe, or tear out the eyes, of a poor confined animal, which pierces the fky with his painful and la- mentable bellowings, enough to force compaf- fion from the heart of barbarians, not totally loft to all fenfe of humanity : whilft in the mean time the furrounding, favage mob, rends the very heavens with the moft horrid imprecations, and L 2 repeated 124 An A P P E A L, &r. repeated fhouts of applauding joy; fporting themfelves with that very mifery, which human nature (were it not deplorably corrupted) would teach them to alleviate*. Thefe are thy favourite amufements, O Eng- land, thou center of the civilized world, where reformed chriftianity, deep-thinking wifdom, and polite learning, with all its refinements, have fixed their abode ! But, in the name of common fenfe, how can we clear them from the imputation of abfurdity, folly, and madnefs ? And by what means can they be reconciled, I will not fay to the religion of the meek Jefus, but to the philofophy of a Plato, or calm reafon of any thinking man ? How perverted muft be the tafte, how irrational and cruel the diverfions of * ' Ie^r thought, fays Judge Hale in his Contemplations, that ' there is a certain degree of Juftice due from man to the creatures, * as from man to man ; and that an exceffive ufe of the Creature's t labour is an injuiticc, for which he muft account. I have there- ' fore always efteemed it as a part of my duty, and it has been al- 4 ways my practice to be merciful to my beafts ; and upon the 1 fame account I have declined any cruelty to any of thy creatures, * and, as much as I might, prevented it in others as a tyranny. I * have abhorred thofe fports that confift in the torturing of thy 4 creatures ; and if any noxious creature muft be deftroyed, or ' creatures for food muft be taken, it has been my practice to do it 4 in the manner that may be with the leaft torture or cruelty to * the creature ; ever remembering, that though God has given us ' a dominion over his creatures, yet it is under a law of juftice, * prudence, and moderation ; otherwife we fhould become tyrants 4 and not Lords over God's creatures ; and therefore thofe things * of this nature which others have prafttfed as rccrcat'wns } I have * avoided asfms. THIRD PART, 125 of barbarians, in other gartsof the globe ! And how applicable to all, the wife man's obferva- tion ! Foolifhnefs is bound up in the heart of a child, and madnefs in thebreafis of the fons of men. XXIV. ARGUMENT. The total corruption of our nature appears, not only in the inclination of mankind to purfue irrational, and cruel amufements ; but in their general propenfity to commit the moft unprofita- ble^ ridiculous, inhuman, impious, and diabolical fins. I/?. The moft unprofitable : For inftance, that of fporting in prophane oaths and curfes with the tremendous name of the Supreme Being. Becaufe of f wearing the land moumethj faid a Pro- phet thoufands of years ago y and what land even in Chriftendom, yea what parifli in this reformed ifland mourns not, or ought not to mourn, for the fame provoking crime ? — a crime, which is the hellifh offspring of practical athe- ifm, and heathenifh infolence — -a crime, that brings neither profit, honour, nor pleafure to the prophane wretch who commits it — a crime, fo£ which he may be put to open fhame, forced to appear before a magiftrate, and fent for ten days to the houfe of correction, unJefs he pays* an ignominious fine ; and what is more awful ftill — a crime, which, if perfiftedirt, wHl one day caufe him to gnaw his impious tongue in the fe- vereft torments. Surely man, who drinks this- L 3 infipid 1 16 An A P P E A L, &c. infipid, and yet deftru&ive iniquity like water, muft have his moral tafte ftrangely vitiated, not to fay, diabolically perverted. idly. The moft ridiculous fins. In what coun- try, town, or village do not women betray their filly vanity ? Is it not the fame foolifh difpo- lltion of heart, which makes them bore their cars in Europe, and flit their nofes in America, that they may unnaturally graft in their flefti pieces of glafs, fhining pebbles, glittering gold, or trinkets of meaner metal ? And when fe- male Hottentots fancy they add to the impor- tance of their filthy perfon, by fome yards of the bloody inteftines of a beaft, twifted round their arms or necks, do they not evidence the very fpiritof the Ladies in our hemifphere, who too often meafure their dignity by the yards of co- loured filk bands, with which they crown them- felves, and turn the grave matron into a pitiful may-queen ? TjAly. The mod: inhuman fins. cc An hundred thoufand mad animals, whofe heads are covered with hats, fays Voltaire, advance to kill, or to be killed by, the like number of their fellow-mortals covered with turbans. By this ftrange procedure they want, at beft, to decide whether a trail of land, to which none of them all lays any claim, fhall belong to a certain man whom they call Sultan, or to another whom they name Csefar, neither of whom ever faw,or will fee T H I R D P A R T, 127 fee the fpot fo furioufly contended for : And very few of thofe creatures, who thus mutually butcher one another, ever beheld the animal for whom they cut each others throats ! From time immemorial this has been the way of mankind almoft over all the earth. What an excefs of madnefs is this ! And how defervedly might a fuperior Being crufh to atoms this earthly ball, the bloody neft of fuch ridiculous murderers V 7 The fame author makes elfewhere the follow- ing reflections, on the fame melancholy fubjecT:. " Famine, peftilence, and war, are the three mod famous ingredients of this lower world. The two firft come from God, but the laft, in which all three concur, comes from the imagi- nation of princes or minifters. — A king fancies, that he has a right to a diftant province. He raifes a multitude of men, who have nothing to do, and nothing to lofe ; gives them a red coat and a laced hat, and makes them wheel to, the right, wheel to the left, and march to glory. Five or fix of thefe belligerant powers fometimes engage together, three againft three, or two a- gainft four : but whatever part they take, they all agree in one point, which is, to do their neighbour all poflible'mifchief. The moft afto- niflaing thing, belonging to their infernal un- dertaking, is, that every ring-leader of thofe murderers, gets his colours confecrated, and fo- lemnly bleffed in the name of God, before he marches ii8 An APPEAL, Sec. marches up to the deftruction of his fellow-crea- tures. If a chief warrior has had the good for- tune of getting only two or three thoufand men flaughtered, he does not think it worth his while to thank God for it : But if ten thoufand have been deftroyed by fire and fword, and if (to complete his good fortune) fome capital city has been totally overthrown ; a day of public thankfgiving is appointed on the joyful occafion. Is not that a fine art which carries fuch defla- tion through the earth : and, one year with ano- ther, deftroys forty thoufand" men,, out of an hundred thoufand ?" I \tbly. The moft impious fins ; for inftance that of idolatry : " Before the coming of Chrift, fays a late Divine, all the polite and barbarous na- tions among the Heathens, plunged into it with equal blindnefs. And the Jews were fo ftrong- ly wedded to it, that God's miraculous interpo- lation, both by dreadful judgments and aftonifh- ing mercies, could not for 800 years, reftrain them from committing it in the groffeft manner." Nor need we look at either Heathens or Jews, tO'fee the pronenefs of mankind to that detefta- ble crime; Chrift ians alone can prove the charge. To this day, the greateft part of them pray to dead men and dead women •> bow to images of ftone, and croffes of wood ; and make, adore, and fwallow down, the wafer-god : And thofe, who pity them fo* this ridiculous idolatry, • till con* THIRD PART, 119 converting grace interpofes, daily Jet up their idols in their hearts, and, without going to the plain of Dura, facrifice all to the King's golden image. And 5/Wy, The moft diabolical fin ; Perfecu- tion, that favourite offspring of Satan transformed t intoan angel of light. Perfecution, that bloody, hypocritical monfter, which carries a bible, a liturgy, and a bundle of canons in one hand ; with fire, faggots, and all the weapons invented by cruelty in the other; and with fan&ified looks diflreffes, racks, or murders men, either becaufe they love God, or becaufe they cannot all think alike. Time would fail to tell of thofe, who, on re- ligious accounts, have been ftoned and fawn a- funder by the Jews, caft to the lions and burnt by the Heathens, ftrangled and rmpaPd by the Mahometans, and butchered all manner of ways by the Chriftians. Yes, we muft confefs it, Chriftian Rome hath glutted herfelf with the blood of martyrs, which Heathen ifh Rome had but comparatively tafted : And when Protectants fled from her bloody pale, they brought along with them too much of her bloody fpirit. Prove the fad afTertion, poor Ser~ vetus : When Romifh inquifition had forced thee to fly to Geneva, what reception didft thou meet with in that reformed city ? Alas ! the Pa- pifts had burned thee in effigy, the Proteftants burned thee in reality, and Moloch triumphed to t 3 o An APPEAL, &c„ to fee the two oppofite parties agree in offering him the human facrifice. So univerfally reftlefs is the fpiritof persecu- tion, which infpires the unrenewed part of man- kind, that when people of the fame religion have no outward oppofer to tear, they bark at, bite, # and devour one another. Is it not the fame bit- ter zeal, that made the Pharifees and Sadducees among the Jews, and now makes the fe&s of Ali and Omar among the Mahometans,, thofe of the Janfenifts and Molinifts among the Pa-* pifts, and thofe of the Calvinifts and Arminians among the Proteftants, oppofe each other with fuch acrimony and virulence ? But let us look around us at home : When perfecuting Popfery had almoft expired in the fires, in which it burned our firft church-men, how foon did thofe who furvived them com- mence perfecutors of the Prefbyterians ? When, thefe, forced to fly to New-England for reft, got there the ftafF of power in their hand,, did they not in their turn fall upon, and even hang the Quakers ? And now that an aft of toleration binds the monfter, and the lafh of pens confe- crated to the defence of our civil and religious - liberties, makes him either afraid or afhamed of roaring aloud for his preys does he not fhew r by his fupercilious looks, malicious fneers, ^nd fettled contempt of vital piety, what he would do, fhould an opportunity offer ? And does he not THIRD PART* 131 aiot ftill 5 under artful pretences, go to the ut- moft length of his chain, to wound the reputa- tion of thofe, whom he cannot devour, and in- flid at leaft * academic death upon thofe whofe perfon is happily fecured from his rage ? O ye unconverted among mankind, if all thefe abominations every where break out upon you ; what cages of unclean birds, what nefts fwarm- ing with cruel vipers, are your deceitful and def- .ferately wicked hearts ! XXV. ARGUMENT. How dreadfully fallen is man, if he has not -only a propenfity to commit the above-menti- oned fins, but to tranfgrefs the divine com- mands with a variety of fhocking aggravations ! —Yes, mankind are prone to fin : 1. Immediately, by a kind of evil inftincl: : As children, who peevifhly ftrike the very breaft they fuck ; and betray the rage of their little hearts, by fobbing and fwelling, fometimes till, \>y forcing their bowels out of their place, they bring a rupture upon themfelves ; and frequent- ly till they are black in the face, and almoft fuf- focated. — II. Deliberately, as thofe, who having life and death clearly fet before them, wilfully, obftinatelychufe the way that leads to certain deftru&ion. — III. Repeatedly, witnefs liars, who becaufe their crime cofts them but a breath, fre- quently commit it at every breath. — IV. Con- tinually, * Sec Pittas Oxonienfis. i 3 2 An APPEAL, &c. tinual/y, as rakes, who would make their whole life one uninterrupted fcene of debauchery, if their exhaufted ftrength, or purfe, did not force them to intermit their lewd practices ; though not without a promife to renew them again, at the firft convenient opportunity. — V. Trcacbe- roufly^ as thofe Chriftians, who forget divine mercies, and their own repeated refolutions, break through the folemn vows and promifes made in their facraments, and finning with an high hand againjl their prof ejjion^ perfidioufly fly in the face of their confcience, the church, and their Saviour. — VI. Daringly^ as thofe who fteal under the gallows, openly infult their parents or their king, laugh at all laws human and di- vine, and put to defiance all, that are inverted with power to fee them executed. — VII. Trim umphantly as the vaft number of thofe, who glo- ry in their fhame, found aloud the trumpet of their own wickednefs, and boaft of their horrid, repeated debaucheries, as admirable, and praife- worthy deeds. — VIII. ProgreJJively, till they have filled up the meafure of their iniquities, as individuals ; witnefs Judas, who from covetouf- nefs, proceeded tohypocrify, theft, treafon, de- fpair and felf-murder : Or, as a nation - y witnefs the Jews, who after defpifing and killing their prophets, rejected the Son of God ; affirmed he was mad; ftigmatized him with the flame of Deceiver ; faid he was Beelzebub himfelf ; offered him THIRD PART. 153 him all manner of indignities ; bought his blood ; prayed it might be on them and their children ; refted not, till they had put the Prince of Life to the moft ignominious death ; and, horrible to fay ! made fport with the groans, which rent the rocks around them, and threw the earth into convulfions under their feet. IX. Unnaturally : ( 1.) By ajhnflnng barbarities : As the women, who murder their own children ; the Greeks and Romans, who expofed them to be the living prey of wild beafts : the fav-ages, who knock their aged parents on the head ; the Cannibals, who roaft and eat their prifoners of war; and fome revengeful people, who, to tafte all the fweetnefs of their devilifh paffion, have murder- ed their enemy, and eaten up his liver and heart. (2.) By the moft diabolical fuperjlitions : As the Ifraelites, who, when they had learned the works of the Heathens 1 facrificed their Jons and their daugh- ters to devils ; and by the horrible practices of witchcraft, endeavoured to raife, and deal with, infernal fpirits : And (3.) by the moft prepo/Ie- rous gratifications of fenfe : Witnefs the incefts * and rapes committed in this land j the infamous M fires, * Thereafon, which engaged the publisher of thefe fheets, to preach to fome of the colliers in his neighbourhood, was the hor- rid length they went in immorality. One of them, whofe father w%s hanged, upon returning himfelf from tranfportation, in cool blood attempted to ravifh his own daughter in the prefence of his own wife, and was juft prevented from compleating his crime, by the utmoft exertion of the united ftrengtn of the mother and the 134 An APPEAL, Sec. fires, which drew fire and brimftone down from heaven upon accurfed cities ; and the horrid lufts of the Canaanites, though alas ! not confined to Canaan ; which gave birth to the laws recorded Lev. xviii. 7, 23. and xx. 16* ; Laws that are at once the difgrace of mankind, and the proof of my afTertion. — X. What is raoft aftonifhing of all, by Apoflacy : As thofe who having begun intbejpirit, and tafledt\\t bitternefs of repentance, the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, makefhipwreck of the faith, deny the Lord that bought them, account the blood of the covenant where- with they were JanBified an unholy thing ; and fo fcandaloufly end in the ficjh, that they are juftly compared to trees withered, plucked up by the roots, twice dead, and to raging waves of the fea, foaming wit their ownjhame, to whom is refcrved the blacknefs yf darknefs for ever. Good God ! what line can fathom an abyfs of corruption, the overflowings of which are more or lefs attended with thefe multiplied and ihocking aggravations ? XXVI. ARGUMENT. If the force of a torrent may be known by the height, and number of the banks, which it over- child. When brutiiH ignorance, and heatheniih wickednefs break out into fuch unnatural enormities, who would not break through the hedge of canonical regularity > * In the laft century, an Iriih Bifliop was clearly convicted of the crime forbidden in thofe laws> and fuffered death for it. THIRD PART. 135 overflows ; the ftrength of this corruption will be rightly eftimated from the high, and nume- rous dikes rai fed to ftem it, which it nevertheless continually breaks through. Ignorance and debauchery, injuftice and im- piety, in all their fhapes, ftill overfpread the whole earth ; notwithftanding innumerable means ufed, in all ages, to fupprefs and prevent them. The almoft total extirpation of mankind by the deluge, the fiery fhowers thatconfumed So- dom, the ten Egyptian plagues, the entire ex- cifion of whole nations who were once famous for their wickednefs, the captivities of the Jews, the deftruction of thoufands of cities and king- doms, and millions of more private judgments, never fully flopped immorality in any one coun- try. The ftriking miracles wrought by prophets, the alarming fermons preached by divines, the infinite number of good books publifhed in al- moft all languages, and the founding of myri- ads of churches, religious houfes, fchools, col- leges, and univerfities, have not yet caufed im- piety to hide its brazen face any where. The making of all forts of excellent laws, the ap- pointing of magiftrates and judges to put them in force, the forming of affociations for the re- formation of manners, the filling of thoufands of prifons, and erecting of millions of racks and gallows, have not yet fuppreffed one vice. M 2 And 136 An A P P £ A L, &c. And what is moft amazing of all-, the life 1 , miracles, fufFerings, death, an J heavenly doctrine of the Son of God ; the labours, writings, and martyrdom of his difciples ; the example and in- treaties of millions that have lived and died in the faith ; the inexpreffible horrors and fright- ful warnings of thoufands of wicked men, who have teftified in their laft moments, that they had work'd out their damnation, and were juft going to their own place ; the blood of myriads of martyrs, the ftrivings of the Holy Spirit the dreadful curfes of the law, and the glorious pro- mises of the gofpel — -All thefe means together, hare not extirpated immorality and prophane- nefs, out of one angle town or village in all the world ; no, nor out of one fingle family for any length of time. And this will probably con- tinue to be the defperate cafe of mankind, till the Lord lays to his powerful hand ; feconds thefe means by the continued ftrokes of the fword of his Spirit ; pleads by fire and [word with all flc/h; and according to his promife, caufesr/g-^- oufnefs to cover the earth as the waters cover tbejea. Is not this a demonftration founded on matter of fact, that human corruption is riot only deep as the ocean, but impetuous as an overflowing river, which breaks down all its banks, and leaves marks of devaftat ion in every place ? This will ftill appear in a clearer light, if we confi- der the ftrong oppofition, which our natural de- pravity makes to divine grace in the unconverted. XXVII. THIRD PART. XXVII. ARGUMENT. When the Lord, by the rod of affli&ion, the fword of the Spirit^ and the power of his grace, attacks the hard heart of a finner ; how obfti- nately does he refift the fharp, though gracious operation ! To make an honourable and vigo- rous defence, he puts on the fhining robes of his formality ; he ftands firm in the boafted armour of his moral powers -, he daubs with untempered mortar the ruinous wall of his conduct ; with felf-righteous refolutions, and pharifaic profeffi- ons of virtue, he builds, as he thinks, an im- pregnable tower; he mufters and draws up in battle array his poor works, artfully putting in the front thofe that make the fineft appearance, and carefully concealing the vices, which he can neither difguife, nor drefs up in the regi- mentals of virtue. In the mean time he prepares the car nat weapons #/*his warfare \ and raifes the battery of a multi- tude of objections to filence the truth that begins to gall him. He affirms, cc the preachers of it are deceivers and mad men ;" till, he fees the Jews and Heathens fixed, even upon Chrift and St. Paul, the very fame opprobrious names : He calls it a " new doftrine ;" till he is obliged to/ acknowledge that it is as old as the Reformers^ the Apoftles,. and the Prophets : He fays, " it is fancy, deluiion, enthufiafm 5" till the bleffed M %' effects 138 An APPEAL, Zee. effects of it, on true believers, conftrain him to drop the trite and flanderous afiertion : He de- clares, that it " drives people out of their fenfes, or makes them melancholy," till he is compelled to confefs, that the fear of the Lord is the begin- ning ofivifdomy and that none are fo happy and joyful, as thofe who truly love, and zealoufly ferve God : He urges, that 4C it deftroys good works ;" till a fight of the readinefs of believers, and of his own backwardnefs, to perform them, makes him afhamed of the groundlefs accufa- tion : He will tell you twenty times over, 44 There is no need of fo much ado ;" till he difcovers the folly of being carelefs on the brink of eternal ruin, and obferves, that the nearnefs of temporal danger puts him upon the utmoft exer- tion of all his powers. Perhaps, to get himfelf a name among his prophane companions, he lampoons the fcriptures, or cafls out firebrands and arrows againft the defpifed difciples of Jefus, " they are all poor and illiterate," fays he, " fools or knaves, cheats and hypocrites," &c. &c. ;till the word of God ftops his mouth, and he fees himfelf the greateft hypocrite, with whom he is acquainted. When, by fuch heavy charges, he has long kept off the truth from his heart, and the fer- vants of God from his company, this kind of ammunition begins to fail ; and he barricades himfelf with the fear of being undone in his qir- cumftances T H I R D P A R T. i 39 cumftances, till experience convinces him, that No good thing Jhall God with -hold from them that live a godly life, and that All things Jhall be added to them j who feek firjl the kingdom of God. He, then hides himfelf in the croud of the ungodly, and fays, " if he perifhes, many will fhare the fame fate ;" till he fees the glaring abfurdity of going to hell for the fake of company. He fhel- ters at laft under the protection of the rich, the great, the learned defpifers of Chrift and the crofs; till the mines of their wickednefs fpring- ing on all fides around him, makes him fly to the fanBuary of the Lord-, and there he fees the ways, and under/lands the end of thefe men. When all his batteries are filenced, and a breach is made in his confcience, he looks out for fome fecret way to leave Sodom, without being taken notice of, and derided by thofe who fight under Satan's banner ; and the fear of be- ing taken for one of them that fly from the wrath to come? and openly take the part of an holy God againft a finful world, pierces him through with many for rows. Are the outworks taken, has he been forced to part with his grofs immoralities, he has generally recourfe to a variety of ftratagems : Sometimes he publicly difmiffes Satan's garrifon, flejhly lufls which war againfl the godly, and keep under the ungodly foul; but it is only to let them in again fecretly, either one by one, or with forces [even times i 4 o An A P P E A L, &c. times greater, fo that his loft fate is ivorf than the Jirft. At other times he hoifts up the white flag of truth, apparently yields to convi&ion, fa- vours the minifters of the gofpel, admits the lan- guage of Canaan, and warmly contends for evangelical do&rines : But alas ! the place has not furrendered, his heart is not given up to God : fpiritual wickednefs, under fair fhows of zeal, (till keeps pofleffion for the god of this world -, and the fhrewd hypocrite artfully imitates the beha- viour of a true Ifraelite, juft as Satan transforms himfelf into an angel of light. Is he at laft deeply convinced, that the only means of efcaping deftruction, and capitulating to advantage, is to deliver up the traitor Sin t Yet what a long parley does he hold about it ! What a multitude of plaufible reafons, does he advance to put it off from day to day ! " He is a yet young — The Lord is merciful — All have iC their foibles — We are here in an imperfedt cc ftate — It is a little fin — It may be confiftent " with loyalty to God — It hurts nobody but " himfelf — Many pious men were once guilty c< of it — By and by he will repent as they did, Hence that excellent definition of true religion, 0gp*7T€/a ■* , wj c w*, The cure of a difeafed foul. i 4 4 An A P P E A L, &c. edncfs ? And Pythagoras by \ The fatal compa- nion , the noxious Jirifc that lurks within us, and was lorn along with us ? Did not Solon take for his motto the well known faying, which, though fo much neglected now, was formerly written in golden capitals over the door of Apollo's tem- ple at Delphos, * Know thyfelf? Are we not in- formed by Heathen hiftorians, that Socrates the Prince of the Greek Sages, acknowledged he was naturally prone to the groffeft vices ? Does not Seneca, the beft of the Roman philofophers, ob- ferve, + We are born injuch a condition, that wc are notfubjccl to fewer diforders of the mind than of the body ? Yea, that % All vices are in all men, though they do not break out in every one : And that, § To confefs them is the beginning of our cure P And had not Cicero lamented before Seneca, that Men are brought into life by nature as aflep-mother, with a naked, frail, and infirm body \ and afoul prone t* divers lufls? Even fome of the fprightlieft poets, bear their teftimony to the mournful truth I contend for. Pro^ 'EvixQuTOf. Aur. Carm. + Hac ccnditione nati fumus : Animalia obnoxia non pauci- oribus animi quam corporis morbis. J Omnia in omnibus vitia funt, fed non omnia in fingulis extant. § Vitia fua confiteri fanitatis principium eft. THIRD PAR T. 145 Propertius could fay, || Everybody has a vice, to which he is inclined by nature. Horace declared, that * No man is bom free from vices, and that he is the befl man who is oppreffed with the leaf — That Mankind | rufh into wubcdiufi, and always dejire what is forbidden — That youth hath the foftnefs of wax ** to receive vicious impr efforts, and the hard- nefs of a rock to refifl virtuous admonitions — In a word ; That ive are mad enough to attack heaven itfelf and that our repeated crimes do noifuffer the God of heaven to lay by his wrathful thunderbolt s%. And Juvenal, as if he had underftood what St. Paul fays of the carnal mind^ affirms that Nature § unchangeably fixt tends, yea runs back iowickednefs, as bodies to their center. Thus the very depofitions of the Heathens, in their lucid intervals, as well as their facri- fices, prove the depravity and danger of man- kind. And fo does likewife the teftimony of ibme of our modern, deiftical Philofophers. The ingenious author of a book, called Philo- [optical Enquiries concerning the Americans^ informs N u ? , ! ' L'n'cuK.ue d.~di; vltiurn natura creato. * Nam vitiis Demo line naicitur, optimus iile eft Qui minimis urgetur. .l Gens humana rult per vetitum nefas, Nitimur in vetitum femper cupimusque negata. Cereus in vitium Recti, monitoribus afper. £ Caelum ipfum petimus ftaltitia ; ne^ue Per noftrum patimur fceius Iracunda Jovem ponere fulmiaa. ) Ad mores natura requrrit D?mnato?, fixa ct mutari nefci*. !4/> An APPEAL, &c. us, it is a cuftom among fome Indians, that, as foon as the wife is delivered of a child, the huf- band muft take to his bed, where he is v/aited on by the poor woman, who fhould have been brought there j and that to this day, the fame ridiculous cuftom prevails* in fome parts of France. " From this and other inflames, fays our Enquirer, we may colled, that, however men may differ in other points 7 there is a mofi Jiriking confor- mity among them in absurdity." The fame philofopher, who is by no means tainted with, what fome perfons are pleafed to call enthufiafm, confirms the doctrine of our na- tural depravity by the following anecdote, and the ironical obfervation with which it is clofed. The Efkimaux (the wildeft and moft fottifh people in all America) call themfelves men, and all other nations barbarians. u Human vanity , we fee, thrives equally well in all climates ; in Labra- dor as in AJia* Beneficent nature has dealt out as much of this comfortable quality to a Greenlander, as io the mofl confummate French petit maitreP The following teftimony is fo much the more ftriking, as it comes from one of the greateft poets, philofophers, and deifts, of this prefent free-thinking age. * Who can without horror, 4 confider the whole earth, as the empire of de- * ftru&ion ! It abounds in wonders, it abounds • alfo in vi&ims y it is a vaft field of carnage 4 and contagion. Every fpecies is, without THIRD PART. 147 pity, purfued and torn to pieces, through the earth, and air, and water. In man there is h&re wretchednefs, than in all other animals put together : he fmarts continually under two fcourges, which other animals never feel ; anxiety, and a liftlefihefs in appetence, which make him weary of himfelf. He loves life, and yet he knows that he muft die. If he en- joys fome tranfient good, for which he is thankful to heaven, he f Lifters various evils, and is at laft devoured by wofms. This knowledge is his fatal prerogative : Other ani- mals have it not. He feels it every moment, rankling and corroding in his brcaft. Yet he fpends the tranfient moment of his exiitencc, in diffufing the mifery that he fuffers ; in cut- ting the throats of his fellow-creatures for pay ; in cheating and being cheated, in rob- bing and being robbed, in ferving that he may command, and in repenting of all that he does. The bulk of mankind are nothing more than a crowd of wretches, equally criminal and unfortunate, and the globe contains rather carcafes than men. I tremble, upon a review of this dreadful picture, to find that it implies a complaint againft providence, and I wifh that I had never been born.' Voltaire s Go/pel of the Day*, N 2 XXX- * Wild error is often the guide, and glaring contradiction the badge, both of thofe who reject revelation, like Vcltaire ; and of tho•->■>•*• > > •> > '■$■ • ••• Vi' •4 . "!% **^ ^H ^ , FOURTH PART. TH E preceding Arguments recommend themfelves to the common fenfe of think- ing Heathens, and the confeience of reafonable Deifts ; as being all taken from thofe two ama- zing volumes, which are open to, and legible by r all ; the World and Man. The following are taken from a third Volume, the Bible ^ def- pifed by the wits of the age, merely becaufe they ftudy and underftand it, even lefs than the other two. " The Bible ! fays one of them with a fmile, fave yourfelf the trouble of producing -arguments drawn from that old legend, unlefs you firft demonftrate its authenticity by the no- ble i 5 2 An A P P E A L, Lc. ble faculty, to which you appeal in thcfc pages." For the fake of fuch obje£tors, I here premife, by way of digrcflion, a few rational arguments to evince, as far as my contracted plan will al- low, the divine authority of the fcriptures. t. The facred pen- men, the Prophets and A- poftles, w r ere holy, excellent men, and would not ; artlefs illiterate men, and therefore could not, lay the horrible fcheme of deluding man- kind. The hopeof gain did not influence them, for they were felf-denying men, that left all to follow a Mafter, who had not where to lay his head -y and w T hofe grand initiating maxim was, Except a man for fake all that he hath, he cannot be my difciple. They were fo difinterefted, that they fecured nothing on earth but hunger and naked - nefs, flocks and prifons, racks and tortures; which indeed was all that they could, or did ex- pect in confequence of ChrifVs exprefs declara- tions. Neither was a defire of honour the mo- tive of their actions ; for their Lord himfelf was treated with the utmoft contempt, and had more than once allured them, that they mould certain- ly fhare the fame fate : Befides, they were hum- ble men, not above working as mechanics for a coarfe maintenance, and fo little defirous of hu- man regard, that they expofed to the world the meannefs of their birth and occupations, their great ignorance and fcandalous falls. Add to this, that they were fo many, and lived at FOURTH PART. 1^3 at fuch diftance of time and place from each other, that had they been impoftors, it would have been impracticable for them to contrive, and carry on a forgery without being detected. And as they neither would, nor could deceive the world ; fo they neither could nor would be de- ceived themfelves : For they were days, months, and years, eye and rar-witnefles of the things which they relate ; and when they had not the fulleft evidence of important facts, they infifted upon new proofs, and even upon fenfible de- monftrations ; as for inftance Thomas, in the matter of our Lord's refurrection, John xx. 25. And to leave us no room to queftion their fin- cerity, moft of them joyfully fealed the truth ^f their doctrines with their own blood. Didyi many and fuch marks of veracity, ever meet in any other authors ? 2. But even while they lived, they confirmed their teftimony by a variety of miracles, wrought in divers places, and for a number of years \ fometimes before thoufands of their enemies, as the miracles of Chrift and his difciples ; fome- times before hundreds of thoufands, as thofe of Mofes. Thefe miracles were fo well known and attefted, that when both Chrift and Mofes appealed to their authenticity, before their bit- tereft oppofers, mentioning the perfons upon whom, as well as the particular times when, and the places where, they had been performed ; the facts 154 An A P P E A L, &c. fads were never denied, but parted over in fi- lence, or malicioufly attributed to the Prince of the Devils. By fuch a pitiful Jlander as this, Porphyry, Hierocles, Celfus, and Julian the Apoftate, thofe learned and inveterate enemies of chriftianity, endeavoured (as the Pharifees had done before them) to fap the argument founded upon the miracles of Chrift and his difciples. So fure then as God would never have difplayed his arm, in the moft * aftonifhing manner for the fupport of impofture, the facred pen-men had their commifTion from the Al- mighty, and their writings are his lively oracles. 3. Reafon itfelf dictates, that nothing but the plaineft matter of fafi^ could induce fo many thoufands of prejudiced and perfecuting Jews, to embrace the humbling, felf-denying do&rine of the crofs, which they fo much defpifed and abhorred. Nothing but the cleareft evidence, arifing from undoubted truth, could make mul- titudes of lawlefs, luxurious heathens receive, follow, and tranfmit to pofterity, the doctrine and writings of the Apoftles ; efpecially at a time when the vanity of their pretenfions to miracles * Once indeed the Lord permitted the Magicians of Egypt fo to ufe their art, as to counterfeit for a time fome of Mofes' mira- cles ; but it was only to make the authenticity of others more confpicuous ; this being the happy effect of the conteft, when thofe minifters of Satan withdrew confounded, and forced to ac- knowledge, that the finger of God was evidently difplayed through the rod of their antagonift. FOURTH PART. itf miracles, and the gift of tongues, could be fo eafily discovered, had they been impoflors — at a time when the profeflion of chriftianity expofed perfons of all ranks to the grcateft contempt, and moft imminent danger. In this refpedt the cafe of the primitive chriftians, widely differed from that of Mahomet's followers : For thofe, who adhered to the warlike, violent impoftor, laved their lives and properties, or attained to honour, by their new, eafy, and fiefh-pleafing religion : But thofe, who devoted themfelves to the meek, felf-denying, crucified Jefus, were frequently fpoiled of their goods, and cruelly put to death ; or if they efcaped with their lives, were looked upon as the very dregs of mankind. Add to this, that fome of the mod profound parts of the fcriptures, were add reded to the in- habitants of polite Greece, and triumphant Rome, among * whom philofophy and litera- ture, with the fine arts and the fciences, were in the highefl perfection ; and who, confequent- ly, were lefs liable to be the dupes of forgery and im- * Not many Noble, not meny Wife are called, fays the Apoftle ; nevertheless fome of both, even at the rife of Chriftianity, openly ftcod up for its truth* Among the noble we find Jofeph a member of the great Jewilh council, Dlonyfius Dne of the Judges at Athens, and Fiavius Clemens a Roman Senator ; and among the imfe\ Quadratus, Arid ides, and Athenagoras, Athenian Philofopher's ; Clemens, Arnobiu<, Amm.nius, \nnatolius, &c. men of great learn. ng at Alexandria ; and at Ro ie fuftin martyr and Tertulli- an, both famous apologias for the religion of jeius, the latter of whom in the fecond century told the Roman Governors, that their ij6 An APPEAL, &c. impofture. On the contrary, grofs ignorance overfpread thofe countries, where Mahomet firlt broached his abfurd opinions, and propagated them with the fword : A fure fign this, that the facred writers did not, like that impoftor, avail themfelves of the ignorance, weaknefs, and helpleflhefs of their followers, to impofe falfe- hood upon them. 4. When the authenticity of the miracles was attested by thoufands,of living witnefles, reli- gious rites were inftituted, and performed by hundreds of thoufands, agreeable to fcripture injunctions, in order to perpetuate that au- thenticity. And thefe folemn ceremonies have ever fmce been kept up in all parts of the world ; the Paffovcr by the Jews, in remem- brance of Mofes' miracles in Egypt > and the Euchariji by Chriltians, as a memorial of Chrift's death, and the miracles that accompanied it, fome of which are recorded by Phlegon the Trallian, an heathen hiftorian. 5. The Scriptures have not only the external fan&ion of miracles, but the internal ftamp of the omnifcient God, by a variety of prophe- cies, fome of which have already been moll ex- actly corporations, councils and armies, and the Emperor's palace, were full of Chrklians ; Nor is this improbable, fmce fo early as St. Paul's days the faints o/Ccefars huujhold fainted thofe of the Roman Provinces. Phil. iv. 22. How credulous are they who can believe that perfons of fuch rank and learning could be deluded by Jewiih filhermen into the worfhip of a crucified Irnpoflov ! FOURTH PART. 157 a£ily confirmed by the event predi&ed; witnefs the rife and fall of the four grand monarchies according to Daniel's prophecy, chap. ii. and vii ; and the deftruction of the city and temple of Jerufalem, foretold by Chrift, Matt. xxiv. 2. while others are every day fulfilled in the face of infidels, particularly the perfecution of the real difciples of Chrift in our own times, as well as in all ages (See Matt. x. 22, 35. John xx. 20. and Gal. iv. 29.) and die prcfent, mi- ferable ftate of the Jews, fo exactly defcribed by Mofes above three thoufand years ago. See Deut. xxviii. 65. 6. Sometimes the pla'meft prophecies, the mofl public miracles, and the annals of kingdoms, well known when thefe books were firft received, wonderfully concur to demonftrate their au- thenticity. Take one inftance out of many. A prophet out of Judah, above 300 years before the event, thus foretold the pollution of Jero- boam's altar at Bethel, before Jeroboam him- felf, who was attended by his priefts, his cour- tiers, and, no doubt, a vaft number of idola- trous worfhippers : O altar, altar, thus fays the Lord, behold a child Jh all be bom unto the houfe of David, Jojiah by name, whojhall burn men's bones upon thee : and this is thejign : Behold, this very day, the altar Jhall be rent, and the ajhes that are upon itfeattered. King Jeroboam enflamed with anger, Jiretched forth his hand againji the man of O God 158 An A P P E A L, &c. God, faying to his guards, Lay hold on him ; but his extended hand was dried up Jo that he c not pull it in again to him ; the rending of the altar, and fcattering of the lire, inftantly took place; and the capital prophecy was exactly fulfilled by pious King Jo/iab, as you may fee by comparing I Kings xiii. i, &c. with 2 Kings xxiii. 15, &c. — Can we reafonably fup- pofe, that books, containing accounts of fuch public events, would have been received as di- vinehy a divided people, if their authenticity had not been confirmed by indubitable matter of fait ? Nay, is it not as abfurd to aftert it, as it would Be to affirm, that the offices for the 5th of November, and the 30th of January, were forged by crafty priefts ; and that the Panifts, Puritans, and Royalifts of the laft century, agreed to impofe upon the world the hiftory of the gun-powder plot, and of King Charles's decollation, with which thofe parts of our li- turgy are fo infeparably connected ? 7. This fcattered, defpifed people, the irre- concilable enemies of the Chriftians, keep with amazing care* the old teframent, full of the prophetic ■> If the hlftories contained in the old teftament, were in ge- neral for the credit of the Jews, the love of fraift might indeed hive engaged f )rn e of them to join in a public forgery. But that book, of which they have always been fo tenacious, prefents the v/crld chiefly with an account of their monftrous ingratitude, un- j arallell'd obftinacy, perpe, etual rebellions, abominable idolatries; and of the fearful judgments, which their wickednefs brought FOURTH PART, 159 prophetic hiftory. of Jefus Chrift, and by that means afford the world a finking proof that the new teftament is true ; and Chriftians in their turn fhow, that the eld teftament is abundantly confirmed and explained by the new. The Earl of Rochefler, the great wit of the laft cen- tury, was fo (truck with this proof, that upon reading the 53d chapter of Ifaiah, with floods of penitential tears he lamented his former infi- delity, and warmly embraced the faith, which he had fo publicly ridiculed. 8. To fay nothing of the venerable antiquity, and wonderful prefervation cf thofe books, fome of which are by far the meft ancient in the world : To pafs over the inimitable fimplicity, or true fublimity of their ftile \ they carry with them fuch characters of truth, as command the refpe&of every unprejudiced reader. They open to us the myftery of the creation, the nature of God, angels, and man, the im- O 2 mortality upon them. Mofes, who leads the van of their facred authors, fums up his hiftory of the Ifraelites, and draws up their character in thefe difgraceful words, which he fpake to their face : You hai c been rebellious agahifi the Lord from the day that I knew you. Dcut. ix. 24. And even David and Solomon, their grcateft kings, are reprefented in thofe hooks, as guilty of the greatcft enormities. O ye Deifts, I appeal to your rcafon and aflt ; Would you d'e for, would you even connive at a notorious forgery, fnppof n^ the de- fign of it were merely to impofe upon the world as divine, a brofc that fhould perpetually ftigmatize your ancestors, and fix horrid blots upon the names, for which you have the greateft veneration ? j6o An APPEAL, feV. mortality of the foul*, the end for which vte were made, the origin and connexion of mora! and natural evil, the vanity of this world and the glory of the next. There we fee infpired fhepherds, tradefmen, and fifhermen, furpaffing as much the greateft philofophers, as thefe did the herd of mankind, both in meeknefs ofwif- dom and fublimity of do&rine — There we ad- mire the pureft morality in the world, agreeable to the di&ates of found reafon, confirmed by the witnefs which God has placed for himfelf in our breaft, and exemplified in the lives of men of like paflions with ourfelves — There we dif- cover a vein of ecclefiaftical hiftory and theolo- gical truth, confiftently running through a col- lection of fixty-fix different books, written by various authors, in different languages, during the fpace of above 1500 years — There we find, as in a deep and pure fpring, all the genuine drops and ftreams of fpiritual knowledge, which can poffibly be met with in the largeft libraries —There the workings of the human heart are defcribed, in a manner that demonftrates the infpiration of the Searcher of hearts — There we have a particular account of all our fpiritual maladies, with their various fymptoms, and the method • It is remarkable that the wliefc heathens, with all their phi- lofophyj feldora attained to a full alTurance of the immortality of the foul. Cicero himfelf fays : Nefcio quomodo, dum lego affen- tior ; cum polui librum, et mecum ipfe de immottalitate anirnorum ccepi cogitare, aiTentio omnis ilia elabitur. Tufc. Queft. lib. x . FOURTH PAR T. ic: method of a certain cure ; a cure that has been witnefled by millions of martyrs and departed faints, and is now enjoyed by thoufands of good men, who, would account it an honour to feal the truth of the fcriptures with their own blood — There vou meet with the nobleft {trains of penitential and joyous devotion, adapted to the difpofitions and Urates of all travellers to Sion — And there you read thofe awful threatnings and chearing promifes, which are daily fulfilled in the consciences of men, to the admiration of be- lievers, and the aftoni ill meat of attentive infi- dels. 9. The wonderful efficacy of the Scriptures is another proof that they are of God. When they are faithfully opened by his minifters, and powerfully applied by his Spirit, they vjound and heal, they kill and make alive, they alarm the care- lefs, turn or enrage the wicked, direct the loft, fupport the tempted, ftrengthen the weak, com- fort mourners, and nouriiTi pious fouls. As the woman of Samaria faid of Jefus, Come fee a man that told me all that ever I did: Is not this the Chrijt P a good man can fay of the Bible, " Come, fee a book that told me all that was in my heart, and acquainted me with the various trials and dangers I have met with, in my fpiri- tual travels \ a book where I have found thofe truths, which, like a divinely tempered fworcl, have cut my way through, all the fnares and for- ces of my fpiritual adverfaries -> and by whole O 3 di- i6* An A P P E A L, BV. directions my foul has happily entered the para- dife of divine and brotherly love, Is not this the book of God?" io. To conclude : It is exceedingly remark- able, that the more humble and holy people are ; the more they read, admire, and value the fcriptures : and on the contrary, the more felf- conceited, worldly-minded, and wicked j the more they neglecSt, defpife, and afperfe them. As for the objections which are raifed againit their perfpicuity and confiftency, thofe who are both pious and learned know, that they are gene- rally founded on prepofTefiion, and the want of underftanding in fpiritual things; or on our ig- norance of feveral cuftoms, idioms, and circum- ftances, which were perfectly known when thofe books were written. Frequently alfo the imma- terial error arifes merely from a wrong punctua- tion, or a miftake of copiers, printers, or trans- lators ; as the daily difcoveries of pious critics, and ingenuous confeffions of unprejudiced in- quirers, abundantly prove* To the preceding arguments, I beg leave to add the following queries. Do not difbelievers, by fuppofing that the fcriptures are a forged book, and confequently that chriftianity is a falfe religion, run upon the very rocks, which they feem fo afraid of ? And may they not be charged vvith indirectly fetting their feal to opi- nions, far more incredible than thofe which they reject? (i.) o FOURTHPART. 163 (1.) O ye Difputers of this world, if ye believe that Mofes and Jefus Chrift, St. Peter and St. Paul, publicly worked Jham miracles for years, in various cities and countries, before thou lands of their fharp-fighted oppofers, without being ever detected in any of their tricks ; might you not as reafonably believe, that thoufands of fhrewd men, were once turned intoftupid affes ? (2.) If you believe, that the gofpel is the pro- duction of human deceit -> and yet, that in the prodigious number of apoftates once concerned in carrying on the amazing villainy, fuch as Judas, Demas, Simon Magus, Alexander the C-jpperfrnitb, who did St. Paul much evil^ &c. not one was ever found, that would prove the forge- ry : might you not as reafonably believe, that if Mr. Wilkes, l and all his friends, knew of a grofs villainy, carried on by the miniftry, in order to turn the kingdom upfide down ; neither he, nor any one of them, could ever be prevailed upon to difclofe and prove it to the world f ? (3.) You believe, that the miracles and refur- reclion of Chrift, together with the gifts of the Holy Ghoft, were nothing but enthufiaftical or knavifh •f- Pliny, a learned and prudent Roman governor, who was employed by the emperor Trajan in ftopping the progrefs of Chrif- tianity, wrote to him, that the apoftates affirmed, the whole of their crime had been to meet before day, and fing an hymn to Chrift as to their God. His own words are : " Affirmabant hanc €i foifte fumam vel culpae fuae vel erroris, quod eiTent foliti ftato " die ante lucem convenire, carmenoue ChriJJo^uaiiDeodicere.'* K>4 An A P P E A L, Sec. knavifti pretenfions: and yet you are forced to grant, that thoufands of Jews, ftrongly attached to their religion, amazingly averfe to that of Je- fus, and guilty of perfecuting him unto death, took him openly for their Saviour a few weeks after they had feen him publicly fcourgcd ; and in the very city, in fight of which he had juft been crucified between two thieves. Now is not this as abfurd as to believe, that if a fewfifh- ermen cried up the laft perfon hanged in Lon- don for a notorious forgery ; and if they affirm- ed that he was the Son of God, appealing to a great number of miracles, fuppofed to have been wrought by him in the fquares and hofpitals of the metropolis, and efpecially in St. Paul's church-yard : and maintaining that fome of them had been acknowledged genuine by the * great council of the nation ; they could by fuch notorious lies, engage thoufands of citizens and fome * Some remarkable inftances of this we have in the facred books, publilhecl when the facts mentioned therein were notorious, and when fome of the perfons named were probably yet alive. After the refurrec'hon of Lazarus, the chief 'priefls and the fharifces gathered a council, and f aid, What do we? for this man does many miracles. If we let him alor.e, all men iviil believe on him. John xi. 47. — And after Peter and John had publicly cured the cripple, who ufed to beg at the gate of the temple ; the rulers, ard tides, and fcihs, and Annas the high p>ref, and Caiathas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the h'gh pricfi, wee gathered together at Jcrujalem, faying^ IV hat fb all ive do to ihife men ? for that indeed a notable miracle has keen doue by them, is maniffi to all them that dwell in fcrujakm, and we can* not deny it. Aits iv. 5 — 16. FOURTH PART. 16; fome aldermen, to put all their truft in the vil- lain hanged at ihcir fpecial rcqucjl ? (4.) You believe, that chriftianity is a grofs impofture ; and yet you cannot deny, that thou- sands of learned Romans and wife Greeks, who agreed to defpife the Jews above all other rren, took for their Saviour that very Jefus, of whom his own countrymen had been afhamed, and whom they had crucified as an impoftor. Is not this as abfurd as to believe, that thoufands of wife Engliflimen, and fenfible Frenchmen, could be induced by the abfurd tale of two or three Hottentots, to worth ip a certain Hotten- tot, whom the whole nation of Hottentots had condemned to be hanged, as being more worthy of an ignominious death, than the bloody ring- leader of a feditious mob ? (5.) If you believe with one of the Popes, that the Hiftory of Chrift is " a mere fable, " and that there never was fuch an extraordinary perfon, you believe that the Heathens, the Jews, and the Mahometans, have agreed with the Chriftians their fworn enemies, to carry on the moft amazing impofture* For Pliny, Tacitus, Ducian, and Suetonius, Heathen authors, who lived foon after Chrift, make exprefs mention of him : as do alfo Mahomet, many of the Rabbies, and Julian the Emperor, that powerful and crafty apoftate, who not only never denied Chrift's exiftence, but openly acknowledged that i66 An APPEAL, &c. that Paul, Mark, Matthew, and Peter, were the authors of the gofpels and epiftles, which bear their name. Now is not this as ridiculous as to believe, that the Pope, the Mufty, and the inquifitors, have laid their heads with MefTrs. Voltaire, Hume, and Rouffcau, to favour a for- gery fubverfive of popery, mahometanifm, and infidelity ? (6.) If you deny the authenticity of the four gofpels, which are the only ancient hiftories, that we have of our Saviour ; and yet believe, that there was fuch a pcrfonage as J^fus Chrift, whofe fame fo fpread through the Roman em- pire, that in lefs than 330 years, he was not only reckoned fuperior to the Roman Emperor, but to Jupiter himfelf ; and that neverthelefs not one hiftorian, during all that time, gave the world a particular account of him : [which muft be the cafe, if the four gofpels are a for- gery :] Might you not as reafonably fuppofe, that if a blazing meteor appeared in our day> and eclipfed the ftars, the moon, and the fun it- felf ; no aftronomer for feveral centuries would take particular notice of fo wonderful a pheno- menon ? (7.) If the gofpel is a delufion, you believe that St. Paul, who was a man of fenfe, learning, and intrepidity, was feduced by— no body, to preach for near 30 years, with aftonifhing zeal and matchlefs hardships, an impofture, againft the THIRD PART. 167 the abettors of which, heju rhreatbci nothing but threat nings dndj \ Would it be half fo abfurd to believe, that Mr. Wilkes has fuddenly commenced the roinifter's advocate, goes through the kingdom to recommend the prefent adminiftration, and accounts it an ho- nour to be mobbed, whipt, or -toned in every borough for his exceffive attachment to the king ? (8.) The inftantaneous converfion of thou- fends, was wrought by means of public appeals to notorious matter of fact. Hear the language of the Apoftles to the Jews. This ye your/elves Kxow, Acts ii. 24. Ye know the thing done through all Judca^ Acts x. 37, 38. The King k-noweth tbefe things—This thing vim not done in a eorner^ Acts xxvi. 26. Now if chriftianity is not founded upon indubitable facts, might you not as well believe, that twelve men broke loofe from Bedlam, brought laft year thoufands of deifts over to chriftianity, by faying to them, ** Ye know" — what you arc perfect ftrangers to ; that is, " Ye know" — tnat we are a pack of bedlamites ? (9.) If the gofpel is forged, you believe that the Corinthians, &c. handed down to pofterity, as a facred treafure, Epiftles where St. Paul mentions their amazin 2: converfion from grofs immoral: :ies ; congratulates them about the Jpi- fhual or miraculous gifts^ in which they abound- ed, 1 Cor. xii. i, and gives them particular di- rections x68 An APPEAL, &c. regions, how to ufe the gift of tongues to edifi- cation ; when yet they were totally unacquaint- ed with any fuch things. Might you not with equal wifdom believe, that, if Mr. Wilkes wrote to the Houfe of Commons, a congratulatory Epiftle about their having received by the laying on of his hands the power of fpeaking turkifh, arable, and chinefe, they would carefully tranf- mit his letter to the next generation, as a divine performance ; and that none of Mr. Wilkes's enemies would ever expofe the impudence of fo abfurd a pretenfion ? ( io.) If you fay that the Apoftles were/00/5, ycu muft believe, that foolifh fifliermen laid a fcheme with fo much wifdom, and carried it on with fo much art, as to deceive multitudes of Greeks noted for their acutenefs, and numbers of Romans famous for their prudence. Might you not as well believe that twelve poor, un- armed idiots j once combined to take the ftrong- eft towns in Europe, and accomplifhed their ftrange defign by means, that ftrike the pro- foundeft politicians with aftonifhment ? (11.) If you affirm that the Apoftles were cheats and liars, you run into as great a difficul- ty, for you muft believe that the greateft knaves that ever exifted, contrary to their own princi- ples and advantage, went through the world, cxpofing themfelves to the greateft hardftiips and fevereft tortures unto death, to recommend both FOURTH PART. 169 both by their example and precept 5, the ftricteft: piety towards God, and the moft fcrupulous bo- nejly towards man) perpetually denouncing eter- nal deftruilion to cheats and hypocrites, and the torments of a lake that burncth with fore and brim- fione, to every one who loveth cr maketh a lie. Would it be more abfurd to believe, that the twelve greateft Epicures in England, have for a courfe of years, fulfilled a mutual agreement of preaching night and day, abftinence and fail- ing through the three kingdoms, merely to have the pleafure of ftarving to death for their pains ? (12.) Toconciude: If the gofpel (and con- sequently the fcripture) is an impofture, you fuppofe, that fome poor Galilean fifhermen, only by means of an abfurd lie, which they told without wit, and wrote without elegance, foiled the multitude of the Jewifh and Pagan priefts, who had prejudice, cuftom, poffeffion, learning, oratory, wealth, laws, governors, and Empe- rors on their fide; yea, and truth alfo, upon your principles, at leaft when they decried the gofpel as a cheat. Would it be more ridiculous to believe, that David killed Goliah with a grain of fand, and cut off his head with a fpire of grafs : or that our failors fink men of war with a puff of breath, while our foldiers batter down ramparts with fnow-balls ? O ye Sons of worldly wifdom, drop your un- juft prejudices] candidly weigh both fides of the P queftion, 170 An A P P E A L, &c. queftion, and you will foon fee, that in reject- ing the gofpel as an impofture, you difplay a far greater degree of credulity ■, than we do in cordi- ally receiving it. After this fhort defence of the oracles of God, and this little attack upon the perfons who (uf- pecl: their authenticity, I hope I may [confif- tently v/ith the plan of an appeal to Rcafon] pro- duce from the scriptures, a few more argu- ments to prove the original depravity and loft eftate of mankind. XXXI. ARGUMENT. The fpiritual life of the foul confifts in its u- nion with God, as the natural life of the body does in its union with the foul : And as poifon and the fword kill the latter, fo unbelief and fin deftroy the former. The firft man was endued with this two-fold life; GW, fays the divine hiftorian, breathed into him the breath of lives , and he became a living body and a living foul: He had both an animal life in common with beafts, and a fpiritual life in common with angels. St. Paul, who calls this angelical life the HfeofGod^ intimates that it confifted both in that experimental knowledge of our Creator, wherein, fays our Church, M ftandeth our eternal life," and in rigbteouf- nefs and true holinefs, the moral and moft glorious image of the fupreme Being. To F O U R T H P A R T. i ?I To fuppofe man was created void of this ef- fential knowledge and holy love, is to fuppofe he came very wicked out of the hands of the Parent of all good : For what is a rational creature, that neither knows nor loves his Creator, but a monfter of ftupidity and ingratitude, a wretch a&ually dead to God, and deferving prefent deftru&ion ? When the Lord therefore faid to man, in the day thou eat cfl thereof, that is, in the day that thou finneft, thou Jhalt fur ely die, it was as if he had faid ; u In that very day, fin fhall affured- ly feparate between thee and the God of thy life : Thou fhalt certainly lofe the glorious view, which thou haft of my boundlefs good- nefs and infinite perfections : Thou fhalt infal- libly quench the fpirit of ardent love, and flop the breath of delightful pfaife, by which thou liveft both to my glory and thy comfort : And thy foul dead in trefpajps and fins, fhall remain in the filthy prifon of a mortal body, till death breaks it open, to remove thee to thy own place." And was not this Adam's cafe after his fall ? Did he not know that he was naked, ftript of the glorious image of his Creator ? Did not guilty Jhamc immediately prompt him to hide and pro- tect as well as he could, his degenerate and in- feebled body ? Devoid of the ardent love he felt for God before, and of the pure delight he en- P 2 joyed 172 An APPEAL, &c. joyed in him, was not he left the wretched prey of tormenting fears t Did he not evidence his hatred of his heavenly Benefactor, by dreading his voice, and flying from him as haftily as he ftiould have fled from the infernal ferpent ? Was he not deprived of the knowledge by which at firft fight he difcovered the nature of Eve, and gave to all living creatures names ex- preflive of their refpc&ive properties ? — Was he not, I fay, deprived of that intuitive knowledge and excellent wifdom, when he fooliftily hid him- : among the trees from his all-feeing^ omniprefent Creator ? And is it not evident that he was loft to all fenfe of filial fear towards God, and con- jugal love towards Eve, when, inftead of felf- accufations, penitential confeffions, and earned pleas for mercy, he (hewed nothing at his trial but ftubbornnefs, malice, and infolence ? Such was the ftate of corruption into which Adam had deplorably fallen, before he multi- plied the human fpecies. Now, according to the invariable laws of Providence, an upright, holy nature can no more proceed from a fallen, finful one, than gentle lambs can be begotten by fierce tygers, or harmlefs doves by venomous ferpents : Common fenfe therefore, and natural philofophy dictate, that our firft Parents could not communicate the angelical life which they had loft, nor impart to their children a better nature than their own ; and that their depravity is FOURTH FART. i- is as much ours by nature, as the fiercenefs of the firft lion, is the natural property of all the lions in the world. FOUR OBJECTIONS. I. Should it be faid, that " this doctrine re- flects on the attributes of God, who, as the wife and gracious Governor of the world, fhould have forefeen and prevented the fall of Adam. " I anfwer : (i.) God made man in his image 5 part of which confifts in free agency, or a power to determine his own actions. And if creating a free agent is not repugnant to divine wifdom and goodnefs ; the wrong choice, or fin of a free agent, can be no impeachment of thofe perfec- tions in the Deity*. P 3 (2-) * God anfwers thus for himfelf in Milton. Man will fall He and his faithlefs progeny. Whofe fault ? Whofe but his own ? Ingrate ! he had of me All he could have : I made him juft and right, Sufficient to have flood, though free to fall. Such I created all th' ethereal Pow'rs ; Freely they flood who flood, and fell who fell. Not free, what proof could they have giv'n fmcere Of true allegiance, conflant faith or love, Where only what they needs mujl do appear'd ; Not what they would? What praife could they receive > What pleafure I from fuch obedience paid, When will and reafon (reafon alfo is choice) Ufelefs and vain, of freedom both defpoiPd, Made paflive both, had ferv'd neceffity. Not me ? They therefore, as to right belong^ . 174 An A P P E A L, &c. (2.) Suppofe man had not been endued with freedom of choice, he would only have ranked among admirable machines, and nothing could have been more abfurd than to place him in a ftate of probation. And fuppofe, when he was in that flate, divine power had irrefiftibly turn- ed the fcale of his will to obedience, the trial would have been prevented, and the counfel of divine wifdom fool i (hi y defeated. (3.) God did all that a wife and good Ruler of rational and free creatures, could do to prevent fin. So were created, nor can juftly accufe Their Maker, or their making, or their fate : As if predefti nation over- ru I'd Their will, difpos'd by abfolute decree, Or high fore-knowledge. They themfelves decreed Their own revolt, not I ; if I fore-knew, Fore-knowledge had no influence on their fault, Which had no lefs prov'd certain unfore -known. Young exprefles the fame fentimeat with his peculiar boldnef* and energy. Blame not the bowels of the Deity : Man ihall be blefs'd as far as man permits. Not man alone, all ratimah. Heaven arms With an illultrious, but tremendous, pow'r To counter-act its own molt gracious ends ; And this of Ariel necefliry, not choice : That pow'r deny'd, men, angctsvfere no more, But pafiive engines, void of praife or blame. Heav'n wills our happinefs, allows our doom : Invites us ardently, but not compels ; Heav'n but perfuades, almighty man decrees j Man is the maker of immortal fates, Man falls by man, if finally he falls. FOURTH PART. 17$ fin. He placed in Adam's heart, a vigorous principle of holinefs : He granted him fufficient ftrength to continue in obedience : He indulged him with his blefled prefence and converfe, to encourage him in the way of duty : He ftri&ly forbad him to fin : He enforced the prohibition by the fearful threatning of death : He promif- ed to crown his continuance in holinefs, with a glorious immortality^ and gave him the tree of life as a pledge of this ineftimable blefiing. To have gone farther, would have been entirely in- confiftent with his wifdom : an abfolute re- ftraint being as contrary to the liberty of a moral agent, and the nature of the divine law ; as chaining down an harmlefs man that he may not commit murder, is contrary to the freedom of Englifhmen, and the laws of this realm. Nor can we, either with reafon or decency, com- plain that God did not make us cibfolutely immu- table and perfeB like himfelf : This is charging him with folly, for not enduing us with infinite wifdom, and knowledge every way boundlefs \ that is, for not making us gods inftead of men. (4.) In cafe man fell, divine mercy had de- creed his recovery by Jefus Chrifl: : And when the almighty Redeemer fliall have brought life out of death, and light out of darknefs, the myf- terious drama of creation and redemption, of which we fee but one or two acts, will appear, even to our objectors, every way worthy of its infinitely wife and gracious Author. II. In 176 An APPEAL, &c. II. In the mean time they will ftill urge that " Adam's pofterity (then unborn) could not jujily partake of the confequences of his tranf- greffion." But fhall cavils overthrow matter of faB? Do not we fee in every unrenewed ptr- fon, the unbelief, pride, finful curiofity, fenfu- ality, and alienation from God, to which our firft parents were fubje&ed at their fall ? Do , not women bear children with forrow as well as Eve ? Is the ground lefs curfed for us than for Adam; And do not we toil, fuffer, and die as as he did ? If this order of things were unjuj} 9 would the righteous God have permitted its con- tinuance to the prefent time ? Befides, Adam contained in himfelf, as in miniature, all his pofterity. The various nations of men, are nothing but different branches growing from that original root. They are Adam or Man , ex- ifting at large ; as the branches of a fpreading oak, with all the acorns that have grown upon, and dropped from them, during a long fucceffion of fummers, are nothing but the original acorn, unfolding and multiplying itfelf with all its ef- fential properties. It is then as ridiculous to wonder, that the fons of depraved Adam mould naturally be depraved, as that an acorn mould naturally produce an oak ; and a poifonous root, a malignant plant. Again, Adam wa? the general head, reprefentative, and father of mankind - } and we fuffer for his rebellion FOURTH PART. 177 rebellion legally 5 as the children of rhofe who have fold thcmfelvcs for flaves, are born in a ftate of wretched flavcry ; and as the dependents of a noble traitor, lofe the title by their anceftor's crime : Naturally, as the fons of a bankrupt fuf- fer poverty for their father's extravagance, or as Gebazi's Uprqfy clave to him and his feed for ever : And unavoidably, as an unborn child (hares the fate of his unhappy mother, when (he inadvert- ently poifons, or defperately ftabs herfelf. III. " But," fay the fame objectors, " fup- pofing it be granted, that we are naturally de- praved ; yet if our depravity is natural, it is ne- cejpiry ; and we are no more blameable for it, than lions for their fiercenefs, or Ethiopians for their black completion." (1.) Our objectors would not, I preiume, be underftood to infinuate by " blameable," that our depravity does not render us deteftable in the eyes of an holy God, or that it is not in it- itfelf blame-worthy. Do they Iefs diflike the complexion of the Ethiopians, or lefs deteft the deftruftive rage of lions, becaufe it is natural to them ? If moral difpofitions ceafed to be worthy of praife or difpraife, as foon as they are rooted, morally necejfary, and, in that fenfe, natural ; what abfurd confequences would follow ! Sin- ners would become guiltlefs by arriving at com- pleat impenitency ; and God could not be praif- ed for h»s holinefs, nor Satan difpraifed for his fin- 178 An APPEAL, feV. finfulnefs ; holinefs being as eflential to God, by the abfolute perfection of his nature, as fin is morally necefiary to the devil, by the uncon- querable habit which he has wilfully contract- ed, and in which he obftinately remains. (2.) Should they mean, that " we are not anfwerable or accountable for our depravity :" I reply, Though I fhould grant (which I am ve- ry far from doing*) that we are noway account- able for our moral infection, yet it cannot be denied that we are anfwerable for our obftinate refufal of relief, and for the wilful neglcB of the means found out by divine mercy for our cure. Can we juftly charge God with either our mif- fortune, or our guilt ? Do not parents, by the law of nature, reprefent their unborn pofterity ? If Adam ruined us by a common iranfgrefpon \ has not Chrift, the fecond Adam, provided for us a common falvation f Jude 3. Heb. ii. 3. If by the offence of 'one , (Adam) judgment came upon all men to condemnation ; by the righteoufnefs of one 9 (Chrift) is not the free gift come upon all men to juftif cation of life ? Rom. v. 18. And fince God has * Milton introduces Adam fpeaking thus : Ah why fhould all mankind, For one man's fault, thus guiltlefs be condemn'd, If guihlefs ? But from me what can proceed, But all corrupt, both mind and will d: t c« Not to do only, but to :i '11 the fame With me? How can they then acquitted (land In- fight of God ? Him after all difputes Forc'd I abfolve. F O U R T H P A R T, i 79 has declared, that The fon fhall net bear the ini- quity of the father beyond the ihort period of this tranfitory life, if any fuffer after death, is it not entirely for their own unbelief, and peculiar fins*? Compare John iii. 18, 19. and Mark xvi. 16. But what follows compleatly vindi- cates our Creator's goodnefs. (3.) Do fin and mifery abound by our fall in Adam ? Grace and glory abound much more by our redemption in Jefus Chrift, Rom. v, 20. And " it muft be owing to our own perverfe- M nefs, or our own negligence," (fays the in- genious Hervey with great truth) " if we do 44 not levy a tax upon our lofs, and rife even 44 by our fall||." This leaves us not the leaft fhadow '•'* Milton introduces God peaking thus to the MclTiah. Man (hall not quite be loft, but fav'd who will, Yet not of will in him, but grace in me Freely vouchfaf'd : once more I will renew .His lapfed pow'rs — yet once more he fhall ftand On even ground againft his mortal foe, By me upheld — Be thou in Adam's room The head of all mankind, though Adam's fan. As in him periih all men, fo in thee, As from a fecond root, mall be reftor'd As many as are reftord, without thee none. His crimes make guilty all his kns ; thy merit Imputed fhall abfolve them, who renounce Their own both righteous, and unrighteous deeds? And live in thee tranfplanted, and from thee Receive new life. jj Creation's great fuperior, man, is thine ; Thine is Redemption, How ihguld this great truth 1*0 An A P ? E A L, Sec. fhadow of reafon, to complain of the divine proceedings refpecting us. VVe may then conclude, that a moral depravi- ty, which comes upon us by the wilful choice of a parent, in whom we feminally and federally exifted — a depravity which cleaves to us by an mate negleEl of the infinitely precious means provided to remove it — a depravity which works now by our own per fondl choice, and to which we daily give our alien t by the free commiffion of fins that are avoidable, leaves us not only ac- countable, but inexcu fable before God. IV. However the advocates for the natural pu- rity of the human race (endeavouring to clog with difficulties, what they cannot difprove to be matter of fail) flili aflert, " As we have our fouls immediately from God, //"we are born finful, he muft either create finful fouls, which cannot be fuppofed without impiety \ or fend finlcfs fouls into finful bodie?, to be defiled by the unhappy union, which is as inconfifrent with his good- nefs as his juftice. Add to this, fay the objec- tors, that nothing can be more unphilofophical than to fuppofe, that a body, a mere lump of organized Raife man o'er man, and k'ndle faraphs here ! Redemption ! 'Twas Creation more fubllmc ; Redemption ' 'Twas the labour of the fk!e c ; Far more than labour — It was death in heav'n. A truth fo ftrange ! 'Twere bold to think it true ; If not far bolder (till to diibelieve. Yovnc. £ FOURTHPART. 181 organized matter, is able to communicate to a pure fpirit that moral pollution, of which itfelf is as incapable, as the murderer s fword is inca- pable of crueky." This fpecious objection, which Dr. Watts acknowledges to be " the very chief point of difficulty in all the controverfies about original fin," is wholly founded upon the vulgar notion, ' that we have our fouls immediately from God by infufion : It will therefore intirely fall to the ground, if we can prove, that we receive them, as well as our bodies, by traduction from Adam : And that this is faft, appears, if I am not mif- taken, by the following arguments : (i.) We have no ground from fcripture or reafon to think, that adulterers can, when they pleafe, put God upon creating new fouls to ani- mate the fpurious fruit of their crime. On the contrary, it is faid, that Godrejied on the feventb day from all his work of creation. (2.) Eve herfelf was not created but in Adam": God breathed no breath of life into her, as he did into her hufband to make him a living fouh Therefore when Adam faw her, he faid \JheJhall he called woman, becaufe Jhe [her whole felf, not her body only] was taken out of man. If then the foul of the firft woman fprang from Adam's foul, as her body from his body 5 what reafon have we to believe, that the fouls of her pofteri- ty are immediately infufed, as Adam's was when vjou created him ? i8i An APPEAL, &t, (3.) All agree, that under God we receive life from our parents ; and if ///?, then certain- ly our foul, which is the principle of life. (4.) Other animals have power to propagate their own fpecies after its hind; they can gene- rate animated bodies : Why fhould man be but half 2. father ? When did God ftint him to pro- pagate the mere fhdl of his perfon, the body without the foul ? Was it when he blefj'ed him, andfaid, Be fruitful and multiply? When he fpoke thus, did he not addrefs himfelf to the foul, as well as to the body ? Can the body a- lone either underftand or execute a command ? Is it not on the contrary highly reafonable to conclude, that by virtue of the divine appoint- ment and bleffing, the whole man can be fruitful and multiply, and the foul, under proper cir- cumftances, can generate a foul, as a thought begets a thought; and can kindle the flame of life, as one taper lights another; without weak- ening its immortal fubftance, any more than God the Father (if I may be allowed the com- parison) impairs the divine effence by the eternal generation of his only begotten Son. (5.) Does not matter of faB corroborate the preceding argument ? A fprightly raee-horfe generally begets a mettlefome colt 3 while an heavy cart-horfe begets a colt, that bears the ftamp of its fire's dulnefs. And is it not fo with mankind in general ? The children of the Hon FOURTHPART. 183 Hottentots and Efkimaux, are commonly as Jlupid; while thofe of the Englifli and French, are ufually as fbarp 9 as their parents. You feldom fee a wit fpringing from two half-witted people, or a fool defcended from very fenfible pa- rents. The children of men of genius, are fre- quently as remarkable for fome branch of here- ditary genius ; as thofe of blockheads, for their native ftupidity. Nothing is more common than to fee very paffionate and flighty parents, have very paffionate and flighty children. And I have an hundred times discovered, not only the features, look, and complexion of a father 1 or mother in a child's face ; but feen a congeni- al foul, looking out [if I may fo fpeak] at thofe windows of the body, which we call the eyes. • Hence I conclude, that the advice frequently given to thofe, who are about to chufe a com- panion for life, M Take care of the breed" is not abfolutely without foundation; although fome lay too much ftrefs upon it; forgetting that a thoufand unknown accidents may form excep- tions to the general rule; and not confidering, that the peculiarity of the father's breed, may be happily corredied by that of the mother, [and vice verfa :] and that as the grace of God yielded to, may fjueeten the v:orJi temper ; fo (in perfifted in, may four the heft. (6.) Again, Mofes informs us, that fallen Adam begat a fin in his own Hkencfs, and after his Q. 2 image : i«4 An A P P E A L, Xt. image : But had he generated a body without z foul, he would not have begotten a/on in bis own likenefs, fmce he was not a mere mortal body,, but a fallen embodied f pi fit. Compare Gen. v. 3. with xlvi. 26. " But upon this fcheme, will obje&crs fay, if Adam was converted when he begat a fon, he begat a converted foul." This does by no means follow ; for if he was born of God after his fall, it was by grace through faith, and not by nature through generation : he could not there- fore communicate his fpiritual regeneration by natural generation y any more than a great fcholar can propagate his learning together with his fpecies. Should it be again objected, that " The foul is not generated, becaufe the fcriptures declare, The Lord is the Father of the J pints ofallflefh, and Thefpirit returns to God who gave it ;" I anfwer, It is alfo written, that Job and David were fearfully made and fafhioned by the hands of God in the womb ; that he formed fere mi ah in the belly ; and that we are the offspring of him, who made of one blood all nations of men. Now if the latter fcriptures do not exclude the interpofition of parents, in the formation of their children's bo- dies ; by what rule of criticifm or divinity can we prove, that the former exclude that interpo- fition in the produftion of their fouls P Nor can materialifts, who have no ideas of generation, but fuch as are grofs and carnal like their F O U R T H P A R T. iS S their own fyftem, with any fhadow of reafon infer, that " if the foul is generated with the body, it will alfo perifh with it :" For difiblu- tion is fo far from being a neceflary confe- quence of the fpiritual generation of fouls, that it would not fo much as have followed the gene- ration of our bodies, if Adam had not brought Jin into the worlds and DEATH by Jin ^ •> ■ Again, if wheat, a material feed, which grows out of the fame earthly clod with the chaff that enclofes it, can fubfift unimpaired, when that mean co- ver is deftroyed ; how much' more can the foul (that fpiritual, vital, heavenly power, which is of a nature fo vaftly fuperior to the body in which it is confined) continue to exift,- when flefh and blood are returned to their native duft ! Should fome perfons reject what I fay of iht traduction of fouls, in order to illuftrate the derivation of original fin : and fhculd they fay 5 that they have no more idea of the generation^ than honeft Nicodemus had of the regeneration of a fpirit : I beg leave to obferve two things. Firft, If fuch obje&ors are converted, . they will not deny the regeneration of fouls by the Spirit of God, fince they experience it, and our Lord fpeaks of it as a blefied reality, even while he reprefents it as a myftery unknown as to the manner of it, John iii. 8 — 13. Now if pious fouls have been regenerated from the beginning of the world, without exa&ly knowing how ; is - it reafonable to deny that fouls are generated, Q^3 merely i86 An A P P E A L, kc. merely becaufe we cannot exa&ly account for the manner in which that wonder takes place ? Secondly, Should my objectors be verfed in natural philofophy, they need not be told, that even the kind of generation, which they allow, is as much a myjiery to man, as the movement of a watch is to a child, that juft fees the cafe and the glafs. If they will not believe me, let them believe him, who gave his heart to fearcb out by wifdom, concerning all things that are done under heaven, and who, touching upon our queftion, fays : As thou hiowefl not what is the way of the fpirit, nor how the hones do grow in the womb of her that is with child : even Jo, thou knowejl not the works of God, who make th all. Eccl. xi. 5. For my part, I do not fee, why the fame al- mighty Prcici ver of men, who [as St. Paul tells us] made ^one blood the bodies of all nations- rf men, might not of one active thought, and ardent desire, have made the fouls of all na- tions of men alfo. Have not thought and dejire as great affinity to the nature t)f the foul, as blood has to that of the body? And confequently are not our ideas of the traduction of the foul, as clear as thofe, which we can form of the generation of the body ? Having dwelt fo long upon the manner in which mankind naturally propagate original corruption, together with their whole fpecies, I hope, I may reafonably refume the conclufion of my argument, and affirm, that if Adam cor- rupted FOURTH PART. 187 rupted the fountain of human nature in himfelf, we, the ftreams, cannot but be naturally cor- rupted. XXXII. ARGUMENT. God being a Spirit , reafon and revelation joint- ly inform us, that his law is fpiritual, and ex- tends to our thoughts and tempers, as well as to our words and actions. At all times, and in all places, it forbids every thing that is finful, or b&s the leaft tendency to fin ; it commands all that is excellent, and enjoins it to be done in the utmoft perfection of our difpenfation. Therefore, if we have not always trufted and delighted in God, more than in all things and perfons ; if for one inftant we have loved, or feared, the creature more than the Creator ; we have had another God bejides the Lord. Col. iii. 5. Phil, iii. 19. — Have we once omitted to adore him in fpirit and in truth inwardly, or at any time wor- fhipped him without becoming veneration out- wardly ; we have tranfgrefled as if we had bowed to a graven image, John iv. 24. — Though perju- ry and imprecations fhould never have defiled [ our lips; yet, if ever we mentioned God's tre- mendous name thoughtlefsly, or irreverently in prayer, reading, or converfation, we have taken it in vain, and the fearcher of hearts will not hold usguilt/efs. Phil. ii. 10. — And if it has not been our conftant practice and delight, to enter his courts with praife, and fpend the whole fabbath in iSS An A P P E A L, Sec. in his blefled fervice, we have polluted that fa- cred day, and the guilt of prophanenefs may juftly be charged upon us. Ifai. Iviii. ig. Did we ever (hew any difrefpe£t to our fupe- riors, orunkindnefs to our equals and inferiors ; we have violated the precept that commands us to honour all men, and be pun&ual in the dif- char^e of all focial and relative duties, i Pet- ii» 17. — Did we ever weaken our conftitution by excefs, ftrike our neighbour in anger, wound his character with an injurious word, or only fuffer hatred to rife in our breaft againft him ; we have committed a fpecies of murder ; for Whofoever /ball fay to his brother , Thou fool, Jhi. in danger of bell-fire -, and Whofoever kateth his brother is a murderer, Matt. v. 22. I John iiL* 15.— -Are we the friends of the world, an apoftle brands us with the name of Ac , becaufe We are fair to our heavenly bridegroom, James iv. 4. And if wc have only looked on a woman to lufi after her, Chr.fr declares, that we have com- mitted admtery wii . cdy in our heart, Mat. v. 28. — Have we overcharged our cuftomers, exa&ed upon any one in our bargains, iniifted on a full falary for work done by halves, de- frauded the king of any part of his taxes, or taken advantage of the neceifity and ignorance of others to get by their lofs ; we fwell the nume- rous tribe of reputable thieves, and genteel rob- bers, Matt. xxii. 21. — Neglecting to keep our word and baptifmal vow, or fpeaking an untruth, is FOURTH PART. i-8f is hearing falfe witnefs agahift our neighbour : , our-* felves, or Chrift, who ftiles himfelf the truth? Rev. xxii. 15. — And giving place to a fretful, clifcontented thought, or an irregular, envi- ous defire, is a breach of that fpiritual precept, which made St. Paul fay, / bad not known iuft^ or a wrong defire j to be Jin , except the law had J aid \ Thou Jhalt not covet. Rom. vii. 7, Such being the extreme fpirituality of the law, who can plead, that he never was guilty of breaking one, or even all of the ten com- mandments ? And if we have broken them all r either in their literal or fpiritual meaning, and are threatened for every tranfgreflion, with a curfe fuitable to the Lawgiver's infinite majcfty, who can conceive the greatnefs of our guilt and danger? Till we find a fanctuary under the fha- dow of a Saviour's wings, are we not as liable to the ftrokes of divine vengeance, as a felon, guilty of breaking all the ftatutes of his country, is liable to the penalty of human laws ? If this is not the cafe, there is no juftice in the court of heaven, and the laws given with fo much terror from the Almighty's throne, like the ftatutes of children, or the Pope's bulls, are only bruta fulmina, words without effect, and thunders without lightnings. Some indeed flatter themfelves, that " the law, fince the gofpel-difpenfation, abates much of its demands of perfect love." But their hope is equally unfupported by reafon and fcripture. The xgo An A P P E A L, k, The law is the eternal rule of right, the moral pi&ure of the God of holinefs and love. It can no more vary, than its eternal, unchange- able original. The Lord will net alter the thing that is gone out of his mouth. He mud ceafe to be what he is, before his law can lofe its power to bind either men or angels : and all creatures fhall break fooner than it fhall bend ; for if it commands us only to love God with all our hearty and our neighbour as ourfelvcs y what just abate- ment can be made in (o equitable a precept ? Therefore man, who breaks the righteous law of God as naturally as he breathes, is, and muft continue, under its fearful curfe, till he has fecured the pardon and help offered him in the gofpel. XXXIIL ARGUMENT. Nor is the gofpel itfelf without its threat- nings ; for if the Lord, on the one hand, " opens the kingdom of heaven to all believers ;•* he de- clares, on the other, that they all fhall be damned who believe not the truths when it is propofed to them with fufficient evidence \ and that be who believeth not is condemned already , BECAUSE be hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. 2 Thef. ii. 12. John iii. 18. From thefe awful declarations, I draw the following ar- gument. If faith is fo eflential a virtue, how depraved and wretched is man, who is (o exceffively^zc F O U R T H P A R T. i 9 i of hearty to believe the things that concern his falvation ! Matter of fact daily proves, that we readily admit the evidence of men, while we peremptorily reject the teftimony of God. Commodore Byron's extraordinary account of the giants in Patagonia, is or was every where received : But that of Jefus Chrift, concerning thofe who walk in the breed way to dejlruBion^ is and has always been too generally difregarded. Matt. vii. 13. On reading in a news-paper an anonymous letter from Naples, \ve believe, that rivers of li- quid fire flow from the convulfed bowels of a mountain, and from burning lakes in the adja- cent plains : But if we read in the fcripture, that Top bet, the burning lake, is prepared of old for the impenitent, we beg leave to with-hold our aiTent ; and uniefs divine grace prevents, we muft fail in, and feel, before we will aflent and believe. Ifa. xxx. 33. Who, that has (en a map of Africa, ever doubted, whether there is fuch a kingdom as that of Morocco, though he never faw it, or any of its natives ? But who, that has perufed the gof- pel, never doubted, whether the kingdom tf hea- ven within us, or that ftate of right eoufnefs, peace 9 and joy in the Holy Ghojl, which God opens to believers upon earth, is not a mere imagination ? Though Chrift himfelf invites us to it, and ma- ny pious perfons, not only tsftify they enjoy it, but a&ually fhew its bleffed fruits in heavenly tempers 192 An A P P E A L, &c. tempers, a blamelefs life, a triumphant death. Mark i. 14. Luke xvii. 21. Rom. xiv. 17. Rev. i. 6, With what readinefs do we depend upon an honeft man's promife, efpecia'ly if it is reduced into a bond ? But with what reluctance do we rely on the many great and precious promifes of God, confirmed by an oath, delivered before the raoft unexceptionable witnefles, and fealed with the blood of Jefus Chrift ? 2 Pet. i. 4. 2 Cor. i, 20. Heb. vi. 17. And ye numerous tribe of patients, how do ye fliame thofe who call themfelves Chriftians ! So entire is the truft which you repofe upon a phy- fician's advice, whom perhaps you have feen but once, that you immediately abftain from your pleafant food, and regularly take medicines, w T hich, for what you know, may be as injurious to your ftomach, as they are offenfive to your palate : But we, who profefs chriftianity, gene- rally quarrel w r ith Chrift's prefcriptions \ and if we do not underftand the nature of a remedy which he recommends, we think this is a fuffi- cient reafon for refufing it. From Chrift only if we can help it, we will take nothing upon, truft. One falfe witnefs is often fufficient to make us believe, that a neighbour vows to do us an injury; but twenty minifters of Jefus cannot perfuade us, God hath /worn in his wrath, that if we die in our fins wejhall not enter into his rejl y PfaU F O U R T H P A R T. 193 ' "Pfizl. xcv. 1 1. or that if we come to him for par- don and life, he will in no wife cafi us out^ John vi. 37. — The moft defamatory and improbable reports, fpread with uncommon fwiftnefs, and pafs for matter of fa<5t : But when St. Paul tef- tifies, that if any man hath not the Spirit of Chrifi y he is none of his , Rom. viii. 9. who believes his teftimony l Does not the fame mind, that was open to fcandalous lies, prove fhut againft fuch a revealed truth ? Ifaiah afks, Who hath believed our report f And Jefas fay*, If hen the Son of man cGmeth, Jhallhe find faith upon the earth ? Alas ! there would have been no room forthefe plaintive queftions, if the word of God had not been propofed to our faith ; for the moft groundlefs and abfurd afler- tions of men, find multitudes of believers. We fee daily, that an idle rumour about a peace or a war, meets with fuch credit as to raife or fink the flocks in a few hours. It is evident that man has a foolifh and evil heart of unbelief ready to fir ain out a gnat in di- vine revelation, while he gizz&Wy fw allows up the camel of human impofture. Now if it is part of the gofpel, which Chrift commands his mi- nifters to preach to every creature^ that he who be- lieveth not fihall be damned^ Mark xvi. 16. how great is the depravity, and how imminent the danger of fallen man, who has fuch a ftrong propenfity, to fo deftrudtive, -fo damnable a fin as unbelief ! R XXXIV. 194 An A P P E A L, &c. XXXIV. ARGUMENT. -' But, let us come flill nearer to the point. IF we are not by nature conceived in Jin , and children ofiwratbi millions of infants, who die without a&ual fin, have no need of the blood of Chrift to warn their robes, nor his Spirit to purify their hearts. The incarnation of the Eternal Word, and the influences of the Holy Spirit, are as unneceflary to them, as the vifits of a phyfician, and his remedies to perfons in perfect health. Their fpotlefs innocency is a fufRcient paffport for heaven : Baptifm is ridiculous, and the Chriftian religion abfurd in their cafe. Nor does it appear, why it might not be as abfurd with regard to the reft of mankind, did they but acl their part a little better : For if we are naturally innocent, we have a natural power to remain fo; and by a proper ufe of it, we may avoid ftanding in need of the falvation pro- cured by Chrift for the loft. Nay, if innocent nature, carefully improv- ed, may be the way to eternal life, it is certain- ly the readied way, and the Son of God fpeaks like the grand deceiver of mankind, when he fays, lam the way^ no man comcth to the Father , but by me. Chriftians, let felf-conceited De- ifts entertain the thought, but harbour it not a moment : In you it would be highly blafphe- mous. XXXV. FOURTH PART. 195 XXXV. ARGUMENT. And that you may deteft it the more, confi- der further, that all the capital do&rines of Chriftianity, are built upon that fundamental article of our depravity and danger. If allfifli hath not corrupted its way, how fevere are thofe words of Chrifl: ? Except ye repent yejhall allperijh : And Except ye be converted, yejhall not enter into the kingdom of heaven? — If all are not carnal and earthly by their firft birth, how abfurd is what he faid to Nicodemus ; Except a man be born a- gain, he cannot fee the kingdom of heaven? — If there is any fpiritual health in us by nature, how notorioufly falfe are thefe afiertions : All our ■fiifficiency is of God: Without me ye can do nothing? — If every natural man is not the reverfe of the holinefs, in which Adam was created ; how irrational thefe and the like fcriptures ? If any man is in Chrijl, he is a new creature: In Chrijl J ejus neither circumcijion availeth any thing, nor uncircumcijion, bat a new creature ? — To conclude : If mankind are not univerfally cor- rupt, guilty, and condemned ; how unnecefla- rily alarming is this declaration ?— He that be» licveth not on the Son of God is condemned already — —Yhe wrath of God abideth on him : And if we are not foolifh, unrighteous, unholy, and en- slaved to fin ; why is Chrijl made to us of God wifdom, right eoufnefs, fanElification, and redemp- tion ? R 2 Take 196 An APPEAL, &c. Take away then the doctrine of the fall, and the tower of evangelical truth built by Jefus Chrift, is no more founded on a rock, but upon the fand : Or rather, the (lately fabric is inftantly thrown down, and leaves no ruins behind it, but the dry morality of Epi£tetus, covered with the rubbifh of the wildeft metaphors, and bu- ried in the moft impertinent ceremonies. XXXVI. ARGUMENT. One more abfurdity ftill remains. If man is not in the moft imminent danger of deftru&ion, nothing can be more extravagant than the great article of the Chriftian faith, thus expreffed in the Nicene Creed. Jefus Chrifr, very God of very God, by whom all things were made, for us men, and for our falvation came down from heaven, was made man, and was crucified FOR US. Is it not aftonifhing, that there fhould be people fo infatuated, as to join every Lord's day in this folemn confeffion, and to deny the other fix, the horrible danger to which they are expofed, till they have an intereft in Chrift ? Is not the leaft grain of common fenfe fufficient to make an attentive perfon fee, that if he, by whom all things were made, came from heaven for OUR falvation, if he was made man that he might fuffer and be crucified for us ; he faw us guilty, condemned, loft, and obnoxious to the damna- tion, which we continually deprecate in the litany ? FOURTH PART: 197 litany ? Shall we charge the Son of God, in whom are hid all the treafurcs of divine vjifdom, with the unparallelled folly of coming from heaven to atone for innocent creatures, to re- prieve perfons uncondemned, to redeem a race of free men, to deliver from the curfe a people not accurfed; to hang by exquifitely dolorous wounds, made in his facred hands and feet, on a tree more ignominious than the gallows, for honeji men and very good fort of people ; and to ex- pire under the fenfe of the wrath of heaven, that he might fave from hell people in no danger of going there ? Reader, is it poffible to entertain for a mo- ment thefe wild notions, without offering the utmoft indignity to the Son of God, and the greateft violence to common fenfe ? And does not reafon cry, as with the found of a thoufand trumpets? " If our Creator could not fave us confiftently with his glorious attributes,, but by becoming incarnate, paffing through the deepefi fcenes of humiliation and temptation, diftrefs and want, for thirty-three years ; and undergo- ing at laft the moft fhameful, painful, and ac- curfed death in our place ; our wickednefs mud be defperate, our fins execrable, our guilt black as the fhadowof death, and our danger dreadful, as the gloom and torments of hell ?" M Shocking doElrine /" fays the felf-conceited moralift, as he rifes from his chair full of indig- nation, and ready to throw afide the arguments R3 he 198 An APPEAL, Sec. he cannot anforer. Reader, if you are the man, remember that this is an appeal to reafon and not to pa ffion, to matter cffac?, and not to your viti- ated tafte for pkmfing error. You may cry out at the fight of a (hro&d, a coffin, a grave, " Shocking ohjcBs /" but your loudeft exclama- tions will not leflen the awful reality, by which many have happily been Jhocked into a timely confideration of, and preparation for, approach- ing death. " But this doctrine, you ftill urge, drives people to defpair." — Yes, to a defpair of being laved by their own merits and righteoufnefs ; and this is as reafonable in a finner who comes to the Saviour, as defpairing to fwim acrcfs the fea. is rational in a paflenger that takes fhip. Our church, far from fpeaking againft it, fays, that Jmners Jhould be difmayed at Goas rightful jujiice, and Jhould DESPAIR indeed, as touching any hope that may be IN themselves. Horn, on falling from God, 2d part. A juft defpair of ourfelves is widely different from a defpair of God's mercy, and ChrinVs wil- ■lingnefs to fave the chief of finners, who flies to him for refuge. This horrible fin, this black crime of Judas, fprings rather from a fullen, obftinate reje£lion of the remedy, than, as fome vainly fuppofe, from a clear knowledge of the difeafe : And that none may commit it, Chrift's minifters take particular care not to preach the law without the gofpel, and the fall without the re- FOURTH PART, 199 recovery : No fooner have they opened the wound of fin, fettering in the finner's consci- ence, than they pour in the balm of divine pro- mifes., and make gracious offers of a free par- don, and full falvation by the companionate Redeemer, who came tojujiify the ungodly , and tofave the loft. And indeed thofe only, who fee their fin and mifery, will cordially embrace the gofpel ; for common fenfe di&ates, that none care for the king's mercy, but thofe who know, they are guilty, condemned criminals. How exceflively unreafonable is it then to obje£t,that the preach- ing of mart's corrupt and loft eftate drives peo- ple to defpair of divine mercy, when it is abso- lutely the only means of {hewing them their need of it, and making them gladly accept it up- on God's own terms ! Leaving therefore that trite objection to the unthinking vulgar, once more, judicious reader, fummon all your rational powers ; and, after imploring help from on high to ufe them aright, fay, whether thefe laft arguments do not prove, that no Chrifiian can deny the compleat fall of mankind, without renouncing the capital doc- trines of his own religion ; overturning the ve- ry foundation of the gofpel, which he profeiTes to receive; {raining the glory of the Redeemer, whom he pretends to honour ; and impioufiy taking from his crown, w^ffdom, truth, and chari- ty, the three jewels that are its brighteft orna- ments., *oo An APPEAL, kc. ment?, — Sum up then all that has been advanced concerning the afflictive dealings of God's pro- vidence with mankind, and the bafe conduct, or wicked temper of mankind towards Gcd, one another, and themfelves. — Declare, if all the arguments laid before you, and cleared from the thickeft clouds of objections that might obfcure them, do not caft more light upon the black fubject of our depravity, than is fufficient to fhew that it is a melancholy truth. — And finally pronounce, whether the doctrine of our corrupt and loft eftate, ftated in the words of the facred writers, and of our pious reformers, is not rati- onally dcmonjiratcd^ and eftabliflied upon the firm- eft bafis in the world, Matter of faEl^ and the dictates of common fenfe. '»•«'* •"'Jt. '—•••«•*•*«•*••«• *~« jt '"■> •*•»•*• >>•►•>•—• •' '^S *— "•'i FIFTH PART. WHEN a do&rine has been clearly de- monftrated, the truths that necefjcirily fpring from it, cannot reafonably be rejected. Let then common fenfe dec ,1?, whether the fol- lowing confequences do not necejfarily refult from the dodtrine of the fall, eltablifhed in the preceding parts of t! is treatife. I. Inference. If we are by nature in a cor- rupt and loft eftate, the grand bufuiefs of minif- ters FIFTH PART, 201 ters is to rouze our drowzy conferences, and warn us of our imminent danger : It behoves them to cry aloud and f pare not' 9 to lift up their voice like a trumpet, and JJjew us our transgreffons and cur Jim : Nor are they to defift from this un- pleafing part of their office, till we awake toright- eoufnefs, and lay hold on the hope Jet before us. If preachers, under pretence of peace and good-nature-, let the wound fefter in the consci- ence of their hearers, to avoid the thanklefs of- fice of probing it to the bottom : If, for fear of giving them pain by a timely amputation, they let them die of a mortification : Or if they heal the hurt of the daughter of God's people flight ly, fay- ing Peace ! Peace ! when there is no Peace ; they imitate thofe fycophants of old, who, for fear of difpleafing the rich and offending the great, preached fmooth things and prophefied deceit. This cruel gentlenefs, this foft barbarity is attended with the molt pernicious confequences, and will defervedly meet with the moft dreadful punifhment. Givefinncrs warning from me, fays the Lord to every minifter : When I fay to the wicked, the unconverted, Thou fhalt fur ely die ; and thou givefl him not warning, he.Jhall die in his ini- quity, in his unconverted ftate ; hut his blood will I require at thy hand. See Matt, xviii. 3. Ezek. iii. 18. and xiii. 10. II. Infer. If we are naturally depraved and condemned creatures 5 felf-righteoufnefs and pride are 202 An A P P E A L, &c. are the moft abfurd and monftrous of all our fins. The deepeft repentance and profoundeft humility become us : To negleft them, is to ftumble at the very threfhold of true religion; and to ruhculc them, is to pour contempt upon reafon, revelation, and the firft operations of di- vine grace on a finner's heart. I III. Infer. If the corruption of mankind is univerfal, inveterate, and amazingly powerful, no mere creature can deliver them from it. They muft remain unreftored ; or they mud have an almighty, omnifcicnt, omniprefent, unwearied, infinitely patient Saviour ; willing day and night to attend to the wants, and public or fe- cret applications of millions of wretched fouls ; and able to give them immediate afiiftance throughout the world ; in all their various tri- als, temptations, and coiiHi£ls, both in life and in death. Is the moft exalted creature fufHcient for thefe things ? When fuch a vaft body as mankind, fpread over all the earth for thoufands of years, made up of numerous nations, all of which confift of mul- titudes of individuals, each of whom has the fprings of all his faculties and powers enfeebled, difordered, or broken : — When fuch an im- menfe body as this, is to be reftored to the image of the infinitely holy, glorious, and blefled God ; common fenle dictates, that the amazing tafk can b« performed by no other than the original Artift, FIFTH PART. 203 Artift, the great Searcher of hearts, the omnipo- tent Creator of mankind. Hence it appears, that, notwithftanding the cavils of Arius, the Saviour is God over all blejpd for ever^ all things were made by him^ he up- holds all things by the word of his power > and every believer may adore him, and fay, with the won- dering apoftle, when the light of faith fhone in- to his benighted foul, My Lord and my God ! IV. Infer. If our guilt is immenfe, it can- not be expiated without a facrifice of an in- finite dignity : Hence we difcover themiftake of Heathens and carnal Jews, who trufted in the facrifices of beafts ; the error of Deifts, Mahometans, and Socinians, who fee no need of any expiatory facrifice ; and the amazing pre- emption of too many Christians, who repofe a confiderable part of their confidence in the pro- per merit of their works ; inltead of placing it entirely in the infinitely meritorious facrifice of the immaculate Lamb of God, humbly ac- knowledging that all the gracious rewardable- nefs of the beft works of faith, is derived from his precious blood and original merit. V. Infer. Ifourfpiritual maladies are both numerous and mortal, it is evident, we cannot recover the fpiritual health that we. enjoyed in our firft parents, but by the powerful help of our ro4 An A P P E A L, &c. our heavenly Phyfician, the fecond Adam. How abfurd is it then to fay, that we are faved, or recovered by doing good works, without the quickening grace of a Saviour ! A wretched beggar is lame both in his hands and feet : An officious man, inftead of taking him to a perfon famous for his fkill in relieving fuch obje&s of diftrefs, affures him, that the only way of getting well, is to run of errands j for his prince, and work for his fellow-beggars. You juftly wonder at the cruelty and folly of fuch a director : But you have much more rea- fon to be aftonifhed at the conduct of thofe mi- ferable empirics, who direft poor, blind, lame finners, labouring under a complication of fpi- ritual dilbrders, and fickeven unto eternal death, to fave themfelves merely by ferving God, and doing good to their neighbours -, as if they need- ed neither repentance towards God, nor faith in our Lord Jefus Chrift, nor yet free grace to en- able them to repent, believe, and ferve God acceptably. How much more rational is the evangelical method of falvation ! We are faved, fays the apoftle, we are reftored to faving healthy and a fpiritual a&ivity to ferve God and our neigh- bour, not by works , not of our f elves \ but, by grace 9 by mere favour ; through faith, through fuch an entire confidence in our Phyfician, as makes us gladly take his powerful remedies, abftain from the pleafing poifon of fin, and feed on thofe divine FIFTH PART. 205 divine truths, which communicate angelical vigor and happinefs to our fouls. Eph. ii. 8* VI. Infer. If our nature is fo compleatly fallen and totally helplefs, that in fpiritualw things we are not fufficient of our f elves to think any thing truly good as of our/elves, but our fufficiency is of 'Cod ; it is plain, we ftand in abfolute need of his Spirit's afliftance, to enable us to pray, repent, believe, love, and obey aright. Confe- quently, thofe who ridicule the Holy Spirit, and his facred influence, defpife the great helper of our infirmities^ and act a moft irrational, wick- ed, and defperate j)art. Rom. viii. 26. VII. Itcfer. If by nature we are really and -truly born in fin, our regeneration cannot be a mere metaphor, or a vain ceremony ; our fpiri- tual birth muft be real and pofitive. How fatal therefore is the miftake of thofe, who fuppofe that the new birth is only a figurative expreffion for a decent behaviour ! How dreadful the error of thofe, who imagine that all, whofe faces have been typically wafhed with material water in baptifin, are now effectually born again of living water and the Holy Spirit ! And how inexcufa- ble the cafe of the multitudes, who, in the church of England, are under this dangerous miftake, fo prudently guarded againft by our pious Reformers ! In our catechifm, they clearly diftinguifli be- tween tb( outward vifibkfign or form in baptifm^ S and 206 An A P P E A L, &c. and the inward, /p'ritual grace : And by defining the latter, a death unto fin, and a new birth unto right eoufnefs, they declare that whofoever is not dead or dying to Jin and alive to right eoufnefs, is n^§truly regenerate, and has nothing of baptifm but the outward and vifiblefign. In the 27th of our articles they mention, that baptifm is not the new birth, buta sign of regeneration or new births whereby , as by an injlrument, they who receive baptfm rightly, are grafted into the church. And 'if Qur church returns thanks for the regenera- tion of the infants, whom fhe has admitted to baptifm, it is chiefly * upon a charitable fuppo- fition, that they have received it rightly, and will, • their part, faithfully perform the promifes, made for them by their furcties. If they refufe to do it when they come of age, far from treating them as her regenerate children, (he denounces a general excommunication againft them, and charges them not to come to her holy table, leaf Satan brings them, as he did Judas, to defruciion both of body andfouL VIII. Infer. If the fall of mankind in Adam, does not confift in a capricious imputation of his I fay chiefly, becaufe our church gives thanks alfofor Chrift's general grace and mercy to children, declaring herfelf perfuaded of the good "Mill of our heazenly father towards this [unbaptized] in- fant, through Chrift, who faid, that of little children is the kingdom of heaven* The truth lies between the error of the Pelagian:, who fuppofe that unbaptized infants zxzfvilefs like angels ; and that cf IhePapiJls, who affirm that they are graceiefs as devils. FIFTH PART. 207 his pergonal guilt, but in a real, prefent parti- cipation of his depravity, impotence, and mife- ry - y the falvation that believers have in Chrift, is not a capricious imputation of his perfonal righteoufnefs -> but a real, prefent participation of his purity, power and blefTednefs, together with pardon and acceptance. Unfpeakably dangerous then is the delufion of thofe whofe brains and mouths are filled with the notions and expreffions of imputed rightmif- ?iefs ; while their poor, carnal, unregenerate hearts remain perfect ftrangers to the Lord our righteoufnefs. IX. Infer. If the corrupt nature which Tin- ners derive from Adam, fpontaneoufly produces all the wickednefs that overfpreads the earth ; the holy nature which believers receive from Chrift, is alfo fpontaneoufly productive of all the fruits of righteoufnefs defcribed in the oracles of God : Good works fpringing out * NE c E s s AR I - LY of a true and lively faith. Art. xii. Such minifters therefore, as clearly preach our fall in Adam, and that faith in Chrift, which is productive of genuine holinefs and active love, will infallibly promote good works and pure mo- rality : When thofe who infift only upon works and moral duties, will neither be zealous of good works themfelves, nor inftrumental in turning S 2 fin- * This is to be underftood of a moral r and not of an abfolute, irrefiftible necefiity, for faith never unpians the believer. n 2o8 An A P P E A L, Sec. finners from their ^rofs immoralities. The reafon is obvious: Evangelical preachers fol- low their Lard's wife direction : Make the tree grod, and the fruit Jhall be good alfo ; but moralifts will have corrupt trees bring forth good fruity which in the nature of things is impoflible, Matt. xii. 33. Luke vi. 43. Therefore, as nothing but faith makes the tree good, and as without faith it is impofjlble to pleafe God ; the Chriftian, that will come to him with good works, mitji not only be- lieve [as heathens] that he is, and that he is a re- warder ofthofe who diligently feek him ; but alfo that he was in Chrifi, reconciling the world unto himfelf y &c. X. Infer. If corruption and fin work fo powerfully and fenfibly, in the hearts of the un- regenerate, we may, without deferving the name of Enthufiafts, affirm, that the regenerate are fenfible of the powerful effects of divine grace in their fouls ; or to ufe the words of our 17th article, we may fay, They feel in themfclves the workings of the Spirit of Chrifi : For where the poifon of fin hath abounded, and has been of courfe abundantly felt ; grace, the powerful an- tidote that expels it, does much more abound, and confequently may be much more perceived. Therefore the knowledge of falvation by the for - givenefs of fins, the affurance of faith, and the peace of God pafftng all under/landing, are the EX- PERIENCED blefftngs of the converted ; as cer- tainly as a guilty confeience, the gnawing of worldly FIFTH PART. 209 worldly cares, the working of evil tempers, the tumults of unbridled appetites, and the up- roars of rebellious paffions, are the experi- enced curfes of the unconverted. Reader, if thefe inferences are juftly drawn, is it not evident, that the f principles gene- rally exploded among us, as enthufiaftical or methodiftical, flow from the do&rine demon- ftrated in this treatife, as naturally as light from the fun ? Thefe confequences lead you perhaps farther than you could wifh ; but let them not make you either afraid or afhamed of the gofpel. Prejudices, like clouds, will va- nifh away ; but truth, which they obfcure for a time, like the fun, will fhine for ever. A great man in the law faid, Fiat jiiftitla^ mat mundus. Improve the noble fentiment, and fay with equal fortitude, Stet Veritas, ruat mundus : Let truth ftand, though the univerfe fhould fink into ruins. But happily for us, the danger is all on the fide of the oppofite do£lrine 3 and that you may be convinced of it, I prefent you next with a view of the S 3 Dread- f Thofe doctrines, pointed out in the ten above-mentioned inferences, are — i. The alarming feverity of the law. 2. The need of a deep, heart-felt repentance. 3. The divinity of Chrirh 4. The infinite merit of his facrifice. 5- Salvation by faith in him. 6. The influences of his Holy Spirit. 7. The reality of the new birth. 8. The neceffity of a prefent falvation. 9. The zeal of believers for good works, and 10. The comfortable aflur- ance which they have of their regeneration. 2io An A P P E A L, &V. Dreadful Consequences Ncceffarily refulting from the ignorance of our depr a* vity and danger. 1. As the tempter caufed the fall of our firft parents, by inducing them to believe, that they jlmild not furcly dle^ if they brofce the divine law : So now we are fallen, he prevents our reco- very by fuggefting, " the bitternefs of death is paft," and " we are in a ftate of fafety." — Hence it is, that you fleep on in carnal fecu- rity, O ye deluded fons of men, and even dream, ye are fafe and righteous. Nor can ye efcape for your lives, till the veil of unbelief is taken away, and ye awake to a fight of your corrupt and loft eftate : For there is no guard- ing againft, nor flying from, an unfeen, unfuf- pe£ted evil : Here, as in a confpiracy, the dan- ger continually increafes, till it is happily dif- covered. 2. If we are not fenfible of our natural cor- ruption, and thejuftice of the curfe intailed up- on us on that account : can we help thinking God a tyrant, when he threatens unconverted moralifts with the fevereft of his judgments, or caufes the black ftorm of his providence to over- take us and ouf deareft relatives ? Anfwer, ye felf-righteous pharifees, that fo bitterly exclaim againft the minifters, who de- clare by the authority of fcripture, that, except FIFTH PART. 211 ye repent, yejhallallpcrifh. Anfwer, fond mo- ther whofe tears of diffraction, mix with the cold fweat of the convulfed, dying infant on thy lap. Doft thou not fecretly impeach di- vine juftice, and accufe heaven of barbarity ? Ah ! if thou didft but know the evil nature, which thou and thy Ifaac have brought into the world ; if thou faweft the root of bitternefs, which the hand or a gracious Providence even now extracts from his heart ; far from being ready to curfe God, and die with thy child, thou wouldfl: patiently acquiefce in the kindly-fevere difpenfation : Thou wouldfr clear him when be is judged by fuch as thyfelf, and even glorify him in the evil day of this painful vijitation, 3. Though man's heart is hardened as fteel, it does not frequently emit the hellifh fparks of fuch murmurings againft God, becaufe it can feldom be ftruck by the flint of fuch fevere af- flictions ; yet the mifchief is there and will break out, if not by blafphemous defpair, at leaft by its contrary, prefumptuous madnefs. Yes, reader, unlefs thou art happily made acquaint- ed with the ftrength of thy inbred depravity, thou wilt raflily venture among the fparks of temptation : With carnal confidence thou wilt afk, " What harm can they do me ?" And thou wilt continue the hazardous fport, till fin and wrath confume thee together. Nor will this be more furprizing, than that one, v/ho carries a bag of gun-powder, and knows not the danger- ous 2i2 An A P P E A L, &c. ous nature of his load, fhould fearlefsly rufli through the midfr. of flames or fparks, till he is blown up and deftroyed. 4. This fatal ramnefs is generally accompa- nied with a glaring inconfiftency. Do not you make the affertiori good, ye faints of the prefent age, who pretend to have found the fecret of loving both God and the world ? Do not we hear you deny to men, that you are condemned ^ and yet cry to God to have mercy upon you ? But if you are not condemned, what need have you of mercy ? And if you are, why do you deny your loft eftate ? Thou too, reader, wilt fall into this abfurdity, unlefs thou knoweft thy juft condemnation. But the mifchief will not flop here > for, 5. Ignorance of the myftery of iniquity with- in you, muft, in the nature of things, caufeyou to neglecr. prayer, or to pray out of character. As unhumbled moralifts, inftead of approaching the throne of grace, with the felf-abafement of the penitent Publican, faying, God he merciful 3 me a Jinner : you will provoke the Moil High, by the open prophanenefs of the Saddu- cee ; or infult him by the felf-conceited fer- viccs of the Pharifee, boafting ye " do no n % " and thanking God, ye are not as other men. On thefe rocks your formal devotion will fplit, till you know, that, as the impenitent and prayeriefs fhall perifh, fo the Lord accepts no penitential prayer, but that of the man, who knozvs FIFTH PART. 213 knows the plague of his own heart ; bccaufe he a- lone prays in his own charaifler, and without hypocrify. 1 Pet. v. 5. 1 Kin viii. 38. 6. And as you cannot approach the throne of grace aright, while you re:: in infenfible of your corruption ; fo the reading or ^reaching of God's word, till it anfwers the end of convicti- on, is of no fervice to you, but rather proves, to ufe St. Paul's nervous expreflion, the favour of death unto death. For when the terrors of the law only fuit your cafe, you vainly catch at the comforts of the gofpel ; or rather you remain as unaffected under the threatnings of the one, as under the prcmifes of the other : You look on mount Sinai and mount Sion, with equal indif- ference, and the warmth of the preacher , who invites you to fly from the wrath to come^ appears to you an inftanceof religious madriefs, Nor is it a wonder it fhould, while you continue unacquainted with your danger : When a mor- tal difeafe is neither felt nor fufpected, a pathe- tic addrefs upon its confequences and cure, muft be received by any reafonable man, with the greateft unconcern -, and the perfon that makes it in earneft, muft appear exceedingly ridiculous. Again, 7. My people are dejlroyed for lack of knowledge 9 fays the Lord. This is true particularly with regard to the knowledge of our depravity. Reader, if thou remaineft a Arranger to it, thou wilt look upon flight coivfeffions of outward fins as 214 An APPEAL, Sec. as true repentance ; and the godly farrow that worketh repentance to fahation, will appear to thee a fymptom of melancholy. Talcing an exter- nal reformation of manners, or a change of ceremonies and opinions, for true converfion, thou wilt think thyfelf in a fafe ftate, while thy heart continues habitually wandering from God, and under the dominion of a worldly fpi- rit. In a word, fome of the branches of the tree of corruption thou mayft poflibly lop off, but the root will ftill remain and gather ftrength. For it is plain, that a bad root, fuppofed not to exift, can neither be heartily lamented, nor ear- neftly ftruck at with the ax of felf-denial. Even an Heathen could fay * 5 u The know- ledge of fin, is the firft ftep towards falvation from it : For he, who knows not that he fins, will not fubmit to be fet right : Thou muft find out what thou art, before thou canft mend thy- felf. — Therefore when thou difcovereft thy vi- ces, to which thou waft before a ftranger, it is a fign that thy foul is in a better ftate." 8. It is owing to the want of this difcovery, O ye pretended fons of reafon, that thinking yourfelves born pure, or fuppofing the difeafe of your nature to be inconfiderable, you imagine it poflible to be your own phyficians, when you are * Initium eft falutis notitfa peccati, nam qui peccare fe nefcit corrigi non vult : Deprehendas te opportet antequam emendes. Sen. Ep. xxviii. — Et hoc ipfum argumentum eft in melius tran- flatl anim;, quod vicia fua, quae adhuc ignorabat, videt. Ep. vi. FIFTH PART. 21$ are only your own deftroyer?. Hence it is, that while you give to Jefus the titular honour of Saviour, you fpeak perpetually of being " faved merely hv your duties and beft endeavours," Hear him ; warning you againft this common delufion : O Ifrael, fays he, thou haft defroyedthyfef, but in ME is thy help found. The whole need not a ph/''cian, but they that are fck, beyond all hopes of recovering themfelves. 9. The prefcriptions of this wife Phyfician, are exceffively fevere to flefh and blood, and fome of his remedies as violent as our difeafe. Therefore, except we fee the greatnefs of our danger, we mail beg to be excufed from taking the bitter potion. Who can have refolution enough to cut off a right hand, to pluck out a right eye, to take up his crofs daily, to deny himfelf, and lofe even his oivn life, or what is often dearer, his fair reputation ? — Who, I fay, can do this, till a fight of imminent ruin on the one hand, and of redeeming love on the other, makes him fub- mit to the painful injunctions? Thou lovely youth, noted in the gofpel for thy harmleflhefs, I appeal to thy wretched experience. When the Phyfician of fouls, at whofe feet thou waft proftrate, commanded thee to fell all and follow him, what made thee go away forrowful and un- done? Not barely thy great poffeffions, but the ignorance of thy condition ; For all that a mart hath *i6 An APPEAL, &c. hath will he give for his life, when he fees it in immediate danger, Matt. xix. 22. 10. If it is a defperate ftep to turn away from the Prince of life, it is a daring one to approach him with a mere compliment. Of this never- thelefs you are guilty, ye unawakened finners, who daily appear before the throne of grace, with thanks and praifes to God, for his inejlimable love in t/?e redemption of the worldly our Lord fe- Jits Chriji. Alas ! When you deny the ftate of fin and mifery, in which you are by nature, and yet prefume to thank God for redemption from it, do you not mock him as folemnly as you would the king, were you to prefent him every day an addrefs of thanks, for redeeming you from Turkifh flavery, when you never knew your- felves flaves in Turkey? O how provoking to God muft thefe unmeaning thankfgivings be ! Surely one day they will be ranked among the indignities, offered by earthly worms to the Ma- jejly on High, 11. Some indeed, more confiftent than you, openly throw off the mafk. Seeing neither the unfathomable depth of their mifery by the fall, nor the immenfe height of their aggravated ini- quities, they do not trifle with, but at once deny 9 the Lord that hou?ht them. Yes, far from admir- ing the eftablifheti method of a falvation, pro- cured at fo imm?nfe a price, as the incarnation, and crucifixion of the Son of God, they are not afraid to intimate it is irrational; And upon their FIFTH PART. aiy their principles they may well do it; for if our ruin is not immenfe, what need is there for an immenfely glorious Redeemer r And if our guilt reaches not up to heaven, why (hould the Son of God have come down from thence, to put away fin by the facrijice of himfelf P 12. As we flight or reject the Saviour, till we are truly convinced of the evil and danger of fin ; fo we worfliip a falfe god, a mere idol. For, in- ftead of adoring Jehovah, infinite in his holinefs and hatred of fin, inviolable in the truth of his threatnings againft it, and impartial in his firift juftice — a God in whofe prefence unhumbled finners, are not able tojiandy and with whom evil cannot dwell ; we bow to a ft 'range god, whom pi- ous men never knew — a god formed by our own fancy, fo unholy as to connive at fin, fo un- juji as to fet afide his moft righteous law, and fo falfe as to break his folemn word, that we muft turn or die, Ez. xxxiii. n. Is net this wor- •fhipping a god of our own making; or as Da- vid defcribeshim, a god altogether fuch as curfefces? To adore an idol of pafte, made by the baker and the priefr, may be indeed more foolifh, but cannot be more wicked than to adore one made by our wild imagination, and impious unbelief. 13. We may go one ftep farther ftill, and af- firm, that till we are deeply convinced of fin, far fromworfhipping the true God, [which implies knowing, loving, and admiring him in all his perfections] we hate and oppofe him in his ia- T 2i6 An AKFEAL, &c. finite holinefs and jujiice. The proof is obvious*: Two things diametrically oppofite in their na- ture, can never be approved of at once. If we do not fide with divine holinefs and juftice, ab- hor our corruption, and condemn ourfelves as hell-deferving finners ; far from approving, we fhall rife again ft the holy and righteous God, who fentences us to eternal death for our fin : We fhall at lead wifh he were lefs pure and jufl than he is ; which amounts to wifhinc him to be no God. While proud fiends betray this horrid difpofition, by loud bltfchemies in hell; ye do it, O ye unconvinced Tons of men, by your averfion to godlinefs upon earth. Haters of God, is then the proper name, and enmity agaznfl him, the fettled temper of all unhumbled, un- converted finners. Rom. i. 30, and viii. 7. 14. When the nature of God is miftaken, what wonder if his law is mifapprehended ? The iftw is goody fays St. Paul, if a man ufe it lawfully ; but if we make an improper ufe of it, the confe- quence is fatal. Since the fall, the law of God, as contra-diftinguifhed from the gofpel of Chrift, points out to us the fpotlefs holinefs, and in- flexible juftice of its divine Author. It teaches us with what ardor and conftancy we fhould love both our Creator and our fellow-creatures. As a bank caft againft the ftream of our iniquity, it accidentally ferves to make it rife the higher, and to di (cover its impetuofity ; for by the- law is . knowledge of Jin. It demonflrates man's weak- ness, FT FT H PA R T. 219 nefs, who confents indeed to the law that it is goody but finds not how to fulfil it) Rom. vii. 16, Tg. As a battery ere&ed against our pride, when it has its due effect, it filences all our felf-righteous pleas, and convinces'us that a returning fmner is not jufiified by the works of the laiv, but by the faith ofChrifi : a broken law, a law which worketh wraths being abfolutely unable to abfolve its vi- olator. — In a word, it is our fchoolmafler to bring* us to Chrifl, and 'drives us with the rod of threate- ned punifhmenfcs,. to make u% touch the fcepter of mercy, held out to us from the throne of grace- But, while we remain ftrangers to ou r helplefe and hopelefs ftate by nature, far from making this proper ufe of the law, we truft in it, and fancy thafc^ the merit of our unfprinkled obedi- ence to it is the way of falvation. Thus we^o about to efiabhfjj our own righteoufnef) making light c/the atoning blood, which marks the nnv and living way to heaven. This very miftake ruined the Pharifees of old, and deftroys their nume- rous followers in all ages. Rom. ix. 31. 15. And when we form fuch wrong appre- henfions of the law y is it poflible that wefliouM^ have right views of the go/pel, and receive it with cordial affection ? Reafon and experience arr- fvver in the negative. What fays the goipel to ' finners ? You are faved by grace, through mere . favour and mercy, net by the covenant ofworks^ left any manjhonldboaft like the pharifee, Eph. ii. 8. Now, ye decent formalifts, ye fond admirers * T 2 of I 520 An A P P E A L, &c. of your own virtue, are you not utterly disqua- lified to feek and accept a pardon in a gofpel way ? For your feeking it upon the footing of mere mercy, implies an acknowledgment, that you deferve the ruin threatned againft finners. And fuppofe a pardon were granted you, before you had a confcioufnefs of your fad deferts, you could not receive it as an a£t of mere grace, but only as a reward juftly beftowed upon you for the merit of your works. It is plain then, that according to the gofpel plan, none can be fit fubjeds of falvation, but thofe who are truly fenfible of their condemnation. 1 6, But as the grace of God in Chrilt, is th* original and properly meritorious caufe of our falyation : So the grand inftrumental caufe of it is faith on Our parr. Through faith are yefaved, fays St. Paul. Now if to have faith in Chrift, is habitually to lift up our hearts to him, with an humble and yet chearful confidence, feeking in him all our wifdom, righteoufnefs, and Jlrength, as being our inftructing Prophet, atoning Priefi, and protecting King ; it is evident, that till we awake to a fight of our fallen ftate, we cannot believe, nor confequently be faved. O ye that never were fenfible of your fpiritual blindnefs, can you with fincerity take Jefus for your guide, and defire his Spirit to lead you into all truth P Does not David's prayer, Open thou mine eyes, that J may fee the wonderful things of thy law ; appear to you needlefs, if not fanatical ? And is not the Re^ FIFTH PART. 221 Redeemer's prophetic office thrown away upon fuch fons of wifdom as you are ? Have you a greater value for Jefus than they, O yzjujimen, who have no fenfible need of heart- felt repentance, and whofe breafts were never di- lated by one figh, under a due fenfe of your guilt and condemnation ? Can you, without hypocri- fy> apply to him as the high Priejz of the guilty^ claim him as the Advocate of the condemned^ or fly to him as the Saviour of the loji P lmpoflible ! Ye fondly hope, ye never were loll:, ye were al- ways " good livers, good believers, good church** men j" ye t€ need not make fo much ado" about an intereft in the blood of the new covenant. And ye, whoflufhed with the conceit of your native ftrength, wonder at the weaknefs of thoic that continually bow to the fceptre of Jefus's grace for protection and power , can you with^ out a fmile of pity hear him fay, Without me ye can do nothing? Is it poflible, .that you fhould fincerely implore the exertion of his royal power for vidlory over fins, which you fuppofe your- felves able to conquer ; and for the reftoration of a nature, with the goodnefs of which you are already fo well fatisfied ? Your reafon loudly anfwers, No : Therefore, till you fee yourfelves corrupt, impotent creatures, you will' openly neglect the Redeemer, give to your aggravated fins the name of " human frailties," and truft to your baffled, and yet boafted, endeavours-. Self-deception ! Art thou not of all impofton T 3 the 222 An A P P E A L, &c. the moft common and dangerous, becaufe the leaft fufpefted ? To fum up and clofe thefe important remarks : Look at thofe who, in myftic Babylon, are not truly fenfible of their total fall from God, and you will fee them fetting their own reafon above the holy fcriptures ; and their works in compe- tition with the infinitely meritorious facrifice of Chrift. Inquire into their principles, and you will difcover, that they either openly explode as enthufiaftical, or flightly receive as unneceffary, the do&rines of falvation by faith in Chrift, and regeneration by the Spirit of God. Examine their condudt, and you will find they all commit Jin^ and receive the mark of the bcaft fecretly in their right hand^ or openly in their foreheads. Rev. xiii. 16. Sort them, and you will have two bands, the one of Sceptics and the other of Formal ifts, who, though at as great enmity between themfelves as Pilate and Herod, are like them made friends to- gether , by jointly deriding and condemning Jesus in his living members. And if with the candle of the Lord you fearch the Jerufalem of profeffing Chriftians^ you will perceive that the want of an heart-felt, humbling knowledge of their natural depravity, gives birth to the double-mindednefs of hypocrites, and the mifcarriages or apoftacy of thofe, who once dif- tinguifhed themfelves in the evangelical race : You will eafily trace back to the fame corrupt iburce, the feemingly oppofite errors of the loqfe anti* FIFTH PART. ** 3 antinomian, and the pharifaic Icgalift, thofe fpiri- tual thieves, by whom the fincere Chriflian is perpetually reviled : And in fhort, you will be convinced, that if you fet your eyes upon a man, who is not yet deeply confcious of his corrupt and loft eftate, or whofe confcioufnefs of it has worn away, you behold either a trifler in religi- on, a dead-hearted pharifee, a fly hypocrite, a loofe antinomian, a felf-conceited formalift, a fcoffing infidel, or a wretched apoftate. You fee, Reader, what a train of fatal confe- quences refults from rejecting, or not properly receiving, the dodtrine demonftrated in thefe fheets : And now, that you may cordially em- brace it, permit me to enumerate the Unspeakable Advantages fp'-'inging from an offering knowledge of our fatten and loji eftate. No fooner is the difeafe rightly known, than the neglected Jefus, who is both, our gracious Phyfician and powerful remedy, is properly va- lued, and ardently fought: All that thus feek, fnd\ and all that find him, find faving health, eternal life, and heaven. Bear your teftimony with me, ye Children of Abraham and of God, who fee the brightnefs of a gofpel day and rejoice. Say, What made you firft wifhfully look to the bills, whence your falva- tion is come, and fervently defire to behold the fin- 124 An A P P E A L, &c. fm-difpelling beams of the Sun of Right eoufnef s? Was it not the deep, difmal night of our fallen nature, which you happily difcovered, when awaking from the flecp of fin, you firft faw the delufive dreams of life, as they appear to the dy- ing ? What was the Defi\ us to you, till you felt yourfclves loft finners ? Alas! Nothing: Perhaps lefs than nothing ; an object of difguft or fcorn. When the pearl of great pries was pre- fented to you, did you regard it wore, than the vileft of brutes, an oriental pearl ? And, as if it had not been enough to look at it with difdain, were not fome of you ready to turn again , and rend, after the example of fnarling animals, thofe who affectionately made you the invalu- able offer ? Matt. vii. 6. But when the ftorm that ftiook mount Sinai, overtook your carelefs fouls, and ye faw your- felves finking into an abyfs of mifery ; did ye not cry out, and fay, as the alarmed difciples, with an unknown energy of defire, Save Lord, or we perijh ? And when, confeious of your loft eftate, ye began to believe, that he came to feck and to fave that which was loft ; how dear, how precious was he to you in all his offices ? How glad were ye to take guilty, weeping Magdalen's place, and wait for a pardon at your High PriefPs feet ? How importunate in faying to your King, as the helplefs widow, Lord, avenge me of mine adverfary^ my evil heart of unbelief ! How earneft, how unwearied in your applications to your Prophet, FIFTH PART. 22; Prophet, for heavenly light and wifdom ! The incefiant prayer of blind Bartimeus was then yours, and fo was the gracious anfwer which the Lord returned to him : You received your fpirituaj Jight. And Oh ! what faw you then ? The facred Book unfealed ! Tour Jins blotted out as a cloud! The glory of Godjhining in the face ofje- fus Chrift ; and " the kingdom of heaven open- ed to all believers !" Then, and not till then, you could fay from the heart, This is a faithful faying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Chrijt Jefus came into the world tofavejinaers, of whom I am chief, 1 Tim. 1. 1 5. Then, you could cry out with his firft difciples : Behold what manner :f love the Father hath bejh'^'cd upon us, that vje^fhould be called the Jons of God ! I John iii. 1. We are all the children of God by faith in Chrijl Jefus, whom having not fee n we lov?\ in whom, though now we fee him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy unfpeakable and full of glory, re^ ceiving the end of our faith, the falvation of our fouls, Gal. iii. 26. 1 Pet. i. 8. We trujied in him and are helped: Therefore our heart dancethfor joy, and in our fong will we praife him. Pfal . xxviii. 8. To Him that hath loved us, andwafhed us from our fins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priejls unto God and his Father ; to Him be glo- ry and dominion for ever and ever. Rev. i. 5. And this will alfo be your triumphant fong, attentive Reader, if deeply confeious of your loft eftate, you fpread your guilt and mifery be- fore *»$ An A'PPEA t, &*fi»**s^ *5B£* sSfeggGJfc i^t. ->_4 *3# A CONCLUDING ADDRESS T O The Serious Reader, WHO EN QJJ IRES What mujl I do to be faved? u Is there no balm in Gilead ? Is there no Phy- fician there ? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered ?" Jetu viii. 22. <*as* W9 m w ^m t $£% f£ •• ^-» '» < i '< » » <■♦ < i*^ ••..>->•>•>«>>•>.> -'-£ • "••,;• *% T T v • •-• CONTENTS OF THE ADDRESS. I. Reflect i OxVs on the nature and depth of peniten- tentialforroiv. II. Directions proper for an half awakened Jin - ner^ who defres to he truly convinced of his guilt and danger* III. Cautions again/} manyfalfe ways of healing a confcience wounded by Jin* IV. The evangelical method of a found cure. V. Afcriptural tejlimony of God y s children concern* tng the excellency of this method. VI. Scriptural invitations and exhortations , to encou* rage a defponding penitent to try this never-fail- ing method. And, VII. The happy ejfefts offuch a trial. A N ( 233 ) A N ADDRESS TO THE Serious Reader, &c. HAVING taken my leave of the thought- lefs and gay, who regard an appeal to their reafon, as little as they do the warnings of their confeience; I return to thee, f ferious and well-difpofed Reader. I am too much concern- ed for thy foul's welfare, to lay down my pen, without (hewing thee more perfectly the way to the kingdom of heaven, by tejlifying to thee re- pentance towards God 9 and faith in our Lord Jefns Cbrift. Thou art .happily weary of feeding upon the hufks of earthly vanities. I have a right there- fore as a fteward of the myfteries of God, to U 3 bring •f- This addrefs is only calculated for ferioyyferfojis, who ccr-* dially affent to the doctrine efrablilhed in the Rational Derr.onflra- tlon of our fallen and hjl efate. As other Readers have been dif- miffed with the portion of truth that belongs to them, they are defired not to meddle with this, left their cavils confirm St. Paul's observation, We preach. Cbrifl crucified^ to the felf- righteous Jc*vj>. a fumbling- block, and to the felf-conceited Greeks fol\jhnefs t . ' .234 An ADDRESS to EARNEST bring out of the divine treafury, the pearls of evangelical truth ; and I gladly caft them before thee? perfuaded, that far from awakening thy anger, they will excite thy defires, and ani- mate thy languid hopes. Inftead of ridiculing, or dreading an heart- felt conviction of thy loft eftate, thou now feeft it is adefirable privilege, an invaluable bleffing. Ready to mourn, becaufe thou canft not mourn, thou complaineft, that thouhaft only a confuf- ed view of thy total depravity. Thou wanteft the feelings of the royal penitent, when he faid, Behold? 1 vjasfloapen in Iniquity? &c. / acknow- ledge my tranfgrcfjions? and my Jin is ever before me ; but confcious thou canft not raife them in thy heart by natural powers, thou defireft fome fcriptural directions fuitable to thy cafe. Give me leave to introduce them by a few Preliminary Reflections On the nature and depth of penitential for rove . I. Thou knoweft, that except thou truly re- pent eft? tboujhah furely perifh? and that there is no true repentance, where there is not true for- row for fin. I rejoice? fays St. Paul to the Co- rinthians, that ye were made forry after a godly manner : For godly for row worketh repentance to fal- vation? not to be repented cf ; but the forrovj ofths world worketh death. Hence it appears, that there are two forts of forrow fpringing from SEEKERS for SALVATION. i 3 ; oppofite fources ; God and the world; the one a godly forrozv^ and the other the forrow of the world. Learn to diftinguifh them by their various cau- ses and effects, fo fhalt thou avoid the danger of miftaking the one for the other. The forrow of the world, which many cover with the cloak of religion, arifes from fear of contempt, dread of poverty, fecret jealoufy, revenge diffatisfied, love disappointed, baffled fchemes, loffes in bufinefs, unkindnefs of friends, provocation of enemies, or the death of fome idolized relative. Nay, this forrow may fometimes fpring from a mixture of felf- righteous pride and flavifh fear. S<5me cannot- bear to be robbed of their fond hopes of merit- ing heaven by their imaginary good works: They lofe all patience, when they fee their beft righteoufnefs brought to light, and expofed as filthy rags : They are cut to the heart, when they hear, that their apparent good deeds de- ferve punilhment as well as their black enormi- ties : Or like condemned malefactors, they dread the confequences of their crimes, while they feel little or no horror for the crimes them- felves. Exceedingly fatal are the effects of this for- row, in the perfon-s whom it overcomes : Their indignant hearts, unable to er difap- pointment, contradiction, or coiiaemnation, rife againfr fecond caufes, or againfi the decrees of Providence 5 fret 2 [chief h law, 536 Ax ADDRESS to EARNEST or holinefs of the Law-giver; and pine away with uninterrupted difcontent. Hence, fpurn- ing at advice, direction, and confolation, they wring their hands, or gnaw their tongues with an- guifh 'y impatience works them up into ftupid fullennefs, or noify murmuring ; they complain, that their punijhment is greater than they can bear ; and, imagining they are more feverely dealt with than others, they haftily conclude, Behold^ this evil is from the Lord, whyjhould I wait for him any longer ? Thus black defpair feizes upon their fpirits ; and, if grace does not interpofe, they either live on to fill up the meafure of their ini- quities, as Cain, Pharaoh, and Haman ; or madly lay violent hands upon themfelves, as A- hitophel and Judas. This forrow cannot be too much guarded a- gainft, as it not only deftroys many perfons, but does immenfe hurt to religion. Forthofe who are glad of any pretence to pour contempt upon godlinefs, taking occafion from the inftances of this forrow, harden their own hearts^and preju« dice all around them againft the bleffed, godly forrow, which every minifter of the gofpel en- deavours to excite ; malicioufly reprefenting it as one and the fame with the mifchievous for row of the world. Their miftake will be evident, if we trace godly forrow back to its fource. It does not fpring merely from fear of punifhment ; but chiefly from humbling views of God's holinefs^ the SEEKERS for SALVATION. 237 the impurity of the human nature, the exceed- ing finfulnefs of fin, and the tranfeendent ex- cellency of the law, which condemns the finner. And this happy forrow differs not lefs from the other in its effects, than it does in its caufe> The perfons who are blefled with it, far from murmuring, or fretting at the divine command- ment, fee it to be boly,juft, and good, both in its preceptive and penal part, They fo abfolutely acquiefce in it, that they would not alter it, if they could. They clear God, accufe themfelves, fubferibe their own fentence, and acknowledge, It is of the Lord's mercies, that we are not confumed. Each of them can fay, Wherefore Jhould a living man complain, a man for the punifhment of his fins ? It is good that he Jhould both hope, and quietly wait for God's falvation : I will therefore watch to fee what he will fay unto me, for he will f peak peace unto his people. Thus in aconftant ufe of all the or- dinances of God, they meekly wait, wreftling with their unbelieving fears, till vi&orious faith comes by hearing of the matchlefs love of Jefus Chrifr % r and then, fearing the Lord and his good- nefs, they Jing the fong of the Lamb, and run upon his delightful errands. As thou feeft, ferious Reader, the nature, ne- ceffity, and excellence of godly forrow, thou art probably defirous of being informed, how deep thine muft be, to conftitute thee a true penitent, Know then, that it muft be deep enough to im- bitter thy moft pleafing, profitable, and habi- tual 23S An ADDRESS to EARNEST tual fins, and to prevent thy refting without a clear fenfe of thy peculiar intereft in Chrift. — » It muft be profound enough to make, him and- his gofpel infinitely precious to thee, and to produce, under God, the blefied effects men- tioned in the fifth part of the preceding treatife. To be more particular, a true penitent may certainly without defpair or madnefs, go as far in godly forrow, as David does in his peniten- tial pfalms, or our church in the firft part of the homily on falling, 4< When good men, fays 44 Jhe, feel in themfelves the heavy burden of 44 fin, fee damnation to be the reward of it, and 44 behold with the eye of their mind the horror 44 of hell, they tremble, they quake, they are 44 inwardly touched with forrowfulneis of heart 44 for their offences, and cannot but accufe. 44 thtmfelves, and open their grief unto Al- 44 mighty God, and call on him for mercy. 44 This being done ferioufly, their mind is fo 44 occupied, partly with forrow and heavinefs, 44 partly with an earneft defire to be delivered 44 from this danger of hell and damnation, 44 that all defire of meat and drink is laid afide, 44 and loathing of all worldly things and plea- 44 fures comes in place, fo that they like no- 44 thing better than to weep, to lament, to 44 mourn, and both with words and behaviour 44 of body, to (hew themfelves weary of this 44 life/* Never- SEEKERS for SALVATION. 239 Neverthelefs it muft be obferved, that godly forrow needs not be equal, either in degree or duration, in all penitents. Thofe, whofe hearts, through divine grace, open as readily and gently as that of Lydia, happily avoid ma- ny of David's pangs and Job's terrors. The powerful and inftantaneous, or the gentle and gradual manner, in which fouls are awakened ; the difference of constitutions ; the peculiar fervices tffat a few are called to, and for w r hich they are prepared by peculiar exercifes ; the horrid aggravations that have attended the fins of fome; and the fevere corre£tion, which the Lord is obliged to give others, for their flout refiftanceagainft his grace — all this may help us to account for the various depths of diftrefs, through which different penitents pafs in their way to Chrift and falvation. The Lojd does not needlefsly affi'ci the chil- dren of men, any more than a tender father, unneceffarily corrects his difobedient children : He only wants us to forfake our fins, renounce our own imaginary righteoufnefs, and come to Chrifl to be made partakers of his merits, holi- nefs, and felicity. The forrow, which anfwers thefe ends, is quite fufficient ; though it fhould be ever fo light, and of ever fo fhort a duration. On the contrary, a difbefs as heavy as that of Judas is unavailable, if inftead of dr ving us from fin to Jelus Chrifr, it only drives us from prophanenefs to hypocrify, or from preemp- tion to defpair. If 240 An ADDRESS to EARNEST If ftill perplexed, thou afkeft what thou muft -do, to get a fenfe of thy depravity, productive of true repentance; I anfwer, that an affecting -difcovery of the guilt, nature, and danger of fin, is only attained by the afiiftance of God's Spirit, who alone effectually convinces the world of Jin, John xvi. 8. But the Lord has graci- oufly appointed means, in the right ufe of which he never denies a finner the convincing and converting power of his bleffed Spirit, and what they are thou art informed in the following Directions. Proper for' an half-awakened finuer, defirous of be- ing duly convinced of hh corrupt and hjl eflatc. II. Beware of Fools, that make a mock at for- row for fin, ^and ztfin itfelf. Beware of thofe blind leaders of the blind, wh<3 having 4$rm o/\ linefs, denyHbiCpcwer thereof : Infteai of pointing thee to the throne of grace, and bidding thee ■behold the Lamb of God, that take-th away the Jin of the world, they will only direct thee tothei church-walls and communion-table ; and per- haps, if they fed'thee under dejecSlion of fpirit for thy fins, they will recommend the play-^j houfe, the card-table, or what they call " a a chearful glafs." From fuch turn away, or theyff willperfuade thee that repentance is melancho- ly ; conviction of fin, defpair -, and the love ofj God, enthufiafm. 2 Tim. iii. 5. Thati SEEKERS for SALVATION. 241 That they may not be able to laugh, or frown thee out of the way of Salvation, dwell in thy thoughts on God's awful perfections. Jufiice I judgment are the habitation of bis throne. The unfpotted, refplendent holinefs beaming forth from him, as from an immenfely glorious Sun ©f righteoufnefs, will fhew thee thy fins as in- numerable as the flying motes discovered in a v room, where the natural fun can penetrate. Confider that they are committed by a worm of earth, againft the Majefty of heaven ; and they will all appear to thee infinitely great : efpeci- ally if thou meafureft them, and thyfelf by the true rule, the oracles of God.; carting away the . three falfe ftandard^sjjjghiclj Jelf-deceivers mea- fure^themfelves fyjEfcely, .the good opinion of their worldly-miiOTlKi^jjgh'Mxirs, the defective examples of their sB|Rv-&iners, and the flat- tering fuggeftions <^thei£ : c\vn blifulvfelf-love. Follo^^jije example orthe no&^jj^eans : fearch the fcrip tares daily ^ whether thefe 'tWtgs are fo^ A 6ts xvii.11. View in that faithful mirror, the pic- ture both of the natural and of the regenerate man, and afk thy confeience which thou refem- bleft moft. If imitating the godly man defcrib- ed in the firft pfalm, thou meditateji in the law of the Lord day and night \ the ftraitnefs of the hea- venly rule, will foon fhew thee how very far gone thy thoughts, words, a&ions, tempers, and nature, are from original righteoufnefs, X To z^i An ADDRESS to EARNEST To this meditation, add a frequent furvey of the follies of thy childhood, the vanity of thy youth, the worldly-mindednefs of thy riper years, the capital tranfgreflions which confci- ence accufes thee of, and the bar -chiefs of heart, and alienation from the life of God, that the fcrip- tures charge theeVrth. Confefs all to the Lord as thou art able, remembering that the wages of fin is death, who flies faft upon thee with the wings of time — Death, who often gives no warn- ing, and ufhers in judgment, with all the horrors of belly or the joys of heaven ; and pray, that thefe awful realities may aftedl thee now, as they will in thy laft moments. Frequently refledr, bowtotal muft be our lofs of fpiritual life, whichfcjpiot be repaired but by a Refurreffion, a.AV:r-'|fc|<, or a new Creation, Col. iii. i. John iii. j.^/fzl. vi. 5. and how defperate the difeafe ofour-ftllen nature, which cannot be Staled but^nth the blood*^f a divine Phyfician. 1 Qmi/idcr, attentively cdmider Him, whofe piercing look foftened the obdurate heart of curfing Peter, whofe amazing fufferings brought an hardened thief under the deepeft concern for his falvation, and whofe dying groans rent the rocks, fhook the earth, and opened the graves. The tender flower of evangelical forrow grows beft in the {hade of his crofs : A believing view of him, as fuffering for thee, will melt thee into penitential tears, and feal upon thy relenting heart the gracious promife, They Jhall SEEKERS for SALVATION. a 43 [hall look upon him, ivbom they have pierced \ and mourn, Zech. xii. 10. In the mean time, improve the daily oppor- tunities, which thou haft of ftudying human corruption in the life and tempers of all around thee, but chiefly in thy own carelefs and deceit- ful heart : Take notice of its pride and felf- feeking, of its rifingsand fecret workings, efpe- cially when unexpected temptations trouble thy imaginary peace of mind : For, at fuch a time, thy corruption, like the fediment in the bottom of a vial that is fhaken, will (hew its loathfom- nefs and ftrength. Converfe frequently, if thou caniT, withper- fons deeply convinced of fin. Attend a plain, heart-fearching raSbiftry as often as pofliHe ; and when the fwor^of the Spirit, the word of God, pierces thy foul, beware of fretful impa- tience. Inftead of rifing with indignation a- gainft the preacher, and faying,as proud Ahab did to the man of God, Haft thou found me^ O mine enemy? account him thy beft friend, that wounds thee deepeft, provided he brings thee to Chrift for a cure : And when the arrows of the word fly abroad, drop the fhield of unbelief, make bare thy breaft, welcome the blefTed fhaft, and remember, that the only way of conquering fin, is to fall wounded and helplefs at the Re- deemer's feet. Neverthelefs the impreflions of the word will foon wear off", if thou doft not importunately X 2 intreat ;>44 An ADDRESS to EARNEST intreat the Searcher of hearts, to light the can- dle of his grace in thy foul, that thou mayeft clearly fee whether thy inward parts are holinefs to the Lord, as thou fondly fuppofedft -> or very wickednefs, as the fcripture teftifies. It is only in God's light, that we can clearly difcover our blindnefs. This light, it is true, Jhincth in darknefs, but frequently the darknefs comprehendcth it not. That this be not thy dreadful cafe, do not grieve and quench the convincing Spirit, by perfifting in the wilful omiflion of any duty, or deliberate com- miffion of any fin : Nothing but objiinate unbe- lief darkens the mind, and hardens the heart, more than this. Therefore inftead of burying thy one talent with the Jlothful fervant, earneftly pray the Lord to £iake the"j faithful to thy con- victions, and to deepen them daily till they end in a found converfion. In order to this, do notflightly heal the wound in thy confeience : It is better to keep it open, than to fkin it over by improper means : Many, through a natural forwardnefs and impatience, have recourfe to them ; and ruin is the confe- quence of their miftake. That thou mayeft a- void it ferious Reader, I intreat thee to pay a due regard to the following Cautions, Proper for a Penitent, who dejires to make his calling and eleElion SURE, III. SEEKERS for SALVATION. 24; III. When thou haft affecting views of thy loft eftate, beware of refting like Felix in fome pangs of fear, fits of trembling, and refolutions of turning to God by and by, when thou Jhalt have a convenient feafon. Neither give place to defponding thoughts, as if there was no appeal from the tribunal of Juftice to the throne of Grace. Run not for eafe to vain company, bodily in- dulgence, entangling affections, immoderate fleep, exceflive drinking, or hurry of bufinefs. Cain built a city to divert his trouble of mind, and multitudes like him, by the cares of this worlds the deceitfulnefs of riches ^ or the "define of other things^ daily choak the good feed, the preciok^ word of conviction. Mark iv. ig. Be not fatisfied with faint defires of living the life of the righteous, or idle wiihes of dying, their death. Remember that the defire oftheflotk- ful kills him : and if thou haft experienced fome drawings of grace, meltings of hearty or breath- ings after God ; fit not down at laft% as the Laodiceans,in acarelefs ftate, neither hot nor cold, It is far better to go on thy way weeping, and feeking the pearl cf great price til] thou really find- it, than to reft contented with an hafty conceit that thou art poffeffed of it, when thou art not.. Stop not in an. outward reformation, and a form of godlinefs, like many, who miftake the means or doctrines of grace for grace itfelf ; and. becaufe they fay their heartlefs prayers both in X 3 public 246 A* ADDRESS to EARNEST public and private, or go far and often to hear the gofpel preached in its purity, fondly hope, that they are the favourites of God, and in the high way to heaven. Under pretence of increafing thy convictions, do not bury them in heaps of religious books. Some read till their heads are confufed, or their hearts pa/1 feeling. Thus, though ever learnings they are never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Hear then, as well as read the word of life ; but think not thyfelf converted when thou haft received it with joy : The ftony- ground hear- ers went as far as this : Herod himfelf heard John gladly , honoured him, did many things, but left the moft important undone; for he never difmiffed the inceftuous woman he lived with ; and at laft; facrificed to her revenge, the honeft preacher he once admired. Do not confound the covenant of works made with innocent Adam before the fall, and the cove- nant of grace made with finful Adam after the fall. Gen. ii. 17. and iii. 15. .and Rom. v. 11 — 21. They are excellent in their place, but when they are mixed together, they deftroy each other's efficacy. The dreadful thunders, heard in paradife loft ; and the melodious fongs utter- ed in paradife regained, do not ftrike at once the fame fpiritual ear. The galling yoke of the law of works, and the heavy load of its condemna- tion are dropt ; when we take upon us Chrift's cafy yoke, and fubmit to his light burden. In a SEEKERS for SALVATION. 247 a word, the firft Adam gives place to the fecond when wefnd reft unto our fouls. Let then the curfe of the law of innocence, be fwallowed by the blejjlng of the gofpel : or rather, let it make way for the grace of Chrift in thy foul, as an emetic makes way for a cordial in a difordered ftomach. If thou takeft them together, their refpective ufe is prevented. The firft covenant lofes its bumbling efficacy, and the fecond its ref- torative power. Therefore, if thou haft really received the fentence of death in thyfef-, leave the curfe of the firft covenant in the grave of Chrift, crucified for thy fins ; and welcome the pardoning renovating grace of Chrift, rifen again fr thy juftif cation. On the other hand, reft not contented with fpeculative knowledge, and unaffecting, though clear ideas of the gofpel-way of falvation. Light in an unrenewed underftanding, miftaken for the my fiery of faith in a pure hearty like an ignis fatuus, or falfe light, leads thoufands through the bogs of fin, into the pit of deftrutlion. Adts viii. 13. Pacify not thy confeience by activity in out- ward fervices, and a warmth in God's caufe : Party fpirit, or natural fteadinefs in carrying on a favourite fcheme, yea, or feeking thy own glo- ry, may be the fprings that fet thee on work. Jehu faithfully deftroyed Baal and Jezebel, but his zeal for the Lord covered the fecret defire of a crown. Take care alfo> not to miftake gifts 248 As ADDRESS to EARNEST gifts for graces ; fluency of fpeech for convert- ing power ; the warmth of natural affe&ion for divine love ; or an impulfe of God's Spirit, on fome particular occafion, for an evidence of fpi- ritual regeneration. Balaam fpoke and prophe- fied like a child of God, and many will one day fay to Chrift, Lord y have we not prophefied^ fpoke all myjleries^ cajl out devils ^ and done many wonder- ful works in thy name; to whom he will anfwer, Depart from me, I know you not. Avoid the felf-conceit of many, who feed on the corrupted manna of their paft experiences, and confidently appeal to the wafted ftreams of thofe confolations, which once rcfrefhed their hearts ; when alas ! it is evident, they have now for J a ken the fountain of living water , and hewn to themj elves broken cijhrns that hold no water ; unlets the mire of evil tempers, felfifh views, and heart- lefs profeffions of faith, may pafs for the Jh earns which gladden the city of God. Neither do thou heal thyfelf by touches of forrow, by tears, good defires, or outward marks of humiliation for fin, as king Ahab. Nor by exceffive failing, retiring from bufinefs, or hard ufage of the body, as many Roman Catholics: Nor yet by misapplying the do